Improvement of a grass-clover silage-fed biogas process by the addition of cobalt

Batch assays were performed with samples from a silage-fed mesophilic biogas process accumulating acetate to examine if the addition of single trace elements (iron, nickel, cobalt and molybdenum) or a mixture of trace elements could improve the process. The results from the batch assays led to the addition of cobalt to reach a concentration of 0.2 mg L⁻¹. This made it possible to increase the organic loading rate (OLR) above that in a parallel process not receiving any extra cobalt. Problems with low gas production and decreasing pH were overcome by the daily supply of this single element in small amounts. Acetate conversion to methane was improved, which was confirmed by increased specific methanogenic activity (SMA) with acetate as a substrate. As a consequence, an OLR of 7.0 g VS L⁻¹ day⁻¹ was achieved at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 20 days with an equivalent increase in methane production. Without cobalt addition, an OLR of 5.0 g VS L⁻¹ day⁻¹ with an HRT of 20 days was reached after 70 weeks operation.     

“FRAC ” — A simulation code for forced fluid flow and transport in fractured, porous rock

The 3D Finite Element Program FRACTure was developed with the specific aim of studying the coupling of interactive mechanisms in geoscience and in particular those relevant to the long term behaviour of a Hot Dry Rock reservoir. The flexible modular structure facilitates the addition of further processes and elements to the existing library and the handling of linear and non-linear constitutive laws and the calculation of their interactions. The Hot Dry Rock applications involve essentially forced fluid flow of cool fluid injected into a hot fractured rock matrix. A study of the relevant processes required finite element solutions for the hydraulic, thermal and elastic fields and especially their interactions. Particular attention has been paid to modelling the perturbations arising from poro-elastic and thermo-elastic effects in the rock matrix and of a non-linear, stress dependent joint closure law. The fracture network is designed in a way to represent nature as realistically as possible: fracture flow takes place along planes or in pipes (fracture intersections), porous matrix flow in 3D bodies. In devising the coupling scheme careful thought has been given to the different time constants for each physical process. Apart of simulating the coupled Hot Dry Rock behaviour, the code has been successfully practised in a variety of applications in geoscience: analysis of geoelectric measurements, radon transport, solute tracer tests, simulations of heat probe operations and hydrogeologic system modelling.     

掺杂元素对Ni-Mn-Ga合金结构与性能的影响

Ni-Mn-Ga合金是一种新型的智能材料,兼具铁磁性和形状记忆效应的双重优点,以对磁场的快速响应和大的宏观可恢复应变的特点有望成为传感器和驱动器的候选材料.通过掺入金属元素可以弥补该合金马氏体相变温度低,脆性大的不足.综述了掺杂元素对合金结构、相变温度、力学性能、形状记忆效应的影响,并提出了需要深入研究的问题.     

NdFeB系纳米晶双相稀土永磁材料研究进展

综述了近几年各国学者在NdFeB系纳米晶双相稀土永磁材料方面的研究进展,重点分析了掺杂元素和处理工艺对永磁材料各方面性能的影响,指出了几种可以有效改善永磁材料综合性能的方法.     

MoO3掺杂Ba0.98Bi0.02(Ti0.9Zr0.1)O3陶瓷的介电性能研究

采用固相反应法制备了Ba<,0.98>Bi<,0.02>(Ti<,0.9>Zr<,0.1>)<,1-x>Mo<,x>O<,3>(x=0,0.01,0.03,0.05)陶瓷,研究了MoO<,3>掺杂对Ba<,0.98>Bi<,0.02>(Ti<,0.9>Zr<,0.1>)O<,3>陶瓷的相结构、表面形貌和介电性能的影响....     

Modelling crack propagation in reinforced concrete using a hybrid finite element–scaled boundary finite element method

A previously developed hybrid finite element–scaled boundary finite element method (FEM–SBFEM) is extended to model multiple cohesive crack propagation in reinforced concrete. This hybrid method can efficiently extract accurate stress intensity factors from the semi-analytical solutions of SBFEM and is also flexible in remeshing multiple cracks. Crack propagation in the concrete bulk is modelled by automatically inserted cohesive interface elements with nonlinear softening laws. The concrete–reinforcement interaction is also modelled by cohesive interface elements. The bond shear stress–slip relation of CEB-FIP Model Code 90 and an empirical confining stress–crack opening relation are used to characterise slip and split failure at the concrete–reinforcement interface, respectively. Three RC beams were simulated. The numerical results agreed well with both experimental and numerical results available in the literature. Parametric studies demonstrated the importance of modelling both slip and split failure mechanisms at the concrete–reinforcement interface.     

Finite element analysis of fretting crack propagation

In this work, the finite elements method (FEM) is used to analyse the growth of fretting cracks. FEM can be favourably used to extract the stress intensity factors in mixed mode, a typical situation for cracks growing in the vicinity of a fretting contact. The present study is limited to straight cracks which is a simple system chosen to develop and validate the FEM analysis. The FEM model is tested and validated against popular weight functions for straight cracks perpendicular to the surface. The model is then used to study fretting crack growth and understand the effect of key parameters such as the crack angle and the friction between crack faces. Predictions achieved by this analysis match the essential features of former experimental fretting results, in particular the average crack arrest length can be predicted accurately.     

Finite element modelling of saturated porous media at finite strains under dynamic conditions with compressible constituents

Two finite element formulations are proposed to analyse the dynamic conditions of saturated porous media at large strains with compressible solid and fluid constituents. Unlike similar works published in the literature, the proposed formulations are based on a recently proposed hyperelastic framework in which the compressibility of the solid and fluid constituents is fully taken into account when geometrical non‐linear effects are relevant on both micro‐ and macroscales. The first formulation leads to a three‐field finite element method (FEM), which is suitable for analysing high‐frequency dynamic problems, whereas the second is a simplification of the first, leading to a two‐field FEM, in which some inertial effects of the pore fluid are disregarded, hence the second formulation is suitable for studying low‐frequency problems. A fully Lagrangian approach is considered, hence all terms are expressed with reference to the material setting; the balance equations for the pore fluid are also expressed in terms of the chemical potential and the mass flux of the pore fluid in order to take the compressibility of the fluid into account. To improve the numerical response in the case of wave propagation, a discontinuous Galerkin FEM in the time domain is applied to the three‐field formulation. The results are compared with analytical and semi‐analytical solutions, highlighting the different effects of the discontinuous Galerkin method on the longitudinal waves of the first and second kind. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Isogeometric finite element data structures based on Bézier extraction of T‐splines

We develop finite element data structures for T‐splines based on Bézier extraction generalizing our previous work for NURBS. As in traditional finite element analysis, the extracted Bézier elements are defined in terms of a fixed set of polynomial basis functions, the so‐called Bernstein basis. The Bézier elements may be processed in the same way as in a standard finite element computer program, utilizing exactly the same data processing arrays. In fact, only the shape function subroutine needs to be modified while all other aspects of a finite element program remain the same. A byproduct of the extraction process is the element extraction operator. This operator localizes the topological and global smoothness information to the element level, and represents a canonical treatment of T‐junctions, referred to as ‘hanging nodes’ in finite element analysis and a fundamental feature of T‐splines. A detailed example is presented to illustrate the ideas. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.