Dynamic Nonlinear and Residual Deformation Behaviors of the Fly Ash-Modified Loess

Metastable loess soils can deform, inducing geological and engineering disasters. Therefore, the behavior of the loess under dynamic load is gaining massive attention from researchers to improve the strength of the soils. Fly ash mixed with loess can improve strength and reduce construction costs and environmental pollution. Moreover, it has strong economic and social benefits. This paper investigates the influence of fly ash on the dynamic properties of the modified loess through a series of dynamic triaxial tests of the fly ash modified loess with different fly ash contents. The treated soil samples were prepared using a static compaction method in both ends and cured for 28 days. The dynamic shear modulus ratio, the damping ratio, and the dynamic residual strain of the modified loess were analyzed. The variation characteristics of the dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio with the dynamic shear strain of the fly ash modified loess were obtained. The effect of fly ash content on the dynamic nonlinear parameters of the modified loess was also investigated. In addition, the relationship between the dynamic residual strain and the fly ash content was discussed. The results show that the dynamic shear modulus ratio of fly ash modified loess decreases nonlinearly with the increase in the dynamic shear strain. However, the attenuation rate difference of the curves is small. The damping ratio increases gradually with increasing dynamic shear strain. Under a certain dynamic shear strain level, the damping ratio decreases with the increase in the fly ash content. The dynamic residual strain increases with the increase in the dynamic stress. However, it decreases with the increase in the fly ash content. When the fly ash content is between 10% and 20%, the dynamic residual strain of fly ash modified loess is reduced rapidly. However, when the fly ash content exceeds 20%, the dynamic residual strain decreases slowly. The fly ash content of 20% could be suggested as an optimal content for seismic resistance of the loess foundation.

Experimental Study of the Dynamic Shear Modulus Ratio and Damping Ratio of the Quaternary Sedimentary Soils in the Offshore Areas of the Yellow Sea

The effects of marine and continental sedimentary environments and geological ages on the dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio of the Quaternary sedimentary soils in the offshore areas of the Yellow Sea were analyzed by using a resonant column device (GCTS, USA). The results show the following: (1) The G max of various marine soils increases with the depth and shows a typical linear relationship. (2) The marine transgression has significantly different effects on the dynamic shear modulus ratio versus the shear strain amplitude curves (i.e., G / G max ~ γ a curves) and the damping ratio versus the shear strain amplitude curves (i.e., λ ~ γ a curves) of the different soil types in the offshore areas of the Yellow Sea. The effects of marine transgression were strong on clays, moderate on silty clays, and minor on silts. (3) The geological ages have noticeable effects on the G / G max ~ γ a curves of the tested marine silty clays, marine silts, and continental silty clays, but the effects of geological ages on the λ ~ γ a curves are minimal. The fitting parameters and recommended empirical equations of the G / G max ~ γ a and λ ~ γ a curves for each type of the tested soils (silty clay, clay, and silt) were obtained mirroring the effects of sedimentary environments and geological ages.

Geometric design of 4D printed bilayer structures for accurate folding deformation

Geometric parameters of 4D printed bilayer structure determine its deformation to a great extent. This paper proposed a geometric design method of 4D printed bilayer structures for accurate folding deformation. To precisely calculate the deformation, a folding deformation model of 4D printed bilayer structure is constructed considering thickness ratio and elastic modulus ratio. Then, for a target folding deformation, an adaptive surrogate-based optimization method is employed to obtain the geometric parameters of a given 4D printed bilayer structure. The numerical and physical experimental results show that the geometric parameters of 4D printed bilayer structure can be well designed by the proposed method.

Influence of the Power Generation Capacity of the Structural Parameters of a Piezoelectric Bimorph

With the popularization of integrated circuits, MEMS, and portable electronic devices, chemical batteries have many disadvantages as the main energy supply method, such as large size, high quality, and limited energy supply life, requiring regular replacement, resulting in waste of materials, environmental pollution, and other issues. From the above reasons, energy harvesting technology plays an important role in improving the efficiency and life of electronic equipment. In order to explore the influence of the bimorph piezoelectric vibrator’s structural parameters on the power generation capacity, this paper establishes a cantilever beam rectangular bimorph piezoelectric vibrator power generation model, derives the mathematical expression of the bimorph piezoelectric vibrator power generation, and determines the parameter factors that affect the power generation effect. Using MATLAB simulation analysis to obtain the influence relationship curve of system output voltage and structural parameters, the experiment tests the influence law of output voltage and thickness ratio, width-to-length ratio, and Young’s modulus ratio; the test results are consistent with the theoretical analysis, verifying the theory and the correctness of the analysis. The results show that when the thickness ratio is 0.58 and the width-to-length ratio is 1, the power generation effect of the piezoelectric vibrator is the best to reach 14.5V; the power generation capacity of the transducer is inversely proportional to Young’s modulus ratio. This research provides a new idea for the popularization of integrated circuits, MEMS, and portable electronic devices.

Shielding performance of T-shaped periodic barrier for surface waves in transversely isotropic soil

Aiming at the vibration isolation in transversely isotropic soil, a T-shaped partially embedded periodic barrier for surface waves is proposed, and its shielding performance is explored by using finite element method combined with Bloch-Floquet theory. Seven independent dimensionless material parameters are derived and their influences on band gaps are discussed numerically. The results show that the band gaps exhibit strong sensitivity to the three parameters out of seven, and the band gaps are far wider in transversely isotropic soils than that in the isotropic. The mass density ratio and the shear modulus ratio of the barrier to the soil, as well as the length ratio of the barrier above the ground to that below, can be used to adjust band gaps effectively to meet the shielding requirements for different frequency ranges under different anisotropic soils. As a case of study, the El Centro seismic wave is considered and found that it can be considerably attenuated by the designed periodic barrier.

Design Equations for Mixed-Mode Fracture of Dental Ceramic-cement Interfaces Using the Brazil-nut-sandwich Test

Dental interfaces are subject to mixed-mode loading. This study provides a practical guidance for determining interfacial fracture toughness of dental ceramic systems. We address interfacial fracture of a composite resin cement sandwiched between two dental ceramic materials. Emphasis is placed on sandwich disc specimens with cracks originating from elliptical-shaped flaws near the center, for which analytical fracture mechanics methods fail to predict. The interaction integral method is used to provide accurate finite element solutions for cracks with elliptical-shaped flaws in a Brazil-nut-sandwich specimen. The developed model was first validated with existing experimental data, and then used to evaluate three most widely used dental ceramic systems: polycrystalline ceramics (zirconia), glass-ceramics (lithium disilicate), and feldspathic ceramics (porcelain). Contrary to disc specimens with ideal cracks, those with cracks emanating from elliptical-shaped flaws do not exhibit a monotonic increase in interfacial toughness. Also, interfacial fracture toughness is seen to have a direct relationship with the aspect ratio of elliptical-shaped flaws and an inverse relationship with the modulus ratio of the constituents. The presence of an elliptical-shaped flaw significantly changes the interfacial fracture behavior of sandwich structures. Semi-empirical design equations are provided for fracture toughness and stress intensity factors for interfacial cracks. The developed design equations provide a practical guidance for determining interfacial fracture toughness of selected dental ceramic material systems. Those equations take into account four critical factors: size of the elliptical flaw, modulus ratio of constituent materials, loading angle and applied load.

Cytocompatibility of Ti–xZr alloys as dental implant materials

Ti–xZr (x = 5, 15, 25, 35, 45% wt%) alloys with low elastic modulus and high mechanical strength were fabricated as a novel implant material. The biocompatibility of the Ti–xZr alloys was evaluated by osteoblast-like cell line (MG63) in terms of cytotoxicity, proliferation, adhesion, and osteogenic induction using CCK-8 and live/dead cell assays, electron microscopy, and real-time PCR. The Ti–xZr alloys were non-toxic and showed superior biomechanics compared to commercially pure titanium (cpTi). Ti–45Zr had the optimum strength/elastic modulus ratio and osteogenic activity, thus is a promising to used as dental implants.

Generalization of intrinsic ductile-to-brittle criteria by Pugh and Pettifor for materials with a cubic crystal structure

Two classical criteria, by Pugh and Pettifor, have been widely used by metallurgists to predict whether a material will be brittle or ductile. A phenomenological correlation by Pugh between metal brittleness and its shear modulus to bulk modulus ratio was established more than 60 years ago. Nearly four decades later Pettifor conducted a quantum mechanical analysis of bond hybridization in a series of intermetallics and derived a separate ductility criterion based on the difference between two single-crystal elastic constants, C12–C44. In this paper, we discover the link between these two criteria and show that they are identical for materials with cubic crystal structures.