Research Opportunities on the Low Temperature Microgravity Physics Facility on the International Space Station

The Low Temperature Microgravity Physics Facility (LTMPF) is a state-of-the-art facility for long duration science investigations whose objectives can only be achieved in microgravity and at low temperature. LTMPF consists of two reusable, cryogenic facilities with self-contained electronics, software and communication capabilities. The Facility will be first launched by Japanese HIIA Rocket in 2004 with at least five months cryogen lifetime on the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility (JEM EF) of the International Space Station (ISS). Future missions will be launched and retrieved by the Space Shuttle. A number of high precision sensors of temperature, pressure and capacitance will be available, which can be further tailored to accommodate a wide variety of low temperature experiments. This paper will describe the LTMPF and its goals and design requirements. Currently there are six candidate experiments in the flight definition phase to fly on LTMPF. Future candidate experiments will be selected through the NASA Research Announcement(NRA) process. Opportunities for utilization and collaboration with international partners will also be discussed.     

Measuring incident radiant heat flux using the plate thermometer

This paper shows that the plate thermometer as described in the fire resistance test standards ISO 834-1 and EN 1363-1 can be used for measuring incident radiant flux under ambient conditions as an alternative to water cooled total flux heat metres (HFMs). Measurements with a plate thermometer mounted in the cone calorimeter and exposed to different heat flux levels were analysed as well as simultaneous measurements with total HFMs and plate thermometers in large scale tests. It is shown how the incident radiant flux to a target can be derived from measurements with total HFMs and plate thermometers, respectively, and how well these two methods match. The plate thermometer is therefore deemed to be a practical alternative for measuring thermal conditions including incident radiant heat flux particularly under field conditions. It is, however, recommended that the plate thermometer should be modified when used under ambient conditions to reduce errors.     

Primary Steps of pH‐Dependent Insulin Aggregation Kinetics are Governed by Conformational Flexibility

Insulin aggregation critically depends on pH. The underlying energetic and structural determinants are, however, unknown. Here, we measure the kinetics of the primary aggregation steps of the insulin monomer in vitro and relate it to its conformational flexibility. To assess these primary steps the monomer concentration was monitored by mass spectrometry at various pH values and aggregation products were imaged by atomic force microscopy. Lowering the pH from 3 to 1.6 markedly accelerated the observed aggregation kinetics. The influence of pH on the monomer structure and dynamics in solution was studied by molecular dynamics simulations, with the protonation states of the titrable groups obtained from electrostatic calculations. Reduced flexibility was observed for low pH values, mainly in the C terminus and in the helix of the B chain; these corresponded to an estimated entropy loss of 150 J mol^?1 K^?1. The striking correlation between entropy loss and pH value is consistent with the observed kinetic traces. In analogy to the well‐known Φ value analysis, this result allows the extraction of structural information about the rate determining transition state of the primary aggregation steps. In particular, we suggest that the residues in the helix of the B chain are involved in this transition state.     

Acid-induced gelation of natural actomyosin from Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and burbot (Lota lota)

The acid-induced gelation of natural actomyosin (NAM) from burbot (Lota lota) and Atlantic cod (Gardus morhua) added with d-gluconic acid-δ-lactone (GDL) during incubation at room temperature (22–23 °C) for 48 h was investigated. During acidification, pH values of both NAMs reached 4.6 within 48 h. Both NAMs underwent aggregation during acidification as evidenced by increases in turbidity and particle size, especially after 6 h of incubation. The decreases in Ca²⁺-ATPase activity and salt solubility of both NAMs were observed during incubation. Decreases in total sulphydryl content with the concomitant increases in disulphide bond content of NAM from both species were also noticeable. Additionally, surface hydrophobicity of NAM increased, suggesting the conformational changes in NAM induced by acidification. The storage modulus (G′) values increased with increasing incubation time and G′ development was greater in Atlantic cod NAM, compared with burbot NAM. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed that T_max and enthalpy of myosin peak shifted to the lower values and endothermic peak of actin completely disappeared. In general, gel development was more pronounced in Atlantic cod NAM, compared with the burbot counterpart. As visualised by transmission electron microscopy, network strands of aggregates from Atlantic cod were finer and more uniform than those of the burbot counterpart. Acid-induced gelation of NAM from both fish species therefore involved both denaturation and aggregation processes. However, gelation varied with fish species and had an impact on the resulting gels.     

A simplified analysis method for composite beams with interlayer slip

A simplified static procedure is proposed for analysing and designing composite beams with interlayer slip. The method is parallel to the Eurocode 5 method, but it is general in nature and can be applied to arbitrary boundary and loading conditions. In contrast with Eurocode 5, a general and correct way of choosing the effective beam length of the problem is given by the present procedure, which is that the effective beam length equals the buckling length that is found in the corresponding column buckling problem. The procedure predicts the deflections and internal actions and stresses, in principle by replacing the fully composite bending stiffness (EI_∞) with the effective (partially) composite bending stiffness (EI_eff) in the expressions for these quantities in the corresponding fully composite beam. This effective bending stiffness depends on two non-dimensional parameters: the composite action parameter (shear connection stiffness) and the relative bending stiffness parameter. The method is applied to a number of simple practical cases and the results obtained have been compared with the exact values. The applicability of the simplified analysis procedure was found to be very good, except for interlayer shear stresses. The error in the Eurocode 5 procedure, as compared with the method proposed in this paper, can in some cases be up to almost 30% depending on the boundary conditions.     

Exact dynamic analysis of composite beams with partial interaction

The partial differential equations and general solutions for the deflection and internal actions and the pertaining consistent boundary conditions are presented for composite Euler-Bernoulli members with interlayer slip subjected to general dynamic loading. Both free and forced vibrations are treated. The solutions are shown to be unique and complete under certain conditions, and valid for all so-called restricted admissible boundary conditions. Specifically, the exact eigenmode length coefficients are derived for the four Euler BC. They differ from those valid for ordinary, fully composite (solid) beams, except for the pinned-pinned case. The maximum deviation for beams with the other three Euler BC is shown to be less than 2-6% with respect to the eigenmode length coefficient and 3-10% with respect to the eigenfrequency, respectively, depending on the two non-dimensional parameters, composite action or shear connector stiffness and relative bending stiffness parameters. However, these deviations occur in a rather narrow range of the determining parameters, so for most practical cases the eigenmode length coefficients given for solid (fully composite) beams can approximately be used also for partially composite beams. The procedures of analysing beam vibrations are applied to a specific case. These solutions illustrate the effect of interlayer connection on the peak velocity of the beam vibrations. The proposed analytical theory is verified by tests and finite element calculations.     

Wear rate testing in relation to airborne particles generated in a wheel–rail contact

This study examines the relationship between generated airborne particles and wear rate in the wheel–rail contact. The wheel–rail contact is experimentally simulated by using pin‐on‐disc testing to determine the difference in wear rate between selected contact conditions. Wear is discussed both in tribological terms and by using the wear categories prevalent in the railway industry, namely, mild, severe and catastrophic wear. The discussion is based on wear depth, the coefficient of friction, topographical measurements and measurements of airborne particles generated in the contact. The tests were performed under selected loading conditions representative of different contact conditions in a real wheel–rail contact. The results indicate that wear rates vary with the contact conditions arising from different types of triggered wear transitions. This is emphasised by the number and size of the airborne particles generated. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于麦克风阵列测量的机翼脱落涡噪声研究

应用由111个麦克风且成的平面麦克风阵列对当前流行的民用客机进场着陆过程中的飞机品怕源进行了测量分析,在国际上首次发现了机脱落涡单音噪源,并且得到了这种噪声源的频谱特性、指出特性和声级变化特征。