Fluage à long terme du bois fléchi en grandeur structurale

Résumé Cet article présente un modèle permettant de calculer le fluage de poutres fléchies de différentes sections soumises à des environnements variables en ce qui concerne l'humidité relative. Ce modèle est utilisé ici pour interpréter de nouveaux essais à long terme sur des poutres en bois massif et lamellé-collé qui ont été chargées pendant plus de 800 jours en conditions extérieures sous abri à Paris

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Summary Long term bending experiments on full size timber and glulam beams have been carried out under external and sheltered climatic conditions in Paris, and more than two years of test results on the creep behaviour of 75 beams are available. A model for predicting the long term mechanical behaviour of timber under variable humidity and load conditions, previously developed by the author, is described. The model is based on transient moisture transfer analysis linked with deformation analysis using a step-by-step computation scheme, and has been compared previously with experiments carried out under laboratory conditions of controlled variable climates by the author as well as with test results obtained from several other institutions. In general, the model has agreed satisfactorily with the experimental results. In the present paper the model is compared with experiments on full size beams carried out under the changeable conditions of a natural climate. The results show that, for low stress levels and corresponding loads, the model provides a reasonable prediction of the end creep levels after two years of loading.

     

A VISCOSITY CONSTITUTIVE EQUATION FOR PMMA—MMA SOLUTIONS

A viscosity constitutive equation has been developed to describe PMMA—MMA solutions over a wide range of concentration and temperature. The approach used here combines both free-volume and coil-coil interaction considerations. The final expression successfully correlates not only our experimental data on several solutions but also literature melt data. This equation provides an essential step in modeling tubular polymerization reactors, where the residence time distribution depends strongly on the velocity profile development in the tube, and thus the rheological properties of the reacting PMMA — MMA mixture at different conversion levels and temperatures.     

Adsorption des acides humiques sur charbon active en poudre. Influence du triphosphate de sodiumAdsorption of humic acids onto powdered activated carbon. The influence of sodium triphosphate

The use of activated carbon beds for the removal of natural humic and fulvic substances found in water supplies, has recently received considerable attention in water treatment operation (Lee et al., 1980; Le Cloirec et al., 1983). Moreover, the use of carbon adsorption for the reduction of haloform precursors (Anderson et al., 1981) and trihalomethanes produced by chlorination process, has contributed to a comprehensive investigation of adsorption characteristics of natural organic compounds (McCreary and Snoeyink, 1981). Many recent works showed the influence of adsorption system characteristics, such as pH, salt type, salt concentration and ionic heterogeneity in multicomponent adsorption systems, on the removal efficiency of humic and fulvic substances by activated carbon (McCreary and Snoeyink, 1980; Randtke and Jepsen, 1982; Weber et al., 1983). The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of a main component of domestic detergents, sodium triphosphate (STP), on the adsorptive capacities of powdered activated carbon (PAC) for commercially supplied humic acids, at different pH values in distilled water. Also, the effect of STP concentration and pH on the adsorption affinity of the PAC for humic acids, is discussed in relation with electrokinetic properties of carbon particles (zeta potential measurements).A first batch equilibrium study (Figs 1 and 2), showed an effective enhancement of adsorption capacity for humic acids as a function of STP concentration, in a non buffered media (pH of distilled water, close to 5.0). For example, visible absorption analysis of humic acids indicates an increase of 93% (500 mg l^?1 PAC) and 133% (1000 mg l^?1 PAC) in the carbon adsorption efficiency for a STP concentration from 0.2 to 1.0mM. A second batch equilibrium study (Figs 3 and 4) led to adsorption isotherms for humic acids in distilled water, as a function of STP concentration and initial pH value of the non buffered multicomponent system. Freundlich isotherms showed an increase in the adsorption capacity of the PAC for humic acids, with a decrease in pH and an increase in STP concentration. However, the adsorption capacity for humic acids is quite reduced at high pH values in presence of STP, in comparison with results obtained with distilled water.Electrokinetic measurements on PAC suspensions (Fig. 5) indicates that both humic acids and STP induce a negative variation of the zeta potential of carbon particles. In such a binary system, the zeta potential is a linear function of the pH; the negative surface charge of the carbon increasing with an elevation of pH (Fig. 6). Therefore, it appears that some adsorption of triphosphate polyanion from solution could occur, contributing then to the apparent negative surface charge of PAC particles.It has been previously showed that the type of anion in sodium salts, had little effect on the enhancement of adsorptive capacities of activated carbon for humic substances (Lafrance and Mazet, 1985), due to Na⁺ ions. However, adsorption of TP anions on the carbon surface may produce a source of repulsive charges, unfavourable to the co-adsorption of humic acids as the pH of the binary system reach more basic conditions. The influence of possible electrostatic interactions between adsorbates at the carbon surface, on the adsorption efficiency for humic acids, could then be studied by zeta potential measurements of PAC particles during the adsorption process.     

Binding characteristics of novel nonsteroidal antiestrogens to the rat uterine estrogen receptors

Tamoxifen (TAM), the only antiestrogen currently available for the endocrine therapy of breast cancer behaves as a mixed agonist/antagonist of estrogen action, thus limiting its therapeutic potential. We report the binding characteristics of a novel series of nonsteroidal antiestrogens to the rat uterine estrogen receptor. As measured by competition studies, the affinity of EM-652, the active metabolite of the prodrug EM-800, for the estrogen receptor is 7-11 times higher than that of 17beta-estradiol (E2), ICI 182780, and hydroxy-tamoxifen (OH-TAM), the active metabolite of Tamoxifen. EM-652 is 20x more potent than ICI 164384 and Droloxifene while it is 400 times more potent than Toremifene in displacing [3H]E2 from the rat uterine estrogen receptor. On the other hand, the prodrug EM-800 and Tamoxifen have respectively 150-fold and 410-fold less affinity for the estrogen receptor than the pure antiestrogen EM-652. No significant binding of EM-652, EM-800, TAM or OH-TAM was observed to the rat uterine progesterone receptor at concentrations up to 10,000 nM except for TAM that caused a 50% displacement of labeled R5020 at 4000 nM. No significant binding of EM-652 or EM-800 was observed on the rat ventral prostate androgen receptor or the rat uterine progesterone receptor. The present data demonstrate the high affinity and specificity of the new antiestrogen, EM-652, for the rat uterine estrogen receptor. The antiestrogen EM-652 thus becomes the compound having the highest known affinity for the estrogen receptor. Due to its unique potency and its pure antiestrogenic activity already demonstrated in many systems, this antiestrogen could well offer an important advance for the endocrine therapy of breast cancer, uterine cancer, and other estrogen-sensitive diseases in women.     

Performance analysis of the forgetting factor RLS algorithm

An analysis is given of the performance of the standard forgetting factor recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm when used for tracking time-varying linear regression models. Three basic results are obtained: (1) the ‘P-matrix’ in the algorithm remains bounded if and only if the (time-varying) covariance matrix of the regressors is uniformly non-singular; (2) if so, the parameter tracking error covariance matrix is of the order O(μ + γ²/μ), where μ = 1 - λ, λ is the forgetting factor and γ is a quantity reflecting the speed of the parameter variations; (3) this covariance matrix can be arbitrarily well approximated (for small enough μ) by an expression that is easy to compute.     

Adaptive control of permanent magnet synchronous machines with disturbance estimation

In this paper,an adaptive control scheme is introduced for permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs)as an alternative to classical control techniques.The adaptive control strategy capitalizes on the machine’s inverse dynamics to achieve accurate tracking by using an observer to approximate disturbance in the form of friction and load torque.The controller’s output is then fed to a space vector pulse width modulation(SVPWM)algorithm to produce duty cycles for the inverter.The control scheme is validated through a set of simulations on an experimentally validated PMSM model.Results for different situations highlight its high speed tracking accuracy and high performance in compensating for friction and load disturbances of various magnitudes.