A micro-mechanical investigation of bifurcation in granular materials

In this paper, the notion of loss of sustainability of a mechanical state in a granular assembly is investigated. The vanishing of the second-order work, defined on the macroscopic scale from tensorial variables, is shown to play a fundamental role in detecting the occurrence of this type of bifurcation. Then a link is established between the macroscopic second-order work on the specimen scale and a discrete local expression that introduces microscopic variables defined on each contact scale. This relation opens up a micro-mechanical interpretation allowing one to examine which micro-structural features are responsible for the vanishing of the macroscopic second-order work. Finally, it is established that both geometrical and material micro-structural origins may combine to induce the occurrence of bifurcation on a specimen scale.     

DEM investigation of mixing indices in a ribbon mixer

Mixing index is an important parameter to understand and assess the mixing state in various mixers including ribbon mixers,the typical food processing devices.M...     

Tailoring particle shape for enhancing the homogeneity of powder mixtures:Experimental study and DEM modelling

The effect of particle shape modification on the segregation reduction of enzyme granules in laundry detergent powder mixtures was investigated,both experimentally and computationally using Deseret Element Method(DEM).The shape of modified enzyme particles was in such a way that the large and dense enzyme particles were layered by other fine particles in the detergent powder,by means of a process known in the literature as“seeded granulation”.It is found that the homogeneity of modified enzyme particles could be improved significantly comparing to the original spherical enzyme particles in powder mixtures.Overall,the results of this research demonstrated that the segregation-induced properties of the dense/spherical enzyme particles could be lowered by altering their shape,which could enable the enzyme particles to behave almost similar to other ingredients during the pile formation process.     

Theoretical investigation of ignition and detonation of coal-particle gas mixtures

A mathematical model of ignition of a coal-particle gas suspension is developed within the framework of mechanics of reacting heterogeneous media. Some qualitative features are studied, which reveal different typical variants of heat dynamics of the mixture: heterogeneous ignition caused by the coke residue ignition reaction, homogeneous ignition induced by volatile oxidation in the gas phase, and hybrid ignition due to the simultaneous effect of surface and volume reactions. Verification of the model is performed using available experimental data on ignition delay times for coal-particle suspensions in air and oxygen behind reflected shock waves. The model is extended to detonation processes in the suspension, verified by experimental data on the relation between the propagation velocity and initial particle concentration. Stationary detonation regimes are studied, and specific features of detonation structures are discussed.This paper was presented at the 18th International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive System, Seattle, Washington, USA, August, 2001     

Experimental investigation on the detonability of non-uniform gaseous mixtures

An experimental investigation is performed to characterize the detonability of small gaseous clouds with a concentration gradient. Two types of gaseous mixtures are used: (i) a heavy gas (equivalence ratio : ); (ii) a light gas . The mixtures are initially confined in a hemispherical volume which is characterized by an initial radius m. When the confining is ruptured, the gaseous mixture diffuses into the surrounding air. The concentration distribution is a result of molecular diffusion, gravity and turbulence. Schlieren chronophotographies enable the illustration of the dispersion of the cloud. By means of pressure profiles of blast waves generated by the explosion, the limit between the two explosion phenomena (total and partial explosive charge) is defined. The limit time delay, which leads to a given concentration distribution and for which detonations cannot be observed, is investigated with respect to initial gaseous composition and initial volume of confining. The critical nominal initiation energies in uniform and non-uniform media are characterized. Received 19 October 1998 / Accepted 15 July 1999     

Transport properties of nonequilibrium polyatomic gas mixtures

It is shown that the well-known Hirschfelder-Euken correction to the thermal conductivity of a polyatomic gas mixture given by the first approximation in Sonine polynomials can be less than the corresponding exact value (for a Lorentz mixture of light and heavy molecules interacting in accordance with Coulomb's law) by a factor of 3.4. Fairly high accuracy is achieved in the second approximation in Sonine polynomials. Within the framework of the latter, similar corrections to the nonequilibrium heat and diffusion fluxes are found. On the basis of the generalized Chapman-Enskog method a more general case is studied. In this case some of the nonelastic collision integrals is also taken into account in calculating the transport coefficients. The transport coefficients are either represented in terms of the well-known formulas for fast and retarded internal molecular energy exchange or convenient approximate expressions are obtained.Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 183–189, March–April, 1995.     

Dielectric properties of heterogeneous mixtures with a polar constituent

Summary After defining the boundaries for the dielectric constant of a heterogeneous mixture, the behaviour of such a mixture is studied as a function of the frequency, when one of its components is polar. Deviations from a semicircle are to be expected for the function _m =f( _m ) even when the dielectric properties of the polar constituent can be described with a semicircular Cole-Cole-arc. The relaxation time of the mixture is shorter than that of the polar constituent.     

Packing properties of binary mixtures in disordered sphere systems

Mixtures of binary spheres are numerically simulated using a relaxation algorithm to investigate the effects of volume fraction and size ratio, A complete profile of the packing properties of binary spheres is given. The density curve with respect to the volume fraction has a triangular shape with a peak at 70% large spheres. The density of the mixture increases with the size ratio, but the growth becomes slow in the case of a large size disparity, The volume fraction and size ratio effects are reflected in the height and movement, respectively, of specific peaks in the radial distribution functions. The structure of the mixture is further analyzed in terms of contact types, and the mean coordination number is demonstrated to be primarily affected by ＂large-small＂ contacts. A novel method for estimating the average relative excluded volume for binary spheres by weighting the percentages of contact types is proposed and extended to polydisperse packings of certain size distributions. The method can be applied to explain the density trends of polydisperse mixtures in disordered sphere systems,     

Low hydrocarbon mixtures ignition delay times investigation behind reflected shock waves

Ignition delays for low alkanes/oxygen mixtures highly diluted with argon were measured behind a reflected shock wave using ultraviolet emission spectrometry in wide ranges of temperature (1200–2700 K), pressure (0.1–1.8 MPa), equivalence ratio (0.5–2) and dilution (89–99%). For each alkane (methane, ethane and propane), a correlation between ignition delay time, temperature, pressure and concentration is proposed and compared with those obtained in previous studies. This correlation enables the estimation of the delay time with an accuracy better than 20% for all measurement ranges. Results are compared with those from a recent study of the detailed kinetic modelling of the alkane oxidation. Received 12 March 2001 / Accepted 28 August 2001     

Rheological properties for inelastic Maxwell mixtures under shear flow

The Boltzmann equation for inelastic Maxwell models is considered to determine the rheological properties in a granular binary mixture in the simple shear flow state. The transport coefficients (shear viscosity and viscometric functions) are exactly evaluated in terms of the coefficients of restitution, the (reduced) shear rate and the parameters of the mixture (particle masses, diameters and concentration). The results show that in general, for a given value of the coefficients of restitution, the above transport properties decrease with increasing shear rate.     

Bulk modulus of particulate composites: A comparison between a statistical and micro-mechanical approach

Two models are compared. One is based on the theory of elastic continua, and describes the interaction between filler and matrix in terms of an interfacial layer of varying volume fraction and elastic properties. The other derives from an equation of state for the constituents and the composite, based on molecular considerations. The filler-matrix interaction is then expressed in terms of segmental attractions and repulsions. We examine the dependence of the bulk modulusK _c ( _f ) on the volume fraction _f of filler and then show the correspondence between the two theories in terms of the infinite dilution limit of the ratio [K _c ( _f ) –K _m ]/(K _{m f} ) where the indexm refers to the matrix.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. F. R. Schwarzl on the occasion of his 60th birthdayOn leave from Rajdhani College, University of Delhi, India     

Application of a screw conveyor with axial tilt blades on a shearer drum and investigation of conveying performance based on DEM

Screw conveyors are widely employed in industrial fields for conveying bulk materials.The shearer drum which uses the screw conveying principle is responsible f...     

Experimental investigation of the properties of polyelectrolyte gel

A polyelectrolyte gel, e.g. polyacrylamide gel has interesting thermo-mechanical properties. It swells in solution, increasing its volume by large factors and the swelling may be induced by a change of temperature, by the acetone content of the solution or by its acidity. The swelling can be reversed, i.e. the gel may be shrunk back to its original shape. The preparation of the gel is described here and quantitative details of the swelling or shrinking are reported.Particular emphasis is placed on the effect of a load on the properties of the gel. It is shown that a tensile load significantly affects the volume changes induced by changes of acidity of the solution.Some peculiar properties of the gel emerged during the investigation, such as anisotropy in thin gels and a decrease of the electrical resistance as an immediate consequence of both loading and unloading.     

Effect of particle polydispersity on micromechanical properties and energy dissipation in granular mixtures

A series of numerical tests was conducted to study the micromechanical properties and energy dissipation in polydisperse assemblies of spherical particles subjected to uniaxial compression. In general, distributed particle size assemblies with standard deviations ranging from 0% to 80% of the particle mean diameter were examined. The microscale analyses included the trace of the fabric tensor, magnitude and orien- tation of the contact forces, trace of stress, number of contacts and degree of mobilization of friction in contacts between particles. In polydisperse samples, the average coordination numbers were lower than in monodisperse assemblies, and the mobilization of friction was higher than in monodisperse assemblies due to the non-uniform spatial rearrangement of spheres in the samples and the smaller displacements of the particles. The effect of particle size heterogeneity on both the energy density and energy dissipation in systems was also investigated.     

Numerical investigation of nonequilibrium flows of mixtures of fusible metal particles and gases in a laval nozzle

There are numerous papers [1–11] on the determination of the parameters of condensed oxide particles which are formed during combustion of metallized fuels. The ambiguity, and sometimes the contradictoriness, of the test results obtained [3–5, 9–11] indicate the difficulties in conducting correct experimental investigations. In this connection, numerical studies using mixtures of calibrated liquid-metal particles and different gases are of practical interest. Different probes can be calibrated by using calibrated two-phase flows, the two-phase flow around models and probes can be studied, as can the interaction between liquid-metal particles and the front of an aerodynamic compression shock, their intrusion in different entraining media, the interaction between fine particles (particle-projectiles) and large size particles (particle-targets), etc. In many cases, the prehistory of the flow and the parameters of the gas mixture with the particles in the area of the nozzle exit section must be known to investigate the above-mentioned phenomena. The parameters of different nonequilibrium flows of mixtures of gallium particles and gases in a Laval nozzle are investigated numerically in this paper; the maximum diameter (upper boundary of the spectrum) of the particles (d_s = 30 ) which are not destroyed in the nozzle under the effect of the aerodynamic forces and are suitable for use in a calibrated two-phase stream is determined. The computations were carried out in a one-dimensional approximation according to [12–14].Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 2, pp. 86–91, March–April, 1976.The authors are grateful to V. K. Starkov and U. G. Pirumov for discussing the results of the research and to N. M. Alekseev for aid in constructing the graphs.     

A statistical, physical-based, micro-mechanical model of hydrogen-induced intergranular fracture in steel

Intergranular cracking associated with hydrogen embrittlement represents a particularly severe degradation mechanism in metallic structures which can lead to sudden and unexpected catastrophic fractures. As a basis for a strategy for the prognosis of such failures, here we present a comprehensive physical-based statistical micro-mechanical model of such embrittlement which we use to quantitatively predict the degradation in fracture strength of a high-strength steel with increasing hydrogen concentration, with the predictions verified by experiment. The mechanistic role of dissolved hydrogen is identified by the transition to a locally stress-controlled fracture, which is modeled as being initiated by a dislocation pile-up against a grain-boundary carbide which in turn leads to interface decohesion and intergranular fracture. Akin to cleavage fracture in steel, the “strength” of these carbides is modeled using weakest-link statistics. We associate the dominant role of hydrogen with trapping at dislocations; this trapped hydrogen reduces the stress that impedes dislocation motion and also lowers the reversible work of decohesion at the tip of dislocation pile-up at the carbide/matrix interface. Mechanistically, the model advocates the synergistic action of both the hydrogen-enhanced local plasticity and decohesion mechanisms in dictating failure.