Seismic fragility analysis of a coupled tank-piping system based on artificial ground motions and surrogate modeling

The catastrophic consequences of recent NaTech events triggered by earthquakes highlighted the inadequacy of standard approaches to seismic risk assessment of chemical process plants. To date, the risk assessment of such facilities mainly relies on historical data and focuses on uncoupled process components. As a consequence, the dynamic interaction between process equipment is neglected. In response to this gap, researchers started a progressive integration of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) risk assessment framework. However, a few limitations still prevent a systematic implementation of this framework to chemical process plants. The most significant are: (i) the computational cost of system-level simulations accounting for coupling between process equipment; (ii) the experimental cost for component-level model validation; (iii) a reduced number of hazard-consistent site-specific ground motion records for time history analyses.In response to these challenges, this paper proposes a recently developed uncertainty quantification-based framework to perform seismic fragility assessments of chemical process plants. The framework employs three key elements: (i) a stochastic ground-motion model to supplement scarcity of real records; (ii) surrogate modeling to reduce the computational cost of system-level simulations; (iii) a component-level model validation based on cost-effective hybrid simulation tests. In order to demonstrate the potential of the framework, two fragility functions are computed for a pipe elbow of a coupled tank-piping system.     

Performance of a diesel engine with water emulsified diesel prepared with optimized process parameters

An attempt has been made to produce stable water–diesel emulsion with optimal formulation and process parameters and to evaluate the performance and emission characteristics of diesel engine using this stable water–diesel emulsion. A total of 54 samples were prepared with varying water/diesel ratio, surfactant amount and stirring speed and water separation was recorded after 24 and 48 hr of emulsification. The recorded data were used in artificial neural network (ANN)-particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique to find the optimal parameters to produce water–diesel emulsion for engine testing. The predicted optimal parameters were found as 20% water to diesel ratio, 0.9% surfactant and 2200 rpm of stirrer for a water separation of 14.33% in one day with a variation of 6.54% against the actual value of water separation. Water–diesel emulsion fuel exhibited similar fuel properties as base fuel. The peak cylinder gas pressure, peak pressure rise rate and peak heat release rate for water–diesel were found higher as compared to diesel at medium to full engine loads. The improved air-fuel mixing in water–diesel emulsion enhanced brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of engine. The absorption of heat by water droplets present in water–diesel emulsion led to reduced exhaust gas temperature (EGT). With water–diesel emulsion fuel, the mean carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbon and oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) emissions reduced by 8.80, 39.60, and 26.11%, respectively as compared to diesel.     

论"水十条"对中国水体污染防治的意义

2015年4月16日,国务院正式发布《水污染防治行动计划》,《水污染防治行动计划》为了与一年前出台的"大气十条"相对应,故亦简称"水十条".这将是今后很长一段时期中国治理水环境的纲领性文件."水十条"对中国水污染治理工作提出了总体目标,同时作为新环保法的延伸,"水十条"将强调市场机制在治理水体污染中的作用、促进环境需求的多样化.总的来说,"水十条"的发布,标志着中国将对水污染防控治理进行强力监管,铁腕治污将进入"新常态".     

沈阳市大气PM_(10)中水溶性无机阴离子的分布特征研究

2014年7月和12月分别对沈阳市大气污染物PM_(10)(可吸入颗粒物)进行采样分析,采样期内PM_(10)浓度全部超过国家一级标准,最大值超出国家二级标准3.3倍。用离子色谱法分析了PM_(10)中的水溶性无机阴离子,结果表明:4种阴离子浓度之和的变化总趋势为7月12月;各离子浓度的关系为SO_4~(2-)NO_3~-Cl~-F~-,4种离子浓度均为冬季高于夏季;对PM_(10)及4种阴离子进行相关性分析,得出NO_3~-、SO_4~(2-)浓度与PM_(10)浓度呈显著正相关,是PM_(10)的重要组分,并通过NO_3~-与SO_4~(2-)的质量比得出沈阳市大气污染物中水溶性组分主要来自于固定排放源。     

土壤污染防治投融资体系改革与基金设立研究

分析了开展土壤污染防治投融资体系改革的必要性,并借鉴国外开展土壤修复的经验,提出通过设立基金推进我国土壤污染防治投融资体系改革,旨在破解当前土壤污染防治工作面临的困局。文中介绍了基金的设立思路、主要任务、规模及融资渠道以及管理措施,并从法律、管理和技术角度提出基金设立和运行的保障措施。土壤污染防治基金的建立,将从融资角度对即将出台的《土壤污染防治法》产生强力支撑,同时促使我国土壤污染防治工作向专业化、市场化和资本化发展。     

环保PPP的八维变量分析及在重金属污染治理中的应用

对PPP应用的主要领域做了分析,并对市政环保领域利用"八维变量分析法"进行了研究,分别从资产条件、项目条件、经营条件3个方向对投资强度、资产沉淀性、资产变现、供应预期、边界清晰度、付费模式、经营增值空间和公益偏见八个变量展开研究,对重金属治理的PPP应用进行了分析,提出重金属治理PPP领域主要存在于环境监测与检测、末端治理和环境修复市场。     

高压低流电化学深度处理砷氟废水技术研究

为解决企业外排生产废水砷氟超标问题,采用高压低流电化学技术对某矿山企业外排的含砷氟废水进行深度处理,研究考察进水pH值,电流密度,电化学反应时间、极板材料、絮凝反应、pH等工艺条件对处理效果的影响。得到2最佳工艺条件为进水pH5.5左右、絮凝pH6.5~7.0、电化学反应时间6 min,铁铝极板比例为1:2,电流密度10.9 m A/cm。处理出水中的砷、氟能稳定达到《地表水环境质量标准》(GB3838—2002)Ⅲ类水体水质标准要求。     

再生水中的Pb对萝卜根际土壤微生物群落结构的影响研究

采用盆栽方法研究再生水、再生水+Pb、清水+Pb处理浇灌萝卜,以清水浇灌为对照对萝卜根际土壤微生物群落的影响进行研究。结果表明:(1)土壤总PLFA含量及各菌群生物量从大到小依次为:再生水再生水+Pb清水清水+Pb。再生水灌溉有利于萝卜根际微生物各类群数量的增加,丰富微生物多样性。用含铅的溶液(再生水+Pb、清水+Pb)浇灌萝卜,可抑制土壤微生物各类群的数量,G-受到的抑制尤为明显。(2)主成分分析表明,再生水灌溉与对照相比,土壤微生物群落结构差异最大。(3)土壤微生物各类群与土壤速效钾、硝酸盐氮含量呈极显著正相关(P0.01),真菌、放线菌与土壤有机质含量,G~+、G~-菌与p H均呈极显著正相关(P0.01)。G~+、G~-与萝卜地下鲜重均呈极显著负相关(P0.01),土壤微生物各类群与地上部分硝酸盐含量、与根冠比呈极显著正相关(P0.01)。     

污染地块环境风险管控对策研究

鉴于我国污染地块环境管控法规制度缺失,土壤环境监管方面基本处于空白的实际,为了加强对污染地块的风险管控,规范对污染地块的开发利用,文章从厘清污染地块监管责任、明确监管责任、建立污染地块风险管控制度等方面提出了具体对策,建立了相关的风险管控制度,以期为我国污染地块环境管控提供技术支撑。     

Mapping Outlets of Iowa Flood Center and National Water Center River Networks for Hydrologic Model Comparison

River networks based on Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data differ depending on the DEM resolution, accuracy, and algorithms used for network extraction. As spatial scale increases, the differences diminish. This study explores methods that identify the scale where networks obtained by different methods agree within some margin of error. The problem is relevant for comparing hydrologic models built around the two networks. An example is the need to compare streamflow prediction from the Hillslope Link Model (HLM) operated by the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) and the National Water Model (NWM) operated by the National Water Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The HLM uses landscape decomposition into hillslopes and channel links while the NWM uses the NHDPlus dataset as its basic spatial support. While the HLM resolves the scale of the NHDPlus, the outlets of the latter do not necessarily correspond to the nodes of the HLM model. The authors evaluated two methods to map the outlets of NHDPlus to outlets on the IFC network. The methods compare the upstream areas of the channels and their spatial location. Both methods displayed similar performance and identified matches for about 80% of the outlets with a tolerance of 10% in errors in the upstream area. As the aggregation scale increases, the number of matches also increases. At the scale of 100 km², 90% of the outlets have matches with tolerance of 5%. The authors recommend this scale for comparing the HLM and NWM streamflow predictions.