Combustion: Structural interaction in a viscoelastic material

The effect of interaction between combustion processes and structural deformation of solid propellant was considered. The combustion analysis was performed on the basis of deformed crack geometry, which was determined from the structural analysis. On the other hand, input data for the structural analysis, such as pressure distribution along the crack boundary and ablation velocity of the crack, were determined from the combustion analysis. The interaction analysis was conducted by combining two computer codes, a combustion analysis code and a general purpose finite element structural analysis code

Structure and correlation effects in semiconducting SrTiO₃

We have investigated the effects of structure change and electron correlation on SrTiO₃ single crystals using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We show that the cubic to tetragonal phase transition at 105 K is manifested by a charge transfer from in-plane (dyz and dzx) bands to out-of-plane (dxy) band, which is opposite to the theoretical predictions. Along this second-order phase transition, we find a smooth evolution of the quasiparticle strength and effective masses. The in-plane band exhibits a peak-dip-hump lineshape, indicating a high degree of correlation on a relatively large (170 meV) energy scale, which is attributed to the polaron formation

Development of modified vibration test criteria for qualifying space vehicle components

The results of the evaluation of two response prediction methods relating to the prediction of structural responses of stiffened shell structures with or without attached components, and subjected to broadband acoustic excitations are presented. The methods under evaluation were the constant mass attenuation method and the impedance ratio method. Example problems were used to illustrate the application procedures of these two methods and to compare their predicted results with the experimentally measured data. It is found that more realistic estimates of the structural response can be obtained by the impedance ratio method

Development of modified vibration test criteria for qualifying space vehicle components

Simplified methods are described to estimate the test criteria of primary structures at component attachment points subjected to broadband random acoustic excitations. The current method utilizes a constant smeared component mass attenuation factor across the frequency range of interest. The developed method indicates that the attenuation factor is based on a frequency dependent ratio of the mechanical impedances of both the component and primary structures. The procedures used to predict the structural responses are considered as the present state-of-the-art and provide satisfactory prediction results. Example problems are used to illustrate the application procedures of the two methods and to compare the significant difference. It was found that the lower test criteria obtained by the impedance ratio method is due to the results of considering the effects of component/primary structure interaction

Quantum Mechanical Treatment of Variable Molecular Composition: From "Alchemical" Changes of State Functions to Rational Compound Design

"Alchemical" interpolation paths, i.e.~coupling systems along fictitious paths that without realistic correspondence, are frequently used within materials and molecular modeling and simulation protocols for the estimation of relative changes in state functions such as free energies. We discuss alchemical changes in the context of quantum chemistry, and present illustrative numerical results for the changes of HOMO eigenvalues of the He atom due to a linear alchemical teleportation---the simultaneous annihilation and creation of nuclear charges at different locations. To demonstrate the predictive power of alchemical first order derivatives (Hellmann-Feynman) the covalent bond potential of hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride is investigated, as well as the van-der-Waals binding in the water-water and water-hydrogen fluoride dimer, respectively. Based on converged electron densities for one configuration, the versatility of alchemical derivatives is exemplified for the screening of entire binding potentials with reasonable accuracy. Finally, we discuss constraints for the identification of non-linear coupling potentials for which the energy's Hellmann-Feynman derivative will yield accurate predictions

Energy dependence of Normal Branch Oscillation in Scorpius X-1

We report the energy dependence of normal branch oscillations (NBOs) in Scorpius X-1, a low-mass X-ray binary Z-source. Three characteristic quantities (centroid frequency, quality factor, and fractional root-mean-squared (rms) amplitude) of a quasi-periodic oscillation signal as functions of photon energy are investigated. We found that, although it is not yet statistically well established, there is a signature indicating that the NBO centroid frequency decreases with increasing photon energy when it is below 6-8 keV, which turns out to be positively correlated with the photon energy at the higher energy side. In addition, the rms amplitude increases significantly with the photon energy below 13 keV and then decreases in the energy band of 13-20 keV. There is no clear dependence on photon energy for the quality factor. Based on these results, we suggest that the NBO originates mainly in the transition layer.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure