Using an inerter‐based device for structural vibration suppression

This paper proposes the use of a novel type of passive vibration control system to reduce vibrations in civil engineering structures subject to base excitation. The new system is based on the inerter, a device that was initially developed for high‐performance suspensions in Formula 1 racing cars. The principal advantage of the inerter is that a high level of vibration isolation can be achieved with low amounts of added mass. This feature makes it an attractive potential alternative to traditional tuned mass dampers (TMDs). In this paper, the inerter system is modelled inside a multi‐storey building and is located on braces between adjacent storeys. Numerical results show that an excellent level of vibration reduction is achieved, potentially offering improvement over TMDs. The inerter‐based system is compared to a TMD system by using a range of base excitation inputs, including an earthquake signal, to demonstrate how the performance could potentially be improved by using an inerter instead of a TMD. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interactions between sediment chemistry and frenulate pogonophores (Annelida) in the north-east Atlantic

The small frenulate pogonophores (Annelida: Pogonophora a.k.a. Siboglinidae) typically inhabit muddy sediments on the continental slope, although a few species occur near hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. We present data on the distribution and habitat characteristics of several species on the European continental shelf and slope from 48°N to 75°N and show how the animals interact with the chemistry of the sediments. The environments inhabited include: shallow (30 m), organic-rich, fjord sediments; slope sediments (1000–2200 m) and methane seeps at 330 m depth. All the species studied obtain nutrition from endosymbiotic bacteria. They take up reduced sulphur species, or in one case, methane, through the posterior parts of their tubes buried in the anoxic sediment. We conclude that most species undertake sulphide ‘mining’, a mechanism previously demonstrated in the bivalves Lucinoma borealis and Thyasira sarsi. These pogonophores participate in the sulphur cycle and effectively lower the sulphide content of the sediments. Our results show that the abundance of frenulate pogonophores increases with increasing sedimentation and with decreasing abundance of other benthos, particularly bioturbating organisms. The maximum sustainable carrying capacity of non-seep sediments for frenulate pogonophores is limited by the rate of sulphate reduction.     

Origin of high H2S concentrations in the Upper Permian Changxing reservoirs of the Northeast Sichuan Basin,China

Intense thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR) and up to 18% H₂S are found in the Upper Permian Changxing Formation (P₃ch) in the northeast (NE) Sichuan Basin, China, despite that rare gypsum or anhydrite was found in this formation. Here, we present new concentration data of carbonate-associated sulfate (CAS) from carbonate host rocks, C, O, and Sr isotope data for TSR-related calcites, and S isotope data for sulfur compounds obtained during this study. These data along with spatial-temporal changes in palaeogeopressure conditions, hydraulic conductivity and the physical capacity indicate that the H₂S was generated locally from TSR within the P₃ch reservoirs. We propose that the reactive sulfates were derived from CAS released during dolomitization and recrystallization of earlier dolomite within the P₃ch Fm. and from the cross-formational migration of evaporative brines from the Lower Triassic Feixianguan Formation (T₁f) to P₃ch Fm. Our calculation shows that the two sources could provide enough SO₄²⁻ for the generation of H₂S within the P₃ch reservoirs. Early downward migration of sulfate-rich evaporative brines from the T₁f formation occurred in near-surface and shallow burial diagenetic settings (mainly <1000 m). The evaporative brines seeped into porous grainstones and displaced preexisting seawater, causing pervasive dolomitization within the P₃ch Fm. Subsequently, TSR calcites precipitated from the pore water have high Sr concentrations (up to 7767 ppm), close to the T₁f TSR calcites, and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios mainly from 0.7074 to 0.7078, which are significantly higher than those of Late Permian seawater but within the range of early Triassic seawater.     

Sulfide and iron control on mercury speciation in anoxic estuarine sediment slurries

In order to understand the role of sulfate and Fe(III) reduction processes in the net production of monomethylmercury (MMHg), we amended anoxic sediment slurries collected from the Venice Lagoon, Italy, with inorganic Hg and either potential electron acceptors or metabolic byproducts of sulfate and Fe(III) reduction processes, gradually changing their concentrations. Addition of sulfide (final concentration: 0.2–6.3 mM) resulted in an exponential decrease in the sulfate reduction rate and MMHg concentration with increasing concentrations of sulfide. Based on this result, we argue that the concentration of dissolved sulfide is a critical factor controlling the sulfate reduction rate, and in turn, the net MMHg production at steady state. Addition of either Fe(II) (added concentration: 0–6.1 mM) or Fe(III) (added concentration: 0–3.5 mM) resulted in similar trends in the MMHg concentration, an increase with low levels of Fe additions and a subsequent decrease with high levels of Fe additions. The limited availability of dissolved Hg, associated with sulfide removal by precipitation of FeS, appears to inhibit the net MMHg production in high levels of Fe additions. There was a noticeable reduction in the net MMHg production in Fe(III)-amended slurries as compared to Fe(II)-amended ones, which could be caused by a decrease in the sulfate reduction rate. This agrees with the results of Hg methylation assays using the enrichment cultures of anaerobic bacteria: whereas the enrichment cultures of sulfate reducers showed significant production of MMHg (4.6% of amended Hg), those of Fe(III), Mn(IV), and nitrate reducers showed no production of MMHg. It appears that enhanced Fe(III)-reduction activities suppress the formation of MMHg in high sulfate estuarine sediments.     

Hydrogeochemical models locating sulfate-methane transition zone in marine sediments overlying black shales: A new tool to locate biogenic methane?

Precise hydrogeochemical modeling of early diagenesis is a key in the reconstruction of sedimentary basin models. This determines the mineralogical evolution of the sediment and consequently the porosity of the rock. During early diagenesis also part of the initial organic matter is converted into biogenic gas: CH₄ CO₂, and H₂S. These processes are part of complex reaction chains during sedimentation, and biogeochemical reactions leave different signals that can be observed today. In this work, we reproduce the early diagenetic processes as integrated signals over geological times in sediments of the Demerara Rise by applying chemical thermodynamics using the PHREEQC (version 2) computer code. The investigated sediments are characterized by the presence of black shales in 410–490 mbsf and by a diagenetic barite layer above in 300–350 mbsf at depth of sulfate-methane transition (SMT). We determine the parameters that influence the location of diagenetic barite peaks in sediments overlying black shales by means of a novel modeling approach. Crucial parameters are the amount of bacterial organic matter mineralization, sedimentation rates and bottom water sulfate concentrations. All parameters are intertwining and influence the sulfate-methane cycle. They affect the location of the SMT visualized by diagenetic barite peaks. However, our model approach opens a wide field in exploring early diagenetic reactions, processes and products (such as biogenic methane) over geological times mirrored by diagenetic minerals and pore water concentration profiles that can be detected in present-day sediments.     

Automated Extraction of a Five‐Year LA‐ICP‐MS Trace Element Data Set of Ten Common Glass and Carbonate Reference Materials: Long‐Term Data Quality,Optimisation and Laser Cell Homogeneity

LA‐ICP‐MS is increasingly applied to obtain quantitative multi‐element data with minimal sample preparation, usually achieved by calibration using reference materials (RMs). However, some ubiquitous RMs, for example the NIST SRM 61× series glasses, suffer from reported value uncertainties for certain elements. Moreover, no long‐term data set of analyses conducted over a range of ablation and tuning conditions exists. Thus, there has been little rigorous examination of the extent to which offsets between measured and reported values are the result of error in these values rather than analytically induced fractionation. We present new software (‘LA‐MINE’), capable of extracting LA‐ICP‐MS data with no user input, and apply this to our system, yielding over 5 years of data (~ 5700 analyses of ten glass and carbonate RMs). We examine the relative importance of systematic analytical bias and possible error in reported values through a mass‐specific breakdown of fourteen of the most commonly determined elements. Furthermore, these data, obtained under a wide range of different ablation conditions, enable specific recommendations of how data quality may be improved, for example the role of diatomic gas, the effect of differential inter‐glass fractionation factors and choice of transport tubing material. Finally, these data demonstrate that the two‐volume Laurin ablation cell is characterised by no discernible spatial heterogeneity in measured trace element ratios.     

Novel Folded-PCA for improved feature extraction and data reduction with hyperspectral imaging and SAR in remote sensing

As a widely used approach for feature extraction and data reduction, Principal Components Analysis (PCA) suffers from high computational cost, large memory requirement and low efficacy in dealing with large dimensional datasets such as Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI). Consequently, a novel Folded-PCA is proposed, where the spectral vector is folded into a matrix to allow the covariance matrix to be determined more efficiently. With this matrix-based representation, both global and local structures are extracted to provide additional information for data classification. Moreover, both the computational cost and the memory requirement have been significantly reduced. Using Support Vector Machine (SVM) for classification on two well-known HSI datasets and one Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) dataset in remote sensing, quantitative results are generated for objective evaluations. Comprehensive results have indicated that the proposed Folded-PCA approach not only outperforms the conventional PCA but also the baseline approach where the whole feature sets are used.     

THE THEORETICAL STUDY ON THE LAWS OF DRAG REDUCTION BY AERATION IN OPEN CHANNEL 1

ＴＨＥＴＨＥＯＲＥＴＩＣＡＬＳＴＵＤＹＯＮＴＨＥＬＡＷＳＯＦＤＲＡＧＲＥＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＢＹＡＥＲＡＴＩＯＮＩＮＯＰＥＮＣＨＡＮＮＥＬ１ＺＨＥＮＧＹｏｎｇｇａｎｇ２,ＦＡＮＧＤｕｏ３ａｎｄＬＩＧｕｉｆｅｎ４ＡＢＳＴＲＡＣＴＴｈｅｌａｗｓｏｆｄｒａｇｒｅ...     

光子计数资料处理方法的比较

本文通过对天体测量仪器光子计数模拟资料的处理,比较了13种不同的平滑模型和两种定心算法对最终精度的影响;提出了利用频率域滤波和修正矩方法相结合的最佳处理方法;并对比较结果进行了多方面的讨论。     

基于粗糙集与人工神经网络的变压器故障诊断

根据电力变压器故障诊断问题,提出了基于粗糙集与人工神经网络的变压器故障诊断模型,分析了该模型的实现步骤.采用Kohonen网络对连续属性值进行离散化,应用粗糙集理论对特征参数进行属性约简,并把约简结果生成规则作为BP网络的输入.仿真结果表明,把经过粗糙集理论预处理过的数据送入BP网络训练,提高了学习速度和故障诊断正确率,减少了训练时间.