From soil aggregates to riverine flocs: a laboratory experiment assessing the respective effects of soil type and flow shear stress on particles characteristics

Particles eroded from hillslopes and exported to rivers are recognized to be composite particles of high internal complexity. Their architecture and composition are known to influence their transport behaviour within the water column relative to discrete particles. To‐date, hillslope erosion studies consider aggregates to be stable once they are detached from the soil matrix. However, lowland rivers and estuaries studies often suggest that particle structure and dynamics are controlled by flocculation within the water column. In order to improve the understanding of particle dynamics along the continuum from hillslopes to the lowland river environment, soil particle behaviour was tested under controlled laboratory conditions. Seven flume erosion and deposition experiments, designed to simulate a natural erosive event, and five shear cell experiments were performed using three contrasting materials: two of them were poorly developed and as such can not be considered as soils, whilst the third one was a calcareous brown soil. These experiments revealed that soil aggregates were prone to disaggregation within the water column and that flocculation may affect their size distribution during transport. Large differences in effective particle size were found between soil types during the rising limb of the bed shear stress sequence. Indeed, at the maximum applied bed shear stress, the aggregated particles median diameter was found to be three times larger for the well‐developed soil than for the two others. Differences were smaller in the falling limb, suggesting that soil aggregates underwent structural changes. However, characterization of particles strength parameters showed that these changes did not fully turn soil aggregates into flocs, but rather into hybrid soil aggregate–floc particles. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling the flow of self‐compacting concrete

A Lagrangian particle‐based method, smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH), is used in this paper to model the flow of self‐compacting concretes (SCC) with or without short steel fibres. An incompressible SPH method is presented to simulate the flow of such non‐Newtonian fluids whose behaviour is described by a Bingham‐type model, in which the kink in the shear stress vs shear strain rate diagram is first appropriately smoothed out. The viscosity of the SCC is predicted from the measured viscosity of the paste using micromechanical models in which the second phase aggregates are treated as rigid spheres and the short steel fibres as slender rigid bodies. The basic equations solved in the SPH are the incompressible mass conservation and Navier–Stokes equations. The solution procedure uses prediction–correction fractional steps with the temporal velocity field integrated forward in time without enforcing incompressibility in the prediction step. The resulting temporal velocity field is then implicitly projected on to a divergence‐free space to satisfy incompressibility through a pressure Poisson equation derived from an approximate pressure projection. The results of the numerical simulation are benchmarked against actual slump tests carried out in the laboratory. The numerical results are in excellent agreement with test results, thus demonstrating the capability of SPH and a proper rheological model to predict SCC flow and mould‐filling behaviour. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于最优分割分级法的月球撞击坑分级及其演化分析

撞击坑是月球表面广泛分布的重要构造形态,占据了月球表面的大部分面积。撞击坑的直径差别很大,从几微米到数百千米,其退化程度与形成年代具有密切关系。为了研究不同地质年代形成的撞击坑直径大小及其演化规律,需采用量化分级方法对大小不同的撞击坑进行定量分级和统计分析。本文在月表撞击坑数据库LU60645GT和Lunar_Impact_Crater_Database(2011)的基础上,结合数据库中撞击坑的直径、深度和年代信息,利用最优分割分级法对撞击坑直径进行定量化分级,并根据分级结果,综合分析撞击坑几何形态特征及其演化规律。研究结果表明,撞击坑形态特征的演化与年代有密切的关系。在相同级别、相同地体下,撞击坑形成的年代越早,其形态特征的精细结构退化程度越明显,只保留了大体的几何形状;而在不同级别、相同地体、相同年代下的撞击坑形态特征则由简单逐渐变为复杂,坑物质也逐渐变得复杂。     

阿根廷米纳毕戈塔地区水系沉积物采样粒度试验研究

中国地质调查局与阿根廷地质矿产调查局合作在阿根廷西北部米纳毕戈塔地区进行1︰25万水系沉积物测量,该区属于干旱-半干旱高寒山区,为突出找矿效果,消除或减少风积物干扰,需要确定适合于该区的水系沉积物采样粒度。为此,在该区选择一个有已知矿床的1︰5万图幅进行采样粒度试验,分别选择10~60目、-60目、60~80目、-80目4个粒度级进行粒度试验;根据我国区域地球化学勘查规范,每个粒度分析39种元素。结果表明,大部分元素在4种粒度水系沉积物中的分布形态基本一致,都能够较好地反映出区内已知矿床,说明采用的采样方法可以有效地避免风成砂干扰;金、银、铜、锡等成矿元素在4种粒度中的分布略有差异,10~60目的金、铜和锡异常对已知矿体的反应更清晰准确。因此,本区水系沉积物地球化学测量的最佳采样粒度是10~60目。根据本次试验结果,中-阿地调局在本区联合开展1︰25万水系沉积物地球化学测量时采用了10~60目水系沉积物作为采样介质,取得了很好的效果。这是本区第一次进行水系沉积粒度试验,对本区将来的地球化学调查和研究具有指导意义。     

横向振动格栅紊流紊动特性试验

建立了一套大尺度格栅紊流试验系统,格栅进行有别于传统垂向模式的横向振动,采用粒子图像测速技术(Particle Image Velocimetry,PIV)测量流速。对瞬时流速的检验表明,该系统产生的紊流场具有较强的随机性和统计规律性。均方根流速在格栅片附近变化较大,在两片格栅中间处趋于稳定,纵向均方根流速明显大于垂向均方根流速,二者比值在1.5~2.0之间,接近天然明渠紊流。雷诺应力在距格栅越近处波动越大,随着距格栅距离的增加而减小,至两片格栅中间处雷诺应力基本为0。时间和长度积分尺度在格栅片处最小,随着距格栅距离的增加而线性增加,至两片格栅中间处达到最大值。流速能谱呈现Kolmogorov理论的-5/3次方规律。本系统生成的紊流场的统计规律与传统的垂向振动格栅紊流较为一致,但纵向和垂向的紊动强度更接近实际,为后续紊流中泥沙和污染物等运动机理的研究奠定了基础。     

构造物理模拟和PIV有限应变分析对构造裂缝预测的启示

油气储层中构造裂缝发育与有限应变状态关系密切,为了探索有限应变分析与构造裂缝预测的新技术方法,此次研究设计完成了一组单侧挤压收敛模型的物理模拟实验,并引入粒子图像测速(PIV,Particle Image Velocimetry)技术对实验过程进行了定量化分析。实验模型在垂向上为含粘性层的多层结构,实验结果形成了一个肉眼可见的箱状褶皱。通过PIV技术可以获取实验模型变形演化过程中各阶段的位移场数据,计算出各阶段的增量应变,实现从初始状态到褶皱形成之后整个变形过程的有限应变分析,探讨构造裂缝成因机制和分布规律,进行定量化裂缝预测。挤压变形过程初期,应变分布范围很广,有限应变较弱(约4%~8%),在挤压方向上的线应变表现为弱压应变,在垂向上的线应变表现为弱张应变,这种现象是褶皱和断层产生前平行层缩短和层增厚的纯剪变形结果,也是区域型张裂缝和剪裂缝形成的主要机制。褶皱和断层即将发育之时至发育之后,应变局限在断层发育的剪切带及附近区域,有限应变表现为较强(达20%)的剪切应变和剪切张应变,是断层面附近简单剪切变形作用的结果,也是局部型剪裂缝和张剪裂缝形成的主要机制。     

原地栖息真菌Talaromyces flavus作用下不同粒径利蛇纹石的风化作用研究

主要研究了原地栖息真菌Talaromyces flavus作用下不同粒径的蛇纹石矿物粉末的风化作用。蛇纹石矿物粉末被筛分为不同粒度的4组(150~300、100~150、75~100和45~75μm)后进行真菌溶蚀实验,并使用p H计、ICP-OES、FTIR、XRD、SEM对反应产物进行了分析。结果表明,真菌作用显著加快了蛇纹石矿物的溶蚀,当蛇纹石矿物粒度降低到100μm左右时,Mg的溶出率从21.56%明显增加到35.91%。该现象可能与矿物比表面积的增大以及生物物理作用的增强有关。在此基础上粒径进一步减小并未使Mg溶出率明显提高,因此该粒径可以作为真菌对蛇纹石溶解工业化应用的最优粒径。扫描电镜观察与矿物相分析表明,反应过程中真菌分化产生的菌丝与矿物紧密接触,破坏了矿物的晶体结构,导致矿物相的改变。该研究结果可为相关菌种在浸矿等工业领域上的应用提供参考依据。     

纳米氧化物颗粒对水基钻井液润滑性能影响的试验研究

通过在水基钻井液中添加纳米氧化物颗粒,来改善其润滑性能。选用了Al2O3、TiO2及SiO2三种纳米氧化物颗粒作为钻井液改性添加剂,利用极压润滑仪及销盘摩擦磨损实验仪研究了添加不同种类和浓度纳米颗粒氧化物对水基钻井液的润滑性能及减摩效果的影响。结果表明,所添加的3种球形纳米颗粒均有润滑减阻减摩的效果,其中SiO2颗粒的钻井液的润滑性能、滤失性能以及减摩效果都是最好的。当纳米SiO2颗粒加量为0.4%时,滤失量最小,润滑系数降低率达到15.6%,摩擦系数降低率为32.0%,磨痕轨迹平滑,减摩效果最为明显。当纳米颗粒浓度超过0.5%时,减摩效果降低,磨盘脱层磨损明显。     

Underwater Navigation Based on Real-Time Simultaneous Sound Speed Profile Correction

Precise sound speed profile (SSP) information is critical when using sonar for underwater terrain navigation. Nevertheless, acquiring SSP information in real-time is difficult, especially in underwater navigation environment. To account for this problem, this paper presents an underwater navigation method that applies real-time SSP correction to the terrain measurements. The method uses a probe to measure the surface sound speed simultaneously. Meanwhile, redundancy of topographic measurement data is exploited to derive the equivalent SSP information. The acquired equivalent SSP is updated continuously with particle filter algorithm. The terrain measurements can be corrected in real-time with the equivalent SSP to improve the performance of underwater terrain navigation. By removing the impact of inaccurate SSP from the terrain measurements, the proposed method can achieve precise and robust underwater navigation result without using an underway-profiling instrument. Simulated results confirm the good performance of the proposed method.     

Effects of Mudstone Particle Content on Shear Strength of a Crushed Sandstone–Mudstone Particle Mixture

The present study focuses on the shear strength, deformation, and particle crushing of sand which is mixed by crushed sandstone and mudstone particles. Two triaxial tests—one for unsaturated specimens and the other for saturated specimens—were performed, along with sieve analysis tests. Results obtained from the triaxial tests indicate that, with the increment of the mudstone particle content by weight, the angle of internal friction decreases, the cohesion increases and then decreases, and both the initial angle of shearing resistance at the atmospheric pressure and decremental angle increase and then decrease. Compared to the unsaturated specimens, the deviator stress or normalized deviator stress of the saturated specimens at the same axial stress may decrease due to the wetting action. Thus, the shear strength of the tested materials may be reduced by the wetting action. Results of sieve analysis tests indicate that the mixing of some mudstone particles into the sandstone particle mixture may reduce the amount of particle crushing, but the wetting action may increase the amount. The amount of the crushed particle may arrive at a minimum of 40% of mudstone particle content by weight.