Tree-Based Solution Frameworks for Predicting Tunnel Boring Machine Performance Using Rock Mass and Material Properties

Tunnel Boring Machines(TBMs)are vital for tunnel and underground construction due to their high safety and efficiency.Accurately predicting TBM operational parameters based on the surrounding environment is crucial for planning schedules and managing costs.This study investigates the effectiveness of tree-based machine learning models,including Random Forest,Extremely Randomized Trees,Adaptive Boosting Machine,Gradient Boosting Machine,Extreme Gradient Boosting Machine(XGBoost),Light Gradient Boosting Machine,and CatBoost,in predicting the Penetration Rate(PR)of TBMs by considering rock mass and material characteristics.These techniques are able to provide a good relationship between input(s)and output parameters;hence,obtaining a high level of accuracy.To do that,a comprehensive database comprising various rock mass and material parameters,including Rock Mass Rating,Brazilian Tensile Strength,and Weathering Zone,was utilized for model development.The practical application of these models was assessed with a new dataset representing diverse rock mass and material properties.To evaluate model performance,ranking systems and Taylor diagrams were employed.CatBoost emerged as the most accurate model during training and testing,with R2 scores of 0.927 and 0.861,respectively.However,during validation,XGBoost demonstrated superior performance with an R2 of 0.713.Despite these variations,all tree-based models showed promising accuracy in predicting TBM performance,providing valuable insights for similar projects in the future.

Effects of Material Physical Properties on White-rot Fungi Mycelial Growth

[ Objective] The research aimed to study effects of material physical properties on white-rot fungi mycelial growth and provide theoretical basis for further expanding the application range of white-rot fungi. [ Method Four common species of white-rot fungi were cultivated by wood meal fowl dung mixture in test tube and culture dishes. The relationship between physical properties of culture material and the growth of these mycelials were studied. [Result] The results showed the water retention capacity of culture material was decreased with the increasing of its grain size and porosity, but the decrease of its specific gravity reduced the material water retention. And the dehydration rate of medium prepared with these materials at the same moisture conditions tended to increase. These physical properties of material, such as grain size, specific gravity, porosity, water retention and water drainage, influenced the growth of white-rot fungi mycelial by affecting the moisture and ventilation condition of media. The results hinted that above material physical properties had feedback effects on the growth of white-rot fungi mycelia. [ Conclution] Physical properties of culture material have significant effects on the growth of white-rot fungi mycelial.

Ultra-large aluminum shape casting:Opportunities and challenges

Ultra-large aluminum shape castings have been increasingly used in automotive vehicles,particularly in electric vehicles for light-weighting and vehicle manufacturing cost reduction.As most of them are structural components subject to both quasi-static,dynamic and cyclic loading,the quality and quantifiable performance of the ultra-large aluminum shape castings is critical to their success in both design and manufacturing.This paper briefly reviews some application examples of ultra-large aluminum castings in automotive industry and outlines their advantages and benefits.Factors affecting quality,microstructure and mechanical properties of ultra-large aluminum castings are evaluated and discussed as aluminum shape casting processing is very complex and often involves many competing mechanisms,multi-physics phenomena,and potentially large uncertainties that significantly influence the casting quality and performance.Metallurgical analysis and mechanical property assessment of an ultra-large aluminum shape casting are presented.Challenges are highlighted and suggestions are made for robust design and manufacturing of ultra-large aluminum castings.

Wave propagation of a functionally graded plate via integral variables with a hyperbolic arcsine function

Several studies on functionally graded materials(FGMs)have been done by researchers,but few studies have dealt with the impact of the modification of the properties of materials with regard to the functional propagation of the waves in plates.This work aims to explore the effects of changing compositional characteristics and the volume fraction of the constituent of plate materials regarding the wave propagation response of thick plates of FGM.This model is based on a higher-order theory and a new displacement field with four unknowns that introduce indeterminate integral variables with a hyperbolic arcsine function.The FGM plate is assumed to consist of a mixture of metal and ceramic,and its properties change depending on the power functions of the thickness of the plate,such as linear,quadratic,cubic,and inverse quadratic.By utilizing Hamilton’s principle,general formulae of the wave propagation were obtained to establish wave modes and phase velocity curves of the wave propagation in a functionally graded plate,including the effects of changing compositional characteristics of materials.

The Cemented Material Dam： A New, Environmentally Friendly Type of Dam

The first author proposed the concept of the cemented material dam （CMD） in 2009. This concept was aimed at building an environmentally friendly dam in a safer and more economical way for both the dam and the area downstream. The concept covers the cemented sand, gravel, and rock dam （CSGRD）, the rockfill concrete （RFC） dam （or the cemented rockfill dam, CRD）, and the cemented soil dam （CSD）. This paper summarizes the concept and principles of the CMD based on studies and practices in projects around the world. It also introduces new developments in the CSGRD, CRD, and CSD.

Effects of material properties on power spinning process of parts with transverse inner rib

Material properties of blank have a great effect on power spinning process of aluminum alloy parts with transverse inner rib.By using finite element(FE) and Taguchi method,the effects and significance of five key material parameters,namely,anisotropic index in thickness direction,yield strength,hardening exponent,strengthening factor and elastic modulus on the formability of inner rib,tendency of wall fracture and degree of inhomogeneous deformation of finished spun parts were obtained.The achievements provide an important guide for selecting reasonable spinning material,and are very significant for the optimum design and precision control of power spinning process of parts with transverse inner rib.

A MULTISCALE MECHANICAL MODEL FOR MATERIALS BASED ON VIRTUAL INTERNAL BOND THEORY

Only two macroscopic parameters are needed to describe the mechanical properties of linear elastic solids, i.e. the Poisson＇s ratio and Young＇s modulus. Correspondingly, there should be two microscopic parameters to determine the mechanical properties of material if the macroscopic mechanical properties of linear elastic solids are derived from the microscopic level. Enlightened by this idea, a multiscale mechanical model for material, the virtual multi-dimensional internal bonds （VMIB） model, is proposed by incorporating a shear bond into the virtual internal bond （VIB） model. By this modification, the VMIB model associates the macro mechanical properties of material with the microscopic mechanical properties of discrete structure and the corresponding relationship between micro and macro parameters is derived. The tensor quality of the energy density function, which contains coordinate vector, is mathematically proved. From the point of view of VMIB, the macroscopic nonlinear behaviors of material could be attributed to the evolution of virtual bond distribution density induced by the imposed deformation. With this theoretical hypothesis, as an application example, a uniaxial compressive failure of brittle material is simulated. Good agreement between the experimental results and the simulated ones is found.

A roughness parameter considering joint material properties and peak shear strength model for rock joints

This study aims at proposing a reasonable roughness parameter that can reflect the peak shear strength(PSS)of rock joints.Firstly,the contribution of the asperities with different apparent dip angles to shear strength is studied.Then the shear strength of the entire joint asperities is derived.The results showed that the PSS of the entire joint asperities is proportional to a key parameter hs,which is related to the geometric character of the joint surface and the joint material properties.The parameter hsis taken as the new roughness parameter,and it is reasonable to associate the PSS with the geometric characteristics of the joint surface.Based on the new roughness parameter and shear test results of 20 sets of joint specimens,a new PSS model for rock joints is proposed.The new model is validated with the artificial joints in this paper and real rock joints in published studies.Results showed that it is suitable for different types of rock joints except for gneiss joints.The new model has the form of the Mohr-Coulomb model,which can directly reflect the relationship between the 3 D roughness parameters and the peak dilation angle.

Preparation and Characterization of Component Materials for Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell by Glycine-Nitrate Process

La1-xSrxGa1-y MgyO3-δ(LSGM) electrolyte, La1-xSrxCr1-y MnyO3-δ( LSCM ) anode and La1-xSrxFe1-y MnyO3-aaaaaaa(LSFM) cathode materials were all synthesized by glycine-nitrate process (GNP). The microstructure and characteristics of LSGM, LSCM and LSFM were tested via X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microcopy (SEM), A C impedance and four-probe direct current techniques. XRD shows that pure perovskite phase LSGM electrolyte and electrode (LSCM anode and LSFM cathode) materials were prepared after being sintered at 1400℃for 20 h and at 1000℃for 5 h, respectively. The max conductivities of LSGM (ionic conductivity), LSCM (total conductivity) and LSFM (total conductivity) materials are 0.02, 10, 16 S·cm-1 in the air below 850℃, respectively. The conductivity of LSCM becomes smaller when the atmosphere changes from air to pure hydrogen at the same temperature and it decreases with the temperature like metal. The porous and LSGM-based LSCM anode and LSFM cathode films were prepared by screen printing method, and the sintering temperatures for them were 1300 and 1250℃, respectively. LSGM and electrode (LSCM and LSFM) materials have good thermal and chemical compatibility.

Novel implementation of homogenization method to predict effective properties of periodic materials

Representative volume element （RVE） method and asymptotic homogenization （AH） method are two widely used methods in predicting effective properties of pe- riodic materials. This paper develops a novel implementa- tion of the AH method, which has rigorous mathematical foundation of the AH method, and also simplicity as the RVE method. This implementation can be easily realized using commercial software as a black box, and can use all kinds of elements available in commercial software to model unit cells with rather complicated microstructures, so the model may remain a fairly small scale. Several examples were car- fled out to demonstrate the simplicity and effectiveness of the new implementation.

APPLICATION OF THE UNIFIED STATISTICAL MATERIAL DATABASE FOR DESIGN AND LIFE/RISK ASSESSMENT OF HIGH TEMPERATURE COMPONENTS

Statistical manipulation of material data was conducted for probabilistic life assessment or risk-based design and maintenance for high temperature components of power plants. To obtain the statistical distribution of material properties, dominant parameters affecting material properties are introduced into normalization of statistical variables. Those parameters are hardness, chemical composition, characteristic micro structural features and so on. Creep and fatigue properties are expressed by normalized parameters and the unified statistical distributions are obtained. These probability distribution functions show good coincidence statistically with the field database of steam turbine components. It was concluded that the unified statistical baseline approach is useful for the risk management of components in power plants.

Effects of fault movement and material properties on deformation and stress fields of Tibetan Plateau

We compare the factors which affect the movement of Tibetan Plateau by building three types of finite element models： an elastic materials （M-EC）, a continuous model composed by non-linear materials （M-PC）, and an elastic model with discontinuous fault movements （M-ET）. Both in M-ET and M-EC, the materials in Qiangtang and Lhasa block are elastic, and in M-ET, discontinuous movement of faults is considered for evaluating the effects of strike-slip faults. In model M-PC Druker-Prager plastic materials are used in Qiangtang and Lhasa block. Comparisons of the numerical simulation and the GPS observations show following characteristics： （1） Under present tectonic environment, short-term deformation of Tibetan Plateau can be simulated well by elastic models; （2） Discontinuous fault activities increase the lateral extrusion of the eastern part of Tibetan Plateau, reduce the stress field level in Qiangtang, Tarim and Qaidam blocks and strengthen the E-W extensional force in the east and the west parts of Qiangtang block; （3） Properties of plastic materials reduce the total stress field and the E-W extensional force, thus, the normal fault earthquakes in southern Tibet is mainly owed to the effect of active fault movement. Based on the numerical simulations we speculate that faults movement may play a more important role on the kinematic pattern of Tibetan Plateau than bulk properties.

Preparation, Characterization and Luminescent Properties of MCM-41 Type Materials Impregnated with Rare Earth Complex

Hybrid materials incorporating Eu-(TTA)(3). 2H(2)O (7hereafter designated as Eu-TTA, with TTA: thenoyltrifluoroacetone) in unmodified or modified MCM-41 by 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (APTES) were prepared by impregnation method. The obtained materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), IR and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and luminescence spectra. All the hybrid samples exhibited the characteristic emission bands of EU3+ under UV light excitation at room temperature, and the excitation spectra showed significant blue-shifts compared to the pure rare-earth complex. Although the red emission intensity in the modified hybrid was almost the half of the red emission intensity in the pure Eu-TTA complex at room temperature, the hybrid showed a much higher thermal stability due to the shielding character of the MCM-41 host.

A new micromechanical approach of micropolar continuum modeling for 2-D periodic cellular material

In this paper, we present a new united approach to formulate the equivalent micropolar constitutive relation of two-dimensional（2-D） periodic cellular material to capture its non-local properties and to explain the size effects in its structural analysis. The new united approach takes both the displacement compatibility and the equilibrium of forces and moments into consideration, where Taylor series expansion of the displacement and rotation fields and the extended averaging procedure with an explicit enforcement of equilibrium are adopted in the micromechanical analysis of a unit cell.In numerical examples, the effective micropolar constants obtained in this paper and others derived in the literature are used for the equivalent micropolar continuum simulation of cellular solids. The solutions from the equivalent analysis are compared with the discrete simulation solutions of the cellular solids. It is found that the micropolar constants developed in this paper give satisfying results of equivalent analysis for the periodic cellular material.

A Simple Way to Prepare Silicon Carbide Reinforced Graphite Composite Lubricating Materials

SiC reinforced graphite composites were prepared via introducing carbide silicon into the natural graphite flakes（NGF） by hot-pressing process. Their physical and mechanical properties, including density, open porosity, flexural strength, and friction behavior were investigated. The addition of 30vol% Si C increased the bending strength of composites materials to 127 MPa, 2 times higher than 60 MPa of commercial pure graphite block. What was particularly interesting was that the as-obtained graphite composite with 30vol% Si C kept the same low friction coefficient of about 0.1 as pure graphite, and the wear resistance of composites increased.

Forced vibration analysis of nano-composite rotating pressurized microbeam reinforced by CNTs based on MCST with temperature-variable material properties

In this study, free and forced vibration analysis of nano-composite rotating pressurized microbeam reinforced by carbon nanotubes （CNTs） under magnetic field based on modify couple stress theory （MCST） with temperature-variable material propertiesis presented. Also, the boundary conditions at two ends of nano-composite rotating pressurized microbeam reinforced by CNTs are considered as simply supported. The governing equations are obtained based on the Hamilton＇s principle and then computed these equations by using Navier＇s solution. The magnetic field is inserted in the thickness direction of the nano-composite microbeam. The effects of various parameters such as angular velocity, temperature changes, and pressure between of the inside and outside, the magnetic field, material length scale parameter, and volume fraction of nanocomposite microbeam on the natural frequency and response systemare studied. The results show that with increasing volume fraction of nano-composite microbeam, thickness, material length scale parameter, and magnetic fields, the natural frequency increases. The results of this research can be used for optimization of micro-structures and manufacturing sensors, displacement fluid, and drug delivery.

Properties of Sensitive Materials Mainly Composed of ZnO

Sensitive materials mainly composed of ZnO and their multi-functional properties were investigated. The temperature extent of linear resistance, non-linear deviation and endurance ability of surge energy were further discussed. The effect of Mg^2+, AI^3+ and Si^4+, which could be solid solutioned in ZnO grain and the function of Y^3+ ion segregated out in grain boundary were studied as well. The function of Ti was analyzed emphatically.

Synthesis and Application of a Zeolite-containing Composite Material Made from Spent FCC Catalyst

Novel composite material with a wide pore distribution was synthesized by an in situ technique using spent FCC catalyst as raw material. The characterization results indicated that the composite material contained 56.7% of zeolite Y and exhibited a much larger specific surface area and pore volume as well as strong hydrothermal stability. Fluid catalytic cracking(FCC) catalyst was prepared based on the composite material. The results indicated that the as-prepared catalyst possessed a unique pore structure that was advantageous to the diffusion-controlled reactions. In addition, the attrition resistance, activity and hydrothermal stability of the studied catalyst were superior to those of the reference catalyst. The catalyst also exhibited excellent nickel and vanadium passivation performance, strong bottoms upgrading selectivity, and better gasoline and coke selectivity. In comparison to the reference catalyst, the yields of the gasoline and light oil increased by 1.61 and 1.31 percentage points, respectively, and the coke yield decreased by 0.22 percentage points, and the olefin content in the produced gasoline reduced by 2.51 percentage points, with the research octane number increased by 0.7 unit.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of ZrO_2-Ni Functionally Gradient Material

The fabrication. microstructure and mechanical properties of ZrO2-Ni functionally gradient materials (FGM ) have been studied. FGM as well as non-FG M of ZrO2-Ni system was developed by powder metallurgical process. X-ray diffractometer (XRD ). electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA), scanning electron microscope (SEM ) and optical microscope were employed to investigate the crystalline phases. chemical composition and microstructure Experimental results demonstrate that the composition and microstructure of ZrO2-Ni FGM have the expected gradient distribution. There are no distinct interfaces in the FGM due to the gradient change of components. that is, the constituents are continuous in microstructure everywhere. Moreover, Vickers hardness and flexural strength were measured for the common composites as a function of composition. It is made clear that the mechanical properties of the FGM vary corresponding to the constitutional changes as well

Influence of the gassing materials on the dielectric properties of air

Influence of the gassing materials, such as PA6, PMMA, and POM on the dielectric properties of air are investigated. In this work, the fundamental electron collision cross section data were carefully selected and validated. Then the species compositions of the air–organic vapor mixtures were calculated based on the Gibbs free energy minimization. Finally, the Townsend ionization coefficient, the Townsend electron attachment coefficient and the critical reduced electric field strength were derived from the calculated electron energy distribution function by solving the Boltzmann transport equation. The calculation results indicated that H;O with large attachment cross sections has a great impact on the critical reduced electric field strength of the air–organic vapor mixtures. On the other hand, the vaporization of gassing materials can help to increase the dielectric properties of air circuit breakers to some degree.