2025-04-09 2007, Volume 14 Issue 3

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  • Yu-de Xiao , Min Li , Jue Zhong , Wen-xian Li , Zheng-qing Ma

    Rapidly solidified Al87Ni7Cu3Nd3 amorphous alloy was prepared by using melt spinning. Its calorimetric behavior was characterized by using differential scanning calorimeter in a continuous or isothermal heating mode. phase transformation was investigated, with a special interest in primary crystallization, by using an in-situ examination of X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The results show that, the whole devitrification of rapidly solidified Al87Ni7Cu3Nd3 amorphous alloy involves two main processes of primary crystallization and secondary crystallization that consist mainly of two reactions. For primary crystallization, the apparent activation energies, EIso and EKis and growth activation energies Eg are about 153, 166 and 288 kJ/mol, respectively. The interdiffusion of Al atoms is a rate-controlled step of formation of the α(Al) particles, but slow diffusion of Ni and Nd atoms plays a significant role in retarding growth of the α(Al) particles. For secondary crystallization, EIso, EKis and Eg of the first reaction are about 291, 208 and 290 kJ/mol, and those of the second reaction are about 367, 269 and 372 kJ/mol. The two reactions of secondary crystallization are controlled mainly in an interface-controlled three-dimensional mode, depending mainly on slow diffusion of Ni and Nd atoms.

  • Wei Li , Hua Cheng

    Cu-Cr-O nanocomposites that can be used as additives for the catalytic combustion of AP(ammonium perchlorate)-based solid-state propellants were synthesized via a citric acid(CA) complexing approach. Techniques of TG-DTA, XRD as well as TEM were employed to characterize the thermal decomposition procedure, crystal phase, micro-structural morphologies and grain size of the as-synthesized materials respectively. The results show that well-crystallized Cu-Cr-O nanocomposites can be produced after the CA-Cu-Cr precursors are calcined at 500°C for 3 h. Phase composition of the as-obtained Cu-Cr-O nanocomposites depends on the molar ratio of Cu to Cr in the starting reactants. Addition of the as-synthesized Cu-Cr-O nanocomposites as catalysts enhances the burning rate as well as lowers the pressure exponent of the AP-based solid-state propellants considerably. Noticeably, catalyst with a Cu/Cr molar ratio of 0.7 exhibits promising catalytic activity with high burning rate and low pressure exponent at all pressures, due to the effective phase interaction between the spinel CuCr2O4 and delafossite CuCrO2 contained in the as-synthesized Cu-Cr-O nanocomposites.

  • Zhi-hua Li , Zi-qiao Zheng , Dong-yan Ren , Yao-peng Huang

    Diglycidyl 4,5-epoxy tetrahydro phthalate/methyl tetrahydrophthalic anhydride (TDE-85/MeTHPA) epoxy resin modified by polyurethane (PU) was prepared with 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BDO), trimethylol propane (TMP) and polyurethane prepolymer synthesized by polypropylene glycol and toluene diisocynate. Chemical reaction and curing mechanism of this system were discussed by incorporating the results of infra spectrum analysis. The results indicate that the epoxy polymeric network I is obtained by the curing reaction between TDE-85 and MeTHPA, while the PU polymeric network II is obtained by the chain-extended and crosslinking reaction between 1,4-BDO, TMP and polyurethane prepolymer(PUP). The graft chemical bonds are formed between polymer networks I and II that therefore increase the degree of blend and compatibility between epoxy polymer and PU.

  • Zhi-hua Zhou , Jian-ming Ruan , Jian-peng Zou , Zhong-cheng Zhou , Xiong-jun Shen

    Porous sol-gel glass of CaO-SiO2-P2O5 system with macropores larger than 100 μm was prepared by adding stearic acid as pore former when the sintering was carried out at 700 °C for 3 h. The sol-gel porous glass shows an amorphous structure. The diameter of the pore created by pore former varies from 100 to 300 μm, and macroporous glass has a narrow and small pore size distribution in mesoporous scale. The porosity and pore size of macroporous bioactive glass can be controlled.

  • Chuang-xian Xiong , Xin-ming Zhang , Yun-lai Deng , Yang Xiao , Zhen-zhen Deng , Bu-xiang Chen

    The influence of cryogenic treatment on the mechanical properties of the extruded Mg-Gd-Y-Zr(Mn) alloys was investigated by the tensile tests, scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results show that the mechanical properties of both alloys are improved greatly during the in situ tensile test by soaking the samples in liquid nitrogen for 10 min. The ultimate tensile strength, yield tensile strength and elongation of cryogenic treated magnesium alloy added with zirconium or manganese are largely elevated. And remarkable microstructure change is observed in both alloys by cryogenic treatment. There are a large number of twins, rod-like, tree-like and chrysanthemum-like precipitated phases in the microstructures and the fracture surfaces exhibit the characteristics of ductile rupture when they are observed at room temperature.

  • Mei-xun Peng , Xiang-qian Shen

    The microstructures and growth process characteristics of spherical Ni(OH)2 particles synthesized by the aqueous precipitation-crystallization method were investigated by SEM, TEM and XRD, and their growth mechanism was discussed. With the reaction beginning and continuing, amorphous Ni(OH)2 nano-crystallites grow up to spherical micron-particles with radially arranged crystallites. The nucleation, crystallization and re-crystallization led by Ostwald ripening simultaneously take place through the whole growth processes. With the course from reversible aggregation to irreversible agglomeration, the Ni(OH)2 particles tend to grow according to the template growth model: the growth on the crystallite templates stretching in the radius directions is free and quick, while the growth rate for crystallites in other directions is confined due to lower monomers concentration and tends to dissolve. So it is only the radially arranged crystallites that predominate in the particle and lead to characteristic microstructures.

  • Chu-ming Liu , Zi-juan Liu , Xiu-rong Zhu , Bi-wen Hu , Rong Wang , Meng-jun Wang

    Strain amplitude dependence of the logarithmic decrement was measured and studied on an AZ61 magnesium alloy at room temperature. Measurements were carried out before and after isochronal thermal treatment step by step with increasing temperature. For all specimens, the strain dependence of the logarithmic decrement exhibits two regions. At lower strains the logarithmic decrement is strain independent and in the higher strain region it depends strongly on strain amplitude. The strain-independent logarithmic decrement is mainly composed of thermoelastic damping and dislocation damping, which can be explained by Granato-Lücke theory. In addition, the strain-independent logarithmic decrement for the specimens annealed at higher temperatures is a little lower than that for as-cast specimen, and it increases with increasing temperature of heat treatment. Microstructure changes due to heat treatment are responsible for changes of the logarithmic decrement.

  • Chun-yan Yan , Wu-shen Li , Xin-jie Di , Zhen-kui Xue , Shi-wu Bai , Fang-ming Liu

    Influences of inspecting time-interval and location on varying behavior of metal magnetic memory (MMM) signals of defects were studied. Different areas in two precracked weldments were inspected at different time-intervals by type TSC-1M-4 stress-concentration magnetic inspector to obtain MMM signals. Mechanisms of MMM signals varying behavior with inspecting time and space were analyzed and discussed respectively. It is found that MMM signals don’t change with inspecting time-interval, since stress field and magnetic leakage field maintain unchanged at any time after welding. On the other hand, MMM signals differ greatly for different inspecting locations, because stress field and magnetic leakage field are unevenly distributed in defective ferromagnetic materials.

  • Yu Yang , Meng-xue Diao , Wu-yang Shi , Li Li , Qin-yun Dai , Guan-zhou Qiu

    A bacterial strain that was capable of degrading organic sulfur (dibenzothiophene) was isolated by enrichment techniques from the petroleum-contaminated soil collected from Zhongyuan Oil Field. The strain is named ZYX and is gram-positive. This strain undergoes bacilus-coccus morphological change, and forms yellow-pigment glossy circular colonies with 1.5 mm in diameter on average after 2 d incubation on Luria-Bertani(LB) plates. The full-length of 16S rDNA sequence of strain ZYX was determined and analyzed. Strain ZYX is found most relative with the genus of Arthrobacter. The similarity values between ZYX and Arthrobacter sp. P2 is 99.53%. The main morphological, biochemical and physiological features of strain ZYX accord with those of Arthrobacter. It is found that the optimal initial pH for growth is about 7.0, and the optimal concentration of dibenzothiophene(DBT) for growth is 0.10 g/L. Additionally, the results show that the best carbon source and nitrogen source are glycerol and glutamine, respectively.

  • Jin Xiao , Ye Wan , Hua Deng , Jie Li , Ye-xiang Liu

    Ammonium aluminum carbonate hydroxide (AACH) precursor was synthesized by the precipitation reaction of aluminum sulfate and ammonium carbonate. Then the precursor was dealt with five drying methods including ordinary drying, alcohol exchange, vacuum freeze-drying, glycol distillation, n-butanol azeotropic distillation respectively and calcined at 1 200 °C for 2 h to get α-Al2O3. The effects of drying methods on preparation of nanometer α-Al2O3 were discussed, and the optimal drying method was confirmed. The structural properties of powders were characterized by XRD, SEM and BET measurements. The results show that vacuum freeze-drying, glycol distillation and n-butanol azeotropic distillation can prevent the powders from aggregating, and among them the n-butanol azeotropic distillation is the best method. The nanometer α-Al2O3 powder with non-aggregation can be manufactured using n-butanol azeotropic distillation and the average particle size is about 40 nm.

  • Yun-yan Wang , Li-yuan Chai

    The effect of hydrogen inhibitor on partial current densities of Zn, Fe and differential capacitance of electrode/electrolyte interface, and adsorbing type of hydrogen inhibitor were studied by the methods of electrochemistry. The mechanism of current efficiency improvement were explained from the point of valence electron theory. The results indicate that the partial current density of Fe increases in addition of hydrogen inhibitor, which reaches the maximum of 0.14 A/dm2 when current density is 0.2 A/dm2. Differential capacitance of electrode/electrolyte interface decreases obviously from 20.3 μF/cm2 to 7 μF/cm2 rapidly with the concentration varying from 0 to 20 mL/L, because hydrogen inhibitor chemically adsorbs on active points of Fe electrode surface selectively. Element S in hydrogen inhibitor with negative electricity and strong capacity of offering electron shares isolated electrons with Fe. The adsorption of H atom is inhibited when adsorbing on active points of Fe electrode surface firstly, and then current efficiency of Zn-Fe alloy electroplating is improved accordingly.

  • Sheng-kui Zhong , Zhou-lan Yin , Zhi-xing Wang , Qi-yuan Chen

    A potential 4.2 V cathode material LiVPO4F for lithium batteries was prepared by two-step reaction method based on a carbon-thermal reduction (CTR) process. Firstly, V2O5, NH4H2PO4 and acetylene black are reacted under an Ar atmosphere to yield VPO4. The transition-metal reduction is facilitated by the CTR based on C→CO transition. These CTR conditions favor stabilization of the vanadium as V3+ as well as leaving residual carbon, which is useful in the subsequent electrode processing. Secondly, VPO4 reacts with LiF to yield LiVPO4F product. The property of the LiVPO4F was investigated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical measurement. XRD studies show that LiVPO4F synthesized has triclinic structure(space group p

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    ), isostructural with the naturally occurring mineral tavorite, LiFePO4·OH. SEM image exhibits that the particle size is about 2 μm together with homogenous distribution. Electrochemical test shows that the initial discharge capacity of LiVPO4F powder is 119 mA·h/g at the rate of 0.2C with an average discharge voltage of 4.2V (vs Li/Li+), and the capacity retains 89 mA·h/g after 30 cycles.

  • Ji-yong Deng , Yu Liu , Zheng-yong Hu , Mei-xiang Zhu , Wei-guo Zhu

    A new cyclometalated platinum complex containing 2, 5-bis(naphthalene-1-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole ligand was synthesized and characterized. The UV-Vis absorptions and photoluminescent properties of the ligand and its platinum complex were investigated. A characteristic metal-ligand charge transfer absorption peak at 439 nm in the UV spectrum and a strong emission peak at 625 nm in the photoluminescence spectrum were observed for this complex in dichloromethane. Cyclic voltammtry (CV) analysis shows that the EHOMO (energy level of the highest occupied molecular orbital) and EHOMO (energy level of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) of the platinum complex are about −5.69 and −3.25 eV, respectively, indicating that the oxadiazole-based platinum complex has a potential application in electrophosphorescent devices used as a red-emitting material.

  • Chun-yue Pan , Qing Feng , Li-jun Wang , Qian Zhang , Meng Chao

    PEO-LiClO4-TiO2 composite polymer electrolyte films were prepared. TiO2 was formed directly in matrix by hydrolysis and condensation reaction of tetrabutyl titanate. The crystallinity, morphology and ionic conductivity of composite polymer electrolyte films were examined by differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, atom force microscopy and alternating current impedance spectroscopy, respectively. The glass transition temperature and the crystallinity of composite polymer electrolytes are decreased compared with those of PEO-LiClO4 polymer electrolyte film. The results show that TiO2 particles are uniformly dispersed in PEO-LiClO4-5%TiO2 composite polymer electrolyte film. The maximal conductivity of 5.5×10−5 S/cm at 20 °C of PEO-LiClO4-TiO2 film is obtained at 5% mass fraction of TiO2.

  • Dan Zhou , Jia-jia Liu , Ke-wen Tang , Ke-long Huang

    Distribution behavior of ketoprofen enantiomers was examined in methanol aqueous and organic solvent mixture containing tartaric esters. The influence of length of alkyl chain of tartaric esters, concentration of L-tartaric esters and methanol aqueous, kind of organic solvent on partition ratio and separation factors was investigated. The results show that L-tartaric and D-tartaric esters have different chiral recognition abilities. S-ketoprofen is easily extracted by L-tartaric esters, and R-ketoprofen is easily extracted by D-tartaric esters. L-tartaric esters form more stable diastereomeric complexes with S-enantiomer than that with R-enantiomer. This distribution behavior is consistent with chiral recognition mechanism. With the increase of the concentration of tartaric ester from 0 to 0.3 mol/L, partition coefficient K and separation factor α increase. Also, the kind of organic solvent and the concentration of the methanol aqueous have significant influence on K and α.

  • Zhi-nan Xiang , Yu Zhan , Zheng-xiang Ning

    A system of polar ordered resins was established for purification of chlorogenic acid in Flos Lonicerae. It was composed of three reversed phase resins, AB-8, DM-130 and NKA-9, representative for their gradually increased polarity and selectivity. A method of RP-HPLC was used for determination of chlorogenic acid. And the performance of adsorption and desorption for chlorogenic acid with the system of polar ordered resins was studied. Furthermore, the effects of concentration, pH and flow rate of the adsorbate on adsorption ability were researched. It is indicated that the optimum parameters for chlorogenic acid are as follows: pH 3.5 with a flow rate of 2.5 BV/h, the concentration of extract solution at 0.50, 0.40, 0.30 g/L respectively for the adsorptive operation twice, and 6.93, 8.66, 10.39 mol/L ethanol used as gradient eluants. The purity of resulted product of chlorogenic acid arrives 70.20% with yield of 89.79%. With simple procedures, low costs and high purity product, the method of system of polar ordered resins followed by sequential reversed phase separations can be used to refine the chlorogenic acid in the extraction of Flos Lonicerae.

  • Da-heng Mao , Yun-fang Zhang , Zhao-hui Nie , Qiao-hong Liu , Jue Zhong

    The experiment of ultrasonic treatment of roll casting aluminum strip on plane twin-roll cast-roller with double-heads ultrasonic tools was carried out, and the metallographic structure of the roll casting aluminum strip treated by ultrasonic was studied. The results show that ultrasonic treatment can refine the grain of the roll casting aluminum strips and make the structure of the strips more homogeneous. The effect is the best when the power of ultrasonic is 300 W and the incident angle of the guide rod is 45°. The mechanism of acoustic cavitations and acoustic flow on grain refinement was also discussed. The heat effect of intensity ultrasonic was studied. The present problems during ultrasonic roll casting process, such as the imperfect cooling system, the inaccurate calculation of ultrasonic energy, and the shape and position of the guide rod to be improved were pointed out.

  • Ci-jun Shuai , Ji-an Duan , Jue Zhong

    To find out the influence of technological parameters on optical performance of fused optical fiber device, the fiber coupler was served as subject investigated by using the fused biconical taper machining as experimental setup. Fused fiber coupler’s optical performances such as insertion loss, excess loss, directivity and uniformity were tested with the optical test system that was constituted of tunable laser and optical spectrum analyzer. Especially the relationship between optical performance and drawing speed was investigated. The experimental results show that the optical performance is closely related to process conditions. At fused temperature of 1 200 °C, there exists a drawing speed of 150 μm/s, which makes the device’s performance optimum. Out of this speed region, the optical performance drops quickly. At drawing speed of 200 μm/s, the excess loss is relatively small when the fused temperature is above 1 200 °C. So the technological parameters have close relationship with optical performance of the coupler, and the good performance coupler can’t get until the drawing speed and fused temperature match accurately.

  • Shi-cheng Hu , Wei-ce Ma , Lei Du , Xiao-qian Li , Jue Zhong

    The effects of surface roughness, strain rate, friction coefficient and pressure on real contact area were analyzed based on the research of Stupkiewicz. The real contact area model taking account of the effect of friction and deformation of material was obtained. The model of contact conductance at the rolling interface was obtained by integrating the specific feature of heat transfer through the interface of continuous roll-casting. The results indicate that the real contact area increases obviously when the material is under yield, and the real contact area varies inversely with surface roughness, whereas it varies exponentially with friction coefficient, strain rate and pressure, and the power factor depends on strain rate.

  • Wei-ping Wang , Jian-xin Wang

    A new architecture for scalable anonymous communication system(SACS) was proposed. The users were divided into several subgroups managed by different sub-blenders, and all sub-blenders were managed by the main-blender using two layers management scheme. The identity information of members are distributed on different sub-blenders, which makes each member keep much less information and network overload greatly reduce. The anonymity and the overhead of the new scheme were analyzed and compared with that of Crowds, which shows the cost of storage and network overhead for the new scheme largely decreases while the anonymity is little degraded. The experiment results also show that the new system architecture is well scalable. The ratio of management cost of SACS to that of Crowds is about 1:25 while the value of P(IsvH1+) only increases by 0.001–0.020, which shows that SACS keeps almost the same anonymity with Crowds.

  • Guo-sheng Huang , Zhi-gang Chen , Ming Zhao , Lu-lu Wang , Ying Huo , An-feng Liu

    A new mobile multicast scheme called mobility prediction based mobile multicast(MPBMM) was proposed. In MPBMM, when a mobile node (MN) roams among subnets during a multicast session, MN predicts the next subnet, to which MN will attach, by the information of its position and mobility speed, consequently speeds up the handoff procedure. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can minimize the loss of multicast packets, reduce the delay of subnet handoff, decrease the frequency of multicast tree reconfiguration, and optimize the delivery path of multicast packets. When MN moves among subnets at different speeds (from 5 to 25 m/s), the maximum loss ratio of multicast packets is less than0.2%, the maximum inter-arrival time of multicast packets is 117 ms, so the proposed scheme can meet the QoS requirements of real-time services. In addition, MPBMM can support the mobility of multicast source.

  • Bing-hai Zhou , Qing-zhi Pan , Shi-jin Wang , Bin Wu

    To describe a semiconductor wafer fabrication flow availably, a new modeling method of extended hybrid Petri nets (EHPNs) was proposed. To model the discrete part and continuous part of a complex photolithography process, hybrid Petri nets (HPNs) were introduced. To cope with the complexity of a photolithography process, object-oriented methods such as encapsulation and classifications were integrated with HPN models. EHPN definitions were presented on the basis of HPN models and object-oriented methods. Object-oriented hybrid Petri subnet models were developed for each typical physical object and an EHPN modeling procedure steps were structured. To demonstrate the feasibility and validity of the proposed modeling method, a real wafer photolithography case was used to illustrate the modeling procedure. The modeling results indicate that the EHPNs can deal with the dynamic modeling of a complex photolithography process effectively.

  • Wen-wei Li , Jun-long Tang , Da-fang Zhang , Gao-gang Xie

    By analyzing the effect of cross traffic (CT) enforced on packet delay, an improved path capacity measurement method, pcapminp algorithm, was proposed. With this method, path capacity was measured by filtering probe samples based on measured minimum packet-pair delay. The measurability of minimum packet-pair delay was also analyzed by simulation. The results show that, when comparing with pathrate, if the CT load is light, both pcapminp and pathrate have similar accuracy; but in the case of heavy CT load, pcapminp is more accurate than Pathrate. When CT load reaches 90%, pcapminp algorithm has only 5% measurement error, which is 10% lower than that of pathrate algorithm. At any CT load levels, the probe cost of pcapminp algorithm is two magnitudes smaller than that of pathrate, and the measurement duration is one magnitude shorter than that of pathrate algorithm.

  • Xi-bing Li , Zi-long Zhou , Yang-sheng Zhao

    Split Hopkinson pressure bar(SHPB) apparatus, usually used for testing behavior of material in median and high strain-rate, is now widely used in the study of rock dynamic constitutive relation, damage evolvement mechanism and energy consumption. However, the possible reasons of sampling disturbance, machining error and so on often lead to the scattering of test results, and bring ultimate difficulty for forming general test conclusion. Based on the stochastic finite element method, the uncertain parameters of specimen density ρs, specimen radius Rs, specimen elastic modulus Es and specimen length Ls in the data processing of SHPB test were considered, and the correlation between the parameters and the test results was analyzed. The results show that the specimen radius Rs has direct correlation with the test result, improving the accuracy in preparing and measuring of specimen is an effective way to improve the accuracy of test and minish the scattering of results for SHPB test.

  • Wei-hua Wang , Xi-bing Li , Yi-ping Zhang , Yu-jun Zuo

    The normal compression tests on intact samples and artificial joints with different saw-tooth shape under cyclic loading and half-sine waves of different frequencies were performed by using Instron 1342 servo-controlled material testing machine. The specimens were made artificially with mortar. The loading frequency ranged from 0.005 Hz to 0.1 Hz. The experimental results show that joint closure curves are non-linear and concave up. The stress-deformation curves under cyclic loading exhibit hysteresis and permanent set that diminish rapidly and keep constant finally on successive cycles. Normal displacement successively decreases from the joint J1 to J2, to J3 under the same normal loads regardless of frequency. Considering the loading frequency effect, normal displacement of joint J1 decreases with increasing the loading frequency except that the loading frequency is 0.05 Hz. Normal displacement of joint J2 increases with increasing the loading frequency. Normal displacement of joint J3 increases with increasing the loading frequency when the frequency ranges from 0.005 Hz to 0.05 Hz. Its normal displacement, however, becomes least when the loading frequency is 0.1 Hz.

  • Jian Deng , Li Bian

    In Kaiyang Phosphorus Mine, serious environmental and safety problems are caused by large scale mining activities in the past 40 years. These problems include mining subsidence, low recovery ratio, too much dead ore in pillars, and pollution of phosphorus gypsum. Mining subsidence falls into four categories: curved ground and mesa, ground cracks and collapse hole, spalling and eboulement, slope slide and creeping. Measures to treat the mining subsidence were put forward: finding out and managing abandoned stopes, optimizing mining method (cut and fill mining method), selecting proper backfilling materials (phosphogypsum mixtures), avoiding disorder mining operation, and treating highway slopes. These investigations and engineering treatment methods are believed to be able to contribute to the safety extraction of ore and sustainable development in Kaiyang Phosphorus Mine.

  • Xue-bin Wang

    Fast Lagrangian analysis of continua(FLAC) was used to study the influence of pore pressure on the mechanical behavior of rock specimen in plane strain direct shear, the distribution of yielded elements, the distribution of displacement and velocity across shear band as well as the snap-back (elastic rebound) instability. The effective stress law was used to represent the weakening of rock containing pore fluid under pressure. Numerical results show that rock specimen becomes soft (lower strength and hardening modulus) as pore pressure increases, leading to higher displacement skip across shear band. Higher pore pressure results in larger area of plastic zone, higher concentration of shear strain, more apparent precursor to snap-back (unstable failure) and slower snap-back. For higher pore pressure, the formation of shear band-elastic body system and the snap-back are earlier; the distance of snap-back decreases; the capacity of snap-back decreases, leading to lower elastic strain energy liberated beyond the instability and lower earthquake or rockburst magnitude. In the process of snap-back, the velocity skip across shear band is lower for rock specimen at higher pore pressure, showing the slower velocity of snap-back.

  • Hong-bin Xiao , Chun-shun Zhang , Jie He , Zhen-hui Fan

    Several groups of direct shear tests of Nanning expansive soil samples were carried out by improved direct shear apparatus. The results of the characteristics of the ultimate shear stress and residual shear stress at the interface of expansive soil-structure are presented as follows: linear relation can approximately reflect changes between the both shear stress and the three factors: vertical load, water content and dry density, just different degrees from each other; increasing the vertical load from 25 kPa to 100 kPa (up by 300%) can cause the average increase of ultimate shear stress from 58% (for samples with 1.61 g/cm3) to 80% (for samples with 1.76 g/cm3), and an close average increase of 180% for the residual shear stress; increasing the water content from 14.1% to 20.8% (up by 47.5%) can cause the average decrease of the ultimate shear stress from 40% (for samples with 25 kPa) to 80% (for samples with 100 kPa), and the average decrease from 25% (for samples with 25 kPa) to 30% (for samples with 100 kPa) for the residual shear stress; increasing the dry density from 1.61 g/cm3 to 1.76 g/cm3 (up by 9.3%) can cause the average increase of ultimate shear stress from 92% (for samples with 25 kPa) to 138% (for samples with 100 kPa), and an average increase of 4% for the residual shear stress. Sensitive analysis was further made to explain reasons causing the differences of the both shear stress induced by the three factors.

  • Xue-jun He , Chao-yang Zhou , Yi-hui Li , Ling Xu

    Based on the theory of concrete structure, a new expression was derived for lagged strain of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates in reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with FRP. The influence of different preloaded states and nonlinear stress-strain relationship of compressed concrete were both taken into account in this approach. Then a simplified expression was given by ignoring tensile resistance of concrete. Comparison of analytical predictions with experimental results indicates satisfactory accuracy of the procedures. The errors are less than 8% and 10% respectively when the tensile resistance of concrete is or not considered. While the maximum error of existing procedures is up to 60%.

  • Yi-mei Tian , G. Y. Fu , Hai-yan Chi , Ye Liu

    The optimal operation of water distribution networks under local pipe failures, such as water main breaks, was proposed. Based on a hydraulic analysis and a simulation of water distribution networks, a macroscopic model for a network under a local pipe failure was established by the statistical regression. After the operation objectives under a local pipe failure were determined, the optimal operation model was developed and solved by the genetic algorithm. The program was developed and examined by a city distribution network. The optimal operation alternative shows that the electricity cost is saved approximately 11%, the income of the water corporation is increased approximately 5%, and the pressure in the water distribution network is distributed evenly to ensure the network safe operation. Therefore, the proposed method for optimal operation under local pipe failure is feasible and cost-effective.

  • Qiong Wu , Wen-ying Liu , Yi-han Yang

    Deficiencies of applying the traditional least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) to time series online prediction were specified. According to the kernel function matrix’s property and using the recursive calculation of block matrix, a new time series online prediction algorithm based on improved LS-SVM was proposed. The historical training results were fully utilized and the computing speed of LS-SVM was enhanced. Then, the improved algorithm was applied to time series online prediction. Based on the operational data provided by the Northwest Power Grid of China, the method was used in the transient stability prediction of electric power system. The results show that, compared with the calculation time of the traditional LS-SVM(75-1 600 ms), that of the proposed method in different time windows is 40–60 ms, and the prediction accuracy(normalized root mean squared error) of the proposed method is above 0.8. So the improved method is better than the traditional LS-SVM and more suitable for time series online prediction.