A photogrammetric approach for quantifying the evolution of rock joint void geometry under varying contact states

Accurate measurement of the evolution of rock joint void geometry is essential for comprehending the distribution characteristics of asperities responsible for shear and seepage behaviors.However,existing techniques often require specialized equipment and skilled operators,posing practical challenges.In this study,a cost-effective photogrammetric approach is proposed.Particularly,local coordinate systems are established to facilitate the alignment and precise quantification of the relative position between two halves of a rock joint.Push/pull tests are conducted on rock joints with varying roughness levels to induce different contact states.A high-precision laser scanner serves as a benchmark for evaluating the photogrammetry method.Despite certain deviations exist,the measured evolution of void geometry is generally consistent with the qualitative findings of previous studies.The photogrammetric measurements yield comparable accuracy to laser scanning,with maximum errors of 13.2%for aperture and 14.4%for void volume.Most joint matching coefficient(JMC)measurement errors are below 20%.Larger measurement errors occur primarily in highly mismatched rock joints with JMC values below 0.2,but even in cases where measurement errors exceed 80%,the maximum JMC error is only 0.0434.Thus,the proposed photogrammetric approach holds promise for widespread application in void geometry measurements in rock joints.

ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH OF COMPUTER-AIDED MODEL OF HIP JOINT BASED ON REVERSE ENGINEERING

Former research work about the modeling of hip joint focus on the uppersegment of femoral, and assumes the acetabulum cup is sphere concave, and the acetabulum prosthesesis semisphere. A method of acquiring the point data on the surface of the hipbone using the reverseengineering technology is presented. After analyzing the acetabulum surface fitting error, arotation ellipsoid CAD model is applied to fit the acetabulum surface, and then optimizationtechnique is used to find the geometric parameters of the model. The fitting error between thesphere and rotation ellipsoid is compared and gets the result that the fitting error of rotationellipsoid is smaller than sphere, and the rotation ellipsoid can describe the shape of theacetabulum better.

National Joint Engineering Research Center of High Performance Metal Wear Resistant Materials Technology

Founded in 2012, the National Joint Engineering Research Center of High Performance Metal Wear Resistant Materials Technology at Jinan University, one of the"211"key national universities in China, specializes in the research and development of iron based wear resistant materials and their casting technologies to provide support to the production process.

National Joint Engineering Research Center of High Performance Metal Wear Resistant Materials Technology

Founded in 2012,the National Joint Engineering Research Center of High Performance Metal Wear Resistant Materials Technology at Jinan University,one of the'211'key national universities in China,specializes in the research and development of iron based wear resistant materials and their casting technologies to provide support to the production process.The Research Center serves the'Guangdong Province Ceeusro Innovation Platform for Common Technology of High Performance Wear Resistant Materials”,“Guangdong Province Engineering Research Center for Wear Resistant and Special Functional Materials”.

Influence of void space on microscopic behavior of fluid flow in rock joints

Advanced microfluidic technology was used to examine the microscopic viscous and inertial effects evolution of water flow in rock joints. The influence of void space on fluid flow behaviour in rock joints under different flow velocities was experimentally investigated at the micro scale. Using advanced fabrication technology of microfluidic device, micro flow channels of semicircular, triangular, rectangular and pentagonal cavities were fabricated to simulate different void space of rock joints, respectively. Using the fluorescence labelling approach, the trajectory of water flow was captured by the microscope digital camera when it passed over the cavity under different flow velocities. The flow tests show that the flow trajectory deviated towards the inside of the cavity at low flow velocities. With the increase in flow velocity, this degree of flow trajectory deviation decreased until there was no trajectory deviation for flow in the straight parallel channel. The flow trajectory deviation initially reduced from the void corner near the entrance. At the same time, a small eddy appeared near the void corner of the entrance. The size and intensity of the eddy increased with the flow velocity until it occupied the whole cavity domain. The gradual reduction of flow trajectory near the straight parallel channel and the growth of eddy inside the cavity reflect the evolution of microscopic viscous and inertial forces under different flow velocities.The eddy formed inside the cavity does not contribute to the total flow flux, but the running of the eddy consumes flow energy. This amount of pressure loss due to voids could contribute to the nonlinear deviation of fracture fluid flow from Darcy's law. This study contributes to the fundamental understanding of non-Darcy's flow occurrence in rock joints at the micro scale.

Towards Long-Life Replacement Joint Prostheses - A Surface Engineering Approach

How to improve the wear resistance of bearing surfaces, hereby achieving long life of orthopaedic joint prostheses has long been a technical challenge with much fundamental interest and social and economic impacts. Surface engineering has been emerging as one of the most promising technologies to improve the tribological properties of biomedical materials. A current area of research within the Birmingham Surface Engineering Group has been directed at developing novel surface engineering technologies for biomedical materials towards long-life joint prostheses. Following a brief introduction, the author reports their recent progress in the surface engineering of biomedical materials particular for joint prosthesis. The potential of these innovative surface engineering technologies in enhancing the performance of oral and maxillofacial implants and surgical devices is also discussed.

Research on Coordinated Development and Optimization of Distribution Networks at All Levels in Distributed Power Energy Engineering

The uncertainty of distributed generation energy has dramatically challenged the coordinated development of distribution networks at all levels.This paper focuses on the multi-time-scale regulation model of distributed generation energy under normal conditions.The simulation results of the example verify the self-optimization characteristics and the effectiveness of real-time dispatching of the distribution network control technology at all levels under multiple time scales.

Developments and Applications of Neutrosophic Theory in Civil Engineering Fields:A Review

Neutrosophic theory can effectively and reasonably express indeterminate,inconsistent,and incomplete information.Since Smarandache proposed the neutrosophic theory in 1998,neutrosophic theory and related research have been developed and applied to many important fields.Indeterminacy and fuzziness are one of the main research issues in the field of civil engineering.Therefore,the neutrosophic theory is very suitable for modeling and applications of civil engineering fields.This review paper mainly describes the recent developments and applications of neutrosophic theory in four important research areas of civil engineering:the neutrosophic decision-making theory and applied methods,the neutrosophic evaluation methods and applications of slope stability,the neutrosophic expressions and analyses of rock joint roughness coefficient,and the neutrosophic structural optimization methods and applications.In terms of these research achievements in the four areas of civil engineering,the neutrosophic theory demonstrates its advantages in dealing with the indeterminate and inconsistent issues in civil engineering and the effectiveness and practicability of existing applied methods.In the future work,the existing research results will be further improved and extended in civil engineering problems.In addition,the neutrosophic theory will also have better application prospects in other fields of civil engineering.

Study on ASTM Shear-loaded Adhesive Lap Joints

Finite element analyses and experiments are conducted to analyze the mechanical behavior of ASTM shear-loaded adhesive lap joints. Adhesive is characterized for the stress-strain relation by comparing the apparent shear-strain relations obtained from finite element analysis and experiments following ASTM D 5656 Standard. With the established stress-strain relation, two failure criteria using equivalent plastic strain and J-integral are adopted to predict the failure loads for joint specimens following ASTM D 5656 and ASTM D 3165 Standard, respectively. Good correlation is found between the finite element results and the experimental results. The strength of ASTM D 3165 specimens with debonding defects is also studied. Calculation results shows that experiment data following the standards provide only relative material constants, such as apparent shear modulus and strengths. Further investigation is required to find out the engineering properties needed for actual joint design. For the specimens with debonding defects, the locations of defects have great effects on their load bearing ability.

Investigation of long-wavelength elastic wave propagation through wet bentonite-filled rock joints

The saturation of the compacted bentonite buffer in the deep geological repository can cause bentonite swelling,intrusion into rock fractures,and erosion.Inevitably,erosion and subsequent bentonite mass loss due to groundwater inflow can aggravate the overall integrity of the engineered barrier system.Therefore,the coupled hydro-mechanical interaction between the buffer and rock during groundwater inflow and bentonite intrusion should be evaluated to guarantee the long-term safety of deep geological disposal.This study investigated the effect of bentonite erosion and intrusion on the elastic wave propagation characteristics in jointed rocks using a quasi-static resonant column test.Jointed rock specimens with different joint conditions(i.e.joint surface saturation and bentonite filling)were prepared using granite rock discs sampled from the Korea Underground Research Tunnel(KURT)and Gyeongju bentonite.The long-wavelength longitudinal and shear wave velocities were measured under different normal stress levels.A Hertzian-type power model was used to fit the wave velocities,and the relationship between the two fitted parameters provided the trend of joint conditions.Numerical simulations using three-dimensional distinct element code(3DEC)were conducted to better understand how the long-wavelength wave propagates through wet bentonite-filled rock joints.

A visualization fatigue analysis of a pipeline joint in a special medium environment

In this paper,authors have discussed predominately unidirectional Fluid Structure Interaction,i. e. a given field in which a high speed/pressure and high temperature thermal flow affect the interface between pipelines joints. Surface forces at the fluid-structure interface allow designers to investigate the effects of fluid flow on the structural deformation and stresses. Possible failure modes have been compared with different loads from steady thermal flow analysis results. CFD code SC/Tetra and FEA code ANSYS are used in this study. These studies can be used in protecting certain fatigue failures for pipeline joints under critical cyclic load conditions from both thermal expansion and hydraulic pressure in municipal and environmental engineering applications as well as oil and gas fields.

Research status of corrosion environment failure and safety assessment of pipeline welded joint

Pipeline transportation is an economical, safe, and efficient transportation method for transporting oil, natural gas, mineral slurry, and other fluids.Welding is the most critical construction process in pipeline engineering and is crucial in the safe operation and service of an entire pipeline system.Theoretically, the girth welded joint is the weakest link in a pipeline system.The unevenness of the structure and performance of the joint caused by welding frequently results in the failure of the welded joint before the failure of the base material of the pipe body, causing the pipeline to leak or even break.For steel pipes used in an acidic corrosive medium environment, the integration of the corrosive medium and mechanical load will accelerate the failure of the welded joint.This article reviews the failure modes of pipeline welded joints in acidic corrosive media, including stress corrosion cracking, hydrogen-induced cracking, and corrosion fracture, and corrosion fatigue considering the diffusion and accumulation of H;at the crack tip.It also reviews service pipelines in acidic corrosive media.The general processing technology of pipe joint engineering critical assessment(ECA) is investigated to provide a reference for the future development of technology in this field.

Fifth Sino-US Joint Conference of Chemical Engineering

The fifth Sino-US Joint Conference of Chemical Engineering of Chemical Industry ＆ Engineering Society of China and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, was held at the Fragrant Hill Hotel in Beijing, from October 13 to 16, organized by the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the School of Chemical Engineering Technology of Tianjin University,

Finite Element Modeling and Modal Analysis of Complicated Structure with Bolted Joints

A contact bolt model is proposed as a new modeling technique to investigate the complex structure with bolted joints for modal analysis and compared with the coupled bolt model, and the test results are given. Among these models, the coupled bolt model provides the best accurate responses compared with the experimental results. The contact bolt model shows the best effectiveness and usefulness in view of operational time. The bolt models proposed in this study are adopted for a dynamic characteristic analysis of a large diesel engine consisting of several parts which are connected by many bolts. The dynamic behavior of the entire engine structure was investigated by experiment. The coupled bolt model and the contact bolt model were applied to model the assembly of engine with high preload. The experimental results are in good agreement with the finite element method （FEM） results. Compared with the other models, the contact bolt model presented in this paper is more effective and useful in view of operational time and experience of analysts.

Advances in statistical mechanics of rock masses and its engineering applications

To efficiently link the continuum mechanics for rocks with the structural statistics of rock masses,a theoretical and methodological system called the statistical mechanics of rock masses(SMRM)was developed in the past three decades.In SMRM,equivalent continuum models of stressestrain relationship,strength and failure probability for jointed rock masses were established,which were based on the geometric probability models characterising the rock mass structure.This follows the statistical physics,the continuum mechanics,the fracture mechanics and the weakest link hypothesis.A general constitutive model and complete stressestrain models under compressive and shear conditions were also developed as the derivatives of the SMRM theory.An SMRM calculation system was then developed to provide fast and precise solutions for parameter estimations of rock masses,such as full-direction rock quality designation(RQD),elastic modulus,Coulomb compressive strength,rock mass quality rating,and Poisson’s ratio and shear strength.The constitutive equations involved in SMRM were integrated into a FLAC3D based numerical module to apply for engineering rock masses.It is also capable of analysing the complete deformation of rock masses and active reinforcement of engineering rock masses.Examples of engineering applications of SMRM were presented,including a rock mass at QBT hydropower station in northwestern China,a dam slope of Zongo II hydropower station in D.R.Congo,an open-pit mine in Dexing,China,an underground powerhouse of Jinping I hydropower station in southwestern China,and a typical circular tunnel in Lanzhou-Chongqing railway,China.These applications verified the reliability of the SMRM and demonstrated its applicability to broad engineering issues associated with jointed rock masses.

Structural Analysis of Platforms with the Effect of Joint Flexibility

A modified space beam element is presented in this paper to consider the local joint flexibility of T, Y tubular joints subjected to axial forces and in-plane bending moments for analysis of platforms. Two numerical examples are shown to verify the efficiency and validity of the method presented here.

Perspectives on endogenous and exogenous tissue engineering following injury to tissues of the knee

The knee is a multi-component organ system comprised of several tissues which function coordinately to provide mobility. Injury to any one component compromises the integrity of the system and leads to adaptation of the other components. Over time, such events often lead to dysfunction and degeneration of the knee. Therefore, there has been considerable research emphasis to repair injured components in the knee including cartilage, menisci, and ligaments. Approaches to improving healing and repair/regeneration of knee tissues have included surgery, anti-sense gene therapy, injection of growth factors and inflammatory cytokine antagonists, transplantation of in vitro expanded chondrocytes, enhancement of endogenous cells via microfracture, injection of mesenchymal stem cells, and implantation of in vitro tissue engineered constructs. Some of these approaches have lead to temporary improvement in knee functioning, while others offer the potential to restore function and tissue integrity for longer periods of time. This article will review the status of many of these approaches, and provide a perspective on their limitations and potential to contribute to restoration of knee function across the lifespan.

Analysis of Engineering Geology Indices in Three Units of Atamir Formation in Kope Dagh Zone

This is a field report on a comprehensive study of the Atamir Formation from the engineering geology perspective using the related indices. The Atamir Formation of the Cretaceous Period, which has outcropped in the form of thick frequencies of grey-knotted sandstone and black shales, is situated in the Kope Dagh zone. A survey of discontinuities together with bedding was carried out to study slope stability. The layers have a general east-west trend with a gentle slope towards the south. Because of the tectonic and stratigraphic differences, and with the purpose of facilitating surveys related to joint study of the outcrop, the formation in the study region was divided into three units. The lower unit is made of shale, the middle of sandstone, and the upper of marlstone. All three units were studied from the perspective of geomechanical classification, rock mass indices, geological strength, geomechanical indices, and wedge instability analysis under dry and wet conditions, and the results were investigated in the form of various images and figures. The Dips software was used to display the rose diagram and stereographic projection of each unit, the Swedge software to analyze instability of the wedges, and the Roctab software to analyze the geomechanical parameters and present the outputs along with the description of each unit.

APPLICATION OF UBIQUITOUS JOINT MODEL IN NUMERICAL MODELING OF HILLTOP MINES IN JAPAN

Numerical modeling of three cases(Fuka Mine,Okayama;Shouda Mine,Okayama;Tokiwa Mine,Fukushima)of mining in Japan using FLAC(fast Lagrangian analysis of continua)is introduced to evaluate the stability of hilltop excavation.Ubiquitous joint model is adopted to account for the presence of weak planes,such as weathering joints,bedding planes,in FLAC Mohr-Coulomb mode.By studying the distribution of stress,displacement and safety factor,the stability of excavation can be evaluated and new suggestions based on the numerical modeling process can be presented.Further consideration and methodology of the numerical modeling method are also discussed.