Torsional Device Research Articles

Reliability and robustness of a novel preclinical torsional wave-based device for stiffness evaluation

In this work, we present a novel preclinical device utilizing Torsional Wave Elastography (TWE). It comprises a rotational actuator element and a piezoceramic receiver ring circumferentially aligned. Both allow the transmission of shear waves that interact with the tissue before being received. Our main objective is to demonstrate and characterize the reliability, robustness, and accuracy of the device for characterizing the stiffness of elastic materials and soft tissues. Experimental tests are performed using two sets of tissue mimicking phantoms. The first set consists of calibrated CIRS gels with known stiffness value, while the second test uses non-calibrated manufactured phantoms. Our experimental observations show that the proposed device consistently and repeatably quantifies the stiffness of elastic materials with high accuracy. Furthermore, comparison with established techniques demonstrates a very high correlation (> 95%), supporting the potential medical application of this technology. The results obtained pave the way for a cross-sectional study aiming to investigate the correlation between gestational age and cervical elastic properties during pregnancy.

Torsional fatigue behaviour and damage mechanisms of martensitic spring steel in the HCF regime

This study investigates the fatigue behaviour and damage mechanisms of the martensitic spring steel SAE 9254, with emphasis on short crack propagation. Shear stress-controlled torsional fatigue tests are performed at stress ratio R = -1 and test frequency f = 79 Hz using structure-sensitive measurement techniques to detect the relevant damage mechanisms. An in-situ torsional fatigue testing device is applied for shear-controlled fatigue tests at two amplitudes of the torsion angle using R = –1 and f = 5 Hz, and the microstructural-dependent short crack propagation path is documented by means of confocal laser microscopy and electron backscattering analysis. It is found that the early development of fatigue damage is characterised by the formation of slip bands, which serve as crack initiation sites. In this process, crack initiation occurs preferentially at or near prior austenite grain boundaries. Furthermore, prior austenite grain boundaries were identified as obstacles for the propagation of short cracks, because of the change of the crystallographic orientation leading to an oscillating propagation rate of short cracks. The short crack density ρCD, which is an important parameter for fatigue damage, is rapidly growing with increasing shear stress amplitude ΔτT/2 and reveals a stress type specific behaviour.

Experimental Study on Torsional Friction of Stringing Blocks on Conductor in Tension Stringing Construction

An experimental study was conducted to analyze the torsional friction effect of stringing blocks on the conductor during tension stringing construction. By analyzing the torsional friction force of stringing blocks on the conductor, the torsional friction experimental device of the stringing blocks on the conductor was designed. The torsional friction torque of the JL/G1A-630/45-45/7 Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced (ACSR) under the different tensions and wrap angles passing through the stringing blocks was measured, and then the friction coefficient was obtained. The experimental results show that the torsional friction coefficient of the stringing blocks to the conductor μ decreases with the increase of the tension of the conductor and the wrap angle passing through the stringing blocks. The relationship between the coefficient of friction and the wrap angle and tension of the conductor passing through the stringing blocks is obtained by fitting, and the formula for calculating the torsional frictional torque is obtained.

Analysis of the noise mechanism and interactions of torsional decoupling devices in the belt driven 48V mild hybrid powertrain

This paper analyzed the mechanism of rattle noise from a decoupling damper pulley in a 48V belt driven mild hybrid powertrain with a three-cylinder turbo engine. To decouple the 48V belt drive from the high engine torque fluctuation of the engine, a decoupling device at the front end of engine is employed, which interacts with the rear end decoupling device and results in the rattling issue. In this study as opposed to the conventional engine torsional vibration studies which neglect the low inertia belt drive, the effective inertia of 48V belt drive is considered in 1D, 3D torsional vibration analyses of the entire powertrain as it easily reaches up to 20% of the whole torsional inertia. In this way, the impact inside the crank torque fluctuation decoupler was identified as the source of the rattle noise, which verified in the experiments. The interaction of the front end belt drive and the various types of rear end flywheel is also analyzed through parametric studies.

Nonlinear fourth-order elastic characterization of the cornea using torsional wave elastography

Measuring the mechanical nonlinear properties of the cornea remains challenging due to the lack of consensus in the methodology and in the models that effectively predict its behaviour. This study proposed developing a procedure to reconstruct nonlinear fourth-order elastic properties of the cornea based on a mathematical model derived from the theory of Hamilton et al. and using the torsional wave elastography (TWE) technique. In order to validate its diagnostic capability of simulated pathological conditions, two different groups were studied, non-treated cornea samples (n=7), and ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$NH_4OH$$\\end{document}) treated samples (n=7). All the samples were measured in-plane by a torsional wave device by increasing IOP from 5 to 25 mmHg with 5 mmHg steps. The results show a nonlinear variation of the shear wave speed with the IOP, with higher values for higher IOPs. Moreover, the shear wave speed values of the control group were higher than those of the treated group. The study also revealed significant differences between the control and treated groups for the Lamé parameter μ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mu$$\\end{document} (25.9–6.52 kPa), third-order elastic constant A (215.09–44.85 kPa), and fourth-order elastic constant D (523.5–129.63 kPa), with p-values of 0.010, 0.024, and 0.032, respectively. These findings demonstrate that the proposed procedure can distinguish between healthy and damaged corneas, making it a promising technique for detecting diseases associated with IOP alteration, such as corneal burns, glaucoma, or ocular hypertension.

Evaluation of liquefaction strength of Japanese natural sandy soil using triaxial and simple shear tests

The aim of this note is to reexamine the stress and strain conditions of cyclic triaxial and cyclic simple shear tests for evaluating the liquefaction strength of natural sandy soil. The conventional method of determining the liquefaction strength relies on the shear stress components. However, the use of stress invariants eliminates the need to specify the stress components, thereby making it a more rational approach for determining the liquefaction strength. A comparison of the results using the conventional stress ratio and the stress invariant ratio is done in this study. A strong correlation is seen between the liquefaction strengths obtained from the triaxial and the simple shear tests when using the stress invariant ratio. Despite this strong correlation, large scattering still remains due to the effects of the soil fabric of the natural sandy soil. A torsional hollow cylindrical device is used here to perform simple shear tests on undisturbed natural sandy soil.

A Study on Torsional Behavior of Glued Laminated Bamboo Glubam

Glubam is a type of engineered bamboo increasingly attracting research and application interest. This study focused on the torsional shear properties of glubam. Prismatic specimens with square sections were tested using a torsional loading device along with both conventional strain gauge–based instrumentation and a digital image correlation (DIC) system. Testing parameters included thick- and thin-strip glubams, the influence of carbonization of thick-strip glubam, as well as comparative spruce-pine-fir (SPF). Mechanical behavior and properties, including failure process, shear stress-strain relationships, modulus, and strength, were examined. The testing results indicated that carbonization of thick-strip glubam increased its strength slightly; however, specimens failed with more brittleness. The existence of bi-directional bamboo fibers in the thin-strip glubam apparently contributed to the larger deformability compared with the unidirectional thick-strip glubam.

Multimode Free-Vibration Decay Column: Small-Strain Stiffness and Attenuation

This study presents a simplified resonant column testing method to obtain small-strain dynamic properties of soils in both torsional and flexural vibrations. The method exploits free vibration decay responses of the system produced by manual excitation while the specimen is subjected to an isotropic effective confining stress produced by a vacuum pressure. This method is readily applicable to standard resonant column and torsional shear devices and triaxial cells by attaching a metal bar with one or two accelerometers for manual excitation, but not using an electromagnetic driving plate. This paper describes the apparatus design, test procedure, system calibration, and data analyses, as well as the test results of dynamic properties of a dry sand, including small-strain elastic moduli and damping ratios obtained from the torsional and flexural modes. The results confirm that the suggested method can capture strain-dependent characteristics up to the strains of ∼10−4 beyond typical elastic threshold strains, although the isotropic effective confining stress is limited to ∼90 kPa. This unique testing method provides remarkably consistent and reliable measurement for the dynamic properties of soils, and it avoids any possible bias from the counterelectromotive force.

A micro-force measurement torsion pendulum design with dual laser detection

Aiming at the ground test and evaluation of the suspended test bench of the high microgravity scientific experiment cabinet in the Tianhe core module of the space station to obtain its exact thrust resolution, a micro-force measurement torsion device with dual laser detection is designed. The main configuration of the device is the suspension fiber torsion pendulum, and tungsten wire with a length of 400 mm and a diameter of 800 μm is used as the suspension fiber. Under micro thrust, the suspension fiber is twisted, which drives the mirrors at both ends of the scale arm to rotate along the suspension fiber. The displacement detection of the reflector is carried out, and the magnitude of the micro thrust is calculated in combination with the theorem of momentum. Experimental results indicate that the design of the torsion of micro-force measurement provides an effective test method for the ground test of the suspension test bench. The device can be used to measure and evaluate the micro-propulsion force of the air jet port. After replacing the tungsten fiber with a diameter of 1mm, it can also replace the air floating platform to carry out the air jet closed-loop control verification work, which can effectively and accurately complete the ground test and evaluation of the suspension test bench.

INTEGRIN A2B1 DEFICIENCY REVEALS FASTER REGENERATION THROUGH BMP PATHWAY ACTIVATION IN A MURINE FRACTURE HEALING MODEL

Integrin α2β1 is one of the major transmembrane receptors for fibrillary collagen. In native bone we could show that the absence of this protein led to a protective effect against age-related osteoporosis. The objective of this study was to elucidate the effects of integrin α2β1 deficiency on fracture repair and its underlying mechanisms.Standardised femoral fractures were stabilised by an intramedullary nail in 12 week old female C57Bl/6J mice (wild type and integrin α2-/-). After 7, 14 and 28 days mice were sacrificed. Dissected femura were subjected to µCT and histological analyses. To evaluate the biomechanical properties, 28-day-healed femura were tested in a torsional testing device. Masson goldner staining, Alizarin blue, IHC and IF staining were performed on paraffin slices. Blood serum of the animals were measured by ELISA for BMP-2. Primary osteoblasts were analysed by in/on-cell western technology and qRT-PCR.Integrin α2β1 deficient animals showed earlier transition from cartilaginous callus to mineralized callus during fracture repair. The shift from chondrocytes over hypertrophic chondrocytes to bone-forming osteoblasts was accelerated. Collagen production was increased in mutant fracture callus. Serum levels of BMP-2 were increased in healing KO mice. Isolated integrin deficient osteoblast presented an earlier expression and production of active BMP-2 during the differentiation, which led to earlier mineralisation. Biomechanical testing showed no differences between wild-type and mutant bones.Knockout of integrin α2β1 leads to a beneficial outcome for fracture repair. Callus maturation is accelerated, leading to faster recovery, accompanied by an increased generation of extra-cellular matrix material. Biomechanical properties are not diminished by this accelerated healing. The underlying mechanism is driven by an earlier availability of BMP-2, one main effectors for bone development. Local inhibition of integrin α2β1 is therefore a promising target to accelerate fracture repair, especially in patients with retarded healing.

Macroscopic laser pulling based on the Knudsen force in rarefied gas.

Optical pulling is an attractive concept due to the counterintuitive feature, the profound mechanism underneath and promising applications. In recent ten years, optical pulling of micro-nano objects have been fully demonstrated. However, optical pulling of a macroscopic object is challenging. Herein, laser pulling of a macroscopic object is presented in rarefied gas. The pulling force is originated from the Kundsen force when a gauss laser beam irradiates a macroscopic structure composed of the absorptive bulk cross-linked graphene material and a SiO2 layer. A torsional pendulum device qualitatively presents the laser pulling phenomenon. A gravity pendulum device was used to further measure the pulling force that is more than three orders of magnitudes larger than the radiation pressure. This work expands the scope of optical pulling from microscale to macroscale and provides an effective technique approach for macroscopic optical manipulations.

Shear properties of top-of-rail products in numerical modelling

Top-of-rail product assessment in terms of frictional properties plays a key role in the evaluation of desired benefits for wheel-rail contact. In this study, a high-pressure torsion device is used to study the friction-displacement properties of three types of top-of-rail products. The effects of applied amount and increased temperature were investigated. All tested products were very sensitive to the amount applied. For the water-based substance, the evaporation of water created a solid-like film that provided very low friction. The increase in temperature lowered the coefficient of friction for dry contact but had a negligible effect on the applied products. A FASTSIM-based numerical model is used to demonstrate the application of these results.

The effect of top of rail lubricant composition on adhesion and rheological behaviour

The effect of top of rail lubricant composition on adhesion has been investigated using a laboratory ball-on-disc tribometer. Rheological properties were analysed using viscosimeter and high pressure torsion device. As a base medium, a biodegradable ester oil with bentonite thickener was selected. Added particles for friction modification were aluminium oxide, zinc oxide, copper sulfide and solid lubricants molybdenum disulfide and graphite. The effect of these components in the base medium on adhesion was evaluated. It was found that the most dominant component was the solid particles for friction modification. Based on the results, top of rail lubricant substances were prepared and tested. The best performing substances provided the optimal level of adhesion. These substances also showed resilience to overdosing, which caused commercial products to provide very low adhesion conditions. The rheological investigation confirmed the very low adhesion is controlled by elastohydrodynamic regime while the stable values are a result of transition to boundary lubrication.

Study of a Torque Limiter Based on NiTi Pseudoelastic Tapes

Herein, a new torsional device based on shape memory alloy elements and operating as torque limiter is presented. It consists of a set of pseudoelastic NiTi tapes working in series configuration. The tapes are assembled radially with respect to the rotational direction and work sequentially in beam‐like bending mode. The trend of the resulting torque may span from pulsating to continuous by changing the number of tapes. Furthermore, the use of NiTi material enables a temperature‐dependent response. Due to the particular mounting, the flag‐shaped pseudoelastic mechanical behavior typical of NiTi is partially hidden; however, the use of pseudoelastic elements provides a stable cyclic response and enables the possibility to tune the output torque.

Drained Shear Displacement Rates in Fully Softened Strength Torsional Ring Shear Testing

Abstract To measure the fully softened strength, the normally consolidated and reconstituted specimen must be drained, i.e., no development of shear-induced pore-water pressures, during shearing. This article investigates (1) typical shear displacement rates in torsional ring shear tests that yield drained shearing conditions for a range of fine-grained soils and (2) the problems that can develop if the porous discs in a torsional ring shear device are not clean and saturated prior to placement of the reconstituted soil paste in the specimen container. The data presented herein show that using a clogged or unsaturated porous disc will require a drained shear displacement rate that is one to two orders of magnitude slower than required, e.g., 0.018 mm/min, if the porous discs are clean, maintained, and saturated as recommended by the original equipment manufacturer and the ASTM D7608, Standard Test Method for Torsional Ring Shear Test to Measure Drained Fully Softened Shear Strength and Stress Dependent Strength Envelope of Fine-Grained Soils.

In Situ Synchrotron X‐Ray Diffraction during High‐Pressure Torsion Deformation of Ni and NiTi

A down‐sized high‐pressure torsion device is developed to be used in an INSTRON deformation machine available at the High Energy Materials Science beamline at PETRA III. This setup allows to obtain synchrotron diffraction patterns in situ during severe plastic straining. Two different materials are studied: in pure Ni, the dislocation density and coherently scattering domain size are analyzed; in NiTi shape memory alloy, amorphization and a reverse martensitic phase transformation are investigated. The in situ experiments facilitate the characterization of the microstructural evolution of these materials depending on uniaxial loading, hydrostatic pressure, and torsional strain.

Natural Rock Fractures: From Aperture to Fluid Flow

Fractures provide preferential flow paths and establish the internal “plumbing” of the rock mass. Fracture surface roughness and the matedness between surfaces combine to delineate the fracture geometric aperture. New and published measurements show the inherent relation between roughness wavelength and amplitude. In fact, data cluster along a power trend consistent with fractal topography. Synthetic fractal surfaces created using this power law, kinematic constraints and contact mechanics are used to explore the evolution of aperture size distribution during normal loading and shear displacement. Results show that increments in normal stress shift the Gaussian aperture size distribution toward smaller apertures. On the other hand, shear displacements do not affect the aperture size distribution of unmated fractures; however, the aperture mean and standard deviation increase with shear displacement in initially mated fractures. We demonstrate that the cubic law is locally valid when fracture roughness follows the observed power law and allows for efficient numerical analyses of transmissivity. Simulations show that flow trajectories redistribute and flow channeling becomes more pronounced with increasing normal stress. Shear displacement induces early aperture anisotropy in initially mated fractures as contact points detach transversely to the shear direction; however, anisotropy decreases as fractures become unmated after large shear displacements. Radial transmissivity measurements obtained using a torsional ring shear device and data gathered from the literature support the development of robust phenomenological models that satisfy asymptotic trends. A power function accurately captures the evolution of transmissivity with normal stress, while a logistic function represents changes with shear displacement. A complementary hydro-chemo-mechanical study shows that positive feedback during reactive fluid flow heightens channeling.

Additive manufactured thermal metamaterial devices for manipulating heat flow: geometric configuration design and SLM-assisted fabrication

Thermal metamaterials, benefitting from ingenious design and construction of artificial structures, commonly exhibit amazing heat conduction characteristics beyond naturally occurring materials in conventional scenarios. Based on the transformation thermodynamics theory and the effective medium theory, two types of metamaterial structure devices aiming to manipulate heat flow were artificially designed and fabricated with the aid of selective laser melting additive manufacturing technology in this work. The well-designed thermal metamaterial structures respectively achieved the thermal self-focus and thermal torsion functions. The relation of the configuration geometric parameters and the heat flux changes of the thermal metamaterial devices was carefully dissected. Following the geometric optimization design, the heat transfer directions achieved to be precisely manipulated as the design wishes. The changes in both heat flux and temperature distribution on the thermal self-focus and thermal torsion devices were traced through the numerical simulation and experimental measurement methods. The thermal simulation results were highly consistent with the experimental findings of the design-intended manipulation effects on the heat flow. The research work verified the applicability of the thermal metamaterial structures fabricated with the assist of selective laser melting in the thermal engineering fields.

Torsional Vibration Extraction of Dual-Period Instantaneous Angular Speed Measurement of the Generalized Incremental Encoder

Abstract Torsional vibration is key information in monitoring the condition of the shaft system. Using the vector superposition principle, the relationship between the rotation motion and the torsional vibration of the shaft is analyzed. This paper proposes a generalized incremental encoder model and constructs a piecewise function to describe the principle of the pulse output type speed measuring device. The incremental encoder uses a fixed angular increment to stamp the time component of the angular motion of the shaft, thereby establishing a discrete relationship between the angular motion of the shaft and the time component. The relationship between the angular resolution of the encoder and the torsional vibration signal sampling theorem is deduced. The asymmetric under-sampling of the torsional vibration signals is explained from the perspective of signal sampling. According to the index period invariance of the reconstruction of the encoder disk angle sequence, a dual-period instantaneous angular speed (IAS) calculation method is proposed, which uses all the time stamps, avoiding the sampling bandwidth idle caused by the single-period method, causing the torsional vibration signal to obtain more detailed information, and its analysis bandwidth is twice that of the single-period method. Simulation and experiment verified the correctness and superiority of the research content. Finally, the calculation method was packaged as a functional module and embedded in an online torsional vibration monitoring device applied to two 1000 Mw nuclear power turbine generator sets.

Nickel–Titanium Rotary Instruments: An In Vitro Comparison (Torsional Resistance of Two Heat-treated Reciprocating Files)

The present study aims to evaluate the difference in torsional resistance of two reciprocating nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) rotary files: WaveOne Gold and EdgeOne Fire. A total of 40 nickel-titanium rotary instruments (n = 40): 20 WaveOne Gold Small (WOGS) and 20 EdgeOne Fire Small (EOFS) were divided into two groups. Each instrument was tested using a torsional resistance device already validated in previous studies to evaluate and compare torsional resistance. The static torsional test was implemented by blocking each instrument at 3 mm from the tip and rotating it until fracture with a reciprocating motion. Torque to fracture (TtF) and fragment length (FL) were measured and statistically analyzed. Statistical analysis of TtF found significant differences between the two groups (p<0.05). The EOFS showed higher TtF if compared to WOGS, with a mean value and a standard deviation of 3.05 ± 0.07 (N cm) against 2.97 ± 0.08 (N cm). Data for FL showed no significant differences (p>0.05) between the two groups. According to the results of this study, it is reasonable to assert that EOFS instruments showed a higher torsional resistance if compared to the WOGS. As evidenced by this study, EOFS should be considered as a safer solution, in terms of torsional resistance, if compared to WOGS, reducing the risk of intracanal separation due to excessive torsional load.