Iron changes in natural and Fe(III) loaded montmorillonite during carbon nanotube growth

A detailed elaboration of the transformations of iron species, present in natural and Fe(NO(3))(3) loaded montmorillonite, during carbon deposition and carbon nanotube growth is described. According to transmission electron microscopy results, deposited carbon atoms form fibres in the case of pristine montmorillonite and multiwalled carbon nanotubes in the case of Fe(III) loaded montmorillonite. M?ssbauer and x-ray diffraction analysis results point to an extensive reduction of structural and intercalated Fe(III) cations to Fe(II) with the latter migrating from the interlayer space to the vacant octahedral sites of the mineral's lattice. Such migration of the non-structural iron catalyst prohibits extensive contamination of the final composite with various metal catalyst impurities. The crucial role of the active catalytic centres in the formation of carbon nanotubes is ascribed to a minor quantity of iron, found entrapped in the carbon nanostructures, which, at the end of the reaction, is identified as iron carbide. The interesting formation of a nanometric γ-iron precipitate is also detected, which is probably stabilized through strong interactions with the lattice of montmorillonite. Finally, it is demonstrated that iron-rich natural clay minerals can serve as direct catalysts for carbon nanotube growth.     

The relationship between peripherally matched invariant hues and unique hues: a cone-contrast approach

A characteristic shift in hue and saturation occurs when colored targets are viewed peripherally compared with centrally. Four hues, one in each of the red, blue, green, and yellow regions of color space, remain unchanged when presented in the peripheral field. Apart from green, these peripherally invariant hues correspond almost exactly in color space with the unique hues. We explore this puzzling observation using asymmetric color-matching and color-naming experiments and computing cone contrasts for peripheral and central stimuli. We find that the difference between cone contrasts for the peripheral and central stimuli reaches a maximum at the chromatic axis corresponding to peripherally invariant green. We speculate that the effect is linked to a weakened signal from M-cones and probably associated with a reduced number of M-cones in peripheral retina.     

Decoupling Criteria for Inelastic Irregular Primary/Secondary Structural Systems Subject to Seismic Excitation

The present work deals with the dynamic response of structures that are irregular in height, consisting of two parts, a lower part made of concrete and an upper part made of steel. Irregularity is due to different dynamic responses of the two parts, here expressed by their different damping ratios and inelastic material laws. The seismic design of such structures is not satisfactorily covered by current design codes, especially if a decoupled procedure is chosen for the analysis, where the lower part is excited first and its response is used as excitation for the upper part. The present paper aims at contributing toward better understanding of the interaction between the two parts and at proposing improved decoupling criteria for the seismic analysis of inelastic primary-secondary systems. Toward that goal, each part is modeled as a one-degree-of-freedom system, and the maximum responses of coupled and decoupled inelastic time history analyses are compared over a wide range of dynamic characteristics and strength levels of the two parts. The results are presented in the form of error levels between the two alternative analysis procedures.     

Piezo- and pyroelectric microscopy

In recent decades piezo- and pyroelectricity found application in yet another important field of research. A number of methods have been developed which employ these properties to investigate the micro- and macroscopic polarization of materials. Advances in piezo- and pyroelectric imaging enabled researchers to examine the polarization distribution of a sample with unprecedented detail. This review attempts to inform the general reader about some of those experimental techniques and their findings.     

Nonlinear soil‐pile interaction for offshore wind turbines

The current work presents a parametric study, which involves different generalized nonlinear mechanical formulations with different damping characteristics to account for the interaction between a monopile‐supported offshore wind turbine and the surrounding soil. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that recently developed nonlinear mechanical models used so far for the simulation of high‐damping rubber isolators are introduced to describe the nonlinear hysteretic soil behavior. More specifically, the first generalized mechanical model consists of a combination of elastoplastic and trilinear elastic elements (labeled as model 3), while the second model consists of trilinear hysteretic models connected in parallel with trilinear elastic springs and hysteretic dampers used to ensure that the unloading stiffness will be as close as possible to the initial stiffness of the system (labeled as model 4). These newly developed models are compared with well‐known models within the industry, namely, a model that comprises elastoplastic elements (labeled as model 1) and a model that comprises trilinear elastic springs (labeled as model 2). All these models provide exactly the same effective stiffness, but on the other hand different levels of damping are involved in each one of them. The goal of the present work is 3‐fold, introducing novel mechanical models for the simulation of soil behavior, to investigate the effect of different soil damping levels in the response of offshore wind turbines and to highlight the limitations of the commonly used models within the industry. To this end, the differences between the response due to different levels of damping characteristics and modeling approaches are shown, highlighting the importance of soil damping in the overall response of the system.     

An impact assessment of electricity and emission allowances pricing in optimised expansion planning of power sector portfolios

The present work concerns a systematic investigation of power sector portfolios through discrete scenarios of electricity and CO₂ allowance prices. The analysis is performed for different prices, from regulated to completely deregulated markets, thus representing different electricity market policies. The modelling approach is based on a stochastic programming algorithm without recourse, used for the optimisation of power sector economics under multiple uncertainties. A sequential quadratic programming routine is applied for the entire investigation period whilst the time-dependent objective function is subject to various social and production constraints, usually confronted in power sectors. The analysis indicated the optimal capacity additions that should be annually ordered from each competitive technology in order to substantially improve both the economy and the sustainability of the system. It is confirmed that higher electricity prices lead to higher financial yields of power production, irrespective of the CO₂ allowance price level. Moreover, by following the proposed licensing planning, a medium-term reduction of CO₂ emissions per MW h by 30% might be possible. Interestingly, the combination of electricity prices subsidisation with high CO₂ allowance prices may provide favourable conditions for investors willing to engage on renewable energy markets.     

Application of multi-criteria decision-making to risk prioritisation in tidal energy developments

This paper presents an analytical multi-criterion analysis for the prioritisation of risks for the development of tidal energy projects. After a basic identification of risks throughout the project and relevant stakeholders in the UK, classified through a political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental analysis, relevant questionnaires provided scores to each risk and corresponding weights for each of the different sectors. Employing an extended technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution as well as the weighted sum method based on the data obtained, the risks identified are ranked based on their criticality, drawing attention of the industry in mitigating the ones scoring higher. Both methods were modified to take averages at different stages of the analysis in order to observe the effects on the final risk ranking. A sensitivity analysis of the results was also carried out with regard to the weighting factors given to the perceived expertise of participants, with different results being obtained whether a linear, squared or square root regression is used. Results of the study show that academics and industry have conflicting opinions with regard to the perception of the most critical risks.     

Ammonia as hydrogen carrier for transportation; investigation of the ammonia exhaust gas fuel reforming

In this paper we show, for the first time, the feasibility of ammonia exhaust gas reforming as a strategy for hydrogen production used in transportation. The application of the reforming process and the impact of the product on diesel combustion and emissions were evaluated. The research was started with an initial study of ammonia autothermal reforming (NH₃ – ATR) that combined selective oxidation of ammonia (into nitrogen and water) and ammonia thermal decomposition over a ruthenium catalyst using air as the oxygen source. The air was later replaced by real diesel engine exhaust gas to provide the oxygen needed for the exothermic reactions to raise the temperature and promote the NH₃ decomposition. The main parameters varied in the reforming experiments are O₂/NH₃ ratios, NH₃ concentration in feed gas and gas – hourly – space – velocity (GHSV). The O₂/NH₃ ratio and NH₃ concentration were the key factors that dominated both the hydrogen production and the reforming process efficiencies: by applying an O₂/NH₃ ratio ranged from 0.04 to 0.175, 2.5–3.2 l/min of gaseous H₂ production was achieved using a fixed NH₃ feed flow of 3 l/min. The reforming reactor products at different concentrations (H₂ and unconverted NH₃) were then added into a diesel engine intake. The addition of considerably small amount of carbon – free reformate, i.e. represented by 5% of primary diesel replacement, reduced quite effectively the engine carbon emissions including CO₂, CO and total hydrocarbons.     

Direct strain tensor approximation for full‐field strain measurement methods

Full‐field strain measurement techniques are based on computing the spatial derivatives of numerical or functional approximations of the underlying displacement fields extracted from digital imaging methods. These methods implicitly assume that the medium satisfies the strain compatibility conditions, which are only true in the case of a continuum body that remains continuum throughout its deformation history. In the present work, we introduce a method that can be used to calculate the strain components directly from typical digital imaging data, without the need of the continuum hypothesis and the need for displacement field differentiation. Thus, it enables the measurement of strain fields from imaged surfaces that may or may not contain discontinuities. Numerical comparisons are performed on the basis synthetic data produced from an analytical solution for an elastically orthotropic open‐hole domain in tension. For performance comparison purposes, the mean absolute error distributions are calculated for the cases of both the traditional meshless random grid method, and the direct strain method introduced herein. It is established that the more refined representation of strain provided by our present approach is more accurate everywhere in the domain, but most importantly, near its boundaries. Published 2013. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

Two‐dimensional model of methane thermal decomposition reactors with radiative heat transfer and carbon particle growth

A two‐dimensional model of methane thermal decomposition reactors is developed which accounts for coupled radiative heat and polydisperse carbon particle nucleation, growth, and transport. The model uses the Navier–Stokes equations for the fluid dynamics, the radiative transfer equation for methane and particle species radiation absorption, the advection–diffusion equation for gas and particle species transport, and a sectional method for particle species nucleation, heterogenous growth, and coagulation. The model is applied to a tubular laminar flow reactor. The simulation results indicate the development of a reaction boundary layer inside the reactor, which results in significant variation of the local particle size distribution across the reactor. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 2545–2556, 2012