Mechanical behaviours of bedded sandstone under hydromechanical coupling

The combination of the dipping effect and hydromechanical(H-M)coupling effect can easily lead to water inrush disasters in water-rich roadways with different dip angles in coal mines.Therefore,H-M coupling tests of bedded sandstones under identical osmotic pressure and various confining pressures were conducted.Then,the evolution curves of stress-strain,permeability and damage,macro-and mesoscopic failure characteristics were obtained.Subsequently,the mechanical behaviour was characterized,and finally the failure mechanism was revealed.The results showed that:(1)The failure of the sandstone with the bedding angle of 45°or 60°was the structure-dominant type,while that with the bedding angle of 0°,30°or 90°was the force-dominant type.(2)When the bedding angle was in the range of(0°,30°)or(45°,90°),the confining pressure played a dominant role in influencing the peak strength.However,withinβ∈(30°,45°),the bedding effect played a dominant role in the peak strength.(3)With the increase in bedding angle,the cohesion increased first,then decreased and finally increased,while the internal friction angle was the opposite.(4)When the bedding angle was 0°or 30°,the“water wedging”effect and the“bedding buckling”effect would lead to the forking or converging shear failure.When the bedding angle was 45°or 60°,the sliding friction effect would lead to the shear slipping failure.When the bedding angle was 90°,the combination of the“bedding buckling”effect and shear effect would lead to the mixed tension-shear failure.The above conclusions obtained are helpful for the prevention of water inrush disasters in water-rich roadways with different dips in coal mines.

Impact of train speed on the mechanical behaviours of track-bed materials

For the 30,000 km long French conventional railway lines(94% of the whole network),the train speed is currently limited to 220 km/h,whilst the speed is 320 km/h for the 1800 km long high-speed lines.Nowadays,there is a growing need to improve the services by increasing the speed limit for the conventional lines.This paper aims at studying the influence of train speed on the mechanical behaviours of track-bed materials based on field monitoring data.Emphasis is put on the behaviours of interlayer and subgrade soils.The selected experimental site is located in Vierzon,France.Several sensors including accelerometers and soil pressure gauges were installed at different depths.The vertical strains of different layers can be obtained by integrating the records of accelerometers installed at different trackbed depths.The experimentation was carried out using an intercity test train running at different speeds from 60 km/h to 200 km/h.This test train was composed of a locomotive(22.5 Mg/axle) and 7 'Corail'coaches(10.5 Mg/axle).It was observed that when the train speed was raised,the loadings transmitted to the track-bed increased.Moreover,the response of the track-bed materials was amplified by the speed rise at different depths:the vertical dynamic stress was increased by about 10% when the train speed was raised from 60 km/h to 200 km/h for the locomotive loading,and the vertical strains doubled their quasistatic values in the shallow layers.Moreover,the stressestrain paths were estimated using the vertical stress and strain for each train speed.These loading paths allowed the resilient modulus Mrto be determined.It was found that the resilient modulus(M_r) was decreased by about 10% when the train speed was increased from 100 km/h to 200 km/h.However,the damping ratio(D_r) kept stable in the range of speeds explored.

Static and dynamic mechanical behaviour of ECO-RPC

Ecological reactive powder concrete (ECO-RPC) with small sized and differentvolume fraction steel fibers was prepared by substitution of ultra-fine industrial waste powder for50% to 60% cement by weight and replacement of ground fine quartz sand with natural fine aggregate.The effect of steel fiber volume fraction and curing ages on the static mechanical behaviour ofECO-RPC was studied. Using the split Hopkinson pressure bar technique, the dynamic mechanicalbehaviour of ECO-RPC was investigated under different strain rates. The results show that the staticmechanical behaviour of ECO-RPC increases with the increase of steel fiber volume fraction andcuring ages. The type of ECO-RPC with the substitution of 25% ultra-fine slag, 25% ultra-fine flyash and 10% silica fume is better than the others with compressive strength, flexural strength, andfracture energy more than 200 MPa, 60 MPa and 30 kJ/m^2, respectively. ECO-RPC has excellent strainrate stiffening effects under dynamic load. Its peak stress, peak strain and the area understrain-stress curve increase with the increase of strain rate. Its fracture pattern changes frombrittleness to toughness under high strain rates.

On the hydro-mechanical behaviour of MX80 bentonite-based materials

Bentonite-based materials have been considered in many countries as engineered barrier/backfilling materials in deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste.During the long period of waste storage,these materials will play an essential role in ensuring the integrity of the storage system that consists of the waste canisters,the engineered barrier/backfill,the retaining structures as well as the geological barrier.Thus,it is essential to well understand the hydro-mechanical behaviours of these bentonite-based materials.This review paper presents the recent advances of knowledge on MX80 bentonite-based materials,in terms of water retention properties,hydraulic behaviour and mechanical behaviour.Emphasis is put on the effect of technological voids and the role of the dry density of bentonite.The swelling anisotropy is also discussed based on the results from swelling tests with measurements of both axial and radial swelling pressures on a sand-bentonite mixture compacted at different densities.Microstructure observation was used to help the interpretation of macroscopic hydromechanical behaviour.Also,the evolution of soil microstructure thus the soil density over time is discussed based on the results from mock-up tests.This evolution is essential for understanding the longterm hydro-mechanical behaviour of the engineered barrier/backfill.

On the chemo-thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of geological and engineered barriers

An overview of the recent findings about the chemo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of materials used for both geological and engineered barriers in nuclear waste disposal is presented, through some examples about the natural Boom Clay （BC） and compacted bentonite-based materials. For the natural BC, it was found that compression index identified from both oedometer and isotropic compression tests is sim- ilar and the compressibility of BC from the Mol site is higher than that of BC from the Essen site： the shear strength of Mol BC is also higher than that of the Essen BC, suggesting a significant effect of carbo- nates content; the thermal volume change is strongly overconsolidation ratio （OCR） dependent-low OCR values promote thermal contraction while high OCR values favour thermal dilation; the volume change behaviour is also strongly time dependent and this time dependent behaviour is governed by the stress level and temperature; the effect of pore-water salinity on the volume change behaviour can be signif- icant when the smectite content is relatively high. For the bentonite-based materials, it was found that thermal contraction also occurs at low OCR values, but this is suction dependent--suction promotes ther- mal dilation. Under constant volume conditions, wetting results in a decrease of hydraulic conductivity, followed by an increase. This is found to be related to changes in macro-pores size-wetting induces a decrease of macro-pores size, followed by an increase due to the aggregates fissuring. The presence of technological voids can increase the hydraulic conductivity but does not influence the swelling pressure.

Hydrogen effect on the mechanical behaviour and microstructural features of a Fe-Mn-C twinning induced plasticity steel

The influences of hydrogen on the mechanical properties and the fracture behaviour of Fe-22Mn-0.6C twinning induced plasticity steel have been investigated by slow strain rate tests and fractographic analysis.The steel showed high susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement,which led to 62.9%and 74.2%reduction in engineering strain with 3.1 and 14.4 ppm diffusive hydrogen,respectively.The fracture surfaces revealed a transition from ductile to brittle dominated fracture modes with the rising hydrogen contents.The underlying deformation and fracture mechanisms were further exploited by examining the hydrogen effects on the dislocation substructure,stacking fault probability,and twinning behaviour in pre-strained slow strain rate test specimens and notched tensile specimens using coupled electron channelling contrast imaging and electron backscatter diffraction techniques.The results reveal that the addition of hydrogen promotes planar dislocation structures,earlier nucleation of stacking faults,and deformation twinning within those grains which have tensile axis orientations close to<111>//rolling direction and<112>//rolling direction.The developed twin lamellae result in strain localization and micro-voids at grain boundaries and eventually lead to grain boundary decohesion.

Mechanical behaviour of Al/Al_(2)O_(3) composite in pseudo-semi-solid state during isothermal compression

To gain a better understanding of thixoforging for the Al_(2)O_(3)-37%Al composite,its mechanical behavior in the pseudo-semi-solid state was studied by isothermal compression tests.The results show that the values of peak stress obviously decrease with increasing temperature and decreasing strain rate.The compressive true stress-strain curves of the Al_(2)O_(3)-37%Al composite can be divided into four stages.They are rapidly ascending,decreasing,steady and slowly ascending.Moreover,the main deformation mechanism controlling deformation of the composite in the pseudo-semi-solid state is the sliding or rotary movement between solid particles.

Effect of T6I6 treatment on dynamic mechanical behaviour of Al-Si-Mg-Cu cast alloy and impact resistance of its cast motor shell

The effect of T6I6 treatment on the dynamic mechanical and microstructure behaviour of Al-Si-Mg-Cu cast alloy was investigated using split Hopkinson pressure bar(SHPB), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and highresolution transmission electron microscopy(HRTEM). Besides, the impact resistances of T6I6 and T6 motor shells of new energy vehicles made of Al-Si-Mg-Cu cast alloy were compared using a trolley crash test. The results indicated that the main strengthening-phases of the T6 peak-aged and T6I6 peak-aged alloy were GP zone and β″ precipitates. T6I6treatment can increase the density and size of β″ precipitates in peak-aged alloy and enhance both its tensile strength(σb)and elongation(δ). The dynamic toughness values of T6I6 samples are 50.34 MJ/m^(3) at 2000 s^(-1) and 177.34 MJ/m^(3) at 5000 s^(-1) which are 20% and 12% higher than those of T6 samples, respectively. Compared with a T6 shell, the overall deformation of T6I6 shell is more uniform during the crash test. At an impact momentum of 3.5×10;kg·m/s, the T6I6shell breaks down at 0.38 s which is 0.10 s later than the T6 shell.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF MECHANICAL BEHAVIORS OF SUPERCONDUCTING POWDER BSCCO (BiSrCaCuO)

An equivalent continuum method and a deformable discrete method to describe the mechanical behaviors of superconducting powder BSCCO （BiSrCaCuO） aggregate are studied syste-matically. The equivalent continuum model idealizes the aggregation of the powder as an equivalent continuum material. The powder aggregate yielding is caused by not only the deviatoric stress but also the hydrostatic stress and the modified Drucker-Prager/Cap model is adopted to describe the mechanical behaviors of BSCCO powder aggregate in continuum method. The deformable discrete model is known as a direct model, which considers the discrete nature of the powder particles. Its framework encompasses the local behaviors between the particles, such as particles contact, sliding and rolling. Based on commercial finite element software ABAQUS, the equivalent continuum model and the deformable discrete model are used to simulate the confined compression of superconducting powder BSCCO, and the numerical results show agreement with experimental results, which verify the correctness of these built models. Compared with the equivalent continuum model based on macroscopic statistics method, the deformable discrete model can present the microscopic information during processing and can describe the nature of mechanical behaviors of superconducting powder BSCCO. But from an industrial viewpoint, the equivalent continuum model has a definitive edge over the microscopic models in that the gross behavior of the powder mass can be modeled and simulated on an industrial scale.

Microstructure and Mechanical Behaviour of Proton-and Ion-irradiated Ll_2 Intermetallic Compounds

The results of mechanical testing and transmission electron microscopy on the ordered intermetallic Ll2 compounds1Zr3Al, Ni3Al, Ni3Si and Ni3Ge after irradiation with protons or heavy ions at high or low tem peratu re are presented and discussed. Using a minjaturjzed disk-bend test. it was found that proton irradiation of Zr3Al. Ni3Al and Ni3Si raises their yield strength :a single test of Ni3Ge shows no effect on the fracture stress of this brittle intermetallic The Vickers microhardness of all four alloys is raised by proton irradiation. The irradiations cause all the alloys to disorder. the extent of which is dependent on irradiation temperature Microstructural defects are produced by the irradiations Some exhibit strain-field contrast under dynamic two-beam diffracting conditions. Other distinct defect clusters are imaged only in dark-field using su perlattice reflections, These latter defects are discussed in the context of current arnorphization models. The strength increase of Zr3Al, Ni3Al and Ni3Si is attributed to a combination of disordering and strengthening from defects. The lack of an effect of irradiation on the fracture stress of Ni3Ge. in which voids were observed, requires further experiments

Mechanical Behaviour and Structure Instability of Al_3Ti Alloy

Trialuminide alloys of elements such as Ti. Nb or Zr are of particular interest as materials for high temperature usage because their density is very low and specific strength and elastic rnoduli are then very high. This report concentrates on recent work on Al3Ti alloys which have been alloyed with ternary elements such that the higher symmetry ordered cubic structure is obtained, leading to somewhat easier operation of deformation mechan isms and hence improved ductility and toughness.Fine details of the crystal structure of cubic trialuminides are considered here and it is shown that the materials generally possess some remnant tetragonal chemical ordering which can affect their me chanical behaviour. In addition the compositional range over which a stable single phase is retained is shown to be extremely small, such that in most cases the materials examined show some form of microstructural instability. These instabilities affect the mechanical behaviour of the materials, for exarnple producing general strengthening. leading to precipitation hardening du ring hig h temperature testing, and causing age hardening instabilities during high temperature static or dynamic testing.Such structural instabifity feads to significant modifications at superdislocations, affecting both the dislocation cores and their associated APB's. Failure for these cubic materials still occurs at very small plastic strains and seems to be determined by difficulties of superdislocation creation near a propagating crack rather than by problems of suitable dislocation configuration and mobility. Possible ways to enhance ductility and toughness by alloying and microstructural modification will be discussed.

Development of Fundamental Research of SiC_w / Al Composites in HIT Part Ⅱ: Mechanical Behaviour of Squeeze-cast SiC_w / Al Composites

Studies on the mechanical behaviour of squeeze-cast SiCw / Al composites have been revjewed. The results show that SiCw / Al composites exhibit improved mechan ical properties and cyclic hard ening. The reasons leading to the above results are discussed. Localized deformation near SiC whiskers plays an important role in the initiation of microcracks in the composites, and the fracture of the composites is caused by the abrupt linking of microcracks

A Review on the Mechanical Behaviour of Bamboo Reinforced Concrete Beams

In light of the increasing demand for sustainable building materials,the effectiveness of bamboo utilization in various fields has become the object of scientists'close attention.The increased interest in bamboo is explained by its sustainable characteristics,which make it the most preferred material for environmentally friendly and cost-effective construction compared to conventional ones.Applicability of bamboo is vast and diverse:from decora-tion and furniture to structural members and re inforcement.Due to the low price,rich resources,and high ela sticity,bamboo culms have also been used as an alternative to steel reinforcement in concrete structures.Exten-sive research has been done to assess feasibilty of bamboo reinforcement in structural elements made of concrete.This article discusses the mechanical properties of three types of structural bamboo reinforced concrete(BRC)beams.Existing original papers on the mechanical behaviour of structural BRC members were studied,and the fundamental properties induding typical failure modes,reasons of failure,load displacement relationships,and influencing factors were discussed and described.Observations and conclusions of the review will contribute to deep understanding of structural feasibility of BRC beams and serve as a base for future research.

The Mechanical Behaviour of Rubber Hose Reinforced with Warp Knitted Fabric

A new process for the rubber hose reinforced with warp knitted fabric was introduced, and the relation between the inside pressure and the radial expansion ratio of four kinds of rubber radiator hose reinforced with warp knitted fabric was investigated. The result showed that the bursting pressure and the radial direction expansion ratio of the hose could meet the requirement of ISO4081 for auto radiator hose. A new model was built up to analyse the relation between the inside pressure and the radial expansion ratio of the hose based the reinforced fabric structure parameters and yarn properties.

An improved specimen preparation method for marine shallow gasbearing sand sediments and its validations

Instabilities of shallow gas-charged seabed are potential geological hazards in ocean engineering.In practice,the conventional field sampling techniques failed to obtain undisturbed gas-bearing sediments from the seabed for laboratory mechanical testing because of sensitive gas exsolution and escape from sediments.However,preparation of representative remoulded gas-charged specimens is a challenging issue,because it is rather difficult to quantitatively control the gas content and obtain uniform distribution of gas bubbles within the specimen.Given the above problems,this work proposes a reliable approach to reconstitute the high-saturation specimen of gas-charged sediments in the laboratory by an improved multifunction integrated triaxial apparatus(MITA).This apparatus is developed based on an advanced stress path triaxial system by introducing a temperature-controlled system and a wavemonitoring system.The temperature-controlled system is used to accurately mimic the in situ environments of sediments in the seabed.The wave-monitoring system is utilized to identify exsolution point of free gas and examine the disturbance of gas to specimens during gas exsolution.The detailed procedure of gassy specimen preparation is introduced.Then,the quality of prepared specimens using our improved apparatus is validated by the high-resolution micro-X-ray computed tomography(mCT)scanning test,from which bubble occurrence and size distribution within the gassy sand specimen can be obtained;and preliminary mechanical tests on gassy sand specimens with various initial saturation degrees are performed.The proposed specimen preparation procedure succeeds in proving the postulated occurrence state of gas bubbles in coarse-grained sediments and accurately controlling the gas content.

Utilising the scientific method to demonstrate that slender beam/column behaviour is the dominant behavioural mechanism leading to roof/rib failure

As per most other earth science engineering problems,the underground coal geotechnical environment and the way in which roof and rib support interacts with the rock mass are complex issues.It is therefore generally recognised that without prudent simplification,the complexity of the problem will overwhelm all current geotechnical methods of modelling,not least for the reason that a rock mass can never be characterised to a level that allows a"non-simplified"analysis.The fact that numerical models,which are commonly purported to be a"simulation"tool and the so-called epitome of advanced geotechnical engineering,always need to be"calibrated"to a known reality is taken to be conclusive proof of this statement.While the problem should not be oversimplified(i.e.the dominant failure mechanisms or critical data input parameters should not be ignored),without question judicious simplification is at the heart of all engineering design,to the point that it has a well-established name–"reductionism".The hypothesis addressed in this paper,is that horizontal and vertical stress-driven slender beam and column behaviour(which includes unstable Euler Buckling)are respectively the dominant(but not only)roadway roof and ribline behavioural mechanism that(if not controlled)can lead to excessive deformation,failure and eventual collapse.As a part of the Scientific Method,a hypothesis can only be tested via real-world observations,measurements and analyses in establishing it is a credible Theory.Utilising the Scientific Method,this paper demonstrates that slender beam/column behaviour is the dominant instability mechanism within a coal mine roof/rib subject to elevated horizontal/vertical stress conditions and therefore,must be representatively accounted for in any credible empirical,analytical,or numerical approach to coal mine roof/rib stability assessment and associated ground support design.

Fatigue behaviour of welded joints assembled by longitudinal corrugated plates

Fatigue is usually the cause for the cracks identified at bridge elements in service. With an increase in the introduction of corrugated steel web girders in recent highway bridge construction, the understanding of the fatigue behaviour of welded details in such structures becomes an important issue for the design. The typical welded details were represented as welded joints assembled by longitudinal corrugated plates. All the experiments were performed under fatigue loading using a servo-control testing machine. The test results from the failure mode observation with the aid of infrared thermo-graph technology show that the failure manner of these welded joints is comparable to that of the corrugated steel web beams reported previously. It is indicated from the stiffness degradation analysis that the welded joints with larger corrugation angle have higher stiffness and greater stiffness degradation in the notable stiffness degradation range. It is shown from the test S-N relations based on the free regression and forced regression analyses that there is a good linear dependence between lg(N) and lg(ΔS). It is also demonstrated that the proposed fracture mechanics analytical model is able to give a prediction slightly lower but on the safe side for the mean stresses at 2 million cycles of the test welded joints.

Assessment of Self-healing Efficacy of Thermoplastic Ionomer Films Interleaving Carbon-Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Matrix Laminates

In recent years there has been a strong interest in thermoplastic polymers with self-healing behaviour, which after suffering mechanically-induced damage self-repair via energy-activated macromolecular rearrangements. The use of film-shaped self-regenerating polymers in alternating layers with high-performance continuous fibre-reinforced thermosetting polymer matrix laminates is considered particularly attractive in the mitigation of impact damage in high-demanding components and structures, insofar as the self-healing films may at the same time toughen the base fibrous thermosetting matrix laminate composite while providing immediate or subsequent self-repairing according to the above mentioned mechanisms. In this work, mechanical flexural testing along with infrared thermography inspection is proposed for characterizing low temperature （typical of the altitudes in which modem civil and military aircrafts travel） transverse low-energy ballistic impact damage （commonly occurring under the above cited conditions） in thermoplastic ionomer films interleaving carbon-fibre reinforced epoxy matrix laminates, as well as to assess the degree of success of thermally-activated self-healing process of ionomeric phase by external heating sources. Preliminary mechanical results supported the self-healing hypothesis of impact damaged hybrid laminates, and exploratory thermography imaging of both the as-damaged and as-rejuvenated test coupons suggested that this nondestructive evaluation technique is sensitive enough to detect healing effects.

Characterizations on Mechanical Properties and In Vitro Bioactivity of Biomedical Ti–Nb–Zr–CPP Composites Fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering

To alleviate the bio-inert of Ti alloys as hard tissue implants, Ti–35Nb–7Zr–xCPP（calcium pyrophosphate,x = 5, 10, 15, 20 wt%） composites were prepared by mechanical alloying（MA） and following spark plasma sintering（SPS）. Mechanical behaviours and in vitro bioactivity of these composites were investigated systematically. Results showed that the composites consisted of β-Ti matrix, α-Ti, and metal–ceramic phases such as CaO, CaTiO3, CaZrO3, and TixPy. With increasing CPP content, the composites had higher strength（over 1500 MPa） and higher elastic modulus, but suffered almost zero plastic deformation together with lower relative density. When the CPP contents were 5 and 10 wt%,the compressive elastic moduli were 44 and 48 GPa, respectively, which were close to those of natural bones. However, the compressive elastic modulus of the composites increased significantly when CPP contents exceed 10 wt%, thus deteriorating the mechanical compatibility of the composites owing to more α-Ti and metal–ceramic phases. Besides, the surface of Ti–35Nb–7Zr–10CPP composite was deposited as a homogeneous apatite layer during soaking in simulated body fluid（SBF）. It indicates a good bioactivity between the implant materials and living bones.