Mud peeling and horizontal crack formation in drying clays

Mud peeling is a common phenomenon whereby horizontal cracks propagate parallel to the surface of a drying clay. Differential stresses then cause the layer of clay above the crack to curl up to form a mud peel. By treating the clay as a poroelastic solid, we analyse the peeling phenomenon and show that it is caused by the gradient in tensile stress at the surface of the clay, analogously to the spalling of thermoelastic materials. For a constant water evaporation rate at the clay surface we derive equations for the depth of peeling and the time of peeling as functions of the evaporation rate. Our model predicts a simple relationship between the radius of curvature of a mud peel and the depth of peeling. The model predictions are in agreement with the available experimental data available

Ice-lens formation and connement-induced supercooling in soils and other colloidal materials

We present a new, physically-intuitive model of ice-lens formation and growth during the freezing of soils and other dense, particulate suspensions. Motivated by experimental evidence, we consider the growth of an ice-filled crack in a freezing soil. At low temperatures, ice in the crack exerts large pressures on the crack walls that will eventually cause the crack to split open. We show that the crack will then propagate across the soil to form a new lens. The process is controlled by two factors: the cohesion of the soil, and the confinement-induced supercooling of the water in the soil; a new concept introduced to measure the energy available to form a new ice lens. When the supercooling exceeds a critical amount (proportional to the cohesive strength of the soil) a new ice lens forms. This condition for ice-lens formation and growth does not appeal to any ad hoc, empirical assumptions, and explains how periodic ice lenses can form with or without the presence of a frozen fringe. The proposed mechanism is in good agreement with experiments, in particular explaining ice-lens pattern formation, and surges in heave rate associated with the growth of new lenses. Importantly for systems with no frozen fringe, ice-lens formation and frost heave can be predicted given only the unfrozen properties of the soil. We use our theory to estimate ice-lens growth temperatures obtaining quantitative agreement with experiments. The theory is generalizable to complex natural-soil scenarios, and should therefore be useful in the prediction of macroscopic frost heave rates

Simultaneous description of four positive and four negative parity bands

The extended coherent state model is further extended in order to describe two dipole bands of different parities. The formalism provides a consistent description of eight rotational bands. A unified description for spherical, transitional and deformed nuclei is possible. Projecting out the angular momentum and parity from a sole state, the $K^{\pi}=1^+$ band acquires a magnetic character, while the electric properties prevail for the other band. Signatures for a static octupole deformation in some states of the dipole bands are pointed out. Some properties which distinguish between the dipole band states and states of the same parity but belonging to other bands are mentioned. Interesting features concerning the decay properties of the two bands are found. Numerical applications are made for $^{158}$Gd, $^{172}$Yb, $^{228,232}$Th, $^{226}$Ra, $^{238}$U and $^{238}$Pu, and the results are compared with the available data.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figures, 12 table

"Beat" patterns for the odd-even staggering in octupole bands from a quadrupole-octupole Hamiltonian

We propose a collective Hamiltonian which incorporates the standard quadrupole terms, octupole terms classified according to the irreducible representations of the octahedron group, a quadrupole-octupole interaction, as well as a term for the bandhead energy linear in K (the projection of angular momentum on the body-fixed z-axis). The energy is subsequently minimized with respect to K for each given value of the angular momentum I, resulting in K values increasing with I within each band, even in the case in which K is restricted to a set of microscopically plausible values. We demonstrate that this Hamiltonian is able to reproduce a variety of ``beat'' patterns observed recently for the odd-even staggering in octupole bands of light actinides.Comment: LaTeX, 20 pages plus 12 figures given in separate .ps file

Rotationally Invariant Hamiltonians for Nuclear Spectra Based on Quantum Algebras

The rotational invariance under the usual physical angular momentum of the SUq(2) Hamiltonian for the description of rotational nuclear spectra is explicitly proved and a connection of this Hamiltonian to the formalisms of Amal'sky and Harris is provided. In addition, a new Hamiltonian for rotational spectra is introduced, based on the construction of irreducible tensor operators (ITO) under SUq(2) and use of q-deformed tensor products and q-deformed Clebsch-Gordan coefficients. The rotational invariance of this SUq(2) ITO Hamiltonian under the usual physical angular momentum is explicitly proved, a simple closed expression for its energy spectrum (the ``hyperbolic tangent formula'') is introduced, and its connection to the Harris formalism is established. Numerical tests in a series of Th isotopes are provided.Comment: 34 pages, LaTe

On the Influence of Alloy Composition on the Additive Manufacturability of Ni-Based Superalloys

The susceptibility of nickel-based superalloys to processing-induced crack formation during laser powder-bed additive manufacturing is studied. Twelve different alloys—some of existing (heritage) type but also other newly-designed ones—are considered. A strong inter-dependence of alloy composition and processability is demonstrated. Stereological procedures are developed to enable the two dominant defect types found—solidification cracks and solid-state ductility dip cracks—to be distinguished and quantified. Differential scanning calorimetry, creep stress relaxation tests at 1000 °C and measurements of tensile ductility at 800 °C are used to interpret the effects of alloy composition. A model for solid-state cracking is proposed, based on an incapacity to relax the thermal stress arising from constrained differential thermal contraction; its development is supported by experimental measurements using a constrained bar cooling test. A modified solidification cracking criterion is proposed based upon solidification range but including also a contribution from the stress relaxation effect. This work provides fundamental insights into the role of composition on the additive manufacturability of these materials

Parametrization of the octupole degrees of freedom

A simple parametrization for the octupole collective variables is proposed and the symmetries of the wave functions are discussed in terms of the solutions corresponding to the vibrational limit. [PACS: 21.60Ev, 21.60.Fw, 21.10.Re]Comment: 14 page