3D morphology and formation mechanism of fractures developed by true triaxial stress

As main part of underground rock mass,the three-dimensional(3D)morphology of natural fractures plays an important role in rock mass stability.Based on previous studies on 3D morphology,this study probes into the law and mechanism regarding the influence of the confining pressure constraints on 3D morphological features of natural fractures.First,fracture surfaces were obtained by true triaxial compression test and 3D laser scanning.Then 3D morphological parameters of fractures were calculated by using Grasselli’s model.The results show that the failure mode of granites developed by true triaxial stress can be categorized into tension failure and shear failure.Based on the spatial position of fractures,they can be divided into tension fracture surface,S-1 shear fracture surface,and S-2 shear fracture surface.Micro-failure of the tension fracture surface is dominated by mainly intergranular fracture;the maximum height of asperities on the fracture surface and the 3D roughness of fracture surfaces are influenced by σ_(3) only and they are greater than those of shear fracture surfaces,a lower overall uniformity than tension fracture surface.S-1 shear fracture surface and S-2 shear fracture surface are dominated by intragranular and intergranular coupling fracture.The maximum height of asperities on the fracture surface and 3D roughness of fracture surface are affected by σ_(1),σ_(2),and σ_(3).With the increase of σ_(2) or σ_(3),the cutting off of asperities on the fracture surface becomes more common,the maximum height of asperities and 3D roughness of fracture surface further decrease,and the overall uniformity gets further improved.The experimental results are favorable for selecting technical parameters of enhanced geothermal development and the safety of underground mine engineering.

Impact of Urban 3D Morphology on Particulate Matter 2.5(PM2.5) Concentrations:Case Study of Beijing, China

Urban particulate matter 2.5(PM2.5)pollution and public health are closely related,and concerns regarding PM2.5 are widespread.Of the underlying factors,the urban morphology is the most manageable.Therefore,investigations of the impact of urban three-dimensional(3D)morphology on PM2.5 concentration have important scientific significance.In this paper,39 PM2.5 monitoring sites of Beijing in China were selected with PM2.5 automatic monitoring data that were collected in 2013.This data set was used to analyze the impacts of the meteorological condition and public transportation on PM2.5 concentrations.Based on the elimination of the meteorological conditions and public transportation factors,the relationships between urban 3D morphology and PM2.5 concentrations are highlighted.Ten urban 3D morphology indices were established to explore the spatial-temporal correlations between the indices and PM2.5 concentrations and analyze the impact of urban 3D morphology on the PM2.5 concentrations.Results demonstrated that road length density(RLD),road area density(RAD),construction area density(CAD),construction height density(CHD),construction volume density(CVD),construction otherness(CO),and vegetation area density(VAD)have positive impacts on the PM2.5 concentrations,whereas water area density(WAD),water fragmentation(WF),and vegetation fragmentation(VF)(except for the 500 m buffer)have negative impacts on the PM2.5 concentrations.Moreover,the correlations between the morphology indices and PM2.5 concentrations varied with the buffer scale.The findings could lay a foundation for the high-precision spatial-temporal modelling of PM2.5 concentrations and the scientific planning of urban 3D spaces by authorities responsible for controlling PM2.5 concentrations.

Effect of cooling rate on the 3D morphology of the proeutectic Al3Ni intermetallic compound formed at the Al/Ni interface after solidification

Effect of cooling rate on the 3 D morphology and the growth mechanism of the proeutectic Al3Ni intermetallic compound(IMC) that forms at the Al/Ni interface after solidification was investigated by synchrotron X-ray microtomography in combination with EBSD analysis. The proeutectic Al3Ni phase that forms under an average cooling rate of 0.1 Ks^(-1) shows a characteristic faceted growth behavior and presents a typical 3 D morphology as partially hollow quadrangular prisms. On the contrary, that forms under an average cooling rate of 10 Ks^(-1) shows complicated dendritic morphology with asymmetrically distributed arms and faceted V-shape groove at the distal end, indicating a gradual transition of the growth behavior from non-faceted to faceted during the solidification process. These results reveal that the morphology of the proeutectic Al3Ni is highly sensitive to the solidification condition so that fine control of the desired morphology may be achieved by carefully manipulating the cooling profile.

Shear behavior of intact granite under thermo-mechanical coupling and three-dimensional morphology of shear-formed fractures

The shear failure of intact rock under thermo-mechanical(TM)coupling conditions is common,such as in enhanced geothermal mining and deep mine construction.Under the effect of a continuous engineering disturbance,shear-formed fractures are prone to secondary instability,posing a severe threat to deep engineering.Although numerous studies regarding three-dimensional(3D)morphologies of fracture surfaces have been conducted,the understanding of shear-formed fractures under TM coupling conditions is limited.In this study,direct shear tests of intact granite under various TM coupling conditions were conducted,followed by 3D laser scanning tests of shear-formed fractures.Test results demonstrated that the peak shear strength of intact granite is positively correlated with the normal stress,whereas it is negatively correlated with the temperature.The internal friction angle and cohesion of intact granite significantly decrease with an increase in the temperature.The anisotropy,roughness value,and height of the asperities on the fracture surfaces are reduced as the normal stress increases,whereas their variation trends are the opposite as the temperature increases.The macroscopic failure mode of intact granite under TM coupling conditions is dominated by mixed tensileeshear and shear failures.As the normal stress increases,intragranular fractures are developed ranging from a local to a global distribution,and the macroscopic failure mode of intact granite changes from mixed tensileeshear to shear failure.Finally,3D morphological characteristics of the asperities on the shear-formed fracture surfaces were analyzed,and a quadrangular pyramid conceptual model representing these asperities was proposed and sufficiently verified.

Influence of different high pressure die casting processes on 3D porosity distribution of Mg-3.0Nd-0.3Zn-0.6Zr alloy

3D reconstruction was adopted to characterize the microstructural morphologies of Mg-3.0Nd-0.3Zn-0.6Zr alloy castings produced by high pressure die casting(HPDC)processes with different parameters,including low slow-shot speed,solidification pressurization and fast slow-shot speed.At low slow-shot speeds of 0.1 m·s^(-1),0.2 m·s^(-1) and 0.3 m·s^(-1),the porosity is concentrated in the center of the castings with one spiral staggered shape along the liquid flow direction.The porosity volume simultaneously decreases with the reduction of quantity and size of externally solidified crystals(ESCs),while the shrinkage pores become more and more dispersed with the increasing low slow-shot speed.Pressurization not only reduces the porosity volume due to the improvement of feeding ability,but also transformes the center gathered porosity into one layer-by-layer distribution form.Accompanied with the increasing fast slow-shot speed,the central porosity dramatically decreases and transforms into a large-scale spiral staggered shape along the liquid flow direction.However,the porosity is much more dispersed when the speed is increased from 2 m·s^(-1) to 3 m·s^(-1).

Simulated impacts of 3D urban morphology on urban transportation in megacities: case study in Beijing

Urban morphology and morphology change and their impacts on urban transportation have been studied extensively in planar urban space.The essential feature of urban space,however,is its three-dimensionality(3D),and few studies have been conducted from a 3D perspective,overly limiting the accuracy of studies on the relationships between urban morphology and transportation.The aim of this paper is to simulate the impacts of 3D urban morphologies on urban transportation under the Digital Earth framework.On the basis of the principle that population distribution and movement are largely confined by 3D urban morphologies,which affect transportation,high spatial resolution remote sensing imagery and a thematic vector data-set were used to extract urban morphology and transportation-related variables.With a combination of three research methods-factor analysis,spatial regression analysis and Euclidean allocation-we provide an effective method to construct a simulation model.The paper indicates three general results.First,building capacity in the urban space has the most significant impact on traffic condition.Second,obvious urban space otherness,reflecting both use density characteristics and functional character-istics of urban space,mostly results in heavier traffic flow pressure.Third,no single morphology density indicator or single urban structure indicator can reflect its contribution to the pressure of traffic flow directly,but a combination of these different indicators has the ability to do so.

3D morphological evolution and growth mechanism of proeutectic FeAl_(3) phases formed at Al/Fe interface under different cooling rates

The 3D morphologies and growth mechanisms of proeutectic FeAl_(3) at the Al/Fe interface under different cooling rates were studied by synchrotron X-ray tomography.With increasing cooling rate,FeAl_(3) crystals developed from faceted polygonal prism,plates with flat surface,thin ribbon-like with periodic undulating surface to non-faceted rods with radial dendrites in cross section,indicating a gradual interface growth mode transition from two-dimensional layer growth to continuous growth.At a higher cooling rate,twinning mechanism plays a leading role in the formation and growth of FeAl_(3).A link between the morphologies,twinning and crystallographic structure was established based on quantitative analyses on the 3D structures.

3D Fe-Rich Phases Evolution and Its Effects on the Fracture Behavior of Al-7.0Si-1.2Fe Alloys by Mn Neutralization

The evolution of the 3D Fe-rich phases of Al-7.0Si-1.2Fe alloys with different Mn contents was visualized and characterized using synchrotron X-ray computed tomography,and the effect of Fe-rich phases with typical morphologies on the fracture behavior during tensile testing was analyzed.The results showed that the Fe-rich phase changed from platelet-likeβ-Al_(5) Fe Si intoα-Al_(15)(Fe Mn)_(3)Si_(2)with various morphologies after the addition of Mn.The Mn addition not only significantly reduced the volume fraction,equivalent diameter and interconnectivity of the Fe-rich phase but also greatly increased the sphericity,surface thickness,and distribution of the mean curvature and surface thickness.Furthermore,the equivalent diameter ofα-Al_(15)(FeMn)_(3)Si_(2)had an inverse exponential function relationship with its sphericity.The 3D morphology ofα-Al_(15)(FeMn)_(3)Si_(2)can be summarized as massive and regular polyhedrons,hollow and regular polyhedrons,and multibranched polyhedrons.The fraction of the different 3D morphologies in each alloy is related to the Mn content,where excess Mn increased the number and volume fraction of the large Fe-rich particles with a low sphericity.The ductility of each alloy was significantly improved by the addition of Mn but gradually decreased when the Mn/Fe ratio exceeded 1.2.The increase in largeα-Al_(15)(Mn Fe)_(3)Si_(2)with a low sphericity was the main reason for the decreased ductility of alloys with a high Mn content.

Ag-decorated 3D flower-like Bi_(2)MoO_(6)/rGO with boosted photocatalytic performance for removal of organic pollutants

A series of unique 3D flower-like Bi_(2)MoO_(6)(BMO)/reduced graphene oxide(rGO)heterostructured composites decorated with varying amounts of Ag nanoparticles(NPs)were fabricated.Their morphological characteristics,structural features,energy band structures and photoelectrochemical properties were systematically studied.All the Ag/BMO/rGO ternary composites(AgBGy;y=1%,2%and 3%)demonstrated greater photocatalytic activity towards efficient removal of our selected organic models[methyl orange(MO),rhodamine B(RhB)and phenol],as compared with the BMO/rGO binary composites(BG-x;x=0.25,2,4 and 5).Particularly,AgBG-2%,which was synthesized with the addition of 2 wt% rGO and 2 wt%Ag in BMO,possessed superior photocatalytic activity.The fitted rate constants(k)for the photocatalytic degradation of RhB,MO and phenol using AgBG-2% were estimated to be 0.0286,0.0301 and 0.0165 min^(-1),respectively,which were over one order of magnitude greater than those obtained using pure BMO.Several factors may contribute to the observed enhancement,including greater specific surface area,enhanced light absorption,promoted spatial separation of electronhole(e^(-)-h^(+))pairs and their suppressed recombination,especially benefiting from the synergistic effects among BMO,rGO and Ag NPs.Our work suggests that the rational design of BMO/rGO/Ag ternary composite was an effective strategy to boost the photocatalytic activity of the resulting catalyst towards the highly efficient removal of organic pollutants from water.

Investigation of Material Properties Based on 3D Graphite Morphology for Compacted Graphite Iron

The strength and thermal conductivity of compacted graphite iron(CGI)are crucial performance indicators in its engineering application.The presence of graphite in CGI significantly influences the two properties.In the previous studies,graphite in CGI was often described using two-dimensional(2D)morphology.In this study,the three-dimensional(3D)size,shape,and distribution of graphite in CGI were analyzed using X-ray tomography.Based on this,a new method is introduced to calculate the 3D vermicularity and compare it with the 2D vermicularity in terms of tensile properties and thermal conductivity.The results demonstrate that vermicular graphite exhibits greater connectivity in 3D observation compared to 2D observation.Therefore,the calculation method of 3D vermicularity is determined by considering the surface area and volume of the connected graphite.Then a linear relationship between 3 and 2D vermicularity has been observed.By comparing the correlation coefficient,it has been found that the 3D vermicularity offers a more accurate method to establish the relationship among graphite morphology,thermal conductivity and tensile property of CGI.

Measurement, modelling, and closed-loop control of crystal shape distribution： Literature review and future perspectives

Crystal morphology is known to be of great importance to the end-use properties of crystal products, and to affect down-stream processing such as filtration and drying. However, it has been previously regarded as too challenging to achieve automatic closed-loop control. Previous work has focused on controlling the crystal size distribution, where the size of a crystal is often defined as the diameter of a sphere that has the same volume as the crystal. This paper reviews the new advances in morphological population balance models for modelling and simulating the crystal shape distribution （CShD）, measuring and estimating crystal facet growth kinetics, and two- and three-dimensional imaging for on-line characterisation of the crystal morphology and CShD. A framework is presented that integrates the various components to achieve the ultimate objective of model-based closed-loop control of the CShD. The knowledge gaps and challenges that require further research are also identified.