Impact of typical environments in China’s western mountainous areas on the durability of railway concrete:a review

Purpose–This study aims to analyze the impact mechanism of typical environments in China’s western mountainous areas on the durability of railway concrete and propose measures to improve durability.Design/methodology/approach–With the continuous promotion of infrastructure construction,the focus of China’s railway construction has gradually shifted to the western region.The four typical environments of large temperature differences,strong winds and dryness,high cold and low air pressure unique to the western mountainous areas of China have adverse effects on the durability of typical railway structure concrete(bridges,ballastless tracks and tunnels).This study identified the characteristics of four typical environments in the western mountainous areas of China through on-site research.The impact mechanism of the four typical environments on the durability of concrete in different structural parts of railways has been explored through theoretical analysis and experimental research;Finally,a strategy for improving the durability of railway concrete suitable for the western mountainous areas of China was proposed.Findings–The daily temperature difference in the western mountainous areas of China is more than twice that of the plain region,which will lead to significant temperature deformation and stress in the multi-layered structure of railway ballastless tracks.It will result in cracking.The wind speed in the western plateau region is about 2.5 to 3 times that of the plain region,and the average annual rainfall is only 1/5 of that in the plain region.The drying effect on the surface of casting concrete will significantly accelerate its cracking process,leading to serious durability problems.The environmental temperature in the western mountainous areas of China is generally low,and there are more freeze-thaw cycles,which will increase the risk of freeze-thaw damage to railway concrete.The environmental air pressure in the western plateau region is only 60%of that in the plain region.The moisture inside the concrete is more likely to diffuse into the surrounding environment under the pressure difference,resulting in greater water loss and shrinkage deformation of the concrete in the plateau region.The above four issues will collectively lead to the rapid deterioration of concrete durability in the western plateau region.The corresponding durability improvement suggestions from theoretical research,new technology development and standard system was proposed in this paper.Originality/value–The research can provide the mechanism of durability degradation of railway concrete in the western mountainous areas of China and corresponding improvement strategies.

Durability evaluation for existing railway engineering: a review

Purpose – This study aims to analyze the factors, evaluation techniques of the durability of existing railwayengineering.Design/methodology/approach – China has built a railway network of over 150,000 km. Ensuring thesafety of the existing railway engineering is of great significance for maintaining normal railway operationorder. However, railway engineering is a strip structure that crosses multiple complex environments. Andrailway engineering will withstand high-frequency impact loads from trains. The above factors have led todifferences in the deterioration characteristics and maintenance strategies of railway engineering compared toconventional concrete structures. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the key factors that affect thedurability of railway structures and propose technologies for durability evaluation.Findings – The factors that affect the durability and reliability of railway engineering are mainly divided intothree categories: material factors, environmental factors and load factors. Among them, material factors alsoinclude influencing factors, such as raw materials, mix proportions and so on. Environmental factors varydepending on the service environment of railway engineering, and the durability and deterioration of concretehave different failure mechanisms. Load factors include static load and train dynamic load. The on-site rapiddetection methods for five common diseases in railway engineering are also proposed in this paper. Thesemethods can quickly evaluate the durability of existing railway engineering concrete.Originality/value – The research can provide some new evaluation techniques and methods for thedurability of existing railway engineering.

Mechanical properties of gangue-containing aluminosilicate based cementitious materials

High performance aluminosilicate based cementitious materials were produced using calcined gangue as one of the major raw materials. The gangue was calcined at 500℃. The main constituent was calcined gangue, fly ash and slag, while alkali-silicate solutions were used as the diagenetic agent. The structure of gangue-containing aluminosilicate based cementitious materials was studied by the methods of IR, NMR and SEM. The results show that the mechanical properties are affected by the mass ratio between the gangue, slag and fly ash, the kind of activator and additional salt. For 28-day curing time, the compressive strength of the sample with a mass proportion of 2：1：1 （gangue： slag： fly ash） is 58.9 MPa, while the compressive strength of the sample containing 80wt% gangue can still be up to 52.3 MPa. The larger K^＋ favors the formation of large silicate oligomers with which AI（OH）4- prefers to bind. Therefore, in Na-K compounding activator solutions more oligomers exist which result in a stronger compressive strength of aluminosilicate-based cementitious materials than in the case of Na-containing activator. The reasons for this were found through IR and NMR analysis. Glauber＇s salt reduces the 3-day compressive strength of the paste, but increases its 7-day and 28-day compressive strengths.

Alteration and mineralization styles of the orogenic disseminated Zhenyuan gold deposit, southeastern Tibet: Contrast with carlin gold deposit

Orogenic disseminated and Carlin gold deposits share much similarity in alteration and mineralization.The disseminated orogenic Zhenyuan Au deposit along the Ailaoshan shear zone,southeastern Tibet,was selected to clarify their difference.The alteration and mineralization from the different lithologies,including meta-quartz sandstone,carbonaceous slate,meta-(ultra)mafic rock,quartz porphyry and lamprophyre were researched.According to the mineral assemblage and replacement relationship in all types of host rocks,two reactions show general control on gold deposition:(1) replacement of earlier magnetite by pyrite and carbonaceous material;(2) alteration of biotite and phlogopite phenocrysts in quartz porphyry and lamprophyre into dolomite/ankerite and sericite.Despite the lamprophyre is volumetrically minor and much less fractured than other host rocks,it contains a large portion of Au reserve,indicating that the chemically active lithology has played a more important role in gold precipitation compared to structure.LA-ICP-MS analysis shows that Au mainly occurs as invisible gold in fine-grained pyrite disseminated in the host rocks,with Au content reaching to 258.95 ppm.The diagenetic core of pyrite in meta-quartz sandstone enriched in Co,Ni,Mo,Ag and Hg is wrapped by hydrothermal pyrite enriched in Cu,As,Sb,Au,Tl,Pb and Bi.Different host rock lithology has much impact on the alteration and mineralization features.Carbonate and sericite in altered lamprophyre show they have higher Mg than those developed in other of host rocks denoting that the carbonate and sericite incorporated Mg from phlogopite phenocrysts in the primary lamprophyre during alteration.The ore fluid activated the diagenetic pyrite in meta-quartz sandstone leading the hydrothermal pyrite enriched in Cu,Mo,Ag,Sb,Te,Hg,Tl,Pb and Bi,but the hydrothermal pyrite in meta-(ultra)mafic rock is enriched in Co and Ni as the meta-(ultra)mafic rock host rock contain high content of Co and Ni.However,Au and As shear similar range in both types of host rocks indicating that these two elements most likely come from the deep source fluid rather than the host rocks.It was shown in the disseminated orogenic gold deposit that similar hydrothermal alteration with mineral assemblage of carbonate (mainly dolomite and ankerite),sericite,pyrite and arsenopyrite develops in all types of host rocks.This is different from the Nevada Carlin type,in which alteration is mainly dissolution and silicification of carbonate host rock.On the other hand,Au mainly occur as invisible gold in both disseminated orogenic and Carlin gold deposits.

Dissolution properties of calcined gangue

To study the dissolution mechanism of gangue, dissolution characteristics of the gangue samples calcined at different temperatures in alkaline solutions and alkali metal silicate solutions with respect to Si and Al ions were analyzed by identical coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy （ICP）. The results show that the extent of dissolution of Al and Si varies with calcination temperature. It shows that the samples have a higher degree of dissolution in NaOH than in KOH medium. Si and Al appear to have synchro-dissolution behavior in alkaline solution, which means that Si and Al could dissolve from the mineral surface in certain linked forms. The result that a higher degree of dissolution exists in sodium silicate solution and a lower degree of dissolution exists in sodium-potassium silicate solution of Al is proved by the 29Si NMR spectra and the mean connectivity degree of these alkali metal silicate solutions.

An active bacterial anti-adhesion strategy based on directional transportation of bacterial droplets driven by triboelectric nanogenerators

An active bacterial anti-adhesion strategy based on directional transportation of bacterial droplets driven by a triboelectric nanogenerator(TENG)has not been reported to date,although passive defense approaches can prevent bacterial adhesion by regulating superwetting surfaces combined with incorporated antibacterial substances.Here a triboelectric nanogenerator driving droplet system(TNDDS)was built to drive directional transportation of bacterial droplets to be eliminated,which comprises TENG with periodical frictional Kapton film and aluminum foils and a superhydrophobic driving platform(SDP)with paralleled driving electrodes.The current generated by the TENG triboelectricity is transmitted to the paralleled driving electrodes to form an electric field driving the directional transportation of charged droplets.The critical value of the driven droplet volume on SDP is closely related to the distributed electrodes’distance and width,and the driving distance of droplets is related to the number of electrodes.More crucially,TNDDS can actively drive the charged droplets of prepared triangular silver nanoprisms(Ag NPs)forward and back to mix with and remove a tiny bacterial droplet on an open SDP or in a tiny semi-enclosed channel.Bacteria could be killed by releasing Ag+and effectively removed by TNDDS by regulating the motion direction.Generally,this approach offers a promising application for removing bacteria from material surfaces driven by TENG and opens a new avenue for bacterial anti-adhesion.

摩擦电、电化学、压电和介电弹性体能量回收器的低频能量回收性能的提升策略:研究进展及挑战

机械能回收是指将海浪、风和人体运动等各种形式的机械能转化为电能的一种方法.这为解决化石燃料的枯竭和环境问题提供了一个可行性方案.然而,将机械能直接转化为电能的主要障碍是大多数机械能源的低频率(≤5赫兹)会导致能量转换效率、输出功率和输出电流偏低.近年来,许多研究报道了利用工作机制创新来改进能量收集技术的方法.本综述旨在深入分析基于摩擦电、电化学、压电和介电弹性体效应的低频能量回收技术的研究进展.从概述与低频能量回收有关的困难开始,阐明了影响机械能量回收器低频回收性能的关键因素,包括工作机制、环境因素和设备组成,同时比较和总结了不同机制在低频能量回收中的优缺点.此外,该综述还阐述了通过优化材料成分、结构和装置设计来提高低频能量回收性能的策略,并展示了机械能回收器在波浪能、风能和人体运动能量回收方面的应用.最后,针对不同应用场景,提供了对机械能回收机制选择的推荐,为新一代能量回收器的改进和制造提供了思路.