Coupled analysis of transport processes and mechanical behaviour of concrete at high temperatures

A model for the numerical analysis of hygro-thermal and mechanical behaviour of concrete at high temperatures including transport, reaction and deformation processes is presented. For the description of transport and material behaviour the model comprises the balance equations for mass and enthalpy and the constitutive equations for concrete at high temperatures. The degradation of the cement minerals C-S-H and portlandite is described by two chemical reactions. The consideration of thermo-chemical damage in the classical non-local damage theory is discussed. Finally, the finite element formulation for solving the coupled balance equations regarding the primary variables displacement, temperature and relative humidity is presented and numerical results of a 3-D frame corner are discussed

Gray matter imaging in multiple sclerosis: what have we learned?

At the early onset of the 20th century, several studies already reported that the gray matter was implicated in the histopathology of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, as white matter pathology long received predominant attention in this disease, and histological staining techniques for detecting myelin in the gray matter were suboptimal, it was not until the beginning of the 21st century that the true extent and importance of gray matter pathology in MS was finally recognized. Gray matter damage was shown to be frequent and extensive, and more pronounced in the progressive disease phases. Several studies subsequently demonstrated that the histopathology of gray matter lesions differs from that of white matter lesions. Unfortunately, imaging of pathology in gray matter structures proved to be difficult, especially when using conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. However, with the recent introduction of several more advanced MRI techniques, the detection of cortical and subcortical damage in MS has considerably improved. This has important consequences for studying the clinical correlates of gray matter damage. In this review, we provide an overview of what has been learned about imaging of gray matter damage in MS, and offer a brief perspective with regards to future developments in this field

XFEM coupling of granular flows interacting with surrounding fluids

In this paper, ideas for the simulation of sliding dry granular materials interacting with surrounding fluids are presented and first results are presented. The compressible granular material is modeled as a medium which can show solid-like and fluid-like characteristics. Therefore a weighted decomposition of stress tensors of a solid-like and a fluid-like phase is applied. The surrounding incompressible fluids are described with a Newtonian constitutive model. Interface dynamics are handled with the level-set method. The model equations are discretized with the space-time finite element method. Discontinuous solution characteristics across interfaces are captured numerically by the extended finite element method (XFEM). For all discontinuities the space of ansatz functions is enriched with Heaviside functions

Extended space-time finite elements for landslide dynamics

The paper introduces a methodology for numerical simulation of landslides experiencing considerable deformations and topological changes. Within an interface capturing approach, all interfaces are implicitly described by specifically defined level-set functions allowing arbitrarily evolving complex topologies. The transient interface evolution is obtained by solving the level-set equation driven by the physical velocity field for all three level-set functions in a block Jacobi approach. The three boundary-coupled fluid-like continua involved are modeled as incompressible, governed by a generalized non-Newtonian material law taking into account capillary pressure at moving fluid-fluid interfaces. The weighted residual formulation of the level-set equations and the fluid equations is discretized with finite elements in space and time using velocity and pressure as unknown variables. Non-smooth solution characteristics are represented by enriched approximations to fluid velocity (weak discontinuity) and fluid pressure (strong discontinuity). Special attention is given to the construction of enriched approximations for elements containing evolving triple junctions. Numerical examples of three-fluid tank sloshing and air-water-liquefied soil landslides demonstrate the potential and applicability of the method in geotechnical investigations. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd