Flush-Joint Threads Find a Home

With the rapid growth of PVC in the well casing and screen market, many different applications and methods of use have surfaced. One major method of fastening or joining thermoplastic well casing is the flush-joint thread. Widespread use of flush-joint threads on Schedule 40 and Schedule 80 pipe has caused concern about the physical strength and hydrostatic integrity of these threads. These concerns are magnified when one discovers the multitude of different manufacturers, each with his own thread design. There has, however, been a solution: Committee F17 of ASTM has passed a change in the Standard F480, which is now: ASTM F480–88A Standard Specification for Thermoplastic Well Casing and Couplings Made In Standard Dimension Ratios (SDR), Schedule 40 and Schedule 80. This change partially consists of incorporating specifications for flush-joint threads in Schedule 40 and Schedule 80 casing, in sizes ± inch to 16 inch in Schedule 80 and 2 inch to 16 inch in Schedule 40. This long overdue standard now ensures field thread compatibility with all pipe specified with this standard. It also requires manufacturers to cut a functional and reliable thread.
Extensive testing has been done to determine the physical properties of the specified thread. The three tests that help the purchaser determine the working parameters of this flush-joint thread include:
1. Tensile test of the threaded joint
2. Internal hydrostatic pressure test
3. External hydrostatic pressure test.
Using ASTM guidelines test methods were developed for testing this thread. Results show that the new thread specification in F480 is a valid and functional design.     

Ductile creep and compaction: A mechanism for transiently increasing fluid pressure in mostly sealed fault zones

A simple cyclic process is proposed to explain why major strike-slip fault zones, including the San Andreas, are weak. Field and laboratory studies suggest that the fluid within fault zones is often mostly sealed from that in the surrounding country rock. Ductile creep driven by the difference between fluid pressure and lithostatic pressure within a fault zone leads to compaction that increases fluid pressure. The increased fluid pressure allows frictional failure in earthquakes at shear tractions far below those required when fluid pressure is hydrostatic. The frictional slip associated with earthquakes creates porosity in the fault zone. The cycle adjusts so that no net porosity is created (if the fault zone remains constant width). The fluid pressure within the fault zone reaches long-term dynamic equilibrium with the (hydrostatic) pressure in the country rock. One-dimensional models of this process lead to repeatable and predictable earthquake cycles. However, even modest complexity, such as two parallel fault splays with different pressure histories, will lead to complicated earthquake cycles. Two-dimensional calculations allowed computation of stress and fluid pressure as a function of depth but had complicated behavior with the unacceptable feature that numerical nodes failed one at a time rather than in large earthquakes. A possible way to remove this unphysical feature from the models would be to include a failure law in which the coefficient of friction increases at first with frictional slip, stabilizing the fault, and then decreases with further slip, destabilizing it.     

Hydrostatic theory of the Earth and its mechanical implications

A second-order hydrostatic theory is developed on the assumption that the trace of the Earth's inertia tensor, its mass and mean radius are invariant under any process causing deviations from the hydrostatic state.The hydrostatic flattening and the zonal coefficients of the hydrostatic gravitational field are obtained as ?^?1 = 299.638, J₂ = 1072.618 × 10^?6 and J₄ = ?2.992 × 10^?6, respectively.The internal theory using the preliminary reference earth model (PREM) of Dziewonski and Anderson (1981) yields ?^?1 = 299.627, J₂ = 1072.701 × 10^?6 and J₄ = ?2.992 × 10^?6. The agreement between these and the hydrostatic values indicate that PREM is suitable as a reference model as it represents the spheroidal density distribution in a state of zero non-hydrostatic stress while satisfying the fundamental geodetic observations of the invariant quantities.The small discrepancy between the hydrostatic flattening and the value deduced from PREM suggests that the density is underestimated at large depths and/or it is slightly overestimated in shallow regions of the Earth.The discrepancies between the hydrostatic and observed quantities persist after the removal of the accountable effects of isostatically compensated topography, permanent tidal deformation and the present mass anomalies associated with the Late-Pleistocene deglaciation. These ‘corrected’ discrepancies point to a triaxial non-hydrostatic figure which cannot be explained by the delayed response of the Earth to tidal deceleration.     

Numerical studies of wind forced internal waves with a nonhydrostatic model

The nonhydrostatic pressure effects on the generation and propagation of wind-forced internal waves are studied with a two-dimensional numerical ocean model. A one-way directed wind pulse over a stratified ocean initiates surface and internal waves in a closed basin. The studies are performed with horizontal grid sizes in the range from 1 km to 62.5 m. The experiments are performed with both a hydrostatic and a nonhydrostatic model, facilitating systematic studies of the sensitivity of the numerical model results to the grid size and to the nonhydrostatic pressure adjustments. The results show that the nonhydrostatic pressure effects are highly dependent on the grid size and grow with increased resolution. In the internal depression wave, the horizontal nonhydrostatic pressure gradients reach the same order of magnitude as the hydrostatic gradients in the high-resolution nonhydrostatic studies. In these studies, the nonhydrostatic pressure gradients approximately balance the corresponding hydrostatic pressure gradients in the internal depression wave, and the wave degenerates into a train of soliton waves. The time for the soliton form to develop agrees with the steepening timescale calculated from Korteweg-de Vries theory. In the high-resolution hydrostatic model, the internal depression wave takes the form of a single wave front. When the internal waves are generated in the boundary layers, the nonhydrostatic pressure gradients are much smaller than the hydrostatic gradients and the generation processes are not effected by the nonhydrostatic pressure with the present range of grid sizes.     

Q by pulse broadening in rocks under pressure

Experimental results of Q due to pulse-broadening measurements on compressional waves in laboratory samples of lossy media like polymers and rocks are presented. The application of the method is found suitable for the study of rock samples subjected to hydrostatic pressure. The results of the present work are well within the limiting values of Q of such materials reported in handbooks. A three-to-four-fold increase in the Q-values of rocks is observed due to the application of hydrostatic fluid pressures of up to 5 kilobars.     

等参函数及其在重力场中的应用

本文介绍了等参函数和等参超曲面的概念和理论,提出了更广义的平行概念,证明了平行重力场就是平面场,球面场,圆柱面场之一,平行重力场中几何水准测量不存在理论闭合差;无扰动的流体静力平衡状态下的地球重力场是平行重力场,它的物质密度分布是球对称的。     

Seismic stability of concrete gravity dams strengthened by rockfill buttressing

Rockfill buttressing resting on the downstream face of masonry or concrete gravity dam is often considered as a strengthening method to improve the stability of existing dam for hydrostatic and seismic loads. Simplified methods for seismic stability analysis of composite concrete-rockfill dams are discussed. Numerical analyses are performed using a nonlinear rockfill model and nonlinear dam-rockfill interface behavior to investigate the effects of backfill on dynamic response of composite dams. A typical 35 m concrete gravity dam, strengthened by rockfill buttressing is considered. The results of analyses confirm that backfill can improve the seismic stability of gravity dams by exerting pressure on the dam in opposition to hydrostatic loads. According to numerical analyses results, the backfill pressures vary during earthquake base excitations and the inertia forces of the backfill are the main source for those variations. It is also shown that significant passive (or active) pressure cannot develop in composite dams with a finite backfill width. A simplified model is also proposed for dynamic analysis of composite dam by replacing the backfill with by a series of vertical cantilever shear beams connected to each other and to the dam by flexible links.     

风垂直切变对大气静力适应过程的影响——第三部分:能量转换

基于前两部分的研究,第三部分从能量转换的角度揭示了风垂直切变对大气静力适应过程的影响.研究显示,对非静态等温大气,初始时刻加以有效势能和有效弹性势能的强迫后,风垂直切变改变了适应过程中扰动能量在各能量形式中的分配比例,这种作用随扰动尺度和时间的变化有显著差异,系统尺度越小影响越显著.比较东风急流模型和西风急流模型显示,负的风切变应力使得四类扰动能量谱随系统尺度的变化趋于平缓,使得微尺度和小尺度(中尺度)系统中扰动垂直动能(扰动水平动能)的比例随时间减小,正的风切变使得扰动能量谱随系统尺度的变化显现跳跃的特征,使得中尺度(微尺度和小尺度)系统中扰动垂直动能(扰动水平动能)的比例随时间减小.风垂直切变引起的动量通量输送是扰动能量与基本气流能量之间交换的通道,当风切变应力和动量输送方向相同时,风垂直切变使得能量向基本态转移,维持基本气流,削弱扰动能量,缩短静力适应过程的周期;当风切变应力和动量输送方向相反时,风垂直切变作用相反;此作用随着扰动尺度的变化差异明显.     

Stringed vertical gravimetric gradient meter

A vertical gravimetric gradient meter is described that is presented by the author and uses large hydrostatic forces with metacenters dispersed along the vertical coordinate and a weak-loaded string converter for actuating on test object in opposite directions. The calculating accuracy of the gradiometer is about ±0.10 E. The possibility of using the gradient meter for precision gravimetric experiments is shown.     

差应力在超高压变质岩形成过程中的作用——来自石英-柯石英转化的高温高压实验证据

文中概述了超高压变质岩在静水压条件下的形成温压范围和存在的问题 ,并重新整理和分析了Hirth等 (1994 )在差应力条件下石英向柯石英转化的高温高压实验数据。结果表明 ,存在较大差应力的条件下柯石英出现需要的围压 (1 2 0～ 1 2 5GPa) ,远小于静水压下的围压 (2 5～ 3GPa) ,显然差应力的影响是显著的。榴辉岩中部分石榴石存在塑性变形 ,这表明在碰撞造山的构造环境中构造差应力是客观存在的 ,而构造差应力的上限受岩石强度制约。因此 ,差应力在超高压变质岩的形成过程中起到了重要作用 ,而系统地进行高温高压实验研究是深入探讨这一问题必要而有效的方法之一     

Ellipsoidal density models and hydrostatic equilibrium: Interim report

From the point of view of consistency with the Geodetic Reference System 1967, it would be desirable that the boundary surface of a Standard Earth Model is an exact equipotential ellipsoid. This is incompatible with the requirement that it be a figure of hydrostatic equilibrium. The report investigates the relation between equipotential ellipsoids and equilibrium figures. The principal conclusion is that it is possible to find an ellipsoidal model that has the same distribution of density and flattening (more precisely, of the parameter f′ as defined in the paper) as a hydrostatic model, the deviations being only of second order in the flattening.     

Analytical modelling of wintertime coastal jets in the Adriatic Sea

Two diagnostic models, reproducing circulation generated in a marginal sea by variable density, have been developed. The models’ domain is a 2D transverse section for which analytical solutions have been obtained. They describe the winter situation in the northern Adriatic, with a strong vertical mixing present and the density maximum dominating the centre of the basin. Both models employ Boussinesq-type parametrisation of friction and linear slip at the bottom. The first model allows for frictional departure from hydrostatic equilibrium and includes vertical friction only. The second one is hydrostatic but allows for lateral friction as well. The results obtained by the two models are similar and to some extent dependent on the vertical and bottom friction. They reproduce several well known characteristics of the Adriatic circulation (cyclonic surface flow, downwelling in the central and larger part of the basin compensated by upwelling in the coastal zone) but also predict some phenomena that are still not well understood. A conspicuous feature of the model results are coastal jets, which were observed in the Adriatic on several occasions. The present models show that the distance of jets from the coasts depends on lateral friction: it is found to vary from 1 up to 10 km on the Italian side and between 2 and 15 km on the Croatian side. Both models reproduce the west–east asymmetry, with the wider current on the east side of the basin. The asymmetry is a subject on which conflicting empirical results exist in the Adriatic. In the two models cyclonic flow occupies the whole water column, which disagrees with some recent theoretical findings of the near-bottom anticyclonic flow and thus leaves the issue open.     

The solar corona during the eclipse of August 1, 2008

A new telescope has been created to investigate the solar corona during eclipses. One lens simultaneously forms three corona images occurring as coronal radiation passes through three polarizers with transmission directions rotated 0°, 60°, and 120° relative to the selected direction; in addition, one image is formed without the polarizer. The telescope was used for solar corona observation during the eclipse of August 1, 2008. We obtained the distributions of polarization brightness, K corona brightness, degree of K corona polarization, and total degree of polarization as well as polarization directions depending on the latitude and radius in the sky plane. Radial distributions of the electron density depending on latitude were calculated. The coronal plasma temperature was determined for different corona structures under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium.     

Poro‐acoustoelasticity of fluid‐saturated rocks

We generalize the classical theory of acoustoelasticity to the porous case (one fluid and a solid frame) and finite deformations. A unified treatment of non‐linear acoustoelasticity of finite strains in fluid‐saturated porous rocks is developed on the basis of Biot’s theory. A strain‐energy function, formed with eleven terms, combined with Biot’s kinetic and dissipation energies, yields Lagrange’s equations and consequently the wave equation of the medium. The velocities and dissipation factors of the P‐ and S‐waves are obtained as a function of the 2nd‐ and 3rd‐order elastic constants for hydrostatic and uniaxial loading. The theory yields the limit to the classical theory if the fluid is replaced with a solid with the same properties of the frame. We consider sandstone and obtain results for open‐pore jacketed and closed‐pore jacketed ‘gedanken’ experiments. Finally, we compare the theoretical results with experimental data.     

Three-fluid hydrostatic level

In this work the possibility for precision three-fluidal hydrostatic level design is theoretically substantiated with effective compensation of the effects of temperature gradients along leveling trace, fluctuations of integral temperature of measuring system and its separate blocks, atmospheric pressure differences between stations, tilts of hydrostatic vessels and their working fluid level indication errors.     

不同应力途径下岩石的体积变化

本文介绍了对岩石在不同应力途径下的体积变化进行的实验研究。主要的应力途径有三种,并且都是首先把岩石加载到破裂前一定的应力状态,再分别三种类型加载。实验用电阻应变片测量纵向和横向应变以计算体应变。实验表明:同一种岩石在不同应力途径下膨胀效应有显著的不同。文中用辉长岩的实验数据对过密量和超膨胀量进行了估算。研究表明,过密与膨胀是应力途径变化时岩石体积变化的滞后效应。研究了B型实验过密状态出现的条件。从强度80%左右开始减小最小主应力的B型实验明显表现经历过密状态。从低应力状态(强度50%左右)和高应力状态(强度92%以上)开始减小最小应力的B型实验,岩石均未经历过密状态。最后联系地震预报问题进行了简单的讨论     

汶川地震前后水位频谱特征分析

以频谱分析方法作为理论基础,采用周期图法计算汶川地震前后距震中500 km以内10口观测井水位（包括动水位与静水位）的功率谱,对比分析2009年无大震年份同时期的数据,研究结果表明：水位的频域特征受制于观测井的地质构造背景、观测方式和观测深度;水位的波动能量主要集中于大于4天与小于0.5天周期,震后水位波动能量则集中在大于8天的周期;动水位频谱更加丰富.另外,不同井水位的频域响应特征与该井观测层岩性有关,需进一步研究.     

A new hydrostatic mapping function for tropospheric delay estimation

A new hydrostatic mapping function is proposed by modifying the analytical solution of the Chapman grazing incident (Chi) function. Applicability of this mapping function is evaluated over the Indian region by comparing it with the true value of mapping function estimated through ray-tracing the refractivity profile of neutral atmosphere as well as by comparing it with the Niell and Global Mapping Functions. This comparison shows that the new mapping function, agrees very well with the ray-traces values and it is in par with if not better than the other global mapping functions for very high zenith angles up to ～88°.     

Coronal Loop as an Element of the Potential Magnetic Arcade

A new analytical model of a fine singular 3D coronal loop is developed. The loop is a thin curved magnetic flux tube immersed in the potential magnetic arcade. The ambient corona is given by the hydrostatic model of a quiet solar atmosphere (Avrett and Loeser, 2008). The proposed 3D model of a fine coronal loop reproduces well the observed physical properties of coronal structures of this kind.     

Normal state of stress in the lithosphere

Summary It is argued that normally the stresses in the lithosphere are hydrostatic or pseudohydrostatic. Several mechanisms are discussed that account for this feature, the more important one being plastic deformation leading to a situation in which the crustal material can be considered as pre-stressed inthe horizontal plane. The proposed stress distribution has consequences for crustal model studies, especially when ductile flow is involved.