Microstructure and Properties of Cement Foams Prepared by Magnesium Oxychloride Cement

Microstructural features including pore size distribution, cell walls and phase compositions of magnesium oxychloride cement foams（MOCF） with various MgO powders and water mixture ratios were studied. Their infl uences on compressive strength, water absorption and resistance of MOCF were also discussed in detail. The experimental results indicated that moderate and slight excess MgO powders（MgO/MgCl2 molar ratios from 5.1 to 7） were beneficial to the formation of excellent microstructure of MOCF, but increasing water contents（H2O/MgO mass ratios from 0.9 to 1.29） might result in opposite conclusions. The microstructure of MOCF produced with moderate and slight excess MgO powders could enhance the compressive strength, while serious excess MgO powders addition（MgO/MgCl2 molar ratios = 9） would destroy the cell wall structures, and therefore decrease the strength of the system. Although MOCF produced with excess MgO powders could decrease the water absorption, its softening coefficient was lower than that of the material produced with moderate MgO powders. This might be due to the instability of phase 5, the volume expansion and cracking of cell walls as immersed the sample into water.

A new NMR-data-based method for predicting petrophysical properties of tight sandstone reservoirs

Evaluating the permeability and irreducible water saturation of tight sandstone reservoirs is challenging.This study uses distribution functions to fit measured NMR T_(2)distributions of tight sandstone reservoirs and extract parameters for characterizing pore size distribution.These parameters are then used to establish prediction models for permeability and irreducible water saturation of reservoirs.Results of comparing the fit of the T_(2)distributions by the Gauss and Weibull distribution functions show that the fitting accuracy with the Weibull distribution function is higher.The physical meaning of the statistical parameters of the Weibull distribution function is defined to establish nonlinear prediction models of permeability and irreducible water saturation using the radial basis function(RBF)method.Correlation coefficients between the predicted values by the established models and the measured values of the tight sandstone core samples are 0.944 for permeability and 0.851 for irreducible water saturation,which highlight the effectiveness of the prediction models.

Extreme Values of Wind Speed over the Kara Sea Based on the ERA5 Dataset

Extreme values of wind speed were studied based on the highly detailed ERA5 dataset covering the central part of the Kara Sea. Cases in which the ice coverage of the cells exceeded 15% were filtered. Our study shows that the wind speed extrema obtained from station observations, as well as from modelling results in the framework of mesoscale models, can be divided into two groups according to their probability distribution laws. One group is specifically designated as black swans, with the other referred to as dragons (or dragon-kings). In this study we determined that the data of ERA5 accurately described the swans, but did not fully reproduce extrema related to the dragons;these extrema were identified only in half of ERA5 grid points. Weibull probability distribution function (PDF) parameters were identified in only a quarter of the pixels. The parameters were connected almost deterministically. This converted the Weibull function into a one-parameter dependence. It was not clear whether this uniqueness was a consequence of the features of the calculation algorithm used in ERA5, or whether it was a consequence of a relatively small area being considered, which had the same wind regime. Extremes of wind speed arise as mesoscale features and are associated with hydrodynamic features of the wind flow. If the flow was non-geostrophic and if its trajectory had a substantial curvature, then the extreme velocities were distributed according to a rule similar to the Weibull law.

Drying characteristics,kinetics model and effective moisture diffusivity of vacuum far-infrared dried Rehmanniae

Vacuum far-infrared radiation(VFIR)drying has recently received many attentions because of its effective and successful applications in drying some agricultural products.The VFIR drying of Radix Rehmanniae was conducted and Weibull distribution function was applied to fit the drying kinetics in this study.The results showed that the increase of radiation heater temperature and the decrease of chamber pressure could reduce drying time obviously.Compared with single diffusion equation,Weibull distribution function had higher precision to fit the drying curves of VFIR drying of Rehmanniae.The effective moisture diffusivity(Deff)increased with the increase of heater temperature and the decrease of pressure.Scanning electron telescope(SEM)analysis showed that more porous surface could be observed after VFIR drying,which is beneficial to enhance moisture diffusivity and drying rate as well.