Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut

This paper reviews several novel and older methods for coupling mesh-free particle methods, particularly the element-free Galerkin (EFG) method and the smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH), with finite elements (FEs). We study master–slave couplings where particles are fixed across the FE boundary, coupling via interface shape functions such that consistency conditions are satisfied, bridging domain coupling, compatibility coupling with Lagrange multipliers and hybrid coupling methods where forces from the particles are applied via their shape functions on the FE nodes and vice versa. The hybrid coupling methods are well suited for large deformations and adaptivity and the coupling procedure is independent of the particle distance and nodal arrangement. We will study the methods for several static and dynamic applications, compare the results to analytical and experimental data and show advantages and drawbacks of the methods. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper describes the material behaviour of a strain hardening cement-based composite (SHCC) at high strain rates. The results of highly dynamic spall experiments using a Hopkinson bar at strain rates 140–180 s−1 are arrayed against the results of quasi-static uniaxial tensile tests at strain rates of 0.001 s−1. This comparison is based on the values of tensile strength, Young’s modulus, and fracture energy of the specimens. In addition, the experimental results of SHCC are related to the characteristic values of other concrete types. Differences in material behaviour are explained by the phenomena of crack formation and fibre pullout resistance.

The article at hand describes the behavior of high-strength and normal-strength strain-hardening cement-based composites (SHCCs) made of fine-grained matrix and high-density polyethylene fibers under quasi-static and impact tensile loading. The dynamic tension testing of unnotched and notched cylinders was performed using the Hopkinson bar at strain rates of around 150 s− 1. The responses of the materials under dynamic and quasi-static tensile loading were compared to the corresponding results for normal-strength SHCC made of polyvinyl-alcohol fibers as obtained in previous investigations. To explain the pronounced differences in rate effects on the material performance of various SHCC compositions, cracking pattern and fracture surface conditions were studied. Additionally, strain rate dependent changes in the mechanical behavior of individual fibers and in the fiber–matrix interfacial properties were deduced from single-fiber tension tests and fiber pullout tests, respectively. Altogether, the results obtained provide clear indications as to the decisive parameters for a purposeful material design of impact resistant types of SHCC for use in structural elements or protective overlays.

This review discusses several computational methods used on different length and time scales for the simulation of material behavior. First, the importance of physical modeling and its relation to computer simulation on multiscales is discussed. Then, computational methods used on different scales are shortly reviewed, before we focus on the molecular dynamics (MD) method. Here we survey in a tutorial-like fashion some key issues including several MD optimization techniques. Thereafter, computational examples for the capabilities of numerical simulations in materials research are discussed. We focus on recent results of shock wave simulations of a solid which are based on two different modeling approaches and we discuss their respective assets and drawbacks with a view to their application on multiscales. Then, the prospects of computer simulations on the molecular length scale using coarse-grained MD methods are covered by means of examples pertaining to complex topological polymer structures including star-polymers, biomacromolecules such as polyelectrolytes and polymers with intrinsic stiffness. This review ends by highlighting new emerging interdisciplinary applications of computational methods in the field of medical engineering where the application of concepts of polymer physics and of shock waves to biological systems holds a lot of promise for improving medical applications such as extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy or tumor treatment.

Abstract Gun muzzle blast and flash phenomena are of importance since they are associated with the formation of large overpressures and intense muzzle flash. About 30% of the chemical energy released from the propellant used in a conventional gun is converted into kinetic energy of the projectile. The remaining energy is mainly contained in the propellant gas‐particle mixture which escapes from the muzzle of the gun in a few milliseconds. The sudden discharge produces a blast wave because of the rapid displacement of air originally surrounding the gun. In addition, these gases are generally fuel‐rich and mix with air turbulently entrained from the surroundings. Combustion of this mixture causes gun muzzle flash, usually associated with the formation of a secondary blast wave. The design of solid propellant charges, gun performance, muzzle attachments and chemical flash suppressants is guided by the need to keep the above hazards to safe limits. In this paper, blast and flash phenomena are characterized using data of recent investigations and showing illustrative examples of their development.

Bacterial spores (Bacillus subtilis), cyanobacteria (Chroococcidiopsis sp.), and lichen (Xanthoria elegans) embedded in martian analogue rock (gabbro) were exposed to shock pressures between 5 and 50 GPa which is the range of pressures observed in martian meteorites. The survival of Bacillus subtilis and Xanthoria elegans up to 45 GPa and of Chroococcidiopsis sp. up to 10 GPa supports the possibility of transfer of life inside meteoroids between Mars and Earth and it implies the potential for the transfer of life from any Mars-like planet to other habitable planets in the same stellar system.

This paper investigates the conformational and scaling properties of long linear polymer chains. These investigations are done with the aid of Monte Carlo (MC) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Chain lengths that comprise several orders of magnitude to reduce errors of finite size scaling, including the effect of solvent quality, ranging from the athermal limit over the theta-transition to the collapsed state of chains are investigated. Also the effect of polydispersity on linear chains is included which is an important issue in the real fabrication of polymers. A detailed account of the hybrid MD and MC simulation model and the exploited numerical methods is given. Many results of chain properties in the extrapolated limit of infinite chain lengths are documented and universal properties of the chains within their universality class are given. An example of the difference between scaling exponents observed in actual solvents and those observed in the extremes of "good solvents" and "theta-solvents" in simulations is provided by comparing simulation results with experimental data on low density polyethylene. This paper is concluded with an outlook on the extension of this study to branched chain systems of many different branching types.

The Birmingham cluster genetic algorithm is a package that performs global optimisations for homo- and bimetallic clusters based on either first principles methods or empirical potentials. Here, we present a new parallel implementation of the code which employs a pool strategy in order to eliminate sequential steps and significantly improve performance. The new approach meets all requirements of an evolutionary algorithm and contains the main features of the previous implementation. The performance of the pool genetic algorithm is tested using the Gupta potential for the global optimisation of the Au10Pd10 cluster, which demonstrates the high efficiency of the method. The new implementation is also used for the global optimisation of the Au10 and Au20 clusters directly at the density functional theory level.

Abstract Die chemische Totalsynthese von Proteinen tritt in die Phase der Realisierbarkeit ein. Damit wird Wirklichkeit, was Emil Fischer schon 1902 voraussagte Zitiert aus Nobel Lectures‐Chemistry 1901–1921 , Elsevier, Amsterdam 1966, S. 34. : „Ich sehe deshalb die Zeit voraus wo die physiologische Chemie …︁ sich auch künstliche Fermente bereitet.”︁ Die bisher für Peptide aus bis zu zwanzig Aminosäuren sicher etablierte Festphasensynthese an polymeren Trägern konnte durch die Entwicklung neuer Polymere und moderner Methoden zur Trennung und Charakterisierung von Polypeptiden wesentlich verbessert werden. Hydrophilie, möglichst homogene Korngrößenverteilung, gleiche Quellung in verschiedenen zur Peptidsynthese verwendeten Lösungsmitteln sowie Druckstabilität sind die wesentlichsten Eigenschaften der neuen Träger für schnelle Peptidsynthesen im kontinuierlichen Durchfluß. Mit Pfropfcopolymeren aus schwach vernetztem Polystyrol und linearem Polyethylenglycol kann im Routinebetrieb der Synthesecyclus für die Anknüpfung eines Aminosäurerestes auf 10‐20 min verkürzt und zugleich eine höhere Ausbeute erzielt werden. Mit monodispersen Pfropfcopolymeren von 10 μm Durchmesser läßt sich die Dauer eines Synthesecyclus im Prinzip auf 1‐5 min verringern. Mit dieser Hochgeschwindigkeits‐Festphasensynthese können auch längere Peptide bis in den Bereich von Proteinen in wenigen Stunden aufgebaut werden. Mit neueren massenspektrometrischen Methoden, wie der Ionenspray‐Massenspektrometrie, können Proteine bis zu Molmassen von 100 kDa charakterisiert werden, und mit der Kapillarzonenelektrophorese steht neben der HPLC eine weitere effiziente Trennmethode zur Verfügung.

Financial technology, or Fintech, represents an emerging industry on the global market. With online transactions on the rise, the use of IT for automation of financial services is of increasing importance. Fintech enables institutions to deliver services to customers worldwide on a 24/7 basis. Its services are often easy to access and enable customers to perform transactions in real-time. In fact, advantages such as these make Fintech increasingly popular among clients. However, since Fintech transactions are made up of information, ensuring security becomes a critical issue. Vulnerabilities in such systems leave them exposed to fraudulent acts, which cause severe damage to clients and providers alike. For this reason, techniques from the area of Machine Learning (ML) are applied to identify anomalies in Fintech applications. They target suspicious activity in financial datasets and generate models in order to anticipate future frauds. We contribute to this important issue and provide an evaluation on anomaly detection methods for this matter. Experiments were conducted on several fraudulent datasets from real-world and synthetic databases, respectively. The obtained results confirm that ML methods contribute to fraud detection with varying success. Therefore, we discuss the effectiveness of the individual methods with regard to the detection rate. In addition, we provide an analysis on the influence of selected features on their performance. Finally, we discuss the impact of the observed results for the security of Fintech applications in the future.

Abstract– Generation and propagation of shock waves by meteorite impact is significantly affected by material properties such as porosity, water content, and strength. The objective of this work was to quantify processes related to the shock‐induced compaction of pore space by numerical modeling, and compare the results with data obtained in the framework of the Multidisciplinary Experimental and Modeling Impact Research Network (MEMIN) impact experiments. We use mesoscale models resolving the collapse of individual pores to validate macroscopic (homogenized) approaches describing the bulk behavior of porous and water‐saturated materials in large‐scale models of crater formation, and to quantify localized shock amplification as a result of pore space crushing. We carried out a suite of numerical models of planar shock wave propagation through a well‐defined area (the “sample”) of porous and/or water‐saturated material. The porous sample is either represented by a homogeneous unit where porosity is treated as a state variable (macroscale model) and water content by an equation of state for mixed material (ANEOS) or by a defined number of individually resolved pores (mesoscale model). We varied porosity and water content and measured thermodynamic parameters such as shock wave velocity and particle velocity on meso‐ and macroscales in separate simulations. The mesoscale models provide additional data on the heterogeneous distribution of peak shock pressures as a consequence of the complex superposition of reflecting rarefaction waves and shock waves originating from the crushing of pores. We quantify the bulk effect of porosity, the reduction in shock pressure, in terms of Hugoniot data as a function of porosity, water content, and strength of a quartzite matrix. We find a good agreement between meso‐, macroscale models and Hugoniot data from shock experiments. We also propose a combination of a porosity compaction model (ε–α model) that was previously only used for porous materials and the ANEOS for water‐saturated quartzite (all pore space is filled with water) to describe the behavior of partially water‐saturated material during shock compression. Localized amplification of shock pressures results from pore collapse and can reach as much as four times the average shock pressure in the porous sample. This may explain the often observed localized high shock pressure phases next to more or less unshocked grains in impactites and meteorites.

The Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative (OAEI) aims at comparing ontology matching systems on precisely defined test cases. These test cases can be based on ontologies of different levels of complexity and use different evaluation modalities. The OAEI 2022 campaign offered 14 tracks and was attended by 18 participants. This paper is an overall presentation of that campaign.

Abstract– The MEMIN research unit (Multidisciplinary Experimental and Modeling Impact research Network) is focused on analyzing experimental impact craters and experimental cratering processes in geological materials. MEMIN is interested in understanding how porosity and pore space saturation influence the cratering process. Here, we present results of a series of impact experiments into porous wet and dry sandstone targets. Steel, iron meteorite, and aluminum projectiles ranging in size from 2.5 to 12 mm were accelerated to velocities of 2.5–7.8 km s −1 , yielding craters with diameters between 3.9 and 40 cm. Results show that the target’s porosity reduces crater volumes and cratering efficiency relative to nonporous rocks. Saturation of pore space with water to 50% and 90% increasingly counteracts the effects of porosity, leading to larger but flatter craters. Spallation becomes more dominant in larger‐scale experiments and leads to an increase in cratering efficiency with increasing projectile size for constant impact velocities. The volume of spalled material is estimated using parabolic fits to the crater morphology, yielding approximations of the transient crater volume. For impacts at the same velocity these transient craters show a constant cratering efficiency that is not affected by projectile size.

The nature of progressive collapse is a dynamic event caused by accidental or intentional extraordinary loading. Most published experimental programs are conducted statically, without any consideration of the accidental loading and treating progressive collapse as threat independent. This paper demonstrates the more realistic process of progressive collapse in an experimental program on reinforced concrete subassemblages collapsed by a combination of dead weight loading and contact detonation. The dynamic results are represented systematically at different aspects and compared with previous published quasi-static experiments in terms of structural mechanisms, crack patterns and local failure modes. Moreover, the dynamic increase factor (DIF) of reinforcing bars and the dynamic load amplification factor (DLAF) are investigated and discussed. Following the above comparisons and the findings in the dynamic tests, previous quasi-static test results can be linked to actual progressive collapse behavior more convincingly. Finally, the dynamic tests also highlight the effect of contact detonation on structures, which are often not considered in quasi-static tests and design guidelines. The test results indicate that contact detonation causes uplift and out-of-plane actions to the subassemblage before their downward movement under gravity load, in which the strain rate of reinforcement is between 10−2 and 10−1/s. Moreover, the structural mechanisms are similar in both quasi-static and dynamic tests.

In 1916, Lewis and Kossel laid the empirical ground for the electronic theory of valence, whose quantum theoretical foundation was uncovered only slowly. We can now base the classification of the various traditional chemical bond types in a threefold manner on the one- and two-electron terms of the quantum-physical Hamiltonian (kinetic, atomic core attraction, electron repulsion). Bond formation is explained by splitting up the real process into two physical steps: (i) interaction of undeformed atoms and (ii) relaxation of this nonstationary system. We aim at a flexible bond energy partitioning scheme that can avoid cancellation of large terms of opposite sign. The driving force of covalent bonding is a lowering of the quantum kinetic energy density by sharing. The driving force of heteropolar bonding is a lowering of potential energy density by charge rearrangement in the valence shell. Although both mechanisms are quantum mechanical in nature, we can easily visualize them, since they are of one-electron type. They are however tempered by two-electron correlations. The richness of chemistry, owing to the diversity of atomic cores and valence shells, becomes intuitively understandable with the help of effective core pseudopotentials for the valence shells. Common conceptual difficulties in understanding chemical bonds arise from quantum kinematic aspects as well as from paradoxical though classical relaxation phenomena. On this conceptual basis, a dozen different bond types in diatomic molecules will be analyzed in the following article. We can therefore examine common features as well as specific differences of various bonding mechanisms.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review corporate governance literature from an international perspective in terms of having a global code of corporate governance. Design/methodology/approach Using a wide ranging literature review, the paper looks at the issue of a global corporate governance code of best practice from legal, corporate ownership structure and financial systems perspectives and the consequent/divergence issues that arise. Findings The paper supports the hypothesis that the “one size fits all” approach to corporate governance, particularly the Anglo Saxon model, is not necessarily the right approach from a global perspective. Convergence on fundamental features of shareholder protection, independence of directors and establishment of committees may be the preferred way forward. Practical implications The acceptance of a global corporate governance code is limited due to the adaptations in the business environment, investor confidence and corporate successes and failures. Originality/value The analysis of the framework provides an interesting paper for corporate governance researchers.

The Riedel–Hiermaier–Thoma model, which is available in ANSYS Autodyn since 2000 as a description of concrete and similar geological materials in highly dynamic loading situations, has recently been implemented in the multi-purpose Finite Element code LS-DYNA. This article gives a brief overview of the physical details and verifies the new implementation by comparing single element test results with the established Autodyn code. Four real cases, ranging from low to very high pressure loading by impact, penetration and blast, are used to demonstrate thereafter the validity of the model in a wide range of applications. Simulation results from both codes are compared to experimental data at several occasions. Although slight differences between the implementations are observed, the overall agreement, both between the codes and with experiments, is very good. The systematic work in this publication demonstrates that the Riedel–Hiermaier–Thoma model is a useful addition to the LS-DYNA material library and shall motivate research to apply the model over a wide range of applications. A comprehensive, physically derived dataset is provided for a C70/85 high-strength concrete used in one validation case.

The determination of the blast protection level of laminated glass windows and facades is of crucial importance, and it is normally done by using experimental investigations. In recent years numerical methods have become much more powerful also with respect to this kind of application. This paper attempts to give a first idea of a possible standardization concerning such numerical simulations. Attention is drawn to the representation of the blast loading and to the proper description of the behaviour of the material of the mentioned products, to the geometrical meshing, and to the modelling of the connections of the glass components to the main structure. The need to validate the numerical models against reliable experimental data, some of which are indicated, is underlined.

Abstract– Planetary surfaces are subjected to meteorite bombardment and crater formation. Rocks forming these surfaces are often porous and contain fluids. To understand the role of both parameters on impact cratering, we conducted laboratory experiments with dry and wet sandstone blocks impacted by centimeter‐sized steel spheres. We utilized a 40 m two‐stage light‐gas gun to achieve impact velocities of up to 5.4 km s −1 . Cratering efficiency, ejection velocities, and spall volume are enhanced if the pore space of the sandstone is filled with water. In addition, the crater morphologies differ substantially from wet to dry targets, i.e., craters in wet targets are larger, but shallower. We report on the effects of pore water on the excavation flow field and the degree of target damage. We suggest that vaporization of water upon pressure release significantly contributes to the impact process.

The complex flow and wave pattern following an initially planar shock wave transmitted through a double-bend duct is studied experimentally and theoretically/numerically. Several different double-bend duct geometries are investigated in order to assess their effects on the accompanying flow and shock wave attenuation while passing through these ducts. The effect of the duct wall roughness on the shock wave attenuation is also studied. The main flow diagnostic used in the experimental part is either an interferometric study or alternating shadow–schlieren diagnostics. The photos obtained provide a detailed description of the flow evolution inside the ducts investigated. Pressure measurements were also taken in some of the experiments. In the theoretical/numerical part the conservation equations for an inviscid, perfect gas were solved numerically. It is shown that the proposed physical model (Euler equations), which is solved by using the second-order-accurate, high-resolution GRP (generalized Riemann problem) scheme, can simulate such a complex, time-dependent process very accurately. Specifically, all wave patterns are numerically simulated throughout the entire interaction process. Excellent agreement is found between the numerical simulation and the experimental results. The efficiency of a double-bend duct in providing a shock wave attenuation is clearly demonstrated.