A Coupled MPM-FDM Analysis Method for Multi-Phase Elasto-Plastic Soils

The Material Point Method (MPM), as proposed by Sulsky et al. (1994), has been developed to simulate large deformations and failure evolution involving different material phases in a single computational domain. A continuum body is divided into a finite number of subregions represented by Lagrangian material points, while the governing equations are formulated and solved with the Eulerian grid. Since this grid can be chosen arbitrarily, mesh tangling does not appear in the MPM. To design a simple but robust spatial discretization procedure, the MPM is coupled with the finite difference method (FDM) in the present study for simulating fully and partially saturated elasto-plastic soil responses based on the simplified three-phase method. Governing equations for the soil skeleton and the pore fluid are discretized by the MPM and FDM, respectively. Soil-water coupled analyses for fully saturated soils and seepage-deformation coupled analyses for unsaturated soils are performed, and the potential of the proposed method is demonstrated via numerical examples.     

Investigation of localized deformation in partially saturated sand under triaxial compression using microfocus X-ray CT with digital image correlation

In this paper, localized deformation in partially saturated sand was investigated quantitatively using microfocus X-ray computed tomography (CT) and an image analysis of the CT images. Triaxial compression tests on a partially saturated dense Toyoura sand specimen were carried out under a low confining pressure and under drained conditions for both air and water. The development of localized deformation was observed macroscopically using microfocus X-ray CT, and the displacement field over the entire specimen was quantified by an image analysis of the CT images with the digital image correlation (DIC) technique. The progressive development of shear bands is discussed with reference to these images. In addition, the region of localization was observed microscopically by partial CT scanning on a micron scale with high spatial resolution. Changes in the particulate structures are also discussed herein. The DIC image analysis of the partial CT images provided a microscopic displacement field and indicated that very fine localized shear deformation developed before the shear bands had become visible in the macroscopic investigation.     

A 2.5-GFLOPS, 6.5 million polygons per second, four-way VLIWgeometry processor with SIMD instructions and a software bypassmechanism

A four-way very long instruction word (VLIW), 312-MHz geometry processor with peripheral component interconnect/accelerated graphic port bus bridge was implemented in a 0.21-μm, 2.5-V, three-layer-metal CMOS process. We adopted (1) a software bypass mechanism, (2) single-instruction multiple-data stream instructions, (3) four sets of floating-point multiply add and accumulate execution units, (4) special condition code registers and a branch condition generator for a clipping operation, and (5) automatic clock delay tuning methodology. As a result of these features, we achieved a performance of 2.5 GFLOPS and 6.5 million polygons per second for a three-dimensional geometry processor, which is the highest published performance as a single geometry processor. The processor is applicable to computer-aided-design systems that require very high graphics performance     

1330 V, 67 m/spl Omega//spl middot/cm/sup 2/ 4H-SiC(0001) RESURF MOSFET

Design and fabrication of 4H-SiC(0001) lateral MOSFETs with a two-zone reduced surface field structure have been investigated. The dose dependencies of experimental breakdown voltage show good agreement with simulation. Through the optimization of implant dose, high-temperature (1700/spl deg/C) annealing after ion implantation, and reduction of channel length, a breakdown voltage of 1330 V and a low on-resistance of 67 m/spl Omega//spl middot/cm/sup 2/ have been obtained. The figure-of-merit (V/sub B//sup 2//R/sub on/) of the present device reaches 26 MW/cm/sup 2/, being the best performance among lateral MOSFETs reported. The temperature dependence of static characteristics is also presented.     

High fibre coupled output power 37 nm tunable laser module using matrix DFB laser

The thermally-controlled laser module, integrating 12 distributed feedback (DFB) lasers in the form of a 2/spl times/6 matrix to realise both high output power and wide wavelength tunability, has been fabricated. The module has shown excellent characteristics, such as high fibre coupled power over 30 mW and tunability over 37 nm.     

Stability and chaotic characteristics of a wall plume

In this study artificial disturbances were introduced into a wall plume adjacent to a vertical side wall, and its stability and chaotic characteristics were experimentally examined. The main results are: (1) for high and low frequency disturbances the neutral region (a region between stability and instability) is lower and higher values of the modified Grashof number than an analytical neutral curve, respectively. (2) As the Grashof number increases, a chaotic fluctuation of temperature is observed above a critical value. This chaotic region is completely included in the region where the wall plume is unstable. (3) The flow can be classified into four regions based on patterns, a stable region, disturbance-amplification region, chaotic region and non-chaotic region.     

Characterization of silicon dioxide films on a 4H-SiC Si(0001) face by fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence spectroscopy

We used Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy to characterize silicon dioxide (SiO(2)) films on a 4H-SiC(0001) Si face. We found that the peak frequency of the transverse optical (TO) phonon in SiO(2) films grown on a 4H-SiC substrate agrees well with that in SiO(2) films grown on a Si substrate, whereas the peak frequency of the longitudinal optical (LO) phonon in SiO(2) films on a 4H-SiC substrate is red-shifted by approximately 50 cm(-1) relative to that in SiO(2) films on a Si substrate. We concluded that this red-shift of the LO phonon is mainly caused by a change in inhomogeneity due to a decrease in density in the SiO(2) films. Furthermore, cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy results indicated that the channel mobility of the SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) decreases roughly in proportion to the increase in the intensity of the CL peak at 460 and 490 nm, which is attributed to the increase in the number of oxygen vacancy centers (OVCs). FT-IR and CL spectroscopies provide us with a large amount of data on OVCs in the SiO(2) films on a 4H-SiC substrate.     

Low-loss, high-voltage 6H-SiC epitaxial p-i-n diode

The p-i-n diodes were fabricated using 31 /spl mu/m thick n/sup -/- and p-type 6H-SiC epilayers grown by horizontal cold-wall chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with nitrogen and aluminum doping, respectively. The diode exhibited a very high breakdown voltage of 4.2 kV with a low on-resistance of 4.6 m/spl Omega/cm/sup 2/. This on-resistance is lower (by a factor of five) than that of a Si p-i-n diode with a similar breakdown voltage. The leakage current density was substantially lower even at high temperatures. The fabricated SiC p-i-n diode showed fast switching with a turn-off time of 0.18 /spl mu/s at 300 K. The carrier lifetime was estimated to be 0.64 /spl mu/s at 300 K, and more than 5.20 /spl mu/s at 500 K. Various characteristics of SiC p-i-n diodes which have an advantage of lower power dissipation owing to conductivity modulation were investigated.     

Quantitative analysis of Gly m Bd 28K in soybean products by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

Normative tables for various MMPI-2 code types, which may be used to enhance the interpretation of the Harris and Lingoes subscales, were developed. It was found that scores on the subscales covaried significantly as a function of code type. Gender and code type definition strategy were considered as moderators of the relationship between code type and subscale scores, but neither accounted for a large enough proportion of variance to justify consideration in the tables.     

Gas and vapor permeability of perfluoroalkylated polymers

Summary Three polymers bearing benzene rings: polystyrene, poly(2,6-dimethyl-p-phenylene oxide) and poly(diphenylacetylene), were chemically modified with bis(heptafluorobutyryl) peroxide. The heptafluoropropylated products have higher gas permeabilities than the parent polymers. In the pervaporation of aqueous ethanol, modified poly(diphenylacetylene) showed ethanol permselectivity.