Frequency Response Evaluation of Guitar Bodies with Different Bracing Systems

Wood is a natural composite, having a porous structure, with a complex elastic symmetry specific to orthotropic solid, influenced by three mutually perpendicular planes of elastic symmetry. The classical guitar is obtained from different wooden species, each of them having their own elastic properties and, as a whole, forming a lignocellulosic composite structure. Generally, some constructive parts of the classical guitar body are based on symmetry, starting from the structural features of wooden plates, which are symmetrically cut, and some patterns of the stiffening bars. The other elements, such as the strings system, are not symmetric. This study aims to evaluate the frequency responses of the guitar body as a symmetrical mechanical system from constructive points of view. Because theoretical results (analytic and numeric) regarding the symmetrical systems cannot be applied to quasi-symmetric systems, the dynamic response was analyzed from experiments performed on four types of classical guitar body (without neck), different from each other by the pattern of stiffening bars placed inside of the top plate. The experiments were performed using a Brüel&Kjær mini-shaker to excite the structure, and the signal was captured with accelerometers. The symmetric behavior of coupled plates from the guitar body was noticed in the case of an applied dynamic force of 110 Hz and 440 Hz, but in the case of 146 Hz, 588 Hz, 720 Hz, quasi skew symmetrical modes were recorded.

First-principles study of the structural, electronic, magnetic, elastic and optical properties of CoFeZrSi1−xGex(x = 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00)

The effect of germanium doping on the structural, magnetic, elastic and optical properties of the LiMgPdSn-type CoFeZrSi[Formula: see text]Ge[Formula: see text] alloys is predicted by utilizing ab initio density functional theory (DFT) with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and the electronic properties of the materials are investigated by using the generalized gradient approximation plus Hubbard coefficient (GGA + U). The estimated elevated lattice constant of CoFeZrGe compound agrees with existing theoretical data. The optimized lattice constants of CoFeZrSi[Formula: see text]Ge[Formula: see text](x = 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75) are 5.9022, 5.9631, 5.9752 and 5.9973 Å, respectively. These have been investigated for the very first time. The elastic symmetry (C[Formula: see text], C[Formula: see text], C[Formula: see text], C[Formula: see text], C[Formula: see text] and C[Formula: see text]), bulk modulus, shear modulus, Poisson’s ratio, anisotropy and Pugh ratio (B/G) are predicted and discussed. The calculation of band structure and density of states reveal that the materials considered have half-metallic behavior with 100% spin-polarization. The calculated magnetic moments of CoFeZrSi[Formula: see text]Ge[Formula: see text] are 0.99, 1.06, 1.02, 1.00 and 1.01 [Formula: see text], respectively, and agree with the SP rule, M[Formula: see text] = N[Formula: see text] − 24. The analysis of the elastic moduli indicates that the compounds are mechanically stable with a ductile nature. The CoFeZrSi[Formula: see text]Ge[Formula: see text] alloy is stiffer than the other compounds considered. Moreover, the dielectric functions, optical conductivity, reflectivity and absorption coefficient of CoFeZrSi[Formula: see text]Ge[Formula: see text] compounds are predicted by using complex dielectric functions.

On inelasticity of damaged quasi rate independent anisotropic materials

This paper deals with a body that has a random 3D-distribution of two phase inclusions: spheroidal mutually parallel voids, and differently oriented reinforcing parallel stiff spheroidal short fibers. By the effective field approach the effective stiffness fourth order tensor is formulated and found numerically. Simultaneous and sequential embeddings of inclusions are compared. Damage evolution is described by a modified Vakulenko approach to the endochronic thermodynamics. A brief account of the problem of effective elastic symmetry is considered. The results of the theory are applied to the damage-elasto-viscoplastic strain of a reactor stainless steel AISI 316H.

Elastic Anisotropy of Trabecular Bone in the Elderly Human Vertebra

Knowledge of the nature of the elastic symmetry of trabecular bone is fundamental to the study of bone adaptation and failure. Previous studies have classified human vertebral trabecular bone as orthotropic or transversely isotropic but have typically obtained samples from only selected regions of the centrum. In this study, the elastic symmetry of human vertebral trabecular bone was characterized using microfinite element (μFE) analyses performed on 1019 cubic regions of side length equal to 5 mm, obtained via thorough sampling of the centrums of 18 human L1 vertebrae (age = 81.17 ± 7.7 yr; eight males and ten females). An optimization procedure was used to find the closest orthotropic representation of the resulting stiffness tensor for each cube. The orthotropic elastic constants and orientation of the principal elastic axes were then recorded for each cube and were compared to the constants predicted from Cowin's fabric-based constitutive model (Cowin, 1985, “The Relationship Between the Elasticity Tensor and the Fabric Tensor,” Mech. Mater., 4(2), pp. 137–147.) and the orientation of the principal axes of the fabric tensor, respectively. Deviations from orthotropy were quantified by the “orthotropic error” (van Rietbergen et al., 1996, “Direct Mechanics Assessment of Elastic Symmetries and Properties of Trabecular Bone Architecture,” J. Biomech., 29(12), pp. 1653–1657), and deviations from transverse isotropy were determined by statistical comparison of the secondary and tertiary elastic moduli. The orthotropic error was greater than 50% for nearly half of the cubes, and the secondary and tertiary moduli differed from one another (p < 0.0001). Both the orthotropic error and the difference between secondary and tertiary moduli decreased with increasing bone volume fraction (BV/TV; p ≤ 0.007). Considering only the cubes with an orthotropic error less than 50%, only moderate correlations were observed between the fabric-based and the μFE-computed elastic moduli (R2 ≥ 0.337; p < 0.0001). These results indicate that when using a criterion of 5 mm for a representative volume element (RVE), transverse isotropy or orthotropy cannot be assumed for elderly human vertebral trabecular bone. Particularly at low values of BV/TV, this criterion does not ensure applicability of theories of continuous media. In light of the very sparse and inhomogeneous microstructure found in the specimens analyzed in this study, further work is needed to establish guidelines for selecting a RVE within the aged vertebral centrum.

Avoided valence transition in a plutonium superconductor

The d and f electrons in correlated metals are often neither fully localized around their host nuclei nor fully itinerant. This localized/itinerant duality underlies the correlated electronic states of the high-Tc cuprate superconductors and the heavy-fermion intermetallics and is nowhere more apparent than in the 5f valence electrons of plutonium. Here, we report the full set of symmetry-resolved elastic moduli of PuCoGa5—the highest Tc superconductor of the heavy fermions (Tc = 18.5 K)—and find that the bulk modulus softens anomalously over a wide range in temperature above Tc. The elastic symmetry channel in which this softening occurs is characteristic of a valence instability—therefore, we identify the elastic softening with fluctuations of the plutonium 5f mixed-valence state. These valence fluctuations disappear when the superconducting gap opens at Tc, suggesting that electrons near the Fermi surface play an essential role in the mixed-valence physics of this system and that PuCoGa5 avoids a valence transition by entering the superconducting state. The lack of magnetism in PuCoGa5 has made it difficult to reconcile with most other heavy-fermion superconductors, where superconductivity is generally believed to be mediated by magnetic fluctuations. Our observations suggest that valence fluctuations play a critical role in the unusually high Tc of PuCoGa5.

AN ANTICRACK IN A TRANSVERSELY ISOTROPIC SPACE

An absolutely rigid inclusion (anticrack) embedded in an unbound transversely isotropic elastic solid with the axis of elastic symmetry normal to the inclusion plane is considered. A general method of solving the anticrack problem is presented. Effective results have been achieved by constructing the appropriate harmonic potentials. With the use of the Fourier transform technique, the governing system of two-dimensional equations of Newtonian potential type for the stress jump functions on the opposite surfaces of the inclusion is obtained. For illustration, a complete solution to the problem of a penny-shaped anticrack under perpendicular tension at infinity is given and discussed from the point of view of material failure.