Experimental study on uplift behavior of shallow anchor plates in geogrid-reinforced soil

Geogrid reinforcement can significantly improve the uplift bearing capacity of anchor plates. However, the failure mechanism of anchor plates in reinforced soil and the contribution of geogrids need further investigation. This paper presents an experimental study on the anchor uplift behavior in geogrid-reinforced soil using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and the high-resolution optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR). A series of model tests were performed to identify the relationship between the failure mechanism and various factors, such as anchor embedment ratio, number of geogrid layers, and their location. The test results indicate that soil deformation and the uplift resistance of anchor plates are substantially influenced by anchor embedment ratio and location of geogrids, whereas the number of geogrid layers has limited influence. In reinforced soil, increasing the embedment ratio greatly improves the ultimate bearing capacities of anchor plates and affects the interlock between the soil and geogrids. As the embedment depth increases, the failure surfaces gradually change from a vertical slip surface to a bulb-shaped surface that is limited within the soil. The strain monitoring data shows that the deformations of geogrids are symmetrical, and the peak strains of geogrids can characterize the reinforcing effects.     

近源成藏——来自鄂尔多斯盆地延长组湖盆东部“边缘”延长组6段原油的地球化学证据

延安以东和以北的鄂尔多斯盆地东北部地区曾被认为位处三叠纪延长组7段（长7段）沉积期古湖盆的"边缘"，一些学者认为该区延长组烃源岩不发育，因而其油藏原油系湖盆中心生成的原油经长距离侧向运移而来；但也有研究认为，包括盆地边缘在内的整个鄂尔多斯盆地致密油藏均为近源成藏。为明确盆地东部地区延长组原油来源，对三叠纪湖盆"东缘"七里村油田的主力油层延长组6段（长6段）原油开展了原油地球化学和油源对比研究。七里村油田长6段原油具有高饱和烃、高饱芳比、低非烃和低沥青质的特征，正构烷烃呈前高单峰型，主峰碳为C₁₉，生物标志化合物分析显示长6段原油为同源成熟原油，生油母质以藻类等低等水生生物为主，混有陆源高等植物，母源沉积环境为偏还原性的淡水湖泊。七里村油田长6段原油与本地区长7段黑色泥页岩和暗色泥岩2种烃源岩均具有明显亲缘关系，而与志丹、富县等湖盆中心地区的长7段烃源岩在族组成、生物标志化合物和稳定碳同位素特征上均存在明显区别。综合分析认为七里村油田长6段原油并非湖盆中心长7段优质烃源岩所生油气经长距离运移而来，而主要为原位长7段烃源岩生成的原油经垂向运移和短距离侧向运移在长6段等储层中聚集成藏，属于近源成藏。     

Coastal trapped waves in the southern Caspian Sea

Previous studies reported coastal trapped waves (CTWs) in the Caspian Sea (CS). This study deals with the generation mechanisms, the temporal and spatial variability of CTWs in this area, and their transformations during propagation from the origin to the destination using recent measurements and high-resolution numerical simulations. CTWs are observed at all stations with periods of 2–6 days after northerly storms. The Absheron Peninsula, old Sefidrud delta, and Nur coasts were identified as the CTWs prone regions. The generation of CTWs in these locations was confirmed using numerical experiments. The propagation away from the generating location of CTWs was analyzed using a representative real wind storm. In the west part of the CS, the generation mechanism of CTWs is mainly similar to the barotropic Kelvin waves; in contrast, it is similar to the continental shelf waves in the southern shelves. The results can be used to study the contribution of generated CTWs to the transport of sediment and biological materials in all large lakes.     

Lewis acid-oxygen vacancy interfacial synergistic catalysis over SO42−/Ce0.84Zr0.16O2–WO3–ZrO2 for N,N-diethylation of aniline with ethanol

Herein, a new mechanism involving Lewis acid-oxygen vacancy interfacial synergistic catalysis for aniline N,N-diethylation with ethanol was proposed, and the SO₄²⁻/Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂–WO₃–ZrO₂ catalyst (SCWZ) with both Lewis acid sites and oxygen vacancies was synthesized by the hydrothermal method, which shows better catalytic activity than the reported solid acidic catalysts. Besides, the SO₄²⁻/ZrO₂ (SZ) and SO₄²⁻/WO₃–ZrO₂ (SWZ) catalysts were also prepared and compared with SCWZ to investigate the synergistic effect of each component. The SO₄²⁻ and WO₃ mainly generate Lewis acid by bonding with ZrO₂, which is beneficial for the fracture of the N–H bond in aniline. The Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂ solid solution mainly plays a vital role in generating the oxygen vacancies as the interface active species, which can participate in stripping –OH from ethanol, then the carbocation will also be released, which only needs 1.3805 kcal/mol energy, calculated by density functional theory (DFT), to be input. In comparison, the traditional reaction mechanism needs the Brønsted acidic sites to promote the protonation of ethanol, then dehydration and subsequent formation of carbocation followed, and 108.6846 kcal/mol energy needs to be input, which is far higher than that of the new mechanism. The apparent activation energy (E_a) over SCWZ was measured by experiment to be 34.09 kJ/mol, which is much lower than that of SWZ (47.10 kJ/mol) and SZ (54.37 kJ/mol), illustrating comparatively preferable kinetics for SCWZ than that of SWZ and SZ. Besides, the conversion of aniline and selectivity to N,N-diethylaniline over SCWZ reach almost 100% and 73%, respectively. The SCWZ can be renewed for 4 times without rapid deactivation, and the longevity of SCWZ is longer than that of SWZ and SZ, as the loaded SO₄²⁻ and tetragonal ZrO₂ are stabilized by Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂ and WO₃, respectively.     

How current and future urban patterns respond to urban planning? An integrated cellular automata modeling approach

While many publications predict future urban scenarios, few have deliberated the impact of issued urban planning on scenario prediction. We propose a planning-constrained model (named PCGA-CA) that integrates cellular automata (CA) and genetic algorithm (GA) to simulate current and future urban patterns under the spatial constraints of urban planning. The planning regulations include three types: fully allowed area (FAA), partially allowed area (PAA), and strictly prohibited area (SPA), where we propose a planning implementation parameter (PIP) to represent the stringency in PAA. Under different PIPs, we apply the PCGA-CA model to simulate the 2015 urban patterns and predict the 2030 and 2045 scenarios for Ningbo city, China. The results show that the regulations substantially affect the simulation accuracy and urban pattern. As the planning regulations become less stringent, the accuracy decreases from 90.3% to 89.4% and the urban pattern becomes less compact. In particular, the urban pattern is the most compact when the regulations are not imposed. The PCGA-CA predicts the quantity and location of illegal urban development, and identifies spatially varying urban growth across planning regulations. For the same year, the urban patterns with different PIPs illustrate substantial differences in landscape metrics. The simulations of the current urban pattern should help urban planners and local authorities assess past implementations of urban planning, while the scenario predictions can offer a view of the future by evaluating the consequences of different planning regulations.     

Simplification and applicability studies of a hydrogen-air detailed reaction mechanism

The research of hydrogen fuel internal combustion engine (HICE) had great significance facing the challenges of energy and environmental problems. Based on the detailed hydrogen-air reaction mechanism, the pre-mix model of CHEMKIN-Pro software was selected to simplify the detailed mechanism GRI-3.0. The most important elements and reactions was chose to construct framework mechanism firstly based on the sensitivity coefficient for H₂O and NO formation, and additional elements and reactions were added to framework mechanism for complementing the oxidation path of N2 and H₂. A simplified mechanism including 24-step elementary reaction was obtained and the laminar burning velocity calculated by this simplified mechanism matches well with the detailed mechanism in a wide range. This simplified mechanism was also applied in a CFD model which predicted the cylinder instantaneous pressure and NOx emission accurately within a large range of fuel air equivalent ratio. Showing that this mechanism has good applicability.     

Psychrophilic hydrogen production from petrochemical wastewater via anaerobic sequencing batch reactor: techno-economic assessment and kinetic modelling

Independent hydrogen production from petrochemical wastewater containing mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) via anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) was extensively assessed under psychrophilic conditions (15–25 °C). A lab-scale ASBR was operated at pH of 5.50, and different organic loading rates (OLR) of 1.00, 1.67, 2.67, and 4.00 gCOD/L/d. The hydrogen yield (HY) progressed from 134.32 ± 10.79 to 189.09 ± 22.35 mL/gMEG_initial at increasing OLR from 1.00 to 4.00 gCOD/L/d. The maximum hydrogen content of 47.44 ± 3.60% was achieved at OLR of 4.0 gCOD/L/d, while methane content remained low (17.76 ± 1.27% at OLR of 1.0 gCOD/L/d). Kinetic studies using four different mathematical models were conducted to describe the ASBR performance. Furthermore, two batch-mode experiments were performed to optimize the nitrogen supplementation as a nutrient (C/N ratio), and assess the impact of salinity (as gNaCl/L) on hydrogen production. HY substantially dropped from 62.77 ± 4.09 to 6.02 ± 0.39 mL/gMEG_initial when C/N ratio was increased from 28.5 to 114.0. Besides, the results revealed that salinity up to 10.0 gNaCl/L has a relatively low inhibitory impact on hydrogen production. Eventually, the cost/benefit analysis showed that environmental and energy recovery revenues from ASBR were optimized at OLR of 4.0 gCOD/L/d (payback period of 7.13 yrs).     

Deep-blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter with a very high fluorescence rate

Conventional thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules achieve small energy differences between the lowest singlet and triplet excited states (ΔE_ST) by enhancing the intramolecular charge transfer, which inevitably leads to a wide emission spectrum and low fluorescence rate. Here, we prepared a deep blue TADF molecule via a small ΔE_ST pyridine-phenol fluoroboron complex as the acceptor. The small ΔE_ST is maintained when carbazole donors are attached to the 4-position of the phenyl rings in the fluoroboron complex. Benefiting from the strong electron coupling between the donor (D) and acceptor (A) moieties, the compound Cz-4-BF exhibits a high fluorescence rate of 4.8 × 10⁸ s⁻¹ and a small D-A dihedral angle change in the excited state. Consequently, a photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield of nearly 100% and a PL spectrum with full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) < 60 nm were obtained in solution and low-concentration doped films. A TADF-sensitized fluorescence (TSF) device containing Cz-4-BF achieves an external quantum efficiency of 21%, which is higher than the devices employing classical fluorescent emitters and multiple resonance-type TADF emitters. The Cz-4-BF-based TSF device shows significantly improved color coordinates of (0.14, 0.10) versus a control device without Cz-4-BF.