Some results on thermal stress of layered plates and shells by using Unified Formulation

This work presents some results on two-dimensional modelling of thermal stress problems in multilayered structures. The governing equations are written by referring to the Unified Formulation (UF) introduced by the first author. These equations are obtained in a compact form, that doesn't depend on the order of expansion of variables in the thickness direction or the variable description (layer-wise models and equivalent single layers models). Classical and refined theories based on the Principle of Virtual Displacements (PVD) and advanced mixed theories based on the Reissner Mixed Variational Theorem (RMVT) are both considered. As a result, a large variety of theories are derived and compared. The temperature profile along the thickness of the plate/shell is calculated by solving the Fourier's heat conduction equation. Alternatively, thermo-mechanical coupling problems can be considered, in which the thermal variation is influenced by mechanical loading. Exact closed-form solutions are provided for plates and shells, but also the applications of the Ritz method and the Finite Element Method (FEM) are presented

Remnants of Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy around the young globular cluster Palomar 12

Photometry of a large field around the young globular cluster Palomar 12 has revealed the main-sequence of a low surface-brightness stellar system. This main-sequence is indicative of a stellar population that varies significantly in metallicity and/or age, but in the mean is more metal poor than Pal 12. Under different assumptions for the properties of this population, we find distances from the Sun in the range 17-24 kpc, which encompasses the distance to Pal 12, $19.0\pm0.9$ kpc. The stellar system is also detected in a field 2\arcdeg North of Pal 12, which indicates it has a minimum diameter of $\sim0.9$ kpc. The orbit of Pal 12 (Dinescu et al. 2000), the color-magnitude diagram of the stellar system, their positions on the sky, and their distances suggest that they are debris from the tidal disruption of the Sgr dSph galaxy. We discuss briefly the implications for the evolution of Sgr and the Galactic halo.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, accepted for ApJ Letters. Some importante changes after revision, including a new figur

X-ray absorbed QSOs and the QSO evolutionary sequence

Unexpected in the AGN unified scheme, there exists a population of broad-line z~2 QSOs which have heavily absorbed X-ray spectra. These objects constitute 10% of the population at luminosities and redshifts characteristic of the main producers of QSO luminosity in the Universe. Our follow up observations in the submm show that these QSOs are often embedded in ultraluminous starburst galaxies, unlike most QSOs at the same redshifts and luminosities. The radically different star formation properties between the absorbed and unabsorbed QSOs implies that the X-ray absorption is unrelated to the torus invoked in AGN unification schemes. Instead, these results suggest that the objects represent a transitional phase in an evolutionary sequence relating the growth of massive black holes to the formation of galaxies. The most puzzling question about these objects has always been the nature of the X-ray absorber. We present our study of the X-ray absorbers based on deep (50-100ks) XMM-Newton spectroscopy. We show that the absorption is most likely due to a dense ionised wind driven by the QSO. This wind could be the mechanism by which the QSO terminates the star formation in the host galaxy, and ends the supply of accretion material, to produce the present day black hole/spheroid mass ratio.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in conference proceedings "Studying Galaxy Evolution with Spitzer and Herschel

First report of amynthas carnosus (goto & hatai, 1899) (oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) in the western hemisphere

Citation: Carrera-Mart'nez, R., & Snyder, B. A. (2016). First report of amynthas carnosus (goto & hatai, 1899) (oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) in the western hemisphere. Zootaxa, 4111(3), 297-300. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4111.3.7The earthworm fauna of North America is still greatly unknown, with undescribed native species and new records of invasive species continually being discovered. The most recent checklists are difficult to reconcile, since they vary in their geographic coverage and taxonomy. Reynolds & Wetzel (2012) state that North America (including all of Mexico, some of the Caribbean, and Hawaii) is home for 256 species of earthworms, from which 188 are considered native or endemic and 68 are peregrine, exotic, and invasive species. Blakemore (2008) listed North America north of Mexico as having 183 earthworm species, of which 59 species are exotic. One Megascolecidae genus, Amynthas, is mostly located in the warmer subtropical and tropical regions of the world, with a few species that are able to survive the winter in the temperate zones of North America (Edwards & Bohlen 1995; Görres et al. 2014). Here we report for the first time the occurrence of Amynthas carnosus (Goto & Hatai, 1899) in the United States. To our knowledge, this is not only the first report of A. carnosus in North America, but also its first report in the Western Hemisphere. The description below is intended to place our specimens in the correct taxon while avoiding future confusion with similar species, without making changes to the existing classification system

Nonlinear Vibration Correlation and Buckling Analysis of Flat Plates and Shells

The employment of nondestructive techniques in aerospace industries is rising thanks to advances in technologies and analysis. This part of the aerospace testing industry is essential to design and validate the new structures’ methodology and safety. Therefore, robust and reliable nondestructive methods have been extensively studied for decades in order to reduce safety problems and maintenance cost. One of the most important and employed nondestructive methods to compute large-scale aerospace structures’ critical buckling load is the Vibration Correlation Technique (VCT). This methodology allows to obtain the buckling load and equivalent boundary conditions by interpolating the natural frequencies of the structures for progressively increasing loadings without considering instabilities. VCT has been successfully investigated and employed for many structures, but it is still under development for composite shell structures. The present work provides a numerical model for carrying out virtual VCT to predict the buckling load, to characterize the natural frequencies variation with progressive higher loadings, and to provide an efficient means for verifying the experimental VCT results. The proposed nonlinear methodology is based on the well-established Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF). CUF represents a hierarchical formulation in which the structural model’s order is considered the analysis’s input. According to CUF, any theory is degenerated into generalized kinematics and is compactly handled. By adopting this formulation, the nonlinear governing equations and the relative FE arrays of the two-dimensional (2D) theories are written in terms of Fundamental Nuclei (FNs). FNs represent the basic building blocks of the proposed formulation. In order to investigate far nonlinear regimes, the full Green-Lagrange strain tensor is considered. Furthermore, the geometrical nonlinear equations are written in a total Lagrangian framework and solved with an opportune Newton-Raphson method. For an assessment of the robustness of the virtual VCT, several flat plate and shell structures are studied and compared with the solutions found in the available VCT literature. The results prove that the proposed approach provides results with an excellent correlation with the experimental ones, allowing to investigate the buckling load and the natural frequencies variation in the nonlinear regime with high reliability