52 research outputs found
The ground-based solar observations database BASS 2000
BASS 2000 is the French solar database for ground-based instruments. We
describe hereafter our organization, our tasks and the products we can deliver
to the international community. Our prospects cover data mining into the THeMIS
archive, a participation to the EST endeavour and the creation and curation of
the ESPaDOnS/NARVAL stellar spectra database.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure (to appear in the Procs. of Solar Polarization
Workshop #5, eds. Berdyugina, Nagendra and Ramelli
Granular Materials and the Risks They Pose for Success on the Moon and Mars
Working with soil, sand, powders, ores, cement and sintered bricks, excavating, grading construction sites, driving off-road, transporting granules in chutes and pipes, sifting gravel, separating solids from gases, and using hoppers are so routine that it seems straightforward to do it on the Moon and Mars as we do it on Earth. This paper brings to the fore how little these processes are understood and the millennia-long trial-and-error practices that lead to today's massive over-design, high failure rate, and extensive incremental scaling up of industrial processes because of the inadequate predictive tools for design. We present a number of pragmatic scenarios where granular materials play a role, the risks involved, and what understanding is needed to greatly reduce the risks
Velocity correlations in granular materials
A system of inelastic hard disks in a thin pipe capped by hot walls is
studied with the aim of investigating velocity correlations between particles.
Two effects lead to such correlations: inelastic collisions help to build
localized correlations, while momentum conservation and diffusion produce long
ranged correlations. In the quasi-elastic limit, the velocity correlation is
weak, but it is still important since it is of the same order as the deviation
from uniformity. For system with stronger inelasticity, the pipe contains a
clump of particles in highly correlated motion. A theory with empirical
parameters is developed. This theory is composed of equations similar to the
usual hydrodynamic laws of conservation of particles, energy, and momentum.
Numerical results show that the theory describes the dynamics satisfactorily in
the quasi-elastic limit, however only qualitatively for stronger inelasticity.Comment: 12 pages (REVTeX), 15 figures (Postscript). submitted to Phys. Rev.
Simulation for the oblique impact of a lattice system
The oblique collision between an elastic disk and an elastic wall is
numerically studied.
We investigate the dependency of the tangential coefficient of restitution on
the incident angle of impact.
From the results of simulation, our model reproduces experimental results and
can be explained by a phenomenological theory of the oblique impact.Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Japa
Granular flow down a rough inclined plane: transition between thin and thick piles
The rheology of granular particles in an inclined plane geometry is studied
using molecular dynamics simulations. The flow--no-flow boundary is determined
for piles of varying heights over a range of inclination angles . Three
angles determine the phase diagram: , the angle of repose, is the
angle at which a flowing system comes to rest; , the maximum angle
of stability, is the inclination required to induce flow in a static system;
and is the maximum angle for which stable, steady state flow is
observed. In the stable flow region , three
flow regimes can be distinguished that depend on how close is to
: i) : Bagnold rheology, characterized by a
mean particle velocity in the direction of flow that scales as
, for a pile of height , ii)
: the slow flow regime, characterized by a linear
velocity profile with depth, and iii) : avalanche flow
characterized by a slow underlying creep motion combined with occasional free
surface events and large energy fluctuations. We also probe the physics of the
initiation and cessation of flow. The results are compared to several recent
experimental studies on chute flows and suggest that differences between
measured velocity profiles in these experiments may simply be a consequence of
how far the system is from jamming.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figs, submitted to Physics of Fluid
Using PIV to measure granular temperature in saturated unsteady polydisperse granular flows
The motion of debris flows, gravity-driven fast
moving mixtures of rock, soil and water can be interpreted
using the theories developed to describe the shearing motion
of highly concentrated granular fluid flows. Frictional, collisional
and viscous stress transfer between particles and
fluid characterizes the mechanics of debris flows. To quantify
the influence of collisional stress transfer, kinetic models
have been proposed. Collisions among particles result in random
fluctuations in their velocity that can be represented by
their granular temperature, T. In this paper particle image
velocimetry, PIV, is used to measure the instantaneous velocity
field found internally to a physical model of an unsteady
debris flow created by using “transparent soil”—i.e. a mixture
of graded glass particles and a refractively matched fluid.
The ensemble possesses bulk properties similar to that of
real soil-pore fluid mixtures, but has the advantage of giving
optical access to the interior of the flow by use of plane laser
induced fluorescence, PLIF. The relationship between PIV
patch size and particle size distribution for the front and tail
of the flows is examined in order to assess their influences
on the measured granular temperature of the system. We find
that while PIV can be used to ascertain values of granular
temperature in dense granular flows, due to increasing spatial
correlation with widening gradation, a technique proposed to
infer the true granular temperature may be limited to flows
of relatively uniform particle size or large bulk
Extended kinetic theory applied to inclined granular flows: role of boundaries
We compare the predictions of extended kinetic theory (EKT), where the roles of surface friction and correlation in fluctuation velocities are taken into account, with discrete element simulations of steady, fully-developed, inclined flows of identical spheres over bumpy bases, in the presence and absence of flat, frictional sidewalls. We show that the constitutive relation for the pressure of EKT must be modified in the proximity of the boundary, because of the influence of excluded volume and shielding associated with collisions of particles with the boundary itself. We also note that currently available boundary conditions for flows over bumpy planes in kinetic theory underestimate the energy dissipation. These two observations explain the lack of agreement of EKT with the simulations, in terms of the maximum angles of inclination for which steady, fully-developed flows are possible. That is, for some high angles of inclination, EKT does not have solutions, while steady flows are predicted in DEM. However, whenever a solution to the system of differential equations of EKT does exist, the predicted distributions of velocity, solid volume fraction and granular temperature satisfactorily match the numerical measurements. The incompressible, algebraic approximation of EKT, which ignores the conduction of energy in the energy balance, admits solutions for a wider range of angles of inclination, as in the simulations, but fails to reproduce the quantitative and qualitative behaviour of solid volume fraction and granular temperature in the two conductive layers at the top and bottom of the flow. When frictional sidewalls are added to the domain, we show that the spanwise ratio of shear stress to pressure is linearly distributed in the dense core region of the flow, confirming that the sidewalls exert, on average, a Coulomb-like resistance to the flow with an effective friction coefficient which is less than half the actual particle-wall friction
Fatal diving: could it be an immersion pulmonary edema? Case report.
Immersion pulmonary edema is a rare, underrecognized, and potentially lethal pathology developing during scuba diving and other immersion-related activities (swimming or apnoea). Physiopathology is complex and not fully understood, but its mechanisms involve an alteration of the alveolo-capillary barrier caused by transcapillary pressure elevation during immersion, leading to an accumulation of fluid and blood in the alveolar space. Diagnosis remains a challenge for clinicians and forensic practionner. The symptoms begin during ascent, with cough, frothy sputum, and hemoptysis. Auscultation reveals signs of pulmonary edema. Pulmonary CT scan, which is the radiological exam of choice, shows ground glass opacities and interlobular thickening, eventually demonstrating a patterned distribution, likely in the anterior segments of both lungs. Apart from the support of vital functions, there is no specific treatment and hyperbaric oxygen therapy is not systematically recommended. We present a case of fatal IPE occurring in a recreational diver who unfortunately died shortly after his last dive. Diagnosis was made after complete forensic investigations including post-mortem-computed tomography, complete forensic autopsy, histological examination, and toxicological analysis
Recommended from our members
The relaxation of the second moments in rapid shear flows of smooth disks
This paper compares the results of numerical simulations for two- dimensional, rapid, homogeneous shear flows of identical, smooth, inelastic disks with the predictions of Jenkins and Richman (JFM 192, 313-328 (1988)) for the relaxation of the second moments of the velocity distribution function following a homogeneous, but anisotropic disturbance of their steady values. For nearly elastic disks, the time-history of the relaxation is in excellent agreement with the theory in both its dense and dilute limits. However, deviations are observed in the case of inelastic particles. 2 refs., 8 figs
- …