Progress in Mechanical Modeling of Implantable Flexible Neural Probes

Implanted neural probes can detect weak discharges of neurons in the brain by piercing soft brain tissue,thus as important tools for brain science research,as well as diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases.However,the rigid neural probes,such as Utah arrays,Michigan probes,and metal microfilament electrodes,are mechanically unmatched with brain tissue and are prone to rejection and glial scarring after implantation,which leads to a significant degradation in the signal quality with the implantation time.In recent years,flexible neural electrodes are rapidly developed with less damage to biological tissues,excellent biocompatibility,and mechanical compliance to alleviate scarring.Among them,the mechanical modeling is important for the optimization of the structure and the implantation process.In this review,the theoretical calculation of the flexible neural probes is firstly summarized with the processes of buckling,insertion,and relative interaction with soft brain tissue for flexible probes from outside to inside.Then,the corresponding mechanical simulation methods are organized considering multiple impact factors to realize minimally invasive implantation.Finally,the technical difficulties and future trends of mechanical modeling are discussed for the next-generation flexible neural probes,which is critical to realize low-invasiveness and long-term coexistence in vivo.

Intermittent disturbance mechanical behavior and fractional deterioration mechanical model of rock under complex true triaxial stress paths

Mechanical excavation,blasting,adjacent rockburst and fracture slip that occur during mining excavation impose dynamic loads on the rock mass,leading to further fracture of damaged surrounding rock in three-dimensional high-stress and even causing disasters.Therefore,a novel complex true triaxial static-dynamic combined loading method reflecting underground excavation damage and then frequent intermittent disturbance failure is proposed.True triaxial static compression and intermittent disturbance tests are carried out on monzogabbro.The effects of intermediate principal stress and amplitude on the strength characteristics,deformation characteristics,failure characteristics,and precursors of monzogabbro are analyzed,intermediate principal stress and amplitude increase monzogabbro strength and tensile fracture mechanism.Rapid increases in microseismic parameters during rock loading can be precursors for intermittent rock disturbance.Based on the experimental result,the new damage fractional elements and method with considering crack initiation stress and crack unstable stress as initiation and acceleration condition of intermittent disturbance irreversible deformation are proposed.A novel three-dimensional disturbance fractional deterioration model considering the intermediate principal stress effect and intermittent disturbance damage effect is established,and the model predicted results align well with the experimental results.The sensitivity of stress states and model parameters is further explored,and the intermittent disturbance behaviors at different f are predicted.This study provides valuable theoretical bases for the stability analysis of deep mining engineering under dynamic loads.

Energy principle of ferroelectric ceramics and single domain mechanical model

Many physical experiments have shown that the domain switching in a ferroelectric material is a complicated evolution process of the domain wall with the variation of stress and electric field. According to this mechanism, the volume fraction of the domain switching is introduced in the constitutive law of ferroelectric ceramic and used to study the nonlinear constitutive behavior of ferroelectric body in this paper. The principle of stationary total energy is put forward in which the basic unknown quantities are the displacement ui, electric displacement Di and volume fraction pI of the domain switching for the variant I. Mechanical field equation and a new domain switching criterion are obtained from the principle of stationary total energy. The domain switching criterion proposed in this paper is an expansion and development of the energy criterion. On the basis of the domain switching criterion, a set of linear algebraic equations for the volume fraction PI of domain switching is obtained, in which the coefficients of the linear algebraic equations only contain the unknown strain and electric fields. Then a single domain mechanical model is proposed in this paper. The poled ferroelectric specimen is considered as a transversely isotropic single domain. By using the partial experimental results, the hardening relation between the driving force of domain switching and the volume fraction of domain switching can be calibrated. Then the electromechanical response can be calculated on the basis of the calibrated hardening relation. The results involve the electric butterfly shaped curves of axial strain versus axial electric field, the hysteresis loops of electric displacement versus electric filed and the evo- lution process of the domain switching in the ferroelectric specimens under uniaxial coupled stress and electric field loading. The present theoretic prediction agrees reasonably with the experimental results given by Lynch.

Mechanical model study of relationship of molecular configuration and multiphase in liquid crystal materials

A mechanical model of liquid crystals （LCs） is applied to study the polymorphism of homologous series of terphenyl compounds. With a senti-experimental molecular orbit method, we calculate the moment of inertia which represents the rotation state to describe the phase transition temperature obtained from experimental data. We propose a novel explanation of the phase sequence or polymorphism of LC materials using the two key parameters, the moment of inertia and critical rotational velocity. The effect of molecular polarity on the appearance of liquid crystalline is also discussed.

Mass‑Spring‑Damping Theory Based Equivalent Mechanical Model for Cylindrical Lithium‑ion Batteries under Mechanical Abuse

An equivalent mechanical model with the equivalent physical meaning of mass-spring-damping is proposed for cylindrical lithium-ion batteries through experiments and theory.The equivalent mechanical model of a cylindrical lithium-ion battery consists of a spring-damping parallel unit.Therefore,a spring-damping parallel unit connecting a damping unit in series is selected to construct the constitutive characteristics of the battery under mechanical abuse.Comparison results show that the equivalent mechanical model can more effectively describe the mechanical properties of the batteries than most cubic fitting models,of which the average relative error of the equivalent mechanical model under different states-of-charge is less than 6.75%.Combined with the proposed equivalent mechanical model,the failure process of the batteries was simulated and analyzed using LS-Dyna and HyperWorks.Under rigid rod tests,failure occurred at the core and bottom of the batteries;under hemispherical punch tests,failure occurred at the core and top,consistent with the experimental results.The average prediction error for the failure displacement under different abuse conditions is less than 4%in the simulations.The equivalent mechanical model requires only a few parameters and can be recognized easily.In the future,the model can be used in safety warning devices based on mechanical penetration.

QUANTUM MECHANICAL MODEL AND SIMULATION OF GaAs/AlGaAs QUANTUM WELL INFRARED PHOTO-DETECTOR-ⅠOPTICAL ASPECTS

A complete quantum mechanical model for GaAs?AlGaAs quantum well infrared photodetectors(QWIPs) is presented here. The model consisted of four parts: (1) Starting with the description of the electromagnetic field of the infrared radiation in the QWIP, effective component of the vector potential <| A z |> along the QWIP growth direction ( z axis) due to the optical diffraction grating was calculated. (2) From the wave transmissions and the occupations of the electronic states, it was discussed that the dark current in the QWIP is determined by the drift diffusion current of carriers thermally excited from the ground sublevel in the quantum well to extended states above the barrier. (3) The photocurrent was investigated by the optical transition (absorption coefficient between the ground state to excited states due to the nonzero <| A z |> ). (4) By studying the inter diffusion of the Al atoms across the GaAs?AlGaAs heterointerfaces,the mobility of the drift diffusion carriers in the excited states was calculated, so the measurement results of the dark current and photocurrent spectra can be explained theoretically. With the complete quantum mechanical descriptions of (1 4), QWIP device design and optimization are possible.

Oblique Cutting Based Mechanical Model for Insertion Torque of Dental Implant

The insertion torque of a dental implant is an important indicator for the primary stability of dental implants.Thus,the preoperative prediction for the insertion torque is crucial to improve the success rate of implantation surgery.In this present research,an alternative method for prediction of implant torque was proposed.First,the mechanical model for the insertion torque was established based on an oblique cutting process.In the proposed mechanical model,three factors,including bone quality,implant geometry and surgical methods were considered in terms of bone-quality coefficients,chip load and insertion speeds,respectively.Then,the defined bone-quality coefficients for cancellous bone with the computed tomography(CT)value of 235–245,345–355 and 415–425 Hu were obtained by a series of insertion experiments of IS and ITI implants.Finally,the insertion experiments of DIO implants were carried out to verify the accuracy of developed model.The predicted insertion torques calculated by the mechanical model were compared with those acquired by insertion experiments,with good agreement,the relative error being less than 15%.This method allows the insertion torque for different implant types to be quickly established and enhances prediction accuracy by considering the effects of implants’geometries and surgical methods.

Boundary effect of toppling failure based on three-dimensional mechanical model

Previous researches on the mechanical model of toppling failure mainly concentrated on twodimensional mechanical model(TwDM) analysis. The TwDM analysis assumes the width of the slab beam is unit width without considering the lateral constraint force. The assumed conditions are obviously different from the site conditions, thus there is a certain difference between the calculated results and the field work. A three-dimensional mechanical model(ThDM)of toppling failure was established, considering that the slab beam was mainly subject to self-weight, the frictional resistance of interlayer and lateral constraint force. Due to the progressive characteristics of toppling failure, the concept and the formula of the first fracture depth(FFD) of toppling was raised and constructed. The case study indicates that the ThDM is more effective and can be accurately used to calculate the toppling fracture depth of the slab beam. The FFD decreases proportionally with the increase of slab beam width. FFD grows fast when the slab beam width is less than 2.0 m and it tends to be stable when the slab beam width is above 2.0 m. The FFD decreases with the increase of the lateral constraint coefficient, indicating that the boundary condition of the free space is positively correlated with the stability and depth of toppling. This is a good explanation of the free space effect. This study provides a reference for the stability evaluation and prevention-control design of toppling slope in the future.

Mechanical Modeling of Dike Propagation: Methods, Recent Results and Links to Geophysics

Magma is transported in brittle rock by diking.Diking plays a key role in tectonic phenomena such as continental rifting and plate divergence at mid-ocean ridges.In spite of the importance of understanding how magma is

An Anisotropic Geomechanical Model for Jointed Rock Masses at Taishan Nuclear Power Station, Southern China

An anisotropic geomechanical model for jointed rock mass is presented. Simultaneously with deriving the orthotropic anisotropy elastic parameters along the positive axis, the equivalent compliance matrix for the deflection axis orthotropic anisotropy was derived through a three- dimensional coordinate transformation. In addition, Singh＇s analysis of the stress concentration effects of intermittent joints was adopted, based on two groups of intermittent joints and a set of cross- cutting joints in the jointed rock mass. The stress concentration effects caused by intermittent joints and the coupling effect of cross-cutting joints along the deflection-axis are also considered. The proposed anisotropic mechanics parameters method is applied to determine the deformation parameters of jointed granite at the Taishan Nuclear Power Station. Combined with the deterministic mechanical parameters of rock blocks and joints, the deformation parameters and their variability in jointed rock masses are estimated quantitatively. The computed results show that jointed granite at the Taishan Nuclear Power Station exhibits typical anisotropic mechanical characteristics; the elastic moduli in the two horizontal directions were similar, but the elastic modulus in the vertical direction was much greater. Jointed rock elastic moduli in the two horizontal and vertical directions were respectively about 24% and 37% of the core of rock, showing weakly orthotropic anisotropy; the ratio of elastic moduli in the vertical and horizontal directions was 1.53, clearly indicating the transversely isotropic rock mass mechanical characteristics. The method can be popularized to solve other rock mechanics problems in nuclear power engineering.

Shear-flexural strength mechanical model for the design and assessment of reinforced concrete beams subjected to point or distributed loads

A mechanical model recently developed for the shear strength of slender reinforced concrete beams with and without shear reinforcement is presented and extended to elements with uniformly distributed loads, specially focusing on practical design and assessment in this paper. The shear strength is considered to be the sum of the shear transferred by the concrete compression chord, along the crack, due to residual tensile and frictional stresses, by the stirrups and, if they exist, by the longitudinal reinforcement. Based on the principles of structural mechanics simple expressions have been derived separately for each shear transfer action and for their interaction at ultimate limit state. The predictions of the model have been compared to those obtained by using the EC2, MC2010 and ACI 318-08 provisions and they fit very well the available experimental results from the recently published ACI-DAfStb databases of shear tests on slender reinforced concrete beams with and without stirrups. Finally, a detailed application example has been presented, obtaining each contributing component to the shear strength and the assumed shape and position of the critical crack.

THE EQUIVALENT MECHANICAL MODELS OF LIQUID SLOSHING IN A SPHERICAL TANK WITH SPACER UNDER LOW GRAVITY

The dynamics of liquid sloshing in a spherical tank with spacer under low gravity was investigated. By extending the characteristic functions, the frequencies of liquid free sloshing, reaction force and moments on the wall of tank were obtained. By mechanical equivalent principle, the equivalent models of spring vibrator damper of liquid sloshing were given. The numerical results obtained show when a spacer is inserted in the tank, the sloshing frequency of liquid and the sloshing mass of liquid will decrease.

Mechanical model for double side self-propelled rolling machine based on rigid and flexible contact dynamics

The objective of the present research was to establish a mechanical model to study the performance of double side self-propelled rolling machine.There are two key models in the modeling process.The first model is the soft cover dynamics model,which is an important innovation in this study.And the insulation quilt was established based on the Macro-modeling technology.The second model is the double side self-propelled rolling machine virtual prototype model.By specifying multiple contact constraints and loadings between the soft cover dynamics model and the rigid component,the virtual prototype model was built successfully and the double side self-propelled rolling process was completely simulated.Moreover,the interaction mechanisms of the rigid and flexible coupling mechanics were investigated.The virtual rolling processes of different insulation quilt lengths were analyzed under different thickness treatments.The simulated results showed a good agreement with the experimental measurements,which suggested that the established model is an effective approach to evaluating and optimizing the rolling machine.The successful establishment of the mechanical model can facilitate the study of the performance of the product and further optimization,and also is of great significance to shorten the development cycle and reduce costs.

Mechanical model of precursory source proces for strong earthquakes in western Yun－nanarea——conceptandnumericalsimula┐tion

The strong earthquakes in western Yunnan area, mainly occur along great interplate strike slip faults and have a dominant depth layer about 10～20 km; the seismic rupture is characterized by strike slip rupture. Considering the Yunnan lithospheric structure and dynamic background, we think that earthquakes occurring at this area might have such a kind of nucleation process: because of the multi layers and heterogeneities of lithospheric structure, a zone of concentrated shear strain or of slip might be formed at the moderate or deep portions of lithosphere, and spread upward along faulting boundary, toward the earths surface under the background field of tectonic movement of lithospheric plates. The slip front will encounter the maximum shear resistance zone on the fault surface in this process, be barried and blocked, and form a seismic gap. With the increase of tectonic load, this slip zone will continuously spread forward, traverse and lead to instable crack of the whole blocked zone, and cause a great earthquake. We have derived an approximate integral equation describing this seismic process; the numerical results show that the model has an instable nonlinear accelerating evolution period which might have important significance for the generation of earthquake precursors.

Mechanical Analysis of a Multi-Test String in High-Temperature and High-Pressure Deep Wells

The mechanical behavior of the test string in deep wells is generally relatively complex as a result of the high temperature and high pressure,severe dogleg and buckling effects,which in some circumstances can even lead to string failure.Traditional computational methods for the analysis of these behaviors are often inaccurate.For this reason,here a more accurate mechanical model of the test string is introduced by considering variables such as temperature,pressure,wellbore trajectory,and buckling,as well as combining them with the deformation and string constraint conditions brought in by changes in temperature and pressure during the tripping,setting,and test operations.The model is validated by applying it to a specific high-pressure gas well(located in Northeast Sichuan).

Microstructure observation and mechanical behavior modeling for limnetic nacre

In the present research, microstructure of akind of limnetic shell （Hyriopsis cumingii） is observed and measured by using the scanning electron microscopy, and mechanical behavior experiments of the shell nacre are carried out by using bending and tensile tests. The dependence of mechanical properties of the shell nacre on its microstructure is analyzed by using a modified shear-lag model, and the overall stress-strain relation is obtained. The experimental results reveal that the mechanical properties of shell nacre strongly depend on the water contents of the limnetic shell. Dry nacre shows a brittle behavior, whereas wetting nacre displays a strong ductility. Compared to the tensile test, the bending test overestimates the strength and underestimates the Young＇s modulus. The modified shear-lag model can characterize the deformation features of nacre effectively.

Research on failure criterion of composite based on unified macro- and micro-mechanical model

A new unified macro- and micro-mechanics failure analysis method for composite structures was developed in order to take the effects of composite micro structure into consideration. In this method, the macro stress distribution of composite structure was calculated by commercial finite element analysis software. According to the macro stress distribution, the damage point was searched and the micro-stress distribution was calculated by reformulated finite-volume direct averaging micromechanics （FVDAM）, which was a multi-scale finite element method for composite. The micro structure failure modes were estimated with the failure strength of constituents. A unidirectional composite plate with a circular hole in the center under two kinds of loads was analyzed with the traditional macro-mechanical failure analysis method and the unified macro- and micro-mechanics failure analysis method. The results obtained by the two methods are consistent, which show this new method＇s accuracy and efficiency.

Constitutive Model of Friction Stir Weld with Consideration of its Inhomogeneous Mechanical Properties

In practical engineering, finite element（FE） modeling for weld seam is commonly simplified by neglecting its inhomogeneous mechanical properties. This will cause a significant loss in accuracy of FE forming analysis, in particular, for friction stir welded（FSW） blanks due to the large width and good formability of its weld seam. The inhomogeneous mechanical properties across weld seam need to be well characterized for an accurate FE analysis. Based on a similar AA5182 FSW blank, the metallographic observation and micro-Vickers hardness analysis upon the weld cross-section are performed to identify the interfaces of different sub-zones, i.e., heat affected zone（HAZ）, thermal-mechanically affected zone（TMAZ） and weld nugget（WN）. Based on the rule of mixture and hardness distribution, a constitutive model is established for each sub-zone to characterize the inhomogeneous mechanical properties across the weld seam. Uniaxial tensile tests of the AA5182 FSW blank are performed with the aid of digital image correlation（DIC） techniques. Experimental local stress-strain curves are obtained for different weld sub-zones. The experimental results show good agreement with those derived from the constitutive models, which demonstrates the feasibility and accuracy of these models. The proposed research gives an accurate characterization of inhomogeneous mechanical properties across the weld seam produced by FSW, which provides solutions for improving the FE simulation accuracy of FSW sheet forming.

Expression of metabotropic glutamate receptor 1a in a rat cortical neuronal model of in vitro mechanical injury and the effects of its competitive antagonist (RS)-1-aminoindan-1,5-dicarboxylic acid

The present study established a rat cortical neuronal model of in vitro mechanical injury. At 30 minutes after injury, the survival rate of the injured cortical neurons was decreased compared with normal neurons, and was gradually decreased with aggravated degree of injury. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction results showed that at 1 hour after injury, there was increased expression of metabotropic glutamate receptor la in cortical neurons. Immunohistochemical staining results showed that at 30 minutes after injury, the number of metabotropic glutamate receptor 1a-positive cells increased compared with normal neurons. At 12 hours after injury, lactate dehydrogenase activity in the （RS）-l-aminoindan-1, 5-dicarboxylic acid （AIDA）-treated injury neurons was si[jnificantly decreased than that in the pure injury group. At 1 hour after injury, intracellular free Ca＂＋ concentration was markedly decreased in the AIDA-treated injury neurons than that in the pure injury neurons. These findings suggest that after mechanical injury to cortical neurons, metabotropic glutamate receptor la expression increased. The resulting increase in intracellular free Ca2＋ concentration was blocked by AIDA, indicating that AIDA exhibits neuroprotective effects after mechanical injury.

MODELLING OF MECHANICAL MECHANISM OF CHROMATOGRAPHIC SYSTEM AND THEORETICAL EQUATIONS SHOWING DYNAMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CHROMATOGRAPHY

A simple model of chromatographic mechanical mechanism is present, and then a scrics of theoretical chromatographic equations and fundamental Formulae are derived. These theoretical equations and formulae not only reserve thermodynamic characteristics in the current fundamental chromatographic formulae, but also introduce one or more kinetic parameter, so it is possible to make the macroscopic-control on the effect of kinetic characteristics on chromatographic system.