Critical evaluation of the customisation process of the UNDRR disaster resilience scorecard for cities to earthquake-induced soil liquefaction disaster events

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering - As cities become larger and more densely populated the impacts of major earthquake events on city communities become more severe. Improving community resilience...     

Evolution of optical properties of vitrinite, sporinite and semifusinite in response to heating under inert conditions

The objective of the study was to characterize changes of reflectance, reflectance anisotropy and reflectance indicating surface (RIS) shape of vitrinite, sporinite and semifusinite subjected to thermal treatment under inert conditions. Examination was performed on vitrinite, liptinite and inertinite concentrates prepared from channel samples of steam coal (R_r = 0.70%) and coking coal (R_r = 1.25%), collected from seam 405 of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. The concentrates were heated at temperatures of 400–1200 °C for 1 h time in an argon atmosphere.All components examined in this study: vitrinite, sporinite and semifusinite as well as matrix of vitrinite and liptinite cokes, despite of rank of their parent coal, show, in general, the most important changes of reflectance value and optical anisotropy when heated at 500 °C, 800 °C (with the exception of bireflectance value of sporinite) and 1200 °C.After heating the steam coal at 1200 °C, the vitrinite and the semifusinite reveal similar reflectances, whereas the latter a slightly stronger anisotropy. Sporinite and matrix of liptinite coke have lower reflectances but anisotropy (R_bi and R_am values) similar to those observed for vitrinite and semifusinite. However, at 1000 °C sporinite and matrix of liptinite coke have the highest reflectivity of the studied components. The RIS at 1200 °C is the same for all components.The optical properties of the three macerals in the coking coal become similar after heating at 1000 °C. Coke obtained at 1200 °C did not contain distinguishable vitrinite grains. At 1200 °C semifusinite and vitrinite coke matrix have highest R_r values among the examined components. Maximum reflectance (R_max) reach similar values for vitrinite and sporinite, slightly lower for semifusinite. Matrix of liptinite coke and matrix of vitrinite coke have considerably stronger anisotropy (R_bi and R_am values) than other components. RIS at 1200 °C is also similar for all components.     

Changes of semifusinite and fusinite surface roughness during heat treatment determined by atomic force microscopy

This study describes changes of surface roughness of semifusinite and fusinite as an indicator of structural alteration resulting from heat treatment at 400–1200 °C. Surface roughness has been investigated by atomic force microscopy of inertinite concentrates from coking coals (vitrinite reflectance R_r = 1.07%–1.41%) from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin of Poland (Namurian C — Westphalian A). Unheated fusinite has a higher surface roughness than semifusinite from the same coal. The average surface roughness of semifusinite decreases with the Swelling Index of the parent coal. Heating increases the surface roughness of semifusinite and fusinite. Increase in the average surface roughness is stronger for semifusinite than fusinite and correlates to increasing reflectance of these macerals. The surface roughness of semifusinite correlates to the relative mass loss of the inertinite concentrates during heating. After heating to 1200 °C fusinite has a lower average surface roughness than semifusinite from the same coal. Consequently, average surface roughness can be used as a measure of structural alteration of inertinite group macerals during heat treatment.     

Improving the resilience of existing built assets to earthquake induced liquefaction disaster events

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering - LIQUEFACT was a EU H2020 funded project to investigate earthquake induced liquefaction potential across Europe and develop a series of tools to understand...     

Reactivity of semifusinite and fusinite in the view of micro-Raman spectroscopy examination

The study was performed on inertinite concentrates prepared from 19 samples of bituminous, mostly coking, coal (R_r = 0.87–1.42%) from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin of Poland. In all examined samples, total semifusinite differs from fusinite, in terms of mean values, by higher frequencies of the D1 and D4 band position and lower frequency of the D3 band position, higher G band FWHM, the A_D3/A_ALL and A_D4/A_ALL ratios (where A_ALL means the surface of all the Raman bands), and lower D1 band FWHM, the I_D1/I_G and A_D1/A_ALL ratios. Similar differences exist between reactive and non-reactive semifusinites. The diameter of coherent domains (L_a) increases in the following sequence: reactive semifusinite < non-reactive semifusinite < fusinite. The A_{D3 + D4}/A_ALL ratio reflects inertinite reactivity in bituminous coals, and decreases with the increase of mean reflectance (R_r) of semifusinite and fusinite. Using the A_{D3 + D4}/A_ALL, I_D1/I_G and A_D1/A_ALL ratios or the D3 band position it is possible to interpret thresholds dividing, in terms of mean values, total semifusinite and fusinite, coming from different coals. The results of the study suggest that the term “semifusinite” should only comprise reactive and semi-reactive components. Non-reactive semifusinite should be considered fusinite. Semifusinite from bituminous coals (of R_r ≈ 0.9–1.4%), defined in the proposed way, would be characterized by the A_{D3 + D4}/A_ALL ratio ≥ 0.35, or the I_D1/I_G ratio ≤ 1.03.