Advanced composite material simulation

A computational methodology is presented for modeling the non-linear mechanical behavior of composite structures made of FRP (Fiber-Reinforced Polymers) laminates. The model is based on the appropriate combination of the constitutive models of compounding materials, considered to behave as isolated continua, together with additional “closure equations” that characterize the micro-mechanics of the composite from a morphological point of view. To this end, any appropriate constitutive model may be selected for each phase. Each component is modeled separately and the global response is obtained by assembling all contributions taking into account the interactions between components in a general phenomenological way. To model the behavior of a single uni-directional (UD) composite laminated, a Serial-Parallel continuum approach has been developed assuming that components behave as parallel materials in the fibers alignment direction and as serial materials in orthogonal directions. Taking into account the internal morphology of the composite material, it is devised a strategy for decoupling and coupling component phases. This methodology [Rastellini 2006], named "compounding of behavior", allows to take into consideration local non linear phenomenon in the compounding materials, like damage, plasticity, etc. in a coupled manner. It is based on the proper management of homogenous constitutive models, already available for each component. In this way, it is used all developments achieved in constitutive modeling for plain materials, what makes possible the transference of this technology to composites. A laminated theory complemented with the proposed UD model is employed to describe the mechanical behavior of multi-directional laminates. A specific solution strategy for the general non linear case is proposed. It provides quick local and global convergences, what makes the model suitable for large scale structures. The model brings answers on the non-linear behavior of composites, where classical micro-mechanics formulas are restricted to their linear elastic part. The methodology is validated through several numerical analyses and contrasted against experimental data and benchmark tests

CMI analysis and precoding designs for correlated multi-hop MIMO channels

Conditional mutual information (CMI) analysis and precoding design for generally correlated wireless multi-hop multi-input multi-output (MIMO) channels are presented in this paper. Although some particular scenarios have been examined in existing publications, this paper investigates a generally correlated transmission system having spatially correlated channel, mutually correlated source symbols, and additive colored Gaussian noise (ACGN). First, without precoding techniques, we derive the optimized source symbol covariances upon mutual information maximization. Secondly, we apply a precoding technique and then design the precoder in two cases: maximizing the mutual information and minimizing the detection error. Since the optimal design for the end-to-end system cannot be analytically obtained in closed form due to the non-monotonic nature, we relax the optimization problem and attain sub-optimal designs in closed form. Simulation results show that without precoding, the average mutual information obtained by the asymptotic design is very close to the one obtained by the optimal design, while saving a huge computational complexity. When having the proposed precoding matrices, the end-to-end mutual information significantly increases while it does not require resources of the system such as transmission power or bandwidth

Finite Size Polyelectrolyte Bundles at Thermodynamic Equilibrium

We present the results of extensive computer simulations performed on solutions of monodisperse charged rod-like polyelectrolytes in the presence of trivalent counterions. To overcome energy barriers we used a combination of parallel tempering and hybrid Monte Carlo techniques. Our results show that for small values of the electrostatic interaction the solution mostly consists of dispersed single rods. The potential of mean force between the polyelectrolyte monomers yields an attractive interaction at short distances. For a range of larger values of the Bjerrum length, we find finite size polyelectrolyte bundles at thermodynamic equilibrium. Further increase of the Bjerrum length eventually leads to phase separation and precipitation. We discuss the origin of the observed thermodynamic stability of the finite size aggregates

Simultaneous image color correction and enhancement using particle swarm optimization

Color images captured under various environments are often not ready to deliver the desired quality due to adverse effects caused by uncontrollable illumination settings. In particular, when the illuminate color is not known a priori, the colors of the objects may not be faithfully reproduced and thus impose difficulties in subsequent image processing operations. Color correction thus becomes a very important pre-processing procedure where the goal is to produce an image as if it is captured under uniform chromatic illumination. On the other hand, conventional color correction algorithms using linear gain adjustments focus only on color manipulations and may not convey the maximum information contained in the image. This challenge can be posed as a multi-objective optimization problem that simultaneously corrects the undesirable effect of illumination color cast while recovering the information conveyed from the scene. A variation of the particle swarm optimization algorithm is further developed in the multi-objective optimization perspective that results in a solution achieving a desirable color balance and an adequate delivery of information. Experiments are conducted using a collection of color images of natural objects that were captured under different lighting conditions. Results have shown that the proposed method is capable of delivering images with higher quality. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Scale invariance and universality of force networks in static granular matter

Force networks form the skeleton of static granular matter. They are the key ingredient to mechanical properties, such as stability, elasticity and sound transmission, which are of utmost importance for civil engineering and industrial processing. Previous studies have focused on the global structure of external forces (the boundary condition), and on the probability distribution of individual contact forces. The disordered spatial structure of the force network, however, has remained elusive so far. Here we report evidence for scale invariance of clusters of particles that interact via relatively strong forces. We analyzed granular packings generated by molecular dynamics simulations mimicking real granular matter; despite the visual variation, force networks for various values of the confining pressure and other parameters have identical scaling exponents and scaling function, and thus determine a universality class. Remarkably, the flat ensemble of force configurations--a simple generalization of equilibrium statistical mechanics--belongs to the same universality class, while some widely studied simplified models do not.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures; to appear in Natur

A Survey on Asking Clarification Questions Datasets in Conversational Systems

The ability to understand a user's underlying needs is critical for conversational systems, especially with limited input from users in a conversation. Thus, in such a domain, Asking Clarification Questions (ACQs) to reveal users' true intent from their queries or utterances arise as an essential task. However, it is noticeable that a key limitation of the existing ACQs studies is their incomparability, from inconsistent use of data, distinct experimental setups and evaluation strategies. Therefore, in this paper, to assist the development of ACQs techniques, we comprehensively analyse the current ACQs research status, which offers a detailed comparison of publicly available datasets, and discusses the applied evaluation metrics, joined with benchmarks for multiple ACQs-related tasks. In particular, given a thorough analysis of the ACQs task, we discuss a number of corresponding research directions for the investigation of ACQs as well as the development of conversational systems

Wigner crystal model of counterion induced bundle formation of rod-like polyelectrolytes

A simple electrostatic theory of condensation of rod-like polyelectrolytes under influence of polyvalent ions is proposed. It is based on the idea that Manning condensation of ions results in formation of the Wigner crystal on a background of a bundle of rods. It is shown that, depending on a single dimensionless parameter, this can be the densely packed three-dimensional Wigner crystal or the two-dimensional crystal on the rod surfaces. For DNA the location of charge on the spiral results in a model of the one-dimensional Wigner crystal. It is also argued that the Wigner crystal idea can be applied to self-assembly of other polyelectrolytes, for example, colloids and DNA-lipid complexes.Comment: 4 pages; typos corrected, references adde

Spin-SS generalization of fractional exclusion statistics

We study fractional exclusion statistics for quantum systems with SU(2) symmetry (arbitrary spin $S$), by generalizing the thermodynamic equations with squeezed strings proposed by Ha and Haldane. The bare hole distributions as well as the statistical interaction defined by an infinite-dimensional matrix specify the universality class. It is shown that the system is described by the level-$2S$ WZW model and has a close relationship to non-abelian fractional quantum Hall states. As a low-energy effective theory, the sector of {\it massless} Z$_{2S}$ parafermions is extracted, whose statistical interaction is given by a finite-dimensional matrix.Comment: 11pages, REVTE