Effects of soil-structure interaction on fragility and seismic risk; a case study of power plant containment

Safety-related structures are designed to provide a safe environment for the occupants and equipment during and after earthquakes. This is due to the fact that any damage imposed to the systems might lead to catastrophic consequences. Seismic probabilistic risk assessment (SPRA) is a systematic approach for the quantification of the seismic risk. One of the crucial steps in this assessment is to determine the seismic capacity of the structures by fragility method. After a review of available methodologies, this article analyzes the seismic fragility for a typical power plant containment considering the effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI). The structure and underneath soil profile are analyzed as a unified model by the subtraction method. Two steps are considered for the assessment of seismic response: In the first step, a fixed-base hypothesis framework is implemented to the computational problem. The second step covers computations taking into account the SSI effects. Using the results of seismic response analysis and safety factor method, seismic fragility of the structure is computed and related fragility curves are developed. Finally, by comparing the fragility curves, the effects of SSI are quantified on the overall seismic risk.     

Simulation-based fault propagation analysis—Application on hydrogen production plant

Recently production of hydrogen from water through the Cu–Cl thermochemical cycle is developed as a new technology. The main advantages of this technology over existing ones are higher efficiency, lower costs, lower environmental impact and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Considering these advantages, the usage of this technology in new industries such as nuclear and oil is increasingly developed. Due to hazards involved in hydrogen production, design and implementation of hydrogen plants require provisions for safety, reliability and risk assessment. However, very little research is done from safety point of view. This paper introduces fault semantic network (FSN) as a novel method for fault diagnosis and fault propagation analysis by using evolutionary techniques like genetic programming (GP) and neural networks (NN), to uncover process variables’ interactions. The effectiveness, feasibility and robustness of the proposed method are demonstrated on simulated data obtained from the simulation of hydrogen production process in Aspen HYSYS^®. The proposed method has successfully achieved reasonable detection and prediction of non-linear interaction patterns among process variables.     

Interaction of selenium and cadmium in wheat at different salinities

Abstract

Interaction of Se up to 8?mg?kg^?1 soil and Cd at 5 and 15?mg?kg^?1 soil in wheat at different salinities was evaluated. Se concentrations in wheat shoots were progressively increased in parallel to Se in soil but decreased by addition of Cd. With increasing salinity, Cd concentrations increased and Se decreased. At low salinity, low addition of Se to the soil reduced Cd accumulation. At moderate and high salinities, only high Se amendment led to decline in Cd uptake, at the expense of reduction in biomass yield. Se at 0.5?mg?kg^?1 soil alleviated the negative effect of Cd on shoot yield.     

基于Box Behnken设计的煤导热系数分析与预测

为研究分析水分、固定碳及密度3个因素对煤导热系数的影响,选取多个矿井不同煤质的煤作为实验煤样,使用NETZSCH LFA457型激光导热系数测试仪进行测定,并引入二次响应曲面试验设计思想,采用Design Expert软件进行煤质指标的Box Behnken试验设计,按设计表筛选实验数据,构建了导热系数多因素、多水平影响下二次回归响应曲面模型,并对不同采样地点的煤导热系数进行了分析与预测。结果表明:二次回归方程P值小于0.000 1,极显著,失拟项为0.072 4,不显著,回归方程具有统计学意义;当水分在0.9%~10.9%,固定碳在49.3%~83.6%,密度在1.2~1.92 g·cm³之间,对煤的导热系数一次项影响程度为密度>固定碳>水分;二次项影响程度为固定碳和密度>水分和密度>水分和固定碳,且固定碳和密度之间存在交互作用,水分和密度、水分和固定碳之间无交互作用;应用响应曲面模型预测的煤导热系数误差为4.3%,满足精度要求。     

Influence of low and decreasing food levels on Daphnia-algal interactions: Numerical experiments with a new dynamic energy budget model

Based on numerical experiments with a new physiologically structured population model we demonstrate that predator physiology under low food and under starving conditions can have substantial implications for population dynamics in predator-prey interactions. We focused on Daphnia-algae interactions as model system and developed a new dynamic energy budget (DEB) model for individual daphnids. This model integrates the κ-rule approach common to net assimilation models into a net-production model, but uses a fixed allocation of net-productive energy in juveniles. The new DEB-model agrees well with the results of life history experiments with Daphnia. Compared to a pure κ-rule model the new allocation scheme leads to significant earlier maturation at low food levels and thus is in better agreement with the data. Incorporation of the new DEB-model into a physiologically structured population model using a box-car elevator technique revealed that the dynamics of Daphnia-algae interactions are highly sensitive to the assumptions on the energy allocation of juveniles under low food conditions. Additionally we show that also other energy allocation rules of our DEB-model concerning decreasing food levels and starving conditions at the individual level have strong implications for Daphnia-algae interactions at the population level. With increasing carrying capacity of algae a stable equilibrium with coexistence of Daphnia occurs and algae shifts to limit cycles. The amplitudes of the limit cycles increase with increasing percentage of sustainable weight loss. If a κ-rule energy allocation is applied to juveniles, the stable equilibrium occurs for a much narrower range of algal carrying capacities, the algal concentration at equilibrium is about 2 times larger, and the range of algae carrying capacities at which daphnids become extinct extends to higher carrying capacities than in the new DEB-model. Because predator-prey dynamics are very sensitive to predator physiology under low food and starving conditions, empirical constraints of predator physiology under these conditions are essential when comparing model results with observations in laboratory experiments or in the field.     

大型渡槽结构动力学研究进展

大型渡槽是灌区生命线工程中的关键性建筑物,其在地震及风载作用下的安全性已是渡槽建设的瓶劲,也是国内外研究的热点。渡槽结构的抗震、减震和抗风技术的核心是渡槽结构动力学的问题,而渡槽结构动力学系属流固耦合(FSI)系统的动力学范畴。在已有研究的基础上,首先对渡槽结构FSI系统模型的研究进行了总结和评述;然后简述了渡槽结构动力特性和响应的求解技术以及抗震、隔震、减震与抗风技术的研究概况;最后总结了渡槽结构动力学的研究进展,提出了该学科进一步研究的内容和方法。     

Promotional catalytic activity and reaction mechanism of Ag-modified Ce0.6Zr0.4O2 catalyst for catalytic oxidation of ammonia

Ce_1-xZr_xO₂ composite oxides (molar, x = 0-1.0, interval of 0.2) were prepared by a cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-assisted precipitation method. The enhancement of silver-species modification and catalytic mechanism of adsorption-transformation-desorption process were investigated over the Ag-impregnated catalysts for low-temperature selective catalytic oxidation of ammonia (NH₃-SCO). The optimal 5 wt.% Ag/Ce_0.6Zr_0.4O₂ catalyst presented good NH₃-SCO performance with >90% NH₃ conversion at temperature (T) ≥ 250°C and 89% N₂ selectivity. Despite the irregular block shape and underdeveloped specific surface area (∼60 m²/g), the naked and Ag-modified Ce_0.6Zr_0.4O₂ solid solution still obtained highly dispersed distribution of surface elements analyzed by scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS) (mapping), N₂ adsorption-desorption test and X-ray diffraction (XRD). H₂ temperature programmed reduction (H₂-TPR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results indicated that Ag-modification enhanced the mobility and activation of oxygen-species leading to a promotion on CeO₂ reducibility and synergistic Ag⁰/Ag⁺ and Ce⁴⁺/Ce³⁺ redox cycles. Besides, Ag⁺/Ag₂O clusters could facilitate the formation of surface oxygen vacancies that was beneficial to the adsorption and activation of ammonia. NH₃-temperature programmed desorption (NH₃-TPD) showed more adsorption-desorption capacity to ammonia were provided by physical, weak- and medium-strong acid sites. Diffused reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) experiments revealed the activation of ammonia might be the control step of NH₃-SCO procedure, during which NH₃ dehydrogenation derived from NH_x-species and also internal selective catalytic reduction (i-SCR) reactions were proposed.     

小型四旋翼无人机悬停状态气动干扰与安全间隔研究*

为保证小型旋翼无人机近距编队悬停状态的安全性,采用数值模拟方法研究不同横向和纵向间隔双机悬停流场特征和气动参数变化规律,通过与实验结果对比,验证数值仿真方法的准确性。研究结果表明:无人机内部旋翼间的气动干扰会导致整机单旋翼拉力降低、扭矩增大,使整机气动效率下降;当双机无横向间隔时,双机下洗流场保持对称,同时2股下洗流叠加,呈现较明显的横向扩张趋势,此时后机所受气动影响主要为拉力损失,当纵向间隔大于5 D时,该影响基本消失;当横向间隔X=1 D时,位于尾流区一侧的旋翼拉力减小,后机所受俯仰力矩作用显著,无人机有侧翻风险;横向间隔X≥2 D时,2机之间气动干扰较弱,为较安全区域。     

Melanin-based colorations signal strategies to cope with poor and rich environments

One hypothesis for the maintenance of genetic variation states that alternative genotypes are adapted to different environmental conditions (i.e., genotype-by-environment interaction G×E) that vary in space and time. Although G×E has been demonstrated for morphological traits, little evidence has been given whether these G×E are associated with traits used as signal in mate choice. In three wild bird species, we investigated whether the degree of melanin-based coloration, a heritable trait, covaries with nestling growth rate in rich and poor environments. Variation in the degree of reddish-brown phaeomelanism is pronounced in the barn owl (Tyto alba) and tawny owl (Strix aluco), and variation in black eumelanism in the barn owl and Alpine swift (Apus melba). Melanin-based coloration has been shown to be a criterion in mate choice in the barn owl. We cross-fostered hatchlings to test whether nestlings sired by parents displaying melanin-based colorations to different extent exhibit alternative growth trajectories when raised by foster parents in poor (experimentally enlarged broods) and rich (experimentally reduced broods) environments. With respect to phaeomelanism, barn owl and tawny owl offspring sired by redder parents grew more rapidly in body mass only in experimentally reduced broods. With respect to eumelanism, Alpine swift offspring of darker fathers grew their wings more rapidly only in experimentally enlarged broods, a difference that was not detected in reduced broods. These interactions between parental melanism and offspring growth rate indicate that individuals display substantial plasticity in response to the rearing environment which is associated with the degree of melanism: at least with respect to nestling growth, phaeomelanic and eumelanic individuals are best adapted to rich and poor environments, respectively. It now remains to be investigated why eumelanism and phaeomelanism have a different signaling function and what the lifelong consequences of these melanism-dependent allocation strategies are. This is important to fully appraise the role played by environmental heterogeneity in maintaining variation in the degree of melanin-based coloration.     

Enhancement of association of organic molecules on silica gel by surface water: surface photoreaction of stilbene

Here, we show that association of stilbene molecules is facilitated by water on silica gel because of hydrophobic interaction and photodimerization becomes the main photochemical process. Irradiation of trans-stilbene (t-1) on silica gel gives cis-stilbene (c-1), phenanthrene (2), benzaldehyde (3), and dimers r-ctt-4 and r-tct-4. The yields of the dimers increase and those of 2 and 3 decrease with an increase in the amount of t-1 loaded on silica gel. Atmospheric oxygen is responsible for the formation of 2 and 3. The yields of the dimers also increase with an increase in the water on a silica-gel surface and change drastically at the point where the percentage of water to silica gel is around 25 wt%. All active sites on a silica-gel surface would be covered completely with 25 wt% of water.