2,143 research outputs found
Pebble dynamics and accretion onto rocky planets. II. Radiative models
We investigate the effects of radiative energy transfer on a series of
nested-grid, high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of gas and particle
dynamics in the vicinity of an Earth-mass planetary embryo. We include heating
due to the accretion of solids and the subsequent convective motions. Using a
constant embryo surface temperature, we show that radiative energy transport
results in a tendency to reduce the entropy in the primordial atmosphere, but
this tendency is alleviated by an increase in the strength of convective energy
transport, triggered by a correspondingly increased super-adiabatic temperature
gradient. As a consequence, the amplitude of the convective motions increase by
roughly an order of magnitude in the vicinity of the embryo. In the cases
investigated here, where the optical depth towards the disk surface is larger
than unity, the reduction of the temperature in the outer parts of the Hill
sphere relative to cases without radiative energy transport is only 100K,
while the mass density increase is on the order of a factor of two in the inner
parts of the Hill sphere. Our results demonstrate that, unless unrealistically
low dust opacities are assumed, radiative cooling in the context of primordial
rocky planet atmospheres can only become important after the disk surface
density has dropped significantly below minimum-mass-solar-nebula values.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2 appendices; MNRAS Letters, accepte
Cooperative mixing induced surface roughening in bilayer metals: a possible novel surface damage mechanism
Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to study a collective atomic
transport phenomenon by repeated Ar irradiations in the Ti/Pt interfacial
system. The ion-induced injection of surface atoms to the bulk, the ejection of
bulk atoms to the top layers together with surface erosion is strongly enhanced
by interfacial mixing. This process leads to a dense interfacial material, and
broadening of the interface region. The process scales with the relative
difference of the atomic masses. We find that surface roughening and
interfacial mixing is strongly coupled via an enhanced counterflow material
transport normal to the surface which might be a novel surface damage
mechanism. This cooperative phenomenon is active when the bilayer system is
subjected to a high dose ion irradiation (multiple ion irradiations) and leads
to surface cavity growth.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. accepted in Nucl. Instrum. Meth.
DISPATCH: A Numerical Simulation Framework for the Exa-scale Era. I. Fundamentals
We introduce a high-performance simulation framework that permits the
semi-independent, task-based solution of sets of partial differential
equations, typically manifesting as updates to a collection of `patches' in
space-time. A hybrid MPI/OpenMP execution model is adopted, where work tasks
are controlled by a rank-local `dispatcher' which selects, from a set of tasks
generally much larger than the number of physical cores (or hardware threads),
tasks that are ready for updating. The definition of a task can vary, for
example, with some solving the equations of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD),
others non-ideal MHD, radiative transfer, or particle motion, and yet others
applying particle-in-cell (PIC) methods. Tasks do not have to be grid-based,
while tasks that are, may use either Cartesian or orthogonal curvilinear
meshes. Patches may be stationary or moving. Mesh refinement can be static or
dynamic. A feature of decisive importance for the overall performance of the
framework is that time steps are determined and applied locally; this allows
potentially large reductions in the total number of updates required in cases
when the signal speed varies greatly across the computational domain, and
therefore a corresponding reduction in computing time. Another feature is a
load balancing algorithm that operates `locally' and aims to simultaneously
minimise load and communication imbalance. The framework generally relies on
already existing solvers, whose performance is augmented when run under the
framework, due to more efficient cache usage, vectorisation, local
time-stepping, plus near-linear and, in principle, unlimited OpenMP and MPI
scaling.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. Accepted by MNRA
Does the thermal spike affect low-energy ion-induced interfacial mixing?
Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to obtain the three-dimensional
distribution of interfacial mixing and cascade defects in Ti/Pt multilayer
system due to single 1 keV impacts at grazing angle of incidence. The
Ti/Pt system was chosen because of its relatively high heat of mixing in the
binary alloy and therefore a suitable candidate for testing the effect of heat
of mixing on ion-beam mixing. However, the calculated mixing profile is not
sensitive to the heat of mixing. Therefore the thermal spike model of mixing is
not fully supported under these irradiation conditions. Instead we found that
the majority of mixing occurs after the thermal spike during the relaxation
process. These conclusions are supported by liquid, vacancy as well as adatom
analysis. The interfacial mixing is in various aspects anomalous in this
system: the time evolution of mixing is leading to a phase delay for Ti mixing,
and Pt exhibits an unexpected double peaked mixing evolution. The reasons to
these effects are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 12 figures, Nucl. Instr. Meth. B211, 524. (2003
Sputtering yields exceeding 1000 by 80keV Xe irradiation of Au nanorods
Using experiments and computer simulations, we find that 80 keV Xe ion irradiation of Au nanorods can produce sputtering yields exceeding 1000, which to our knowledge are the highest yields reported for sputtering by single ions in the nuclear collision regime. This value is enhanced by more than an order of magnitude compared to the same irradiation of flat Au surfaces. Using MD simulations, we show that the very high yield can be understood as a combination of enhanced yields due to low incoming angles at the sides of the nanowire, as well as the high surface-to-volume ratio causing enhanced explosive sputtering from heat spikes. We also find, both in experiments and simulations, that channeling has a strong effect on the sputtering yield: if the incoming beam happens to be aligned with a crystal axis of the nanorod, the yield can decrease to about 100
Effects of different vibration frequencies, amplitudes and contraction levels on lower limb muscles during graded isometric contractions superimposed on whole body vibration stimulation
Background: Indirect vibration stimulation, i.e., whole body vibration or upper limb vibration, has been investigated increasingly as an exercise intervention for rehabilitation applications. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding the effects of graded isometric contractions superimposed on whole body vibration stimulation. Hence, the objective of this study was to quantify and analyse the effects of variations in the vibration parameters and contraction levels on the neuromuscular responses to isometric exercise superimposed on whole body vibration stimulation. Methods: In this study, we assessed the 'neuromuscular effects' of graded isometric contractions, of 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of maximum voluntary contraction, superimposed on whole body vibration stimulation (V) and control (C), i.e., no-vibration in 12 healthy volunteers. Vibration stimuli tested were 30 Hz and 50 Hz frequencies and 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm amplitude. Surface electromyographic activity of the vastus lateralis, vastus medialis and biceps femoris were measured during V and C conditions with electromyographic root mean square and electromyographic mean frequency values used to quantify muscle activity and their fatigue levels, respectively. Results: Both the prime mover (vastus lateralis) and the antagonist (biceps femoris) displayed significantly higher (P < 0.05) electromyographic activity with the V than the C condition with varying percentage increases in EMG root-mean-square (EMGrms) values ranging from 20% to 200%. For both the vastus lateralis and biceps femoris, the increase in mean EMGrms values depended on the frequency, amplitude and muscle contraction level with 50 Hz-0.5 mm stimulation inducing the largest neuromuscular activity. Conclusions: These results show that the isometric contraction superimposed on vibration stimulation leads to higher neuromuscular activity compared to isometric contraction alone in the lower limbs. The combination of the vibration frequency with the amplitude and the muscle tension together grades the final neuromuscular output.Peer reviewe
Numerical simulations of surface convection in a late M-dwarf
Based on detailed 2D and 3D numerical radiation-hydrodynamics (RHD)
simulations of time-dependent compressible convection, we have studied the
dynamics and thermal structure of the convective surface layers of a
prototypical late-type M-dwarf (Teff~2800K log(g)=5.0, solar chemical
composition). The RHD models predict stellar granulation qualitatively similar
to the familiar solar pattern. Quantitatively, the granular cells show a
convective turn-over time scale of ~100s, and a horizontal scale of 80km; the
relative intensity contrast of the granular pattern amounts to 1.1%, and
root-mean-square vertical velocities reach 240m/s at maximum. Deviations from
radiative equilibrium in the higher, formally convectively stable atmospheric
layers are found to be insignificant allowing a reliable modeling of the
atmosphere with 1D standard model atmospheres. A mixing-length parameter of
alpha=2.1 provides the best representation of the average thermal structure of
the RHD model atmosphere while alternative values are found when fitting the
asymptotic entropy encountered in deeper layers of the stellar envelope
alpha=1.5, or when matching the vertical velocity field alpha=3.5. The close
correspondence between RHD and standard model atmospheres implies that
presently existing discrepancies between observed and predicted stellar colors
in the M-dwarf regime cannot be traced back to an inadequate treatment of
convection in the 1D standard models. The RHD models predict a modest extension
of the convectively mixed region beyond the formal Schwarzschild stability
boundary which provides hints for the distribution of dust grains in cooler
(brown dwarf) atmospheres.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in A&
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