A Numerical Model for Investigating the Effect of Viscoelasticity on the Partial Slip Solution.

A single paragraph of about 200 words maximum. For research articles, abstracts should give a pertinent overview of the work. We strongly encourage authors to use the following style of structured abstracts, but without headings: (1) Background: Place the question addressed in a broad context and highlight the purpose of the study; (2) Methods: briefly describe the main methods or treatments applied; (3) Results: summarize the article's main findings; (4) Conclusions: indicate the main conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should be an objective representation of the article and it must not contain results that are not presented and substantiated in the main text and should not exaggerate the main conclusions.

Deterministic normal contact of rough surfaces with adhesion using a surface integral method.

The fundamental problem of adhesion in the presence of surface roughness and its effect on the prediction of friction has been a hot topic for decades in numerous areas of science and engineering, attracting even more attention in recent years in areas such as geotechnics and tectonics, nanotechnology, high-value manufacturing and biomechanics. In this paper a new model for deterministic calculation of the contact mechanics for rough surfaces in the presence of adhesion is presented. The contact solver is an in-house boundary element method that incorporates fast Fourier transform for numerical efficiency. The adhesive contact model considers full Lennard-Jones potentials and surface integration at the asperity level and is validated against models in the literature. Finally, the effect of surface roughness on the adhesion between surfaces was studied, and it was shown that the root mean square gradient of surface roughness can change the adhesive pressures irrespective of the root mean square surface roughness. We have tested two adhesion parameters based on Johnson's modified criteria and Ciavarella's model. We showed that Civarella's model introduces the most reasonable criteria suggesting that the RMS roughness and large wavelength of surfaces roughness are the important parameters of adhesion between rough surfaces.

Development of an automated underwater abrasion rig to determine galvanic effects during the growth and localised breakdown of surface films in CO2-containing solutions.

This paper outlines the development of an automated underwater abrasion rig to assist in understanding the galvanic interaction induced by surface films when continuous localised mechanical film breakdown is encountered on the surface of carbon steel in CO2-containing environments. The rig enables the measurement of galvanic current between a small X65 steel pin and a larger steel specimen, as well as the intrinsic corrosion rate of an additional, uncoupled larger specimen. The surface film developed on the pin is removed periodically using an automated reciprocating and rotating shaft with a sand paper grit pad attached to the base, while the surface film is allowed to establish itself undisrupted on the large specimen. The setup essentially simulates a tribo-corrosion process where local removal of material occurs within a carbon steel pipeline as a result of periodic sand particle impingement. Initial results focus on validating the reproducibility of the technique, as well as determining the galvanic effects associated with iron carbide and iron carbonate for two model sets of conditions to highlight the capabilities of the system.

The Scatter Search Based Algorithm for Beam Angle Optimization in Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy.

This article introduces a new framework for beam angle optimization (BAO) in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) using the Scatter Search Based Algorithm. The potential benefits of plans employing the coplanar optimized beam sets are also examined. In the proposed beam angle selection algorithm, the problem is solved in two steps. Initially, the gantry angles are selected using the Scatter Search Based Algorithm, which is a global optimization method. Then, for each beam configuration, the intensity profile is calculated by the conjugate gradient method to score each beam angle set chosen. A simulated phantom case with obvious optimal beam angles was used to benchmark the validity of the presented algorithm. Two clinical cases (TG-119 phantom and prostate cases) were examined to prepare a dose volume histogram (DVH) and determine the dose distribution to evaluate efficiency of the algorithm. A clinical plan with the optimized beam configuration was compared with an equiangular plan to determine the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The BAO plans yielded significant improvements in the DVHs and dose distributions compared to the equispaced coplanar beams for each case. The proposed algorithm showed its potential to effectively select the beam direction for IMRT inverse planning at different tumor sites.