Homogeneous Volume Research Articles

A microwave fracturability index (MFI) of hard igneous rocks

Microwave has been regarded as a promising technique to break hard igneous rocks. However, there is no criterion to evaluate the ease with which commonly found hard rocks can be fractured by microwave. In this study, 15 hard rocks were treated by a 2.45 GHz single mode microwave cavity at 3 kW for 1 min. The effect of rock properties including the average grain size, the volume inhomogeneity coefficient, the effective dielectric loss factor and the initial P-wave velocity on the P-wave velocity reduction (which is defined as the microwave fracturability index-MFI) was investigated. The first three parameters can be obtained from the petrographic images whereas the last one is easy to assess. The results found positive linear relationships between MFI and the average grain size, the effective dielectric loss factor and the initial P-wave velocity, and a negative linear relationship between MFI and the volume inhomogeneity coefficient. In addition, the study revealed that the most significant factors according the entropy weight method are the effective dielectric loss factor and the average grain size, followed by the volume inhomogeneity coefficient, and finally the initial P-wave velocity. A multi-parameter linear regression model for MFI of igneous rocks was proposed and validated. This work provides an easy and straightforward method to assess the microwave fracturability of a specific rock based on petrographic photomicrographs and P-wave velocity measurement.

Can cavity-based pedicle screw augmentation decrease screw loosening? A biomechanical in vitro study

PurposeIn an osteoporotic vertebral body, cement-augmented pedicle screw fixation could possibly be optimized by the creation of an initial cavity. The aim of this study is to compare three test groups with regard to their loosening characteristics under cyclic loading.MethodsEighteen human, osteoporotic spine segments were divided in three groups. Flexibility tests and cyclic loading tests were performed with an internal fixator. The screws were fixed after creation a cavity and with cement (cavity-augmented group), without cavity and with cement (augmented group), and without cavity and without cement (control group). Cyclic loading up to 100,000 cycles was applied with a complex loading protocol. Screw loosening was measured with flexibility tests after implantation and after cyclic loading. Cement distribution was visualized from CT scans.ResultsIn all groups, range of motion increased during cyclic loading, representing significant screw loosening after 100,000 cycles. In both augmented groups, screw loosening was less pronounced than in the control group. The cavity-augmented group showed only a slight tendency of screw loosening, but with smaller variations compared to both other groups. This may be explained with a trend for a more equal and homogeneous cement volume around each tip for the cavity-augmented group.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that creating a cavity may allow a more equal fixation of all pedicle screws with slight reduction of loosening. However, augmentation only through a cannulated screw is almost equivalent, if care is taken that enough cement volume can be pushed out around the tip of the screw.

Experimental and numerical investigations on the hydrodynamics of gas-solid fluidized bed with an inclined agitator

The effect of inclined agitation on the fluidization quality of a gas-solid fluidized bed is experimentally and numerically investigated. The pressure characteristics are characterized by the standard deviation of pressure drop and power spectra. The particle velocity, solid volume fraction and granular temperature distributions are investigated by numerical modeling. It is found that inclined agitation enhances the gross circulation of solid particles and enlarges the affect region of the agitator, improving the gas-solid fluidization quality. The increase in the agitation speed leads to higher frequency of collisions and more activity of particles, resulting in decreases of bubble sizes and a more homogeneous solid volume fraction distribution. Wide-blade agitator can also improve the fluidization performance.

An accurate SPH Volume Adaptive Scheme for modeling strongly-compressible multiphase flows. Part 1: Numerical scheme and validations with basic 1D and 2D benchmarks

In the present work, the single-phase and weakly-compressible δ-SPH model is further extended to simulate multiphase and strongly-compressible flows. This is motivated by the fact that traditional SPH models can meet some difficulties when modeling strongly-compressible flows with large volume variations (e.g. expansion and collapse of cavitation bubbles). Due to the strong compressibility of the fluid, the energy equation should be considered in the governing equations. In that case, the pressure is solved based on both density and internal energy. To stabilize the pressure field, density and energy diffusive terms should be applied. Large variations of particle volumes in the compressible phase would result in large variations of particle spacing. Therefore, particle smoothing lengths are adjusted in time to maintain appropriate neighboring particles. To ensure good properties of accuracy and conservation when particles with different smoothing lengths interact, corrected SPH operators are utilized to discretize the governing equations. Moreover, in order to limit the particle volume variations and maintain a homogeneous volume distribution in the entire flow field, especially near the interface between different phases of different compressibility, a new volume adaptive scheme is proposed to control particle volumes. The volumes which are over-expanded or over-compressed will be split or merged with others, maintaining a small particle volume variation in the flow. Finally, the proposed SPH model is validated with several challenging benchmarks including expansion and collapse of underwater-explosion bubbles or cavitation bubbles. All the SPH results are compared with other numerical solutions with good agreements.

Global buckling and multiscale responses of fiber-reinforced composite cylindrical shells with trapezoidal corrugated cores

In order to comprehensively understand the effect of composite materials on the structural response, a novel multiscale numerical model is presented in this work to study the global buckling and localized responses of composite cylindrical shells with trapezoidal corrugated cores. Treated as hierarchical structures, the investigation of composite shells includes carbon fiber-reinforced composites at micro-scale, fiber–matrix laminates at meso-scale, as well as corrugated shells at macro-scale. The well-established locally-exact homogenization theory is firstly introduced to generate the microstructural effective coefficients, which are then transferred to the lamination theory. Finally, a simplified structural homogeneous representative volume element (RVE) is established with equivalent properties to a part of cylindrical structures with inner and outer skins embedded with corrugated cores, significantly facilitating the finite element (FE) simulations. The simplified structure is validated against the 3D full-scale analysis with good agreement for critical loads of different buckling modes. The global buckling performance of corrugated cylinders is then demonstrated by considering the effect of constituent materials, fiber volume fraction and geometric parameters. More importantly, benefited from a top-down procedure, the localized stress distributions are recovered using the three-stage multiscale model, to predict the possible crack initiations starting within the microstructures.

Evaluating zircon initial Hf isotopic composition using a combined SIMS–MC-LASS-ICP-MS approach: A case study from the Coompana Province in South Australia

The accessory mineral zircon is the most widely used geological timekeeper and tracer of crustal growth processes. Specifically, U–Pb isotopes in zircon offer a means to accurately determine the timing of magmatic events and their Hf isotopic composition provides a means to constrain magma source composition and potentially approximate source age. The high spatial resolution provided by in situ techniques such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) have the advantage of being able to target different growth zones within individual zircon crystals, and unravel complex magmatic histories. However, utilising this power effectively requires calculation of accurate initial Hf compositions, which are founded on the assumption that the information obtained via the U–Pb and Lu–Hf systems are correctly integrated. A typical Hf isotope LA-ICP-MS analysis ablates a sample volume that is two orders of magnitude greater than a typical SIMS analysis. Thus, when age determination has been carried out by SIMS it is necessary to demonstrate that each subsequent Hf isotope analysis has sampled a similar isotopically homogeneous volume. Here, we use a combined SIMS and laser ablation split stream (LASS)-ICP-MS approach, whereby U–Pb isotopic measurement concurrently on the same sample volume as the Hf isotope measurement is compared to prior lower volume SIMS measurements. Using a suite of new drill core magmatic rock samples from the comparatively unexplored Coompana Province in South Australia, we demonstrate how such an approach can be used to filter Hf isotope datasets by identifying LASS-ICP-MS analyses that sampled mixtures of different zircon growth domains. The robust initial 176Hf/177Hf compositions obtained from the filtered Coompana data set indicate that the province represents part of a juvenile Paleoproterozoic-Mesoproterozoic arc system formed through hyper-extension of the margin of the Archean Gawler Craton. This arc system can be correlated to the Musgrave Province and Madura Province in central and Western Australia respectively.

Actively homogenizing fluid distribution and slug length of liquid-liquid segmented flow in parallelized microchannels

Liquid-liquid segmented flow offers the unique characteristics of high heat and mass transfer combined with a narrow residence time distribution and thus shows great potential in process intensification of biphasic applications. Capacity increase of this technology can only be achieved by numbering-up, if scale-related advantages are to be preserved. This implies homogeneous residence times and volume flows in all parallel channels. Conventionally this is achieved by static fluid distribution concepts with high pressure drops. This contribution develops a microfluidic valve based on temperature-controlled viscosity adjustments. It can be used to actively compensate for manufacturing tolerances in parallelized micro reactors and thus requires a lower pressure drop than static distribution concepts to achieve a homogeneous fluid distribution. The distributor concept is combined with sensors and actuators for flow patterns and an automated parallelization concept for homogenizing flow patterns of liquid-liquid slug flows in micro channels is presented.

Dosimetric Evaluation of 3-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy Technique in Postoperative Patients with Gastric Carcinoma: When Is IMRT Really Needed?

Background and purpose: Adjuvant Chemoradiotherapy is the standard of care for postoperative gastric cancers with high risk features. The purpose of the current study is to do a dosimetric analysis in the postoperative setting by using 3-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy (3D-CRT) to a total dose of 45 Gy in 25 fractions over 5 weeks. A subsequent comparison with the 3D-CRT and IMRT of other published data is presented.Materials and Methods: Sixty postoperative patients who underwent radiation with 3D-CRT technique were included in this analysis. All patients received concurrent 5-Flurouracil or Capecitabine chemotherapy along with radiation. Radiation plans were analysed in terms of PTV coverage, conformity index (CI), homogeneity index (HI), organs at risk (OARs) and dose volume histogram (DVH) parameters. Results: DVH statistics for PTV: Dmean was 45.2±0.8 Gy, D98 was 42.9 ±1 Gy, D95 was 43.4±0.8 Gy, and D2 was 47.7±1.1 Gy. Mean CI for all plans was 1.23±0.43 and HI was 1.09±0.03. DVH parameters for OARs: right kidney, Dmean = 11.9±5.1 Gy, V18 was 21.5±13.8%, V15 was 27.2±14.9% and left kidney, Dmean was 17.7±5.8 Gy, V18 was 33.5±13.8%, V15 was 43.2±15.5%. Dmean for liver was 27.7±6.4 Gy and V20 was 69.2±15.8%. D195cc for the bowel bag was 36.3±10.8 Gy. Conclusion: The results of this study and subsequent comparison with existing literature suggests that 3D-CRT provides adequate homogenous target volume dose coverage and OAR protection, comparable to IMRT. More than the radiotherapy technique, it was the anastomotic site and the tumor location that determined the OAR doses.

Effect of Sound-Speed Inhomogeneities in Sea Bottom on the Acoustic Wave Propagation in Shallow Water

The effect of volume inhomogeneities in the sea bottom upper layer (sediments) on the long-range sound propagation in shallow water is analyzed. The experimental basis for developing inhomogeneous bottom models are the data of 3D seismic survey on the spatial structure of sediments in the Kara Sea, where variations of ~10% in the average sound speed in the bottom are observed at ranges of ~1 km. The mode coupling due to bottom volume inhomogeneities is revealed within the normal mode approach. Coupled mode equations are derived not only for propagating modes but also for leaky modes and quasimodes; including these types of modes may be urgent in analysis of the waveguides where the sound speed in the bottom (c1) is less or approximately equal to the sound speed in water (c). Numerical simulations show that the coupling between energy-carrying modes is maximum at c1 ≈ c. Calculations of the attenuation of depth-averaged sound field intensity in a water layer, performed for the Kara Sea at ranges of up to 5 km, show that the mode coupling due to bottom volume inhomogeneities can be neglected, and the depth-averaged transmission loss can be calculated using the adiabatic approximation at frequencies below a few hundred hertz. When analyzing the depth-averaged intensity, the effects of mode coupling on bottom inhomogeneities can be observed only by implementing special conditions, for example, using mode arrays providing maximally pure (free of other modes) radiation of a specified mode.

Distributions of Electric and Thermal Fields in a Rectangular Microwave Chamber with a Cylindrical Phantom

Numerical modeling is used to study the distribution of the electric field excited by microwave radiation in a rectangular chamber in which a two-layer dielectric cylindrical phantom is placed whose electrophysical parameters correspond to muscle and fat tissues of human extremities. The electric field in the fat layer is shown to be noticeably higher than in the muscle layer and is inhomogeneous in both layers. Measurements have demonstrated that due to heat transfer, the resulting temperature inhomogeneity in the phantom volume is noticeably weaker than the electric field inhomogeneity. Thus, despite the significant skin effect and the presence of weak standing waves, a fairly uniform heating of the phantom is possible.

Constraining Internal States in Progressive Rock Failure of Carrara Marble by Measuring Residual Strains With Neutron Diffraction

AbstractKnowledge of the internal state of rock is key to anticipate its rheological response and susceptibility to external factors. Time‐dependent failure in rock is controlled by internal state changes, like damage accumulation or strength degradation. But assessing internal states and changes thereof, nondestructively and independent of external forcing is not straightforward. Residual strains, measured with neutron diffraction techniques are used as a proxy for the internal state in material sciences. We investigated its potential for progressive rock failure by measuring residual strain states of an untested and three mechanically and chemomechanically pretested Carrara marble samples. We collected neutron diffraction data for three crystal lattice planes {10̅14}, {0006}, and {11̅20}. Measurements showed an initial overall contractional spatially homogeneous residual unit cell volume strain state of about −400 μstrain, though magnitudes were strongly partitioned among measured crystal lattice planes. However, they are equal within the spatial orientations of the intact sample. For the pretested samples, the induction and relaxation of strains varied spatially with the pretesting stress field and environmental conditions. The vertical extent of superposition of the initial residual strain state was greatest in wet samples, the magnitude of induced extensional strain highest in the dry sample. This indicates chemomechanically enhanced subcritical crack growth with concomitant residual strain relaxation as well as the mitigation of extensional strain built up by the presence of water during pretesting. Our experiments show that residual strain has a significant potential to provide insights into past and actual internal states to anticipate progressive rock failure.

Significant room-temperature plasticity in a high Zr-containing bulk glassy alloy

Abstract

DETERMINATION OF THE EFFECTIVE PERMITTIVITY OF A HETEROGENEOUS MATERIAL

Purpose. To develop a two-dimensional numerical-field model for determining the effective permittivity of a multicomponent material represented by a system of homogeneous volumes with known physical characteristics. Methodology . The model is based on the solution by the finite element method of an electrostatic problem with the subsequent determination of the energy contained in the volume under consideration. Than we have compared this result with the energy of a flat capacitor with a rectangular cross-section of the plates and determined the effective permittivity of test material. We also have used Rayleigh, Odelevsky and Lichtenecker models and the model with a perpendicular arrangement of layers relative to the main electric flux. Results. Based on the developed field model, the effective permittivities for dry, wet and transformer oil-soaked insulating papers of various grades, including taking into account ash, are determined. We have proved that a macroscopically homogeneous multicomponent material is well approximated by uniformly spaced cylindrical volumes with a substance of different nature in a matrix of another substance. We have showed a significant error of the layer model and the Rayleigh model relative to the proposed model. We have showed the equivalence of models with the location of inclusions in the nodes of a rectangular and parallelogram mesh. Originality. For the first time we have proposed wet paper models with an asymmetric arrangement of a cylindrical volume of water with a circular and segment cross-section in a cylindrical pore. For the first time we have proposed models of insulating paper with evenly spaced cylindrical inclusions of different volumes. Practical value. The proposed model allows to calculate the effective permittivity of an inhomogeneous material with a given accuracy without restricting the shape of the components. Based on the proposed field model, it is possible to determine the Lichtenecker index, which allows to calculate the effective permittivity for any ratio of the volumes of the components of a heterogeneous material.

Numerical and Workbench Design of 2.35 T Double-Tuned (¹H/²³Na) Nested RF Birdcage Coils Suitable for Animal Size MRI.

The birdcage Radio Frequency (RF) coil is one of the most used configurations in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners for the detection of the proton (1H) signal over a large homogeneous volume. More recently, birdcage RF coils have been successfully used also in the field of X-nuclei MRI, where the signal of a second nucleus (e.g. 13C, 23Na, 31P, and many others) needs to be detected with high sensitivity and spatial homogeneity. To this purpose several technical solutions have been adopted to design Double Tuned (DT) volume RF coils, including the recent configuration of the nested birdcage RF coils. One of the main problems in the design of DT RF coils is the decoupling between the 1H and X channels, and a number of solutions have been adopted over the years. In this work, based on numerical and workbench methods, we report the decoupling optimization of DT (1H/23Na) nested RF birdcage coils suitable for 2.35 T MRI scanners encompassing an inner Low-Pass (LP) birdcage used for X-nuclei, an outer High-Pass (HP) birdcage for 1H and an external cylindrical RF shield. We show that a suitable geometrical selection of the two coaxial RF birdcage coils (relative angular orientation, diameters and lengths) and RF shield (diameter, length) allows a significant decoupling optimization. We also provide valuable information about the RF B1+ field homogeneity and efficiency. Our approach was validated both with numerical simulations and workbench testing using DT nested RF coil prototypes.

A plan template-based automation solution using a commercial treatment planning system.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to develop an auto‐planning platform to be interfaced with a commercial treatment planning system (TPS). The main goal was to obtain robust and high‐quality plans for different anatomic sites and various dosimetric requirements.MethodsMonaco (Elekta, St. Louis, US) was the TPS in this work. All input parameters for inverse planning could be defined in a plan template inside Monaco. A software tool called Robot Framework was used to launch auto‐planning trials with updated plan templates. The template modifier external to Monaco was the major component of our auto‐planning platform. For current implementation, it was a rule‐based system that mimics the trial‐and‐error process of an experienced planner. A template was automatically updated by changing the optimization constraints based on dosimetric evaluation of the plan obtained in the previous trial, along with the data of the iterative optimization extracted from Monaco. Treatment plans generated by Monaco with all plan evaluation criteria satisfied were considered acceptable, and such plans would be saved for further evaluation by clinicians. The auto‐planning platform was validated for 10 prostate and 10 head‐and‐neck cases in comparison with clinical plans generated by experienced planners.ResultsThe performance and robustness of our auto‐planning platform was tested with clinical cases of prostate and head and neck treatment. For prostate cases, automatically generated plans had very similar plan quality with the clinical plans, and the bladder volume receiving 62.5 Gy, 50 Gy, and 40 Gy in auto‐plans was reduced by 1%, 3%, and 5%, respectively. For head and neck cases, auto‐plans had better conformity with reduced dose to the normal structures but slightly higher dose inhomogeneity in the target volume. Remarkably, the maximum dose in the spinal cord and brain stem was reduced by more than 3.5 Gy in auto‐plans. Fluence map optimization only with less than 30 trials was adequate to generate acceptable plans, and subsequent optimization for final plans was completed by Monaco without further intervention. The plan quality was weakly dependent on the parameter selection in the initial template and the choices of the step sizes for changing the constraint values.ConclusionAn automated planning platform to interface with Monaco was developed, and our reported tests showed preliminary results for prostate and head and neck cases.

P237 Feasibility of new stimulator setup for temporal interference TES and its application in a homogeneous volume conductor

P237 Feasibility of new stimulator setup for temporal interference TES and its application in a homogeneous volume conductor

Herbal infusions and health

PurposeIncreasingly, interest in and the uptake of herbal infusions has advanced, namely, owing to their bioactive properties and potential links to health. Given this, the purpose of the present review was to collate evidence from human trials for five popular herbal infusions.Design/methodology/approachThe systematic review comprised ten human trials (560 participants), investigating inter-relationships between herbal infusions consumption and health. Only human studies involving German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L. Asteraceae), ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe Zingiberaceae), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L. Lamiaceae), peppermint (Mentha x spicata L. Lamiaceae)/spearmint (Mentha spicata L. Lamiaceae) and rosehip (Rosa canina L. Rosaceae) teas were included in the present paper.FindingsMost herbal infusions serve as a good source of flavonoids and other polyphenols in the human diet. Studies included in this paper indicate that herbal infusions (1-3 cups tended to be drank daily; infusion rates up to 15 min) could benefit certain aspects of health. In particular, this includes aspects of sleep quality and glycaemic control (German chamomile), osteoarthritic stiffness and hormone control (spearmint), oxidative stress (lemon balm) and primary dysmenorrhea (rosehip).Research limitations/implicationsOngoing research is needed using homogenous herbal infusion forms, brewing rates and volumes of water to further reinforce these findings. In the meantime, herbal infusions could provide a useful supplementary approach to improving certain aspects of well-being.Originality/valueThe present paper collates evidence from human trials for five popular herbal infusions.

Comparison of experimental techniques for biocementation of sands considering homogeneous volume distribution of precipitated calcium carbonate

Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP), or biocementation, consists in using microorganisms living in the soil to produce calcium carbonate (biocement). This mineral bonds the grains and therefore improves the soil hydro-mechanical properties. When using this technique, one of the challenges is to ensure homogeneous treatment in the entire volume. In this study, an experimental device was developed to apply this treatment in cylindrical soil samples with 7.2 cm diameter and 12 cm height. Two distinct sample preparation techniques were tested: (i) pre-mixing the soil with bacteria, and then inject the feeding solution; (ii) inject bacteria followed by injecting the feeding solution. In both, the injection conditions varied in two distinct ways: (i) infiltration column, from the top and (ii) injecting through a perforated central tube. The homogeneity of the biocement in the volume was evaluated using X-ray and SEM images from small samples taken from different locations in the specimens and analysing different parameters. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and CaCO3 dissolution tests revealed uneven distribution of CaCO3 content between the top and bottom sections, as well as along radial direction. The most homogeneous samples were found when bacteria were premixed with the soil before injecting the feeding solution. Unconfined compression tests (UCS) were also performed in samples with and without treatment. The treatment increased stiffness and strength significantly and soil rupture occurred mostly near the bottom, where the lowest CaCO3 contents were detected.

Spin and vorticity with vanishing rigid-body rotation during shear in continuum mechanics

A long-standing challenge in continuum mechanics has been how to separate shear deformation and corresponding shape changes from the rotation of a continuum. This can be obtained by a new decomposition of the spin tensor, i.e. of the skew part of the velocity gradient, into two parts, where one of them vanishes during shear flows. The same decomposition applies to the vorticity vector. In both cases, the two spin components are interpreted as generating plastic shear deformation and rigid body rotation. In continuum plasticity theories, the suggested rotational part of the spin tensor can be applied to avoid spurious behavior of the objective Lie derivatives of second order tensors, e.g. of the stress tensor. It provides a history-independent spin corresponding to a time-averaged angular velocity of the rotating line segments in a small homogeneous volume. In fluid mechanics, the new spin component can be used to quantify vortexes in shear flows and turbulent structures, and it provides a sound interpretation and generalization of the Δ and swirling-strength criteria for visualization of vortices.

Impacts of Representing Heterogeneous Distribution of Cloud Liquid and Ice on Phase Partitioning of Arctic Mixed‐Phase Clouds with NCAR CAM5

AbstractIn this study, we conduct sensitivity experiments with the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 to understand the impact of representing heterogeneous distribution between cloud liquid and ice on the phase partitioning in mixed‐phase clouds through different perturbations on the Wegener‐Bergeron‐Findeisen (WBF) process. In two experiments, perturbation factors that are based on assumptions of pocket structure and the partial homogeneous cloud volume derived from the High‐performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER) Pole‐to‐Pole Observation (HIPPO) campaign are utilized. Alternately, a mass‐weighted assumption is used in the calculation of WBF process to mimic the appearance of unsaturated area in mixed‐phase clouds as the result of heterogeneous distribution. Model experiments are tested in both single column and weather forecast modes and evaluated against data from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program's Mixed‐Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment (M‐PACE) field campaign and long‐term ground‐based multisensor measurements. Model results indicate that perturbations on the WBF process can significantly modify simulated microphysical properties of Arctic mixed‐phase clouds. The improvement of simulated cloud water phase partitioning tends to be linearly proportional to the perturbation magnitude that is applied in the three different sensitivity experiments. Cloud macrophysical properties such as cloud fraction and frequency of occurrence of low‐level mixed‐phase clouds are less sensitive to the perturbation magnitude than cloud microphysical properties. Moreover, this study indicates that heterogeneous distribution between cloud hydrometeors should be treated consistently for all cloud microphysical processes. The model vertical resolution is also important for liquid water maintenance in mixed‐phase clouds.