Texture evolution and inhomogeneous deformation of polycrystalline Cu during uniaxial compression are investigated at the grain scale by combining crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM) with particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The texture-based representative volume element (TBRVE) is used in the crystal plasticity finite element model, where a given number of crystallographic orientations are obtained by means of discretizing the orientation distribution function (ODF) based on electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) experiment data. Three-dimensional grains with different morphologies are generated on the basis of Voronoi tessellation. The PSO algorithm plays a significant role in identifying the material parameters and saving computational time. The macroscopic stress–strain curve is predicted based on CPFEM, where the simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental ones. Therefore, CPFEM is a powerful candidate for capturing the texture evolution and clarifying the inhomogeneous plastic deformation of polycrystalline Cu. The simulation results indicate that the <110> fiber texture is generated finally with the progression of plastic deformation. The inhomogeneous distribution of rotation angles lays the foundation for the inhomogeneous deformation of polycrystalline Cu in terms of grain scale.

In order to study the effect of Zr on the microstructure and isothermal annealing performance of Cu–Cr in situ composites, Cu–15Cr and Cu–15Cr–0.24Zr alloys were prepared by means of vacuum medium frequency induction melting technology. The two kinds of test alloys with deformation of 3.79 were subjected to isothermal annealing test. The effects of Zr on the as-cast microstructure, the isothermal annealing structure and the tensile fracture morphology of Cu–15Cr alloy were studied by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the addition of Zr leads to the formation of homogeneous and fine CuZr intermetallic compounds, which suppresses the formation electron microscopy of eutectic Cr phase and makes the eutectic Cr content much lower than that of Cu–15Cr alloy. The recrystallization temperature of the Cu matrix is increased, and it is maintained at a fine equiaxed crystal at 400 °C. After isothermal annealing at 400 °C for 220 h, the tensile strength, electrical conductivity and elongation of the test alloy containing Zr were 720 MPa, 68% IACS and 6.7%, respectively; while the tensile strength, electrical conductivity and elongation of the test alloys without Zr were 488 MPa, 70% IACS and 12.4%, respectively.

Precipitation behavior of Ti in high strength steels was investigated by means of the equilibrium solid solubility theory. The contributions of Ti content to yield strength were calculated. The calculated results were verified by the hot rolling experiment for C–Mn steel and C–Mn–Ti micro alloyed steel, respectively. The research results show that the precipitates are mainly TiN at the higher temperature. With the decreasing temperature, the proportion of TiC in precipitates increases gradually. When the temperature drops to 800 °C, TiC will become predominant for the precipitation of Ti. When Ti content is less than 0.014% (mass fraction), Ti has little influence on the yield strength. When Ti content is in the range of 0.014%–0.03% (mass fraction), the yield strength of Ti micro alloyed steel is greatly increased, which leads to instability of the mechanical properties of the steel. Therefore, the design of Ti content in high strength steels should avoid this Ti content range. When Ti content is higher than 0.03%, the yield strength increases stably. In this experiment, when added Ti content was controlled in the range of 0.03%–0.05%, the contribution to the yield strength of Ti micro alloyed steel can reach about 92.44 MPa.

A numerical optimization approach based on the finite element (FE) simulation was used to design the optimum irregular gourd-shaped pattern parameters for generating the highest hydrodynamic pressure. Then the optimum parameters of the gourd-shaped surface texture were determined and the textures were processed on the stainless steel surface by the laser technology. The tribological performance of gourd-shaped surface texture was analyzed using the type of UMT2 tester, and compared with that of the regular circle surface texture and none-texture surface by considering the effect of sliding speeds and applied loads on the tribological performance. The results show that the compound factor n, the diameter ratio D_r and the texture depth H_d are more significant parameters and the optimum values are 0.618, 2.0 and 4 μm, respectively. In addition, irregular gourd-shaped surface texture with optimum parameters is the most effective in the friction reduction among the patterns investigated under different speeds and applied loads in this work. Moreover, better coordination and combination effect can be obtained by gourd-shaped surface texture. The main reason responsible for the results is the irregular symmetric nature of the gourd-shaped texture along the direction of lubricants flowing which can generate the higher fluid dynamic pressure.

AA1060 aluminum foil was rolled from 4 mm to 20 μm by asymmetric rolling without intermediate annealing. The microstructures and textures were investigated. The original coarse grains with an average grain size of 60 μm were refined to fine equiaxed grains with an average grain size of about 500 nm with mainly large grain boundaries. During the rolling, the intensities of copper texture C-{112}<111> and brass texture B-{011}<211> gradually increased, and most crystallites aggregated along the β and τ orientation lines. The orientation intensity reached the maximum value 26 when the foil was rolled to 500 μm, but significantly decreased to 16 when the thickness became 20 μm, and the texture mainly consisted of a rotation cubic texture RC-{100}<011>. With the combined forces including drawing, compressing and shearing, severe plastic deformation was obtained during the asymmetric rolling, promoting dynamic recrystallization at room temperature. Because of a combined force in the deformation zone and shear force along the normal direction, dynamic recrystallization occurs during the asymmetric rolling; therefore, the average grain size is significantly refined. The texture intensity of ultrathin strip first increases, i.e., work hardening, and then decreases mainly because of dynamic recrystallization.

An attempt was made to deposit thin film of silver onto the glass substrate by using AgCl precursor, instead of conventional precursor AgNO₃ with vitamin C by inexpensive and convenient successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The deposited silver thin film was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV-visible and electrical I-V study. The diffraction study showed FCC structure of metallic silver in good agreement with the standard values of JCPDS (04–0783). SEM reveals flower like nano particles produced on the substrate. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak in the UV-visible spectrum shows maximum absorption at 350 nm. The film shows an ohmic behavior and its electrical resistivity was found ~10³ Ω·cm at room temperature.

The feasibility of copper smelter slag processing by ammonia solution treatment was investigated. The central composite rotatable design (CCRD) and approximation method were used to determine the optimum conditions of zinc and copper recovery to a solution. The experimental design was done at five levels of the four operating parameters which were the initial concentration of NH₃, the initial Cl^– ions concentration, leaching time and solid/liquid ratio. Two mathematical models describing dependence of metal recovery on the operating parameters were obtained. The models are successful in predicting the responses. It was found that optimal parameters for zinc and copper recovery are as follows (values for copper are given in brackets): initial

In order to provide a reliable reference for utilizing Indonesia vanadium titano-magnetite (VTM) in blast furnace (BF) economically, metallurgical properties of iron ore sinter with addition of Indonesia VTM in mixed sintering materials were investigated, including low-temperature reduction degradation index (RDI), reducibility index (RI), and softening/melting properties. Additionally, influenced mechanism of Indonesia VTM on metallurgical properties of sinter was studied. It is found that adding Indonesia VTM in sintering process quickly increases the RDI of sinters, and decreases the RI from 78.02% to 68.43%. Moreover, both beginning temperature (T₄) and final temperature (T_D) of softening/melting increase gradually, and cohesive zone temperature range (T_D–T₄) enlarges from 219 ºC to 315 ºC. As a result, the permeability of cohesive zone gets worse, which is proven by the higher maximum pressure drop (δP_max) in softening/melting experiments. It is concluded that, after comprehensively considering all metallurgical properties mentioned above, the proper proportion of Indonesia VTM in sintering process is proposed in the new raw materials conditions.

A method was proposed to improve the anti-rust property of hot rolled rebar, which uses oil–water emulsion cooling instead of water cooling after hot rolling. The experiments were carried out by two cooling methods, one cooled by water, the other cooled by oil–water emulsion. The results of wet/dry cyclic accelerated corrosion test showed that the anti-rust property of rebar cooled by oil–water emulsion was better than that by water obviously. The results of OM, SEM and EPMA analysis indicated that these two scales contained three layers: an outer Fe₃O₄ layer, an intermediate FeO layer with island-shaped pro-eutectoid Fe₃O₄, an inner eutectoid Fe₃O₄ layer. For the water cooled rebar, all three layers of oxide scale were relatively thin. Moreover, the scale had plenty of defects such as porosity, and crack. However, for the oil–water emulsion cooled rebar, all three layers of oxide scale were relatively thick and compact, which played an important role in protecting the rebar from atmospheric rust.

Numerical research on the dilute particles movement and deposition characteristics in the vicinity of converging slot-hole(console) was carried out, and the effect of hole shape on the particle deposition characteristics was investigated. The EI-Batsh deposition model was used to predict the particle deposition characteristics. The results show that the console hole has an obvious advantage in reducing particle deposition in comparison with cylindrical hole, especially under higher blowing ratio. The coolant jet from console holes can cover the wall well. Furthermore, the rotation direction of vortices near console hole is contrary to that near cylindrical hole. For console holes, particle deposition mainly takes place in the upstream area of the holes.

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is applicable for the heat-work conversion. Whereas, there also exist a lot issues that influence the efficiency and the cost of the system. In this work, eleven pure working fluids (as categorized into alkanes, and fluorinated alkanes) are investigated based on the first and second law of thermodynamics. The major objective is to obtain the most suitable working fluid for the latent heat source. The results show that the working fluid is an important factor of the system performance. The heat absorption of the working fluid in the evaporator is inversely proportional to the evaporating temperature, but the thermal and exergetic efficiencies are just the opposite. RC318 has the highest net power output and the lowest outlet temperature of the heat source, but its global warming potential (GWP) value is too high. The cyclohexane shows the highest thermal efficiency among the fluids investigated. Moreover, the figure of merit (FOM) of the isobutane is higher than that of other working fluids. Overall, the cyclohexane shows that the optimal comprehensive performance is more feasible for medium grade heat source in engineering applications.

A new approach for abnormal behavior detection was proposed using causality analysis and sparse reconstruction. To effectively represent multiple-object behavior, low level visual features and causality features were adopted. The low level visual features, which included trajectory shape descriptor, speeded up robust features and histograms of optical flow, were used to describe properties of individual behavior, and causality features obtained by causality analysis were introduced to depict the interaction information among a set of objects. In order to cope with feature noisy and uncertainty, a method for multiple-object anomaly detection was presented via a sparse reconstruction. The abnormality of the testing sample was decided by the sparse reconstruction cost from an atomically learned dictionary. Experiment results show the effectiveness of the proposed method in comparison with other state-of-the-art methods on the public databases for abnormal behavior detection.

Although real-world experiences show that preparing one image per person is more convenient, most of the appearance-based face recognition methods degrade or fail to work if there is only a single sample per person (SSPP). In this work, we introduce a novel supervised learning method called supervised locality preserving multimanifold (SLPMM) for face recognition with SSPP. In SLPMM, two graphs: within-manifold graph and between-manifold graph are made to represent the information inside every manifold and the information among different manifolds, respectively. SLPMM simultaneously maximizes the between-manifold scatter and minimizes the within-manifold scatter which leads to discriminant space by adopting locality preserving projection (LPP) concept. Experimental results on two widely used face databases FERET and AR face database are presented to prove the efficacy of the proposed approach.

One of the most important methods that finds usefulness in various applications, such as searching historical manuscripts, forensic search, bank check reading, mail sorting, book and handwritten notes transcription, is handwritten character recognition. The common issues in the character recognition are often due to different writing styles, orientation angle, size variation (regarding length and height), etc. This study presents a classification model using a hybrid classifier for the character recognition by combining holoentropy enabled decision tree (HDT) and deep neural network (DNN). In feature extraction, the local gradient features that include histogram oriented gabor feature and grid level feature, and grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features are extracted. Then, the extracted features are concatenated to encode shape, color, texture, local and statistical information, for the recognition of characters in the image by applying the extracted features to the hybrid classifier. In the experimental analysis, recognition accuracy of 96% is achieved. Thus, it can be suggested that the proposed model intends to provide more accurate character recognition rate compared to that of character recognition techniques used in the literature.

A three-body model composed of two geological bodies and a structural body was developed to explore how ground-support systems respond to axial loads in underground spaces. A detailed method was designed to fabricate physical scale-model specimens for testing. Three types of specimens were constructed to investigate how three different materials reacted to each other under load. The three types of specimens were called the weak-rock model, hard-rock model and mixed model. The results of uniaxial compression tests show that the mechanical behaviour of a three-body structural support is closely related to the interaction between the three bodies, but owing to different mechanisms, the three types of material behave very differently. To explain the test results, numerical simulations were conducted to explore fully the load responses of the three-body model specimens. The numerical simulations verify the hypotheses proposed for how the three types of material interact.

Outwash deposit is a unique type of geological materials, and its features such as heterogeneity, discontinuity and nonlinearity determine the complexity of mechanical characteristics and failure mechanism. In this work, random meso-structure of outwash deposits was constructed by the technique of computer random simulation based on characteristics of its meso-structure in the statistical sense and some simplifications, and a series of large direct shear tests on numerical samples of outwash deposits with stone contents of 15%, 30%, 45% and 60% were conducted using the discrete element method to further investigate its mechanical characteristics and failure mechanism under external load. The results show that the deformation characteristics and shear strength of outwash deposits are to some extent improved with the increase of stone content, and the shear stress–shear displacement curves of outwash deposits show great differences at the post-peak stage due to the random spatial distribution and content of stones. From the mesoscopic view, normal directions of contacts between “soil” and “stone” particles undergo apparent deflection as the shear displacement continues during the shearing process, accompanying redistribution of the magnitude of contact forces during the shearing process. For outwash deposits, the shear zone formed after shear failure is an irregular stripe due to the movements of stones near the shear zone, and it expands gradually with the increase of stone content. In addition, there is an approximately linear relation between the mean increment of internal friction angle and the stone content lying between 30% and 60%, and a concave nonlinear relation between the mean increment of cohesion and stone content, which are in good agreement with the existing research results.

On the basis of the two dimensional finite element analysis model, the pile foundations’ mechanical effect of the rigid pile composite foundation under the dynamic load was researched. Through the research, the development law and deformation property of axial force of pile body, shaft resistance of pile, and cumulative settlement of pile head under vertical cyclic dynamic loads were concluded. Through the comparison and analysis of the test results of dynamic models, the test results of Poulos (1989) and cumulative settlement model of the single pile under cyclic loads were confirmed. Based on the above research, Fortran language was adopted to introduce the soil attenuation factor, the secondary development of relevant modules of ABAQUS was carried out, and the effect of soil attenuation factor on dynamic property of pile-soil was discussed further.

In the development of unit-cell theory for the analytical analysis of consolidation with vertical drains, the equal-strain assumption is often made with the intention of modelling consolidation under uniform settlement conditions. In contrast, the free-strain assumption for modelling consolidation under uniform load conditions is seldom employed, mainly because of the complexities involved in the analysis. This study derives a rigorous analytical solution to the generalised governing equations of free-strain consolidation with a vertical drain subjected to an instantaneous load. Calculated results from the newly proposed solution are compared with those from three available solutions derived based on the equal-strain assumption. Surprisingly good agreement is obtained in terms of excess pore-water pressure, degree of consolidation, and settlement. Horizontal profiles of settlement were not uniform before the end of consolidation. This indicates that the uniform settlement condition is not actually reproduced by the analytical solutions derived based on the equal-strain assumption. The equal-strain assumption is a sufficient but not necessary condition for deriving an analytical solution to unit-cell consolidation theory. The assumption plays no role in modelling consolidation under uniform settlement conditions but simplifies the analytical analysis of free-strain consolidation and results in an approximate solution of high accuracy for consolidation under uniform load conditions. Moreover, drain resistance and smear effects not only retard the consolidation rate, but also importantly shape the vertical and horizontal profiles of excess pore-water pressure, respectively.

Proper room and pillar sizes are both critical factors for safe mining and high ore recovery rate in shrinkage stoping mining of underground metal mines. The rock masses of Tangdan copper mine of China are fractured, which needs much reinforcement and support prior to mining. Cement-sodium silicate grout technology was selected, then its related parameters such as grout pressure, diffusion radius and time were calculated and proposed. In order to test the effect of the pressured grout in the fractured No.4 ore block, field experiments were conducted. To optimize stoping configuration, three-dimensional numerical simulation with ANSYS and FLAC 3D softwares was proposed. The results show that the drilling porosity and mechanical properties of the rock masses are increased obviously. After grout, ore recovery rate is increased by 10.2 % employing the newly designed stoping configuration compared with the previous. Last, analyzed from the surface movements, roof subsidence and the maximum principal stress of the pillars, the mining safety is probable of being ensured.

The hydration and thermal properties of cement-based materials containing various proportions of limestone powder as a partial replacement for ordinary Portland cement, were investigated and reported. Both compressive and flexural strengths of cement mortar with various contents of limestone powder were tested to study the influence of limestone powder on the strength development of resulting mixtures. The hydration heat and its rate of evolution were also tested, which clearly showed that the replacement percentage of limestone powder had significant effects on the total hydration heat but only a modest influence on the rate of heat evolution of cement-limestone binder. Importantly, the reduction coefficient of limestone powder on the hydration heat, needed for estimation of adiabatic temperature rise of cement-limestone binder, was found to be approximately 0.51. Fundamental thermal properties of these concrete mixtures containing limestone powder were also studied. Increasing the percentage of limestone powder resulted in a significant reduction in the adiabatic temperature rise but only a slight increase in other thermal properties such as thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and specific heat. In addition, thermal analysis using finite-element modelling indicated that inclusion of limestone powder did not significantly affect the rate of temperature rise nor the occurrence time of the highest temperature at early ages.

The geological hazards, such as water inrush and mud outburst, are easily induced by the high water pressure caverns ahead of a karst tunnel face. Therefore, it is a pivotal issue to determine the reserved thickness of rock plug during the construction of tunnels. The limit analysis principle is employed to analyze the safe thickness from the point of energy dissipation, and the nonlinear and non-associated characteristics of geotechnical materials are both considered. On the basis of a plane failure pattern of rock plug, the expressions of detaching curve and rock plug thickness are derived. The effect of each parameter on the safe thickness of rock plug is discussed in detail, which interprets the corresponding failure scope of rock plug. The obtained results indicate that the thickness of rock plug is highly influenced by the nonlinear dilatancy coefficient and the nonlinear coefficient. The proposed method is validated by a comparison of the calculated results with those of the engineering project of the “526 karst cavern” of Yunwushan tunnel. This proposed method can provide reference basis for the design and excavation of karst tunnels in the future.

This study presents a novel approach using theoretical analysis to assess the risk of rock burst of an island longwall panel that accounts for the coupled behavior of stress distribution and overlying strata movement. The height of destressed zone (HDZ) above the mined panel was first determined based on the strain energy balance in an underground coal mining area. HDZ plays a vital role in accurately determining the amount of different loads being transferred towards the front abutment and panel sides. Subsequently, based on the load transfer mechanisms, a series of formulae were derived for the average static and dynamic stresses in the island pillar through theoretical analysis. Finally, the model was applied to determining the side abutment stress distribution of LW 3112 in the Chaoyang Coal Mine and the results of ground subsidence monitoring were used to verify the predicted model. It can be concluded that the proposed computational model can be successfully applied to determining the safety of mining in island longwall panels.

Estimating the spatial distribution of coseismic slip is an ill-posed inverse problem, and solutions may be extremely oscillatory due to measurement errors without any constraints on the coseismic slip distribution. In order to obtain stable solution for coseismic slip inversion, regularization method with smoothness-constrained was imposed. Trade-off parameter in regularized inversion, which balances the minimization of the data misfit and model roughness, should be a critical procedure to achieve both resolution and stability. Then, the active constraint balancing approach is adopted, in which the trade-off parameter is regarded as a spatial variable at each model parameter and automatically determined via the model resolution matrix and the spread function. Numerical experiments for a synthetical model indicate that regularized inversion using active constraint balancing approach can provides stable inversion results and have low sensitivity to the knowledge of the exact character of the Gaussian noise. Regularized inversion combined with active constraint balancing approach is conducted on the 2005 Nias earthquake. The released moment based on the estimated coseismic slip distribution is 9.91×10²¹ N·m, which is equivalent to a moment magnitude of 8.6 and almost identical to the value determined by USGS. The inversion results for synthetic coseismic uniform-slip model and the 2005 earthquake show that smoothness-constrained regularized inversion method combined with active constraint balancing approach is effective, and can be reasonable to reconstruct coseismic slip distribution on fault.