4 Billion Yuan Copper Smelting Project Landed in Qiqihar, with 100,000 Tonnes Annual Output of Copper Cathode After Reaching Designed Capacity

In the morning of August 20,Heilongjiang Zijin Copper Project formally signed agreement at Fularji District in Qiqihar City.This also signals that the copper smelting project with a total investment of 4 billion yuan,a project under planning since 2011,has formally landed in Qiqihar City.

Bearing Behaviors of Stiffened Deep Cement Mixed Pile

A series of investigations were conducted to study the bearing capacity and load transfer mechanism of stiffened deep cement mixed （SDCM） pile. Laboratory tests including six specimens were conducted to investigate the frictional resistance between the concrete core and the cementsoil. Two model piles and twenty-four full-scale piles were tested to examine the bearing behavior of single pile. Laboratory and model tests results indicate that the cohesive strength is large enough to ensure the interaction between core pile and the outer cement-soil. The full-scale test results show that the SDCM piles exhibit similar bearing behavior to bored and cast-in-place concrete piles. In general, with the rational composite structure the SDCM piles can transmit the applied load effectively, and due to the addition of the stiffer core, the SDCM piles possess high bearing capacity. Based on the findings of these experimental investigations and theoretical analysi , a practical design method is developed to predict the vertical bearing capacity of SDCM pile.

Interplay Factors Involved in the Inadequate Performance of Four Activated Sludge Systems in Northern Gauteng-South Africa

A recent study conducted on the four activated systems serving the surrounding communities in the Northern Gauteng revealed the failure of three of these wastewater treatment plants to remove enteric pathogenic bacteria and protozoan parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia spp. To determine the factors involved in the inadequate performance of the plants, the following parameters were considered： the design characteristic of the plants, the microbiological structure and the physical characteristics of the plants. The results revealed that higher than optimal influent loadings and inadequate aeration systems, observed in Baviaanspoort, Refilwe and Rayton Water Care Works （WCW） increased the composition of filamentous bacteria in flocs and decreased the diversity of protozoan species in the sludge. Sequentially, these resulted in the poor settling properties of the sludge at these plants. However, Zeekoegat WCW showed optimum influent loads and adequate aeration systems. This maintained balance in the microbial community, resulting in good clarification of the sludge.

OPTIMUM DESIGN OF HIGH-SPEED RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE TRACTION GEAR

On the basis of deep investigation of locomotive traction gears manufactured at home and abroad , a variety of measures are putted forward to improve the driving load-bearing capacity and working life of our country's high-speed locomotive traction gears. The measures include the fol- lowing five aspects : optimally selecting the material and heat treatment process , optimally designing the tooth profile . reasonably choosing the manufacture accuracy and technique , optimally choosing the lubricant and the way of lubrication and seal , improving the dynamic feature of the gearing. In the respect of the tooth profile , a hob with optimal cutter angles is designed to make root thickness on the dangerous section as large as possible and the stress concentration as small as possible. Ad- dendum modification coefficient is optimized to minimize the maximum flash temperature in the course of meshing. Finally . finite element analysis method is used to calculate the deformation and the stress of teeth accurately. And on this basis , optimal profile correction and axial modification have been designed with regard to the start , continuious running and high speed travel of the loco- motive .

Two-stage capacity optimization approach of multi-energy system considering its optimal operation

With the depletion of fossil fuel and climate change,multi-energy systems have attracted widespread attention in buildings.Multi-energy systems,fuelled by renewable energy,including solar and biomass energy,are gain-ing increasing adoption in commercial buildings.Most of previous capacity design approaches are formulated based upon conventional operating schedules,which result in inappropriate design capacities and ineffective operating schedules of the multi-energy system.Therefore,a two-stage capacity optimization approach is pro-posed for the multi-energy system with its optimal operating schedule taken into consideration.To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed capacity optimization approach,it is tested on a renewable energy fuelled multi-energy system in a commercial building.The primary energy devices of the multi-energy system consist of biomass gasification-based power generation unit,heat recovery unit,heat exchanger,absorption chiller,elec-tric chiller,biomass boiler,building integrated photovoltaic and photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector.The variable efficiency owing to weather condition and part-load operation is also considered.Genetic algorithm is adopted to determine the optimal design capacity and operating capacity of energy devices for the first-stage and second-stage optimization,respectively.The two optimization stages are interrelated;thus,the optimal design and operation of the multi-energy system can be obtained simultaneously and effectively.With the adoption of the proposed novel capacity optimization approach,there is a 14%reduction of year-round biomass consumption compared to one with the conventional capacity design approach.

Queue Size Distribution of Geo/G/1 Queue Under the Min(N,D)-Policy

This paper considers a discrete-time Geo/G/1 queue under the Min（N, D）-policy in which the idle server resumes its service if either N customers accumulate in the system or the total backlog of the service times of the waiting customers exceeds D, whichever occurs first （Min（N, D）-policy）. By using renewal process theory and total probability decomposition technique, the authors study the transient and equilibrium properties of the queue length from the beginning of the arbitrary initial state, and obtain both the recursive expression of the z-transformation of tile transient queue length distribution and the recursive formula for calculating the steady state queue length at arbitrary time epoch n＋. Meanwhile, the authors obtain the explicit expressions of the additional queue length distribution, l^trthermore, the important relations between the steady state queue length distributions at different time epochs n , n and n＋ are also reported. Finally, the authors give numerical examples to illustrate the effect of system parameters on the steady state queue length distribution, and also show from numerical results that the expressions of the steady state queue length distribution is important in the system capacity design.

The Rion-Antirion bridge—when a dream becomes reality

Opened to traffic in August 2004,the RionAntirion Bridge crosses the Gulf of Corinth near Patras in western Greece.It consists of an impressive multi cablestayed span bridge connected to the land by two approaches.An exceptional combination of physical conditions made this project quite unusual:high water depth,deep strata of weak soil,strong seismic activity and fault displacements.In addition a risk of heavy ship collision had to be taken into account.The structure has been designed in view of challenging severe earthquakes and ensuring the everyday serviceability of the link as well.To make the bridge feasible,innovative techniques had to be developed:The strength of the in situ soil has been improved by means of inclusions;the bridge deck has been suspended on its full length,and therefore isolated as much as it can be.