Ultrasonic treatment and hydrothermal method were applied in the traditional homogeneous precipitation for nano-TiO₂ preparation, which was used as carrier material for the production of honeycomb selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst. The influence rules of the two improved methods on characterization of TiO₂ samples, denitration activity and mechanical strength of honeycomb SCR catalyst samples were mainly focused on. The results indicate that the specific surface area, particle size and uniformity of TiO₂ samples are significantly improved by both of the ultrasonic and hydrothermal treatments compared with the traditional homogeneous precipitation. Also, the denitration activities of catalyst samples are enhanced by the two improved methods (the NO_x reduction ratio increases from 88.89% to 95.45% by ultrasonic homogeneous precipitation process, and to 94.12% by hydrothermal homogeneous precipitation process). On the other hand, because of good spherical shape and high particle distribution of TiO₂ sample from hydrothermal homogeneous precipitation process, the corresponding honeycomb catalyst samples get the best mechanical strength, which is even higher than that of the reference sample from commercial nano-TiO₂. So, it is concluded that the hydrothermal homogeneous precipitation can be a feasible and effective preparation method of TiO₂ carrier for the honeycomb SCR catalyst production.

The application of friction stir welding (FSW) is growing owing to the omission of difficulties in traditional welding processes. In the current investigation, artificial neural network (ANN) technique was employed to predict the microhardness of AA6061 friction stir welded plates. Specimens were welded employing triangular and tapered cylindrical pins. The effects of thread and conical shoulder of each pin profile on the microhardness of welded zone were studied using tow ANNs through the different distances from weld centerline. It is observed that using conical shoulder tools enhances the quality of welded area. Besides, in both pin profiles threaded pins and conical shoulders increase yield strength and ultimate tensile strength. Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) for train and test data sets did not exceed 5.4% and 7.48%, respectively. Considering the accurate results and acceptable errors in the models’ responses, the ANN method can be used to economize material and time.

3D microstructures of Fe–6.5%Si (mass fraction) alloys prepared under different cooling conditions were simulated via finite element-cellular automaton (CAFE) method. The simulated results were compared to experimental results and found to be in accordance. Variations in the temperature field and solid-liquid region, which plays important roles in determining solidification structures, were also examined under various cooling conditions. The proposed model was utilized to determine the effects of Gaussian distribution parameters to find that the lower the mean undercooling, the higher the equiaxed crystal zone ratio; also, the larger the maximum nucleation density, the smaller the grain size. The influence of superheat on solidification structure and columnar to equiaxed transition (CET) in the cast ingot was also investigated to find that decrease in superheat from 52 K to 20 K causes the equiaxed crystal zone ratio to increase from 58.13% to 65.6%, the mean gain radius to decrease from 2.102 mm to 1.871 mm, and the CET to occur ahead of schedule. To this effect, low superheat casting is beneficial to obtain finer equiaxed gains and higher equiaxed dendrite zone ratio in Fe–6.5%Si alloy cast ingots.

It was found that air dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma contributed to the grafting of epoxy resin onto continuous PBO fiber surface. This air-plasma-grafting-epoxy method yielded a noticeable enhancement in the interfacial adhesion between PBO fiber and thermoplastic matrix resin, with the interlaminar shear strength of the resulting composites increased by 66.7%. DSC and FTIR analyses were then used to study the curing behavior of epoxy coating on PBO fiber surface, deduce the possible grafting reactions and investigate the grafting mechanism. More importantly, TGA measurement showed that the grafting of epoxy onto PBO fiber had almost no effect on the composite heat resistance, and there was more thermoplastic matrix resin adhering to the fiber surface; the latter could also be clearly found in the SEM photos. Thereby, the air-plasma-grafting-epoxy treatment was proved to be an effective method for the improvement of continuous PBO fiber surface adhesive properties.

The first-principles calculations were performed to investigate the electronic structure, magnetic and dielectric properties of Cr-doped Fe₃C, in comparison to those of pure Fe₃C and Cr₃C. The obtained results show that the thermodynamic stability of Cr-doped Fe₃C becomes weaker in terms of the larger formation enthalpy, on the contrary, the metallicity and covalency are found to strengthen to some extent. The magnetic moments of Fe₃C, Fe₁₁CrC₄(g), and Fe₁₁CrC₄(s) are respectively 21.36 μ_B/cell, 16.92 μ_B/cell, and 17.62 μ_B/cell, and in Fe₁₁CrC₄(g) and Fe₁₁CrC₄(s), the Fe of Wyckoff positions of 8d and 4c is substituted by Cr. The local magnetic moment of Cr at 8d site is larger than that at 4c site in the doped structure, which is opposite to that of Fe. In low frequency band, the permittivity follows the ranking of Fe₁₁CrC₄(s)>Cr₃C>Fe₁₁CrC₄(g)>Fe₃C. Once exceeding a certain frequency, the sequence will be broken. Besides the electron transition, the polarization of atoms also makes a contribution to the dielectric properties.

The adsorption of dedecyltrimethylammoium chloride (DTAC) and hexadecyltrimethylammoium chloride (CTAC) on muscovite mica substrates was examined using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Adsorption morphology images and interaction forces of cationic surfactants at solid-solution interfaces were measured in tapping mode and PicoForce mode, respectively. The images demonstrated that the adsorbed structure was varied by a variety of surfactant concentrations. The adsorbed layer on mica was monolayer at first, and then became bilayer. A striped adsorbed structure was observed in a higher concentration of CTAC, which could not be found in any other concentrations of DTAC. For force measurements, the repulsive force was exponentially decreasing with the concentration increasing till a net attractive force appeared. A largest attractive force could be observed at a certain concentration, which was close to the point of charge neutralization. The results also showed a significant impact of hydrocarbon chain length on adsorption. An adsorption simulation was established to give a clear understanding of the interaction between cationic surfactants and mica.

Desilication kinetics of calcined boron mud (CBM) occurring in molten sodium hydroxide media was investigated. The effects of factors such as reaction temperature and NaOH-to-CBM mass ratio on silicon extraction efficiency were studied. The results show that silicon extraction efficiency increases with increasing the reaction time and NaOH-to-CBM mass ratio. There are two stages for the desilication process of the calcined boron mud. The overall desilication process follows the shrinking-core model, and the first and second stages of the process were determined to obey the shrinking-core model for surface chemical reaction and the diffusion through the product layer, respectively. The activation energies of the first and second stages were calculated to be 44.78 kJ/mol and 15.94 kJ/mol, respectively.

Reagents are optimized for the simultaneous determination of trace amounts of Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Co²⁺ in zinc sulfate solution, which contains an extremely large excess of Zn²⁺. First, the reagents and their doses for the experiment are selected according to the characteristics of the zinc sulfate solution. Then, the reagent doses are optimized by analyzing the influence of reagent dose on the polarographic parameters (i.e. half-wave potential E_1/2 and limiting diffusion current I_p). Finally, the optimization results are verified by simultaneously determining trace amounts of Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Co²⁺ in the presence of an extremely large excess of Zn²⁺. The determination results indicate that the optimized reagents exhibit wide linearity, low detection limits, high accuracy and good precision for the simultaneous determination of trace amounts of Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Co²⁺ in the presence of an extremely large excess of Zn²⁺.

Total concentrations of arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, nickel, chromium, and copper in the soils from near a coal mine area in southwest Guizhou, China, were measured to evaluate the level of contamination, and the potential ecological risks posed by the heavy metals were quantitatively estimated. Results reveal that all heavy metals/metalloid exceeded the background values for soil environmental quality of heavy metals in Guizhou area. Geo-accumulation index (I_geo) showed that arsenic had the highest contamination level (I_geo=4) among the seven heavy metals/metalloid, and the contamination levels of mercury and lead were also relatively high (I_geo=3). Pearson correlation and cluster analysis identified that mercury, copper and arsenic had a relationship, and their presence might be mainly related to mining activity, coal and oil combustion, and vehicle emissions. Improved Nemerow index indicated that the overall level of heavy metal contamination in the studied area ranged from moderately–heavily contaminated to heavily contaminated level. Potential ecological risk index (R_I) analysis manifested that the whole ecological risk level ranged from high degree to very high degree (325.30≤R_I≤801.02) in the studied soil samples, and the potential ecological risk factors (E_rⁱ) of heavy metals/metalloid were as follows: Hg > As > Cd > Pb > Cu > Ni > Cr, and the E_rⁱ of Hg and As reached very high risk grade.

In this research work, extraction and purification of germanium from zinc leach residues (ZLR) were investigated. The results of ICP, XRF, and atomic adsorption spectroscopy (AAS) tests show that contents of germanium, iron, lead, and zinc within the leaching residue were 105×10⁻⁶, 3.53%, 10.35%, and 8.8%, respectively. XRD results indicate that the main minerals were in different forms of sulfates (CaSO₄·2H₂O, PbSO₄ and ZnSO₄·6H₂O), silicate (SiO₂), and oxide (Fe₂O₃). Dissolution of leaching filter cake was carried out using 5 parameters and each in 4 levels (acid concentration, temperature, time, liquid-to-solid ratio, and stirring speed) by Taguchi method (L₁₆), and then optimization of the effective parameters by response surface method. Under optimum conditions, zinc and germanium dissolution efficiencies were 88.71% and 8%, respectively. Leaching tests with sulfuric acid (added di-ammonium oxalate monohydrate) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) on the residues obtained from previous-stage sulfuric acid dissolution, yielded germanium and iron recoveries of 83%, 88%, 40%, and 90%, respectively. Thus, leaching experiment with sulfuric acid (added di-ammonium oxalate monohydrate) was superior to that with hydrochloric acid due to high and low extraction amounts of germanium and iron, respectively. Precipitation experiments revealed that germanium purification with tannic acid presented a better result compared to sodium hydroxide and ammonia. Under optimum conditions, contents of germanium and iron in the solution after precipitation were 0.1505% and 14.7% with precipitation yields of 91% and 52%, respectively.

The aim of this work is to simulate thermal deformation of tool system and investigate the influence of cutting parameters on it in single-point diamond turning (SPDT) of aluminum alloy. The experiments with various cutting parameters were conducted. Cutting temperature was measured by FLIR A315 infrared thermal imager. Tool wear was measured by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The numerical model of heat flux considering tool wear generated in cutting zone was established. Then two-step finite element method (FEM) simulations matching the experimental conditions were carried out to simulate the thermal deformation. In addition, the tests of deformation of tool system were performed to verify previous simulation results. And then the influence of cutting parameters on thermal deformation was investigated. The results show that the temperature and thermal deformation from simulations agree well with the results from experiments in the same conditions. The maximum thermal deformation of tool reaches to 7 μm. The average flank wear width and cutting speed are the dominant factors affecting thermal deformation, and the effective way to decrease the thermal deformation of tool is to control the tool wear and the cutting speed.

Remaining useful life (RUL) estimation based on condition monitoring data is central to condition based maintenance (CBM). In the current methods about the Wiener process based RUL estimation, the randomness of the failure threshold has not been studied thoroughly. In this work, by using the truncated normal distribution to model random failure threshold (RFT), an analytical and closed-form RUL distribution based on the current observed data was derived considering the posterior distribution of the drift parameter. Then, the Bayesian method was used to update the prior estimation of failure threshold. To solve the uncertainty of the censored in situ data of failure threshold, the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm is used to calculate the posteriori estimation of failure threshold. Numerical examples show that considering the randomness of the failure threshold and updating the prior information of RFT could improve the accuracy of real time RUL estimation.

A 2.7–4.0 GHz dual-mode auto frequency calibration (AFC) fast locking PLL was designed for navigation system on chip (SoC). The SoC was composed of one radio frequency (RF) receiver, one baseband and several system control parts. In the proposed AFC block, both analog and digital modes were designed to complete the AFC process. In analog mode, the analog part sampled and detected the charge pump output tuning voltage, which would give the indicator to digital part to adjust the voltage control oscillator (VCO) capacitor bank. In digital mode, the digital part counted the phase lock loop (PLL) divided clock to judge whether VCO frequency was fast or slow. The analog and digital modes completed the auto frequency calibration function independently by internal switch. By designing a special switching algorithm, the switch of the digital and analog mode could be realized anytime during the lock and unlock detecting process for faster and more stable locking. This chip is fabricated in 0.13 μm RF complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process, and the VCO supports the frequency range from 2.7 to 4.0 GHz. Tested 3.96 GHz frequency phase noise is −90 dBc/Hz@100 kHz frequency offset and −120 dBc/Hz@1 MHz frequency offset. By using the analog mode in lock detection and digital mode in unlock detection, tested AFC time is less than 9 μs and the total PLL lock time is less than 19 μs. The SoC acquisition and tracking sensitivity are about −142 dBm and −155 dBm, respectively. The area of the proposed PLL is 0.35 mm² and the total SoC area is about 9.6 mm².

An input-output signal selection based on Phillips-Heffron model of a parallel high voltage alternative current/high voltage direct current (HVAC/HVDC) power system is presented to study power system stability. It is well known that appropriate coupling of inputs-outputs signals in the multivariable HVDC-HVAC system can improve the performance of designed supplemetary controller. In this work, different analysis techniques are used to measure controllability and observability of electromechanical oscillation mode. Also inputs–outputs interactions are considered and suggestions are drawn to select the best signal pair through the system inputs-outputs. In addition, a supplementary online adaptive controller for nonlinear HVDC to damp low frequency oscillations in a weakly connected system is proposed. The results obtained using MATLAB software show that the best output-input for damping controller design is rotor speed deviation as out put and phase angle of rectifier as in put. Also response of system equipped with adaptive damping controller based on HVDC system has appropriate performance when it is faced with faults and disturbance.

In order to improve ride comfort and handling performance of the vehicle, an adaptive hybrid control algorithm is proposed for semi-active suspension systems. The virtues of sky-hook is combined with ground-hook control strategies and a more suitable compromise for the suspension systems is chosen. The hybrid coefficient is tuned according to the longitudinal and lateral acceleration so as to improve the vehicle stability especially in high speed conditions. Damping continuous adjustable absorber is used to continuously control the damping force so as to eliminate the damping force jerk instead of traditional on-off control policy. Based on suspension stroke measured by sensors, unscented Kalman filter is designed to estimate the suspension states in real-time for the realization of hybrid control, which improves the robustness of the control strategy and is adaptive to different types of road profiles. Finally, the proposed control algorithm is validated under the following two typical road profiles: half-sine speed bump road and the random road. The simulation results indicate that the hybrid control algorithm could offer a good coordination between ride comfort and handling of the vehicle.

Traditional parafoil homing usually uses a point as object. As the mobility of parafoil is limited by its glide ratio and wind, in some cases when the parafoil scatter area is large, or the glide ratio of parafoil is small, the deviation of its landing point to object point will be arduous to control. Accordingly, during these situations, when parafoil is used in recovery of spacecraft or satellite, the landing area of parafoil can be set as a rectangle, and the object of parafoil can be set as a line segment. The thesis of this work is designing an algorithm for parafoil homing using line segment as object. The algorithm of wind velocity and direction calculation in different flying segments was also investigated. The algorithm designed navigates the parafoil to land into the predestined area and largely reduce the probability of recovery loads falling to unwanted area to damage houses and people.

An observer-based fault diagnosis method and a fault tolerant control for open-switch fault and current sensor fault are proposed for interleaved flyback converters of a micro-inverter system. First, based on the topology of a grid-connected micro-inverter, a mathematical model of the flyback converters is established. Second, a state observer is applied to estimate the currents online and generate corresponding residuals. The fault is diagnosed by comparing the residuals with the thresholds. Finally, a fault-tolerant control that consists of a fault-tolerant topology for the faulty switch and a simple software redundancy control for the faulty current sensor, is proposed to achieve a fault-tolerant operation. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method has been verified by simulation and experimental results.

Aiming at a class of systems under parameter perturbations and unknown external disturbances, a method of fuzzy robust sliding mode control was proposed. Firstly, an integral sliding mode surface containing state feedback item was designed based on robust H_∞ control theory. The robust state feedback control was utilized to substitute for the equivalent control of the traditional sliding mode control. Thus the robustness of systems sliding mode motion was improved even the initial states were unknown. Furthermore, when the upper bound of disturbance was unknown, the switching control logic was difficult to design, and the drawbacks of chattering in sliding mode control should also be considered simultaneously. To solve the above-mentioned problems, the fuzzy nonlinear method was applied to approximate the switching control term. Based on the Lyapunov stability theory, the parameter adaptive law which could guarantee the system stability was devised. The proposed control strategy could reduce the system chattering effectively. And the control input would not switch sharply, which improved the practicality of the sliding mode controller. Finally, simulation was conducted on system with parameter perturbations and unknown external disturbances. The result shows that the proposed method could enhance the approaching motion performance effectively. The chattering phenomenon is weakened, and the system possesses stronger robustness against parameter perturbations and external disturbances.

A fixed artificial source (greater than 200 kW) was used and the source location was selected at a high resistivity region to ensure high emission efficiency. Some publications used the “earth-ionosphere" mode in modeling the electromagnetic (EM) fields with the offset up to a thousand kilometer, and such EM fields still have a signal/noise ratio of 10–20 dB. This means that a new EM method with fixed source is feasible, but in their calculation, the displacement in air was neglected. In this work, some three-layer modeling results were presented to illustrate the basic EM fields’ characteristics in the near, far and waveguide areas under “earth-ionosphere” mode, and a standard is given to distinguish the boundary of near, far and waveguide areas. Due to the influence of the ionosphere and displacement current in the air, the “earth-ionosphere” mode EM fields have an extra waveguide zone, where the fields’ behavior is very different from that of the far field zone.

In order to reveal the dynamic process of hard-thick roof inducing rock burst, one of the most common and strongest dynamic disasters in coal mine, the numerical simulation is conducted to study the dynamic loading effect of roof vibration on roadway surrounding rocks as well as the impact on stability. The results show that, on one hand, hard-thick roof will result in high stress concentration on mining surrounding rocks; on the other hand, the breaking of hard-thick roof will lead to mining seismicity, causing dynamic loading effect on coal and rock mass. High stress concentration and dynamic loading combination reaches to the mechanical conditions for the occurrence of rock burst, which will induce rock burst. The mining induced seismic events occurring in the roof breaking act on the mining surrounding rocks in the form of stress wave. The stress wave then has a reflection on the free surface of roadway and the tensile stress will be generated around the free surface. Horizontal vibration of roadway surrounding particles will cause instant changes of horizontal stress of roadway surrounding rocks; the horizontal displacement is directly related to the horizontal stress but is not significantly correlated with the vertical stress; the increase of horizontal stress of roadway near surface surrounding rocks and the release of elastic deformation energy of deep surrounding coal and rock mass are immanent causes that lead to the impact instability of roadway surrounding rocks. The most significant measures for rock burst prevention are controlling of horizontal stress and vibration strength.

The coal of Anyuan Mine has the characteristic of easy spontaneous combustion. Conventional method is difficult to predict it. Coal samples from this mine were tested in laboratory. The data obtained from laboratory determination were initialized for the value which was defined as “K”. The ratio of each index gas and value of “K”, and the ratio of combination index gases and value of “K”, were analyzed simultaneously. The research results show that for this coal mine, if there is carbon monoxide in the gas sample, the phenomenon of oxidation and temperature rising for coal exists in this mine; if there is C₂H₄ in the gas sample, the temperature of coal perhaps exceeds 130 °C. If the coal temperature is between 35 °C and 130 °C, prediction and forecast for coal spontaneous combustion depend on the value of Φ(CO)/K mainly; if the temperature of coal is between 130 °C and 300 °C, prediction and forecast for coal spontaneous combustion depend on the value of Φ(C₂H₆)/Φ(C₂H₂) and Φ(C₂H₆)/K. The research results provide experimental basis for the prediction of coal spontaneous combustion in Anyuan coal mine, and have better guidance on safe production of this coal mine.

The stability of cemented backfill mass is important to keep miners and equipment safe in underground backfill miming. The stress-strain behavior, resistivity and thermal infrared (TIR) characteristics of backfill mass under uniaxial compression were investigated. The monitoring system consisted of a TIR observation system, a stress-strain monitoring system and a resistivity measurement system. Precursory information for impending failure of cemented backfill mass was collected, including TIR, strain and resistivity precursors. The sensitivity and difference of different monitoring information to the same failure event were compared. The results show that the time-space evolution process of the resistivity and TIR is basically the same as the whole process from compression deformation to failure of backfill mass, and the time variation of resistivity and TIR is obviously characterized by stage. The resistivity precursor turns out earlier than the TIR and the strain. The resistivity relation with loading compression is anti-symmetry, decreasing as the compression stress increases before the peak strength of backfill mass. However, when the backfill mass enters into the phase of failure, the resistivity starts to increase as the stress increases. The change of the resistivity growth direction can be regarded as the resistivity-caution-point for the failure of backfill mass under uniaxial compression. It is also indicated that the TIR information mainly represents the surface temperature evolution in the process of compression before the backfill enters into the plastic-yield state. It can be a valuable tool to obtain the precursors for failure of cemented backfill mass for backfill mines.

To study the physical and mechanical properties of coal rock after treatment at different temperatures under impact loading, dynamic compression experiments were conducted by using a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB). The stress–strain curves of specimens under impact loading were obtained, and then four indexes affected by temperature were analyzed in the experiment: the longitudinal wave velocity, elastic modulus, peak stress and peak strain. Among these indexes, the elastic modulus was utilized to express the specimens’ damage characteristics. The results show that the stress–strain curves under impact loading lack the stage of micro-fissure closure and the slope of the elastic deformation stage is higher than that under static loading. Due to the dynamic loading effect, the peak stress increases while peak strain decreases. The dynamic mechanical properties of coal rock show obvious temperature effects. The longitudinal wave velocity, elastic modulus and peak stress all decrease to different extents with increasing temperature, while the peak strain increases continuously. During the whole heating process, the thermal damage value continues to increase linearly, which indicates that the internal structure of coal rock is gradually damaged by high temperature.

High pressure and water-bearing caverns ahead of a karst tunnel face tend to cause geological disasters, such as water and mud bursts. So, the determination of safe thickness of the reserved rock plug is a key technical problem to be solved for karst tunnel construction. Based on the Hoek-Brown nonlinear failure criterion, the minimum safe thickness of rock plug was investigated in the light of the limit analysis theory. On the basis of the proposed failure mode, the expression of the minimum thickness for rock plug was obtained by means of upper bound theorem in combination with variational principle. The calculation results show the influence of each parameter on safe thickness and reveal the damage range of rock plug. The proposed method is verified by comparing the results with those of the drain cavern of Maluqing Tunnel. The research shows that with the increase of compressive strength and tensile strength as well as constant A of Hoek-Brown criterion, the safe thickness decreases, whereas with the increase of cavern pressure, tunnel diameter, and constant B from Hoek-Brown criterion, the safe thickness increases. Besides, the tensile strength, or constants A and B affect the shear failure angle of rock plug structure, but other parameters do not. In conclusion, the proposed method can predict the minimum safe thickness of rock plug, and is useful for water burst study and prevention measures of tunnels constructed in high-risk karst regions.

Actual slope stability problems have three-dimensional (3D) characteristics and the soils of slopes have curved failure envelopes. This incorporates a power-law nonlinear failure criterion into the kinematic approach of limit analysis to conduct the evaluation of the stability of 3D slopes. A tangential technique is adopted to simplify the nonlinear failure criterion in the form of equivalent Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters. A class of 3D admissible rotational failure mechanisms is selected for soil slopes including three types of failure mechanisms: face failure, base failure, and toe failure. The upper-bound solutions and corresponding critical slip surfaces can be obtained by an efficient optimization method. The results indicate that the nonlinear parameters have significant influences on the assessment of slope stability, especially on the type of failure mechanism. The effects of nonlinear parameters appear to be pronounced for gentle slopes constrained to a narrow width. Compared with the solutions derived from plane-strain analysis, the 3D solutions are more sensitive to the values of nonlinear parameters.

Based on the tunnel shape, span and depth, the previous elliptical plate model and clamped beam model were modified. The modified model was applied to different situations. For the elliptical plate model, the water effects were considered. For the clamped beam model, water and horizontal stress were considered. Corresponding potential functions and cusp catastrophe models of rock system were established based on the catastrophe theory. The expressions of critical safety thickness were derived with necessary and sufficient conditions. The method was applied to the practical engineering. Some parameters related to the stability were discussed. The results show that elastic modulus and thickness are advantageous to the floor stability, and that the load, span, horizontal stress and water are disadvantageous to the floor stability.

The lateral resistance of sleeper plays an important role in ensuring the stability of a railway track, which may change in the operation of railway, due to the fouling in the ballast bed. In this work, discrete element method was adopted to investigate the effect of fouling on the lateral resistance of sleeper. The shape information of ballast was captured by method of three-dimensional vision reconstruction. In order to calibrate the mechanical parameters and verify the models, a lateral resistance field test was carried out by using a custom-made device. The contact force distributions in the different parts of sleeper as well as the interaction between ballast and sleeper were discussed in depth. The results show that fouling of ballast bed evidently reduces the lateral resistance of sleeper and the decreasing degree is also related to the fouled position of ballast bed, in the order of shoulder > bottom > side. Therefore, the effect of fouling, especially the fouling in the ballast shoulder, on the lateral resistance of sleeper, should be taken into account in ballast track maintenance work.

Two calculation modes for the effect of external load on slope stability, i.e., mode I in which the external load is thought to act on slope surface, and mode II in which the external load is thought to act on slip surface along the force action line, were considered. Meanwhile, four basic distribution patterns of external load were used, of which complex external loads could be composed. In analysis process, several limit equilibrium methods, such as Swedish method, simplified Bishop method, simplified Janbu method, Spencer method, Morgenstern-Price (M-P) method, Sarma method, and unbalanced thrust method, were also adopted to contrast their differences in slope stability under the external load. According to parametric analysis, some conclusions can be obtained as follows: (1) The external load, with the large magnitude, small inclination angle, and acting position close to the slope toe, has more positive effect on slope stability; (2) The results calculated using modes I and II of external load are similar, indicating that the calculation mode of external load has little influence on slope stability; (3) If different patterns of external loads are equivalent to each other, their slope stability under these external loads are the same, and if not, the external load leads to the better slope stability, as action position of the resultant force for external load is closer to the lower sliding point of slip surface.

The multi-dimensional time-domain computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach is extended to calculate the acoustic attenuation performance of water-filled piping silencers. Transmission loss predictions from the time-domain CFD approach and the frequency-domain finite element method (FEM) agree well with each other for the dual expansion chamber silencer, straight-through and cross-flow perforated tube silencers without flow. Then, the time-domain CFD approach is used to investigate the effect of flow on the acoustic attenuation characteristics of perforated tube silencers. The numerical predictions demonstrate that the mean flow increases the transmission loss, especially at higher frequencies, and shifts the transmission loss curve to lower frequencies.

The water-inrush mechanism of strong water-guide collapse column in coal seam is studied based on the establishment of geological and mathematical models of “triangle” water-inrush mode. The geological background of Shuangliu mine is considered a prototype, similar simulation tests are adopted to analyze the water-inrush rules under this model, and the formation of water-guide channel and water-inrush process is investigated by examining the changes in rock resistivity. This work also uses the coupled cloud image derived from numerical simulation software to verify the results of simulation test. Results show that the numerical simulation of “triangle” water-inrush mode is consistent with the similar simulation. The “triangle” seepage area, which is located at the bottom of collapse columns and is connected to aquifer, is caused by the altered seepage direction and strengthened seepage actions after the overlapping of hydraulic transverse seepage in collapse column and hydraulic vertical seepage flow in aquifer. Under “triangle” water-inrush model, water-guide channel is formed by the communication between plastic failure zone of working face baseplate and “triangular” seepage area. Accordingly, the threatening water-inrush distance between working face and collapse column increases by 20 m compared with that of theoretical calculation.

Using ethanol or acetone as the working fluid, visualization of oscillations in steady state was observed visually by high-speed cameras, and temperature oscillating and heat transfer characteristics of closed-loop plate oscillating heat pipe with parallel channels (POHP-PC) were experimentally investigated by varying liquid filled ratios (50%, 70%, 85%), section scales (1 mm×1 mm and 1 mm×1.5 mm), inclination angles, working fluids and heating inputs. It was found that during operating there was mixed flow consisting of plug flow and annular flow in channels of oscillating heat pipe at steady-state. There was an equilibrium position for working fluid of condenser during oscillating, and periodic oscillations occurred up and down in the vicinity of equilibrium position. With heat input increasing, equilibrium position rose slowly as a result of vapor pressure of evaporation. Evaporation temperature oscillating amplitude possessed a trend of small-large-small and frequency trend was of small-large during steady-state. It may be generally concluded that temperature, whether evaporator or condenser, fluctuated sharply or rose continuously when oscillating heat pipe coming to dry burning state. Simultaneously, it was found that temperature difference of cooling water possibly dropped with heat input rising during dry burning state. Thermal resistance of No. 2 with acetone was lower than that of No. 1 during experiments, but No. 2 achieving heat transfer limit was earlier than No. 1. However, with ethanol, thermal resistance of No. 1 and No. 2 were similar with the heating input less than 110–120 W and filling ratios of 50% and 70%. And with filling ratio of 85%, heating transfer performance of No. 2 was better compared to No. 1 during all the experiments.

This work used the computational fluid dynamics method combined with full-scale train tests to analyze the train aerodynamic performance on special slope topography. Results show that with the increment in the slope gradient, the aerodynamic forces and moment increase sharply. Compared with the flat ground condition, the lateral force, lift force, and overturning moment of the train on the first line increase by 153.2%, 53.4% and 124.7%, respectively, under the slope gradient of 20°. However, with the increment of the windward side’s depth, the windbreak effect is improved obviously. When the depth is equal to 10 m, compared with the 0 m, the lateral force, lift force and overturning moment of the train on the first line decrease by 70.9%, 77.0% and 70.6%, respectively. Through analyzing the influence of slope parameters on the aerodynamic performance of the train, the relationships among them are established. All these will provide a basic reference for enhancing train aerodynamic performances under different slope conditions and achieve reasonable train speeds for the operation safety in different wind environments.

The conventional linear quadratic regulator (LQR) control algorithm is one of the most popular active control algorithms. One important issue for LQR control algorithm is the reduction of structure’s degrees of freedom (DOF). In this work, an LQR control algorithm with superelement model is intended to solve this issue leading to the fact that LQR control algorithm can be used in large finite element (FE) model for structure. In proposed model, the Craig-Bampton (C-B) method, which is one of the component mode syntheses (CMS), is used to establish superelement modeling to reduce structure’s DOF and applied to LQR control algorithm to calculate Kalman gain matrix and obtain control forces. And then, the control forces are applied to original structure to simulate the responses of structure by vibration control. And some examples are given. The results show the computational efficiency of proposed model using synthesized models is higher than that of the classical method of LQR control when the DOF of structure is large. And the accuracy of proposed model is well. Meanwhile, the results show that the proposed control has more effects of vibration absorption on the ground structures than underground structures.

In order to balance the temporal-spatial distribution of urban traffic flow, a model is established for combined urban traffic signal control and traffic flow guidance. With consideration of the wide use of fixed signal control at intersections, traffic assignment under traffic flow guidance, and dynamic characteristics of urban traffic management, a tri-level programming model is presented. To reflect the impact of intersection delay on traffic assignment, the lower level model is set as a modified user equilibrium model. The middle level model, which contains several definitional constraints for different phase modes, is built for the traffic signal control optimization. To solve the problem of tide lane management, the upper level model is built up based on nonlinear 0-1 integer programming. A heuristic iterative optimization algorithm (HIOA) is set up to solve the tri-level programming model. The lower level model is solved by method of successive averages (MSA), the middle level model is solved by non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA II), and the upper level model is solved by genetic algorithm (GA). A case study is raised to show the efficiency and applicability of the proposed modelling and computing method.

The accurate estimation of road traffic states can provide decision making for travelers and traffic managers. In this work, an algorithm based on kernel-k nearest neighbor (KNN) matching of road traffic spatial characteristics is presented to estimate road traffic states. Firstly, the representative road traffic state data were extracted to establish the reference sequences of road traffic running characteristics (RSRTRC). Secondly, the spatial road traffic state data sequence was selected and the kernel function was constructed, with which the spatial road traffic data sequence could be mapped into a high dimensional feature space. Thirdly, the referenced and current spatial road traffic data sequences were extracted and the Euclidean distances in the feature space between them were obtained. Finally, the road traffic states were estimated from weighted averages of the selected k road traffic states, which corresponded to the nearest Euclidean distances. Several typical links in Beijing were adopted for case studies. The final results of the experiments show that the accuracy of this algorithm for estimating speed and volume is 95.27% and 91.32% respectively, which prove that this road traffic states estimation approach based on kernel-KNN matching of road traffic spatial characteristics is feasible and can achieve a high accuracy.

The cumulative prospect theory (CPT) is applied to study travelers’ route choice behavior in a degradable transport network. A cumulative prospect theory-based user equilibrium (CPT-UE) model considering stochastic perception error (SPE) within travelers’ route choice decision process is developed. The SPE is conditionally dependent on the actual travel time distribution, which is different from the deterministic perception error used in the traditional logit-based stochastic user equilibrium. The CPT-UE model is formulated as a variational inequality problem and solved by a heuristic solution algorithm. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the application of the proposed model and efficiency of the solution algorithm. The effects of SPE on the reference point determination, cumulative prospect value estimation, route choice decision and network performance evaluation are investigated.