A note on upper bound formulations in limit analysis

In this paper we study some recent formulations for the computation of upper bounds in limit analysis. We show that a previous formulation presented by the authors does not guarantee the strictness of the upper bound, nor does it provide a velocity field that satisfies the normality rule everywhere. We show that these deficiencies are related to the quadrature employed for the evaluation of the dissipation power. We derive a formulation that furnishes a strict upper bound of the load factor, which in fact coincides with a formulation reported in the literature. From the analysis of these formulations we propose a post-process which consists in computing exactly the dissipation power for the optimum upper bound velocity field. This post-process may further reduce the strict upper bound of the load factor in particular situations. Finally, we also determine the quadratures that must be used in the elemental and edge gap contributions so that they are always positive and their addition equals the global bound gap

Coupling of morphology to surface transport in ion-beam irradiated surfaces. I. Oblique incidence

We propose and study a continuum model for the dynamics of amorphizable surfaces undergoing ion-beam sputtering (IBS) at intermediate energies and oblique incidence. After considering the current limitations of more standard descriptions in which a single evolution equation is posed for the surface height, we overcome (some of) them by explicitly formulating the dynamics of the species that transport along the surface, and by coupling it to that of the surface height proper. In this we follow recent proposals inspired by ``hydrodynamic'' descriptions of pattern formation in aeolian sand dunes and ion-sputtered systems. From this enlarged model, and by exploiting the time-scale separation among various dynamical processes in the system, we derive a single height equation in which coefficients can be related to experimental parameters. This equation generalizes those obtained by previous continuum models and is able to account for many experimental features of pattern formation by IBS at oblique incidence, such as the evolution of the irradiation-induced amorphous layer, transverse ripple motion with non-uniform velocity, ripple coarsening, onset of kinetic roughening and other. Additionally, the dynamics of the full two-field model is compared with that of the effective interface equation.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures. Movies of figures 6, 7, and 8 available at http://gisc.uc3m.es/~javier/Movies

Differential Effects of Increasing Salinity on Germination and Seedling Growth of Native and Exotic Invasive Cordgrasses

Soil salinity is a key environmental factor influencing germination and seedling establishment in salt marshes. Global warming and sea level rise are changing estuarine salinity, and may modify the colonization ability of halophytes. We evaluated the effects of increasing salinity on germination and seedling growth of native Spartina maritima and invasive S. densiflora from wetlands of the Odiel-Tinto Estuary. Responses were assessed following salinity exposure from fresh water to hypersaline conditions and germination recovery of non-germinated seeds when transferred to fresh water. The germination of both species was inhibited and delayed at high salinities, while pre-exposure to salinity accelerated the speed of germination in recovery assays compared to non-pre-exposed seeds. S. densiflora was more tolerant of salinity at germination than S. maritima. S. densiflora was able to germinate at hypersalinity and its germination percentage decreased at higher salinities compared to S. maritima. In contrast, S. maritima showed higher salinity tolerance in relation to seedling growth. Contrasting results were observed with differences in the tidal elevation of populations. Our results suggest S. maritima is a specialist species with respect to salinity, while S. densiflora is a generalist capable of germination of growth under suboptimal conditions. Invasive S. densiflora has greater capacity than native S. maritima to establish from seed with continued climate change and sea level rise.Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU14/06556

Role of nonlinearities and initial prepatterned surfaces in nanobead formation by ion-beam bombardment of Au(001): experiments and theory

Au(001) surfaces that have been prepatterned into a rippled morphology develop one-dimensional nanodot arrays (nanobeads) selectively along the ripples when bombarded with energetic ions at an angle that is normal to the average surface orientation. By quantifying the shape and morphology of these arrays, we show experimentally and by numerical simulations of an extended Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation that the degree of one-dimensional order of the nanobeads can be optimized by considering initial rippled surfaces with various wavelength and roughness values. Our simulations employ physical units and use the experimental topographies as initial conditions. Such nonideal shapes are key to elucidating the influence of nonlinear effects (like conformal interface motion and local redeposition) since the early stages of the dynamics for these prepatterned systems. In spite of the fact that the evolution of the surface morphology becomes far from trivial under these circumstances, our continuum model is able to reproduce the experimental results quantitatively, in contrast to relevant alternative models in the context of surface nanopatterning by ion-beam bombardment.This work was supported by NRF (Korea) Grant No. 20100010481 by MICINN (Spain) Grant No. FIS2009-12964- C05-01 and by MEC (Spain) Grants No. FIS2012-32349 and No. FIS2012-38866-C05-01. J.M.-G. was supported by MICINN (Spain) under the Juan de la Cierva program.Publicad

Bounds and adaptivity for 3D limit analysis

In the present paper we compute upper and lower bounds for limit analysis in two and three dimensions. From the solution of the discretised upper and lower bound problems, and from the optimum displacement rate and stress fields, we compute an error estimate defined at the body elements and at their boundaries, which are applied in an adaptive remeshing strategy. In order to reduce the computational cost in 3D limit analysis, the tightness of the upper bound is relaxed and its computation avoided. Instead, the results of the lower bound are used to estimate elemental and edge errors. The theory has been implemented for Von Mises materials, and applied to two- and three-dimensions examples.Peer Reviewe

Strict upper and lower boundswith adaptive remeshing in limit state analysis

By writing the limit state analysis as an optimisation problem, and after resorting to suitable discretisations of the stress and velocity field, we compute strict bounds of the load factor. The optimisation problem is posed as a Second Order Conic Program (SOCP), which can be solved very efficiently using specific algorithms for conic programming. Eventually, the optimum stress and velocity fields of the lower and upper bound problem are used to construct an error measure (elemental gap) employed in an adaptive remeshing strategy. This technique is combined with an additional adaptive nodal remeshing that is able to reproduce fan-type mesh patterns around points with discontinuous surface loads. We paticularise the resulting formulation for twodimensional problems in plane strain, with VonMises andMohr-Coulomb plasticity. We demonstrate the effetiveness of the method with a set of numerical examples extracted from the literature

Observation of a valence transition in (Pr,Ca)CoO3 cobaltites: charge migration at the metal-insulator transition

X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements in Pr0.5Ca0.5CoO3 and (Pr,Y)0.55Ca0.45CoO3 compositions reveal that the valence of praseodymium ions is stable and essentially +3 (Pr [4f 2]) in the metallic state, but abruptly changes when carriers localize approaching the oxidation state +4 (Pr [4f 1]). This mechanism appears to be the driving force of the metal-insulator transition. The ground insulating state of Pr0.5Ca0.5CoO3 is an homogeneous Co3.5-d state stabilized by a charge transfer from Pr to Co sites: 1/2Pr3+ + Co3.5 \to 1/2Pr3+2d + Co3.5-d, with 2d \approx 0.26 e-.Comment: Submitted. 14 pages, 4 Figure

Aportaciones a la flora vascular de la provincia de Córdoba, II (Andalucía, España)

En el presente estudio corológico se aportan 25 taxones que son raros o suponen novedad para alguna comarca o toda la provincia de Córdoba (Andalucía, España). Los taxones más interesantes son Campanula decumbens subsp. baetica Cano-Maqueda & Talavera, Narcissus × susannae Fern. Casas y Plumbago auriculata Lam., ya que son citados por primera vez para esta provincia.Twenty-five taxa are recorded as rare and new localities either in some areas or the whole province of Cordoba (Andalusia, Spain). Campanula decumbens subsp. baetica Cano-Maqueda & Talavera, Narcissus × susannae Fern. Casas and Plumbago auriculata Lam. are the most interesting taxa found, being the first record for this province