Christophe Collette

SCALING ANALYSIS AND EVOLUTION EQUATION OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC OSCILLATION INDEX FLUCTUATIONS

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) monthly index is studied from 1825 till 2002 in order to identify the scaling ranges of its fluctuations upon different delay times and to find out whether or not it can be regarded as a Markov process. A Hurst rescaled range analysis and a detrended fluctuation analysis both indicate the existence of weakly persistent long range time correlations for the whole scaling range and time span. Such correlations are similar to the Brownian fluctuations. The Fokker–Planck equation is derived and Kramers–Moyal coefficients are estimated from the data. They are interpreted in terms of a drift and a diffusion coefficient as in fluid mechanics. All partial distribution functions of the NAO monthly index fluctuations have a form close to a Gaussian, for all time lags, in agreement with the findings of the scaling analyses. This indicates the lack of predictive power of the present NAO monthly index. Yet there are some deviations for large (thus rare) events. Whence suggestions for other measurements are made if some improved predictability of the weather/climate in the North Atlantic is of interest. The subsequent Langevin equation of the NAO signal fluctuations is explicitly written in terms of the diffusion and drift parameters, and a characteristic time scale for these is given in Appendix A.

On magnetorheologic elastomers for vibration isolation, damping, and stress reduction in mass-varying structures

This article considers two devices based on a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE): an MRE isolator under a frequency-varying harmonic excitation and a MRE Dynamic Vibration Absorber (DVA) mounted on a frequency-varying structure under a random excitation. In the first case, it is shown that the commandability of the elastomer improves the reduction of the RMS value of the body displacement by 10%. In the second case, it is shown on a simple example that a MRE DVA, while not optimal, can reduce the stress in the structure about 50% better than a classical DVA when the mass of the structure changes 35%. This makes them suitable to avoid high stress in mass-varying structures, and delay some damage mechanisms like the emergence of cracks and fatigue.

Rotational vibration absorber for the mitigation of rail rutting corrugation

Torsional vibrations of metro wheel sets are known to be involved in the wavelength-fixing mechanism of the rutting-type rail corrugation. In the first part of this paper, the basic conditions for this type of wear to appear are established using a theory developed in the frequency domain. The efficiency of a dynamic vibration absorber tuned to the first torsional resonance of the wheel set to mitigate rutting corrugation is evaluated numerically. In the second part, the phenomenon is studied on a quarter-scale test bench. The scaling laws for wheel–roller wear predictions are established. The efficiency of the dynamic vibration absorber is evaluated on the scaled bench. The results are compared with theoretical predictions from a linear model. Additionally, the measurements are compared with numerical results from a multi-body model portraying the experiment.

Review of Active Vibration Isolation Strategies

This paper reviews recent patented developments in active vibration isolation. First of all, the fundamental limitations of passive vibration isolations are established, to understand the motivations to introduce active control in vibration isolation. Then, the main different active strategies are presented using simple systems and compared. Finally, several specific issues are listed and briefly discussed.

Review: Inertial sensors for low-frequency seismic vibration measurement

The objective of this paper is to review recent advances in the sensors used to measure seismic linear vibrations at low frequencies. The main types of inertial sensors are reviewed: absolute displacement sensors, geophones, accelerometers, and seismometers. The working principle of each of them is explained, along with the general strategies to extend their bandwidth. Finally, the principle fundamental limitations of all inertial sensors are reviewed: tilt‐to‐horizontal coupling, zero‐length springs, and sources of noise.

Isolation and damping properties of magnetorheologic elastomers

This paper considers two systems based on a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE): a MRE isolator under a frequency varying harmonic excitation and a MRE Dynamic Vibration Absorber (DVA) mounted on a frequency-varying structure under a random excitation. It is shown that the commandability of the elastomer improves the isolation performances in the first case, and decreases the stress level in the structure in the second case.

Conceptual design and scaled experimental validation of an actively damped carbon tie rods support system for the stabilization of future particle collider superstructures

This paper presents a simple solution to increase the stability of the large superstructures supporting the final electromagnets of future linear particle collider. It consists of active carbon fiber tie rods, fixed at one end on the structure and at the other end to the detector through active tendons. In the first part of the paper, the solution has been tested on a finite element model of one half of the CLIC_ILD final focus structure. With a reasonable design, it is shown numerically that the compliance can be decreased by at least a factor 4, i.e., that the structure is 4 times more robust to technical noise at low frequency. Two additional features of the active rods are that they can also actively damp the structural resonances and realign the superstructures. The second part of the paper presents a successful experimental validation of the concept, applied to a scaled test bench, especially designed to contain the same modal characteristics as the full scale superstructure.

Active vibration isolation of high precision machines

This paper provides a review of active control strategies used to isolate high-precisionmachines (e.g. telescopes, particle colliders, interferometers, lithography machines or atomic force microscopes) from external disturbances. The objective of this review is to provide tools to develop the best strategy for a given application. Firstly, the main strategies are presented and compared, using single degree of freedom models. Secondly, the case of huge structures constituted of a large number of elements, like particle colliders or segmented telescopes, is considered.

Study of the electronics architecture for the mechanical stabilisation of the quadrupoles of the CLIC linear accelerator

To reach a sufficient luminosity, the transverse beam sizes and emittances in future linear particle accelerators should be reduced to the nanometer level. Mechanical stabilisation of the quadrupole magnets is of the utmost importance for this. The piezo actuators used for this purpose can also be used to make fast incremental orientation adjustments with a nanometer resolution. The main requirements for the CLIC stabilisation electronics is a robust, low noise, low delay, high accuracy and resolution, low band and radiation resistant feedback control loop. Due to the high number of controllers (about 4000) a cost optimization should also be made. Different architectures are evaluated for a magnet stabilisation prototype, including the sensors type and configuration, partition between software and hardware for control algorithms, and optimization of the ADC/DAC converters. The controllers will be distributed along the 50 km long accelerator and a communication bus should allow external control. Furthermore, one might allow for an adaptive method to increase the S/N ratio of vibration measurements by combining seismometer measurements of adjacent magnets. Finally a list of open topics, the current limitations and the plans to overcome them will be presented.

Importance of the wheel vertical dynamics in the squeal noise mechanism on a scaled test bench

This paper investigates the influence of the wheel vertical dynamics in the mechanism of squeal noise on a scaled test bench. To this purpose, sustained oscillations are first studied on a single degree of freedom oscillator, considering both a decreasing slope of the friction curve and a vertical excitation. Their relative importance to sustain the oscillations is discussed. Then, a mathematical model of a quarter scale test bench is developed in the frequency domain. Using this model, it is shown that the squeal noise resulting from the excitation of the bending modes of the wheel is sustained because these bending modes are associated with variations of the vertical contact force. Results are further confirmed by experiments conducted on a scaled test bench.