Enhanced structural damage behavior of liquid-filled tank by reactive material projectile impact

A series of ballistic experiments were performed to investigate the damage behavior of high velocity reactive material projectiles(RMPs) impacting liquid-filled tanks,and the corresponding hydrodynamic ram(HRAM) was studied in detail.PTFE/Al/W RMPs with steel-like and aluminum-like densities were prepared by a pressing/sintering process.The projectiles impacted a liquid-filled steel tank with front aluminum panel at approximately 1250 m/s.The corresponding cavity evolution characteristics and HRAM pressure were recorded by high-speed camera and pressure acquisition system,and further compared to those of steel and aluminum projectiles.Significantly different from the conical cavity formed by the inert metal projectile,the cavity formed by the RMP appeared as an ellipsoid with a conical front.The RMPs were demonstrated to enhance the radial growth velocity of cavity,the global HRAM pressure amplitude and the front panel damage,indicating the enhanced HRAM and structural damage behavior.Furthermore,combining the impact-induced fragmentation and deflagration characteristics,the cavity evolution of RMPs under the combined effect of kinetic energy impact and chemical energy release was analyzed.The mechanism of enhanced HRAM pressure induced by the RMPs was further revealed based on the theoretical model of the initial impact wave and the impulse analysis.Finally,the linear correlation between the deformation-thickness ratio and the non-dimensional impulse for the front panel was obtained and analyzed.It was determined that the enhanced near-field impulse induced by the RMPs was the dominant reason for the enhanced structural damage behavior.

Improved STNModels and Heuristic Rules for Cooperative Scheduling in Automated Container Terminals

Improving the cooperative scheduling efficiency of equipment is the key for automated container terminals to copewith the development trend of large-scale ships. In order to improve the solution efficiency of the existing spacetimenetwork (STN) model for the cooperative scheduling problem of yard cranes (YCs) and automated guidedvehicles (AGVs) and extend its application scenarios, two improved STN models are proposed. The flow balanceconstraints in the original model are decomposed, and the trajectory constraints of YCs and AGVs are added toacquire the model STN_A. The coupling constraint in STN_A is updated, and buffer constraints are added toSTN_A so that themodel STN_B is built.As the size of the problem increases, the solution speed of CPLEX becomesthe bottleneck. So a heuristic method containing three groups of heuristic rules is designed to obtain a near-optimalsolution quickly. Experimental results showthat the computation time of STN_A is shortened by 49.47% on averageand the gap is reduced by 1.69% on average compared with the original model. The gap between the solution ofthe heuristic rules and the solution of CPLEX is less than 3.50%, and the solution time of the heuristic rules is onaverage 99.85% less than the solution time of CPLEX. Compared with STN_A, the computation time for solvingSTN_B increases by 58.93% on average.

Structural Characteristics and Evolution of a Weighted Sino-US Container Shipping Network

This study selected the Sino-US route data from the top 30 global container liner companies between December 1,2019,and December 29,2019,as the data source utilizing the complex network research methodology.It constructs a Sino-US container shipping network through voyage weighting and analyzes the essential structural characteristics to explore the network’s complex structural fea-tures.The network’s evolution is examined from three perspectives,namely,time,space,and event influence,aiming to comprehens-ively explore the network’s evolution mechanism.The results revealed that:1)the weighted Sino-US container shipping network exhib-its small-world and scale-free properties.Key hub ports in the United States include NEW YORK NY,SAVANNAH GA,LOS ANGELES CA,and OAKLAND CA,whereas SHANGHAI serving as the hub port in China.The geographical distribution of these hub ports is uneven.2)Concerning the evolution of the weighted Sino-US container shipping network,from a temporal perspective,the evolution of the regional structure of the entire Sino-US region and the Inland United States is in a stage of radiative expansion and de-velopment,with a need for further enhancement in competitiveness and development speed.The evolution of the regional structure of southern China and Europe is transitioning from the stage of radiative expansion and development to an advanced equilibrium stage.The shipping development in Northern China,the Western and Eastern United States,and Asia is undergoing significant changes but faces challenges of fierce competition and imbalances.From a spatial perspective,the rationality and effectiveness of the improved weighted Barrat-Barthelemy-Vespignani(BBV)model are confirmed through theoretical derivation.The applicability of the improved evolution model is verified by simulating the evolution of the weighted Sino-US container shipping network.From an event impact per-spective,the Corona Virus Disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has not fundamentally affected the spatial pattern of the weighted Sino-US container shipping network but has significantly impacted the network’s connectivity.The network lacks sufficient resilience and stability in emergency situations.3)Based on the analysis of the structural characteristics and evolution of the weighted Sino-US con-tainer shipping network,recommendations for network development are proposed from three aspects:emphasizing the development of hub ports,focusing on the balanced development of the network,and optimizing the layout of Chinese ports.

A Pre-Selection-Based Ant Colony System for Integrated Resources Scheduling Problem at Marine Container Terminal

Marine container terminal(MCT)plays a key role in the marine intelligent transportation system and international logistics system.However,the efficiency of resource scheduling significantly influences the operation performance of MCT.To solve the practical resource scheduling problem(RSP)in MCT efficiently,this paper has contributions to both the problem model and the algorithm design.Firstly,in the problem model,different from most of the existing studies that only consider scheduling part of the resources in MCT,we propose a unified mathematical model for formulating an integrated RSP.The new integrated RSP model allocates and schedules multiple MCT resources simultaneously by taking the total cost minimization as the objective.Secondly,in the algorithm design,a pre-selection-based ant colony system(PACS)approach is proposed based on graphic structure solution representation and a pre-selection strategy.On the one hand,as the RSP can be formulated as the shortest path problem on the directed complete graph,the graphic structure is proposed to represent the solution encoding to consider multiple constraints and multiple factors of the RSP,which effectively avoids the generation of infeasible solutions.On the other hand,the pre-selection strategy aims to reduce the computational burden of PACS and to fast obtain a higher-quality solution.To evaluate the performance of the proposed novel PACS in solving the new integrated RSP model,a set of test cases with different sizes is conducted.Experimental results and comparisons show the effectiveness and efficiency of the PACS algorithm,which can significantly outperform other state-of-the-art algorithms.

Impact of Hinterland Manufacturing on the Development of Container Ports: Evidence from the Pearl River Delta, China

Container ports and hinterland manufacturing are two important forces of the local participation in economic globalization.This study,taking the Pearl River Delta(PRD),China with an export-oriented economy as an example,applies Huff and panel regres-sion models to evaluate the impact of hinterland manufacturing on the development of container ports during the period of 1993–2019.The results show that 1)the spatial patterns of hinterlands for hub ports help to determine the distribution range and scale of economic variables that affect port throughput;2)the hinterland’s gross manufacturing output has universally positive influence on port through-put,wherein export-oriented processing and the entire manufacturing industry have significantly positive impact on port throughput in 1993–2011 and 2001–2019,respectively;3)the two internal structural factors related to an export-oriented economy,labor-intensive sectors and foreign-funded terminals,have positively moderate the direct influence of hinterland manufacturing on port throughput.Our results highlight the importance of local context in understanding port-manufacturing relationship in developing economies.Based on our findings,policy implications are further proposed to enhance port network organization in PRD.

Security Risk Assessment in Container Terminals:Empirical Evidence from Greece

The most prominent risk assessment techniques are founded on the values of measuring and controlling the frequency and the consequences of risks in order to assure an“acceptable level”of“safeness”mainly in the lines of environmental,health and hygiene and port product issues.This paper examines security risk assessment approaches within the emerging role of ports.This paper contributes to the current literature by considering the ports of Greece as a case in point and by measuring the degree of its security risk orientation based on certain valid risk factors drawn from the current literature.Moreover,it presents a security risk assessment methodology into the domain of port container terminals.Their potential for ports were quantitatively and qualitatively assessed by discussing issues of security approaches within the maritime industry,in order to facilitate improvement strategies.A two-dimension empirical study was conducted,in a time range of ten years(2010-2020)in order to provide evidence regarding security risk assessment in the port container terminal of Thessaloniki,in Greece.The findings of this study have significant strategic policy implications and shed more light on the role of security risks in the overall risk orientation of container terminals in practice.Finally,further research directions in security risk in ports are proposed.

Coupling dynamic analysis of a liquid-filled spherical container subject to arbitrary excitation

Using spherical coordinates, the coupling nonlinear dynamic system of a liquid-filled spherical tank, which can be excited discretionarily, is deduced by the H-O varia- tional principle, and the viscous damping is introduced via the liquid dissipation function. The kinetic equations of the coupling system are deduced by the relationship between the velocity of liquid particles and the disturbed liquid surface equation. Normal differential equations are obtained through the Galerkin method. An equivalent mechanical model is developed for liquid sloshing in a spherical tank subject to arbitrary excitation. The fixed and slosh masses, as well as the spring and damping constants, are determined in such a way as to satisfy the principle of equivalence. Numerical simulations illustrate the theoretical results in this paper as well.

“Smart”micro/nano container-based self-healing coatings on magnesium alloys:A review

Coating technologies are a commonly used way to protect metals against corrosion.However,with more and more severe service environments of materials,many protective coating systems often are not environmentally friendly or toxic as in the case of chromates.Based on the world’s abundant ideal magnesium(Mg)and its alloy,the smart self-healing anticorrosive coating can autonomously restore the damaged part of the coating according to the environmental changes,strengthen the corrosion protection ability,and prolong its service life.This paper reviews the research progress of smart self-healing coatings on Mg alloys.These coatings mostly contain suitable corrosion inhibitors encapsulated into micro/nano containers.Moreover,the different self-healing mechanisms and functionalities of micro/nano containers are discussed.The micro/nano containers range from inorganic nanocontainers such as mesoporous nanoparticles(silica(SiO_(2)),titanium dioxide(TiO_(2)),etc.),over inorganic clays(halloysite,hydrotalcite-like,zeolite),to organic nanocontainers such as polymer microcapsules,nanofibers,chitosan(CS)and cyclodextrin(CD),as well as,carbon materials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes and hybrids such as metal organic frameworks.The functioning of micro/nano containers can be divided in two principal groups:autonomous(based on defect filling and corrosion inhibition)and non-autonomous(based on dynamic bonds and shape memory polymers).Moreover,multi functionalities and composite applications of various micro/nano containers are summarized.At present,significant progress has been made in the preparation methods and technologies of micro/nano containers.Achieving long-term self-healing properties of coatings sensing of coating failure and early warning after self-healing function failure can be expected as the main development direction of self-healing corrosion protection coatings in the future.

Container-Based Internet of Vehicles Edge Application Migration Mechanism

Internet of Vehicles(IoV)applications integrating with edge com-puting will significantly drive the growth of IoV.However,the contradiction between the high-speed mobility of vehicles,the delay sensitivity of corre-sponding IoV applications and the limited coverage and resource capacity of distributed edge servers will pose challenges to the service continuity and stability of IoV applications.IoV application migration is a promising solution that can be supported by application containerization,a technology for seamless cross-edge-server application migration without user perception.Therefore,this paper proposes the container-based IoV edge application migration mechanism,consisting of three parts.The first is the migration trigger determination algorithm for cross-border migration and service degra-dation migration,respectively,based on trajectory prediction and traffic awareness to improve the determination accuracy.The second is the migration target decision calculation model for minimizing the average migration time and maximizing the average service time to reduce migration times and improve the stability and adaptability of migration decisions.The third is the migration decision algorithm based on the improved artificial bee colony algorithm to avoid local optimal migration decisions.Simulation results show that the proposed migration mechanism can reduce migration times,reduce average migration time,improve average service time and enhance the stability and adaptability of IoV application services.

Vertical Pod Autoscaling in Kubernetes for Elastic Container Collaborative Framework

Kubernetes is an open-source container management tool which automates container deployment,container load balancing and container(de)scaling,including Horizontal Pod Autoscaler(HPA),Vertical Pod Autoscaler(VPA).HPA enables flawless operation,interactively scaling the number of resource units,or pods,without downtime.Default Resource Metrics,such as CPU and memory use of host machines and pods,are monitored by Kubernetes.Cloud Computing has emerged as a platform for individuals beside the corporate sector.It provides cost-effective infrastructure,platform and software services in a shared environment.On the other hand,the emergence of industry 4.0 brought new challenges for the adaptability and infusion of cloud computing.As the global work environment is adapting constituents of industry 4.0 in terms of robotics,artificial intelligence and IoT devices,it is becoming eminent that one emerging challenge is collaborative schematics.Provision of such autonomous mechanism that can develop,manage and operationalize digital resources like CoBots to perform tasks in a distributed and collaborative cloud environment for optimized utilization of resources,ensuring schedule completion.Collaborative schematics are also linked with Bigdata management produced by large scale industry 4.0 setups.Different use cases and simulation results showed a significant improvement in Pod CPU utilization,latency,and throughput over Kubernetes environment.

Nonlinear semi-analytical modeling of liquid sloshing in rectangular container with horizontal baffles

A nonlinear semi-analytical scheme is proposed for investigating the finiteamplitude nonlinear sloshing in a horizontally baffled rectangular liquid container under the seismic excitation.The sub-domain method is developed to analytically derive the modal behaviors of the baffled linear sloshing.The viscosity dissipation effects from the interior liquid and boundary layers are considered.With the introduction of the generalized time-dependent coordinates,the surface wave elevation and velocity potential are represented by a series of linear modal eigenfunctions.The infinite-dimensional modal system of the nonlinear sloshing is formulated based on the Bateman-Luke variational principle,which is further reduced to the finite-dimensional modal system by using the NarimanovMoiseev asymptotic ordering.The base force and overturning moment induced by the nonlinear sloshing are derived as the functions of the generalized time-dependent coordinates.The present results match well with the available analytical,numerical,and experimental results.The paper examines the surface wave elevation,base force,and overturning moment versus the baffle parameters and excitation amplitude in detail.

Container Instrumentation and Enforcement System for Runtime Security of Kubernetes Platform with eBPF

Containerization is a fundamental component of modern cloud-native infrastructure,and Kubernetes is a prominent platform of container orchestration systems.However,containerization raises significant security concerns due to the nature of sharing a kernel among multiple containers,which can lead to container breakout or privilege escalation.Kubernetes cannot avoid it as well.While various tools,such as container image scanning and configuration checking,can mitigate container workload vulnerabilities,these are not foolproof and cannot guarantee perfect isolation or prevent every active threat in runtime.As such,a policy enforcement solution is required to tackle the problem,and existing solutions based on LSM(Linux Security Module)frameworks may not be adequate for some situations.To address this,we propose an enforcement system based on BPF-LSM,which leverages eBPF(extended Berkeley Packet Filter)technology to provide fine-grained control and dynamic adoption of security policies.In this paper,we compare different LSM implementations to highlight the challenges of current enforcement solutions before detailing the design of our eBPF-based Kubernetes Runtime Instrumentation and Enforcement System(KRSIE).Finally,we evaluate the effectiveness of our system using a real-world scenario,as measuring the performance of a policy enforcement system is a complex task.Our results show that KRSIE can successfully control containers’behaviors using LSM hooks at container runtime,offering improved container security for cloud-native infrastructure.

Container Based Nomadic Vehicular Cloud Using Cell Transmission Model

Nomadic Vehicular Cloud(NVC)is envisaged in this work.The predo-minant aspects of NVC is,it moves along with the vehicle that initiates it and functions only with the resources of moving vehicles on the heavy traffic road without relying on any of the static infrastructure and NVC decides the initiation time of container migration using cell transmission model(CTM).Containers are used in the place of Virtual Machines(VM),as containers’features are very apt to NVC’s dynamic environment.The specifications of 5G NR V2X PC5 interface are applied to NVC,for the feature of not relying on the network coverage.Nowa-days,the peak traffic on the road and the bottlenecks due to it are inevitable,which are seen here as the benefits for VC in terms of resource availability and residual in-network time.The speed range of high-end vehicles poses the issue of dis-connectivity among VC participants,that results the container migration failure.As the entire VC participants are on the move,to maintain proximity of the containers hosted by them,estimating their movements plays a vital role.To infer the vehicle movements on the road stretch and initiate the container migration prior enough to avoid the migration failure due to vehicles dynamicity,this paper proposes to apply the CTM to the container based and 5G NR V2X enabled NVC.The simulation results show that there is a significant increase in the success rate of vehicular cloud in terms of successful container migrations.

Scale Breeding and Reproduction Technique of Ficus tikoua Bur.Container Seedlings

Based on the principle of asexual reproduction,a kind of scale breeding and reproduction technique of Ficus tikoua Bur.container seedlings was explored by using the characteristics of strong adaptability to the environment and fast growth and reproduction.Using non-woven bag as a breeding container for seedlings,the scale breeding and reproduction technique of F.tikoua container seedlings was summarized through the important links of seedling bed construction,seedling collection,soil configuration,container selection,cutting cultivation,field management,and disease and pest control.This technique can achieve differential,massive and sustainable efficient breeding and reproduction of F.tikoua seedlings in a short time.

Anti-explosion performance and dynamic response of an innovative multi-layer composite explosion containment vessel

An innovative multi-layer composite explosion containment vessel(CECV)utilizing a sliding steel platealuminum honeycomb-fiber cloth sandwich is put forward to improve the anti-explosion capacity of a conventional single-layer explosion containment vessel(SECV).Firstly,a series of experiments and finite element(FE)simulations of internal explosions are implemented to understand the basic anti-explosion characteristics of a SECV and the rationality of the computational models and methods is verified by the comparison between the experimental results and simulation results.Based on this,the CECV is designed in detail and a variety of FE simulations are carried out to investigate effects of the sandwich structure,the explosive quantity and the laying mode of the fiber cloth on anti-explosion performance and dynamic response of the CECV under internal explosions.Simulation results indicate that the end cover is the critical position for both the SECV and CECV.The maximum pressure of the explosion shock wave and the maximum strain of the CECV can be extremely declined compared to those of the SECV.As a result,the explosive quantity the CECV can sustain is up to 20 times of that the SECV can sustain.Besides,as the explosive quantity increases,the internal pressure of the CECV keeps growing and the plastic deformation and failure of the sandwich structure become more and more severe,yielding plastic strain of the CECV in addition to elastic strain.The results also reveal that the laying angles of the fiber cloth's five layers have an impact on the anti-explosion performance of the CECV.For example,the CECV with fiber cloth layered in 0°/45°/90°/45°/0°mode has the optimal anti-capacity,compared to 0°/0°/0°/0°/0°and 0°/30°/60°/30°/0°modes.Overall,owing to remarkable anti-explosion capacity,this CECV can be regarded as a promising candidate for explosion resistance.

Effect of forging on the microstructure and texture of a high Nb containing γ-TiAl alloy

The effect of forging on the microstructure and texture evolution of a high Nb containing Ti-45Al-7Nb-0.3W(at.%)alloy was investigated by X-ray diffractometer(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),and transmission electron microscopy(TEM).The results show that the as-cast alloy is mainly composed of α_(2)/γ lamellar colonies with a mean size of 70μm,but the hot-forged pancake displays a near duplex microstructure(DP).Kinking and bending of lamellar colonies,deformation twinning and dynamic recrystallization(DRX)occur during hot forging.Meanwhile,dense dislocations in theβphase after forging suggest that the high-temperature β phase with a disordered structure is favorable for improving the hot-workability of the alloy.Unlike the common TiAl casting texture,the solidification process of the investigated as-cast alloy with high Nb content is completely via the β phase region,resulting in the formation of a<110>γ fiber texture where the<110>γ aligns parallel to the heat-flow direction.In comparison,the relatively strong<001>and weak<302>texture components in the as-forged alloy are attributed to the deformation twinning.After annealing,static recrystallization occurs at the twin boundary and intersections,which weakens the deformation texture.

Adaptive Event-Triggered Time-Varying Output Group Formation Containment Control of Heterogeneous Multiagent Systems

In this paper,a class of time-varying output group formation containment control problem of general linear hetero-geneous multiagent systems(MASs)is investigated under directed topology.The MAS is composed of a number of tracking leaders,formation leaders and followers,where two different types of leaders are used to provide reference trajectories for movement and to achieve certain formations,respectively.Firstly,compen-sators are designed whose states are estimations of tracking lead-ers,based on which,a controller is developed for each formation leader to accomplish the expected formation.Secondly,two event-triggered compensators are proposed for each follower to evalu-ate the state and formation information of the formation leaders in the same group,respectively.Subsequently,a control protocol is designed for each follower,utilizing the output information,to guide the output towards the convex hull generated by the forma-tion leaders within the group.Next,the triggering sequence in this paper is decomposed into two sequences,and the inter-event intervals of these two triggering conditions are provided to rule out the Zeno behavior.Finally,a numerical simulation is intro-duced to confirm the validity of the proposed results.

High patatin like phospholipase domain containing 8 expression as a biomarker for poor prognosis of colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND Patatin like phospholipase domain containing 8(PNPLA8)has been shown to play a significant role in various cancer entities.Previous studies have focused on its roles as an antioxidant and in lipid peroxidation.However,the role of PNPLA8 in colorectal cancer(CRC)progression is unclear.AIM To explore the prognostic effects of PNPLA8 expression in CRC.METHODS A retrospective cohort containing 751 consecutive CRC patients was enrolled.PNPLA8 expression in tumor samples was evaluated by immunohistochemistry staining and semi-quantitated with immunoreactive scores.CRC patients were divided into high and low PNPLA8 expression groups based on the cut-off va-lues,which were calculated by X-tile software.The prognostic value of PNPLA8 was identified using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis.The over-all survival(OS)rates of CRC patients in the study cohort were compared with Kaplan-Meier analysis and Log-rank test.RESULTS PNPLA8 expression was significantly associated with distant metastases in our cohort(P=0.048).CRC patients with high PNPLA8 expression indicated poor OS(median OS=35.3,P=0.005).CRC patients with a higher PNPLA8 expression at either stage I and II or stage III and IV had statistically significant shorter OS.For patients with left-sided colon and rectal cancer,the survival curves of two PN-PLA8-expression groups showed statistically significant differences.Multivariate analysis also confirmed that high PNPLA8 expression was an independent prog-nostic factor for overall survival(hazard ratio HR=1.328,95%CI:1.016-1.734,P=0.038).

GATA binding protein 2 mediated ankyrin repeat domain containing 26 high expression in myeloid-derived cell lines

BACKGROUND Thrombocytopenia 2,an autosomal dominant inherited disease characterized by moderate thrombocytopenia,predisposition to myeloid malignancies and normal platelet size and function,can be caused by 5’-untranslated region(UTR)point mutations in ankyrin repeat domain containing 26(ANKRD26).Runt related transcription factor 1(RUNX1)and friend leukemia integration 1(FLI1)have been identified as negative regulators of ANKRD26.However,the positive regulators of ANKRD26 are still unknown.AIM To prove the positive regulatory effect of GATA binding protein 2(GATA2)on ANKRD26 transcription.METHODS Human induced pluripotent stem cells derived from bone marrow(hiPSC-BM)INTRODUCTION Ankyrin repeat domain containing protein 26(ANKRD26)acts as a regulator of adipogenesis and is involved in the regulation of feeding behavior[1-3].The ANKRD26 gene is located on chromosome 10 and shares regions of homology with the primate-specific gene family POTE.According to the Human Protein Atlas database,the ANKRD26 protein is localized to the Golgi apparatus and vesicles,and its expression can be detected in nearly all human tissues[4].Moreover,UniProt annotation revealed that ANKRD26 is localized in the centrosome and contains coiled-coil domains formed by spectrin helices and ankyrin repeats[5,6].The most common disease related to ANKRD26 is thrombocytopenia 2(THC2),which is a rare autosomal dominant inherited disease characterized by lifelong mild-to-moderate thrombocytopenia and mild bleeding[7-9].Caused by the variants in the 5’-untranslated region(UTR)of ANKRD26,THC2 is defined by a decrease in the number of platelets in circulating blood and results in increased bleeding and decreased clotting ability[8,10].Due to the point mutations that occur in the 5’-UTR of ANKRD26,its negative transcription factors(TFs),Runt related transcription factor 1(RUNX1)and friend leukemia integration 1(FLI1),lose their repression effect[11].The persistent expression of ANKRD26 increases the activity of the mitogen activated protein kinase and extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 signaling pathways,which are potentially involved in the regulation of thrombopoietin-dependent signaling and further impair proplatelet formation by megakaryocytes(MKs)[11].However,the positive regulators of ANKRD26,which might be associated with THC2 pathology,are still unknown.

Application of Thermodynamic Database to Corrosion of ZrO_(2) Containing Submerged Entry Nozzle in Steel Continuous Casting Process

The CALPHAD thermodynamic databases are very useful to analyze the complex chemical reactions happening in high temperature material process.The FactSage thermodynamic database can be used to calculate complex phase diagrams and equilibrium phases involving refractories in industrial process.In this study,the FactSage thermodynamic database relevant to ZrO_(2)-based refractories was reviewed and the application of the database to understanding the corrosion of continuous casting nozzle refractories in steelmaking was presented.