A micromechanical model is developed for grain bridging inmonolithic ceramics. Specifically, bridge formation of a single,non-equiaxed grain spanning adjacent grains is addressed. A cohesive zoneframework enables crack initiation and propagation along grainboundaries. The evolution of the bridge is investigated through avariance in both grain angle and aspect ratio. We propose that thebridging process can be partitioned into five distinct regimes ofresistance: propagate, kink, arrest, stall, and bridge. Although crackpropagation and kinking are well understood, crack arrest and subsequent"stall" have been largely overlooked. Resistance during the stall regimeexposes large volumes of microstructure to stresses well in excess of thegrain boundary strength. Bridging can occur through continued propagationor reinitiation ahead of the stalled crack tip. The driving forcerequired to reinitiate is substantially greater than the driving forcerequired to kink. In addition, the critical driving force to reinitiateis sensitive to grain aspect ratio but relatively insensitive to grainangle. The marked increase in crack resistance occurs prior to bridgeformation and provides an interpretation for the rapidly risingresistance curves which govern the strength of many brittle materials atrealistically small flaw sizes.

This paper shows that the energy requirements for today's typical efficient window products (i.e. ENERGY STAR{trademark} products) are significant when compared to the needs of Zero Energy Homes (ZEHs). Through the use of whole house energy modeling, typical efficient products are evaluated in five US climates and compared against the requirements for ZEHs. Products which meet these needs are defined as a function of climate. In heating dominated climates, windows with U-factors of 0.10 Btu/hr-ft{sup 2}-F (0.57 W/m{sup 2}-K) will become energy neutral. In mixed heating/cooling climates a low U-factor is not as significant as the ability to modulate from high SHGCs (heating season) to low SHGCs (cooling season).

In this paper, we investigated the effects of substrate creep on the fatigue behavior of a model dental multilayer structure, in which a top glass layer was bonded to a polycarbonate substrate through a dental adhesive. The top glass layers were ground using 120 grit or 600 grit sand papers before bonding to create different sub-surface crack sizes and morphologies. The multilayer structures were tested under cyclic Hertzian contact loading to study crack growth and obtain fatigue life curves. The experiment results showed that the fatigue lives of the multilayer structures were impaired by increasing crack sizes in the sub-surfaces. They were also significantly reduced by the substrate creep when tested at relatively low load levels i.e. P{sub m} < 60 N (Pm is the maximum magnitude of cyclic load). But at relatively high load levels i.e. P{sub m} > 65 N, slow crack growth (SCG) was the major failure mechanisms. A modeling study was then carried out to explore the possible failure mechanisms over a range of load levels. It is found that fatigue life at relatively low load levels can be better estimated by considering the substrate creep effect (SCE).

The far scrape-off layer (SOL) radial transport and plasma-wall contact is mediated by intermittent and ELM-driven transport. Experiments to characterize the intermittent transport and ELMs have been performed in both DIII-D and NSTX under similar conditions. Both intermittent transport and ELMs are comprised of filaments of hot, dense plasma (n{sub e} {approx} 1 x 10{sup 13} cm{sup -3}, T{sub e} {approx} 400 eV) originating at the edge, transport both particles and heat into the SOL by convection, increasing wall interaction and causing sputtering and impurity release. Both intermittent filaments and ELMs leave the pedestal region at speeds of {approx}0.5-3 km/s, losing heat and particles by parallel transport as they travel through the SOL. The intermittency shows many similarities in NSTX and DIII-D, featuring similar size (2-5 cm), large convective radial velocity, ''holes'' inside and peaks outside the LCFS which quickly decay and slow down with radius. Whereas in DIII-D the intermittency decays in both intensity and frequency in H-mode, it chiefly decays in frequency in NSTX. In the low collisionality (v* = {pi}R{sub q{sub 95}}/{lambda}C) (v* {approx} 0.1, N{sub G} {approx} 0.3) case, the ELMs impact the walls quite directly and account for {approx}90% of the wall particle flux, decreasing …

In the early 1960s, an area of privately owned swamp adjacent to the Savannah River Site (SRS) was contaminated by site operations. Studies conducted in 1974 estimated that approximately 925 GBq of {sup 137}Cs and 37 GBq of {sup 60}Co were deposited in the swamp. Subsequently, a series of surveys was initiated to characterize the contaminated environment. These surveys--composed of 52 monitoring locations--allow for continued monitoring at a consistent set of locations. Initial survey results indicated maximum {sup 137}Cs concentrations of 19.5 Bq g{sup -1} in soil and 8.7 Bq g{sup -1} in vegetation. By the 2004-2005 surveys, maximum concentrations had declined to 1-2 Bq g{sup -1} in soil and 0.4 Bq g{sup -1} in vegetation.