Evaluation of the dynamic sealing performance of cap rocks of underground gas storage under multi-cycle alternating loads

The static sealing of underground gas storage(UGS),including the integrity of cap rocks and the stability of faults,is analyzed from a macro perspective using a comprehensive geological evaluation method.Changes in pore structure,permeability,and mechanical strength of cap rocks under cyclic loads may impact the rock sealing integrity during the injection and recovery phases of UGS.In this work,the mechanical deformation and failure tests of rocks,as well as rock damage tests under alternating loads,are conducted to analyze the changes in the strength and permeability of rocks under multiple-cycle intense injection and recovery of UGS.Additionally,this study proposes an evaluation method for the dynamic sealing performance of UGS cap rocks under multi-cycle alternating loads.The findings suggest that the failure strength(70%)can be used as the critical value for rock failure,thus providing theoretical support for determining the upper limit of operating pressure and the number of injection-recovery cycles for the safe operation of a UGS system.

Long-Term Performance and Microstructural Characterization of Dam Concrete in the Three Gorges Project

This study investigates the long-term performance of laboratory dam concrete in different curing environments over ten years and the microstructure of 17-year-old laboratory concrete and actual concrete cores drilled from the Three Gorges Dam.The mechanical properties of the laboratory dam concrete,whether cured in natural or standard environments,continued to improve over time.Furthermore,the laboratory dam concrete exhibited good resistance to diffusion and a refined microstructure after 17 years.However,curing and long-term exposure to the local natural environment reduced the frost resistance.Microstructural analyses of the laboratory concrete samples demonstrated that moderate-heat cement and fine fly ash(FA)particles were almost fully hydrated to form compact micro structures consisting of large quantities of homogeneous calcium(alumino)silicate hydrate(C-(A)-S-H)gels and a few crystals.No obvious interfacial transition zones were observed in the microstructure owing to the longterm pozzolanic reaction.This dense and homogenous microstructure was the crucial reason for the excellent long-term performance of the dam concrete.A high FA volume also played a significant role in the microstructural densification and performance growth of dam concrete at a later age.The concrete drilled from the dam surface exhibited a loose microstructure with higher microporosity,indicating that concrete directly exposed to the actual service environment suffered degradation caused by water and wind attacks.In this study,both macro-performance and microstructural analyses revealed that the application of moderate-heat cement and FA resulted in a dense and homogenous microstructure,which ensured the excellent long-term performance of concrete from the Three Gorges Dam after 17 years.Long-term exposure to an actual service environment may lead to microstructural degradation of the concrete surface.Therefore,the retained long-term dam concrete samples need to be further researched to better understand its microstructural evolution and development of its properties.

Optimal Design of the Modular Joint Drive Train for Enhancing Cobot Load Capacity and Dynamic Performance

Automation advancements prompts the extensive integration of collaborative robot(cobot)across a range of industries.Compared to the commonly used design approach of increasing the payload-to-weight ratio of cobot to enhance load capacity,equal attention should be paid to the dynamic response characteristics of cobot during the design process to make the cobot more flexible.In this paper,a new method for designing the drive train parameters of cobot is proposed.Firstly,based on the analysis of factors influencing the load capacity and dynamic response characteristics,design criteria for both aspects are established for cobot with all optimization design criteria normalized within the design domain.Secondly,with the cobot in the horizontal pose,the motor design scheme is discretized and it takes the joint motor diameter and gearbox speed ratio as optimization design variables.Finally,all the discrete values of the optimization objectives are obtained through the enumeration method and the Pareto front is used to select the optimal solution through multi-objective optimization.Base on the cobot design method proposed in this paper,a six-axis cobot is designed and compared with the commercial cobot.The result shows that the load capacity of the designed cobot in this paper reaches 8.4 kg,surpassing the 5 kg load capacity commercial cobot which is used as a benchmark.The minimum resonance frequency of the joints is 42.70 Hz.

Long-term performance of recycled asphalt mixtures containing high RAP and RAS

The application of reclaimed asphalt pavement(RAP)and reclaimed asphalt shingles(RAS)on asphalt pavement can reduce the asphalt paving cost,conserve energy and protect the environment.However,the use of high contents of RAP and RAS in asphalt pavement may lead to durability issues,especially the fatigue cracking and thermal cracking.It is necessary to conduct a series of analyses on asphalt mixtures containing high RAP and RAS,and seek methods to enhance their long-term performance.This paper provides a comprehensive over-view of the long-term performance of recycled asphalt mixtures containing high contents of RAP and RAS.The findings in this research show that rutting resistance of high recycled asphalt mixtures is not a concern,whereas their resistance to fatigue and thermal cracking is not conclusive.Recycling agents can be used to improve the thermal cracking resistance of high recycled asphalt mixtures.An optimum decision on recycling agents will improve the durability properties of high recycled asphalt mixtures.It is recommended that to use a balanced mixture design approach with testing of the blended asphalt binders will provide better understanding of long-term performance of recycled asphalt mixtures containing high RAP and RAS.

Experimental study of hollow rectangular bridge column performance under vertical and cyclically bilateral loads

To investigate the seismic performance of hollow reinforced concrete （RC） bridge columns of rectangular cross section under constant axial load and cyclically biaxial bending, five specimens were tested. A parametric study is carried out for different axial load ratios, longitudinal reinforcement ratios and lateral reinforcement ratios. The experimental results showed that all tested specimens failed in the flexural failure mode and their ultimate performance was dominated by flexural capacity, which is represented by the rupture/buckling of tensile longitudinal rebars at the bottom of the bridge columns. Biaxial force and displacement hysteresis loops showed significant stiffness and strength degradations, and the pinching effect and coupling interaction effect of both directions severely decrease the structural seismic resistance. However, the measured ductility coefficient varying from 3.5 to 5.7 and the equivalent viscous damping ratio varying from 0.19 and 0.26 can meet the requirements of the seismic design. The hollow RC rectangular bridge columns with configurations of lateral reinforcement in this study have excellent performance under bidirectional earthquake excitations, and may be considered as a substitute for current hollow RC rectangular section configurations described in the Guideline for Seismic Design of Highway Bridges （JTG/T B02-01-2008）. The length of the plastic hinge region was found to approach one sixth of the hollow RC rectangular bridge column height for all specimen columns, and it was much less than those specified in the current JTG/T. Thus, the length of the plastic hinge region is more concentrated for RC rectangular hollow bridge columns.

Improving MapReduce Performance by Balancing Skewed Loads

MapReduce has emerged as a popular computing model used in datacenters to process large amount of datasets.In the map phase,hash partitioning is employed to distribute data that sharing the same key across data center-scale cluster nodes.However,we observe that this approach can lead to uneven data distribution,which can result in skewed loads among reduce tasks,thus hamper performance of MapReduce systems.Moreover,worker nodes in MapReduce systems may differ in computing capability due to(1) multiple generations of hardware in non-virtualized data centers,or(2) co-location of virtual machines in virtualized data centers.The heterogeneity among cluster nodes exacerbates the negative effects of uneven data distribution.To improve MapReduce performance in heterogeneous clusters,we propose a novel load balancing approach in the reduce phase.This approach consists of two components:(1) performance prediction for reducers that run on heterogeneous nodes based on support vector machines models,and(2) heterogeneity-aware partitioning(HAP),which balances skewed data for reduce tasks.We implement this approach as a plug-in in current MapReduce system.Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach distributes work evenly among reduce tasks,and improves MapReduce performance with little overhead.

Bending performance of TRC-strengthened RC beams with secondary load under chloride erosion

Textile reinforced concrete(TRC)has good bearing capacity,crack resistance and corrosion resistance and it is suitable for repairing and reinforcing concrete structures in harsh marine environments.The four-point bending method was used to analyze the influence of the salt concentration,the damage degree and the coupled effect of the environment and load on the bending performance of TRC-strengthened beams with a secondary load.The results showed that as the salt concentration increased,the crack width and mid-span deflection of the beam quickly increased,and its bearing capacity decreased.As the damage degree increased,the early-stage crack development and mid-span deflection of the beam were less affected and the ultimate bearing capacity significantly decreased.In addition,the coupled effect of the environment and load on the beams with a secondary load was significant.As the sustained load increased,the ultimate bearing capacity of the strengthened beam decreased,and cracks developed faster in the later stage.In addition,the mid-span deflection of the beam decreased at the same load level because of the influence of the initial deflection due to the sustained load corrosion.

Explosion resistance performance of reinforced concrete box girder coated with polyurea:Model test and numerical simulation

To study the anti-explosion protection effect of polyurea coating on reinforced concrete box girder,two segmental girder specimens were made at a scale of 1:3,numbered as G(without polyurea coating)and PCG(with polyurea coating).The failure characteristics and dynamic responses of the specimens were compared through conducting explosion tests.The reliability of the numerical simulation using LS-DYNA software was verified by the test results.The effects of different scaled distances,reinforcement ratios,concrete strengths,coating thicknesses and ranges of polyurea were studied.The results show that the polyurea coating can effectively enhance the anti-explosion performance of the girder.The top plate of middle chamber in specimen G forms an elliptical penetrating hole,while that in specimen PCG only shows a very slight local dent.The peak vertical displacement and residual displacement of PCG decrease by 74.8% and 73.7%,respectively,compared with those of specimen G.For the TNT explosion with small equivalent,the polyurea coating has a more significant protective effect on reducing the size of fracture.With the increase of TNT equivalent,the protective effect of polyurea on reducing girder displacement becomes more significant.The optimal reinforcement ratio,concrete strength,thickness and range of polyurea coating were also drawn.

Modelling dynamic pantograph loads with combined numerical analysis

Appropriate interaction between pantograph and catenary is imperative for smooth operation of electric trains.Changing heights of overhead lines to accommodate level crossings,overbridges,and tunnels pose significant challenges in maintaining consistent current collection performance as the pantograph aerodynamic profile,and thus aerodynamic load changes significantly with operational height.This research aims to analyse the global flow characteristics and aerodynamic forces acting on individual components of an HSX pantograph operating in different configurations and orientations,such that the results can be combined with multibody simulations to obtain accurate dynamic insight into contact forces.Specifically,computational fluid dynamics simulations are used to investigate the pantograph component loads in a representative setting,such as that of the recessed cavity on a Class 800 train.From an aerodynamic perspective,this study indicates that the total drag force acting on non-fixed components of the pantograph is larger for the knuckle-leading orientation rather than the knuckle-trailing,although the difference between the two is found to reduce with increasing pantograph extension.Combining the aerodynamic loads acting on individual components with multibody tools allows for realistic dynamic insight into the pantograph behaviour.The results obtained show how considering aerodynamic forces enhance the realism of the models,leading to behaviour of the pantograph-catenary contact forces closely matching that seen in experimental tests.

Main properties of ultra-high performance fiber reinforced cement composites under couple effect of load and environment

This study aims to reveal the mechanism that how the content of steel fibers and strength grades affect the macro performance of the ultra-high performance fiber reinforced cementitious composite （UHPFRCC） and to study the UHPFRCC durability under the combined effect of loads and environments. Three types of high and ultra-high performance fiber reinforced cement composites with different strength grades （100, 150, 200 MPa） and different steel fiber volume fractions （0%, 1%, 2%, 3%） are prepared. The main properties of mechanical performance and short-term durability are studied. A preloading frame is designed to apply a four- point load external flexural stress with a stress selection ratio of 0.5 for UHPFRCC150 specimens. The results show that the growth in strength grade with a proper content of steel fiber greatly increases the strength and toughness of the HPFRCC and the UHPFRCC while decreasing the dry-shrinkage ratio. For the loaded specimens, the existence of steel fiber can reduce the negative influence of tensile stress on the Cl- penetration resistance of the UHPFRCC in addition to improving its ability to resist the freeze-thaw damage.

Load Dependent Series-Parallel Systems with Common Bus Performance Sharing Mechanism

A series-parallel system was proposed with common bus performance sharing in which the performance and failure rate of the element depended on the load it was carrying. In such a system,the surplus performance of a sub-system can be transmitted to other deficient sub-systems. The transmission capacity of the common bus performance sharing mechanism is a random variable. Effects of load on element performance and failure rate were considered in this paper. A reliability evaluation algorithm based on the universal generating function technique was suggested. Numerical experiments were conducted to illustrate the algorithm.

Energy and long-term hygrothermal performance of building enclosures based on dynamic environmental simulation test

Dynamic environmental testing is an effective means to study the energy and long-term hygrothermal performance of building enclosures. Southeast University is designing and building a large-scale dynamic environment simulation testing facility. It can simuhaneously and dynamically simulate temperature, relative humidity, infrared solar radiation, UV radiation, and precipitation. A transformation is needed to predict the energy and long-term hygrothermal performance of building enclosures under real service conditions using data obtained from accelerated tests.

Enhanced Loading of ^(40)K from Natural Abundance Potassium Source with a High Performance 2D^+ MOT

40K is one of the most important atomic species for ultra-cold atomic physics. Due to the extremely low con- centration （0.012%） of 40K in natural abundance of potassium, most experiments use 4-10% enriched potassium source, which have greatly suffered from the extremely low annual production and significant price hikes in recent years. Using naturally abundant potassium source, we capture 5.4 × 10 6 cold 40K atoms with the help of a high performance of two-dimensional magneto-optical trap （2D＋ MOT）, which is almost three orders of magnitude greater than previous results without the 2D＋ MOT. The number of the 40K atoms is sufficient for most ultra-cold 40K experiments, and our approach provides an ideal alternative for the field.

Correlation Study of Operational Data and System Performance of District Cooling System with Ice Storage

The district cooling system (DCS) with ice storage can reduce the peak electricity demand of the business district buildings it serves, improve system efficiency, and lower operational costs. This study utilizes a monitoring and control platform for DCS with ice storage to analyze historical parameter values related to system operation and executed operations. We assess the distribution of cooling loads among various devices within the DCS, identify operational characteristics of the system through correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA), and subsequently determine key parameters affecting changes in cooling loads. Accurate forecasting of cooling loads is crucial for determining optimal control strategies. The research process can be summarized briefly as follows: data preprocessing, parameter analysis, parameter selection, and validation of load forecasting performance. The study reveals that while individual devices in the system perform well, there is considerable room for improving overall system efficiency. Six principal components have been identified as input parameters for the cold load forecasting model, with each of these components having eigenvalues greater than 1 and contributing to an accumulated variance of 87.26%, and during the dimensionality reduction process, we obtained a confidence ellipse with a 95% confidence interval. Regarding cooling load forecasting, the Relative Absolute Error (RAE) value of the light gradient boosting machine (lightGBM) algorithm is 3.62%, Relative Root Mean Square Error (RRMSE) is 42.75%, and R-squared value (R2) is 92.96%, indicating superior forecasting performance compared to other commonly used cooling load forecasting algorithms. This research provides valuable insights and auxiliary guidance for data analysis and optimizing operations in practical engineering applications. .

Technical development and long-term performance observations of long-life asphalt pavement: A case study of Shandong Province

Based on the investigation of long-life asphalt pavement at home and abroad,the development of long-life asphalt pavement technology in Shandong Province,China is reviewed in this paper.The structural combination char-acteristics of typical long-life asphalt pavement in Shandong Province and their popularization and application are introduced.The application effect of combined base long-life asphalt pavement,which has been widely promoted,is evaluated.At the same time,taking the Binda perpetual pavement test road in Shandong Province as an example,the dynamic response and long-term performance evolution of long-life asphalt pavement are analyzed over a period of more than 17 years.Sections S1,S2,and S3 present information about full-depth asphalt pavement.Section S4 describes combined base asphalt pavement.The results show that the maximum strain of S1–S4 is within the endurance strain limit.S1,S2,S3 and S4 are all expected to be long-life asphalt pavements.In the current study,Sections S1–S4 were maintained in good condition during a service period of more than 17 years with no structural cracks and good deflection,rutting,and IRI indexes.The deflection index was stable without growth,and the IRI was also relatively stable following the opening to traffic.The rutting depth un-derwent a slight cumulative increase within 8 years of opening,and then stabilized.The average rutting depth over the 17-year period was less than 15 mm.Therefore,S1–S4 meet the design standards required for use as long-life pavements.From the perspectives of resource saving,energy saving,and emission reduction and service performance,full-depth asphalt pavement can be considered to represent a new generation of green and durable pavement structures with great future promotion potential.

LOW-COST HIGH PERFORMANCE CLUSTER OF WORK-STATIONS BASED ON DYNAMIC LOAD BALANCING FOR PARALLEL DEPTH-FIRST SEARCH(DFS)

This paper presented an idea to replace the traditionally expensive parallel machines by heterogeneous cluster of workstations. To emphasise the usability of cluster of workstations platform for parallel and distributed computing, also the paper presented the status report on the effort and experiences for the implementation of a dynamic load balancing for parallel tree computation depth first search(DFS) on the cluster of a workstations project. It compared the speedup performance obtained from our platform with that obtained from the traditional one. The speedup results show that cluster of workstations can be a serious alternative to the expensive parallel machines.

Performance Evaluation and Verification on Load Relief for LM-8 Launch Vehicle

LM-8 inherited mature modules from other launch vehicles,adapting the overall design through the combination of engine throttling,wind compensation and load relief control,so as to reduce the aerodynamic load during flight.This paper proposes a rapid evaluation method for load relief performance,which takes launch vehicle’s characteristics,wind field,control parameters,aerodynamic deviation and structure deviation into consideration,and provides a quick estimation method for load relief performance.The load relief performance of the LM-8 launch vehicle estimated by this method achieved 10%-20%in pitch and 20%-40%in yaw.The specific results are related to parameter deviation,the altitude of wind shear and the relationship between wind direction and trajectory angle.Simulation results for a typical case with six degrees of dynamic freedom of flight proves that the comprehensive load relief performance would be between 14%to 34%,which is in line with the aforementioned method.In addition,simulation results indicate that the more severe the wind shear is,the better performance of load relief can be achieved.

Long-term Performance of Moderate Heat Portland Cement with Double-expansive Sources

The long-term performance of moderate heat Portland cement with double-expansive sources （DE cement） in the system of high MgO clinker and gypsum was studied by XRD, SEM/EDAX and test methods for strength and expansion of cement. Results indicate that the periclase particle, whose size was 5-7.5μm in DE cement clinker containing 4.8 % MgO, existed individually. The periclase hydration in hardened DE cement paste started at about 60 days and completed up to 2 000 days, and ettringite in the paste was stable from 3 days to 2 000 days. Under the conditions of 4.5%-5.0 % MgO in clinker and 2.8%-3.4 %SO3 in cement, ettringite expansion and brucite expansion in DE cement paste had a continuity, entirety and stability. At the ages of 90, 365,730 and 2 000 days the expansion of the paste reached 0.07%-0.11%, 0.16%-0.21%, 0.21%-0.27 %, and 0.29%-0.38%, respectively. The results suggest that by using this cement in mass concrete it may compensate its temperature shrinkage and autogenous shrinkage to some extent.

Performance Analysis of Unbalance Radial Feeder with Time Varying Composite Load

The focus of this paper is to present performance indices for unbalance radial feeder having different characteristic and composition of time varying static ZIP load models. These provide a framework for benchmarking of distribution automation projects. 15 minutes characteristics time interval for load flow and load modeling are considered to meet smart grid implementation criterion. A forward-backward sweep method is employed for load flow solution. Developed performance indices were illustrated on modified IEEE 37 node test feeder. Performance indices are useful for analysis, operational, planning and integration of stochastic renewable sources.

Dynamic-Distributed Load Balancing for Highly-Performance and Responsiveness Distributed-GIS (D-GIS)

In recent years, several results have been introduced to enhance distributed GIS performance. While much more efforts have focused on tile map and simple symbologies on dynamic map, load balancing GIS servers have not been addressed by the GIS community so far. This paper, therefore, proposed dynamic distributed load balancing for D-GIS in order to quickly render information to client interface by involving a set of GIS servers which process clients’ requests depending of an algorithm. In the model, several concepts were introduced and defined: Virtual Server within physical machine which constitutes a setup environment for a single GIS server, Load Hash Table which contains information about virtual server’s capacity, real-time load and other mandatory elements, Request Split Table which splits requests depending of the input area’s Quantity of Information and stores request tasks composition for later reconstitution. At last we have Distributed Failover Callback Function Table level one (respectively level two) which determines whether or not the request had been successfully processed by the chosen virtual server (respectively physical machine). This table allows sending back the same request to another virtual server (respectively physical node). Two load handlers (primary and secondary) are defined in case of failure. Our Model achieves efficient load balancing by: providing efficient node selection;optimizing request routing;managing node failover;involving client’s request partitioning and introducing method type decomposition. A simulation of the algorithm shows a low response time when performing GIS operations.