Mobility and dynamic erosion process of granular flow:insights from numerical investigation using material point method

In order to understand the dynamics of granular flow on an erodible base soil,in this paper,a series of material point method-based granular column collapse tests were conducted to investigate numerically the mobility and dynamic erosion process of granular flow subjected to the complex settings,i.e.,the aspect ratio,granular mass,friction and dilatancy resistance,gravity and presence of water.A set of power scaling laws were proposed to describe the final deposit characteristics of granular flow by the relations of the normalized run-out distance and the normalized final height of granular flow against the aspect ratio,being greatly affected by the complex geological settings,e.g.,granular mass,the friction and dilatancy resistance of granular soil,and presence of water in granular flow.An index of the coefficient of friction of granular soil was defined as a ratio of the target coefficient of friction over the initial coefficient of friction to quantify the scaling extent of friction change(i.e.,friction strengthening or weakening).There is a characteristic aspect ratio of granular column corresponding to the maximum mobility of granular flow with the minimum index of the apparent coefficient of friction.The index of the repose coefficient of friction of granular flow decreased gradually with the increase in aspect ratio because higher potential energy of granular column at a larger aspect ratio causes a larger kinetic energy of granular soil to weaken the friction of granular soil as a kind of velocity-related friction weakening.An increase in granular mass reduces gradually the indexes of the apparent and repose coefficients of friction of granular soil to enhance the mobility of granular flow.The mobility of granular flow increases gradually with the decrease in friction angle or increase in dilatancy angle of granular soil.However,the increase of gravity accelerates granular flow but showing the same final deposit profile without any dependence on gravity.The mobility of granular flow increases gradually by lowering the indexes of the apparent and repose coefficients of friction of granular flow while changing the surroundings,in turn,the dry soil,submerged soil and saturated soil,implying a gradually increased excessive mobility of granular flow with the friction weakening of granular soil.Presence of water in granular flow may be a potential catalyzer to yield a long run-out granular flow,as revealed in comparison of water-absent and water-present granular flows.In addition,the dynamic erosion and entrainment of based soil induced by granular flow subjected to the complex geological settings,i.e.,the aspect ratio,granular mass,gravity,friction and dilatancy resistance,and presence of water,were comprehensively investigated as well.

A Transient-Pressure-Based Numerical Approach for Interlayer Identification in Sand Reservoirs

Almost all sandstone reservoirs contain interlayers. The identification and characterization of these interlayers iscritical for minimizing the uncertainty associated with oilfield development and improving oil and gas recovery.Identifying interlayers outside wells using identification methods based on logging data and machine learning isdifficult and seismic-based identification techniques are expensive. Herein, a numerical model based on seepageand well-testing theories is introduced to identify interlayers using transient pressure data. The proposed modelrelies on the open-source MATLAB Reservoir Simulation Toolbox. The effects of the interlayer thickness, position,and width on the pressure response are thoroughly investigated. A procedure for inverting interlayer parametersin the reservoir using the bottom-hole pressure is also proposed. This method uses only transient pressuredata during well testing and can effectively identify the interlayer distribution near the wellbore at an extremelylow cost. The reliability of the model is verified using effective oilfield examples.

Seismic behavior of breakwaters on complex ground by numerical tests:Liquefaction and post liquefaction ground settlements

A large number of breakwaters have been constructed along coasts to protect humans and infrastructures from tsunamis.There is a risk that foundation soils of these structures may liquefy,or partially liquefy during the earthquake preceding a tsunami,which would greatly reduce the structures’capacity to resist the tsunami.It is necessary to consider not only the soil’s liquefaction behavior due to earthquake motions but also its post-liquefaction behavior because this behavior will affect the breakwater’s capacity to resist an incoming tsunami.In this study,numerical tests based on a sophisticated constitutive model and a soil-water coupled finite element method are used to predict the mechanical behavior of breakwaters and the surrounding soils.Two real breakwaters subjected to two different seismic excitations are examined through numerical simulation.The simulation results show that,earthquakes affect not only the immediate behavior of breakwaters and the surrounding soils but also their long-term settlements due to post-earthquake consolidation.A soil profile with thick clayey layers beneath liquefied soil is more vulnerable to tsunami than a soil profile with only sandy layers.Therefore,quantitatively evaluating the seismic behavior of breakwaters and surrounding soils is important for the design of breakwater structures to resist tsunamis.

Generation of 3D random meso-structure of soil-rock mixture and its meso-structural mechanics based on numerical tests

The mesoscopic failure mechanism and the macro-mechanical characteristics of soil-rock mixture(S-RM) under external load are largely controlled by S-RM's meso-structural features. The objective of this work is to improve the three-dimensional technology for the generation of the random meso-structural models of S-RM, for randomly generating irregular rock blocks in S-RM with different shapes, sizes, and distributions according to the characteristics of the rock blocks' size distribution. Based on the new improved technology, a software system named as R-SRM3 D for generation and visualization of S-RM is developed. Using R-SRM3 D, a three-dimensional meso-structural model of S-RM is generated and used to study the meso-mechanical behavior through a series of true-triaxial numerical tests. From the numerical tests, the following conclusions are obtained. The meso-stress field of S-RM is influenced by the distribution of the internal rock blocks, and the macro-mechanical characteristics of S-RM are anisotropic in 3D; the intermediate principal stress and the soil-rock interface properties have significant influence on the macro strength of S-RM.

Sensitivity analysis of relevant parameters in complicated mine ventilation network by numerical test

Depending on the numerical test approach on a computer, the relationships among relevant parameters, eg branch number, node number, mesh number, computation accuracy, preliminary value of airflow rate, iteration number, computation time and convergence in a mine ventilation network analysis, were investigated based on 5 mine ventilation systems. The results show that a higher computation accuracy greatly influences the iteration number. When the accuracy reaches 10-6m3·s-1 for solving a complicated mine ventilation network, the running time is too long though a high-speed computer is used. The preliminary value of airflow rate in the range of 1100m3·s-1 has little effects the iteration number. The structure of network also has some effect on the iteration number.

Numerical test and evaluating method of impact trend of rock-coal system

The impact trend of reck-coal system was studied by the method of accumulating and releasing of deformation energy and interaction of rock-coal system. The system model of roof-coal-floor was established. Based on the RFPA software, rock fracture process analysis system, the numerical test of deformation, fracture and energy transmission of nonlinear and nonhomogeneous rock-coal system, and the numerical test and evaluating method of impact trend of reck-coal system were achieved. When the same coal seam was in different roof and floor conditions, the fracture process of reck-coal system can be classified as gradual, sudden and delayed fracture three kinds, and their impact trend can be classified as void, intense and medium correspondingly. The rock-coal system＇s impact trend is evaluated by the system impact index p and burst expanding forms. The criteria μ are μ〈1.0, 1.0≤μ〈l .5 and μ≥1.5 when the impact trend is void, intense or medium, which are tested and verified by the No.2 and No.4 coal seams in Sun- cun mine.

Numerical test of coastal frontogenesis

A two-dimensional mesoscale model is used to investigate the effect of background wind field andcharacter of the underlying surface on the coastal frontogenesis along the east continental coast when cold air outbreak. The results of numerical experiments indicate that the coastal frontogenesis mainly appears near ground atnight. When the background wind is easterly, it is favorable to coastal frontogenesis in the lower layer of the atmosphere. When the background wind is westerly, it is unfavorable to coastal frontogenesis in the lower layer of theatmosphere. The vertical shear of the background wind has important influence on the coastal frontogenesis. Thecoastal frontogenesis at lower layer at night is strengthened with increasing temperature difference between sea andair. The effect of coastal sloping terrain on the coastal frontogenesis is little when the topography sloping angle islesser.The analysis of the physical mechanism of frontogenesis shows that the main factor influencing the coastalfrontogenesis is the deformation field of horizontal wind speed.

Application of Gaussian Beam Summation Migration in Reflected In-seam Wave Imaging

The geological conditions for coal mining in China are complex,with various structural issues such as faults and collapsed columns seriously compromising the safety of coal mine production.In-seam wave exploration is an effective technique for acquiring detailed information on geological structures in coal seam working faces.However,the existing reflected in-seam wave imaging technique can no longer meet the exploration precision requirements,making it imperative to develop a new reflected in-seam wave imaging technique.This study applies the Gaussian beam summation(GBS)migration method to imaging coal seams'reflected in-seam wave data.Firstly,with regard to the characteristics of the reflected in-seam wave data,methods such as wavefield removal and enveloped superposition are employed for the corresponding wavefield separation,wave train compression and other processing of reflected in-seam waves.Thereafter,imaging is performed using the GBS migration technique.The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method for reflected in-seam wave imaging are validated by conducting GBS migration tests on 3D coal-seam fault models with different dip angles and throws.By applying the method to reflected in-seam wave data for an actual coal seam working face,accurate imaging of a fault structure is obtained,thereby validating its practicality.

Numerical investigation of dual-porosity model with transient transfer function based on discrete-fracture model

Based on the characteristics of fractures in naturally fractured reservoir and a discrete-fracture model, a fracture network numerical well test model is developed. Bottom hole pressure response curves and the pressure field are obtained by solving the model equations with the finite-element method. By analyzing bottom hole pressure curves and the fluid flow in the pressure field, seven flow stages can be recognized on the curves. An upscaling method is developed to compare with the dual-porosity model （DPM）. The comparisons results show that the DPM overestimates the inter-porosity coefficient ）, and the storage factor w. The analysis results show that fracture conductivity plays a leading role in the fluid flow. Matrix permeability influences the beginning time of flow from the matrix to fractures. Fractures density is another important parameter controlling the flow. The fracture linear flow is hidden under the large fracture density. The pressure propagation is slower in the direction of larger fracture density.

Numerical analysis on thermal conductivity of poly-mineral rock

In order to explore the thermal conductivity of the natural poly-mineral rock,numerical tests of rock models with randomly-distributed components were conducted and compared with each other.Elaborately designed Monte Carlo method was adopted to ingratiate the requirement of the random characteristics of grain size and the grains＇spatial distribution.This requirement was fulfilled by clustering the randomly generated unstructured tetrahedral elements in full three dimensions.Natural rocks are consisted of randomly distributed crystal particles or intergranular minerals.Our primary results verify that the thermal conductivity of the rock is strongly sensitive to the ingredients＇ volume fraction and their spatial distribution.Furthermore,we proved that,in order to reduce the measurement error to a reasonable range,the numerical specimen must be large enough or include sufficient number of mineral particles.Our numerical test results are in accordance with a variety of empirical formulas which are currently employed in petrology.

Stability analyses of vertically exposed cemented backfill:A revisit to Mitchell's physical model tests

Mitchell's solution is commonly used to determine the required strength of vertically exposed cemented backfill in mines. Developed for drained backfill, Mitchell model assumed a zero friction angle for the backfill. Physical model tests were performed. Good agreements were obtained between the required strengths predicted by the analytical solution and experimental results. However, it is well-known that zero friction angle can only be possible in terms of total stresses when geomaterials are submitted to unconsolidated and undrained conditions. A revisit to Mitchell's physical model tests reveals that both the laboratory tests performed for obtaining the shear strength parameters of the cemented backfill and the box stability tests were conducted under a condition close to undrained condition. This explains well the good agreement between Mitchell's solution and experimental results. Good agreements are equally obtained between Mitchell's experimental results and FLAC3 D numerical modeling of shortterm stability analyses of exposed cemented backfill.

Numerical verification of similar Cam-clay model based on generalized potential theory

From the mathematical principles, the generalized potential theory can be employed to create constitutive model of geomaterial directly. The similar Cam-clay model, which is created based on the generalized potential theory, has less assumptions,clearer mathematical basis, and better computational accuracy. Theoretically, it is more scientific than the traditional Cam-clay models. The particle flow code PFC3 D was used to make numerical tests to verify the rationality and practicality of the similar Cam-clay model. The verification process was as follows: 1) creating the soil sample for numerical test in PFC3 D, and then simulating the conventional triaxial compression test, isotropic compression test, and isotropic unloading test by PFC3D; 2)determining the parameters of the similar Cam-clay model from the results of above tests; 3) predicting the sample's behavior in triaxial tests under different stress paths by the similar Cam-clay model, and comparing the predicting results with predictions by the Cam-clay model and the modified Cam-clay model. The analysis results show that the similar Cam-clay model has relatively high prediction accuracy, as well as good practical value.

Design and validation of the THMC China-Mock-Up test on buffer material for HLW disposal

According to the preliminary concept of the high-level radioactive waste （HLW） repository in China, a large-scale mock-up facility, named China-Mock-Up was constructed in the laboratory of Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology （BRIUG）. A heater, which simulates a container of radioactive waste, is placed inside the compacted Gaomiaozi （GMZ）-Na-bentonite blocks and pellets. Water inflow through the barrier from its outer surface is used to simulate the intake of groundwater. The numbers of water injection pipes, injection pressure and the insulation layer were determined based on the nu- merical modeling simulations. The current experimental data of the facility are herein analyzed. The experiment is intended to evaluate the thermo-hydro-mechano-chemical （THMC） processes occurring in the compacted bentonite-buffer during the early stage of HLW disposal and to provide a reliable database for numerical modeling and further investigation of engineered barrier system （EBS）, and the design of HLW repository.

Experiment and numerical simulation on the characteristics of fluid–structure interactions of non-rigid airships

Fluid-structure interaction is an important issue for non-rigid airships with inflated envelopes. In this study, a wind tunnel test is conducted, and a loosely coupled procedure is correspondingly established for numerical simulation based on computational fluid dynamics and nonlinear finite element analysis methods. The typical results of the numerical simulation and wind tunnel experiment, including the overall lift and deformation, are in good agreement with each other. The results obtained indicate that the effect of fluid-structure interaction is noticeable and should be considered for non-rigid airships. Flow- induced deformation can further intensify the upward lift force and pitching moment, which can lead to a large deformation. Under a wind speed of 15 m/s, the lift force of the non-rigid model is increased to approximatelv 60% compared with that of the rigid model under a high angle of attack.

A varying time-step explicit numerical inte-gration algorithm for solving motion equa-tion

If a traditional explicit numerical integration algorithm is used to solve motion equation in the finite element simulation of wave motion, the time-step used by numerical integration is the smallest time-step restricted by the stability criterion in computational region. However, the excessively small time-step is usually unnecessary for a large portion of computational region. In this paper, a varying time-step explicit numerical integration algorithm is introduced, and its basic idea is to use different time-step restricted by the stability criterion in different computational region. Finally, the feasibility of the algorithm and its effect on calculating precision are verified by numerical test.

Approach for Obtaining Material Mechanical Properties in Local Region of Structure Based on Accurate Analysis of Micro-indentation Test

The hot or cold processing would induce the change and the inhomogeneous of the material mechanical properties in the local processing region of the structure,and it is difficult to obtain the specific mechanical properties in these regions by using the traditional material tensile test.To accurately get actual material mechanical properties in the local region of structure,a micro-indentation test system incorporated by an electronic universal material test device has been established.An indenter displacement sensor and a group of special micro-indenter assemblies are estab-lished.A numerical indentation inversion analysis method by using ABAQUS software is also proposed in this study.Based on the above test system and analysis platform,an approach to obtaining material mechanical properties in the local region of structures is proposed and established.The ball indentation test is performed and combined with the energy method by using various changed mechanical properties of 316L austenitic stainless steel under differ-ent elongations.The investigated results indicate that the material mechanical properties and the micro-indentation morphological changes have evidently relevance.Compared with the tensile test results,the deviations of material mechanical parameters,such as hardness H,the hardening exponent n,the yield strength σy and others are within 5%obtained through the indentation test and the finite element analysis.It provides an effective and convenient method for obtaining the actual material mechanical properties in the local processing region of the structure.

Experimental Study of Fluorine Transport Rules in Unsaturated Stratified Soil

With the aid of soil column test models,the transport rules of fluorine contaminants in unsaturated stratified soils are discussed. Curves of F-concentrations at different times and sites in the unsaturated stratified soil were ob-tained under conditions of continuous injection of fluoride contaminants and water. Based on the analysis of the actual observation data,the values between computed results and observed data were compared. It is shown that the chemical properties of fluorine ions are active. The migration process of fluorine ions in soils is complex. Because of the effect of adsorption and desorption,the curve of the fluorine ion breakthrough curve is not symmetric. Its concentration peak value at each measuring point gradually decays. The tail of the breakthrough curve is long and the process of leaching and purifying using water requires considerable time. Along with the release of OHˉ in the process of fluorine absorp-tion,the pH value of the soil solution changed from neutral to alkalinity during the test process. The first part of the breakthrough curve fitted better than the second part. The main reason is that fluorine does not always exist in the form of fluorinions in groundwater. Given the long test time,fluorinions possibly react with other ions in the soil solution to form complex water-soluble fluorine compounds. Only the retardation factor and source-sink term have been considered in our numerical model,which may leads to errors of computed values. But as a whole the migration rules of fluorine ions are basically correct,which indicates that the established numerical model can be used to simulate the transport rules of fluorine contaminants in unsaturated stratified soils.

A Fourth-order Covergence Newton-type Method

A fourth-order convergence method of solving roots for nonlinear equation, which is a variant of Newton＇s method given. Its convergence properties is proved. It is at least fourth-order convergence near simple roots and one order convergence near multiple roots. In the end, numerical tests are given and compared with other known Newton and Newton-type methods. The results show that the proposed method has some more advantages than others. It enriches the methods to find the roots of non-linear equations and it is important in both theory and application.

Processing and analysis of transient pressure measurements from permanent down-hole gauges

With permanent down-hole gauges （PDGs） widely installed in oilfields around the world in recent years, a continuous stream of transient pressure data in real time is now available, which motivates a new round of research interests in further developing pressure transient processing and analysis techniques. Transient pressure measurements from PDG are characterized by long term and high volume data. These data are recorded under unconstrained circumstances, so effects due to noise, rate fluctuation and interference from other wells cannot be avoided. These effects make the measured pressure trends decline or rise and then obscure or distort the actual flow behavior, which makes subsequent analysis difficult. In this paper, the problems encountered in analysis of PDG transient pressure are investigated. A newly developed workflow for processing and analyzing PDG transient pressure data is proposed. Numerical well testing synthetic studies are performed to demonstrate these procedures. The results prove that this new technique works well and the potential for practical application looks very promising.

Implementation of a Conservative Two-step Shape-Preserving Advection Scheme on a Spherical Icosahedral Hexagonal Geodesic Grid

An Eulerian flux-form advection scheme, called the Two-step Shape-Preserving Advection Scheme （TSPAS）, was generalized and implemented on a spherical icosahedral hexagonal grid （also referred to as a geodesic grid） to solve the transport equation. The C grid discretization was used for the spatial discretization. To implement TSPAS on an unstructured grid, the original finite-difference scheme was further generalized. The two-step integration utilizes a combination of two separate schemes （a low-order monotone scheme and a high-order scheme that typically cannot ensure monotonicity） to calculate the fluxes at the cell walls （one scheme corresponds to one cell wall）. The choice between these two schemes for each edge depends on a pre-updated scalar value using slightly increased fluxes. After the determination of an appropriate scheme, the final integration at a target cell is achieved by summing the fluxes that are computed by the different schemes. The conservative and shape-preserving properties of the generalized scheme are demonstrated. Numerical experiments are conducted at several horizontal resolutions. TSPAS is compared with the Flux Corrected Transport （FCT） approach to demonstrate the differences between the two methods, and several transport tests are performed to examine the accuracy, efficiency and robustness of the two schemes.