Failure Criteria for Brittle Notched Specimens

Recently, new failure criteria were proposed for brittle materials to predict their failure loads regardless of the shapes of a notch or a crack in the material. This paper is to further evaluate the failure criteria for different shapes of notches and different materials. A circular hole, elliptical hole or crack-like slit with a different angle with respect to the loading direction was considered. Double circular holes were also studied. The materials studied were an isotropic material like polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as well as laminated carbon fiber composites. Both cross-ply and quasi-isotropic layup orientations were examined. The lamination theory was used for the composite materials so that they can be modelled as an anisotropic and homogeneous material. The test results were compared to the theoretical predictions using the finite element analysis with 2-D plane stress models. Both theoretical failure stresses agreed well with the experimental data for the materials and notch geometries studied herein.

Study on bubble-induced turbulence in pipes and containers with Reynolds-stress models

Bubbly flow still represents a challenge for large-scale numerical simulation. Among many others, the understanding and modelling of bubble-induced turbulence (BIT) are far from being satisfactory even though continuous efforts have been made. In particular, the buoyancy of the bubbles generally introduces turbulence anisotropy in the flow, which cannot be captured by the standard eddy viscosity models with specific source terms representing BIT. Recently, on the basis of bubble-resolving direct numerical simulation data, a new Reynolds-stress model considering BIT was developed by Ma et al. (J Fluid Mech, 883: A9 (2020)) within the Euler—Euler framework. The objective of the present work is to assess this model and compare its performance with other standard Reynolds-stress models using a systematic test strategy. We select the experimental data in the BIT-dominated range and find that the new model leads to major improvements in the prediction of full Reynolds-stress components.

Spinning conditions affect structure and properties of Nephila spider silk

Raman spectroscopy is used to elucidate the effect of spinning conditions upon the structure and mechanical properties of silk spun by Nephila spiders from the major ampullate gland. Silk fibers produced under natural spinning conditions with spinning rates between 2 and 20 mm s−1 differed in microstructure and mechanical properties from fibers produced either more slowly or more rapidly. The data support the “uniform strain” hypothesis that the reinforcing units in spider silk fibers are subjected to the same strain as the fiber, to optimize the toughness. In contrast, in the case of synthetic high-performance polymer fibers, the both units and the fiber experience uniform stress, which maximizes stiffness. The comparison of Nephila major and minor ampullate silks opens an intriguing window into dragline silk evolution and the first evidence of significant differences between the two silks providing possibilities for further testing of hypotheses concerning the uniform strain versus uniform stress models. Impact statement It is well established that the microstructure and mechanical properties of engineering materials are controlled by the conditions employed to both synthesize and process them. Herein, we demonstrate that the situation is similar for a natural material, namely spider silk. We show that for a spider that normally produces silk at a reeling speed of between 2 and 20 mm s−1, silk produced at speeds outside this natural processing window has a different microstructure that leads to inferior tensile properties. Moreover, we also show that the silk has a generic microstructure that is optimized to respond mechanically to deformation such that the crystals in the fibers are deformed under conditions of uniform strain. This is different from high-performance synthetic polymer fibers where the microstructure is optimized such that crystals within the fibers are subjected to uniform stress. Graphic abstract

Proteomics analysis of the gut–brain axis in a gut microbiota-dysbiosis model of depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious mental illness. Increasing evidence from both animal and human studies suggested that the gut microbiota might be involved in the onset of depression via the gut–brain axis. However, the mechanism in depression remains unclear. To explore the protein changes of the gut–brain axis modulated by gut microbiota, germ-free mice were transplanted with gut microbiota from MDD patients to induce depression-like behaviors. Behavioral tests were performed following fecal microbiota transplantation. A quantitative proteomics approach was used to examine changes in protein expression in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), liver, cecum, and serum. Then differential protein analysis and weighted gene coexpression network analysis were used to identify microbiota-related protein modules. Our results suggested that gut microbiota induced the alteration of protein expression levels in multiple tissues of the gut–brain axis in mice with depression-like phenotype, and these changes of the PFC and liver were model specific compared to chronic stress models. Gene ontology enrichment analysis revealed that the protein changes of the gut–brain axis were involved in a variety of biological functions, including metabolic process and inflammatory response, in which energy metabolism is the core change of the protein network. Our data provide clues for future studies in the gut–brain axis on protein level and deepen the understanding of how gut microbiota cause depression-like behaviors.

Significance of the Dominant Psychological and Physiological Aspects of the Occupational Stress Models

The importance of the dominant psychological and physiological aspects of occupational stress models is a significant topic for researchers working in the field of medicine. Modern society faces significant problems in the detection and management of stress due to its growing impact on the functional state of working individuals. Ensuring safe and healthy working conditions is necessary to deal with the adverse effects of occupational stress on health. Controlling and reducing stress is possible by revealing the causal psychophysiological links in the mechanisms of work-related stress. Scientifically based stress management is based on the categories and concepts underlying occupational stress models. Modern work-related models of stress describe and study not only the adverse characteristics of the work process, but also the factors that stimulate the health and well-being of the individual. Monitoring occupational stress is part of the process of neutralizing and eliminating it. In today’s dynamic world, it is not enough to expect only quality performance of the professional duties of employees, but the commitment of managers working in the field of health care is needed to analyse and manage the dominant psychological and physiological aspects of occupational stress models and prevent adverse aspects of models of this type of stress at work.

Changes in Expressions of Spermatogenic Marker Genes and Spermatogenic Cell Population Caused by Stress

Many young adults are in a state of stress due to social and psychological pressures, which may result in male reproductive dysfunction. To provide new insight into this phenomenon, we investigated the effect of stress on the regulation of key genes and biological events in specific stages of spermatogenesis. After establishing rat stress models of different time durations, we observed pathological changes in testis through haematoxylin and eosin staining, and analysed gene expression in testis by RNA-seq, bioinformatic analysis, and reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) with the TissueFAXS quantitative imaging system was used to verify changes of different population of spermatogenic cells marked by differentially expressed marker genes. Our results showed that prolonged stress can lead to pathological changes in the testes, such as thinning of the spermatogenic epithelium, a decreased number of spermatogenic epithelial cells, the disordered arrangement of spermatogenic cells, and a decreased number of mature sperms. RNA-seq revealed that key marker spermatogenesis-related genes such as Stra8, Sycp3, Piwil1, and Tnp1 had significantly decreased expression levels in chronic stress groups, and this was confirmed by RT-qPCR and IHC. Collectively, these findings suggest that chronic stress causes damaging pathological changes in testis and dysregulates the marker genes of specific stages of spermatogenesis and change the population of spermatogenic cells, which may be a critical responsible for male reproductive dysfunction.

Clocking and Potential Effects in Combustor–Turbine Stator Interactions

Investigations of combustors and turbines separately have been carried out for years by research institutes and aircraft engine companies, but there are still many questions about the interaction effect. In this paper, a prediction of a turbine stator’s potential effect on flow in a combustor and the clocking effect on temperature distribution in a nozzle guide vane are discussed. Numerical simulation results for the combustor simulator and the nozzle guide vane (NGV) of the first turbine stage are presented. The geometry and flow conditions were defined according to measurements carried out on a test section within the framework of the EU FACTOR (full aerothermal combustor–turbine interactions research) project. The numerical model was validated by a comparison of results against experimental data in the plane at a combustor outlet. Two turbulence models were employed: the Spalart–Allmaras and Explicit Algebraic Reynolds Stress models. It was shown that the NGV potential effect on flow distribution at the combustor–turbine interface located at 42.5% of the axial chord is weak. The clocking effect due to the azimuthal position of guide vanes downstream of the swirlers strongly affects the temperature and flow conditions in a stator cascade.

Flow stress characterization of magnesium alloys at elevated temperatures: A review

The flow behaviors of magnesium alloys are too complicated to be simply formulated in a mathematical form. Most researches have based metallurgically or phenomenologically on specific functions with many constants, which could be applied only to the limited magnesium alloys under specific conditions. In this study, a review on the studies of flow stress characterization of magnesium alloys is conducted and the possibility of using the traditional piecewise C-m model and its extension to characterize the magnesium alloys is emphasized. The formulations of major flow models are given with three typical applications to magnesium alloy AZ80 and its characteristics are demonstrated through comparison of the fitted flow behaviors with their associated experiments and various flow stress models including Arrehenius model, four Ludwik family models (Johnson Cook, Modified Johnson-Cook, Hensel-Spittel, Sutton-Luo), two Voce family models (Ebrahimi et al., Razali et al.) and C-m models.