14,355 research outputs found
Influence of shear reinforcement corrosion on the performance of under-reinforced concrete beams
The in-service performance of reinforced concrete beams can be severely affected through cor-rosion of the steel reinforcement when it becomes subjected to harsh corrosive environments containing chlo-rides and carbon dioxide. In such instances, corrosion is likely to occur in the steel reinforcement, with the expansive nature of the corrosion products likely to induce cracking and spalling of the concrete. A loss of structural integrity (stiffness) will occur and this can severely influence the serviceability of the member. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between degree of corrosion and loss of stiffness in corrosion damaged under-reinforced concrete beams. Beams (100mm x 150mm cross section) were subjected to accelerated corrosion in the laboratory and subsequently tested in flexure to failure. The paper reports on the results of these tests and relates the degree of corrosion in the main steel to the percentage loss in stiffness in the concrete beams
Staggered and extreme localization of electron states in fractal space
We present exact analytical results revealing the existence of a countable
infinity of unusual single particle states, which are localized with a
multitude of localization lengths in a Vicsek fractal network with diamond
shaped loops as the 'unit cells'. The family of localized states form clusters
of increasing size, much in the sense of Aharonov-Bohm cages [J. Vidal et al.,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5888 (1998)], but now without a magnetic field. The length
scale at which the localization effect for each of these states sets in can be
uniquely predicted following a well defined prescription developed within the
framework of real space renormalization group. The scheme allows an exact
evaluation of the energy eigenvalue for every such state which is ensured to
remain in the spectrum of the system even in the thermodynamic limit. In
addition, we discuss the existence of a perfectly conducting state at the band
center of this geometry and the influence of a uniform magnetic field threading
each elementary plaquette of the lattice on its spectral properties. Of
particular interest is the case of extreme localization of single particle
states when the magnetic flux equals half the fundamental flux quantum.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Supercooling of rapidly expanding quark-gluon plasma
We reexamine the scenario of homogeneous nucleation of the quark-gluon plasma produced in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. A generalization of the standard nucleation theory to rapidly expanding system is proposed. The nucleation rate is derived via the new scaling parameter Z. It is shown that the size distribution of hadronic clusters plays an important role in the dynamics of the phase transition. The longitudinally expanding system is supercooled to about 3 6%, then it is reheated, and the hadronization is completed within 6 10 fm/c, i.e. 5 10 times faster than it was estimated earlier, in a strongly nonequilibrium way. PACS: 12.38.Mh; 12.39.Ba; 25.75.-q; 64.60.Q
A fully resolved active musculo-mechanical model for esophageal transport
Esophageal transport is a physiological process that mechanically transports
an ingested food bolus from the pharynx to the stomach via the esophagus, a
multi-layered muscular tube. This process involves interactions between the
bolus, the esophagus, and the neurally coordinated activation of the esophageal
muscles. In this work, we use an immersed boundary (IB) approach to simulate
peristaltic transport in the esophagus. The bolus is treated as a viscous fluid
that is actively transported by the muscular esophagus, which is modeled as an
actively contracting, fiber-reinforced tube. A simplified version of our model
is verified by comparison to an analytic solution to the tube dilation problem.
Three different complex models of the multi-layered esophagus, which differ in
their activation patterns and the layouts of the mucosal layers, are then
extensively tested. To our knowledge, these simulations are the first of their
kind to incorporate the bolus, the multi-layered esophagus tube, and muscle
activation into an integrated model. Consistent with experimental observations,
our simulations capture the pressure peak generated by the muscle activation
pulse that travels along the bolus tail. These fully resolved simulations
provide new insights into roles of the mucosal layers during bolus transport.
In addition, the information on pressure and the kinematics of the esophageal
wall due to the coordination of muscle activation is provided, which may help
relate clinical data from manometry and ultrasound images to the underlying
esophageal motor function
Structure formation on the brane: A mimicry
We show how braneworld cosmology with bulk matter can explain structure
formation. In this scenario, the nonlocal corrections to the Friedmann
equations supply a Weyl fluid that can dominate over matter at late times due
to the energy exchange between the brane and the bulk. We demonstrate that the
presence of the Weyl fluid radically changes the perturbation equations, which
can take care of the fluctuations required to account for the large amount of
inhomogeneities observed in the local universe. Further, we show how this Weyl
fluid can mimic dark matter. We also investigate the bulk geometry responsible
for the scenario.Comment: 7 pages. Matches published versio
Magnetic phase transitions in SmCoAsO
Magnetization, x-ray diffraction and specific-heat measurements reveal that
SmCoAsO undergoes three magnetic phase transitions. A ferromagnetic transition
attributed to the Co ions, emerges at TC=57 K with a small saturation moment of
0.15muB/Co. Reorientation of the Co moment to an antiferromagnetic state is
obtained at TN2=45 K. The relative high paramagnetic effective moment Peff=1.57
MuB/Co indicates an itinerant ferromagnetic state of the Co sublattice. The
third magnetic transition at TN1=5 K is observed clearly in the specific-heat
study only. Both magnetic and 57Fe Mossbauer studies show that substitution of
small quantities of Fe for Co was unsuccessful.Comment: 10pages text+Figures: comments welcome ([email protected]
Hydrogen Bond Dynamics Near A Micellar Surface: Origin of the Universal Slow Relaxation at Complex Aqueous Interfaces
The dynamics of hydrogen bonds among water molecules themselves and with the
polar head groups (PHG) at a micellar surface have been investigated by long
molecular dynamics simulations. The lifetime of the hydrogen bond between a PHG
and a water molecule is found to be much longer than that between any two water
molecules, and is likely to be a general feature of hydrophilic surfaces of
organized assemblies. Analyses of individual water trajectories suggest that
water molecules can remain bound to the micellar surface for more than a
hundred picosecond. The activation energy for such a transition from the bound
to a free state for the water molecules is estimated to be about 3.5kcal/mole.Comment: 12 pages. Phys. Rev. Lett. (Accepted) (2002
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