1,151 research outputs found
Polygons vs. clumps of discs: a numerical study of the influence of grain shape on the mechanical behaviour of granular materials
We performed a series of numerical vertical compression tests on assemblies
of 2D granular material using a Discrete Element code and studied the results
with regard to the grain shape. The samples consist of 5,000 grains made from
either 3 overlapping discs (clumps - grains with concavities) or six-edged
polygons (convex grains). These two grain type have similar external envelopes,
which is a function of a geometrical parameter .
In this paper, the numerical procedure applied is briefly presented followed
by the description of the granular model used. Observations and mechanical
analysis of dense and loose granular assemblies under isotropic loading are
made. The mechanical response of our numerical granular samples is studied in
the framework of the classical vertical compression test with constant lateral
stress (biaxial test). The comparison of macroscopic responses of dense and
loose samples with various grain shapes shows that when is considered
a concavity parameter, it is therefore a relevant variable for increasing
mechanical performances of dense samples. When is considered an
envelope deviation from perfect sphericity, it can control mechanical
performances for large strains. Finally, we present some remarks concerning the
kinematics of the deformed samples: while some polygon samples subjected to a
vertical compression present large damage zones (any polygon shape), dense
samples made of clumps always exhibit thin reflecting shear bands. This paper
was written as part of a CEGEO research project www.granuloscience.comComment: This version of the paper doesn't include figures. Visit the journal
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Shear-band arrest and stress overshoots during inhomogeneous flow in a metallic glass
At the transition from a static to a dynamic deformation regime of a shear band in bulk metallic glasses, stress transients in terms of overshoots are observed. We interpret this phenomenon with a repeated shear-melting transition and are able to access a characteristic time for a liquidlike to solidlike transition in the shear band as a function of temperature, enabling us to understand why shear bands arrest during inhomogenous serrated flow in bulk metallic glasses
A portable platform for accelerated PIC codes and its application to GPUs using OpenACC
We present a portable platform, called PIC_ENGINE, for accelerating
Particle-In-Cell (PIC) codes on heterogeneous many-core architectures such as
Graphic Processing Units (GPUs). The aim of this development is efficient
simulations on future exascale systems by allowing different parallelization
strategies depending on the application problem and the specific architecture.
To this end, this platform contains the basic steps of the PIC algorithm and
has been designed as a test bed for different algorithmic options and data
structures. Among the architectures that this engine can explore, particular
attention is given here to systems equipped with GPUs. The study demonstrates
that our portable PIC implementation based on the OpenACC programming model can
achieve performance closely matching theoretical predictions. Using the Cray
XC30 system, Piz Daint, at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), we
show that PIC_ENGINE running on an NVIDIA Kepler K20X GPU can outperform the
one on an Intel Sandybridge 8-core CPU by a factor of 3.4
A New Clinically Driven Classification for Acute Aortic Dissection.
Objectives: To report a new classification scheme for acute aortic dissection (AAD) that considers the aortic arch as a separate entity and integrates patterns of malperfusion syndrome (MPS). The proposed classification was evaluated retrospectively in a large population. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed pre-therapy CT angiograms of 226 consecutive patients (mean ± SD age: 64 ± 12 years) with AAD. AADs were reclassified with a new classification scheme that included three aortic dissection types (A, involving at least the ascending aorta; B, involving exclusively the descending aorta; and C, involving the aortic arch with/without the descending aorta) and four malperfusion grades (0: no MPS; 1: dynamic MPS; 2: static MPS; 3: static and dynamic MPS). AAD features were assessed and correlated to patient outcomes. Results: According to the new classification, we identified 152 type A dissections (92 A0, 11 A1, 38 A2, 11 A3); 50 type B (38 B0, 5 B1, 6 B2, 1 B3); and 24 type C (17 C0, 6 C2, 1 C3). Type C represented 11% of all AADs. MPS occurred in 39, 24, and 29% in type A, B, and C, respectively. Type C was treated with significantly more endovascular or hybrid interventions (37%) than in types A (3%) and B (20%) (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The new AAD classification was feasible, and type C was easily identified ("non-A, non-B"). Preliminary findings supported the usefulness of this classification for the decision-making process and subsequent treatments
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