Extruded and injection moulded virgin PA 6/6 as abrasion resistant material

Polyamide (PA6/6) is often used as a tribological pair in abrasion prevalent applications such as hinges and sliders. PA6/6 is frequently processed by injection moulding and extrusion process. It is known that these processes influence the polymers mechanical behaviour, but their influence on the polymers wear response has not been studied. Hence the present research attempts to study the influence of different manufacturing processes on tribological behaviour for PA6/6. Wear tests were performed on a pin abrading tester (DIN 50322). Abrasion resistance of both extruded and injection moulded PA6/6 were tested at different loads (20 and 35 N). Single-pass (nonoverlapping mode) and multipass testing (overlapping mode) were used to understand the influence of clogging of wear debris. It is evidenced that with increasing load the specific wear rate decreases; moreover, fine abrasives tend to reduce the wear rate. In multipass testing a transfer layer clogged on the counterface that acted as a protective agent and lowers wear rate. Poor mechanical strength of injection moulded polymers is apparently compensated by microstructural response for having a similar wear behaviour between extruded and injection moulded PA 6/6. Hence a proper balance between microstructural and mechanical characteristics is an absolute must in PA 6/6 for better wear performance

Galactic rotation curves in brane world models

In the braneworld scenario the four dimensional effective Einstein equation has extra source terms, which arise from the embedding of the 3-brane in the bulk. These non-local effects, generated by the free gravitational field of the bulk, may provide an explanation for the dynamics of the neutral hydrogen clouds at large distances from the galactic center, which is usually explained by postulating the existence of the dark matter. In the present paper we consider the asymptotic behavior of the galactic rotation curves in the brane world models, and we compare the theoretical results with observations of both High Surface Brightness and Low Surface Brightness galaxies. For the chosen sample of galaxies we determine first the baryonic parameters by fitting the photometric data to the adopted galaxy model; then we test the hypothesis of the Weyl fluid acting as dark matter on the chosen sample of spiral galaxies by fitting the tangential velocity equation of the combined baryonic-Weyl model to the rotation curves. We give an analytical expression for the rotational velocity of a test particle on a stable circular orbit in the exterior region to a galaxy, with Weyl fluid contributions included. The model parameter ranges for which the $\chi^2$ test provides agreement (within 1$\sigma$ confidence level) with observations on the velocity fields of the chosen galaxy sample are then determined. There is a good agreement between the theoretical predictions and observations, showing that extra-dimensional models can be effectively used as a viable alternative to the standard dark matter paradigm.Comment: to be published in MNRAS, 17 pages, 31 figures, version including corrections on the proo

Search for gravitational waves associated with the InterPlanetary Network short gamma ray bursts

We outline the scientific motivation behind a search for gravitational waves associated with short gamma ray bursts detected by the InterPlanetary Network (IPN) during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. The IPN localisation of short gamma ray bursts is limited to extended error boxes of different shapes and sizes and a search on these error boxes poses a series of challenges for data analysis. We will discuss these challenges and outline the methods to optimise the search over these error boxes.Comment: Methods paper; Proceedings for Eduardo Amaldi 9 Conference on Gravitational Waves, July 2011, Cardiff, U

Swift follow-up observations of candidate gravitational-wave transient events

We present the first multi-wavelength follow-up observations of two candidate gravitational-wave (GW) transient events recorded by LIGO and Virgo in their 2009-2010 science run. The events were selected with low latency by the network of GW detectors and their candidate sky locations were observed by the Swift observatory. Image transient detection was used to analyze the collected electromagnetic data, which were found to be consistent with background. Off-line analysis of the GW data alone has also established that the selected GW events show no evidence of an astrophysical origin; one of them is consistent with background and the other one was a test, part of a "blind injection challenge". With this work we demonstrate the feasibility of rapid follow-ups of GW transients and establish the sensitivity improvement joint electromagnetic and GW observations could bring. This is a first step toward an electromagnetic follow-up program in the regime of routine detections with the advanced GW instruments expected within this decade. In that regime multi-wavelength observations will play a significant role in completing the astrophysical identification of GW sources. We present the methods and results from this first combined analysis and discuss its implications in terms of sensitivity for the present and future instruments.Comment: Submitted for publication 2012 May 25, accepted 2012 October 25, published 2012 November 21, in ApJS, 203, 28 ( http://stacks.iop.org/0067-0049/203/28 ); 14 pages, 3 figures, 6 tables; LIGO-P1100038; Science summary at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6LVSwift/index.php ; Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p110003

A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000

Einstein@Home all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in LIGO S5 data

This paper presents results of an all-sky searches for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency range [50, 1190] Hz and with frequency derivative ranges of [-2 x 10^-9, 1.1 x 10^-10] Hz/s for the fifth LIGO science run (S5). The novelty of the search lies in the use of a non-coherent technique based on the Hough-transform to combine the information from coherent searches on timescales of about one day. Because these searches are very computationally intensive, they have been deployed on the Einstein@Home distributed computing project infrastructure. The search presented here is about a factor 3 more sensitive than the previous Einstein@Home search in early S5 LIGO data. The post-processing has left us with eight surviving candidates. We show that deeper follow-up studies rule each of them out. Hence, since no statistically significant gravitational wave signals have been detected, we report upper limits on the intrinsic gravitational wave amplitude h0. For example, in the 0.5 Hz-wide band at 152.5 Hz, we can exclude the presence of signals with h0 greater than 7.6 x 10^-25 with a 90% confidence level.Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables. Science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-FullS5EatH/index.php ; Public access area to figures and tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120002

The characterization of Virgo data and its impact on gravitational-wave searches

Between 2007 and 2010 Virgo collected data in coincidence with the LIGO and GEO gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. These data have been searched for GWs emitted by cataclysmic phenomena in the universe, by non-axisymmetric rotating neutron stars or from a stochastic background in the frequency band of the detectors. The sensitivity of GW searches is limited by noise produced by the detector or its environment. It is therefore crucial to characterize the various noise sources in a GW detector. This paper reviews the Virgo detector noise sources, noise propagation, and conversion mechanisms which were identified in the three first Virgo observing runs. In many cases, these investigations allowed us to mitigate noise sources in the detector, or to selectively flag noise events and discard them from the data. We present examples from the joint LIGO-GEO-Virgo GW searches to show how well noise transients and narrow spectral lines have been identified and excluded from the Virgo data. We also discuss how detector characterization can improve the astrophysical reach of gravitational-wave searches.Comment: 50 pages, 12 figures, 5 table

Parameter estimation for compact binary coalescence signals with the first generation gravitational-wave detector network

Compact binary systems with neutron stars or black holes are one of the most promising sources for ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. Gravitational radiation encodes rich information about source physics; thus parameter estimation and model selection are crucial analysis steps for any detection candidate events. Detailed models of the anticipated waveforms enable inference on several parameters, such as component masses, spins, sky location and distance, that are essential for new astrophysical studies of these sources. However, accurate measurements of these parameters and discrimination of models describing the underlying physics are complicated by artifacts in the data, uncertainties in the waveform models and in the calibration of the detectors. Here we report such measurements on a selection of simulated signals added either in hardware or software to the data collected by the two LIGO instruments and the Virgo detector during their most recent joint science run, including a "blind injection" where the signal was not initially revealed to the collaboration. We exemplify the ability to extract information about the source physics on signals that cover the neutron-star and black-hole binary parameter space over the component mass range 1 M⊙-25 M⊙ and the full range of spin parameters. The cases reported in this study provide a snapshot of the status of parameter estimation in preparation for the operation of advanced detectors. © 2013 American Physical Society.J. Aasi ... J. Munch ... D. J. Ottaway ... P. J. Veitch ... et al. (LIGO-Virgo Scientific Collaboration

Design for the addition of a single steel framed story to a concrete building

209 σ.Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο--Μεταπτυχιακή Εργασία. Διεπιστημονικό-Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών (Δ.Π.Μ.Σ.) “Δομοστατικός Σχεδιασμός και Ανάλυση των Κατασκευών”Η παρούσα εργασία έχει ως αντικείμενο τη μελέτη προσθήκης καθ' ύψος ενός ορόφου με μεταλλικό σκελετό σε υπάρχον διώροφο κτίριο από οπλισμένο σκυρόδεμα. Στα πλαίσια αυτής της μελέτης, απαιτήθηκε η προσομοίωση ολόκληρου του κτιρίου.The objective of the present work is the addition of a one story steel building to an existing two-story concrete building. In the scope of this project, the simulation of the complete building was required.Άννα Ν. Δημοπούλο