Leaching assessment of concrete made of recycled coarse aggregate: Physical and environmental characterisation of aggregates and hardened concrete

Each year, millions of tonnes of waste are generated worldwide, partially through the construction and demolition of buildings. Recycling the resulting waste could reduce the amount of materials that need to be manufactured. Accordingly, the present work has analysed the potential reuse of construction waste in concrete manufacturing by replacing the natural aggregate with recycled concrete coarse aggregate.However, incorporating alternative materials in concrete manufacturing may increase the pollutant potential of the product, presenting an environmental risk via ground water contamination.The present work has tested two types of concrete batches that were manufactured with different replacement percentages. The experimental procedure analyses not only the effect of the portion of recycled aggregate on the physical properties of concrete but also on the leaching behaviour as indicative of the contamination degree. Thus, parameters such as slump, density, porosity and absorption of hardened concrete, were studied. Leaching behaviour was evaluated based on the availability test performed to three aggregates (raw materials of the concrete batches) and on the diffusion test performed to all concrete.From an environmental point of view, the question of whether the cumulative amount of heavy metals that are released by diffusion reaches the availability threshold was answered. The analysis of concentration levels allowed the establishment of different groups of metals according to the observed behaviour, the analysis of the role of pH and the identification of the main release mechanisms. Finally, through a statistical analysis, physical parameters and diffusion data were interrelated. It allowed estimating the relevance of porosity, density and absorption of hardened concrete on diffusion release of the metals in study.     

Using pruning residues as mulch: analysis of its adoption and process of diffusion in Southern Spain olive orchards

This paper analyses both the processes of adoption and diffusion of the practice of using the chopped residues of pruning as mulch in the olive orchards of the Southern Spanish province of Granada, one of the major olive-producing areas in the world. Many olive groves in the area are located on steep areas where the risk of soil erosion is high. A majority of farmers have adopted no tillage, as an alternative to traditional tillage, combined with either vegetation soil covers or, more frequently, using the chopped pruning residues as mulch. The data used comes from a survey carried out in 2005 to 215 olive farmers. From farmers' responses we estimate a binomial probit model to identify some socio-economic and institutional factors related to the decision to use the practice of mulching on a regular basis. We also estimate several diffusion models that describe the spatial and temporal spread of mulching among farmers. Our results show that mulching using the pruning residues is adopted by 43% of the surveyed farmers. The diffusion process of this practice has been very intense since the middle nineties, and seems to have been based on the interactions among farmers in the area of study rather than in other external source of information. Some of the relevant identified factors that affect the probability of adoption of this practice are farmer's experience, the level of soil degradation in the farm or the continuity of farming by some relative.     

A Mechanistic Model Describing the Degradation of Polymers

This study examined the cooperative effects of diffusion and reaction on the degradation of a polymer. The work was intended to describe bulk degradation processes, where the polymer volume remains nearly constant. Test coupons made from poly (2-ethyl 2-oxazoline) were immersed in water for controlled durations. The coupons were weighed before and after immersion in the wet and dried condition. The coupons were observed to gain weight for short immersion durations. At longer durations the weight change became negative as the solvent reacted with and dissolved the polymer. An average solvent concentration was found from the weight measurements. Fick’s law was used to express the increase in concentration while a first order reaction law was used to represent the decrease in concentration of the solvent. The competing changes in concentration were combined from which the net solvent concentration at any given time was obtained. The model was compared with the experimental measurements using coupons of various thicknesses. The model was found to describe the observed polymer degradation in water including thickness effects.     

Solute transport properties of compacted Ca-bentonite used in FEBEX project

The present Spanish concept of a deep geological high level waste repository includes an engineered clay barrier around the canister. The clay presents a very high sorption capability for radionuclides and a very small hydraulic conductivity, so that the migration process of solutes is limited by sorption and diffusion processes. Therefore, diffusion and distribution coefficients in compacted bentonite (i.e. in "realistic" liquid to solid ratio conditions) are the main parameters that have to be obtained in order to characterise solute transport that could be produced after the canister breakdown. Through-Diffusion (TD) and In-Diffusion (ID) experiments with HTO, Sr, Cs and Se were carried out using compacted FEBEX bentonite, which is the reference material for the Spanish concept of radioactive waste disposal. Experiments were interpreted by means of available analytical solutions that allow the estimation of diffusion coefficients and, in some cases, distribution coefficients. Analytical solutions are simple to use, but rely on hypotheses that do not hold in all the experiments. These experiments were interpreted also using an automatic parameter estimation code that overcomes the limitations of analytical solutions. Numerical interpretation allows the simultaneous estimation of porosity, diffusion and distribution coefficients, accounts for the role of porous sinters and time-varying boundary concentrations, and can use different types of raw concentration data.     

Spatially mixed crops to control the stratified dispersal of airborne fungal diseases

Intraspecific crop diversification is thought to be a possible solution to the disease susceptibility of monocultured crops. We modelled the stratified dispersal of an airborne pathogen population in order to identify the spatial patterns of cultivar mixtures that could slow epidemic spread driven by dual dispersal mechanisms acting over both short and long distances. We developed a model to simulate the propagation of a fungal disease in a 2D field, including a reaction-diffusion model for short-distance disease dispersal, and a stochastic model for long-distance dispersal. The model was fitted to data for the spatio-temporal spread of faba bean rust (caused by Uromyces viciae-fabae) through a discontinuous field. The model was used to compare the effectiveness of eight different planting patterns of cultivar mixtures against a disease spread by short-distance and stratified dispersal. Our combined modelling approach provides a reasonably good fit with the observed data for the spread of faba bean rust. Similar predictive power could be expected for the management of resource-mediated invasions by other airborne fungi. If a disease spreads by short-distance dispersal, random mixtures can be used to slow the epidemic spread, since their spatial irregularity creates a natural barrier to the progression of a smooth epidemic wave. In the context of stratified dispersal, heterogeneous patterns should be used that include a minimum distance between susceptible units, which decreases the probability of infection by long-distance spore dispersal. We provide a simple framework for modelling the stratified dispersal of disease in a diversified crop. The model suggests that the spatial arrangement of components in cultivar mixtures has to accord with the dispersal characteristics of the pathogen in order to increase the efficiency of diversification strategies in agro-ecosystems and forestry. It can be applied in low input agriculture to manage pathogen invasion by intercropping and cultivar mixtures, and to design sustainable systems of land use.     

易燃、易爆(有毒)重大危险源(罐区)泄漏物扩散模型及数值模拟

在研究易燃、易爆、有毒的重大危险源和泄漏物扩散模型的基础上,建立了易燃、易爆、有毒物三维数值模拟程序,得到了复杂地形条件下关键点的有害物浓度历史和有害物的时空分布     

Sediment processes and mercury transport in a frozen freshwater fluvial lake (Lake St. Louis, QC, Canada)

An open-bottom and a closed-bottom mesocosm were developed to investigate the release of mercury from sediments to the water column in a frozen freshwater lake. The mesoscosms were deployed in a hole in the ice and particulate mercury (Hg_P) and total dissolved mercury (TDHg) were measured in sediments and in water column vertical profiles. In addition, dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) in water and mercury water/airflux were quantified. Concentrations of TDHg, DGM, and mercury flux were all higher in the open-bottom mesocosm than in the closed-bottom mesocosm. In this paper we focus on the molecular diffusion of mercury from the sediment in comparison with the TDHg accumulation in the water column. We conclude that the molecular diffusion and sediment resuspension play a minor role in mercury release from sediments suggesting that solute release during ebullition is an important transport process for mercury in the lake.     

烟囱排烟扩散的影响因素初步研究

为减少和控制工业锅炉烟囱排放中的有害气体对自然生态环境的污染，设计单位的专业工程设计人员在锅炉房设计布置中，除了应根据锅炉的蒸发量来确定风，烟道的截面外，还须根据不同地区的气象条件，局部地形等实际情况，来决定锅炉房烟囱的设计。文章简妻介绍了风速、风向，湍流强度及大气稳定度对烟囱排烟扩散的影响。     

面向制信息权的核污染扩散预警技术研究

以核电站核污染扩散预警技术为研究对象,基于环保指挥自动化系统C4ISRE,通过整合WRF、HYSPLIT、Unidata IDV、AGI STK、Arc GIS系统等构建核污染扩散单一合成图SIP(Single Integrated Picture),并通过SIP对核污染扩散进行详细分析,进而实现对核污染应急处置的制信息权。研究表明:当研究区实际的天气系统具备了本例模拟的气象特征时,即主体风向为局部区域东北风3~4级,局部区域西北风6~7级,发生与日本福岛核事故同样等级的事故,12个小时后,受影响的居民区主要为谢屯镇、炮台镇、李店镇、普兰店市、无名区1。其中,炮台镇的大部分区域浓度为10 Pbq,面积为2.66 km 2,东北方向部分区域浓度为100 Pbq,面积为0.03 km~2;普兰店市西南部区域浓度为10 Pbq,面积为8.00 km~2,东北部区域浓度为100 Pbq,面积为0.033 km 2;李店镇东北区域浓度为1 Pbq,面积为0.93km~2;无名区1南部区域浓度为1 Pbq,面积为4.50 km~2。