Design of a 3D-printed liquid lithium divertor target plate and its interaction with high-density plasma

A liquid Li divertor is a promising alternative for future fusion devices.In this work a new divertor model is proposed,which is processed by 3D-printing technology to accurately control the size of the internal capillary structure.At a steady-state heat load of 10 MW m^(-2),the thermal stress of the tungsten target is within the bearing range of tungsten by finite-element simulation.In order to evaluate the wicking ability of the capillary structure,the wicking process at 600℃ was simulated by FLUENT.The result was identical to that of the corresponding experiments.Within 1 s,liquid lithium was wicked to the target surface by the capillary structure of the target and quickly spread on the target surface.During the wicking process,the average wicking mass rate of lithium should reach 0.062 g s^(-1),which could even supplement the evaporation requirement of liquid lithium under an environment>950℃.Irradiation experiments under different plasma discharge currents were carried out in a linear plasma device(SCU-PSI),and the evolution of the vapor cloud during plasma irradiation was analyzed.It was found that the target temperature tends to plateau despite the gradually increased input current,indicating that the vapor shielding effect is gradually enhanced.The irradiation experiment also confirmed that the 3D-printed tungsten structure has better heat consumption performance than a tungsten mesh structure or multichannel structure.These results reveal the application potential and feasibility of a 3D-printed porous capillary structure in plasma-facing components and provide a reference for further liquid-solid combined target designs.

3D-Printed MOF Monoliths:Fabrication Strategies and Environmental Applications

Metal-organic frameworks(MOFs)have been extensively considered as one of the most promising types of porous and crystalline organic-inorganic materials,thanks to their large specific surface area,high porosity,tailorable structures and compositions,diverse functionalities,and well-controlled pore/size distribution.However,most developed MOFs are in powder forms,which still have some technical challenges,including abrasion,dustiness,low packing densities,clogging,mass/heat transfer limitation,environmental pollution,and mechanical instability during the packing process,that restrict their applicability in industrial applications.Therefore,in recent years,attention has focused on techniques to convert MOF powders into macroscopic materials like beads,membranes,monoliths,gel/sponges,and nanofibers to overcome these challenges.Three-dimensional(3D)printing technology has achieved much interest because it can produce many high-resolution macroscopic frameworks with complex shapes and geometries from digital models.Therefore,this review summarizes the combination of different 3D printing strategies with MOFs and MOF-based materials for fabricating 3D-printed MOF monoliths and their environmental applications,emphasizing water treatment and gas adsorption/separation applications.Herein,the various strategies for the fabrication of 3D-printed MOF monoliths,such as direct ink writing,seed-assisted in-situ growth,coordination replication from solid precursors,matrix incorporation,selective laser sintering,and digital light processing,are described with the relevant examples.Finally,future directions and challenges of 3D-printed MOF monoliths are also presented to better plan future trajectories in the shaping of MOF materials with improved control over the structure,composition,and textural properties of 3D-printed MOF monoliths.

Effect of Aggregate Gradation on the Properties of 3D Printed Recycled Coarse Aggregate Concrete

A simplex centroid design method was employed to design the gradation of recycled coarse aggregate.The bulk density was measured while the specific surface area and average excess paste thickness were calculated with different gradations.The fluidity,dynamic yield stress,static yield stress,printed width,printed inclination,compressive strength and ultrasonic wave velocity of 3D printed recycled aggregate concrete(3DPRAC)were further studied.The experimental results demonstrate that,with the increase of small-sized aggregate(4.75-7 mm)content,the bulk density initially increases and then decreases,and the specific surface area gradually increases.The average excess paste thickness fluctuates with both bulk density and specific surface area.The workability of 3DPRAC is closely related to the average excess paste thickness.With an increase in average paste thickness,there is a gradual decrease in dynamic yield stress,static yield stress and printed inclination,accompanied by an increase in fluidity and printed width.The mechanical performance of 3DPRAC closely correlates with the bulk density.With an increase in the bulk density,there is an increase in the ultrasonic wave velocity,accompanied by a slight increase in the compressive strength and a significant decrease in the anisotropic coefficient.Furthermore,an index for buildability failure of 3DPRAC based on the average excess paste thickness is proposed.

Controllable rectification on the thermal conductivity of porous YBa_(2)Cu_(3)O_(7−x) superconductors from 3D-printing

Superconducting YBa_(2)Cu_(3)O_(7−x)(YBCO)bulks have promising applications in quasi-permanent magnets,levitation,etc.Recently,a new way of fabricating porous YBCO bulks,named direct-ink-writing(DIW)3D-printing method,has been reported.In this method,the customized precursor paste and programmable shape are two main advantages.Here,we have put forward a new way to customize the YBCO 3D-printing precursor paste which is doped with Al_(2)O_(3)nanoparticles to obtain YBCO with higher thermal conductivity.The great rheological properties of precursor paste after being doped with Al_(2)O_(3)nanoparticles can help the macroscopic YBCO samples with high thermal conductivity fabricated stably with high crystalline and lightweight properties.Test results show that the peak thermal conductivity of Al_(2)O_(3)-doped YBCO can reach twice as much as pure YBCO,which makes a great effort to reduce the quench propagation speed.Based on the microstructure analysis,one can find that the thermal conductivity of Al_(2)O_(3)-doped YBCO has been determined by its components and microstructures.In addition,a macroscopic theoretical model has been proposed to assess the thermal conductivity of different microstructures,whose calculated results take good agreement with the experimental results.Meanwhile,a microstructure with high thermal conductivity has been found.Finally,a macroscopic YBCO bulk with the presented high thermal conductivity microstructure has been fabricated by the Al_(2)O_(3)-doped method.Compared with YBCO fabricated by the traditional 3D-printed,the Al_(2)O_(3)-doped structural YBCO bulks present excellent heat transfer performances.Our customized design of 3D-printing precursor pastes and novel concept of structural design for enhancing the thermal conductivity of YBCO superconducting material can be widely used in other DIW 3D-printing materials.

Concrete Defects Inspection and 3D Mapping Using City Flyer Quadrotor Robot

The concrete aging problem has gained more attention in recent years as more bridges and tunnels in the United States lack proper maintenance. Though the Federal Highway Administration requires these public concrete structures to be inspected regularly, on-site manual inspection by human operators is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Conventional inspection approaches for concrete inspection, using RGB imagebased thresholding methods, are not able to determine metric information as well as accurate location information for assessed defects for conditions. To address this challenge, we propose a deep neural network(DNN) based concrete inspection system using a quadrotor flying robot(referred to as City Flyer) mounted with an RGB-D camera. The inspection system introduces several novel modules. Firstly, a visual-inertial fusion approach is introduced to perform camera and robot positioning and structure 3 D metric reconstruction. The reconstructed map is used to retrieve the location and metric information of the defects.Secondly, we introduce a DNN model, namely Ada Net, to detect concrete spalling and cracking, with the capability of maintaining robustness under various distances between the camera and concrete surface. In order to train the model, we craft a new dataset, i.e., the concrete structure spalling and cracking(CSSC)dataset, which is released publicly to the research community.Finally, we introduce a 3 D semantic mapping method using the annotated framework to reconstruct the concrete structure for visualization. We performed comparative studies and demonstrated that our Ada Net can achieve 8.41% higher detection accuracy than Res Nets and VGGs. Moreover, we conducted five field tests, of which three are manual hand-held tests and two are drone-based field tests. These results indicate that our system is capable of performing metric field inspection,and can serve as an effective tool for civil engineers.

3D-Printed PLA Filaments Reinforced with Nanofibrillated Cellulose

In the current study poly(lactic acid)PLA composites with a 3 wt%and 5 wt%of nanofibrillated cellulose(NFC)were produced by 3D-printing method.An enzymatic pretreatment coupled with mechanical fibrillation in a twin screw extruder was used to produce high consistency NFC.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM)equipped with Fibermetric software,FASEP fiber length distribution analysis,Furrier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR),thermogravimetric analysis(TGA),tensile tests,impact tests and differential scanning calorimetry were used to characterize NFC and PLA/NFC composites.The results of the fiber length and width measurements together with the results of the SEM analysis showed that enzymatic hydrolysis coupled with a twin screw extrusion could effectively reduce the diameter and length of cellulose fibers.The produced NFC consisted of microand nanosized fibers entangled in a characteristic 3D-network.Based on the FT-IR analysis,no new bonds were formed during the enzymatic hydrolysis or fibrillation process.The TGA analysis confirmed that produced NFC can be used in hightemperature extrusion processing without NFC degradation.During the PLA/NFC composites preparation the NFC agglomerates were formed,which negatively influenced PLA/NFC composites impact properties.The slightly improved tensile strength and elastic modulus were reported for all composites when compared to the neat PLA.The elongation at break was not affected by the NFC addition.No significant differences in thermal stability were detectable among composites nor in comparation with the neat PLA.However,the crystallinity degree of the composite containing 5 wt%NFC was increased in respect to the neat PLA.

A New 3D Meso-mechanical Modeling Method of Coral Aggregate Concrete Considering Interface Characteristics

On the basis of the three-dimensional(3D)random aggregate&mortar two-phase mesoscale finite element model,C++programming was used to identify the node position information of the interface between the aggregate and mortar elements.The nodes were discretized at this position and the zero-thickness cohesive elements were inserted.After that,the crack energy release rate fracture criterion based on the fracture mechanics theory was assigned to the failure criterion of the interface transition zone(ITZ)elements.Finally,the three-phase mesomechanical model based on the combined finite discrete element method(FDEM)was constructed.Based on this model,the meso-crack extension and macro-mechanical behaviour of coral aggregate concrete(CAC)under uniaxial compression were successfully simulated.The results demonstrated that the meso-mechanical model based on FDEM has excellent applicability to simulate the compressive properties of CAC.

纳米SiO_(2)-CaCO_(3)混凝土损伤本构模型及能量演化特征

采用纳米SiO_(2)-CaCO_(3)混合掺入混凝土中,对混掺纳米SiO_(2)-CaCO_(3)混凝土进行了受压性能试验,基于损伤力学理论和能量耗散原理分析了纳米SiO_(2)-CaCO_(3)增强混凝土的本构关系,建立了普通混凝土和纳米SiO_(2)-CaCO_(3)混凝土损伤本构模型。结果表明:混掺纳米材料比单掺纳米材料对提升混凝土强度效果更佳,强度最大增幅为31.46%;混掺纳米材料显著降低了混凝土的弹性应变能释放速率,增大了混凝土的总应变能和耗散能,从而提高了混凝土的延性和韧性。基于SEM微观测试结果揭示了纳米材料对混凝土增强效应的作用机理。

Use of 3D-printed animal models as a standard method to test avian behavioral responses toward nest intruders in the studies of avian brood parasitism

Living and/or non-living animal models are often used as stimuli to observe the behavioral responses of the target animals.In the past,parasites,predators,and harmless controls have been used to test host anti-parasitism defense behavior,and their taxidermy specimens have been widely used as a set of standard methods for the study of avian brood parasitism.In recent years,with the rapid development of 3D-printing technology,3D-printed bird models are expected to be applied as a standard method in the study of avian brood parasitism.To evaluate the use of 3D-printed models,this study tests the reaction of Oriental Reed Warbler(Acrocephalus orientalis)towards predators,parasites,or controls,and compares the reaction among different nest intruders and between taxidermy specimens and 3D-printed animal models.It was found that the Oriental Reed Warbler responded most aggressively to the parasite,followed by predator,and finally the control;the results were consistent between the reaction to taxidermy specimens and 3D-printed animal models,indicating that 3D-printed models could serve as a substitute for taxidermy specimens.We propose a series of advantages of using 3D-printed models and suggest them to be a standard method for widespread use in future studies of avian brood parasitism.

Improving Strength of Carbon Fiber Grafted Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites by 3D-Printed Molding

To improve the strength of carbon fiber(CF) reinforced Polycaprolactam(PA6) composites, controlled amounts of carbon nanotubes(CNTs) were grafted onto the surface of CF to prepare the hybrid reinforcement(HR). We used HR to fabricate laminate and H-sample to test the interfacial bonding strength(IBS) of the composites by means of a novel process called three-dimensional printed molding(3 D-PM). By using the melt drop printing method, we measured the contact angles between PA6 and CF(without sizing) and between PA6 and HR. The IBS and the mechanical properties of the composites were obtained by the tensile test. The experimental result indicated that CF grafted by 0.25% weight fraction of CNT or more could develop a special microstructure similar to the micro-pits on the surface of CF, which improved the wettability of CF and PA6 due to the increased surface area and the roughness of CF. When the weight fraction of CNT reached 0.25%, the IBS increased by 41.8%, the tensile strength by 130%, and the interfacial shear strength(IFSS) by 238%. The interfacial dimple fracture was observed by Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM), which revealed that the composites were able to absorb more deforming energy before fracture. The modified surface microstructure of CF would prevent crack propagation at the interface and increase the mechanical properties of thermoplastic composites(TPCs).

Mechanical Properties of Nano-CaCO_(3) and Basalt Fiber Reinforced Concrete:Experiments and Numerical Simulations

In this study,the compressive,split tensile,and flexural strengths of concrete with nano-CaCO_(3) only were compared with those of concrete with nano-CaCO_(3) and basalt fibers through field experiments,and the underlying mechanisms were analyzed by the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) techniques.On the mesoscale,a damage model of concrete was established based on the continuum progressive damage theory,which was used to investigate the influence of different lengths and contents of fibers on the mechanical properties of concrete.Then,the experimental and numerical simulation results were compared and analyzed to verify the feasibility of model.The results show that nano-CaCO_(3) can enhance the compressive strength of the concrete,with an optimal content of 2.0%.Adding basalt fibers into the nano-CaCO_(3) reinforced concrete may further enhance the compressive,split tensile,and flexural strengths of the concrete;however,the higher content of basalt fiber can not lead to higher performance of concrete.The optimal length and content of fiber are 6 mm and 0.20%,respectively.The SEM result shows that the aggregation of basalt fibers is detrimental to the mechanical properties of concrete.The numerical simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results.

The Influence of Ce(NO_3)_3·6H_2O on the Inhibitive Effect of Ca(NO_2)_2 in Simulated Concrete Pore Solution

The effects of cerium nitrite on corrosion behaviors of carbon steel in simulated concrete pore solutions were studied with the methods of linear polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and surface analysis. In pore solutions in the presence of Ce（NO3）3？6H2O, the corrosion potential, polarization resistance and impedance of carbon steel obviously increased in contrast to the situation in the absence of cerium salts. The pore solution with [NO2-] / [Cl-] = 0.3 and 0.1% Ce（NO3）3？6H2O, carbon steel shows better corrosion resistance than that in the pore solution with [NO2-] / [Cl-] = 0.6, which indicates that a small amount of Ce（NO3）3？6H2O in pore solutions can effectively promote passivation of the steel and reduce the threshold [NO2-] / [Cl-] ratio for corrosion control. The surface layer formed in cerium salt containing pore solutions is more compact and smooth and 1.36%Ce is examined on the sample surface. The addition of 0.1% Ce（NO3）3？6H2O in pore solutions can decrease the corrosion rate of steel in pore solutions and has little influence on pH change of the solutions. However, more cerium nitrate addition above 0.1% may result in pH decrease of the solution.

Predicting Compressive Strength of Recycled Concrete for Construction 3D Printing Based on Statistical Analysis of Various Neural Networks

Construction 3D printing is changing construction industry, but for its immaturity, there are still many problems to be solved. One of the major problems is to study materials for construction 3D printing. Because printed buildings are very different from traditional buildings, there are special requirements for printing materials. Based on environmental and cost considerations, the recycled concrete as printing material is a perfect choice. In order to study and develop the construction 3D printing materials, it is necessary to predict the properties of them. As one of the most effective artificial intelligence algorithms, artificial neural network can deal with multi-parameter and nonlinear problems, and it can provide useful reference to predict the performance of recycled concrete for 3D printing. However, since there are many types and parameters for neural network, it is difficult to select the optimal neural network with excellent prediction performance. In this paper, by comparing different types of neural networks and statistically analyzing the distribution of the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (R2) of these neural networks, we can determine the best performance among four neural networks and finally select the suitable one to predict the performance of 3D printing concrete.

A Study on Strength Properties of Concrete with Replacement of Low C3A Cement by Fly Ash

The chemical composition of cement has a crucial impact on the performance of concrete.Different brands of Portland cement are used for various construction works without prior knowledge of their performance.For economic and environmental reasons,the valorization of fly ash in concrete production has been increasingly studied.The aim of this study is to determine the mechanical performance of the cement in which hydrated cement has been injected,and to assess the environmental benefit of using the waste as a partial replacement.The experimental study consists of replacing cement,with high tricalcium aluminate(C3A)content,with cement with low C3A content.The obtained result shows that it is very feasible to valorize this material and to manufacture eco-environmental cement which has rheological and mechanical characteristics almost similar to or better than that of ordinary cement,where a resistance of 30 MPa has been obtained,after a substitution rate of 50%.The valorization by using cement with low C3A content makes it possible to strengthen the material at a young age and leads to obtain more economical and less polluting cement.

Flexural Behavior of 3D Printed Concrete Beam with Fiber Reinforcement

3D printing with concrete is a promising new method for rapid,low cost construction.The flexural strengths for reinforced/unreinforced and 3D printed/cast concrete Warren trusses were tabulated and the failure mechanisms were reported.The types of reinforcement used were rebar(basalt and steel),and mesh(basalt and aramid).The effect of loading geometry and loading speed was measured for basalt mesh and aramid mesh composite,respectively.Due to the expected variation in flexure between samples,it cannot be said whether small differences for various tests are significant.Variation stems from a microscopically uneven surface and random inhomogeneities in the bulk of the tested material which act as a microcrack catalyst and propagator.Since the tested beams are short specimens the numerical findings of other studies will vary based on the intended design.This paper is intended to assess the performance of various reinforcements in a qualitative sense by comparing basalt reinforcement with other reinforcements.It was found that cast beams tolerated deflection better but had a similar flexure strength compared as the printed beams.The steel and basalt rebar reinforced beams had the highest flexure strengths where the traditional steel rebar reinforcement outperformed the basalt in flexure by 36%and the basalt outperformed the steel in deflection by 40%.The basalt mesh outperformed the cast and printed unreinforced bars by a small margin but had only 25%of steel rebars’deflection at maximum flexure strength.The aramid mesh tolerated the biggest deflection out of any sample at 2.26 cm.

纳米CaCO_(3)改性大掺量沸石粉混凝土性能研究

为研究纳米CaCO_(3)对大掺量沸石粉混凝土的性能优化作用,分别以单掺沸石粉和复掺沸石粉、纳米CaCO_(3)(NC)改性的方式制备高性能混凝土(HPC),并测试其工作性能、力学性能、抗氯离子渗透性及微观结构,研究NC对大掺量沸石粉混凝土的性能影响及作用机理。结果表明,大掺量沸石粉会降低混凝土工作性能和早期力学性能,但能够提高抗氯离子渗透性能和后期力学性能,当沸石粉掺量为20%时,HPC的7 d、28 d、90 d抗压强度分别为基准组的89.52%、97.60%、101.07%,劈裂抗拉强度为基准组的92.65%、99.85%、102.62%,抗氯离子渗透性能较基准组提高5.64%;在此基础上复掺NC后,沸石粉混凝土的负面影响得到改善,抗氯离子渗透性进一步增强。当NC掺量为1.0%时,HPC 7 d、28 d、90 d抗压强度分别较未掺NC时提高12.34%、8.90%、5.91%,劈裂抗拉强度提高14.76%、11.30%、7.95%,抗氯离子渗透性能提高20.92%。NC能够促进沸石粉水泥体系水化反应,优化水化产物形态,细化浆体孔隙结构,提高混凝土的致密性。当沸石粉掺量为20%,NC掺量为1.0%时,大掺量沸石粉混凝土的各项性能达到较优水平。

Simvastatin/hydrogel-loaded 3D-printed titanium alloy scaffolds suppress osteosarcoma via TF/NOX2-associated ferroptosis while repairing bone defects

Postoperative anatomical reconstruction and prevention of local recurrence after tumor resection are two vital clinical challenges in osteosarcoma treatment.A three-dimensional(3D)-printed porous Ti6Al4V scaffold(3DTi)is an ideal material for reconstructing critical bone defects with numerous advantages over traditional implants,including a lower elasticity modulus,stronger bone-implant interlock,and larger drug-loading space.Simvastatin is a multitarget drug with anti-tumor and osteogenic potential;however,its efficiency is unsatisfactory when delivered systematically.Here,simvastatin was loaded into a 3DTi using a thermosensitive poly(lactic-co-gly-colic)acid(PLGA)-polyethylene glycol(PEG)-PLGA hydrogel as a carrier to exert anti-osteosarcoma and oste-ogenic effects.Newly constructed simvastatin/hydrogel-loaded 3DTi(Sim-3DTi)was comprehensively appraised,and its newfound anti-osteosarcoma mechanism was explained.Specifically,in a bone defect model of rabbit condyles,Sim-3DTi exhibited enhanced osteogenesis,bone in-growth,and osseointegration compared with 3DTi alone,with greater bone morphogenetic protein 2 expression.In our nude mice model,simvastatin loading reduced tumor volume by 59%-77%without organic damage,implying good anti-osteosarcoma activity and biosafety.Furthermore,Sim-3DTi induced ferroptosis by upregulating transferrin and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase 2 levels in osteosarcoma both in vivo and in vitro.Sim-3DTi is a promising osteogenic bone substitute for osteosarcoma-related bone defects,with a ferroptosis-mediated anti-osteosarcoma effect.

3D-printed MoS_(2)/Ni electrodes with excellent electro-catalytic performance and long-term stability for dechlorination of florfenicol

Here,we report the production of 3D-printed MoS_(2)/Ni electrodes(3D-MoS_(2)/Ni)with longterm stability and excellent performance by the selective laser melting(SLM)technique.As a cathode,the obtained 3D-MoS_(2)/Ni could maintain a degradation rate above 94.0%for forfenicol(FLO)when repeatedly used 50 times in water.We also found that the removal rate of FLO by 3D-MoS_(2)/Ni was about 12 times higher than that of 3D-printed pure Ni(3D-Ni),attributed to the improved accessibility of H^(*).In addition,the electrochemical characterization results showed that the electrochemically active surface area of the 3D-MoS_(2)/Ni electrode is about 3-fold higher than that of the 3D-Ni electrode while the electrical resistance is 4 times lower.Based on tert-butanol suppression,electron paramagnetic resonance and triple quadrupole mass spectrometer experiments,a“dual path”mechanism and possible degradation pathway for the dechlorination of FLO by 3D-MoS_(2)/Ni were proposed.Furthermore,we also investigated the impacts of the cathode potential and the initial pH of the solution on the degradation of FLO.Overall,this study reveals that the SLM 3D printing technique is a promising approach for the rapid fabrication of high-stability metal electrodes,which could have broad application in the control of water contaminants in the environmental field.

Enhanced osteochondral regeneration with a 3D-Printed biomimetic scaffold featuring a calcified interfacial layer

The integrative regeneration of both articular cartilage and subchondral bone remains an unmet clinical need due to the difficulties of mimicking spatial complexity in native osteochondral tissues for artificial implants.Layer-by-layer fabrication strategies,such as 3D printing,have emerged as a promising technology replicating the stratified zonal architecture and varying microstructures and mechanical properties.However,the dynamic and circulating physiological environments,such as mass transportation or cell migration,usually distort the pre-confined biological properties in the layered implants,leading to undistinguished spatial variations and subsequently inefficient regenerations.This study introduced a biomimetic calcified interfacial layer into the scaffold as a compact barrier between a cartilage layer and a subchondral bone layer to facilitate osteogenic-chondrogenic repair.The calcified interfacial layer consisting of compact polycaprolactone(PCL),nano-hydroxyapatite,and tasquinimod(TA)can physically and biologically separate the cartilage layer(TA-mixed,chondrocytes-load gelatin methacrylate)from the subchondral bond layer(porous PCL).This introduction preserved the as-designed independent biological environment in each layer for both cartilage and bone regeneration,successfully inhibiting vascular invasion into the cartilage layer and preventing hyaluronic cartilage calcification owing to devascularization of TA.The improved integrative regeneration of cartilage and subchondral bone was validated through gross examination,micro-computed tomography(micro-CT),and histological and immunohistochemical analyses based on an in vivo rat model.Moreover,gene and protein expression studies identified a key role of Caveolin(CAV-1)in promoting angiogenesis through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and indicated that TA in the calcified layer blocked angiogenesis by inhibiting CAV-1.

Nonlinear fluid flow through three-dimensional rough fracture networks:Insights from 3D-printing,CT-scanning,and high-resolution numerical simulations

Nonlinear flow behavior of fluids through three-dimensional(3D)discrete fracture networks(DFNs)considering effects of fracture number,surface roughness and fracture aperture was experimentally and numerically investigated.Three physical models of DFNs were 3D-printed and then computed tomography(CT)-scanned to obtain the specific geometry of fractures.The validity of numerically simulating the fluid flow through DFNs was verified via comparison with flow tests on the 3D-printed models.A parametric study was then implemented to establish quantitative relations between the coefficients/parameters in Forchheimer’s law and geometrical parameters.The results showed that the 3D-printing technique can well reproduce the geometry of single fractures with less precision when preparing complex fracture networks,numerical modeling precision of which can be improved via CT-scanning as evidenced by the well fitted results between fluid flow tests and numerical simulations using CT-scanned digital models.Streamlines in DFNs become increasingly tortuous as the fracture number and roughness increase,resulting in stronger inertial effects and greater curvatures of hydraulic pressure-low rate relations,which can be well characterized by the Forchheimer’s law.The critical hydraulic gradient for the onset of nonlinear flow decreases with the increasing aperture,fracture number and roughness,following a power function.The increases in fracture aperture and number provide more paths for fluid flow,increasing both the viscous and inertial permeabilities.The value of the inertial permeability is approximately four orders of magnitude greater than the viscous permeability,following a power function with an exponent a of 3,and a proportional coefficient b mathematically correlated with the geometrical parameters.