Fixture for environmental exposure of structural materials under compression load

A device for stressing a deformable material specimen consists of top plate and a bottom plate sandwiching a guide cylinder. The specimen is positioned on the bottom plate and attached to a load piston. Force is applied through the top plate into the guide cylinder. Once the specimen is loaded, the stress is maintained by tightening tie bolt nuts

Effects of method of loading and specimen configuration on compressive strength of graphite/epoxy composite materials

Three test schemes were examined for testing graphite/epoxy (Narmco T300/5208) composite material specimens to failure in compression, including an adaptation of the IITRI "wedge grip" compression fixture, a face-supported-compression fixture, and an end-loaded-coupon fixture. The effects of specimen size, specimen support arrangement and method of load transfer on compressive behavior of graphite/epoxy were investigated. Compressive stress strain, strength, and modulus data obtained with the three fixtures are presented with evaluations showing the effects of all test parameters, including fiber orientation. The IITRI fixture has the potential to provide good stress/strain data to failure for unidirectional and quasi-isotropic laminates. The face supported fixture was found to be the most desirable for testing + or - 45 s laminates

Superglass Phase of Helium-four

We study different solid phases of Helium-four, by means of Path Integral Monte Carlo simulations based on a recently developed "worm" algorithm. Our study includes simulations that start off from a high-T gas phase, which is then "quenched" down to T=0.2 K. The low-T properties of the system crucially depend on the initial state. While an ideal hcp crystal is a clear-cut insulator, the disordered system freezes into a "superglass", i.e., a metastable amorphous solid featuring off-diagonal long-range order and superfluidity

Nature of the spin liquid state of the Hubbard model on honeycomb lattice

Recent numerical work (Nature 464, 847 (2010)) indicates the existence of a spin liquid phase (SL) that intervenes between the antiferromagnetic and semimetallic phases of the half filled Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice. To better understand the nature of this exotic phase, we study the quantum $J_1-J_2$ spin model on the honeycomb lattice, which provides an effective description of the Mott insulating region of the Hubbard model. Employing the variational Monte Carlo approach, we analyze the phase diagram of the model, finding a phase transition between antiferromagnet and an unusual $Z_2$ SL state at $J_2/J_1\approx 0.08$, which we identify as the SL phase of the Hubbard model. At higher $J_2/J_1\gtrsim 0.3$ we find a transition to a dimerized state with spontaneously broken rotational symmetry.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Analytical modeling of intumescent coating thermal protection system in a JP-5 fuel fire environment

The thermochemical response of Coating 313 when exposed to a fuel fire environment was studied to provide a tool for predicting the reaction time. The existing Aerotherm Charring Material Thermal Response and Ablation (CMA) computer program was modified to treat swelling materials. The modified code is now designated Aerotherm Transient Response of Intumescing Materials (TRIM) code. In addition, thermophysical property data for Coating 313 were analyzed and reduced for use in the TRIM code. An input data sensitivity study was performed, and performance tests of Coating 313/steel substrate models were carried out. The end product is a reliable computational model, the TRIM code, which was thoroughly validated for Coating 313. The tasks reported include: generation of input data, development of swell model and implementation in TRIM code, sensitivity study, acquisition of experimental data, comparisons of predictions with data, and predictions with intermediate insulation

The RHMC algorithm for theories with unknown spectral bounds

The Rational Hybrid Monte Carlo (RHMC) algorithm extends the Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm for lattice QCD simulations to situations involving fractional powers of the determinant of the quadratic Dirac operator. This avoids the updating increment ($dt$) dependence of observables which plagues the Hybrid Molecular-dynamics (HMD) method. The RHMC algorithm uses rational approximations to fractional powers of the quadratic Dirac operator. Such approximations are only available when positive upper and lower bounds to the operator's spectrum are known. We apply the RHMC algorithm to simulations of 2 theories for which a positive lower spectral bound is unknown: lattice QCD with staggered quarks at finite isospin chemical potential and lattice QCD with massless staggered quarks and chiral 4-fermion interactions ($\chi$QCD). A choice of lower bound is made in each case, and the properties of the RHMC simulations these define are studied. Justification of our choices of lower bounds is made by comparing measurements with those from HMD simulations, and by comparing different choices of lower bounds.Comment: Latex(Revtex 4) 25 pages, 8 postscript figure

Emittance of TD-NiCr after simulated reentry

The effects of simulated reentry heating on the emittance of TD-NiCr were investigated. Groups of specimens with three different preconditioning treatments were exposed to 6, 24, and 30 half-hour simulated reentry exposure cycles in a supersonic arc tunnel at each of three conditions intended to produce surface temperatures of 1255, 1365, and 1475 K. Emittance was determined at 1300 K on specimens which were preconditioned only and specimens after completion of reentry simulation exposure. Oxide morphology and chemistry were studied by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. A consistent relationship was established between oxide morphology and total normal emittance. Specimens with coarser textured oxides tended to have lower emittances than specimens with finer textured oxides

The effect of quantization on the FCIQMC sign problem

The sign problem in Full Configuration Interaction Quantum Monte Carlo (FCIQMC) without annihilation can be understood as an instability of the psi-particle population to the ground state of the matrix obtained by making all off-diagonal elements of the Hamiltonian negative. Such a matrix, and hence the sign problem, is basis dependent. In this paper we discuss the properties of a physically important basis choice: first versus second quantization. For a given choice of single-particle orbitals, we identify the conditions under which the fermion sign problem in the second quantized basis of antisymmetric Slater determinants is identical to the sign problem in the first quantized basis of unsymmetrized Hartree products. We also show that, when the two differ, the fermion sign problem is always less severe in the second quantized basis. This supports the idea that FCIQMC, even in the absence of annihilation, improves the sign problem relative to first quantized methods. Finally, we point out some theoretically interesting classes of Hamiltonians where first and second quantized sign problems differ, and others where they do not.Comment: 4 pages w/ 2 page appendix, 2 figures, 1 tabl