Analysis of stiffened corrugated plates based on the FSDT via the mesh-free method

The elastic bending of unstiffened and stiffened corrugated plates is studied in this paper, and a mesh-free Galerkin method is presented for the analyses. A corrugated plate is treated as an orthotropic plate that has different flexure properties in two perpendicular directions. The equivalent flexure properties are estimated by applying constant curvature conditions to the corrugated sheet. The stiffened corrugated plate is considered as a composite structure of an orthotropic plate with beams. By superimposing the strain energy of the orthotropic plate and the beams, and imposing the displacement compatibility conditions between the plate and the beams, the stiffness matrix of the structure is obtained. Because no mesh is needed in the proposed method, there is no limitation to the position of the stiffeners (beams). Changes in the positions of the stiffeners do not require the re-meshing of the plate. Several numerical examples are employed to show the accuracy and convergence of the proposed method. The computation results demonstrate good agreement with the solutions given by ANSYS, and different profiles of corrugated plates are considered.     

Densities and molal volumes ofn-alkylamines from 15 to 80°C

Densities of sevenn-alkylamines from 1-butylamine to 1-decylamine were determined from 15 to 80°C. The density was found to be a linear function of the temperature within this temperature range. At constant temperature, the molal volume was a linear function of the number of methylene units in the chain for the homologous series. A simple equation with four constants correlating the molal volume with the number of methylene units and temperature of then-alkylamines was formulated. Excellent agreement between the calculated, the measured and the literature values were obtained. Accurate molal volumes, and hence the densities of anyn-alkylamines, other than methylamine, within the temperature range can be calculated from the equation.     

对钢-混凝土组合连接件的试验分析

对6个全尺寸梁柱节点进行试验研究。钢构件由一个焊接在梁端,与柱翼缘以螺栓连接的钢板组成。所有6个构件的梁截面和混凝土板的尺寸都是统一的。使用了三种类型的柱：光管钢筋柱、部分外包型钢筋柱、全部外包钢筋柱。另外的变量包括楼板中的钢筋面积,柱网中的加劲肋。将从试验中得到的弯矩-转角曲线与分析模型中预测的曲线进行对比。     

Static strength of collar plate reinforced CHS X-joints loaded by in-plane bending

This paper presents the collar plate reinforcement scheme to strengthen a Circular Hollow Section (CHS) X-joint, applicable for a fabricated joint which is subsequently found to be under-strength. The parametric numerical study on the static strength of collar plate reinforced X-joints loaded by in-plane bending is complementary to the study on doubler plate reinforced joints as reported in the companion paper. The load transferring mechanisms and failure modes of these reinforced joints are investigated and compared. From the range of geometric parameters investigated, the collar plate reinforcement is found to be more effective than its doubler plate counterpart to improve the static strength of the joints. Based on the numerical results, strength equations are established to estimate the static strength of collar plate reinforced X-joints.     

Electro-elastic stress analysis for a wedge-shaped crack interacting with a screw dislocation in piezoelectric solid

The electro-elastic stress investigation on the interaction problem of a screw dislocation near the tip of a semi-infinite wedge-shaped crack in piezoelectric material has been carried out. Explicit closed-form analytical solutions are obtained for the stress intensity factor (SIF) and the electric displacement intensity factor (EDIF) of the crack, as well as the force on dislocation. The derivation is based on the conformal mapping method and the perturbation technique. The dislocation has Burger's vector normal to the isotropic basal plane, with a line force and a line charge being applied at the core of the dislocation. The influence of the location and the wedge angle of the crack on the image force of the dislocation has been discussed in detail. At the same time the effect of the dislocation on the crack behavior has been also examined under different configurations. Two types of PZT materials are used to numerically illustrate the influences of the wedge angle and the location of the dislocation on the image force and the crack intensities. Results obtained in the current study can be fully reduced to various special cases available in the literatures.     

Enhanced photoelectrochemical performance of bridged ZnO nanorod arrays grown on V-grooved structure

Bridged ZnO nanorod arrays on a V-grooved Si(100) substrate were used as the photoanode of a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell for water splitting. Photolithography followed by reactive ion etching was employed to create a V-grooved structure on a Si substrate. ZnO nanorod arrays were grown via a hydrothermal method. The light trapping and PEC properties are greatly enhanced using the bridged ZnO nanorod arrays on a V-grooved Si substrate compared with those on a flat one. Increased short circuit photocurrent density (J(SC), 0.73?mA?cm(-2)) and half-life time (1500?s) are achieved. This improved J(SC) and half-life time are 4 times and 10 times, respectively, higher than those of the ZnO nanorod arrays grown on a flat substrate. The overall PEC cell performance improvement for the V-groove grown ZnO array is attributed to the reduced light reflection and enhanced light trapping effect. Moreover, V-groove ZnO showed stronger adhesion between ZnO nanorod arrays and the substrate.     

Synthesis of silicon nanowires and nanofin arrays using interference lithography and catalytic etching

We report results on the synthesis of silicon nanostructures that were fabricated using a combination of interference lithography and catalytic etching. With this technique, we were able to create nanostructures that are perfectly periodic over very large areas (1 cm(2) or more), where the cross-sectional shapes and the array ordering can be varied. Furthermore this technique can readily and independently control the sizes and spacings of the nanostructures down to spacings of 200 nm or less. These characteristics cannot be achieved using other known techniques.     

Investigation of temperature effect on the mechanical properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes

A temperature-related higher-order gradient continuum theory is proposed for predicting the mechanical properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) at various temperatures. It is found that the axial elastic moduli of zigzag (21, 0), armchair (12, 12) and chiral (15, 9) SWCNTs with similar radii approach 0.7 TPa when T = 0 K, but decline slightly on different slopes. These results indicate that the temperature effect influences the axial Young moduli of zigzag SWCNTs less than those of the other types. Moreover, the parameters λ₁ and λ₂ corresponding to the uniform longitudinal and circumferential stretches at different temperatures are also examined, and the results show that with an increasing temperature, all SWCNTs are stretched in the longitudinal direction, while in the circumferential direction, only the zigzag SWCNTs are stretched, whereas the others are compressed.     

A boundary element-free method (BEFM) for three-dimensional elasticity problems

This study combines the boundary integral equation (BIE) method and improved moving least-squares (IMLS) approximation to present a direct meshless boundary integral equation method, the boundary element-free method (BEFM) for three-dimensional elasticity. Based on the improved moving least-squares approximation and the boundary integral equation for three-dimensional elasticity, the formulae of the boundary element-free method are given, and the numerical procedure is also shown. Unlike other meshless boundary integral equation methods, the BEFM is a direct numerical method in which the basic unknown quantity is the real solution of the nodal variables, and the boundary conditions can be applied directly and easily, thus giving it a greater computational precision. Three selected numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the method.Aknowledgement The work in this project was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council (RGC) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. CityU 1011/02E).The work that is described in this paper was supported by Project No. CityU 1011/02E, which was awarded by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. The authors are grateful for the financial support.