529 research outputs found
Tailoring the frictional properties of granular media
A method of modifying the roughness of soda-lime glass spheres is presented,
with the purpose of tuning inter-particle friction. The effect of chemical
etching on the surface topography and the bulk frictional properties of grains
is systematically investigated. The surface roughness of the grains is measured
using white light interferometry and characterised by the lateral and vertical
roughness length scales. The underwater angle of repose is measured to
characterise the bulk frictional behaviour. We observe that the co-efficient of
friction depends on the vertical roughness length scale. We also demonstrate a
bulk surface roughness measurement using a carbonated soft drink.Comment: 10 pages, 17 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Coupling statistically downscaled GCM outputs with a basin-lake hydrological model in subtropical South America: evaluation of the influence of large-scale precipitation changes on regional hydroclimate variability
International audienceWe explore the reliability of large-scale climate variables, namely precipitation and temperature, as inputs for a basin-lake hydrological model in central Argentina. We used data from two regions in NCEP/NCAR reanalyses and three regions from LMDZ model simulations forced with observed sea surface temperature (HadISST) for the last 50 years. Reanalyses data cover part of the geographical area of the Sali-Dulce Basin (region A) and a zone at lower latitudes (region B). The LMDZ selected regions represent the geographical area of the Sali-Dulce Basin (box A), and two areas outside of the basin at lower latitudes (boxes B and C). A statistical downscaling method is used to connect the large-scale climate variables inferred from LMDZ and the reanalyses, with the hydrological Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model in order to simulate the Rio Sali-Dulce discharge during 1950-2005. The SWAT simulations are then used to force the water balance of Laguna Mar Chiquita, which experienced an abrupt level rise in the 1970's attributed to the increase in Rio Sali-Dulce discharge. Despite that the lowstand in the 1970's is not well reproduced in either simulation, the key hydrological cycles in the lake level are accurately captured. Even though satisfying results are obtained with the SWAT simulations using downscaled reanalyses, the lake level are more realistically simulated with the SWAT simulations using downscaled LMDZ data in boxes B and C, showing a strong climate influence from the tropics on lake level fluctuations. Our results highlight the ability of downscaled climatic data to reproduce regional climate features. Laguna Mar Chiquita can therefore be considered as an integrator of large-scale climate changes since the forcing scenarios giving best results are those relying on global climate simulations forced with observed sea surface temperature. This climate-basin-lake model is a promising approach for understanding and simulating long-term lake level variations
Mixing Techniques to Compute Derivatives of semi-numerical models: Application to Magnetic Nano Switch Optimization
International audienceThis paper is about derivatives techniques and their composition for semi-numerical models. Techniques such as symbolic derivation and automatic differentiation are addressed. All techniques are illustrated for the gradient based optimization of a magnetic nano switch
Gravity-driven Dense Granular Flows
We report and analyze the results of numerical studies of dense granular
flows in two and three dimensions, using both linear damped springs and
Hertzian force laws between particles. Chute flow generically produces a
constant density profile that satisfies scaling relations suggestive of a
Bagnold grain inertia regime. The type of force law has little impact on the
behavior of the system. Bulk and surface flows differ in their failure criteria
and flow rheology, as evidenced by the change in principal stress directions
near the surface. Surface-only flows are not observed in this geometry.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX 3.0, 4 PostScript figures (5 files) embedded with
eps
Premières molaires permanentes et variations palatine ou mandibulaire
101 children, each of them with two teleradiographies, were selected. The first X-ray was taken at the time of the mixed dentition, the second one, when the permanent dentition was established. The purpose of the research is to show the oscillations of the palatine and mandibular planes, and their link to the movements of the first permanent molars. The palatine plane is found to swing between - 7° and +5°, with an average of -0.97°. The posterior part of that plane rocks downwards in 51% of the children. The limits are -7° and -1°, with an average of -3.2°. In 22%, the plane rocks upwards between +1° and +5° with an average of +3.1°. In 27% it moves parallel to itself. The posterior part of the mandibular plane varies between -6° and +5°, with an average of -1.1°. It rocks downwards in 48% of the cases, between -6° and -1° with an average of -3.9°. In 22% of the children, this plane rocks upwards between +1° and +5°with an average of +2.5°. In 30%, it moves parallel to itself. The overall result is that the more the posterior part of the palate, or of the mandibule moves downwards, the more the first permanent molars get straight or move forwards.Le but de ce travail est de déterminer les oscillations des plans palatin et mandibulaire ainsi que leur lien avec les mouvements des premières monophysaires. Les téléradiographies, prises à quelques années d’intervalle, de 101 enfants, sont superposés sur le compas ptérygo-clivien. Plus la partie postérieure des lames palatines ou de la mandibule s’abaisse, plus les premières molaires se redressent ou se déplacent vers l’avant
Finite-time fluctuations in the degree statistics of growing networks
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the degree statistics in
models for growing networks where new nodes enter one at a time and attach to
one earlier node according to a stochastic rule. The models with uniform
attachment, linear attachment (the Barab\'asi-Albert model), and generalized
preferential attachment with initial attractiveness are successively
considered. The main emphasis is on finite-size (i.e., finite-time) effects,
which are shown to exhibit different behaviors in three regimes of the
size-degree plane: stationary, finite-size scaling, large deviations.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Diphasic non-local model for granular surface flows
Considering recent results revealing the existence of multi-scale rigid
clusters of grains embedded in granular surface flows, i.e. flows down an
erodible bed, we describe here the surface flows rheology through a non-local
constitutive law. The predictions of the resulting model are compared
quantitatively to experimental results: The model succeeds to account for the
counter-intuitive shape of the velocity profile observed in experiments, i.e. a
velocity profile decreasing exponentially with depth in the static phase and
remaining linear in the flowing layer with a velocity gradient independent of
both the flowing layer thickness, the angle between the flow and the
horizontal, and the coefficient of restitution of the grains. Moreover, the
scalings observed in rotating drums are recovered, at least for small rotating
speed.Comment: 7 pages, submitted to Europhys. Let
Women in the Refrigeration Industry
The refrigeration industry plays a major and increasing role in today’s global economy, with significant contributions made in food, health, energy and environmental domains which policy makers need to better understand and take into account. The need for engineering and technical staff is currently increasing due to the growing demand for refrigerating capacities, along with the unique skills required from refrigeration-related professions in the field of energy and environment. Women are still significantly and visibly under-represented in the refrigeration industry. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the current preliminary state-of-the-art of women in the refrigeration field collected from national refrigeration institutions and associations. Suggested incentive actions are the outcomes of the second meeting of the official IIR Women in Refrigeration sub-group
Stress in frictionless granular material: Adaptive Network Simulations
We present a minimalistic approach to simulations of force transmission
through granular systems. We start from a configuration containing cohesive
(tensile) contact forces and use an adaptive procedure to find the stable
configuration with no tensile contact forces. The procedure works by
sequentially removing and adding individual contacts between adjacent beads,
while the bead positions are not modified. In a series of two-dimensional
realizations, the resulting force networks are shown to satisfy a linear
constraint among the three components of average stress, as anticipated by
recent theories. The coefficients in the linear constraint remain nearly
constant for a range of shear loadings up to about .6 of the normal loading.
The spatial distribution of contact forces shows strong concentration along
``force chains". The probability of contact forces of magnitude f shows an
exponential falloff with f. The response to a local perturbing force is
concentrated along two characteristic rays directed downward and laterally.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Static Friction Phenomena in Granular Materials: Coulomb Law vs. Particle Geometry
The static as well as the dynamic behaviour of granular material are
determined by dynamic {\it and} static friction. There are well known methods
to include static friction in molecular dynamics simulations using scarcely
understood forces. We propose an Ansatz based on the geometrical shape of
nonspherical particles which does not involve an explicit expression for static
friction. It is shown that the simulations based on this model are close to
experimental results.Comment: 11 pages, Revtex, HLRZ-33/9
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