Influence of strain histories on liquefaction resistance of sand

The liquefaction resistance of sand increases with cyclic pre-shearing and pre-shaking as a result of earthquakes if the strain level in the pre-shearing is small. When larger shear strains are imposed, liquefaction resistance decreases. These complicated effects of pre-shearing histories on the liquefaction resistance are investigated in this study through a series of cyclic triaxial tests. Various combinations of cyclic stress amplitude and number of cycles of pre-shearing are examined. The tested sand is Toyoura Sand at 45% relative density, under a confining pressure of 50 kPa. Test results indicate that for the range of shear strain amplitude in pre-shearing smaller than 0.35%, the liquefaction resistance increases with pre-shearing. The increase in the liquefaction resistance depends strongly on the volumetric strain in the pre-shearing, and several effects of the shear stress amplitude and number of cycles can be negligible. Small volumetric strain of the order of 1% doubled the liquefaction resistance. Meanwhile, in the range of shear strain amplitude larger than 0.6%, the liquefaction resistance decreases. The liquefaction resistance decreases as the shear strain amplitude increases. Shear strain amplitude is one of the factors dominating this degrading effect, and the volumetric strain exerts beneficial effects to a certain extent. In this study, another series of tests are conducted to investigate the combined effects of small and large strain amplitude pre-shearing. It is observed that small shear strain pre-shearing cycles subsequent to large shear strain cycles erased the degrading effect of the latter. However, a large shear strain pre-shearing after small strain cycles degrades the beneficial effect of the small shear strain pre-shearing cycles previously applied to the specimens; however, the effects of the former small strain pre-shearing remains.     

Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Ca/P-Doped Titanium Dioxide Layer Produced by Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation: Effects of Applied Voltage and Heat Treatment

Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) is a technique that produces a hard oxide layer on the titanium surface where its properties can be tailored by changing the process parameters or by a posterior heat treatment (HT). In this work, a TiO₂ layer with different crystallinity was produced by PEO with different applied voltages (250 to 400 V) and post-HT at 600°C. Our aim was to evaluate the influence of the PEO voltage and HT on the mechanical and tribological properties of anodized Ti. There is an increase in pore size, oxide thickness, and Ca/P ratio for the oxide layer with the applied voltage during the PEO process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicated an increase in the crystalline rutile phase in the oxide layer with voltage and HT. Nanoindentation shows an increase in the oxide hardness and elastic modulus with increased voltage and HT, leading to an improvement in the wear resistance.     

Characteristics and 3D formation of PVA and PEO electrospun nanofibers with embedded urea

The behavior of electrospun polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) nanofibers embedded with urea is studied as a function of various process parameters. Our results show that three‐dimensional nanofiber networks can be obtained when high concentrations of urea in the solution are used during electrospinning. The nanofibers are characterized using both scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The stability of the nanofiber as a function of electric field has also been studied. The successful formation of three‐dimensional nanofiber networks can open new trends toward applications in fertilizers containing nanofibers in the nanoagricultural field. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 39840.     

Aging Behavior of Propellants investigated by heat generation,stabilizer consumption,and molar mass degradation

Four double-base rocket propellants and a single-base gun propellant were tested to find out stabilizer consumption molar mass degradation, and heat generation between 50 °C and 90 °C and between 40 °C and 110 °C, respectively. Stabilizer depletion was measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), molar mass degradation by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and heat generation by microcalorimetry. The conditioning times at different temperatures were determined with one of the rocket propellants, and the influence of the long-term storage on heat generation at 60 °C for 2191 dys was investigated. A correlated experiment between stabilizer consumption and heat generation showed that heat production does not increase substantially until the stabilizer has been consumed almost completely. The experimental data of molar mass degradation are described by a kinetic model based on statistical chain scission, and the stabilizer decrease by a first order reaction. For the gun propellant the Arrhenius plots of the reaction rate constants show two temperatures of teh stabilizer consumption, molar mass degradation and heat generation were determined.     

Detonation Products as a Function of Initiation Strength,ambient gas and binder systems of explosives charges

The way of initiating an insensitive high explosive can influence the start of a detonation reaction remarkably. In order to study the extent of this influence, different boosters and different booster structures for the initiation of explosive mixtures containing TNT and nitroguanidine (NQ) have been used. The experiments have been conducted in a 1.5 m³ containment from which the detonation products could be taken and analyzed. In those cases where we only used a 10 g RDX booster together with a detonation cap no. 8, we had not a complete detonation reaction by initiating cylindrical charges of TNT/NQ and TNT/AN. This means that unreacted TNT was analyzed in the solid residue, mainly consisting of carbon soot. On the other hand, we had a complete detonation using an additional booster of about 18 g detonation sheet, placed on the front side of the cylindrical explosive, having the same diameter as the explosive charge. Another part of the investigations deals with the determination of the influence of different argon pressures on the composition of the detonation gas and the solid residue. Between vacuum and one bar argon a strong change not only of the gas but also of the soot residue was measured. A stronger influence on the products was found using a confinement with glass tubes. The investigation of Al-containing charges exhibited a very different behavior compared with charges without Al. No more influence of vaccum or of different ambient gas pressure could be observed. By investigation of two composite explosive charges (PBX) containing binder systems of different energies and different oxygen balances, a great influence on the reaction of Al was found. The PBX charges with the better O₂-balance containing the energetic GAP-binder reacted nearly completely with the Al, opposite to the charge containing the polyisobutylene (PIB) binder system.     

Numerical calibration of donor systems for some GAP tests

Numerical models of various donor/attenuator systems utilized in gap tests were evaluated with the DYNA2D hydrocode. Three donor (pressed pentolite)/attenuator (PMMA) configurations were tested. Case I and Case 2 had a pentolite donor which was 2 cm × 2 cm right cylinder; the cell size was smaller in Case 1. Case 3 utilized a composite pentolite donor 2.07 cm long but having stepped diameters of one and two cm; the cell size was quite similar to that of Case 2. Peak (axial) pressure versus distance results from Case 1 were scaled and Compared to experimental data for both the NOL large scale gap test (LSGT) and the NSWC expanded large scale gap test (ELSGT). The comparison was found to be very good for the LSGT but less satisfactory for the ELSGT. Peak (axial) pressure versus distance results from Case 1 were the also compared to Case 2, a coarser zoned model similar to Case 1, and Case 3. This comparison showed that the composite donor produced peak (axial) pressures similar to those from the LSGT model. Normalized peak pressure versus radial distance and shock profiles were compared for the three cases and found to be quite similar. Additional normalized peak pressure versus radial distance and normalized pressure versus time information from Case 1 is plotted to show how the pentolite/PMMA rarefaction affects both the axial and radial pressure-time histories.     

Synthesis of Alkyl Fructosides

The anomeric alkylation of D-fructose is efficiently catalyzed by mild acid catalysts. Degradation of fructose is negligible under the conditions applied.     

Hard x-ray transmission crystal spectrometer at the OMEGA-EP laser facility

The transmission crystal spectrometer (TCS) is approved for taking data at the OMEGA-EP laser facility since 2009 and will be available for the OMEGA target chamber in 2010. TCS utilizes a Cauchois type cylindrically bent transmission crystal geometry with a source to crystal distance of 600 mm. Spectral images are recorded by image plates in four positions, one IP on the Rowland circle and three others at 200, 400, and 600 mm beyond the Rowland circle. An earlier version of TCS was used at LULI on experiments that determined the x-ray source size from spectral line broadening on one IP positioned behind the Rowland circle. TCS has recorded numerous backlighter spectra at EP for point projection radiography and for source size measurements. Hard x-ray source size can be determined from the source broadening of both K shell emission lines and from K absorption edges in the bremsstrahlung continuum, the latter being a new way to measure the spatial extent of the hard x-ray bremsstrahlung continuum.     

Removing low ppb level perchlorate, RDX, and HMX from groundwater with cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) pre-loaded activated carbon

Perchlorate contaminates vast amounts of groundwater throughout the United States which could potentially be used as potable water. Activated carbon pre-loaded with cetyltrimethylammonium chloride has been shown in this research to be an effective adsorbent for removing perchlorate from three low conductivity (50-66 microS/cm) groundwaters containing perchlorate (ClO(4)(-)) concentrations of 0.85, 1.0, and 5.6 parts per billion (ppb), respectively. In rapid small-scale column tests (RSSCTs), the virgin granular activated carbon (GAC) (used as a control) treated between 20,000 and 40,000 bed volumes (BV) of water. In contrast, the activated carbon that was pre-loaded with CTAC processed 170,000-270,000 BV before perchlorate was detected above 0.25 ppb in the effluent. Though this pre-loading significantly increased the capacity for perchlorate, it also diminished the GAC's capacity to remove organics. The groundwater containing 1 ppb ClO(4)(-) also contained the nitro-organics HMX (0.6 ppb) and RDX (5.5-6.6 ppb). RDX was detected in the effluent from the CTAC-pre-loaded bed after only 8000 BV had been processed whereas 308,000 BV could be processed through the virgin bed before RDX was detected. Likewise, HMX breakthrough was observed after 116,000 BV in the CTAC-pre-loaded bed while the virgin RSSCT exhibited no breakthrough of HMX during a test that was operated for 309,000 BV. However, by combining a CTAC-pre-loaded bed followed by a virgin GAC bed in series, both perchlorate and RDX could be removed for the same length of time.     

Aggregation pheromone for the pepper weevil,Anthonomus eugenii cano (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): Identification and field activity

This study describes the identification of an aggregation pheromone for the pepper weevil,Anthonomus eugenii and field trials of a synthetic pheromone blend. Volatile collections and gas chromatography revealed the presence of six male-specific compounds. These compounds were identified using chromatographic and spectral techniques as: (Z)-2-(3,3-dimethylcyclohexylidene)ethanol, (E)-2-(3,3-dimethylcyclohexylidene)ethanol, (Z)-(3,3-dimethylcyclohexylidene)acetaldehyde, (E)-(3,3-dimethylcyclohexylidene)acetaldehyde, (E)-3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadienoic acid (geranic acid), and (E)-3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadien-1-ol (geraniol). The emission rates of these compounds from feeding males were determined to be about: 7.2, 4.8, 0.45, 0.30, 2.0, and 0.30µg/male/day, respectively. Sticky traps baited with a synthetic blend of these compounds captured more pepper weevils (both sexes) than did unbaited control traps or pheromone-baited boll weevil traps. Commercial and laboratory formulations of the synthetic pheromone were both attractive. However, the commercial formulation did not release geranic acid properly, and geranic acid is necessary for full activity. The pheromones of the pepper weevil and the boll weevil are compared. Improvements for increasing trap efficiency and possible uses for the pepper weevil pheromone are discussed. A convenient method for purifying geranic acid is also described.The mention of firm names or trade products does not imply endorsement or recommendation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture over other firms or similar products not mentioned. All programs and services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture are offered on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, marital status or handicap.