The oxidation behaviors of Ni-16Cr-xAl (x=4.5%, 9.0%, mass fraction) superalloy foams in air at 1 000 °C were investigated. The effects of Al content on the resistance to high temperature oxidation were examined. The oxidation mechanisms of the foams were discussed. The results show that the resistance to the oxidation of the Ni-16Cr-xAl based alloy at 1 000 °C increases with the content of Al increasing from 4.5% to 9.0%. Complex oxide products are formed on the surface of the superalloy foams after the oxidation. Cr₂O₃ and Al₂O₃ are the predominant oxides for the scales of the foams with 4.5% Al and 9% Al, respectively. Excellent high temperature oxidation resistance and superior pore conformation stability for the Ni-16Cr-xAl based superalloy foam with 9% Al can be mainly attributed to the formation of relatively continuous and protective Al₂O₃ oxides on the surface of the foam.

The influence of chemical composition and cold deformation on aging precipitation behavior of 18Cr-16Mn-2Mo-1.1N (HNS-A), 18Cr-16Mn-1.3N (HNS-B), 18Cr-18Mn-2Mo-0.96N (HNS-C) and 18Cr-18Mn-2Mo-0.77N (HNS-D) high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels was investigated. The results show that the “nose” temperatures and incubation periods of the initial time-temperature-precipitation (TTP) curves of aged HNSs are found to be 850 °C, 60 s; 850 °C, 45 s; 850 °C, 60 s and 900 °C, 90 s, respectively. Based on the analysis of SAD patterns, the coarse cellular Cr₂N precipitate which presents a lamellar structure has a hexagonal structure of a=0.478 nm and c=0.444 nm. The χ phase corresponding to a composition of Fe₃₆Cr₁₂Mo₁₀, is determined to be a body-centered cubic structure of a=0.892 nm. The precipitating sensitivity presents no more difference with the nitrogen content increasing from 0.77% to 0.96%, but exhibits so obviously that the cellular precipitates nearly overspread the whole field. The addition of Mo element can restrain the TTP curves moving left and down, which means decreasing the sensitivity of aging precipitation. With increasing the cold deformation, the sensitivity of precipitation increases obviously.

The structural and electrical properties of lead free Sr_1−xLa_x(Ti_0.5Fe_0.5)O₃ (SLTFO) prepared by standard solid state reaction technique were studied. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of a single-phase cubic perovskite structure. The compositional dependence of lattice constant, density and microstructural studies show that they vary significantly with La³⁺ content. When measured at 10 kHz, all the compositions of SLTFO at room temperature exhibit a high permittivity (about 10⁴) and low dielectric loss (about 10⁻³). SLTFO also display minimum dielectric loss within the lower and higher limits of frequency, indicating that the samples are of good quality. It is concluded from the calculated ac conductivity that the conduction is due to mixed polarons hopping. The complex impedance plot exhibits a tendency of forming a single semicircular arc for all compositions, which implies a dominance of grain boundary resistance on the impedance. Impedance parameters were determined by fitting the experimental data with Cole-Cole empirical formula. The results of the present experiment indicate that the lead free SLTFO materials with higher permittivity and lower dielectric loss have possible practical applications.

The activity of components of Sn-Zn binary alloy system was predicted based on the molecular interaction volume model (MIVM). The calculated values are in good agreement with available experimental data of activities, which indicates that this model is of stability and reliability because the MIVM has a good physical basis. The vapor-liquid phase equilibrium of Sn-Zn alloy system in vacuum distillation was calculated as a function of the activity coefficient. The results show that the content of Sn in vapor phase is 4.2×10⁻⁷ (mass fraction) while in liquid phase it is 90% (mass fraction) at 1 073 K, and the content of Sn in vapor phase increases with increasing the melt temperature and content of Sn in liquid phase. Vacuum distillation experiments were carried out on Sn-Zn alloy for the proper interpretation of the results of the MIVM in the temperature range of 973–1 273 K under pressures of 15–200 Pa. The experimental results show that the content of Sn in vapor phase is 5×10⁻⁶ (mass fraction) while in liquid phase it is 90% (mass fraction) under the operational condition of 1 073 K, 100 min and 15 Pa. The experimental results are in good agreement with the predicted values of the MIVM for Zn-Sn binary alloy system.

Three new ferrocene (Fc) based receptors with pyridyl moiety, named methyl-6-ferrocenoylacetyl-2-pyridine carboxylate (FcL₁), 1,1′-(2,6-bispyridyl)bis-3-ferrocenyl-1,3-propanedione (FcL₂), ferrocenecarboxaldehyde-2,6-dipicolinoyhydrazone (FcL₃) were synthesized, and further characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectra, UV-Vis spectra, ¹H and ¹³C NMR. The electrochemical properties and ion sensing properties of FcL₁, FcL₂ and FcL₃ were also investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry in ethanol solution with 0.1 mol/L LiClO₄ as the supporting electrolyte. The E⁰ values of the receptors increase with the scanning rate increasing at high scanning rate, and I_pa/I_pc approaches unity, indicating that the redox reaction is basically reversible. Their recognition performances to different metal cations such as Cd(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Hg(II), Mn(II), Ni(II), Zn(II) show that the FcL₁ is responsive to Cu(II) with the maximum electrochemical shift of the FcL₁ for Cu(II) of about 72.0 mV, whereas the FcL₂ is responsive to Cu(II) and Mn(II) with shift of 102 mV and 109 mV, respectively, and the FcL₃ is responsive to Hg(II) and Mn(II) with the shift of 53.0 mV and 54.0 mV, respectively. All the results show that these receptors may have potential applications in electrochemical sensor technology, material science, and molecular devices.

An analytical method, using sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS) for rapid simultaneous determination of Be, Na, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Sn, Sb, Pb and Bi in electrolytic manganese metal, was described. At the beginning, the samples were decomposed by HNO₃ and H₂SO₄, and then analyzed by SF-ICP-MS. Most of the spectral interferences could be avoided by measuring in different mass resolution modes. The matrix effects due to the excess of sulfuric acid and Mn were evaluated. Correction of matrix effects was conducted by using the internal standard elements. The optimum condition for the determination was investigated and discussed. The detection limit is in the range of 0.001–0.169 μg/L. The current method is applied to the determination of trace impurities in electrolytic manganese metal. And experiments show that good results can be obtained much faster, more accurately and conveniently by current method.

The utilization of biomimicry of bacterial foraging strategy was considered to develop an adaptive control strategy for mobile robot, and a bacterial foraging approach was proposed for robot path planning. In the proposed model, robot that mimics the behavior of bacteria is able to determine an optimal collision-free path between a start and a target point in the environment surrounded by obstacles. In the simulation, two test scenarios of static environment with different number obstacles were adopted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Simulation results show that the robot which reflects the bacterial foraging behavior can adapt to complex environments in the planned trajectories with both satisfactory accuracy and stability.

With a focus on an industrial multivariable system, two subsystems including the flow and the level outputs are analysed and controlled, which have applicability in both real and academic environments. In such a case, at first, each subsystem is distinctively represented by its model, since the outcomes point out that the chosen models have the same behavior as corresponding ones. Then, the industrial multivariable system and its presentation are achieved in line with the integration of these subsystems, since the interaction between them can not actually be ignored. To analyze the interaction presented, the Gershgorin bands need to be acquired, where the results are used to modify the system parameters to appropriate values. Subsequently, in the view of modeling results, the control concept in two different techniques including sequential loop closing control (SLCC) scheme and diagonal dominance control (DDC) schemes is proposed to implement on the system through the Profibus network, as long as the OPC (OLE for process control) server is utilized to communicate between the control schemes presented and the multivariable system. The real test scenarios are carried out and the corresponding outcomes in their present forms are acquired. In the same way, the proposed control schemes results are compared with each other, where the real consequences verify the validity of them in the field of the presented industrial multivariable system control.

A reduced-order dynamic model for an unbalanced rotor system is developed, taking the coupling between torsional and lateral vibrations into account. It is assumed that a shaft is regarded as a continuous viscoelastic shaft with unbalanced and small deformation properties. The equations of motion for the torsional and lateral vibrations are derived using Lagrange’s approach with the frequency-dependent shape function. The rotor torsional vibration is coupled with the lateral vibrations by unbalance elements in a way of excitations. Simulation and experiment results show clearly that the torsional vibration has strong impact on the rotor lateral vibrations, and it causes subharmonic and superharmonic excitations through unbalance elements, which leads to the superharmonic resonances in the lateral vibrations. This model with low-order and high accuracy is suitable for rotor dynamic analysis in real time simulation as well as for active vibration control syntheses.

Due to the variation of the blade cross-section, the deformation stress and strain of the workpiece keep changing during the rolling process and the conventional rolling theory is no longer valid. The complexity and diversity of the blade cross-section determine it impossible to establish an universal theoretical model for the rolling process. Finite element analysis (FEA) provides a perspective solution to the prediction. The FEA software DEFORM was applied to discovering the deformation, stress, strain and velocity field of the variable cross-section workpiece, and the effects of friction coefficient and rolling speed during the rolling process. which indicates that the average rolling force at friction coefficient of 0.4 is 6.5% higher than that at 0.12, and the rolling velocity has less effect on the equivalent stress and strain distribution, which would confer instructive significance on the theoretical study as well as the engineering practice.

A new structure design method of elastic composite cylindrical roller bearing is proposed, in which PTFE is embedded into a hollow cylindrical rolling element, according to the principle of creative combinations and through innovation research on cylindrical roller bearing structure. In order to systematically investigate the inner wall bending stress of the rolling element in elastic composite cylindrical roller bearing, finite element analysis on different elastic composite cylindrical rolling elements was conducted. The results show that, the bending stress of the elastic composite cylindrical rolling increases along with the increase of hollowness with the same filling material. The bending stress of the elastic composite cylindrical rolling element decreases along with the increase of the elasticity modulus of the material under the same physical dimension. Under the same load, on hollow cylindrical rolling element, the maximum bending-tensile stress values of the elastic composite cylindrical rolling element after material filling at 0° and 180° are 8.2% and 9.5%, respectively, lower than those of the deep cavity hollow cylindrical rolling element. In addition, the maximum bending-compressive stress value at 90° is decreased by 6.1%.

High-accuracy motion trajectory tracking control of a pneumatic cylinder driven by a proportional directional control valve was considered. A mathematical model of the system was developed firstly. Due to the time-varying friction force in the cylinder, unmodeled dynamics, and unknown disturbances, there exist large extent of parametric uncertainties and rather severe uncertain nonlinearities in the pneumatic system. To deal with these uncertainties effectively, an adaptive robust controller was constructed in this work. The proposed controller employs on-line recursive least squares estimation (RLSE) to reduce the extent of parametric uncertainties, and utilizes the sliding mode control method to attenuate the effects of parameter estimation errors, unmodeled dynamics and disturbances. Therefore, a prescribed motion tracking transient performance and final tracking accuracy can be guaranteed. Since the system model uncertainties are unmatched, the recursive backstepping design technology was applied. In order to solve the conflicts between the sliding mode control design and the adaptive control design, the projection mapping was used to condition the RLSE algorithm so that the parameter estimates are kept within a known bounded convex set. Extensive experimental results were presented to illustrate the excellent achievable performance of the proposed controller and performance robustness to the load variation and sudden disturbance.

A nonlinear model of anti-backlash gear with time-varying friction and mesh stiffness was proposed for the further study on dynamic characteristics of anti-backlash gear. In order to improve the model precision, applied force analysis was completed in detail, and single or double tooth meshing states of two gear pairs at any timing were determined according to the meshing characteristic of anti-backlash gear. The influences of friction and variations of damping ratio on dynamic transmission error were analyzed finally by numerical calculation and the results show that anti-backlash gear can increase the composite mesh stiffness comparing with the mesh stiffness of the normal gear pair. At the pitch points where the frictions change their signs, additional impulsive effects are observed. The width of impulsive in the same value of center frequency is wider than that without friction, and the amplitude is lower. When gear pairs mesh in and out, damping can reduce the vibration and impact.

The improvements of anti-jamming performance of modern radar seeker are great threats to military targets. To protect the target from detection and estimation, the novel signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR)-based and mutual information (MI)-based jamming design techniques were proposed. To interfere with the target detection, the jamming was designed to minimize the SINR of the radar seeker. To impair the estimation performance, the mutual information between the radar echo and the random target impulse response was used as the criterion. The spectral of optimal jamming under the two criteria were achieved with the power constraints. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the jamming techniques. SINR and MI of the SINR-based jamming, the MI-based jamming as well as the predefined jamming under the same power constraints were compared. Furthermore, the probability of detection and minimum mean-square error (MMSE) were also utilized to validate the jamming performance. Under the jamming power constraint of 1 W, the relative decrease of the probability of detection using SINR-based optimal jamming is about 47%, and the relative increase of MMSE using MI-based optimal jamming is about 8%. Besides, two useful jamming design principles are concluded which can be used in limited jamming power situations.

Regenerative braking was the process of converting the kinetic energy and potential energy, which were stored in the vehicle body when vehicle braked or went downhill, into electrical energy and storing it into battery. The problem on how to distribute braking forces of front wheel and rear wheel for electric vehicles with four-wheel drive was more complex than that for electric vehicles with front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive. In this work, the frictional braking forces distribution curve of front wheel and rear wheel is determined by optimizing the braking force distribution curve of hydraulic proportional-adjustable valve, and then the safety brake range is obtained correspondingly. A new braking force distribution strategy based on regenerative braking strength continuity is proposed to solve the braking force distribution problem for electric vehicles with four-wheel drive. Highway fuel economy test (HWFET) driving condition is used to provide the speed signals, the braking force equations of front wheel and rear wheel are expressed with linear equations. The feasibility, effectiveness, and practicality of the new braking force distribution strategy based on regenerative braking strength continuity are verified by regenerative braking strength simulation curve and braking force distribution simulation curves of front wheel and rear wheel. The proposed strategy is simple in structure, easy to be implemented and worthy being spread.

High-speed bogie frame is a key mechanical component in a train system. The reliability analysis of the bogie is necessary to the safety of high-speed train. Reliability analysis of a bogie frame was considered. The equivalent load method was employed to account for random repeated loads in structural reliability analysis. Degradation of material strength was regarded as a Gamma process. The probabilistic perturbation method was, then, employed for response moment computation. Example of a high-speed train bogie structure under time-variant load was employed for reliability and sensitivity analyses. Monte-Carlo simulation verifies the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method in time-variant reliability analysis. The analysis results show that the reliability calculation considering the strength degradation and repeated load is closer to the practicality than the method of considering reliability calculation only. Its decreasing velocity is faster than the traditional reliability. The reliability sensitivity value changes over time. The analysis results provide a variation trend of reliability and sensitivity to design and usage of bogie frame.

In order to control the locomotive wheel (axle) load distribution, a shimming process to adjust the locomotive secondary spring loads was heretofore developed. An immune dominance clonal selection multi-objective algorithm based on the artificial immune system was presented to further improve the performance of the optimization algorithm for locomotive secondary spring load adjustment, especially to solve the lack of control on the output shim quantity. The algorithm was designed into a two-level optimization structure according to the preferences of the problem, and the priori knowledge of the problem was used as the immune dominance. Experiments on various types of locomotives show that owing to the novel algorithm, the shim quantity is cut down by 30%–60% and the calculation time is about 90% less while the secondary spring load distribution is controlled on the same level as before. The application of this optimization algorithm can significantly improve the availability and efficiency of the secondary spring adjustment process.

Traditionally, the optimization algorithm based on physics principles has some shortcomings such as low population diversity and susceptibility to local extrema. A new optimization algorithm based on kinetic-molecular theory (KMTOA) is proposed. In the KMTOA three operators are designed: attraction, repulsion and wave. The attraction operator simulates the molecular attraction, with the molecules moving towards the optimal ones, which makes possible the optimization. The repulsion operator simulates the molecular repulsion, with the molecules diverging from the optimal ones. The wave operator simulates the thermal molecules moving irregularly, which enlarges the searching spaces and increases the population diversity and global searching ability. Experimental results indicate that KMTOA prevails over other algorithms in the robustness, solution quality, population diversity and convergence speed.

The problem of sequential fault diagnosis is to construct a diagnosis tree that can isolate the failure sources with minimal test cost. Pervious sequential fault diagnosis strategy generating algorithms only consider the execution cost at application stage, which may result in a solution with poor quality from the view of life cycle cost. Furthermore, due to the fact that uncertain information exists extensively in the real-world systems, the tests are always imperfect. In order to reduce the cost of fault diagnosis in the realistic systems, the sequential fault diagnosis problem with imperfect tests considering life cycle cost is presented and formulated in this work, which is an intractable NP-hard AND/OR decision tree construction problem. An algorithm based on AND/OR graph search is proposed to solve this problem. Heuristic search based on information theory is applied to generate the sub-tree in the algorithm. Some practical issues such as the method to improve the computational efficiency and the diagnosis strategy with multi-outcome tests are discussed. The algorithm is tested and compared with previous algorithms on the simulated systems with different scales and uncertainty. Application on a wheel momentum system of a spacecraft is studied in detail. Both the simulation and application results suggest that the cost of the diagnosis strategy can be reduced significantly by using the proposed algorithm, especially when the placement cost of the tests constitutes a large part of the total cost.

Small signal instability may cause severe accidents for power system if it can not be dealt correctly and timely. How to maintain power system stable under small signal disturbance is a big challenge for power system operators and dispatchers. Time delay existing in signal transmission process makes the problem more complex. Conventional eigenvalue analysis method neglects time delay influence and can not precisely describe power system dynamic behaviors. In this work, a modified small signal stability model considering time varying delay influence was constructed and a new time delay controller was proposed to stabilize power system under disturbance. By Lyapunov-Krasovskii function, the control law in the form of nonlinear matrix inequality (NLMI) was derived. Considering synthesis method limitation for time delay controller at present, both parameter adjustment method by using linear matrix inequality (LMI) solver and iteration searching method by solving nonlinear minimization problem were suggested to design the controller. Simulation tests were carried out on synchronous-machine infinite-bus power system. Satisfactory test results verify the correctness of the proposed model and the feasibility of the stabilization approach.

A performance assisted enhancement Kalman filtering algorithm (PAE-KF) for GPS/INS integration navigation in urban areas was presented in this work. The aim of this PAE-KF algorithm was to prevent “deep contamination” caused by error GPS data. This filtering algorithm effectively combined fault estimation of raw GPS data and nonholonomic constraint of vehicle. In fault estimation, a change point detection algorithm based on abrupt change model was proposed. Statistical tool was then used to infer the future bound of GPS data, which can detect faults in GPS raw data. If any kinds of faults were detected, dead reckoning mechanism begins to compute current position. Nonholonomic constraint condition of vehicle was used to estimate velocity of vehicle and change point detection was added into classic Kalman filtering structure. Experiment on vehicle shows that even when the GPS signals are unavailable for a period of time, this method can also output high accuracy data.

The gas torque in a twin-rotor piston engine (TRPE) was modeled using adiabatic approximation with instantaneous combustion. The first prototype of TRPE was manufactured. This prototype is intended for high power density engines and can produce 36 power strokes per shaft revolution. Compared with the conventional engines, the vector sum of combustion gas forces acting on each rotor piston in TRPE is a pure torque, and the combustion gas rotates the rotors while compresses the gas in the compression chamber at the same time. Mathematical modeling of gas force transmission was built. Expression for gas torque on each rotor was derived. Different variation patterns of the volume change of working chamber were introduced. The analytical and numerical results is presented to demonstrate the main characteristics of gas torque. The results show that the value of gas torque in TRPE falls to be less than zero before the combustion phase is finished; the time for one stroke is 30° in terms of the rotating angle of the output shaft; gas torque in one complete revolution of the output shaft has a period which is equal to 60° and it is necessary to put off the moment when gas torque becomes zero in order to export the maximum energy.

Human body communication (HBC) is a promising near-field communication (NFC) method emerging in recent years. But existing theoretical models of HBC are too simple to simulate the wave propagation on human body. In this work, in order to clarify the propagation mechanism of electromagnetic wave on human body, a surface waveguide HBC theoretical model based on stratified media cylinder is presented. A numerical model analyzed by finite element method (FEM) is used for comparing and validating the theoretical model. Finally, results of theoretical and numerical models from 80 MHz to 200 MHz agree fairly well, which means that theoretical model can characterize accurate propagation mechanism of HBC signal. Meanwhile, attenuation constants derived from two kinds of models are within the range from 1.64 to 3.37, so that HBC signal can propagate effectively on human body. The propagation mechanism derived from the theoretical model is useful to provide design information for the transmitter and the modeling of the propagation channel in HBC.

Traditional human detection using pre-trained detectors tends to be computationally intensive for time-critical tracking tasks, and the detection rate is prone to be unsatisfying when occlusion, motion blur and body deformation occur frequently. A spatial-confidential proposal filtering method (SCPF) is proposed for efficient and accurate human detection. It consists of two filtering phases: spatial proposal filtering and confidential proposal filtering. A compact spatial proposal is generated in the first phase to minimize the search space to reduce the computation cost. The human detector only estimates the confidence scores of the candidate search regions accepted by the spatial proposal instead of global scanning. At the second phase, each candidate search region is assigned with a supplementary confidence score according to their reliability estimated by the confidential proposal to reduce missing detections. The performance of the SCPF method is verified by extensive tests on several video sequences from available public datasets. Both quantitatively and qualitatively experimental results indicate that the proposed method can highly improve the efficiency and the accuracy of human detection.

A novel supervised dimensionality reduction algorithm, named discriminant embedding by sparse representation and nonparametric discriminant analysis (DESN), was proposed for face recognition. Within the framework of DESN, the sparse local scatter and multi-class nonparametric between-class scatter were exploited for within-class compactness and between-class separability description, respectively. These descriptions, inspired by sparse representation theory and nonparametric technique, are more discriminative in dealing with complex-distributed data. Furthermore, DESN seeks for the optimal projection matrix by simultaneously maximizing the nonparametric between-class scatter and minimizing the sparse local scatter. The use of Fisher discriminant analysis further boosts the discriminating power of DESN. The proposed DESN was applied to data visualization and face recognition tasks, and was tested extensively on the Wine, ORL, Yale and Extended Yale B databases. Experimental results show that DESN is helpful to visualize the structure of high-dimensional data sets, and the average face recognition rate of DESN is about 9.4%, higher than that of other algorithms.

In order to improve the Mandarin vowel pronunciation quality assessment, a novel formant feature was proposed and applied to formant classification for Chinese Mandarin vowel pronunciation quality evaluation. Formant candidates of each frame were plotted on the time-frequency plane to form a bitmap, and its Gabor feature was extracted to represent the formant trajectory. The feature was then classified by using GMM model and the classification posterior probability was mapped to pronunciation quality grade. The experiments of comparing the Gabor transformation based formant trajectory feature with several other kinds of traditionally used features show that with this method, a human-machine scoring correlation coefficient (CC) of 0.842 can be achieved, which is better than the result of 0.832 by traditional speech recognition techniques. At the same time, considering that the long-term information of formant classification and the short-term information of speech recognition technique are complementary to each other, it is investigated to combine their results with linear or nonlinear methods to further improve the evaluation performance. As a result, experiments on PSK show that the best CC of 0.913, which is very close to the correlation of inter-human rating of 0.94, is gotten by using neural network.

Experimental investigations were carried out to determine the convective heat transfer performance and pressure drop of Al₂O₃/water and SiO₂/water nanofluids flowing through a circular tube. Measurements show that the addition of small amounts of nano-sized Al₂O₃ particles to the base fluid increases heat transfer coefficients considerably, while the result for the silica nanofluids contradicts with the alumina nanofluids and this leads to some interesting results. In the case of alumina nanofluids, an average increase of 16% in convective heat transfer coefficient is observed with an average penalty of 28% in pressure drop. Moreover, flow resistance increases significantly compared to the base fluid even at very low concentrations of nanofluids. Finally, measured heat transfer coefficients are compared with predicted ones from the correlation of Shah under the same conditions.

The thermal-environment characteristics of the existing forced-convection cooling system were compared with those of the convective cooling system, which combined the radiant-floor cooling system using floor-heating panel typically applied to apartments in South Korea with the forced-convection cooling system using improved fan coil unit. The subjective warm/cool-feeling responses to the combined radiant-floor and convective cooling system in the questionnaire survey conducted among the test subjects were analyzed to establish the basic data for the combined cooling system. The results show that in the thermal-equilibrium condition, the vertical air temperature difference in the model living room is larger in the forced-convection-cooling condition. Most of the subjects feel a proper warm/cool feeling on their entire body, but they feel colder on the foot and lower body in the combined-cooling condition.

Based on theory of variable-mass system thermodynamics, the dynamic mathematic models of each component of the horizontal steam-launch system were established, and by the numerical simulation of the system launching process, the thermodynamics and kinetics characteristics of the system with three valves of different flow characteristics were got. The simulation results show that the values of the peak-to-average ratios of dimensionless acceleration with the equal percentage valve, the linear valve and the quick opening valve are 1.355, 1.614 and 1.722, respectively, and the final values of the dimensionless velocities are 0.843, 0.957 and 1.0, respectively. In conclusion, the value of the dimensionless velocity with the equal percentage valve doesn’t reach the set value of 0.90 when the dimensionless displacement is 0.82, while the system with the linear valve can meet the launching requirement, as well as the fluctuation range of dimensionless acceleration is less than that of the quick opening valve. Therefore, the system with the linear valve has the best performance among the three kinds of valves.

Dimensional analysis and numerical simulations were carried out to research prediction method of breakthrough time of horizontal wells in bottom water reservoir. Four dimensionless independent variables and dimensionless time were derived from 10 influencing factors of the problem by using dimensional analysis. Simulations of horizontal well in reservoir with bottom water were run to find the prediction correlation. A general and concise functional relationship for predicting breakthrough time was established based on simulation results and theoretical analysis. The breakthrough time of one conceptual model predicted by the correlation is very close to the result by Eclipse with less than 2% error. The practical breakthrough time of one well in Helder oilfield is 10 d, and the predicted results by the method is 11.2 d, which is more accurate than the analytical result. Case study indicates that the method could predict breakthrough time of horizontal well under different reservoir conditions accurately. For its university and ease of use, the method is suitable for quick prediction of breakthrough time.

By means of the pore-level simulation, the characteristics of gas-water flow and gas-water distribution during the alternative displacement of gas and water were observed directly from etched-glass micromodel. The results show that gas-water distribution styles are divided into continuous phase type and separate phase type. The water lock exists in pore and throat during the process of gas-water displacement, and it reduces the gas flow-rate and has some effects on the recovery efficiency during the operation of gas storage. According to the experimental results of aquifer gas storage in X area, the differences in available extent among reservoirs are significant, and the availability of pore space is 33%–45%.

This work aims to investigate the efficiency of Fariman sepiolite from Iran as an adsorbent to remove Cd from aqueous solutions. The effects of different experimental factors such as the initial Cd concentration, contact time and the sorbent dose were investigated through a series of batch adsorption experiments. The results show that the adsorption capacity of sepiolite for Cd increases with the contact time, the initial concentration of Cd solutions and the sorbent dose. Sorption of Cd by Fariman sepiolite is rapid within the first hour of the experiment and then slowly increases until a pseudo equilibrium is approached at 8 h. The results also show that the time-dependent Cd sorption data are better described with pseudo second-order (r²>0.999) than that of pseudo first-order (r²>0.971) kinetic model. Equilibrium isotherm studies show that the experimental data are better correlated by the Freundlich adsorption isotherm (r²>0.995) than the Langmuir (r²>0.825). It is suggested that both adsorption and cation exchange reactions are responsible for the sorption of Cd by the sepiolite, and the mineral has a very good potential to remove Cd from aqueous solutions.

The central composite process optimization was performed by response surface methodology technique using a design for the treatment of methyltin mercaptide with modified semi-coke. The semi-coke from the coal industry was suitably modified by treating it with phosphoric acid, with a thermal activation process. The objective of the process optimization is to reduce the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and NH₄⁺-N in the methyltin mercaptide industrial effluent. The process variables considered for process optimization are the semi-coke dosage, adsorption time and effluent pH. The optimized process conditions are identified to be a semi-coke dosage of 80 g/L, adsorption time of 90 min and a pH value of 8.34. The ANOVA results indicate that the adsorbent dosage and pH are the significant parameters, while the adsorption time is insignificant, possibly owing to the large range of adsorption time chosen. The textural characteristics of modified semi-coke were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption isotherm. The average BET surface area of modified semi-coke is estimated to be 915 m²/g, with the average pore volume of 0.71 cm³/g and a average pore diameter of 3.09 nm, with micropore volume contributing to 52.36%.

Longhole caving method was used to mine gently inclined thick orebody step by step in a test stope of tin mine under complex filling body. The problem that the complex filling body around the stope affects the stability of roof thickness, chamber and spacer pillar in actual mining was investigated; meanwhile, the formed goaf during mining is so vulnerable that surrounding rock collapses early. Based on this point, elasticity mechanics and limit span theory were used to study separately the roof thickness and the span limit of goaf formed in mining, and then a reasonable roof thickness of 8 m and goaf span of 14 m are proposed. In addition, the stability of roof thickness, chamber and spacer pillar were investigated and analyzed by using numerical analysis method; meanwhile, the field monitoring on the displacement of caving chamber was conducted. The results show that the maximum compressive stress of surrounding rock is 20 MPa, and the maximum tensile stress is 1.2 MPa, which is less than the ultimate tensile strength of 2.4 MPa. Moreover, plastic zone has little influence on stope stability. In addition, the displacement of 11 mm is also smaller. The displacement monitoring results are consistent with the numerical results. Thus, the roof thickness and span of goaf proposed are safe.

Flotation column is widely used as the separation equipment for fine mineral due to its high selectivity. However, this device may be unsuitable for the coarse particle flotation and has high handling ability. A two-stage flotation column with dimensions of 2 000 mm×1 000 mm×4 000 mm was designed to enhance the column flotation process. The energy input was modified by adjusting the flow rate and the head of circulating pump. The flotation column was designed with low energy input in the first stage (speed flotation stage) to recover easy-to-float materials quickly, and high energy input in the second stage (recovery stage) to recover difficult-to-float minerals compulsorily. Contrast experiments on the throughput and coarse coal recovery of high ash coal from the Kailuan Mine were conducted using conventional single-stage flotation column and the two-stage flotation column. The results show that the combustible matter recovery of the two-stage flotation column is 5.25% higher than that of the conventional single-stage flotation column. However, the ash contents of clean coal for both columns are similar. Less coarse coals with low ash are obtained using the two-stage flotation column than that using the single-stage column flotation with the same handling ability. The two-stage flotation column process can enhance coal flotation compared with the conventional single-stage column flotation.

To research a novel technology for dry coarse coal slime beneficiation and extend its application, active pulsing air separation technology was investigated by DEM-CFD coupling simulation approach. The results show that the ash content of feed is reduced by 10%–15% and the organic efficiency is up to 91.78% by using the active pulsing air separation technology. The gas-solid flow in the active pulsing air classifier was simulated. Meanwhile, the characteristics of particle motion and the separation process of different particles were analyzed, and the mechanical structure of the classifier was also modified to achieve high separation efficiency. Therefore, a novel high-efficiency dry beneficiation technique was advanced for coarse coal slime.

Wax-coated sands are a new category of synthetic soils, which are gradually becoming a reliable construction material. Because of their valuable drainage ability and mechanical properties, wax coated sandy soils are specifically applicable to pavement construction of horseracing tracks and sport fields. Although the mechanical and hydraulic properties of these synthetic soils are well-proven, there is still a lack of studies on how the soil samples behave differently when mixing with different wax fractions. Adding the wax affects permeability and compressibility of pure sand. Intensity of influences is a function of weight percentage of wax that has been added, and other physical and environmental factors. The effects of wax content on hydraulic properties (permeability), and mechanical properties (stress-strain behavior, compressibility) of sandy soils based on a series of experimental efforts were investigated. Obtained experimental results infer that increasing the amount of wax up to 6% causes an about 50% increase in permeability, mainly because of the significant effect of wax in lowering the friction along with covering and filling the angular parts of particles’ surfaces and forming rounded particles. In addition, wax-coated sands show a 20% to 60% decrease in confined compression modulus compared to non wax-coated sands.

Based on the nonlinear failure criterion and the upper bound theorem, the modified tangential technique method was proposed to derive the expression of supporting pressure acting on shallow tunnel. Instead of the same stress state, different normal stresses on element boundaries were used. In order to investigate the influence of different factors on supporting pressures, the failure mechanism was established. The solution of supporting pressure, with different parameters, was obtained by optimization theory. The corresponding failure mechanism and numerical results were presented. In comparison with the results using the single tangential technique method, it is found that the proposed method is effective, and the good agreement shows that the present solution of supporting pressure is reliable.

In order to study bearing characteristics of bridge pile at steep slope under complex loads in mountians, according to double pile-column bridge piers engineering at steep slope and test models in laboratory, finite element analysis of pile-column bridge piers was carried out using software ADINA under different loadings, such as horizontal loading in the longitudinal direction along bridge, vertical loadings, slope top loadings and complex loadings. The numerical simulation results show that displacements of front pile pier top and back pile pier top are different under horizontal loadings in the longitudinal direction along bridge or vertical loadings, the displacements of front pile pier top are higher than those of back pile pier top, and its difference increases with the increase of loadings. Vertical displacements will also appear under slope top loadings, and displacements of front pier top are higher than those of back pier top too, while its difference reduces with the increase of loadings. Displacements of both front pile pier top and back pile pier top under comlex loading are larger than those under single loading.

Cold-formed steel structures are steel structure products constructed from sheets or coils using cold rolling, press brake or bending brake method. These structures are extensively employed in building construction industry due to their light mass, ductility by economic cold forming operations, favorable strength-to-mass ratio and other factors. The utilization of cold formed steel sections with concrete as composite can hugely reduce the construction cost. However, the use of cold formed steel members in composite concrete beams has been very limited. A comprehensive review of developments in composite beam with cold formed steel sections was introduced. It was revealed that employing cold-formed steel channel section to replace reinforcement bars in conventional reinforced concrete beam results in a significant cost reduction without reducing strength capacity. The use of composite beam consisting of cold-formed steel open or close box and filled concrete could also reduce construction cost. Lighter composite girder for bridges with cold-formed steel of U section was introduced. Moreover, types of shear connectors to provide composite action between cold-formed steel beam and concrete slab were presented. However, further studies to investigate the effects of metal decking on the behavior of composite beam with cold-formed steel section and introduction of ductile shear connectors were recommended.

Corrosion test data were measured using non-destructive electrochemical techniques and analysed for studying inhibition effectiveness by different concentrations of Na₂Cr₂O₇ on the corrosion of concrete steel-rebar in NaCl and in H₂SO₄ media. For these, specifications of ASTM G16-95 R04 were combined with the normal and the Gumbel probability density functions as model analytical methods for addressing issues of conflicting reports of inhibitor effectiveness that had generated concerns. Results show that reinforced concrete samples admixed with concentrations having 4 g (0.012 7 mol), 8 g (0.025 4 mol) and 6 g (0.019 1 mol) Na₂Cr₂O₇ exhibited, in that order, high inhibition effectiveness, with respective efficiency, η, of (90.46±1.30)%, (88.41±2.24)% and (84.87±4.74)%, in the NaCl medium. These exhibit good agreements within replicates and statistical methods for the samples. Also, optimal inhibition effectiveness model in the H₂SO₄ medium was exhibited by 8 g (0.025 4 mol) Na₂Cr₂O₇ concentration having η=(78.44±1.10)%. These bear implications for addressing conflicting test data in the study of effective inhibitors for mitigating steel-rebar corrosion in aggressive environments.

Phosphorous slag (PHS), ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) and fly ash (FA) were used as replacements of Portland cement to modify the microstructure of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). A new manufacturing method named “W3T4” was proposed to improve the performances of interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between recycled aggregate and mortar. The mechanical properties and the durability of RAC were tested, which show that this new manufacturing method improves the properties of RAC, and the GGBS with finest size makes a great contribution to the performance of RAC due to its better filling effect and much earlier pozzolanic reaction. Combined with GGBS, the effects of PHS on the retardation of setting time can be alleviated and the synergistic effect helps to make a more compact RAC. For the RAC with 25% of the recycled aggregate (RA) replacement and 10% PHS + 10% GGBS additives, the compressive strength increases by 25.4%, but the permeability decreases by 64.3% with respect to the reference concrete made with nature aggregates. The micro-mechanisms of these improvements were investigated by the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The SEM images show that the new manufacturing method, adding superfine pozzolanic powders and super-plasticizer benefits, makes a much denser ITZ in RAC.

The lining concrete of subsea tunnel services under combined hydraulic pressure, mechanical and environmental loads. The chloride ion and water penetrations into concrete under hydraulic pressure were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the water penetration depth, chloride ion transportation depth, and the concentration of chloride ion ingression into concrete increase with raised hydraulic pressure and hold press period. But the chloride ion transportation velocity is only 53% of that of water when concrete specimens are under hydraulic pressure. The chloride transportation coefficient of concrete decreases with hold press period as power function. And that would increase 500%–600% in chloride transportation coefficient when the hydraulic pressure increases from 0 to 1.2 MPa. The hydraulic pressure also decreases the bound chloride ion of concrete to about zero. Besides, the low water-cementitions materials and suitable content of mineral admixture (including fly ash and slag) improve the resistance capacity of chloride penetration, and binding capacity of concrete under hydraulic pressure.

The effects of H₃PO₄ and Ca(H₂PO₄)₂ on compressive strength, water resistance, hydration process of thermally decomposed magnesium oxychloride cement (TDMOC) pastes were studied. The mineral composition, hydration products and hydration heat release were analyzed by XRD, FT-IR, SEM and TAM air isothermal calorimeter, etc. After being modified by H₃PO₄ and Ca(H₂PO₄)₂, the properties of the TDMOC are improved obviously. The compressive strength increases from 14.8 MPa to 48.1 MPa and 37.1 MPa, respectively. The strength retention coefficient (K_n) increases from 0.38 to 0.99 and 0.94, respectively. The 24 h hydration heat release decreases by 10% and 4% and the time of hydration peak appearing is delayed from 1 h to about 10 h. The XRD, FT-IR and SEM results show that the main composition is 5Mg(OH)₂·MgCl₂·8H₂O in the modified TDMOC pastes. The possible mechanism for the strength enhancement was discussed. The purposes are to extend the potential applications of the salt lake magnesium resources and to improve the mechanical properties of TDMOC.

Surrounding rocks of weakly consolidated soft rock roadway show obvious strain softening and dilatancy effects after excavation. A damage coefficient concerning modulus attenuation was defined. Response models of stress and displacement of surrounding rock of soft rock roadway and analytical expressions to calculate plastic zones under different interior pressures and non-uniform original rock stresses were derived based on damage theories and a triple linear elastic-plastic strain softening model. Influence laws of dilatancy gradient on damage development, distributions of stresses and displacement in plastic region were analyzed. Interior pressure conditions to develop plastic region under different origin rock stresses were established and their influences on plastic region distribution were also discussed. The results show that the order of maximum principle stress is exchanged between σ_θ and σ_r with the increase of interior pressure P₀, which causes distributions of plastic zone and stress shift. Dilatancy effect which has great influences on the damage propagation and displacements in plastic region has little effect on the size of plastic region and stress responses. The conclusions provide a theoretical basis for a reasonable evaluation of stability and effective supporting of weakly consolidated soft rock roadway.

Results of in-situ vibration measurement carried out at Tianjin West Elevated Railway Station which has the trains running on the station structure were reported. The main excitation source is the train passing through the station. Vibration measurements were recorded in the vertical direction of the supporting track beam, the platform and the steel truss beam of the waiting hall, as well as in the vertical, longitudinal and transverse directions of the roof arch base of the station. Acceleration time responses were obtained. The maximum value, vibration level and one-third octave band RMS spectra of the measured accelerations were studied. The propagation of vibration in different structural floors was discussed. The influence of train speed, distance to the vibration source and the type of train on the structural vibration were analyzed. Results show that the vibration level increases with the train speed, while it attenuates with the distance to the track. Furthermore, the vibration responses of different structural floors were compared, and it is noted that the vertical vibration of the bottom slab of the platform is most severe and the transverse vibration of the roof arch base is the smallest. The results provide reference on the vibration characteristics and vibration energy distribution of this type of “Train on building frame” system used as an elevated railway station.

A new automatic rotary compactor and its abilities in compacting stone mastic asphalt (SMA) are presented. Following an overview of the rotary compactor and the compaction procedure, it is demonstrated that the rotary compactor is able to produce uniform slabs with the desired thickness of 65 mm all over around. Furthermore, 132 cored samples from the rotary compactor had been compacted uniformly with approximately 4% optimum air void content. In addition, performance tests results indicate that the rotary compactor produces asphalt mixtures with the requirements of resilient modulus, Marshall stability and flow. A weight factor was introduced for each fraction of aggregates in the degradation analysis to compensate the crushing effect of aggregates during mixing and compacting.

Hydrogen was produced from partial oxidation reforming of DME (dimethyl ether) by spark discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure. A plasma-catalyst reformer was designed. A series of experiments were carried out to investigate its performance of hydrogen-rich gas production. The effects of reaction temperature, catalyst and flow rate on gas concentrations (volume fraction), hydrogen yield, DME conversion ratio, specific energy consumption and thermal efficiency were investigated, respectively. The experimental results show that hydrogen concentration and the flow rate of produced H₂ are improved when temperature increases from 300 °C to 700 °C. Hydrogen yield, hydrogen concentration and the flow rate of produced H₂ are substantially improved in the use of Fe-based catalyst at high temperature. Moreover, hydrogen yield and thermal efficiency are improved and change slightly when flow rate increases. When catalyst is 12 g, and flow rate increases from 35 mL/min to 210 mL/min, hydrogen yield decreases from 66.4% to 57.7%, and thermal efficiency decreases from 35.6% to 30.9%. It is anticipated that the results would serve as a good guideline to the application of hydrogen generation from hydrocarbon fuels by plasma reforming onboard.

Based on the reliability budget and percentile travel time (PTT) concept, a new travel time index named combined mean travel time (CMTT) under stochastic traffic network was proposed. CMTT here was defined as the convex combination of the conditional expectations of PTT-below and PTT-excess travel times. The former was designed as a risk-optimistic travel time index, and the latter was a risk-pessimistic one. Hence, CMTT was able to describe various routing risk-attitudes. The central idea of CMTT was comprehensively illustrated and the difference among the existing travel time indices was analyzed. The Wardropian combined mean traffic equilibrium (CMTE) model was formulated as a variational inequality and solved via an alternating direction algorithm nesting extra-gradient projection process. Some mathematical properties of CMTT and CMTE model were rigorously proved. Finally, a numerical example was performed to characterize the CMTE network. It is founded that that risk-pessimism is of more benefit to a modest (or low) congestion and risk network, however, it changes to be risk-optimism for a high congestion and risk network.