2,086 research outputs found
Influence of Mineralogical Nature of Aggregates on Acid Resistance of Mortar
Cement-based materials being alkaline in nature are often subjected to rapid deterioration on exposure to the aggressive acidic environments. Acids penetrate into the cement matrix causing calcium leaching and deterioration of phases leading to alteration in the microstructure. Currently, there are hardly any codes or standards available for evaluating the durability of materials to acid attack. Moreover, the literature addressing the material resistance is quite inconclusive. This paper aims to evaluate the influence of mineralogical nature of aggregates on the degradation kinetics of cement mortar when exposed to inorganic and organic acid solutions by performing a static accelerated leaching test. Cement mortar (1: 3) specimens of size 10 × 10 × 60 mm were prepared using Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), using limestone (calcareous) aggregates and siliceous aggregates with a water to cement ratio of 0.40. After 28 days of initial curing in saturated lime water, the specimens were exposed to various concentrations of sulphuric (1 % and 3 %) and acetic acid solutions (0.25 M and 0.5 M) for a testing period of 4 months. The acid solution was replenished on a periodic basis to maintain the aggressiveness of the solution. The degradation kinetics was investigated by measuring mass changes, thickness changes, changes in pH of the acid solution and imaging using X-ray micro-tomography. Additionally, periodic abrasive action applied manually (using soft nylon brush) was used to accelerate the degradation process in case of sulphuric acid exposure and its effect was compared with the testing without the abrasive action. An attempt was also made to evaluate the changes in compressive strength and changes in dynamic modulus of elasticity of cylindrical mortar specimens (25 mm diameter and 50 mm height) on exposure to the acid solutions. The test results indicate that the performance of limestone aggregates is better on exposure to sulphuric acid and worse in case of acetic acid when compared to siliceous aggregates
A Dynamic Renormalization Group Study of Active Nematics
We carry out a systematic construction of the coarse-grained dynamical
equation of motion for the orientational order parameter for a two-dimensional
active nematic, that is a nonequilibrium steady state with uniaxial, apolar
orientational order. Using the dynamical renormalization group, we show that
the leading nonlinearities in this equation are marginally \textit{irrelevant}.
We discover a special limit of parameters in which the equation of motion for
the angle field of bears a close relation to the 2d stochastic Burgers
equation. We find nevertheless that, unlike for the Burgers problem, the
nonlinearity is marginally irrelevant even in this special limit, as a result
of of a hidden fluctuation-dissipation relation. 2d active nematics therefore
have quasi-long-range order, just like their equilibrium counterpartsComment: 31 pages 6 figure
Spatiotemporal rheochaos in nematic hydrodynamics
Motivated by the observation of rheochaos in sheared wormlike micelles
[Bandyopadhyay et al., Phys. Rev. Lett, 84 2022, (2000); Europhys. Lett. 56,
447 (2001); Pramana 53, 223 (1999)] we study the coupled nonlinear partial
differential equations for the hydrodynamic velocity and order parameter fields
in a sheared nematogenic fluid. In a suitable parameter range, we find
irregular, dynamic shear-banding and establish by decisive numerical tests that
the chaos we observe in the model is spatiotemporal in nature.Comment: Slight changes in text, references and Fig. 5 inset; 6 eps figures
(figs 2,3,4 at lower resolution to reduce file size; full files available on
request); accepted for publication in Phys Rev Let
Approach to equilibrium in adiabatically evolving potentials
For a potential function (in one dimension) which evolves from a specified
initial form to a different asymptotically, we study the
evolution, in an overdamped dynamics, of an initial probability density to its
final equilibeium.There can be unexpected effects that can arise from the time
dependence. We choose a time variation of the form
. For a , which is
double welled and a which is simple harmonic, we show that, in
particular, if the evolution is adiabatic, the results in a decrease in the
Kramers time characteristics of . Thus the time dependence makes
diffusion over a barrier more efficient. There can also be interesting
resonance effects when and are two harmonic potentials
displaced with respect to each other that arise from the coincidence of the
intrinsic time scale characterising the potential variation and the Kramers
time.Comment: This paper contains 5 page
Global parameter identification of stochastic reaction networks from single trajectories
We consider the problem of inferring the unknown parameters of a stochastic
biochemical network model from a single measured time-course of the
concentration of some of the involved species. Such measurements are available,
e.g., from live-cell fluorescence microscopy in image-based systems biology. In
addition, fluctuation time-courses from, e.g., fluorescence correlation
spectroscopy provide additional information about the system dynamics that can
be used to more robustly infer parameters than when considering only mean
concentrations. Estimating model parameters from a single experimental
trajectory enables single-cell measurements and quantification of cell--cell
variability. We propose a novel combination of an adaptive Monte Carlo sampler,
called Gaussian Adaptation, and efficient exact stochastic simulation
algorithms that allows parameter identification from single stochastic
trajectories. We benchmark the proposed method on a linear and a non-linear
reaction network at steady state and during transient phases. In addition, we
demonstrate that the present method also provides an ellipsoidal volume
estimate of the viable part of parameter space and is able to estimate the
physical volume of the compartment in which the observed reactions take place.Comment: Article in print as a book chapter in Springer's "Advances in Systems
Biology
Driven Heisenberg Magnets: Nonequilibrium Criticality, Spatiotemporal Chaos and Control
We drive a -dimensional Heisenberg magnet using an anisotropic current.
The continuum Langevin equation is analysed using a dynamical renormalization
group and numerical simulations. We discover a rich steady-state phase diagram,
including a critical point in a new nonequilibrium universality class, and a
spatiotemporally chaotic phase. The latter may be `controlled' in a robust
manner to target spatially periodic steady states with helical order.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Published in Euro. Phys. Let
Active nematics on a substrate: giant number fluctuations and long-time tails
We construct the equations of motion for the coupled dynamics of order
parameter and concentration for the nematic phase of driven particles on a
solid surface, and show that they imply (i) giant number fluctuations, with a
standard deviation proportional to the mean and (ii) long-time tails in the autocorrelation of the particle velocities in dimensions
despite the absence of a hydrodynamic velocity field. Our predictions can be
tested in experiments on aggregates of amoeboid cells as well as on layers of
agitated granular matter.Comment: Submitted to Europhys Lett 26 Aug 200
Shear Alignment and Instability of Smectic Phases
We consider the shear flow of well-aligned one-component smectic phases, such
as thermotropic smectics and lamellar diblock copolymers, below the critical
region. We show that, as a result of thermal fluctuations of the layers,
parallel () alignment is generically unstable and perpendicular ()
alignment is stable against long-wavelength undulations. We also find,
surprisingly, that both and are stable for a narrow window of values
for the anisotropic viscosity.Comment: To appear in PRL. Revtex, 1 figure
A q-deformed nonlinear map
A scheme of q-deformation of nonlinear maps is introduced. As a specific
example, a q-deformation procedure related to the Tsallis q-exponential
function is applied to the logistic map. Compared to the canonical logistic
map, the resulting family of q-logistic maps is shown to have a wider spectrum
of interesting behaviours, including the co-existence of attractors -- a
phenomenon rare in one dimensional maps.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figure
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