Large Deflection Analysis of Peripherally Fixed Circular Membranes Subjected to Liquid Weight Loading: A Refined Design Theory of Membrane Deflection-Based Rain Gauges

The anticipated use of elastic membranes for deflection-based rain gauges has provided an impetus for this paper to revisit the large deflection problem of a peripherally fixed circular membrane subjected to liquid weight loading, a statics problem when the fluid–structure interaction of membrane and liquid reaches static equilibrium. The closed-form solution of this statics problem of fluid–structure interaction is necessary for the design of such membrane deflection-based rain gauges, while the existing closed-form solution, due to the use of the small rotation angle assumption of the membrane, cannot meet the design requirements for computational accuracy. In this paper, the problem under consideration is reformulated by giving up the small rotation angle assumption, which gives rise to a new and somewhat intractable nonlinear integro-differential equation of the governing out-of-plane equilibrium. The power series method has played an irreplaceable role in analytically solving membrane equations involving both integral and differential operations, and a new and more refined closed-form solution without the small rotation angle assumption is finally presented. Numerical examples conducted show that the new and more refined closed-form solution presented has satisfactory convergence, and the effect of giving up the small rotation angle assumption is also investigated numerically. The application of the closed-form solution presented in designing such membrane deflection-based rain gauges is illustrated, and the reliability of the new and more refined closed-form solution presented was confirmed by conducting a confirmatory experiment.

The propagation and decay of a coastal vortex on a shelf

A coastal eddy is modelled as a barotropic vortex propagating along a coastal shelf. If the vortex speed matches the phase speed of any coastal trapped shelf wave modes, a shelf wave wake is generated leading to a flux of energy from the vortex into the wave field. Using a simple shelf geometry, we determine analytic expressions for the wave wake and the leading-order flux of wave energy. By considering the balance of energy between the vortex and wave field, this energy flux is then used to make analytic predictions for the evolution of the vortex speed and radius under the assumption that the vortex structure remains self-similar. These predictions are examined in the asymptotic limit of small rotation rate and shelf slope and tested against numerical simulations. If the vortex speed does not match the phase speed of any shelf wave, steady vortex solutions are expected to exist. We present a numerical approach for finding these nonlinear solutions and examine the parameter dependence of their structure.

Swirling mean flow effects on locally reacting interstage liner

Sound transmission through a finite-lined section in a rigid annular duct with swirling and sheared mean flow is analyzed with a new mode-matching method based on the conservation of the total enthalpy and the mass flow, which does not reduce to the conservation of the pressure and the axial velocity when the swirl is non-zero. It relies on a new projection method based on the property of the Chebyshev polynomials and on the scattering matrix formalism to yield transmission losses. This new method is first validated against a finite elements method tool in the uniform axial flow case, and then provides a parametric study of the effect of swirl. At low azimuthal mode order [Formula: see text], the swirl amplifies the attenuation of the contra-rotating modes and makes the attenuation of the co-rotating modes decrease with a trend of a general shift of the transmission loss curve toward contra-rotating modes. A small rotation of the transmission loss curves at low [Formula: see text] is also generally observed. The boundary condition in the lined section has a small effect on the transmission loss, except close to the cut-on thresholds. Finally, the duct boundary-layer thickness has a significant effect on the cut-on modes and the transmission loss but not its profile.

Large Deformation Problem of Bimodular Functionally-Graded Thin Circular Plates Subjected to Transversely Uniformly-Distributed Load: Perturbation Solution without Small-Rotation-Angle Assumption

In this study, the large deformation problem of a functionally-graded thin circular plate subjected to transversely uniformly-distributed load and with different moduli in tension and compression (bimodular property) is theoretically analyzed, in which the small-rotation-angle assumption, commonly used in the classical Föppl–von Kármán equations of large deflection problems, is abandoned. First, based on the mechanical model on the neutral layer, the bimodular functionally-graded property of materials is modeled as two different exponential functions in the tensile and compressive zones. Thus, the governing equations of the large deformation problem are established and improved, in which the equation of equilibrium is derived without the common small-rotation-angle assumption. Taking the central deflection as a perturbation parameter, the perturbation method is used to solve the governing equations, thus the perturbation solutions of deflection and stress are obtained under different boundary constraints and the regression of the solution is satisfied. Results indicate that the perturbation solutions presented in this study have higher computational accuracy in comparison with the existing perturbation solutions with small-rotation-angle assumption. Specially, the computational accuracies of external load and yield stress are improved by 17.22% and 28.79% at most, respectively, by the numerical examples. In addition, the small-rotation-angle assumption has a great influence on the yield stress at the center of the bimodular functionally-graded circular plate.

A Closed-Form Solution without Small-Rotation-Angle Assumption for Circular Membranes under Gas Pressure Loading

The closed-form solution of circular membranes subjected to gas pressure loading plays an extremely important role in technical applications such as characterization of mechanical properties for freestanding thin films or thin-film/substrate systems based on pressured bulge or blister tests. However, the only two relevant closed-form solutions available in the literature are suitable only for the case where the rotation angle of membrane is relatively small, because they are derived with the small-rotation-angle assumption of membrane, that is, the rotation angle θ of membrane is assumed to be small so that “sinθ = 1/(1 + 1/tan2θ)1/2” can be approximated by “sinθ = tanθ”. Therefore, the two closed-form solutions with small-rotation-angle assumption cannot meet the requirements of these technical applications. Such a bottleneck to these technical applications is solved in this study, and a new and more refined closed-form solution without small-rotation-angle assumption is given in power series form, which is derived with “sinθ = 1/(1 + 1/tan2θ)1/2”, rather than “sinθ = tanθ”, thus being suitable for the case where the rotation angle of membrane is relatively large. This closed-form solution without small-rotation-angle assumption can naturally satisfy the remaining unused boundary condition, and numerically shows satisfactory convergence, agrees well with the closed-form solution with small-rotation-angle assumption for lightly loaded membranes with small rotation angles, and diverges distinctly for heavily loaded membranes with large rotation angles. The confirmatory experiment conducted shows that the closed-form solution without small-rotation-angle assumption is reliable and has a satisfactory calculation accuracy in comparison with the closed-form solution with small-rotation-angle assumption, particularly for heavily loaded membranes with large rotation angles.

Asymptotic Behavior of Stable Structures Made of Beams

In this paper, we study the asymptotic behavior of an $\varepsilon $ ε -periodic 3D stable structure made of beams of circular cross-section of radius $r$ r when the periodicity parameter $\varepsilon $ ε and the ratio ${r/\varepsilon }$ r / ε simultaneously tend to 0. The analysis is performed within the frame of linear elasticity theory and it is based on the known decomposition of the beam displacements into a beam centerline displacement, a small rotation of the cross-sections and a warping (the deformation of the cross-sections). This decomposition allows to obtain Korn type inequalities. We introduce two unfolding operators, one for the homogenization of the set of beam centerlines and another for the dimension reduction of the beams. The limit homogenized problem is still a linear elastic, second order PDE.

Three-dimensional slowly rotating black hole in Einstein-power-Maxwell theory

A three-dimensional slowly rotating black hole solution in the presence of negative cosmological constant in the Einstein-power-Maxwell theory is studied. It is shown that in the small rotation limit, the electric field, diagonal metric function and thermodynamic properties are the same as for static case, whereas the small rotation gives in addition a nondiagonal metric function and magnetic field which are also small. For these functions cased by rotation of black hole, exact integral solution and analytic asymptotic solution were obtained.

AROUND THE SIERPINSKI TRIANGLE. THE CHAOS GAME AND THE SCRATCH PROGRAMMING

The article discusses the experience of studying Sierpinski geometric fractals in circle classes in mathematics and informatics with students of grades 4–6. A versatile approach to the construction of fractal objects is used: a method of cutting out of paper, Chaos Game on transparent films and implementing the studied algorithm in the Scratch programming language. At the same time, some issues related to the occurrence of random events are discussed with the children. After the fractal is obtained on a computer, the research phase of the constructed model follows. In the computer Chaos Game: (1) a small rotation by a specified number of degrees is sequentially added before setting the next point; (2) a turn in front of individual fractal vertices; (3) compression of a fractal to individual vertices. Conclusions are drawn about the self-similarity of the resulting objects. The proposed method allows us to study some properties of fractal sets, by involving visualization, intuition and computer modeling.