Structural Efficiency Measures for Sections Under Asymmetric Bending

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Buckney ◽  
Alberto Pirrera ◽  
Paul M. Weaver

Shape factors evaluate the efficiency of material usage in a structure. Previously, they have been developed for simple bending but, in practice, beams often have a more complicated bending response. Therefore, shape factors that account for asymmetric bending are introduced. The shape factors are applied to six example beam sections to demonstrate the effect of shape and load on structural efficiency. The shape factors are also enhanced for inclusion in a more general measure of structural efficiency, the performance index, comprising elements of both geometry and material. Next, a study is performed to show how the asymmetry of a beam section affects structural efficiency. The shape factors can quantitatively evaluate the structural efficiency of beam sections, demonstrating the effect of asymmetric bending on the structural response. Therefore, these shape factors can be used for concept selection and to provide insight into optimal structural design.

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samir Diab ◽  
Dimitrios I. Gerogiorgis

Progress in continuous flow chemistry over the past two decades has facilitated significant developments in the flow synthesis of a wide variety of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), the foundation of Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (CPM), which has gained interest for its potential to reduce material usage, energy and costs and the ability to access novel processing windows that would be otherwise hazardous if operated via traditional batch techniques. Design space investigation of manufacturing processes is a useful task in elucidating attainable regions of process performance and product quality attributes that can allow insight into process design and optimization prior to costly experimental campaigns and pilot plant studies. This study discusses recent demonstrations from the literature on design space investigation and visualization for continuous API production and highlights attainable regions of recoveries, material efficiencies, flowsheet complexity and cost components for upstream (reaction + separation) via modeling, simulation and nonlinear optimization, providing insight into optimal CPM operation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sameer B. Shah ◽  
James M. Love ◽  
Andrea O'Neill ◽  
Richard M. Lovering ◽  
Robert J. Bloch

In skeletal muscle fibers, forces must be transmitted between the plasma membrane and the intracellular contractile lattice, and within this lattice between adjacent myofibrils. Based on their prevalence, biomechanical properties and localization, desmin and keratin intermediate filaments (IFs) are likely to participate in structural connectivity and force transmission. We examined the passive load-bearing response of single fibers from the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles of young (3 months) and aged (10 months) wild-type, desmin-null, K19-null, and desmin/K19 double-null mice. Though fibers are more compliant in all mutant genotypes compared to wild-type, the structural response of each genotype is distinct, suggesting multiple mechanisms by which desmin and keratin influence the biomechanical properties of myofibers. This work provides additional insight into the influences of IFs on structure-function relationships in skeletal muscle. It may also have implications for understanding the progression of desminopathies and other IF-related myopathies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 101 ◽  
pp. 127-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawren L. Gamble ◽  
Daniel J. Inman

Aircraft morphing with regard to UAVs has recently gained incredible momentum; however, only a limited amount of research has been conducted on its effect on tailless aircraft. This is partly due to aerodynamic compromises such as directional instabilities that arise in the absence of a vertical stabilizer. Yet birds readily adapt to adverse flight conditions without vertical stabilizers and are unhindered with respect to stability and maneuvering due to their smooth continuous shape change and rapid muscle response. This research, motivated by the discrepancy between manmade and natural flight designs, investigates the aerodynamic effects of a smart morphing horizontal tail exhibiting bending-twisting coupling for yaw control on a bio-inspired aircraft. The structural response due to actuation was determined using Abaqus and coupled with a Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes turbulence model for a low-Reynolds-number fluid analysis of the deformed shape. The morphing tail was simulated as piezoelectric Macro Fiber Composites with oriented PZT rods. Directional moment and stability derivative are presented to gain insight into the effect of the morphing horizontal tail on yaw control.


Author(s):  
Konstantinos Georgiadis ◽  
Ana M. Ruiz-Teran ◽  
Peter J. Stafford

<p>Under-deck cable-stayed (UDCS) footbridges are slender structures that promote the axial behaviour. This allows designers to take advantage of the entire sectional areas and reduce the required construction materials. Besides their high structural efficiency and sustainability, they also possess a number of other advantages such as multiple construction possibilities and strong aesthetic characteristics, therefore becoming an attractive solution in urban infrastructure. However, due to their slenderness, they are more prone to vibrations. Recent closures of footbridges of this typology, indicate that fundamental aspects of their structural response still remained unclear. This paper presents a set of example bridges built with this typology and a detailed investigation of a benchmark case under the dynamic action of pedestrians. Results show that, although ULS is satisfied using a very high deck slenderness (1/100), the SLS of vibrations is the critical design criterion that governs the slenderness of the deck (leading to values of 1/60).</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 1946-1951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny M. Poulton ◽  
Pieter Rein ten Wolde ◽  
Thomas E. Ouldridge

Living systems produce “persistent” copies of information-carrying polymers, in which template and copy sequences remain correlated after physically decoupling. We identify a general measure of the thermodynamic efficiency with which these nonequilibrium states are created and analyze the accuracy and efficiency of a family of dynamical models that produce persistent copies. For the weakest chemical driving, when polymer growth occurs in equilibrium, both the copy accuracy and, more surprisingly, the efficiency vanish. At higher driving strengths, accuracy and efficiency both increase, with efficiency showing one or more peaks at moderate driving. Correlations generated within the copy sequence, as well as between template and copy, store additional free energy in the copied polymer and limit the single-site accuracy for a given chemical work input. Our results provide insight into the design of natural self-replicating systems and can aid the design of synthetic replicators.


1966 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 322-330
Author(s):  
A. Beer

The investigations which I should like to summarize in this paper concern recent photo-electric luminosity determinations of O and B stars. Their final aim has been the derivation of new stellar distances, and some insight into certain patterns of galactic structure.


1984 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 461-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Hart

ABSTRACTThis paper models maximum entropy configurations of idealized gravitational ring systems. Such configurations are of interest because systems generally evolve toward an ultimate state of maximum randomness. For simplicity, attention is confined to ultimate states for which interparticle interactions are no longer of first order importance. The planets, in their orbits about the sun, are one example of such a ring system. The extent to which the present approximation yields insight into ring systems such as Saturn's is explored briefly.


Author(s):  
D. F. Blake ◽  
L. F. Allard ◽  
D. R. Peacor

Echinodermata is a phylum of marine invertebrates which has been extant since Cambrian time (c.a. 500 m.y. before the present). Modern examples of echinoderms include sea urchins, sea stars, and sea lilies (crinoids). The endoskeletons of echinoderms are composed of plates or ossicles (Fig. 1) which are with few exceptions, porous, single crystals of high-magnesian calcite. Despite their single crystal nature, fracture surfaces do not exhibit the near-perfect {10.4} cleavage characteristic of inorganic calcite. This paradoxical mix of biogenic and inorganic features has prompted much recent work on echinoderm skeletal crystallography. Furthermore, fossil echinoderm hard parts comprise a volumetrically significant portion of some marine limestones sequences. The ultrastructural and microchemical characterization of modern skeletal material should lend insight into: 1). The nature of the biogenic processes involved, for example, the relationship of Mg heterogeneity to morphological and structural features in modern echinoderm material, and 2). The nature of the diagenetic changes undergone by their ancient, fossilized counterparts. In this study, high resolution TEM (HRTEM), high voltage TEM (HVTEM), and STEM microanalysis are used to characterize tha ultrastructural and microchemical composition of skeletal elements of the modern crinoid Neocrinus blakei.


Author(s):  
Peter Sterling

The synaptic connections in cat retina that link photoreceptors to ganglion cells have been analyzed quantitatively. Our approach has been to prepare serial, ultrathin sections and photograph en montage at low magnification (˜2000X) in the electron microscope. Six series, 100-300 sections long, have been prepared over the last decade. They derive from different cats but always from the same region of retina, about one degree from the center of the visual axis. The material has been analyzed by reconstructing adjacent neurons in each array and then identifying systematically the synaptic connections between arrays. Most reconstructions were done manually by tracing the outlines of processes in successive sections onto acetate sheets aligned on a cartoonist's jig. The tracings were then digitized, stacked by computer, and printed with the hidden lines removed. The results have provided rather than the usual one-dimensional account of pathways, a three-dimensional account of circuits. From this has emerged insight into the functional architecture.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document