Dynamics of a linear oscillator connected to a small strongly non-linear hysteretic absorber

The present investigation deals with the dynamics of a two-degrees-of-freedom system which consists of a main linear oscillator and a strongly nonlinear absorber with small mass. The nonlinear oscillator has a softening hysteretic characteristic represented by a Bouc-Wen model. The periodic solutions of this system are studied and their calcu- lation is performed through an averaging procedure. The study of nonlinear modes and their stability shows, under specific conditions, the existence of localization which is responsible for a passive irreversible energy transfer from the linear oscillator to the nonlinear one. The dissipative effect of the nonlinearity appears to play an important role in the energy transfer phenomenon and some design criteria can be drawn regarding this parameter among others to optimize this energy transfer. The free transient response is investigated and it is shown that the energy transfer appears when the energy input is sufficient in accordance with the predictions from the nonlinear modes. Finally, the steady-state forced response of the system is investigated. When the input of energy is sufficient, the resonant response (close to nonlinear modes) experiences localization of the vibrations in the nonlinear absorber and jump phenomena

Qualitative Analysis of Forced Response of Blisks With Friction Ring Dampers

A damping strategy for blisks (integrally bladed disks) of turbomachinery involving a friction ring is investigated. These rings, located in grooves underside the wheel of the blisks, are held in contact by centrifugal loads and the energy is dissipated when relative motions between the ring and the disk occur. A representative lumped parameter model of the system is introduced and the steady-state nonlinear response is derived using a multi-harmonic balance method combined with an AFT procedure where the friction force is calculated in the time domain. Numerical simulations are presented for several damper characteristics and several excitation configurations. From these results, the performance of this damping strategy is discussed and some design guidelines are given

Effect of probiotics on sperm quality in the adult mouse

The administration of probiotics for the treatment of different diseases has gained interest in recent years. However, few studies have evaluated their effects on reproductive traits. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of two mixtures of probiotics, a commercial probiotic (Vivomixx®) and a mix of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG and Faecalibacterium duncaniae A2-165, on sperm quality in a mouse model. Adult male mice (8 months old) were used for two experimental and one control groups (n = 5 each). The probiotics or physiological serum (control) was administered orally, twice a week, during 5 weeks. Sperm were collected from the cauda epididymis, and their total number, motility, kinematics, morphology, and acrosome integrity were assessed in recently collected samples and after a 60-min in vitro incubation. Results showed a higher percentage of normal sperm in both experimental groups, with fewer head abnormalities than in the control. Differences were found among groups in the morphometry of sperm heads, being more elongated in mice treated with probiotics. Sperm from probiotic-treated mice showed similar total motility when compared to the controls, although the proportion of progressively moving sperm and their vigor of motility were lower. Sperm swimming descriptors were measured with a CASA system. Velocity parameters were similar among groups whereas linearity was higher in mice treated with the commercial probiotic. These results suggest that the administration of probiotics may increase the proportion of sperm with normal morphology and lead to modifications in sperm head shape that may enhance sperm swimming. Studies using a longer administration period would be useful in further characterizing the effect of these probiotic mixtures on sperm quality and fertilization capacity.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (projects CGL 2016–80577-P and PID 2019-108649 GB-I00). ASR was funded by a “Juan de la Cierva” postdoctoral fellowship from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, co-funded by the European Social Fund (FJC2019-041736-I). IIDI was supported by a grant from the Comunidad de Madrid (PEJ-2019-TL/AMB-15136). DRV was funded by a contract with the Agrupación de Interés Económico Probiosperm (ref. 228205) with the company BioCoRe S. Coop. C.S., V.G.C., and D.L. were funded by a contract (ref. 20196967) with BioCoRe S. Coop.Peer reviewe

SciPy 1.0: fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python.

SciPy is an open-source scientific computing library for the Python programming language. Since its initial release in 2001, SciPy has become a de facto standard for leveraging scientific algorithms in Python, with over 600 unique code contributors, thousands of dependent packages, over 100,000 dependent repositories and millions of downloads per year. In this work, we provide an overview of the capabilities and development practices of SciPy 1.0 and highlight some recent technical developments

Experimental modal analysis of nonlinear structures using broadband data

The objective of the present paper is to develop a rigorous identification methodology of nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) of engineering structures. This is achieved by processing experimental measurements collected under broadband forcing. The use of such a type of forcing signal allows to excite multiple NNMs simultaneously and, in turn, to save testing time. A two-step methodology integrating nonlinear system identification and numerical continuation of periodic solutions is proposed for the extraction of the individual NNMs from broadband input and output data. It is demonstrated using a numerical cantilever beam possessing a cubic nonlinearity at its free end. The proposed methodology can be viewed as a nonlinear generalization of the phase separation techniques routinely utilized for experimental modal analysis of linear structures. The paper ends with a comparison between this new nonlinear phase separation technique and a previously-developed nonlinear phase resonance method