Modèle par éléments discrets pour l’étude du comportement dynamique d’un matériau élastique.

Le comportement mécanique des matériaux est généralement simulé par des approches issues de la mécanique des milieux continus. Cependant, lorsqu’il s’agit de simuler des phénomènes de multi fissurations voir de multi fracturations, les modèles de la mécanique discrète s’avèrent mieux adaptés, car ils prennent en compte naturellement les discontinuités générées par les interfaces. La difficulté est alors de s’assurer qu’une approche par éléments discrets (DEM) permet bien de retrouver le comportement mécanique au sens de la mécanique des milieux continus. Cet article propose une méthodologie permettant, à partir des données connues du matériau à simuler (module de Young, coefficient de Poisson, célérité de propagation des ondes), de quantifier les paramètres « microscopiques » du modèle DEM

Méthode des éléments discrets : des problèmes multi-corps aux problèmes d’endommagement dynamique complexes.

La méthode des éléments discrets est présentée comme une alternative aux approches de type mécanique des milieux continus pour aborder certains aspects liés aux problèmes dynamiques, notamment la multi fracturation de matériaux fragiles. Des exemples liés à l’usinage des composites et au surfaçage du verre sont présentés. Une extension de la méthode pour étudier le comportement des mousses est ensuite proposée et imagée par des premiers résultats

Obesity and undernutrition in sub-Saharan African immigrant and refugee children in Victoria, Australia

The study assessed the anthropometric status of 337 sub-Saharan African children aged between 3-12 years who migrated to Australia. These children were selected using a snowball sampling method stratified by age, gender and region of origin. The prevalence rates for overweight and obesity were 18.4% (95%CI: 14 - 23%) and 8.6% (95%CI: 6% -12%) respectively. The prevalence rates for the indicators of undernutrition were: wasting 4.3% (95%CI: 1.6%-9.1%), underweight 1.2% (95%CI: 0.3%-3.0%), and stunting 0.3 (95%CI: 0.0%-1.6%). Higher prevalence of overweight/obesity was associated with lower household income level, fewer siblings, lower birth weight, western African background, and single parent households (after controlling for demographic and socio-economic factors). Higher prevalence rates for underweight and wasting were associated with lower household income and shorter lengths of stay in Australia respectively. No effect was found for child\u27s age, gender, parental education and occupation for both obesity and undernutrition indices. In conclusion, obesity and overweight are very prevalent in SSA migrant children and undernutrition, especially wasting, was also not uncommon in this target group

First attempt to motion corrected flow encoding using free-breathing phase-contrast CINE MRI

International audienceThis study demonstrates the feasibility of free-breathing phase-contrast CINE MRI without averaging. A new version of the CINE GRICS algorithm[1] was used to correct for motion

Discrete Element Method (DEM) to support microstructure design of refractories

Discrete Element Method (DEM) to support microstructure design of refractorie

Congrès français de mécanique (21; 2013; Bordeaux (Gironde))

The indentation response of glasses can be classified into three classes : normal, anomalous and intermediate depending on the deformation mechanism and the cracking response. Silica glass, as a typical anomalous glass, deforms primarily by densification and has a strong tendency to form cone cracks that can accompany median, radial and lateral cracks when indented with a Vickers tip. This is due to its propensity to deform elastically by resisting plastic flow. Several investigations of this anomalous behavior can be found in the literature. The present paper serves to corroborate these results numerically using the discrete element method. A new pressure-densification model involving the discrete element method (DEM) is developed that allows for a quantitative estimate of the densification under very high pressure. This model is then used to simulate the Vickers indentation response of silica glass under various indentation forces. The numerical results obtained compare favorably with past experimental results

A novel DEM approach for modeling brittle elastic media based on distinct lattice spring model

The Discrete Element Method (DEM), also known as Distinct Element Method (DEM), is extensively used to study divided media such as granular materials. When brittle failure occurs in continuum such as concrete or ceramics, the considered media can be viewed as divided. In such cases, DEM offers an interesting way to study and simulate complex fracture phenomena such as crack branching, crack extension, crack deviation under coupled mode or crack lip closure with friction. The fundamental difficulty with DEM is the inability of the method to deal directly with the constitutive equations of continuum mechanics. DEM uses forcedisplacement interaction laws between particles instead of stress-strain relationships. Generally, this difficulty is bypassed by using inverse methods, also known as calibration processes, able to translate macroscopic stress-strain relationships into local force-displacement interaction laws compatible within DEM frameworks. However, this calibration process may be fastidious and really hard to manage. The presented work proposes to improve the Distinct Lattice Spring Model in order to deal with non-regular domains, by using Voronoi cells, which allows to completely fill the volume space of discrete domains. With this approach, the rotational effects must be included in the contact formulation, which enables the management of large rigid body rotations. This work also introduces a simple method to manage brittle fracture. Using non-regular domains avoids the cracks paths conditioning, and allows to reproduce quantitatively the Brazilian test, very popular in the rock mechanics communit

First Step in Theoretical Approach in Study of Mars and Titan Atmospheres with an Inductively Coupled Plasma Torch

To obtain the modelling of an ICP torch that can be used as a test case, we have to determine all the thermodynamic properties and transport coefficients. To calculate the data we have first to determine the composition and the collisions integrals for all the species in the purpose to calculate the transport coefficients. We apply the calculation to the Mars and to the Titan atmosphere compositions. The intensities of the spectral lines are determined versus temperature