A steel ball impacting on a bed of very loose, fine sand results in a surprisingly vigorous jet which shoots up from the surface of the sand [D. Lohse, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 198003 (2004)10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.198003]. When the ambient pressure p is reduced, the jet is found to be less vigorous [R. Royer, Nature Phys. 1, 164 (2005)10.1038/nphys175]. In this Letter we show that p also affects the...

A set of laboratory experiments has been carried out to determine if micro-needles (MNs) can enhance penetration depths of high-speed micro-particles delivered by a type of gene gun. The micro-particles were fired into a model target material, agarose gel, which was prepared to mimic the viscoelastic properties of porcine skin. The agarose gel was chosen as a model target as it can be prepared ...

Heterogeneities in various forms and scales often control the mechanisms and locations of failure and deformation, and the factor of safety of saprolitic slopes. This paper presents a critical review of field scale heterogeneities and their roles in controlling the stability of saprolitic slopes. In particular corestones and relict joints are analysed, with emphasis on characterization and poss...

Shaped-charge penetration of explosives is studied analytically and experimentally. Two models are developed, each applicable to a different regime of jet velocity. The first addresses high-velocity penetration. If a jet is sufficiently fast, its penetration velocity will exceed the explosive's detonation velocity, and the process may achieve a steady state with the crater following the detonat...

pathogens such as Colletotrichum lagenarium and Magnaporthe grisea, melanization of appressoria is essential for penetration into the host plant.1) Fungal conidia germinate and the tips of germ tubes differentiate into appressoria, which synthesize melanin. The melanin mediates the buildup of pressure in the appressorium and this high pressure provides the essential driving force for mechanical...

Liquid jet injections have been performed on human skin in vivo and silicone rubber using Intraject needle-free injectors. The discharge characteristics of the liquid jet were measured using a custom-built test instrument. The experiments reveal that a high-speed liquid jet penetrates a soft solid by the formation and opening of a planar crack. The fluid stagnation pressure required for skin pe...

The performance of treated wood in the field is ultimately affected by retention and penetration of preservative in wood. In the present study, a new preservative system ZiBOC and a commercially used preservative copper-chrome-arsenate (CCA) were used for evaluation of treatability of Melia composita by the vacuum pressure method at different pressure levels in unsealed and end sealed specimens...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A proximal stem centralizer may be beneficial regarding cementing pressures, cement penetration, and stem alignment. We measured these parameters when cementing a mat-surfaced femoral component with and without the use of a proximal stem centralizer. MATERIAL AND METHODS 8 femoral prostheses with proximal centralizers and 8 femoral prostheses without proximal centralize...

A physical deduction of the FN = kh(3/2) relation (where FN is normal force, k penetration resistance, and h penetration depth) for conical/pyramidal indentation loading curves has been achieved on the basis of elementary mathematics. The indentation process couples the productions of volume and pressure to the displaced material that often partly plasticizes due to such pressure. As the pressu...