Experimental and numerical studies of ferritic stainless steel tubular cross sections under combined compression and bending

An experimental and numerical study of ferritic stainless steel tubular cross sections under combined loading is presented in this paper. Two square hollow section (SHS) sizes—SHS 40×40×240×40×2 and SHS 50×50×250×50×2 made of Grade EN 1.4509 (AISI 441) stainless steel—were considered in the experimental program, which included 2 concentrically loaded stub column tests, 2 four-point bending tests, and 14 eccentrically loaded stub column tests. In parallel with the experimental investigation, a finite-element (FE) study was also conducted. Following validation of the FE models against the test results, parametric analyses were carried out to generate further structural performance data. The experimental and numerical results were analyzed and compared with the design strengths predicted by the current European stainless steel design code EN 1993-1-4 and American stainless steel design specification SEI/ASCE-8. The comparisons revealed that the codified capacity predictions for ferritic stainless steel cross sections under combined loading are unduly conservative. The deformation-based continuous strength method (CSM) has been extended to cover the case of combined loading. The applicability of CSM to the design of ferritic stainless steel cross sections under combined loading was also evaluated. The CSM was shown to offer substantial improvements in design efficiency over existing codified methods. Finally, the reliability of the proposals was confirmed by means of statistical analyses according to both the SEI/ASCE-8 requirements and those of EN 1990

Recent BES measurements and the hadronic contribution to the QED vacuum polarization

We have updated our evaluation of the hadronic contribution to the running of the QED fine structure constant using the recent precise measurements of the e+e- annihilation at the center-of-mass (c.m.s.) energy region between 2.6 and 3.65 GeV performed by the BES collaboration. In the low energy region, around the rho resonance, we include the recent measurements from the BABAR, CDM-2, KLOE and SND collaborations. We obtain Delta alpha (5)_had (s) = 0.02750 +/- 0.00033 at s = m_Z^2.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figur

Refining MOND interpolating function and TeVeS Lagrangian

The phenomena customly called Dark Matter or Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) have been argued by Bekenstein (2004) to be the consequences of a covariant scalar field, controlled by a free function (related to the MOND interpolating function) in its Lagrangian density. In the context of this relativistic MOND theory (TeVeS), we examine critically the interpolating function in the transition zone between weak and strong gravity. Bekenstein's toy model produces too gradually varying functions and fits rotation curves less well than the standard MOND interpolating function. However, the latter varies too sharply and implies an implausible external field effect (EFE). These constraints on opposite sides have not yet excluded TeVeS, but made the zone of acceptable interpolating functions narrower. An acceptable "toy" Lagrangian density function with simple analytical properties is singled out for future studies of TeVeS in galaxies. We also suggest how to extend the model to solar system dynamics and cosmology, and compare with strong lensing data (see also astro-ph/0509590).Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Understanding for flavor physics in the lepton sector

In this paper, we give a model for understanding flavor physics in the lepton sector--mass hierarchy among different generations and neutrino mixing pattern. The model is constructed in the framework of supersymmetry, with a family symmetry $S4*U(1)$. There are two right-handed neutrinos introduced for seesaw mechanism, while some standard model(SM) gauge group singlet fields are included which transforms non-trivially under family symmetry. In the model, each order of contributions are suppressed by $\delta \sim 0.1$ compared to the previous one. In order to reproduce the mass hierarchy, $m_\tau$ and $\sqrt{\Delta m_{atm}^2}$, $m_\mu$ and $\sqrt{\Delta m_{sol}^2}$ are obtained at leading-order(LO) and next-to-leading-order(NLO) respectively, while electron can only get its mass through next-to-next-to-next-to-leading-order(NNNLO) contributions. For neutrino mixing angels, $\theta_{12}, \theta_{23}, \theta_{13}$ are $45^\circ, 45^\circ, 0$ i.e. Bi-maximal mixing pattern as first approximation, while higher order contributions can make them consistent with experimental results. As corrections for $\theta_{12}$ and $\theta_{13}$ originate from the same contribution, there is a relation predicted for them $\sin{\theta_{13}}=\displaystyle \frac{1-\tan{\theta_{12}}}{1+\tan{\theta_{12}}}$. Besides, deviation from $\displaystyle \frac{\pi}{4}$ for $\theta_{23}$ should have been as large as deviation from 0 for $\theta_{13}$ if it were not the former is suppressed by a factor 4 compared to the latter.Comment: version to appear in Phys. Rev.