1,375 research outputs found
Grain size and flow volume effects on granular flow mobility in numerical simulations: 3-D discrete element modeling of flows of angular rock fragments.
The results of three-dimensional discrete element modeling (DEM) presented in this paper confirm the grain size and flow volume effects on granular flow mobility that were observed in laboratory experiments where batches of granular material traveled down a curved chute. Our numerical simulations are able to predict the correct relative mobility of the granular flows because they take into account particle interactions and, thus, the energy dissipated by the flows. The results illustrated here are obtained without prior fine tuning of the parameter values to get the desired output. The grain size and flow volume effects can be expressed by a linear relationship between scaling parameters where the finer the grain size or the smaller the flow volume, the more mobile the centre of mass of the granular flows. The numerical simulations reveal also the effect of the initial compaction of the granular masses before release. The larger the initial compaction, the more mobile the centre of mass of the granular flows. Both grain size effect and compaction effect are explained by different particle agitations per unit of flow mass that cause different energy dissipations per unit of travel distance. The volume effect is explained by the backward accretion of the deposits that occurs wherever there is a change of slope (either gradual or abrupt). Our results are relevant for the understanding of the travel and deposition mechanisms of geophysical flows such as rock avalanches and pyroclastic flows
Mechanical quality factor of a sapphire fiber at cryogenic temperatures
A mechanical quality factor of was obtained for the 199
Hz bending vibrational mode in a monocrystalline sapphire fiber at 6 K.
Consequently, we confirm that pendulum thermal noise of cryogenic mirrors used
for gravitational wave detectors can be reduced by the sapphire fiber
suspension.Comment: To be published to Physiscs Letters A. Number of pages: 10 Number of
figures: 5 Number of tables:
Apparatus for dimensional characterization of fused silica fibers for the suspensions of advanced gravitational wave detectors
Detection of gravitational waves from astrophysical sources remains one of the most challenging problems faced by experimental physicists. A significant limit to the sensitivity of future long-baseline interferometric gravitational wave detectors is thermal displacement noise of the test mass mirrors and their suspensions. Suspension thermal noise results from mechanical dissipation in the fused silica suspension fibers suspending the test mass mirrors and is therefore an important noise source at operating frequencies between âŒ10 and 30 Hz. This dissipation occurs due to a combination of thermoelastic damping, surface and bulk losses. Its effects can be reduced by optimizing the thermoelastic and surface loss, and these parameters are a function of the cross sectional dimensions of the fiber along its length. This paper presents a new apparatus capable of high resolution measurements of the cross sectional dimensions of suspension fibers of both rectangular and circular cross section, suitable for use in advanced detector mirror suspensions
Measurements of mechanical thermal noise and energy dissipation in optical dielectric coatings
In recent years an increasing number of devices and experiments are shown to
be limited by mechanical thermal noise. In particular sub-Hertz laser frequency
stabilization and gravitational wave detectors, that are able to measure
fluctuations of 1E-18 m/rtHz or less, are being limited by thermal noise in the
dielectric coatings deposited on mirrors. In this paper we present a new
measurement of thermal noise in low absorption dielectric coatings deposited on
micro-cantilevers and we compare it with the results obtained from the
mechanical loss measurements. The coating thermal noise is measured on the
widest range of frequencies with the highest signal to noise ratio ever
achieved. In addition we present a novel technique to deduce the coating
mechanical losses from the measurement of the mechanical quality factor which
does not rely on the knowledge of the coating and substrate Young moduli. The
dielectric coatings are deposited by ion beam sputtering. The results presented
here give a frequency independent loss angle of (4.70 0.2)x1E-4 with a
Young's modulus of 118 GPa for annealed tantala from 10 Hz to 20 kHz. For
as-deposited silica, a weak frequency dependence (~ f^{-0.025}) is observed in
this frequency range, with a Young's modulus of 70 GPa and an internal damping
of (6.0 0.3)x1E-4 at 16 kHz, but this value decreases by one order of
magnitude after annealing and the frequency dependence disappears.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
2D photonic-crystal optomechanical nanoresonator
We present the optical optimization of an optomechanical device based on a
suspended InP membrane patterned with a 2D near-wavelength grating (NWG) based
on a 2D photonic-crystal geometry. We first identify by numerical simulation a
set of geometrical parameters providing a reflectivity higher than 99.8 % over
a 50-nm span. We then study the limitations induced by the finite value of the
optical waist and lateral size of the NWG pattern using different numerical
approaches. The NWG grating, pierced in a suspended InP 265 nm-thick membrane,
is used to form a compact microcavity involving the suspended nano-membrane as
end mirror. The resulting cavity has a waist size smaller than 10 m and a
finesse in the 200 range. It is used to probe the Brownian motion of the
mechanical modes of the nanomembrane
Environmental Assessment of Renewable Fuel Energy Systems with Cross-Media Effects Approachâ
Abstract In the last years, the number of installed biofuels power plants is increased in northern Italy, due to favorable legislation on renewable energy sources, posing the issue to assess the resulting environmental effects. The European legislation on emissions for renewable fuels power plants provides guidelines to be integrated in the local regulations; moreover, local authorities have to identify the critical power plants in terms of pollution and the key parameters to grant licenses for the future plants. The aim of this paper is to describe a methodology and the calculation routine developed to assess the environmental effects of biomass plants in terms of simple indexes. The used approach is based on the Cross-Media Effects described by a European Commission Reference Document. In particular, several indexes are introduced to cover the most relevant environmental effects, as: air toxicity, global warming, acidification, eutrophication and photochemical ozone creation. For every considered pollutant (such as NOx, CO, etc.) directly emitted by the power plant, specific factors have been identified, in order to calculate the contribution to the different environmental indexes. Finally, a numerical evaluation of different biomass power plants, installed in Emilia Romagna region, is provided, in order to assess their environmental cross-media potential and to compare such kind of power plants with large scale, fossil-fuelled power plants
Invited Article: CO_2 laser production of fused silica fibers for use in interferometric gravitational wave detector mirror suspensions
In 2000 the first mirror suspensions to use a quasi-monolithic final stage were installed at the GEO600 detector site outside Hannover, pioneering the use of fused silica suspension fibers in long baseline interferometric detectors to reduce suspension thermal noise. Since that time, development of the production methods of fused silica fibers has continued. We present here a review of a novel CO_2 laser-based fiber pulling machine developed for the production of fused silica suspensions for the next generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors and for use in experiments requiring low thermal noise suspensions. We discuss tolerances, strengths, and thermal noise performance requirements for the next generation of gravitational wave detectors. Measurements made on fibers produced using this machine show a 0.8% variation in vertical stiffness and 0.05% tolerance on length, with average strengths exceeding 4 GPa, and mechanical dissipation which meets the requirements for Advanced LIGO thermal noise performance
Noise parametric identification and whitening for LIGO 40-meter interferometer data
We report the analysis we made on data taken by Caltech 40-meter prototype
interferometer to identify the noise power spectral density and to whiten the
sequence of noise. We concentrate our study on data taken in November 1994, in
particular we analyzed two frames of data: the 18nov94.2.frame and the
19nov94.2.frame.
We show that it is possible to whiten these data, to a good degree of
whiteness, using a high order whitening filter. Moreover we can choose to
whiten only restricted band of frequencies around the region we are interested
in, obtaining a higher level of whiteness.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication by Physical Review
A Novel Approach Based on Spatio-temporal Features and Random Forest for Scar Detection Using Cine Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Images
Aim. To identify the presence of scar tissue in the left ventricle from Gadolinium (Gd)-free magnetic resonance cine sequences using a learning-based approach relying on spatio-temporal features. Methods. The spatial and temporal features were extracted using local binary patterns from (i) cine end-diastolic frame and (ii) two parametric images of amplitude and phase wall motion, respectively, and classified with Random Forest. Results. When tested on 328 cine sequences from 40 patients, a recall of 70% was achieved, improving significantly the classification resulting from spatial and temporal features processed separately. Conclusions. The proposed approach showed promising results, paving the way for scar identification from Gd-free images
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