Bearing behavior and failure mechanism of squeezed branch piles

The current practice for the design of squeezed branch piles is mainly based on the calculated bearing capacity of circular piles. Insufficient considerations of the load-transfer mechanism, branch effect and failure mechanism, as well as overreliance on pile load tests, have led to conservative designs and limited application. This study performs full-scale field load tests on instrumented squeezed branch piles and shows that the shaft force curves have obvious drop steps at the branch position, indicating that the branches can effectively share the pile top load. The effects of branch position, spacing, number and diameter on the pile bearing capacity are analyzed numerically. The numerical results indicate that the squeezed branch piles have two types of failure mechanisms, i.e. individual branch failure mechanism and cylindrical failure mechanism. Further research should focus on the development of the calculation method to determine the bearing capacities of squeezed branch piles considering these two failure mechanisms.

Differentially-grown cobalt regulators cooperatively involved in the tandem catalysis for high-yield production of second amines

One-pot tandem catalysis has been regarded as one of the most atomic economic ways to produce secondary amines,the important platform molecules for chemical synthesis and pharmaceutical manufacture,but it is facing serious issues in overall efficiency.New promotional effects are highly desired for boosting the activity and regulating the selectivity of conventional tandem catalysts.In this work,we report a high-performance tandem catalyst with maximized synergistic effect among each counterpart by preciously manipulating the spatial structure,which involves the active CeO_(2)/Pt component as kernel,the densely-coated N-doped C(NC)layer as selectivity controller,and the differentially-grown Co species as catalytic performance regulators.Through comprehensive investigations,the unique growth mechanism and the promotion effect of Co regulators are clarified.Specifically,the surface-landed Co clusters(Cocs)are crucial to selectivity by altering the adsorption configuration of benzylideneaniline intermediates.Meanwhile,the inner Co particles(Cops)are essential for activity by denoting their electrons to neighboring Ptps.Benefiting from the unique promotion effect,a remarkably-improved catalytic efficiency(100%nitrobenzene conversion with 94%N-benzylaniline selectivity)is achieved at a relatively low temperature of 80℃,which is much better than that of CeO_(2)/Pt(100%nitrobenzene conversion with 12%N-benzylaniline selectivity)and CeO_(2)/Pt/NC(35%nitrobenzene conversion with 94%benzylideneaniline selectivity).

Coupling Fe and Mo single atoms on hierarchical N-doped carbon nanotubes enhances electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction performance

Electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction(NRR)paves a new way to cost-efficient production of ammonia,but is still challenging in the sluggish kinetics caused by hydrogen evolution reaction competition and chemical inertness of N≡N bond.Herein,we report a“dual-site”strategy for boosting NRR performance.A high-performance catalyst is successfully constructed by anchoring isolated Fe and Mo atoms on hierarchical N doped carbon nanotubes through a facile self-sacrificing template route,which exhibits a remarkably improved NH3 yield rate of 26.8μg·h^(−1)·mg with 11.8%Faradaic efficiency,which is 2.5 and 1.6 times larger than those of Fe/NC and Mo/NC.The enhancement can be attributed to the unique hierarchical structure that profits from the contact of electrode and electrolyte,thus improving the mass and electron transport.More importantly,the in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(in situ FTIR)result firmly demonstrates the crucial role of the coupling of Fe and Mo atoms,which can efficiently boost the generation and transmission of*N2Hy intermediates,leading to an accelerated reaction rate.