391 research outputs found
Green's function probe of a static granular piling
We present an experiment which aim is to investigate the mechanical
properties of a static granular assembly. The piling is an horizontal 3D
granular layer confined in a box, we apply a localized extra force at the
surface and the spatial distribution of stresses at the bottom is obtained (the
mechanical Green's function). For different types of granular media, we observe
a linear pressure response which profile shows one peak centered at the
vertical of the point of application. The peak's width increases linearly when
increasing the depth. This green function seems to be in -at least- qualitative
agreement with predictions of elastic theory.Comment: 9 pages, 3 .eps figures, submitted to PR
Confined granular packings: structure, stress, and forces
The structure and stresses of static granular packs in cylindrical containers
are studied using large-scale discrete element molecular dynamics simulations
in three dimensions. We generate packings by both pouring and sedimentation and
examine how the final state depends on the method of construction. The vertical
stress becomes depth-independent for deep piles and we compare these stress
depth-profiles to the classical Janssen theory. The majority of the tangential
forces for particle-wall contacts are found to be close to the Coulomb failure
criterion, in agreement with the theory of Janssen, while particle-particle
contacts in the bulk are far from the Coulomb criterion. In addition, we show
that a linear hydrostatic-like region at the top of the packings unexplained by
the Janssen theory arises because most of the particle-wall tangential forces
in this region are far from the Coulomb yield criterion. The distributions of
particle-particle and particle-wall contact forces exhibit
exponential-like decay at large forces in agreement with previous studies.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, submitted to PRE (v2) added new references,
fixed typo
Rheology of a confined granular material
We study the rheology of a granular material slowly driven in a confined
geometry. The motion is characterized by a steady sliding with a resistance
force increasing with the driving velocity and the surrounding relative
humidity. For lower driving velocities a transition to stick-slip motion
occurs, exhibiting a blocking enhancement whith decreasing velocity. We propose
a model to explain this behavior pointing out the leading role of friction
properties between the grains and the container's boundary.Comment: 9 pages, 3 .eps figures, submitted to PR
Primary retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma: Imaging appearances, pitfalls and diagnostic algorithm.
Although retroperitoneal sarcomas are rare tumours, they can be encountered by a wide variety of clinicians as they can be incidental findings on imaging or present with non specific symptoms and signs. Surgical resection can offer hope of cure and patient outcomes are improved when patients are managed in high-volume specialist centers. Failure to recognize retroperitoneal sarcomas on imaging can lead to inappropriate management in inexperienced centers. Therefore it is critical that a diagnosis of retroperitoneal sarcoma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a retroperitoneal mass with prompt referral to a soft tissue sarcoma unit. In particular, the most common retroperitoneal sarcoma subtypes, liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma, have characteristic imaging appearances which are discussed. This review therefore aims to set the context and guide clinicians through a diagnostic pathway for retroperitoneal masses in adults which arise extrinsic to the solid abdominal viscera
Footprints in Sand: The Response of a Granular Material to Local Perturbations
We experimentally determine ensemble-averaged responses of granular packings
to point forces, and we compare these results to recent models for force
propagation in a granular material. We used 2D granular arrays consisting of
photoelastic particles: either disks or pentagons, thus spanning the range from
ordered to disordered packings. A key finding is that spatial ordering of the
particles is a key factor in the force response. Ordered packings have a
propagative component that does not occur in disordered packings.Comment: 5 pages, 4 eps figures, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 035506 (2001
Clear Cell Sarcoma (Malignant Melanoma) of Soft Parts: A Clinicopathologic Study of 52 Cases
Clear cell sarcomas are aggressive, rare soft tissue tumors and their classification among melanoma or sarcoma is still undetermined due to their clinical, pathologic, and molecular properties found in both types of tumors. This is a retrospective study of 52 patients with CCS seen between April 1979 and April 2005 in two institutions. The EWS-ATF-1 fusion transcript was studied in 31 patients and an activating mutation of the BRAF or NRAS gene was researched in 22 patients. 30 men and 22 women, with a mean age of 33 were studied. Forty-three tumors (82.69%) were located in the extremities, specially the foot (19 tumors). Median initial tumor size was 4.8âcm (1 to 15âcm). Necrosis involving more than 50% of the tumor cells was found in 14 cases (26.92%). High mitotic rate (>10) was found in 25 cases (48.07%). The EWS/ATF-1 translocation was found in 28 (53.84%) of 31 patients studied, and mutation of BRAF or NRAS was found in only 2 of 22 patients analyzed cases (3.84%). Among the tumor-associated parameters, only tumor size (>4âcm) emerged as a significant prognostic factor. Forty-nine patients had a localized disease at diagnosis (94.23%) and underwent surgical resection immediately (90%) or after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CT) (10%). Various CT regimens were used in 37 patients (71.15%) with no significant efficacy. The 5- and 10-year OS rates were 59% and 41%, respectively. Tumor size was the only emerging prognosis factor in our series. Complete surgical resection remains the optimal treatment for this aggressive chemoresistant tumor
Morphology of two dimensional fracture surface
We consider the morphology of two dimensional cracks observed in experimental
results obtained from paper samples and compare these results with the
numerical simulations of the random fuse model (RFM). We demonstrate that the
data obey multiscaling at small scales but cross over to self-affine scaling at
larger scales. Next, we show that the roughness exponent of the random fuse
model is recovered by a simpler model that produces a connected crack, while a
directed crack yields a different result, close to a random walk. We discuss
the multiscaling behavior of all these models.Comment: slightly revise
Mechanisms for slow strengthening in granular materials
Several mechanisms cause a granular material to strengthen over time at low
applied stress. The strength is determined from the maximum frictional force
F_max experienced by a shearing plate in contact with wet or dry granular
material after the layer has been at rest for a waiting time \tau. The layer
strength increases roughly logarithmically with \tau -only- if a shear stress
is applied during the waiting time. The mechanisms of strengthening are
investigated by sensitive displacement measurements and by imaging of particle
motion in the shear zone. Granular matter can strengthen due to a slow shift in
the particle arrangement under shear stress. Humidity also leads to
strengthening, but is found not to be its sole cause. In addition to these time
dependent effects, the static friction coefficient can also be increased by
compaction of the granular material under some circumstances, and by cycling of
the applied shear stress.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Response of a Hexagonal Granular Packing under a Localized External Force: Exact Results
We study the response of a two-dimensional hexagonal packing of massless,
rigid, frictionless spherical grains due to a vertically downward point force
on a single grain at the top layer. We use a statistical approach, where each
mechanically stable configuration of contact forces is equally likely. We show
that this problem is equivalent to a correlated -model. We find that the
response is double-peaked, where the two peaks, sharp and single-grain diameter
wide, lie on the two downward lattice directions emanating from the point of
the application of the external force. For systems of finite size, the
magnitude of these peaks decreases towards the bottom of the packing, while
progressively a broader, central maximum appears between the peaks. The
response behaviour displays a remarkable scaling behaviour with system size
: while the response in the bulk of the packing scales as , on
the boundary it is independent of , so that in the thermodynamic limit only
the peaks on the lattice directions persist. This qualitative behaviour is
extremely robust, as demonstrated by our simulation results with different
boundary conditions. We have obtained expressions of the response and higher
correlations for any system size in terms of integers corresponding to an
underlying discrete structure.Comment: Accepted for publication in JStat; 33 pages, 10 figures; Section 2.2
reorganized and rewritten; Details about the simulation procedure added in
Sec.3.1. ; A new section, summarizing the final results and the calculation
procedure adde
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