Some comments on the Parametric Fire Model of Eurocode 1

Conference (2006)

In this paper, the modifications that have been recently introduced in the parametric fire model of Eurocode 1 are presented. The reasons behind these modifications are given. Some Problems that have been ... [more ▼]

In this paper, the modifications that have been recently introduced in the parametric fire model of Eurocode 1 are presented. The reasons behind these modifications are given. Some Problems that have been discovered in the present formulation are highlighted, namely the fact that the model is not continuous and the fact that the heat release of wood that has been used for the calibration of the model is not consistent anymore with the value that is now recommended in the Eurocode. A proposal is made that makes the model continuous. A new calibration of this modified model has been made on the base of the now recommended value of the heat release of wood with comparison to the results of some 50 full scale experimental fire tests. [less ▲]

Chronique de législation - Droit privé belge (1er janvier 2006 - 30 juin 2006) : IX. - Droit judiciaire privé et judiciaire

in Journal des Tribunaux (2006)

Georges Didi-Huberman: vers une intentionnalité inversée ?

in La part de l'oeil (2006), 21-22

Michael Krüger: "Die Turiner Komödie". Mit einer literarischen Speisekarte

E-print/Working paper (2006)

A virtual test facility for the efficient simulation of solid material response under strong shock and detonation wave loading

in Engineering With Computers (2006), 22(3-4), 325347

A virtual test facility (VTF) for studying the three-dimensional dynamic response of solid materials subject to strong shock and detonation waves has been constructed as part of the research program of ... [more ▼]

A virtual test facility (VTF) for studying the three-dimensional dynamic response of solid materials subject to strong shock and detonation waves has been constructed as part of the research program of the Center for Simulating the Dynamic Response of Materials at the California Institute of Technology. The compressible fluid flow is simulated with a Cartesian finite volume method and treating the solid as an embedded moving body, while a Lagrangian finite element scheme is employed to describe the structural response to the hydrodynamic pressure loading. A temporal splitting method is applied to update the position and velocity of the boundary between time steps. The boundary is represented implicitly in the fluid solver with a level set function that is constructed on-the-fly from the unstructured solid surface mesh. Block-structured mesh adaptation with time step refinement in the fluid allows for the efficient consideration of disparate fluid and solid time scales. We detail the design of the employed object-oriented mesh refinement framework AMROC and outline its effective extension for fluid-structure interaction problems. Further, we describe the parallelization of the most important algorithmic components for distributed memory machines and discuss the applied partitioning strategies. As computational examples for typical VTF applications, we present the dynamic deformation of a tantalum cylinder due to the detonation of an interior solid explosive and the impact of an explosion-induced shock wave on a multi-material soft tissue body. [less ▲]

Prognostic value of white blood cell drop in horses undergoing post-colic surgery intensive care.

Conference (2006)

Evaluation of geochemical determinism of trace elements in forest soils at regional scales. Lessons from the Permanent Forest Condition Survey.

Conference (2006)

The natural concentration of some elements in soil varies regionally according to lithology and locally with site-specific soil forming conditions such as relief or vegetation characteristics. Knowledge ... [more ▼]

The natural concentration of some elements in soil varies regionally according to lithology and locally with site-specific soil forming conditions such as relief or vegetation characteristics. Knowledge of the natural total concentrations of trace metals is now considered as prerequisite for the detection and assesment of anthropogenic contaminations. The Permanent Forest Inventory is a programme financed by the Ministry of the Walloon Region which aims at assessing and monitoring the forest condition in Southern Belgium. A part of this programme is dedicated to the implementation of a soil quality monitoring network. The observation plots are located at the intersection of a regular grid. Ten percent of the forest plots are planned to be sampled each year, which theorically supposes a time-frequency of 10 years for the monitoring considerations. Up to now, three field campaigns have been completed and 245 soil samples analyzed. Once a plot precisely located on the field, soil is sampled by mixing twenty 20cm-deep cores taken at the perimeter of a 10m large circle. Environmental observations complete the field work. These concern the physical environment, the soil morphology and the vegetation characteristics. The following parameters are measured in the laboratory: total organic carbon, total nitrogen, pHwater, pHKCl, exchangeable acidity and aluminium, cationic exchangeable capacity, NH4Cl-exctractible cations, total, mineral, and exchangeable P, and aqua-regia extractible concentrations of Ca, Mg, K, Al, Fe, Cr, Ni, Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Co, and Cd. Statistical analysis were then performed on the results in order to identify the driving factors of the soil properties, especially the geochemical determinism. Relationships between parameters and between parameters and field observations were thus investigated. Then the relevance of some classifications to differenciate the soil properties was evaluated and finally the spatial structure of the parameters was compared to the geographical distribution patterns of lithology, soil associations, or ecological territories. Although some diversity can be found among the soil series in this survey, soils developped from shales and/or sandstones are largely dominant. The first results therefore show a large extreme-based variability and moderate variation coefficients. The exchangeable cations and carbonate–sensitive parameters are the most variable. Frequency distributions are often largely skewed. Exchangeable cations appear to be more closely linked to acidity status than organic content while pseudo-total concentrations show rather good linear relationships between each other, to the exception of Pb and Cd. Both elements seem linked to specific lithologies, the presence of limestone for Pb, some clay-rich parent material or limestone for Cd. Among the soil characteristics, the nature and the abundance of the coarse fragments associated to the fine earth is the most differenciating criteria for pseudo-total content. Finally, there are clear convergences between spatial distributions of most of the elements and lithology or small natural regions. [less ▲]

Les indicateurs de l'OCDE 2004.

Book published by Ministère de la Communauté française, Secrétariat général, Direction des Relations internationales (2006)

L'Antiquité classique : ressources numériques et actualisation des connaissances

Learning material (2006)

Is one's own face really harder to ignore?

Conference (2006)