Short-Timescale Chemo-Mechanical Effects and their Influence on the Transport Properties of Fractured Rock

Anomalous changes in permeability are reported in fractures circulated by fluids undersaturated with respect to the mineral host. Under net dissolution and net removal of mineral mass, fractures may alternately gape or seal, depending on the prevailing mechanical and chemical conditions. The influence on transport properties is observed to be large, rapid, and irreversible: Permeabilities may change by two orders of magnitude in a month, and the direction of permeability change may switch spontaneously, for no apparent change in environmental forcing. These behaviors are apparent in continuous circulation experiments conducted on fractures in novaculite and limestone, intermittently imaged by X-ray CT. In novaculite, permeability reduces by two orders of magnitude as silica is net removed from the sample. Surprisingly, these changes can occur at modest temperatures (~80°C) and stresses (~3.5 MPa), where compaction progresses as temperatures are incremented. Isothermal (~20°C) circulation tests in limestone show similar compaction driven by pressure solution. Where circulation remains undersaturated in Ca, the change in permeability spontaneously switches from net reduction to net increase as a wormhole forms. The surprising magnitude and rapidity of these changes are investigated in the context of the competition between stress- and chemistry-mediated effects.     

磁流变耗能器及其性能

磁流变换（ＭＲ）是一种智能材料,它能够在强磁场的作用下从牛顿流体变化为粘塑流体,用磁流变液制作的耗能装置简单,体积小,能耗小,可连续可逆变化,是实现半主动控制的理想控制元件,本文介绍了磁流变液的材料特征,建立了磁流变耗能器的恢复力简化模型,根据磁流变液耗器的特点,提出了制作磁流变耗器时参数设计的基本要求;最后,利用等效线性化方法,提出了磁流变耗能器总阻尼系数的计算方法,并且比较了其中的粘性阻尼系数     

Injection Effects on Sediment Transport in Closed-Conduit Flows

Experiments were conducted to investigate injection effects on sediment transport in closed-conduit flows. The results show that the sediment transport rate essentially remains unchanged when the ratio of the injection velocity and that at boiling, Vi/Vcr < 10. However, significant sediment transport rate is observed when Vi/Vcr increases beyond this limit. In the literature, three semi-empirical models have been developed to relate seepage effects on the sediment transport rate. The experimentally measured data in the pre- and post-boiling condition (Liu and Chiew 2014, and the present study, respectively) are compared with these models. The results show that the models of Francalanci et al. (2008) and Nielsen et al. (2001) perform poorly in predicting injection effects on the sediment transport. Although Yang’s (2013) model could reasonably predict the influence of injection on the sediment transport rate in the post-boiling condition, it similarly fails when applied to the pre-boiling condition.     

Simulation of Tidal Effects on Contaminant Transport in Porous Media

A one-dimensional numerical model is developed with oscillating velocities and dispersions to simulate the migration process of a contaminant plume within tidally influenced aquifers. Model simulations demonstrate that a major effect the tidal fluctuation has on the migration process of a contaminant plume is the exit concentration discharging to the tidal estuary. Tidal fluctuation causes the exit concentration levels to be significantly diluted by the surface-water body of the estuary. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that tidal fluctuation hastens the rate of plume migration near the bank of the estuary because of the relatively high advective and dispersive fluxes induced by tides. However, tides affect the migration process only over a short distance from the tidal-water interface (about 40 ft for the parameters used in this study). If the contaminant plume is located far beyond the interface, tidal fluctuations will not affect the rate of plume migration until an existing regional ground-water flow velocity brings the plume to the tidally active zone. With or without tides, the rate of contaminant migration increases with higher regional hydraulic gradient. Furthermore, the effects of tidal fluctuations on the transport process become insignificant with higher regional hydraulic gradients.     

祁连山地震带小震活动增强指标提取与预报效能分析

总结2015年以来、2010年以来和1980年以来祁连山地震带活动增强指标,得到祁连山地震带5年、10年以及40年尺度的小震频度预报效能。祁连山地震带M_L2.0以上地震月频度持续增强的异常出现时间在3个月以上,异常出现后1~3个月,祁连山地震带及边邻地区发生5级以上地震以及青藏高原东北缘发生6级以上地震的概率较高。作为短期预报指标,祁连山地震带的地震活动增强对甘肃及边邻地区的地震预报工作具有重要的指示意义。     

高架交通工程场地效应震害防御探讨

通过分析由强烈地震引发的场地振动、地面破裂、地基失效和边坡破坏等震害效应令高架交通工程的墩桩基础产生位移、下沉、变形、折断,进而导致高架线路交通工程遭到破坏的实况．提出了一些基于工程场地地震安全性评价的高架线路场地地震地质灾害防御对策与工程地震勘测的建议。     

Field Tracer Tests to Evaluate Transport Properties of Tryptophan and Humic Acid in Karst

The monitoring of water quality, especially of karst springs, requires methods for rapidly estimating and quantifying parameters that indicate contamination. In the last few years, fluorescence-based measurements of tryptophan and humic acid have become a promising tool to assess water quality in near real-time. In this study, we conducted comparative tracer tests in a karst experimental site to investigate the transport properties and behavior of tryptophan and humic acid in a natural karst aquifer. These two tracers were compared with the conservative tracer uranine. Fluorescence measurements were conducted with an online field fluorometer and in the laboratory. The obtained breakthrough curves (BTCs) and the modeling results demonstrate that (1) the online field fluorometer is suitable for real-time fluorescence measurements of all three tracers; (2) the transport parameters obtained for uranine, tryptophan, and humic acid are comparable in the fast flow areas of the karst system; (3) the transport velocities of humic acid are slower and the resulting residence times are accordingly higher, compared to uranine and tryptophan, in the slower and longer flow paths; (4) the obtained BTCs reveal additional information about the investigated karst system. As a conclusion, the experiments show that the transport properties of tryptophan are similar to those of uranine while humic acid is partly transported slower and with retardation. These findings allow a better and quantitative interpretation of the results when these substances are used as natural fecal and contamination indicators.     

四川地区强震地震学短期预报指标及其预测效能的初步研究

对常用地震学预报指标进行了分析.针对四川地区10个地震活动统计单元,用不同的统计窗长和滑动步长对可用于短期预报的地震学指标进行了试算,最终确定了两个预报指标 :频度N、断层面总面积∑E2/3.初步结果表明:(1)按一定的预报规则, N与∑E 2/3都具有一定的短期映震能力,且∑E2/3的短期映震能力稍强于N.但短期映震能力因地而异,且并非所有的强震前均会出现短期异常.(2)一个区域的N与∑E2/3在邻区的一些强震发生前也会出现短期异常.因此,若在一个统计单元出现异常,未来强震可能发生的地域还应结合其它方法和手段进行判定.(3)无论是N还是∑E2/3,其短期映震能力都是有限的,因此,仅仅依靠一两个地震学指标实现短期预报是很困难的,还应结合其它方法和手段.     

SSI效应对粘弹性阻尼结构减震效果的影响分析

本文以一单跨7层框架结构为研究对象,对不同场地和地震波输入条件下的粘弹性阻尼结构进行了二维有限元时程分析,探讨了SSI（土-结构动力相互作用）效应对粘弹性阻尼结构减震效果的影响。分析结果表明：①在硬土和稍硬土地基条件下,SSI效应明显降低了结构的楼层位移峰值,若在抗震设计中对客观存在的SSI效应加以考虑,设置较少数量的阻尼器（与刚性地基假定条件下确定的阻尼器数量相比）就能使结构的实际地震位移反应满足基于刚性地基假定的地震位移控制目标;②粘弹性阻尼结构的减震效果与场地条件、输入地震动特性密切相关;③与刚性地基相比,SSI效应使粘弹性阻尼结构的减震效果明显降低,且地基越软,降低幅度越大。因此,在实际的工程设计中,应当充分考虑SSI效应,对粘弹性阻尼结构的减震控制效果进行合理的评价,并针对不同的场地条件选用合适的阻尼器类型和性能参数,才有可能达到预期的减震控制效果。     

Common Evolution of Mechanical and Transport Properties in Thermally Cracked Westerly Granite at Elevated Hydrostatic Pressure

Increasing the damage and crack porosity in crustal rocks can result in significant changes to various key physical properties, including mechanical strength, elastic and mechanical anisotropy, and the enhancement of transport properties. Using a Non-Interactive Crack Effective Medium (NIC) theory as a fundamental tool, we show that elastic wave dispersion can be inverted to evaluate crack density as a function of temperature and is compared with optically determined crack density. Further, we show how the existence of embedded microcrack fabrics in rocks also significantly influences the fracture toughness (K_IC) of rocks as measured via a suite of tensile failure experiments (chevron cracked notch Brazilian disk). Finally, we include fluid flow in our analysis via the Guéguen and Dienes crack porosity-permeability model. Using the crack density and aspect ratio recovered from the elastic-wave velocity inversion, we successfully compare permeability evolution with pressure with the laboratory measurements of permeability.     

Effects of Coal Gangue Content on Water Movement and Solute Transport in a China Loess Plateau Soil

The mining industry has grown strongly in China in recent decades, resulting in large amounts of coal gangues, which cause water and soil pollution, soil erosion, and various other environmental problems. They are often used in reclamation projects in attempts to restore land damaged by mining, hence they are frequently present (in widely varying proportions) in the topsoil in areas around mines. Their presence can strongly affect key soil variables, including its bulk density, structure, water retention, water movement, and solute transport rates. In the study presented here, the effects of gangue contents on infiltration, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and solute transport parameters of a Chinese Loess plateau soil were examined. The results show that infiltration rates and saturated hydraulic conductivity decreased with increasing gangue content. The Peck–Watson equation modeled these relationships well, but Bouwer–Rice equations provided poorer matches with the acquired data. Cumulative infiltration over time was described well by both the Philip equation and Kostiakov equation. Both the simplified convection–dispersion equation and a two‐region model described the solute transport processes well. In addition, the dispersion increased, while both the Peclet number and mobile water fraction decreased, with increases in gangue contents.     

Effects of Drying on the Low-Frequency Electrical Properties of Tournemire Argillites

Nearly water-saturated argillite samples (initial water content near 3.4 wt%) were cored from an undisturbed area of an underground facility of the French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), located at Tournemire (Aveyron, France). These samples were subjected to the following desiccation path: (a) A desaturation phase during which the samples were dried at ambient temperature conditions, relative humidity equal to 43% in average and (b) a heating phase during which the same samples were heated at four temperature levels from 70°C up to 105°C. During both phases, the low-frequency complex resistivity (0.18Hz–12 kHz) was recorded by a four-electrode device. The amplitude of the complex resistivity was extremely sensitive to water content change. At the end of the isotherm desaturation phase, it was multiplied by a factor of 3 to 5. During the heating phase, the resistivity increased by more than two orders of magnitude compared to the initial state. The percentage of Frequency Effect shows a low sensitivity to water content changes during the desaturation stage while it increased by two orders of magnitude during the heating phase. This result confirms that low-frequency spectral signature is extremely sensitive to textural changes (i.e., thermal-induced microcracking in this case) that occurred during heating. Moreover, the complex resistivity of the samples shows a strong anisotropy (a ratio of 10 between both amplitudes measured in the perpendicular directions). The classical Cole-Cole model cannot be used to fit the experimental data obtained in the heating phase. A generalized formulation of this model is required and was successfully applied to represent the complex resistivity data.     

Effects of Different Carbon Sources on Denitrification Efficiency Associated with Culture Adaptation and C/N Ratio

Stringent effluent limitations for nitrogen necessitate an accurate interpretation of the design and operation conditions of biological nitrogen removal systems. In this study, the effects of the nature of the organic substrate on biomass adaptation and response to different C/N ratios in terms of denitrification efficiency were investigated. A relatively high chemical oxygen demand (COD)_utilized/NO_x–N_reduced ratio of 8.1 was obtained when an excess amount of readily biodegradable carbon was supplied, which is suggested as the conversion of substrate surplus into storage polymers. An anoxic yield of 0.64 g cell COD/g COD for a four‐compound substrate mixture (acetate, propionate, ethanol and glucose), 0.63 g cell COD/g COD for a two‐compound substrate mixture (acetate and propionate), and 0.5 g cell COD/g COD for methanol were calculated. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis showed that the β‐subclass of proteobacteria was dominant in the seed and in cultures adapted to both the four‐compound and the two‐compound substrate mixture, whereas in the methanol‐adapted culture significant amounts of β‐proteobacteria were detected. The biocommunity composition, the type of organic compound and the COD/NO₃–N ratio strongly influence the nitrate reduction and carbon utilization profiles. Methanol has been shown to select for a denitrifying population consisting of Paracoccus and Hyphomicrobium vulgare genera, when used as only external carbon source.