Master crack types and typical acoustic emission characteristics during rock failure

Acoustic emission(AE)signals contain substantial information about the internal fracture characteristics of rocks and are useful for revealing the laws governing the release of energy stored therein.Reported here is the evolution of rock failure with diferent master crack types as investigated using Brazilian splitting tests(BSTs),direct shear tests(DSTs),and uniaxial compression tests(UCTs).The AE parameters and typical modes of each fracture type were obtained,and the energy release characteristics of each fracture mechanism were discussed.From the observed changes in the AE parameters,the rock fracture process exhibits characteristics of staged intensifcation.The scale and energy level of crack activity in the BSTs were signifcantly lower than those in the DSTs and UCTs.The proportion of tensile cracks in the BSTs was 65%–75%,while the proportions of shear cracks in the DSTs and UCTs were 75%–85%and 70%–75%,respectively.During the rock loading process under diferent conditions,failure was accompanied by an increased number of shear cracks.The amplitude,duration,and rise time of the AE signal from rock failure were larger when the failure was dominated by shear cracks rather than tensile ones,and most of the medium-and high-energy signals had medium to low frequencies.After calculating the proposed energy amplitude ratio,the energy release of shear cracks was found to exceed that of tensile cracks at the same fracture scale.

A five-parameter constitutive model for hysteresis shearing and energy dissipation of rock joints

Rock joints exhibit hysteresis shearing behavior and produce energy dissipation under shear cyclic loads,which however cannot be accurately depicted by existing constitutive models. This paper establishes a constitutive model for hysteresis shearing and associated energy dissipation of rock joints. Analytical expressions of the model during cyclic shearing processes are derived. Derivation of the model indicates no energy dissipation in the elastic stage. When the shear load exceeds elastic boundary, nonlinear energy dissipation takes place. Validations with experiments show that the proposed model provides good conformities with direct shear curves and hysteresis loops, and can predict the energy dissipation characteristics of rock joints under different working conditions. Compared to the constitutive models using Weibull's distribution, the proposed one is smooth at the elastic boundary and can accurately capture the maximum shear stress. Unlike the existing incremental-type models, the proposed one provides clear and direct analytical expressions for both shear stress and energy dissipation during the whole displacement domain, which is more convenient in application.

Combustion and emissions of RP-3 jet fuel and diesel fuel in a single-cylinder diesel engine

The combustion characteristics and emission behaviors of RP-3 jet fuel were studied and compared to commercial diesel fuel in a single-cylinder compression ignition(CI)engine.Engine operational parameters,including engine load(0.6,0.7,and 0.8 MPa indicating the mean effective pressure(IMEP)),the exhaust gas recirculation(EGR)rate(0%,10%,20%,and 30%),and the fuel injection timing(–20,–15,–10,and–5°crank angle(CA)after top dead center(ATDC))were adjusted to evaluate the engine performances of RP-3 jet fuel under changed operation conditions.In comparison to diesel fuel,RP-3 jet fuel shows a retarded heat release and lagged combustion phase,which is more obvious under heavy EGR rate conditions.In addition,the higher premixed combustion fraction of RP-3 jet fuel leads to a higher first-stage heat release peak than diesel fuel under all testing conditions.As a result,RP-3 jet fuel features a longer ignition delay(ID)time,a shorter combustion duration(CD),and an earlier CA50 than diesel fuel.The experimental results manifest that RP-3 jet fuel has a slightly lower indicated thermal efficiency(ITE)compared to diesel fuel,but the ITE difference becomes less noticeable under large EGR rate conditions.Compared with diesel fuel,the nitrogen oxides(NOx)emissions of RP-3 jet fuel are higher while its soot emissions are lower.The NOx emissions of RP-3 can be effectively reduced with the increased EGR rate and delayed injection timing.

Exergy losses in premixed flames of dimethyl ether and hydrogen blends

A second-law thermodynamic analysis was conducted for stoichiometric premixed dimethyl ether(DME)/hydrogen(H2)/air flames at atmospheric pressure.The exergy losses from the irreversibility sources,i.e.,chemical reaction,heat conduction and species diffusion,and those from partial combustion products were analyzed in the flames with changed fuel blends.It is observed that,regardless of the fuel blends,chemical reaction contributes most to the exergy losses,followed by incomplete combustion,and heat conduction,while mass diffusion has the least contribution to exergy loss.The results also indicate that increased H2 substitution decreases the exergy losses from reactions,conduction,and diffusion,primarily because of the flame thickness reduction at elevated H2 substitution.The decreases in exergy losses by chemical reactions and heat conduction are higher,but the exergy loss reduction by diffusion is slight.However,the exergy losses from incomplete combustion increase with H2 substitution,because the fractions of the unbumed fuels and combustion intermediates,e.g.,H2 and OH radical,increase.The overall exergy losses in the DME/H2 flames decrease by about 5%with increased H2 substitution from 0%to 100%.