Main trends on the simulation of the drying of refractory castables - Review

Refractory castables develop microstructures after curing that behave as partially saturated porous media. Upon heating (during its drying stage), the steam generated by the physical and chemically bond water can result in pore pressurization and explosive spalling. Numerical modeling can provide guidelines for designing safer heat-up profiles and also a better understanding of the mechanisms that lead to catastrophic damage. This work aims to review the fundamentals and models available, providing insightful thoughts on the current trends of the drying phenomena of ceramic compositions. The review also highlights that there are models better oriented to result in reasonable predictions of pore pressure values and others focused on a more accurate representation of the main physical phenomena that take place during heating. According to the findings, there are still various challenges to attain accurate models with high applicability capable of yielding safer and more efficient drying of refractory castables.     

钻井机器人的连续油管钻压和钻速控制模型

连续油管钻井机器人利用机身内外的钻井液压力差作为动力源，可在牵引连续油管的同时加载钻压。以钻井机器人为基础，建立连续油管钻柱动力学模型，并推导出通过钻井液排量控制钻压和钻速的单参数控制数学模型；对钻井机器人引入调速回路，建立具有调速功能的钻柱动力学模型；在溢流阀调定压力大于机身内外压差时，推导出利用钻井液排量和节流阀流通面积两种参数控制钻压、钻速的数学模型，在溢流阀调定压力小于机身内外压差时，推导出利用钻井液排量、节流阀流通面积和溢流阀调定压力3种参数控制钻压、钻速的数学模型；以11.43 cm（4.5英寸）井眼为例，对上述3种数学模型进行了分析。分析结果表明：钻压、钻速随钻井液排量的增加基本呈线性增加，在钻井液排量大于0.005 m³/s时，钻井机器人能够向前爬行，在钻井液排量大于0.005 7 m³/s时，钻头能够正常钻进；调节节流阀流通面积和溢流阀调定压力，可以在一定范围内无级调钻压和钻速；3种控制方法相结合，可以实现小排量、大钻压，及大排量、小钻压等钻井参数的控制。以控制模型为基础，针对不同井下工况建立钻进工艺的专家数据库，以钻井机器人为"大脑"，结合井下随钻测量数据就能够实现闭环控制，自动钻进。     

Two-level intelligent modeling method for the rate of penetration in complex geological drilling process

The rate of penetration (ROP) model is of great importance in achieving a high efficiency in the complex geological drilling process. In this paper, a novel two-level intelligent modeling method is proposed for the ROP considering the drilling characteristics of data incompleteness, couplings, and strong nonlinearities. Firstly, a piecewise cubic Hermite interpolation method is introduced to complete the lost drilling data. Then, a formation drillability (FD) fusion submodel is established by using Nadaboost extreme learning machine (Nadaboost-ELM) algorithm, and the mutual information method is used to obtain the parameters, strongly correlated with the ROP. Finally, a ROP submodel is established by a neural network with radial basis function optimized by the improved particle swarm optimization (RBFNN-IPSO). This two-level ROP model is applied to a real drilling process and the proposed method shows the best performance in ROP prediction as compared with conventional methods. The proposed ROP model provides the basis for intelligent optimization and control in the complex geological drilling process.     

Multicellular Tumor Spheroids (MCTS) as a 3D In Vitro Evaluation Tool of Nanoparticles

Multicellular tumor spheroid models (MCTS) are often coined as 3D in vitro models that can mimic the microenvironment of tissues. MCTS have gained increasing interest in the nano‐biotechnology field as they can provide easily accessible information on the performance of nanoparticles without using animal models. Considering that many countries have put restrictions on animals testing, which will only tighten in the future as seen by the recent developments in the Netherlands, 3D models will become an even more valuable tool. Here, an overview on MCTS is provided, focusing on their use in cancer research as most nanoparticles are tested in MCTS for treatment of primary tumors. Thereafter, various types of nanoparticles—from self‐assembled block copolymers to inorganic nanoparticles, are discussed. A range of physicochemical parameters including the size, shape, surface chemistry, ligands attachment, stability, and stiffness are found to influence nanoparticles in MCTS. Some of these studies are complemented by animal studies confirming that lessons from MCTS can in part predict the behaviour in vivo. In summary, MCTS are suitable models to gain additional information on nanoparticles. While not being able to replace in vivo studies, they can bridge the gap between traditional 2D in vitro studies and in vivo models.     

Role of weave design on the mechanical properties of 3D woven fabrics as reinforcements for structural composites

3D fabrics as reinforcement can be manipulated in discrete numbers of weave designs in order to earn maximum gain so that the desired mechanical properties of the composites can be achieved eventually for particular end use. Thus interest has been focused to investigate tensile, impact and knife penetration properties of 3D orthogonal and interlock structures of different weave designs by varying their binder interlacement patterns keeping stuffer binder ratio constant. The tensile properties were effectively influenced by the linear densities as well as crimp of load bearing tows, which were determined by the weave design of the fabric. The compact structure generated from regular weave pattern in case of 1 × 1 plain orthogonal and 1 × 1 plain interlock fabrics exhibited better impact energy absorption. Owing to higher values of peak energy in the knife penetration test, it is revealed that more is the number of fibres in the in-plane direction better is the protection.     

Towards standardisation of proof load testing: pilot test on viaduct Zijlweg

Proof load tests of bridges can be very useful for structures with a lack of information, or for structures of which the effect of material degradation is difficult to assess. Contrary to diagnostic load testing, proof load testing is not well-defined in current standards in terms of required load and analysis of measurements. The risk related to the high loads used in proof load testing requires standardisation for these tests. The paper highlights important considerations for proof load testing that may lead to the development of guidelines in the Netherlands, by illustrating a pilot study on the viaduct Zijlweg in the Netherlands. This reinforced concrete bridge rates too low in shear. Topics of interest are the required load that the bridge has to withstand to be approved by the load test and the interpretation of the measurements during the test to avoid permanent damage to the structure. These measurements were compared to the stop criteria from existing codes for buildings, to examine if recommendations for the use with bridges can be formulated. The final result of the test on this case study is that the capacity of the viaduct is proven to be sufficient for shear and bending moment.     

Experimental study on mix proportion and fresh properties of fly ash based geopolymer for 3D concrete printing

This paper presents the material design and fresh properties of geopolymer mortar developed for 3D concrete printing application. Unlike traditional casting, in 3D printing, extruded materials are deposited layer-by-layer to build complex architectural and structural components without the need of any formwork and human intervention. Extrudability, shape retention, buildability and thixotropic open time (TOT) are identified as critical early-age properties to characterize the 3D printable geopolymer material. Five different mix designs of geopolymer are tested in a systematic experimental approach to obtain a best printable mix and later it is used to print a 60-centimeter-tall freeform structure using a concrete gantry printer to validate the formulation.     

Chloride migration in concrete with superabsorbent polymers

Superabsorbent polymers (SAP) can be used as a means for internal curing of concrete. In the present study, the development of transport properties of concrete with SAP is investigated. The chloride migration coefficient according to NT BUILD 492 is used as a measure of this. Twenty concrete mixtures are tested 7, 14, and 28 days after casting. The development of degree of hydration is followed for 20 corresponding paste mixtures.Both when SAP is added with extra water to compensate the SAP water absorption in fresh concrete and without extra water, the internal curing water held by SAP may contribute to increase the degree of hydration. No matter if SAP is added with or without extra water, it appears that the so-called gel space ratio can be used as a key parameter to link age and mixture proportions (water-to-cement ratio and SAP dosage) to the resulting chloride migration coefficient; the higher the volume of gel solid relative to the space available for it, the lower the chloride migration coefficient, because the pore system becomes more tortuous and the porosity becomes less.     

Stochastic service-life modeling of chloride-induced corrosion in recycled-aggregate concrete

The development and implementation of a stochastic service-life model for chloride-induced corrosion in reinforced recycled-aggregate concrete is presented in this work. The 1D model accounts for recycled aggregates that have been initially contaminated with chlorides from previous in-service exposure. Using a probabilistic approach, the model is employed to predict the service life of normal- and recycled-aggregate reinforced concrete with and without aggregate pre-contamination. Specifically, the effect of (a) type and replacement ratio of reclaimed aggregate, (b) chloride boundary conditions, (c) initial aggregate chloride concentration, and (d) thickness of contaminated aggregate shells on time to corrosion cracking was investigated herein. Results suggest that certain levels of contamination may be permissible in the design of reclaimed-aggregate reinforced concrete structures. Furthermore, quality control standards that limit thresholds of recycled aggregate replacement ratios and aggregate purity should be based on anticipated exposure conditions and old mortar thicknesses rather than initial degrees of aggregate contamination.