The Effect of Different Freeze-Thaw Cycles on Mortar Gas Permeability and Pore Structure

Two different freeze-thaw cycles(FTC)are considered in this study to assess the related impact on gas permeability and micro-pore structure of a mortar.These are the water-freezing/water-thawing(WF-WT)and the air-freezing/air-thawing(AF-AT)cycles.The problem is addressed experimentally through an advanced nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)technique able to provide meaningful information on the relationships among gas permeability,pore structure,mechanical properties,and the number of cycles.It is shown that the mortar gas permeability increases with the number of FTCs,the increase factor being 20 and 12.83 after 40 cycles for the WF-WT and AF-AT,respectively.The results also confirm that gas permeability hysteresis phenomena occur during the confining pressure loading and unloading process.

Experimental Evaluation of Compressive Strength and Gas Permeability of Glass- Powder-Containing Mortar

Glass powder of various particle sizes(2,5,10 and 15μm)has been assessed as a possible cement substitute for mortars.Different replacement rates of cement(5%,10%,15%,and 20%)have been considered for all particle sizes.The accessible porosity,compressive strength,gas permeability and microstructure have been investigated accordingly.The results have shown that adding glass powder up to 20%has a significantly negative effect on the porosity and compressive strength of mortar.The compressive strength initially rises with a 5%replacement and then decreases.Similarly,the gas permeability of the mortar displays a non-monotonic behavior;first,it decreases and then it grows with an increase in the glass powder content and particle size.The porosity and gas permeability attain a minimum for a 5%content and 10μm particle size.Application of a Nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)technique has revealed that incorporating waste glass powder with a certainfineness can reduce the pore size and the number of pores of the mortar.Compared with the control mortar,the pore volume of the waste glass mortar with 5%and 10μm particle size is significantly reduced.When cement is partially replaced by glass powder with a particle size of 10μm and a 5%percentage,the penetration resistance and compressive strength of the mortar are significantly improved.

Influence of soil density on gas permeability and water retention in soils amended with in-house produced biochar

Biochar has been used as an environment-friendly enhancer to improve the hydraulic properties(e.g.suction and water retention)of soil.However,variations in densities alter the properties of the soil ebiochar mix.Such density variations are observed in agriculture(loosely compacted)and engineering(densely compacted)applications.The influence of biochar amendment on gas permeability of soil has been barely investigated,especially for soil with different densities.The major objective of this study is to investigate the water retention capacity,and gas permeability of biochar-amended soil(BAS)with different biochar contents under varying degree of compaction(DOC)conditions.In-house produced novel biochar was mixed with the soil at different amendment rates(i.e.biochar contents of 0%,5%and 10%).All BAS samples were compacted at three DOCs(65%,80%and 95%)in polyvinyl chloride(PVC)tubes.Each soil column was subjected to dryingewetting cycles,during which soil suction,water content,and gas permeability were measured.A simplified theoretical framework for estimating the void ratio of BAS was proposed.The experimental results reveal that the addition of biochar significantly decreased gas permeability kg as compared with that of bare soil(BS).However,the addition of 5%biochar is found to be optimum in decreasing kg with an increase of DOC(i.e.k_(g,65%)>k_(g,80%)>k_(g,95%))at a relatively low suction range(<200 kPa)because both biochar and compaction treatment reduce the connected pores.

Relation of Damage Variable and Gas Permeability Coefficient of Concrete under Stress

Compressive stress and tensile stress were applied to concrete specimens using test rigs designed by RILEM TC 246-TDC. Ultrasonic wave velocity and autoclam permeability system were used to characterize the damage variable and gas permeability coefficient of concrete, respectively. The experimental results show that the strain value of concrete increases with the increasing of stress level and loading time. The damage variable and gas permeability coefficient of concrete under compressive stress decrease at first and increase after a threshold value between 0 and 0.6. When the concrete is under tensile load, the damage variable and gas permeability coefficient increase with tensile stress, with a significant increase from 0.3 to 0.6 tensile stress. There is a strong linear relationship between the damage variable and the gas permeability coefficient, suggesting both as good indicators to characterize the damage of concrete under stress.

EFFECT OF CHEMICAL STRUCTURE OF SULFOXIDE GRAFTED POLY (VINYL ALCOHOL) ON GAS PERMEABILITY

The effects of chemical structure, i. e. side chain structure and their contents, on thepermeability of pure SO_2, N_2 and their mixture gases for the sulfoxide grafted poly (vinylalcohol) (RVSO-PVA) membranes have been investigated:where R=Me, Et, Pr, t-Bu and Ph. It was notable that introduction of sulfoxide group intoPVA side chain greatly enhanced the permselectivity of sulfur dioxide. SO_2 permeability andseparation factor of these polymers increased markedly as the size of side chain increased. Thesulfoxide content of the polymer also played an important role in the pure and mixture gasespermeation. Some explanations have been made to interpret this unique gas separation behaviour.

Gas Permeability and Free Volume Hole Properties of Interpenetrating Polymer Network Studied by Positrons

A series of polyurethane/epoxy resin interpenetrating polymer networks （PU/ER IPN） were studied by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy （PALS）. The effects of epoxy resin type and content on the free volume properties in IPN were investigated. We found that in PU/ER IPN, the free volume hole size and fractional free volume showed a negative deviation due to closer segmental chain packing through some chemical bonding between PU and epoxy resin. Direct relationship between the gas permeability and the free volume has been established based on the free volume theory. Experimental results revealed that the free volume plays an important role in determining the gas diffusion and permeability.

GAS PERMEABILITY OF COPOLY(1-TRIMETHYL-SILYL-1-PROPYNE-PENTAMETHYL-DISILYL-1-PROPYNE) MEMBRANE

The permeability of copoly (1-trimethylsilyl-1-propyne-pentamethyldisilyl-1-propyne) membrane for twelve gases (0_2, N_2, CO_2, H_2, D_2, He, At, CH_4, C_2H_4, C_2H_6, C_3H_6 and C_3H_8) was examined. The basic laws of solution and diffusion of the gases in the membrane were expounded preliminarily. It was found that a linear relationship between logarithm of diffusion coefficient (D) and critical molar volume (V_c) of the gases. The permeation characteristics of the gases in the copoly (1-trimethylsilyl-1-propyne-pentamethyldisilyl-1-propyne) membrane was also discussed.

An Investigation into the Compressive Strength,Permeability and Microstructure of Quartzite-Rock-Sand Mortar

River sand is an essential component used as a fine aggregate in mortar and concrete.Due to unrestrained exploitation,river sand resources are gradually being exhausted.This requires alternative solutions.This study deals with the properties of cement mortar containing different levels of manufactured sand(MS)based on quartzite,used to replace river sand.The river sand was replaced at 20%,40%,60%and 80%with MS(by weight or volume).The mechanical properties,transfer properties,and microstructure were examined and compared to a control group to study the impact of the replacement level.The results indicate that the compressive strength can be improved by increasing such a level.The strength was improved by 35.1%and 45.5%over that of the control mortar at replacement levels of 60%and 80%,respectively.Although there was a weak link between porosity and gas permeability in the mortars with manufactured sand,the gas permeability decreased with growing the replacement level.The microstructure of the MS mortar was denser,and the cement paste had fewer microcracks with increasing the replacement level.

Effect of Molecular Structure on the Gas Permeability of Cellulose Aliphatate Esters

In this work, four kinds of cellulose aliphatate esters, cellulose acetate （CA）, cellulose propionate （CP）, cellulose butyrate （CB） and cellulose acetate butyrate （CAB） are synthesized by the homogeneous acylation reactions in cellulose/AmimC1 solutions. These cellulose aliphatate esters are used to prepare gas separation membranes and the effects of molecular structure, such as substituent type, degree of substitution （DS） and distribution of substituents, on the gas permeability are studied. For CAs, as the DS increases, their gas permeabilities for all five gases （02, N2, CH4, CO and CO2） increase, and the ideal permselectivity significantly increases first and then slightly decreases. At similar DS value, the homogenously synthesized CA （distribution order of acetate substituent： C6 〉 C3 〉 C2） is superior to the heterogeneously synthesized CA （distribution order of acetate substituent： C3 〉 C2 〉 C6） in gas separation. With the increase of chain length of aliphatate substituents from acetate to propionate, and to butyrate, the gas permeability of cellulose aliphatate esters gradually increases. The cellulose mixed ester CAB with short acetate groups and relatively long butyrate groups exhibits higher gas permeability or better permselectivity than individual CA or CB via the alteration of the DS of two substituents.

Compatibilization of PLA grafted maleic anhydrate through blending of thermoplastic starch(TPS)and nanoclay nanocomposites for the reduction of gas permeability

Here,the effects of compatibilization and clay nanoparticles on the gas permeability of nanocomposites of poly-lactic acid(PLA)/thermoplastic starch(TPS)/nanoclay were discussed.TPS and compatibilized PLA/TPS were tailored in the first step.The starch with D-sorbitol as a plasticizer was mingled through the internal mixer.Afterward,the maleination method was utilized on PLA to ameliorate the compatibilization of PLA and TPS.In this regard,maleic anhydrate(MA)has been grafted on PLA in the presence of L101 as a peroxide initiator via melt mixing to obtain PLA-g-MA.The optimum content of PLAg-MA was about 4 phr,confirmed by DMTA and SEM.Noteworthy,the presence of PLA-g-MA has moderately improved the oxygen barrier.Then,the nanocomposites of PLA and TPS containing 1%of Cloisite-30B as well as the optimum compatibilizer(4phr),were produced by melt mixing in the masterbatch module leading to the formation of an extraordinary well-dispersed structure according to XRD patterns.The mixing order controlled the localization of nanosheets.It was concluded that the inclusion of 1%nanoclay in the PLA phase reduces the oxygen permeability by 55%compared to the pristine blend due to the tortuosity effect of nanosheets that are appropriately dispersed in the matrix.

Gas sorption and non-Darcy flow in shale reservoirs

Gas sorption and non-Darcy flow are two important issues for shale gas reservoirs. The sorption consists of dissolution and adsorption. Dissolved gas and adsorbed gas are different. The former is dissolved in the shale matrix, while the latter is concentrated near the solid walls of pores. In this paper, the Langmuir equation is used to describe adsorption and Henry’s law is used to describe dissolution. The K coefficient in Henry’s law of 0.052 mmol/(MPa g TOC) is obtained by matching experimental data. The amount of dissolved gas increases linearly when pressure increases. Using only the Langmuir equation without considering dissolution can lead to a significant underestimation of the amount of sorbed gas in shales. For non-Darcy gas flow, the apparent permeability model for free gas is established by combining slip flow and Knudsen flow. For adsorbed gas, the surface diffusion effect is also considered in this model. The surface diffu- sion coefficient is suggested to be of the same scale as the gas self-diffusion coefficient, and the corresponding effective permeability is derived. When 1/ increases,k/ kincreases, but the relationship is not linear as the Klinkenberg effect suggests. The effect of adsorption on the gas flow is significant in nanopores (r≤2 nm). Adsorption increases apparent permeability in shales at low pressures and decreases it at high pressures.

GAS SEPARATION PROPERTIES OF FREESTANDING FILM OF POLYANILINE

The gas separation properties of free- standing film of polyaniline (PANI) for gas pairs of He/N2, H_2/N_2. CO_2/N_2 and CO_2/CH_4 at room temperature were measured as a function of the protonation state. Variation of the gas permeabilities coefficient of PANI with an insulator to metal transition upon the protonation processes was observed, which might be due to a change in both gas solubility coefficient and diffusion coefficient with the protonation state.

THE GAS TRANSPORT BEHAVIOR IN AROMATIC POLYESTER MEMBRANES

Six aromatic polyesters were prepared for gas separation membranes, and their permeation properties for hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and methane were measured at 30 degrees C and 1 atmosphere by low pressure manometric method. The correlation between the gas transport behavior and molecular structure of aromatic polyester membrane is discussed. These data are interpreted qualitatively in terms of the calculated packing density, gas-polymer interaction, concentration of aryl bromine on backbone, and effect of silane group on main chain of polymer.

Aberration changes of the corneal anterior surface following discontinued use of rigid gas permeable contact lenses

AIM: To record aberrations with a corneal topographic device on the anterior surface of the cornea at different time-points prior to wearing and following discontinued use of rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses. The effect of wearing RGP on the anterior surface of the cornea was discussed to provide guidance for clinical refractive error correction.METHODS: The study objects were 24 eyes from 24 patients. All patients underwent identical examination procedures prior to lens use, as well as afterwards, including slit-lamp examination, non-contact tonometer measurement, computer optometry and corneal curvature measurement, subjective refraction test, and corneal topography analysis. The patients wore contact lenses everyday for 1 month and then discontinued. Corneal topographies were recorded at certain time points of 30 minutes, 1 day, 3, 7 and 14 days following use.RESULTS: Total corneal aberration at each time point following discontinued use of RGP contact lenses was less than the time point prior to use. Detailed results were as follows: root mean square (RMS) (pre)=(1.438± 0.328)μm, RMS (30 minutes) =(1.076 ±0.355)μm, RMS (1 day) =(1.362 ±0.402)μm, RMS (3 days) =(1.373 ±0.398)μm, RMS (7 days) =(1.387 ±0.415)μm, and RMS (14 days) = (1.430±0.423)μm. Results showed that at 30 minutes after discontinued use of RGP contact lenses, almost all 2 ndand 3 rd-order aberrations change. Quadrafoil Z10 and spherical Z12 of the 4 th-order were also changed. Alterations to Z5, Z6, and Z12 at 1 day after discontinued use were significant differences compared with the time period prior to RGP use: Z5 and Z6 decreased, and Z12 increased slightly. Z5 and Z6 remained decreased at 3 days after discontinued use, but Z9 and Z10 continued to increase and Z12 returned to levels prior to RGP use. At 14 days after discontinued use, all aberrations were notsignificantly different from the values prior to use.CONCLUSION: The use RGP contact lenses greatly reduced total aberration of the anterior surface of the cornea. Changes to 2 ndand 3 rd-order aberrations (including Z3, Z4, Z5, Z6, Z7, and Z8) were more significant. Following discontinued use of RGP contact lenses, the majority of lower order aberrations returned to original levels in a short period of time. During this process, a transient higher order aberration appeared, but all changes disappeared within 14 days after discontinued use of RGP contact lenses.

Contact lens impact on quality of life in keratoconus patients: rigid gas permeable versus soft siliconehydrogel keratoconus lenses

AIMTo determine the impact of rigid gas permeable (RGP) and silicone-hydrogel keratoconus lenses on the quality of life (QoL) in keratoconus (KCN) patients using the self-reported results from the Contact Lens Impact on Quality of Life (CLIQ) Questionnaire.METHODSFrom January 2013 to April 2013, 27 consecutive KCN patients who wore RGP contact lenses (conflexair100 UV KE Zeiss-W&#x000f6;hlk) or soft silicone-hydrogel contact lenses (SHCLs) for KCN (KeraSoft IC- Bausch&#x00026;Lomb or Hydrocone Toris K-Swiss lens) completed the CLIQ questionnaire.RESULTSThe mean age of 27 patients was 29.6&#x000b1;8.0y. Fifteen patients were RGP user. The groups were comparable with respect to the mean patient age, sex, and mean K values (P=0.1, P=0.8 and P=0.1, respectively). The mean CLIQperson measure was 42.8&#x000b1;5.5 in RGP group and 39.6&#x000b1;5.5 in SHCLs for KCN group (P=0.06). CLIQperson measure was positively correlated with steep K value (r=0.301, P=0.04). When eyes were stratified by visual acuity with contact lenses, the mean CLIQperson measure was 42.01&#x000b1;5.6 in eyes with a visual acuity of 20/20-20/25 (n=44) and 38.4&#x000b1;5.26 in eyes with a visual acuity of 20/32 or less (n=10; P=0.097).CONCLUSIONRGP lenses and SHCLs for KCN have similar impact on QoL.

Effect of rigid gas permeable contact lens on keratoconus progression: a review

The prevalence of keratoconus is 1/2000 in the general population and is high in adolescents.Keratoconus is a progressive disease,which has a great impact on patients’quality of life and mental health.It can be managed by surgical and non-surgical means,rigid gas permeable(RGP)contact lens as its main non-surgical method is widely used in clinic.The efficacy of wearing RGP contact lens has been confirmed to some extent,but some studies have found that wearing RGP contact lens has adverse effects,which may promote disease progression.In this paper,the advantages and disadvantages of RGP contact lens in controlling keratoconus were reviewed to provide more suggestions and references for the clinical application of RGP contact lens.

Effects of rigid gas permeable contact lens on morphological parameters and vision-related quality of life in keratoconus patients

AIM: To evaluate the effect of rigid gas permeable contact lens(RGP-CL) on corneal morphological parameters and vision-related quality of life in keratoconus(KC) patients.METHODS: Totally 57 eyes of 30 KC patients who were followed-up for more than two years, including 17 RGP wearers(32 eyes) and 13 non-wearers(25 eyes) were retrospectively analyzed. Initial medical history and corneal topography were collected at baseline. Corneal topography, corneal aberration, optical coherence tomography, and vision-related quality of life questionnaires were performed at the last follow-up.RESULTS: According to corneal topography, increase of the flattest keratometric values was higher in RGP wearers than in non-wearers(P=0.038). The morphological parameters, including symmetry index of front corneal curvature(P=0.004) and Baiocchi-Calossi-Versaci index front(P=0.047), were lower in RGP wearers than in nonwearers. Vertical coma was smaller in RGP wearers than non-wearers in 3.0, 5.0, 6.0, and 7.0 mm pupil diameters, respectively(P<0.05). The environmental triggering domain of ocular surface disease index was worse in RGP wearers as compared to non-wearers(P=0.003). At the last followup, there were no significant differences in constituent ratios of KC progression, corneal thickness topography, epithelial thickness topography, morphological parameters of corneal topography, and other questionnaire scores between the two groups(all P>0.05).CONCLUSION: Long-term use of RGP does not worsen KC but may cause corneal epithelial remodeling to increase symmetry of corneal anterior surface, reduce corneal vertical coma and improve visual quality. However, RGP wearing causes a slight decrease in vision-related quality of life. The occurrence of ocular surface symptoms is mainly associated with environmental triggering factors.

Profile improvement during CO_2 flooding in ultra-low permeability reservoirs

Gas flooding such as CO2 flooding may be effectively applied to ultra-low permeability reservoirs, but gas channeling is inevitable due to low viscosity and high mobility of gas and formation heterogeneity. In order to mitigate or prevent gas channeling, ethylenediamine is chosen for permeability profile control. The reaction mechanism of ethylenediamine with CO2, injection performance, swept volume, and enhanced oil recovery were systematically evaluated. The reaction product of ethylenediamine and CO2 was a white solid or a light yellow viscous liquid, which would mitigate or prevent gas channeling. Also, ethylenediamine could be easily injected into ultra-low permeability cores at high temperature with protective ethanol slugs. The core was swept by injection of 0.3 PV ethylenediamine. Oil displacement tests performed on heterogeneous models with closed fractures, oil recovery was significantly enhanced with injection of ethylenediamine. Experimental results showed that using ethylenediamine to plug high permeability layers would provide a new research idea for the gas injection in fractured, heterogeneous and ultra-low permeability reservoirs. This technology has the potential to be widely applied in oilfields.

An experimental study on seepage behavior of sandstone material with different gas pressures

The seepage evolution characteristic of brittle rock materials is very significant for the stability and safety of rock engineering. In this research, a series of conventional triaxial compression and gas seepage tests were carded out on sandstone specimens with a rock mechanics servo-controlled testing system. Based on the experimental results, the relationship between permeability and deformation is firstly analyzed in detail. The results show that the permeabilityaxial strain curve can be divided into the following five phases： the phase of micro-defects closure, the phase of linear elastic deformation, the phase of nonlinear deformation, the phase of post-peak stress softening and the phase of residual strength. The seepage evolution characteristic is also closely correlated with the volumetric deformation according to the relationship between permeability and volumetric strain. It is found that the gas seepage pressure has a great effect on the permeability evolution, i.e. permeability coefficients increase with increasing gas seepage pressures. Finally, the influence of gas seepage pressures on the failure behavior of brittle sandstone specimens is discussed.

Profile and Performance of Rigid Gas Permeable and Scleral Lenses on Keratoconic Patients in the Developing Contact Lens Practice Settings

Purpose: To present the profile of keratoconic contact lens wearers, alongside with performance of corneal and scleral rigid gas permeable (RGP) at different stages of keratoconus based on limited diagnostic resources. Methods: 5-year Clinical records of keratoconic corneal and scleral RGP contact lens wearers were retrieved. Data on age, gender, visual acuity (VA), refraction (RE), stage of keratoconus and mode of correction among other variables were obtained for analysis. Information pertaining to the outcome in pre and post-fit at different severity was determined. Results: A total of 124 medical records were analyzed, with the age (20.86 ± 9.50 years), gender (58.9% male and 41.1% female), Laterality (57.3% bilateral, 26.6% right eye and left eye as 16.1%) and ethnicity (91.1% Africans and 8.9% Asians). There were no significant differences in effects of lenses (RGP and Scleral lenses) across three stages in visual acuity and in three stages of severity HRGP (2) = 1.05, p = 0.59; HScleral (1) = 2.24, p = 0.134. Similar non-significant effect was observed in refractive error correction HRGP (2) = 1.62, p = 0.44: HScleral (1) = 1.143, p = 0.285. Conclusion: The profile of KC contact lens wearer was comparable to other studies in developing setting. Keratoconic grading should be based on available resources. Corneal rigid gas permeable and scleral lenses were beneficial to keratoconic patients in respect of refractive error correction and visual improvement to keratoconic patient.