A comparison of bearing life in new and refurbished railway axle boxes

A simple linear dynamical model shows that at normal running speeds of freight wagons, forced oscillations due to periodic track compliance are transferred to the overlying unsprung mass and significantly amplified. Due to these oscillations, a small gap opens and closes between the collar of a journal bearing and the axle box many times every second. The forces between these components reach peaks of over 10 tonnes. This is an environment in which wear of the soft spherical graphite iron of the axle box will eventually take place. Due to repeated unloadings of the weight on the bearing during oscillations, the bearing collar may slowly slip against the axle box wall. Although our calculations show that abrasive wear due to this slippage is negligible, the calculation raises general principles that apply to other possible wear mechanisms. If lifetime is proportional to hardness, we can estimate relative lifetimes of refurbished and new boxes. Although the resleeve material is softer than the original, the cost to lifetime ratio would favour refurbishment under this assumption. Important unanswered questions are identified and a specific integrated program of field, laboratory, and theoretical study is suggested

Wet gum labelling of wine bottles

It is shown that bubbling on wine bottle labels is due to absorption of water from the glue, with subsequent hygroscopic expansion. Contrary to popular belief, most of the glue's water must be lost to the atmosphere rather than to the paper. A simple lubrication model is developed for spreading glue piles in the pressure chamber of the labelling machine. This model predicts a maximum rate for application of labels. Buckling theory shows that the current arrangement of periodic glue strips can indeed accommodate paper expansion. Some recommendations follow on the paper, the glue, the labelling rate and the drying environment

The Role of Symmetry and Separation in Surface Evolution and Curve Shortening

With few exceptions, known explicit solutions of the curve shortening flow (CSE) of a plane curve, can be constructed by classical Lie point symmetry reductions or by functional separation of variables. One of the functionally separated solutions is the exact curve shortening flow of a closed, convex ''oval''-shaped curve and another is the smoothing of an initial periodic curve that is close to a square wave. The types of anisotropic evaporation coefficient are found for which the evaporation-condensation evolution does or does not have solutions that are analogous to the basic solutions of the CSE, namely the grim reaper travelling wave, the homothetic shrinking closed curve and the homothetically expanding grain boundary groove. Using equivalence classes of anisotropic diffusion equations, it is shown that physical models of evaporation-condensation must have a diffusivity function that decreases as the inverse square of large slope. Some exact separated solutions are constructed for physically consistent anisotropic diffusion equations

Solutions of Helmholtz and Schrödinger Equations with Side Condition and Nonregular Separation of Variables

Olver and Rosenau studied group-invariant solutions of (generally nonlinear) partial differential equations through the imposition of a side condition. We apply a similar idea to the special case of finite-dimensional Hamiltonian systems, namely Hamilton-Jacobi, Helmholtz and time-independent Schrödinger equations with potential on N-dimensional Riemannian and pseudo-Riemannian manifolds, but with a linear side condition, where more structure is available. We show that the requirement of N−1 commuting second-order symmetry operators, modulo a second-order linear side condition corresponds to nonregular separation of variables in an orthogonal coordinate system, characterized by a generalized Stäckel matrix. The coordinates and solutions obtainable through true nonregular separation are distinct from those arising through regular separation of variables. We develop the theory for these systems and provide examples

Classical R-Matrices and the Feigin-Odesskii Algebra via Hamiltonian and Poisson Reductions

We present a formula for a classical $r$-matrix of an integrable system obtained by Hamiltonian reduction of some free field theories using pure gauge symmetries. The framework of the reduction is restricted only by the assumption that the respective gauge transformations are Lie group ones. Our formula is in terms of Dirac brackets, and some new observations on these brackets are made. We apply our method to derive a classical $r$-matrix for the elliptic Calogero-Moser system with spin starting from the Higgs bundle over an elliptic curve with marked points. In the paper we also derive a classical Feigin-Odesskii algebra by a Poisson reduction of some modification of the Higgs bundle over an elliptic curve. This allows us to include integrable lattice models in a Hitchin type construction.Comment: 27 pages LaTe

Quantum field theory in static external potentials and Hadamard states

We prove that the ground state for the Dirac equation on Minkowski space in static, smooth external potentials satisfies the Hadamard condition. We show that it follows from a condition on the support of the Fourier transform of the corresponding positive frequency solution. Using a Krein space formalism, we establish an analogous result in the Klein-Gordon case for a wide class of smooth potentials. Finally, we investigate overcritical potentials, i.e. which admit no ground states. It turns out, that numerous Hadamard states can be constructed by mimicking the construction of ground states, but this leads to a naturally distinguished one only under more restrictive assumptions on the potentials.Comment: 30 pages; v2 revised, accepted for publication in Annales Henri Poincar