Transport efficiency of metachronal waves in 3d cilia arrays immersed in a two-phase flow

The present work reports the formation and the characterization of antipleptic and symplectic metachronal waves in 3D cilia arrays immersed in a two-fluid environment, with a viscosity ratio of 20. A coupled lattice-Boltzmann-Immersed-Boundary solver is used. The periciliary layer is confined between the epithelial surface and the mucus. Its thickness is chosen such that the tips of the cilia can penetrate the mucus. A purely hydrodynamical feedback of the fluid is taken into account and a coupling parameter $\alpha$ is introduced allowing the tuning of both the direction of the wave propagation, and the strength of the fluid feedback. A comparative study of both antipleptic and symplectic waves, mapping a cilia inter-spacing ranging from 1.67 up to 5 cilia length, is performed by imposing the metachrony. Antipleptic waves are found to systematically outperform sympletic waves. They are shown to be more efficient for transporting and mixing the fluids, while spending less energy than symplectic, random, or synchronized motions

An immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method for single- and multi-component fluid flows

International audienceThe paper presents a numerical method to simulate single-and multi-component fluid flows around moving/deformable solid boundaries, based on the coupling of Immersed Boundary (IB) and Lattice Boltzmann (LB) methods. The fluid domain is simulated with LB method using the single relaxation time BGK model, in which an interparticle potential model is applied for multi-component fluid flows. The IB-related force is directly calculated with the interpolated definition of the fluid macroscopic velocity on the Lagrangian points that define the immersed solid boundary. The present IB-LB method can better ensure the no-slip solid boundary condition, thanks to an improved spreading operator. The proposed method is validated through several 2D/3D single-and multi-component fluid test cases with a particular emphasis on wetting conditions on solid wall. Finally, a 3D two-fluid application case is given to show the feasibility of modeling the fluid transport via a cluster of beating cilia

Rapport final de la Collaboration CERN-CNRS pour la construction du LHC: Accord Technique d'Exécution No 2 Cryostats et assemblage des sections droites courtes (SSS) du LHC

Depuis 1995 et suite à la signature du protocole de Collaboration, le CERN, le CEA et le CNRS ont étroitement collaboré dans le cadre de la contribution exceptionnelle de la France à la construction du LHC. Pour le CNRS, l'Institut de Physique Nucléaire d'Orsay a pris en charge deux Accords Techniques d'Exécution. Le premier concerne la conception et l'assemblage des Sections Droites Courtes de la machine, et le deuxième, l'étalonnage des thermomètres cryogéniques du LHC. Dans le cadre de l'Accord Technique d'Exécution N°2, le Bureau d'Etudes de la Division Accélérateur de l'IPNO et le groupe AT-CRI du CERN ont travaillé de concert pour mener à bien la conception des SSS (Short Straight Section) et de tous les équipements nécessaires à l'assemblage. Ce rapport a donc pour objectif de dresser, en termes d'historique, d'organisation, de résultats quantitatifs et qualitatifs et de moyens mis en ?uvre, un tableau aussi complet que possible du déroulement de cette Collaboration entre le CERN et le CNRS

Fault Detection and Identification Methods Used for the LHC Cryomagnets and Related Cabling

Several methods for electrical fault location have been developed and tested. As part of the electrical quality assurance program for the LHC, certain wires have to be subjected to a (high) DC voltage for the testing of the insulation. With the time difference of spark-induced electromagnetic signals measured with an oscilloscope, fault localization within ± 10 cm has been achieved. Another method used, and adapted for particular needs, is the synthetic pulse time-domain reflectometry (TDR) with a vector network analyzer (VNA). This instrument has also been applied as a low frequency sweep impedance analyzer in order to measure fractional capacitances of cable assemblies where TDR was not applicable

Colloidal stability of tannins: astringency, wine tasting and beyond

Tannin-tannin and tannin-protein interactions in water-ethanol solvent mixtures are studied in the context of red wine tasting. While tannin self-aggregation is relevant for visual aspect of wine tasting (limpidity and related colloidal phenomena), tannin affinities for salivary proline-rich proteins is fundamental for a wide spectrum of organoleptic properties related to astringency. Tannin-tannin interactions are analyzed in water-ethanol wine-like solvents and the precipitation map is constructed for a typical grape tannin. The interaction between tannins and human salivary proline-rich proteins (PRP) are investigated in the framework of the shell model for micellization, known for describing tannin-induced aggregation of beta-casein. Tannin-assisted micellization and compaction of proteins observed by SAXS are described quantitatively and discussed in the case of astringency

Subitizing with Variational Autoencoders

Numerosity, the number of objects in a set, is a basic property of a given visual scene. Many animals develop the perceptual ability to subitize: the near-instantaneous identification of the numerosity in small sets of visual items. In computer vision, it has been shown that numerosity emerges as a statistical property in neural networks during unsupervised learning from simple synthetic images. In this work, we focus on more complex natural images using unsupervised hierarchical neural networks. Specifically, we show that variational autoencoders are able to spontaneously perform subitizing after training without supervision on a large amount images from the Salient Object Subitizing dataset. While our method is unable to outperform supervised convolutional networks for subitizing, we observe that the networks learn to encode numerosity as basic visual property. Moreover, we find that the learned representations are likely invariant to object area; an observation in alignment with studies on biological neural networks in cognitive neuroscience

Stability of the Horizontal Curvature of the LHC Cryodipoles During Cold Tests

The LHC will be composed of 1232 horizontally curved, 15 meter long, superconducting dipole magnets cooled at 1.9 K. They are supported within their vacuum vessel by three Glass Fiber Reinforced Epoxy (GFRE) support posts. Each cryodipole is individually cold tested at CERN before its installation and interconnection in the LHC 27 km circumference tunnel. As the magnet geometry under cryogenic operation is extremely important for the LHC machine aperture, a new method has been developed at CERN in order to monitor the magnet curvature change between warm and cold states. It enabled us to conclude that there is no permanent horizontal curvature change of the LHC dipole magnet between warm and cold states, although a systematic horizontal transient deformation during cool-down was detected. This deformation generates loads in the dipole supporting system; further investigation permitted us to infer this behavior to the asymmetric thermal contraction of the rigid magnet thermal shield during cool-down. Controlling the helium flow rate in the thermal shield of the cryomagnet enabled us to reduce the maximal deformation by a factor of approximately two, thus increasing significantly the mechanical safety margin of the supporting system during the CERN cold tests

The Quality Control of the LHC Continuous Cryostat Interconnections

The interconnections between the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) magnets have required some 40 000 TIG welded joints and 65 000 electrical splices. At the level of single joints and splices, non-destructive techniques find limited application: quality control is based on the qualification of the process and of operators, on the recording of production parameters and on production samples. Visual inspection and process audits were the main techniques used. At the level of an extended chain of joints and splices - from a 53.5 m half-cell to a complete 2.7 km arc sector - quality control is based on vacuum leak tests, electrical tests and RF microwave reflectometry that progressively validated the work performed. Subsequent pressure tests, cryogenic circuits flushing with high pressure helium and cool-downs revealed a few unseen or new defects. This paper presents an overview of the quality control techniques used, seeking lessons applicable to similar large, complex projects