An evaluation of force-based design vs.direct displacement-based design of jointed precast post-tensioned wall systems

The unique features of jointed post-tensioned wall systems, which include minimum structural damage and re-centering capability when subjected to earthquake lateral loads, are the result of using unbonded post-tensioning to attach the walls to the foundation, along with employing energy dissipating shear connectors between the walls. Using acceptance criteria defined in terms of inter-story drift, residual drift, and floor acceleration, this study presents a multiplelevel performance-based seismic evaluation of two five-story unbonded post-tensioned jointed precast wall systems. The design and analysis of these two wall systems, established as the direct displacement-based and force-based solutions for a prototype building used in the PREcast Seismic Structural Systems （PRESSS） program, were performed at 60% scale so that the analysis model could be validated using the PRESSS test data. Both buildings satisfied the performance criteria at four levels of earthquake motions although the design base shear of the direct displacement-based jointed wall system was 50% of that demanded by the force-based design method. The study also investigated the feasibility of controlling the maximum transient inter-story drift in a jointed wall system by increasing the number of energy dissipating shear connectors between the walls but without significantly affecting its re-centering capability.

Rock engineering design of post-tensioned anchors for dams - A review

High-capacity, post-tensioned anchors have found wide-spread use, originally in initial dam design and construction, and more recently in the strengthening and rehabilitation of concrete dams to meet modern design and safety standards. Despite the advances that have been made in rock mechanics and rock engineering during the last 80 years in which post-tensioned anchors have been used in dam en- gineering, some aspects of the rock engineering design of high-capacity rock anchors for dams have changed relatively little over the last 30 or 40 years. This applies, in particular, to the calculations usually carried out to establish the grouted embedment lengths required for deep, post-tensioned anchors. These calculations usually make simplified assumptions about the distribution and values of rock-grout interface shear strengths, the shape of the volume of rock likely to be involved in uplift failure under the influence of a system of post-tensioned anchors, and the mechanism of that failure. The resulting designs are generally conservative. It is concluded that these aspects of the rock engineering design of large, post- tensioned rock anchors for dams can be significantly improved by making greater use of modern, comprehensive, numerical analyses in conjunction with three-dimensional （3D） models of the rock mass structure, realistic rock and rock mass properties, and the results of prototype anchor tests in the rock mass concerned.

Effect of insufficient tunnel crown thickness on the post-tensioned concrete lining of the Yellow River Crossing Tunnel and its strengthening schemes

The effect of deficiency in tunnel crown thickness on the Yellow River Crossing Tunnel with post-tensioned concrete inner lining was investigated by the elasto-plastic finite element method. Changes in the deformations and circumferential stresses of the post-tensioned concrete inner lining with the gradual decrease of the tunnel crown thickness were compared, and the potential bearing risk of insufficient tunnel crown thickness for the Yellow River Crossing Tunnel was revealed. Based on the finite element calculation results of circumferential stresses under different defective cases, the corresponding reinforcement schemes were proposed. The calculation results show that the inner lining can still maintain a satisfactory stress state when the tunnel crown thickness is equal to or greater than 0. 28 m. When the tunnel crown thickness decreases below 0.28 m, the external surface of the crown and internal surface of the crown＇s adjacent areas may be under tension. The tension stresses will incrementally increase and ultimately exceed the tensile strength of the inner lining concrete as the tunnel crown thickness further decreases gradually. Then, the Yellow River Crossing Tunnel cannot operate normally, and severe cracking, leaking or even failure may occur. When the tunnel crown thickness is equal to or greater than 0.28 m, the reinforcement suggestions are that the void spaces between the inner lining and the outer lining should be back-filled with concrete. When the tunnel crown thickness is less than 0. 28 m, the inner lining should be reinforced by steel plates after concrete back-filling.

Numerical study of a multiple post-tensioned rocking wall-frame system for seismic resilient precast concrete buildings

A multiple rocking wall-frame(MRWF)system,in which the wall panels are directly connected to the adjacent beams and foundation is presented herein.In the MRWF system,the unbonded post-tensioned(PT)tendons are used to promote the self-centering ability,and O-shaped steel dampers are applied to enhance the energy dissipation capacity and reparability of the structure.First,analytical equations are proposed to determine the behavior of the O-shaped dampers.Then,the MRWF system is numerically evaluated for five different models consisting of rocking walls with varying numbers and arrangements while keeping the total effective width of wall panels constant.The numerical results show that with an increase in the number of wall panels and a decrease in the wall width,the hysteretic behavior of the MRWF system tends to the ideal flag-shaped pattern,resulting in little damage to the beams,insignificant strain in the wall toe,negligible residual drifts and damage index of less than 0.2 under severe earthquakes.In contrast,the conventional model demonstrates extensive damage to the structural elements due to undesirable wall-to-frame interaction,which leads to a damage index of 0.78 and residual drifts of 0.42%under seismic loads.

Stresses induced by post-tensioned anchor in jointed rock mass

A new analytical study on stresses around a post-tensioned anchor in rocks with two perpendicular joint sets is presented. The assumptions of orthotropic elastic rock with plane strain conditions are made in derivation of the formulations. A tri-linear bond-slip constitutive law is used for modeling the tendon-grout interface behavior and debonding of this interface. The bearing plate width is also considered in the analysis. The obtained solutions are in the integral forms and numerical techniques that have been used for evaluation. In the illustrative example given, the major principal stress is compressive in the anchor free zone and compressive stress concentrations of 815 k Pa and 727 k Pa(for the anchor load of 300 k N) are observed under the bearing plate and the bond length proximal end, respectively. However, large values of tensile stresses with the maximum of-434 k Pa are formed at the bond length distal end. The results obtained using the proposed solution are compared very those of numerical method(FEM).

A Review on Sources,Extractions and Analysis Methods of a Sustainable Biomaterial:Tannins

Condensed and hydrolysable tannins are non-toxic natural polyphenols that are a commercial commodity industrialized for tanning hides to obtain leather and for a growing number of other industrial applications mainly to substitute petroleum-based products.They are a definite class of sustainable materials of the forestry industry.They have been in operation for hundreds of years to manufacture leather and now for a growing number of applications in a variety of other industries,such as wood adhesives,metal coating,pharmaceutical/medical applications and several others.This review presents the main sources,either already or potentially commercial of this forestry by-materials,their industrial and laboratory extraction systems,their systems of analysis with their advantages and drawbacks,be these methods so simple to even appear primitive but nonetheless of proven effectiveness,or very modern and instrumental.It constitutes a basic but essential summary of what is necessary to know of these sustainable materials.In doing so,the review highlights some of the main challenges that remain to be addressed to deliver the quality and economics of tannin supply necessary to fulfill the industrial production requirements for some materials-based uses.

Unanticipated Bond Failure over Supporting Band Beams in Grouted Post-Tensioned Slab Tendons with Little or No Initial Prestress

After grouting the ducts in a large band beam and one-way slab post-tensioned floor system in a large shopping mall （in excess of 1.5 km2 in plan）, doubts arose concerning the level of initial prestress and the strength and serviceability of the slabs was questioned. To assess the strength of the slabs, it was assumed, as a worst case scenario, that some spans may have been constructed with zero initial prestress. Load tests on prototype specimens, with similar dimensions and reinforcement quantities as the floor slabs, were performed to assess the stress development in initially unstressed, but fully grouted, tendons. Unexpected bond failures occurred at the junctions of slab and band beam where the abrupt change in section depth caused a sudden change in tendon stress. The maximum stress that was developed in the initially unstressed tendons at these locations was about 60% of the strength of the tendons.

Drilling-based measuring method for the c-φ parameter of rock and its field application

The technology of drilling tests makes it possible to obtain the strength parameter of rock accurately in situ. In this paper, a new rock cutting analysis model that considers the influence of the rock crushing zone(RCZ) is built. The formula for an ultimate cutting force is established based on the limit equilibrium principle. The relationship between digital drilling parameters(DDP) and the c-φ parameter(DDP-cφ formula, where c refers to the cohesion and φ refers to the internal friction angle) is derived, and the response of drilling parameters and cutting ratio to the strength parameters is analyzed. The drillingbased measuring method for the c-φ parameter of rock is constructed. The laboratory verification test is then completed, and the difference in results between the drilling test and the compression test is less than 6%. On this basis, in-situ rock drilling tests in a traffic tunnel and a coal mine roadway are carried out, and the strength parameters of the surrounding rock are effectively tested. The average difference ratio of the results is less than 11%, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method for obtaining the strength parameters based on digital drilling. This study provides methodological support for field testing of rock strength parameters.

A comparison study on structure-function relationship of polysaccharides obtained from sea buckthorn berries using different methods:antioxidant and bile acid-binding capacity

In this study,the structural characters,antioxidant activities and bile acid-binding ability of sea buckthorn polysaccharides(HRPs)obtained by the commonly used hot water(HRP-W),pressurized hot water(HRP-H),ultrasonic(HRP-U),acid(HRP-C)and alkali(HRP-A)assisted extraction methods were investigated.The results demonstrated that extraction methods had significant effects on extraction yield,monosaccharide composition,molecular weight,particle size,triple-helical structure,and surface morphology of HRPs except for the major linkage bands.Thermogravimetric analysis showed that HRP-U with filamentous reticular microstructure exhibited better thermal stability.The HRP-A with the lowest molecular weight and highest arabinose content possessed the best antioxidant activities.Moreover,the rheological analysis indicated that HRPs with higher galacturonic acid content and molecular weight showed higher viscosity and stronger crosslinking network(HRP-C,HRP-W and HRP-U),which exhibited stronger bile acid binding capacity.The present findings provide scientific evidence in the preparation technology of sea buckthorn polysaccharides with good antioxidant and bile acid binding capacity which are related to the structure affected by the extraction methods.

Material point method simulation of hydro-mechanical behaviour in twophase porous geomaterials: A state-of-the-art review

The material point method(MPM)has been gaining increasing popularity as an appropriate approach to the solution of coupled hydro-mechanical problems involving large deformation.In this paper,we survey the current state-of-the-art in the MPM simulation of hydro-mechanical behaviour in two-phase porous geomaterials.The review covers the recent advances and developments in the MPM and their extensions to capture the coupled hydro-mechanical problems involving large deformations.The focus of this review is aiming at providing a clear picture of what has or has not been developed or implemented for simulating two-phase coupled large deformation problems,which will provide some direct reference for both practitioners and researchers.

Deciphering gastric inflammation-induced tumorigenesis through multi-omics data and AI methods

Gastric cancer(GC), the fifth most common cancer globally, remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Inflammation-induced tumorigenesis is the predominant process in GC development;therefore, systematic research in this area should improve understanding of the biological mechanisms that initiate GC development and promote cancer hallmarks. Here, we summarize biological knowledge regarding gastric inflammation-induced tumorigenesis, and characterize the multi-omics data and systems biology methods for investigating GC development. Of note, we highlight pioneering studies in multi-omics data and state-of-the-art network-based algorithms used for dissecting the features of gastric inflammation-induced tumorigenesis, and we propose translational applications in early GC warning biomarkers and precise treatment strategies. This review offers integrative insights for GC research, with the goal of paving the way to novel paradigms for GC precision oncology and prevention.

Volumetric lattice Boltzmann method for pore-scale mass diffusionadvection process in geopolymer porous structures

Porous materials present significant advantages for absorbing radioactive isotopes in nuclear waste streams.To improve absorption efficiency in nuclear waste treatment,a thorough understanding of the diffusion-advection process within porous structures is essential for material design.In this study,we present advancements in the volumetric lattice Boltzmann method(VLBM)for modeling and simulating pore-scale diffusion-advection of radioactive isotopes within geopolymer porous structures.These structures are created using the phase field method(PFM)to precisely control pore architectures.In our VLBM approach,we introduce a concentration field of an isotope seamlessly coupled with the velocity field and solve it by the time evolution of its particle population function.To address the computational intensity inherent in the coupled lattice Boltzmann equations for velocity and concentration fields,we implement graphics processing unit(GPU)parallelization.Validation of the developed model involves examining the flow and diffusion fields in porous structures.Remarkably,good agreement is observed for both the velocity field from VLBM and multiphysics object-oriented simulation environment(MOOSE),and the concentration field from VLBM and the finite difference method(FDM).Furthermore,we investigate the effects of background flow,species diffusivity,and porosity on the diffusion-advection behavior by varying the background flow velocity,diffusion coefficient,and pore volume fraction,respectively.Notably,all three parameters exert an influence on the diffusion-advection process.Increased background flow and diffusivity markedly accelerate the process due to increased advection intensity and enhanced diffusion capability,respectively.Conversely,increasing the porosity has a less significant effect,causing a slight slowdown of the diffusion-advection process due to the expanded pore volume.This comprehensive parametric study provides valuable insights into the kinetics of isotope uptake in porous structures,facilitating the development of porous materials for nuclear waste treatment applications.

Uncertainties of landslide susceptibility prediction: Influences of random errors in landslide conditioning factors and errors reduction by low pass filter method

In the existing landslide susceptibility prediction(LSP)models,the influences of random errors in landslide conditioning factors on LSP are not considered,instead the original conditioning factors are directly taken as the model inputs,which brings uncertainties to LSP results.This study aims to reveal the influence rules of the different proportional random errors in conditioning factors on the LSP un-certainties,and further explore a method which can effectively reduce the random errors in conditioning factors.The original conditioning factors are firstly used to construct original factors-based LSP models,and then different random errors of 5%,10%,15% and 20%are added to these original factors for con-structing relevant errors-based LSP models.Secondly,low-pass filter-based LSP models are constructed by eliminating the random errors using low-pass filter method.Thirdly,the Ruijin County of China with 370 landslides and 16 conditioning factors are used as study case.Three typical machine learning models,i.e.multilayer perceptron(MLP),support vector machine(SVM)and random forest(RF),are selected as LSP models.Finally,the LSP uncertainties are discussed and results show that:(1)The low-pass filter can effectively reduce the random errors in conditioning factors to decrease the LSP uncertainties.(2)With the proportions of random errors increasing from 5%to 20%,the LSP uncertainty increases continuously.(3)The original factors-based models are feasible for LSP in the absence of more accurate conditioning factors.(4)The influence degrees of two uncertainty issues,machine learning models and different proportions of random errors,on the LSP modeling are large and basically the same.(5)The Shapley values effectively explain the internal mechanism of machine learning model predicting landslide sus-ceptibility.In conclusion,greater proportion of random errors in conditioning factors results in higher LSP uncertainty,and low-pass filter can effectively reduce these random errors.

Sparse Modal Decomposition Method Addressing Underdetermined Vortex-Induced Vibration Reconstruction Problem for Marine Risers

When investigating the vortex-induced vibration(VIV)of marine risers,extrapolating the dynamic response on the entire length based on limited sensor measurements is a crucial step in both laboratory experiments and fatigue monitoring of real risers.The problem is conventionally solved using the modal decomposition method,based on the principle that the response can be approximated by a weighted sum of limited vibration modes.However,the method is not valid when the problem is underdetermined,i.e.,the number of unknown mode weights is more than the number of known measurements.This study proposed a sparse modal decomposition method based on the compressed sensing theory and the Compressive Sampling Matching Pursuit(Co Sa MP)algorithm,exploiting the sparsity of VIV in the modal space.In the validation study based on high-order VIV experiment data,the proposed method successfully reconstructed the response using only seven acceleration measurements when the conventional methods failed.A primary advantage of the proposed method is that it offers a completely data-driven approach for the underdetermined VIV reconstruction problem,which is more favorable than existing model-dependent solutions for many practical applications such as riser structural health monitoring.

Numerical manifold method for thermo-mechanical coupling simulation of fractured rock mass

As a calculation method based on the Galerkin variation,the numerical manifold method(NMM)adopts a double covering system,which can easily deal with discontinuous deformation problems and has a high calculation accuracy.Aiming at the thermo-mechanical(TM)coupling problem of fractured rock masses,this study uses the NMM to simulate the processes of crack initiation and propagation in a rock mass under the influence of temperature field,deduces related system equations,and proposes a penalty function method to deal with boundary conditions.Numerical examples are employed to confirm the effectiveness and high accuracy of this method.By the thermal stress analysis of a thick-walled cylinder(TWC),the simulation of cracking in the TWC under heating and cooling conditions,and the simulation of thermal cracking of the SwedishÄspöPillar Stability Experiment(APSE)rock column,the thermal stress,and TM coupling are obtained.The numerical simulation results are in good agreement with the test data and other numerical results,thus verifying the effectiveness of the NMM in dealing with thermal stress and crack propagation problems of fractured rock masses.

A stable implicit nodal integration-based particle finite element method(N-PFEM)for modelling saturated soil dynamics

In this study,we present a novel nodal integration-based particle finite element method(N-PFEM)designed for the dynamic analysis of saturated soils.Our approach incorporates the nodal integration technique into a generalised Hellinger-Reissner(HR)variational principle,creating an implicit PFEM formulation.To mitigate the volumetric locking issue in low-order elements,we employ a node-based strain smoothing technique.By discretising field variables at the centre of smoothing cells,we achieve nodal integration over cells,eliminating the need for sophisticated mapping operations after re-meshing in the PFEM.We express the discretised governing equations as a min-max optimisation problem,which is further reformulated as a standard second-order cone programming(SOCP)problem.Stresses,pore water pressure,and displacements are simultaneously determined using the advanced primal-dual interior point method.Consequently,our numerical model offers improved accuracy for stresses and pore water pressure compared to the displacement-based PFEM formulation.Numerical experiments demonstrate that the N-PFEM efficiently captures both transient and long-term hydro-mechanical behaviour of saturated soils with high accuracy,obviating the need for stabilisation or regularisation techniques commonly employed in other nodal integration-based PFEM approaches.This work holds significant implications for the development of robust and accurate numerical tools for studying saturated soil dynamics.

An inverse analysis of fluid flow through granular media using differentiable lattice Boltzmann method

This study presents a method for the inverse analysis of fluid flow problems.The focus is put on accurately determining boundary conditions and characterizing the physical properties of granular media,such as permeability,and fluid components,like viscosity.The primary aim is to deduce either constant pressure head or pressure profiles,given the known velocity field at a steady-state flow through a conduit containing obstacles,including walls,spheres,and grains.The lattice Boltzmann method(LBM)combined with automatic differentiation(AD)(AD-LBM)is employed,with the help of the GPU-capable Taichi programming language.A lightweight tape is used to generate gradients for the entire LBM simulation,enabling end-to-end backpropagation.Our AD-LBM approach accurately estimates the boundary conditions for complex flow paths in porous media,leading to observed steady-state velocity fields and deriving macro-scale permeability and fluid viscosity.The method demonstrates significant advantages in terms of prediction accuracy and computational efficiency,making it a powerful tool for solving inverse fluid flow problems in various applications.

Robustness Study and Superior Method Development and Validation for Analytical Assay Method of Atropine Sulfate in Pharmaceutical Ophthalmic Solution

Background: The robustness is a measurement of an analytical chemical method and its ability to contain unaffected by little with deliberate variation of analytical chemical method parameters. The analytical chemical method variation parameters are based on pH variability of buffer solution of mobile phase, organic ratio composition changes, stationary phase (column) manufacture, brand name and lot number variation;flow rate variation and temperature variation of chromatographic system. The analytical chemical method for assay of Atropine Sulfate conducted for robustness evaluation. The typical variation considered for mobile phase organic ratio change, change of pH, change of temperature, change of flow rate, change of column etc. Purpose: The aim of this study is to develop a cost effective, short run time and robust analytical chemical method for the assay quantification of Atropine in Pharmaceutical Ophthalmic Solution. This will help to make analytical decisions quickly for research and development scientists as well as will help with quality control product release for patient consumption. This analytical method will help to meet the market demand through quick quality control test of Atropine Ophthalmic Solution and it is very easy for maintaining (GDP) good documentation practices within the shortest period of time. Method: HPLC method has been selected for developing superior method to Compendial method. Both the compendial HPLC method and developed HPLC method was run into the same HPLC system to prove the superiority of developed method. Sensitivity, precision, reproducibility, accuracy parameters were considered for superiority of method. Mobile phase ratio change, pH of buffer solution, change of stationary phase temperature, change of flow rate and change of column were taken into consideration for robustness study of the developed method. Results: The limit of quantitation (LOQ) of developed method was much low than the compendial method. The % RSD for the six sample assay of developed method was 0.4% where the % RSD of the compendial method was 1.2%. The reproducibility between two analysts was 100.4% for developed method on the contrary the compendial method was 98.4%.

Cascading multi-segment rupture process of the 2023 Turkish earthquake doublet on a complex fault system revealed by teleseismic P wave back projection method

In this study,the vertical components of broadband teleseismic P wave data recorded by China Earthquake Network are used to image the rupture processes of the February 6th,2023 Turkish earthquake doublet via back projection analysis.Data in two frequency bands(0.5-2 Hz and 1-3 Hz)are used in the imaging processes.The results show that the rupture of the first event extends about 200 km to the northeast and about 150 km to the southwest,lasting~90 s in total.The southwestern rupture is triggered by the northeastern rupture,demonstrating a sequential bidirectional unilateral rupture pattern.The rupture of the second event extends approximately 80 km in both northeast and west directions,lasting~35 s in total and demonstrates a typical bilateral rupture feature.The cascading ruptures on both sides also reflect the occurrence of selective rupture behaviors on bifurcated faults.In addition,we observe super-shear ruptures on certain fault sections with relatively straight fault structures and sparse aftershocks.

Hybrid Strategy of Partitioned and Monolithic Methods for Solving Strongly Coupled Analysis of Inverse and Direct Piezoelectric and Circuit Coupling

The inverse and direct piezoelectric and circuit coupling are widely observed in advanced electro-mechanical systems such as piezoelectric energy harvesters.Existing strongly coupled analysis methods based on direct numerical modeling for this phenomenon can be classified into partitioned or monolithic formulations.Each formulation has its advantages and disadvantages,and the choice depends on the characteristics of each coupled problem.This study proposes a new option:a coupled analysis strategy that combines the best features of the existing formulations,namely,the hybrid partitioned-monolithic method.The analysis of inverse piezoelectricity and the monolithic analysis of direct piezoelectric and circuit interaction are strongly coupled using a partitioned iterative hierarchical algorithm.In a typical benchmark problem of a piezoelectric energy harvester,this research compares the results from the proposed method to those from the conventional strongly coupled partitioned iterative method,discussing the accuracy,stability,and computational cost.The proposed hybrid concept is effective for coupled multi-physics problems,including various coupling conditions.