The influence of coupled physical swelling and chemical reactions on deformable geomaterials

Coupled thermo‐hydro‐mechanical‐chemical modelling has attracted attention in past decades due to many contemporary geotechnical engineering applications (e.g., waste disposal, carbon capture and storage). However, molecular‐scale interactions within geomaterials (e.g., swelling and dissolution/precipitation) have a significant influence on the mechanical behaviour, yet are rarely incorporated into existing Thermal‐Hydro‐Mechanical‐Chemical (THMC) frameworks. This paper presents a new coupled hydro‐mechanical‐chemical constitutive model to bridge molecular‐scale interactions with macro‐physical deformation by combining the swelling and dissolution/precipitation through an extension of the new mixture‐coupling theory. Entropy analysis of the geomaterial system provides dissipation energy, and Helmholtz free energy gives the relationship between solids and fluids. Numerical simulation is used to compare with the selected recognized models, which demonstrates that the swelling and dissolution/precipitation processes may have a significant influence on the mechanical deformation of the geomaterials.     

Effect of drain depth and gap width on potential flow in homogeneous porous soil

In this paper, the solution of a problem in potential theory is presented, in the context of flow through a porous medium into gaps in an otherwise impervious layer. An exact solution for the flux ratio, suitable for numerical computation, is tound by Schwarz-Christoffel conformal transformation. An asymptotic expression derived for the flux ratio is found to be accurate except for quite small relative depth.     

Effect of self-gravitation or finite ion mass on the stability of anisotropic plasma

The problem of stability of an unbounded anisotropic plasma characterized by different temperatures along and transverse to the magnetic field is investigated for an arbitrary direction of propagation. Chewet al (1956) equations modified to incorporate self-gravitation, finite ion Larmor radius (FLR) and Hall current are used. Uniform rotation (of an order of interest in astrophysics) is also considered. Extensive numerical treatment of the dispersion relation leads to several interesting results.Inclusion of FLR, or Hall current or both together introduces pulsational instability for prepagation parallel to the magnetic field. The aperiodic growth rate of the mirror instability is only slightly altered due to FLR or Hall current effects. In the absence of rotation, self-gravitation, FLR and Hall current, the growth rate decreases for the mirror region as the direction of propagation approaches the field direction, while the fire hose instability persists for arbitrary propagation, even in the limiting case (the mirror limit) where the propagation is nearly transverse to the magnetic field. Uniform rotation altogether stabilizes the fire hose instability for a sufficiently strong pressure (or temperature) anisotropy. Pulsational instability is introduced when both ratation and self-gravitation effects are present. Either FLR or Hall current depresses the growth rate of the fire hose instability and introduces pulsational instability for the general case of arbitrary propagation. When FLR and Hall current effects are present simultaneously, the interaction terms due to these effects may be strongly destabilizing in nature for arbitrary propagation.     

Predicting survival of western rock lobsters Panulirus cygnus using discriminant analysis of haemolymph parameters taken immediately following simulated handling treatments

Instances of morbidity amongst rock lobsters (Panulirus cygnus) arriving at factories in Western Australia (WA) have been attributed to stress during post‐harvest handling. This study used discriminant analysis to determine whether physiological correlates of stress following a period of simulated post‐harvest handling had any validity as predictors of future rejection or morbidity of western rock lobsters. Groups of 230 western rock lobsters were stored for 6 h in five environments (submerged/flowing sea water, submerged/recirculating sea water, humid air, flowing seawater spray, and recirculated seawater spray). The experiment was conducted in late spring (ambient sea water 22°C), and repeated again in early autumn (ambient sea water 26°C). After 6 h treatment, each lobster was graded for acceptability for live export, numbered, and its haemolymph was sampled. The samples were analysed for a number of physiological and health status parameters. The lobsters were then stored for a week in tanks in the live lobster factory to record mortality. The mortality of lobsters in the factory was associated with earlier deviations in haemolymph parameters as they emerged from the storage treatments. Discriminant analysis (DA) of the haemolymph assays enabled the fate of 80–90% of the lobsters to be correctly categorised within each experiment. However, functions derived from one experiment were less accurate at predicting mortality when applied to the other experiments. One of the reasons for this was the higher mortality and the more severe patho‐physiological changes observed in lobsters stored in humid air or sprays at the higher temperature. The analysis identified lactate accumulation during emersion and associated physiological and haemocyte‐related effects as a major correlate of mortality. Reducing these deviations, for example by submerged transport, is expected to ensure high levels of survival. None of the indicators tested predicted mortality with total accuracy. The simplest and most accurate means of comparing emersed treatments was to count the mortality afterwards.     

A coupled compressible flow and geomechanics model for dynamic fracture aperture during carbon sequestration in coal

This paper presents the development of a discrete fracture model of fully coupled compressible fluid flow, adsorption and geomechanics to investigate the dynamic behaviour of fractures in coal. The model is applied in the study of geological carbon dioxide sequestration and differs from the dual porosity model developed in our previous work, with fractures now represented explicitly using lower-dimensional interface elements. The model consists of the fracture-matrix fluid transport model, the matrix deformation model and the stress-strain model for fracture deformation. A sequential implicit numerical method based on Galerkin finite element is employed to numerically solve the coupled governing equations, and verification is completed using published solutions as benchmarks. To explore the dynamic behaviour of fractures for understanding the process of carbon sequestration in coal, the model is used to investigate the effects of gas injection pressure and composition, adsorption and matrix permeability on the dynamic behaviour of fractures. The numerical results indicate that injecting nonadsorbing gas causes a monotonic increase in fracture aperture; however, the evolution of fracture aperture due to gas adsorption is complex due to the swelling-induced transition from local swelling to macro swelling. The change of fracture aperture is mainly controlled by the normal stress acting on the fracture surface. The fracture aperture initially increases for smaller matrix permeability and then declines after reaching a maximum value. When the local swelling becomes global, fracture aperture starts to rebound. However, when the matrix permeability is larger, the fracture aperture decreases before recovering to a higher value and remaining constant. Gas mixtures containing more carbon dioxide lead to larger closure of fracture aperture compared with those containing more nitrogen.