99 research outputs found
Structural risk assessment and aircraft fleet maintenance
In the present analysis, deterministic flaw growth analysis is used to project the failure distributions from inspection data. Inspection data is reported for each critical point in the aircraft. The data will indicate either a crack of a specific size or no crack. The crack length may be either less than, equal to, or greater than critical size for that location. Non-critical length cracks are projected to failure using the crack growth characteristics for that location to find the life when it will be at critical length. Greater-than-critical length cracks are projected back to determine the life at failure, that is, when it was at critical length. The same process is used as in the case of a non-critical crack except that the projection goes the other direction. These points, along with the critical length cracks are used to determine the failure distribution. To be able to use data from different aircraft to build a common failure distribution, a consistent life variable must be used. Aircraft life varies with the severity of the usage; therefore the number of flight hours for a particular aircraft must be modified by its usage factor to obtain a normalized life which can be compared with that from other aircraft
Out of plane analysis for composite structures
Simple two dimensional analysis techniques were developed to aid in the design of strong joints for integrally stiffened/bonded composite structures subjected to out of plane loads. It was found that most out of plane failures were due to induced stresses arising from rapid changes in load path direction or geometry, induced stresses due to changes in geometry caused by buckling, or direct stresses produced by fuel pressure or bearing loads. While the analysis techniques were developed to address a great variety of out of plane loading conditions, they were primarily derived to address the conditions described above. The methods were developed and verified using existing element test data. The methods were demonstrated using the data from a test failure of a high strain wingbox that was designed, built, and tested under a previous program. Subsequently, a set of design guidelines were assembled to assist in the design of safe, strong integral composite structures using the analysis techniques developed
Strong asymptotics for Cauchy biorthogonal polynomials with application to the Cauchy two--matrix model
We apply the nonlinear steepest descent method to a class of 3x3
Riemann-Hilbert problems introduced in connection with the Cauchy two-matrix
random model. The general case of two equilibrium measures supported on an
arbitrary number of intervals is considered. In this case, we solve the
Riemann-Hilbert problem for the outer parametrix in terms of sections of a
spinorial line bundle on a three-sheeted Riemann surface of arbitrary genus and
establish strong asymptotic results for the Cauchy biorthogonal polynomials.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures. V2; typos corrected, added reference
Crystalline Order On Riemannian Manifolds With Variable Gaussian Curvature And Boundary
We investigate the zero temperature structure of a crystalline monolayer
constrained to lie on a two-dimensional Riemannian manifold with variable
Gaussian curvature and boundary. A full analytical treatment is presented for
the case of a paraboloid of revolution. Using the geometrical theory of
topological defects in a continuum elastic background we find that the presence
of a variable Gaussian curvature, combined with the additional constraint of a
boundary, gives rise to a rich variety of phenomena beyond that known for
spherical crystals. We also provide a numerical analysis of a system of
classical particles interacting via a Coulomb potential on the surface of a
paraboloid.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
Mesoscopic colonization of a spectral band
We consider the unitary matrix model in the limit where the size of the
matrices become infinite and in the critical situation when a new spectral band
is about to emerge. In previous works the number of expected eigenvalues in a
neighborhood of the band was fixed and finite, a situation that was termed
"birth of a cut" or "first colonization". We now consider the transitional
regime where this microscopic population in the new band grows without bounds
but at a slower rate than the size of the matrix. The local population in the
new band organizes in a "mesoscopic" regime, in between the macroscopic
behavior of the full system and the previously studied microscopic one. The
mesoscopic colony may form a finite number of new bands, with a maximum number
dictated by the degree of criticality of the original potential. We describe
the delicate scaling limit that realizes/controls the mesoscopic colony. The
method we use is the steepest descent analysis of the Riemann-Hilbert problem
that is satisfied by the associated orthogonal polynomials.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, minor corrections and addition
Crystalline Order on a Sphere and the Generalized Thomson Problem
We attack generalized Thomson problems with a continuum formalism which
exploits a universal long range interaction between defects depending on the
Young modulus of the underlying lattice. Our predictions for the ground state
energy agree with simulations of long range power law interactions of the form
1/r^{gamma} (0 < gamma < 2) to four significant digits. The regime of grain
boundaries is studied in the context of tilted crystalline order and the
generality of our approach is illustrated with new results for square tilings
on the sphere.Comment: 4 pages, 5 eps figures Fig. 2 revised, improved Fig. 3, reference
typo fixe
Ergodic Jacobi matrices and conformal maps
We study structural properties of the Lyapunov exponent and the
density of states for ergodic (or just invariant) Jacobi matrices in a
general framework. In this analysis, a central role is played by the function
as a conformal map between certain domains. This idea goes
back to Marchenko and Ostrovskii, who used this device in their analysis of the
periodic problem
Acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction after amoxycillin-induced anaphylactic shock in a young adult with normal coronary arteries: a case report
BACKGROUND: Acute myocardial infarction (MI) following anaphylaxis is rare, especially in subjects with normal coronary arteries. The exact pathogenetic mechanism of MI in anaphylaxis remains unclear. CASE PRESENTATION: The case of a 32-year-old asthmatic male with systemic anaphylaxis, due to oral intake of 500 mg amoxycillin, complicated by acute ST-elevation MI is the subject of this report. Following admission to the local Health Center and almost simultaneously with the second dose of subcutaneous epinephrine (0.2 mg), the patient developed acute myocardial injury. Coronary arteriography, performed before discharge, showed no evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease. In vivo allergological evaluation disclosed strong sensitivity to amoxycillin and the minor (allergenic) determinants of penicillin. CONCLUSION: Acute ST-elevation MI is a rare but potential complication of anaphylactic reactions, even in young adults with normal coronary arteries. Coronary artery spasm appears to be the main causative mechanism of MI in the setting of "cardiac anaphylaxis". However, on top of the vasoactive reaction, a thrombotic occlusion, induced by mast cell-derived mediators and facilitated by prolonged hypotension, cannot be excluded as a possible contributory factor
Towards Uniform Online Spherical Tessellations
The problem of uniformly placing N points onto a sphere finds applications in many areas. An online version of this problem was recently studied with respect to the gap ratio as a measure of uniformity. The proposed online algorithm of Chen et al. was upper-bounded by 5.99 and then improved to 3.69, which is achieved by considering a circumscribed dodecahedron followed by a recursive decomposition of each face. We analyse a simple tessellation technique based on the regular icosahedron, which decreases the upper-bound for the online version of this problem to around 2.84. Moreover, we show that the lower bound for the gap ratio of placing up to three points is 1+5√2≈1.618 . The uniform distribution of points on a sphere also corresponds to uniform distribution of unit quaternions which represent rotations in 3D space and has numerous applications in many areas
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