Assessing cutter-rock interaction during TBM tunnelling in granite:Large-scale standing rotary cutting tests and 3D DEM simulations

The widespread utilisation of tunnel boring machines(TBMs)in underground construction engineering requires a detailed investigation of the cutter-rock interaction.In this paper,we conduct a series of largescale standing rotary cutting tests on granite in conjunction with high-fidelity numerical simulations based on a particle-type discrete element method(DEM)to explore the effects of key cutting parameters on the TBM cutter performance and the distribution of cutter-rock contact stresses.The assessment results of cutter performance obtained from the cutting tests and numerical simulations reveal similar dependencies on the key cutting parameters.More specifically,the normal and rolling forces exhibit a positive correlation with penetration but are slightly influenced by the cutting radius.In contrast,the side force decreases as the cutting radius increases.Additionally,the side force shows a positive relationship with the penetration for smaller cutting radii but tends to become negative as the cutting radius increases.The cutter's relative effectiveness in rock breaking is significantly impacted by the penetration but shows little dependency on the cutting radius.Consequently,an optimal penetration is identified,leading to a low boreability index and specific energy.A combined Hertz-Weibull function is developed to fit the cutter-rock contact stress distribution obtained in DEM simulations,whereby an improved CSM(Colorado School of Mines)model is proposed by replacing the original monotonic cutting force distribution with this combined Hertz-Weibull model.The proposed model outperforms the original CSM model as demonstrated by a comparison of the estimated cutting forces with those from the tests/simulations.The findings from this work that advance our understanding of TBM cutter performance have important implications for improving the efficiency and reliability of TBM tunnelling in granite.

Amylase intrapancreatic infusion delays insulin release during an intravenous glucose tolerance test,proof of acini–islet–acinar interactions

BACKGROUND The possible existence of an acini–islet–acinar(AIA)reflex,involving mutual amylase and insulin interactions,was investigated in the current acute experiment on pigs.AIM To confirm the existence of an AIA reflex and justify the placement of the exocrine and endocrine pancreatic components within the same organ.METHODS The study was performed on six pigs under general anesthesia.An intravenous glucose tolerance test was performed,with a bolus infusion of 50%glucose to the jugular vein,while amylase(5000 U/kg)or vehicle intrapancreatic infusions were administered via the pancreaticoduodenalis cranialis artery during 30 min with a 1 mL/min flow rate.RESULTS The amylase infusion to pancreatic arterial circulation inhibited and delayed the insulin release peak which is usually associated with the highest value of blood glucose and is typically observed at 15 min after glucose infusion,for>1 h.The intrapancreatic infusion of the vehicle(saline)did not have any effect on the time frame of insulin release.Infusion of 1%bovine serum albumin changed the insulin release curve dramatically and prolonged the high range of insulin secretion,far beyond the glucose peak.CONCLUSION Intrapancreatic arterial infusion of amylase interrupted the integrated glucose–insulin interactions.This confirms an AIA reflex and justifies placement of the exocrine and endocrine pancreatic components within the same organ.

Shake table test of soil-pile groups-bridge structure interaction in liquefiable ground

This paper describes a shake table test study on the seismic response of low-cap pile groups and a bridge structure in liquefiable ground. The soil profile, contained in a large-scale laminar shear box, consisted of a horizontally saturated sand layer overlaid with a silty clay layer, with the simulated low-cap pile groups embedded. The container was excited in three E1 Centro earthquake events of different levels. Test results indicate that excessive pore pressure （EPP） during slight shaking only slightly accumulated, and the accumulation mainly occurred during strong shaking. The EPP was gradually enhanced as the amplitude and duration of the input acceleration increased. The acceleration response of the sand was remarkably influenced by soil liquefaction. As soil liquefaction occurred, the peak sand displacement gradually lagged behind the input acceleration; meanwhile, the sand displacement exhibited an increasing effect on the bending moment of the pile, and acceleration responses of the pile and the sand layer gradually changed from decreasing to increasing in the vertical direction from the bottom to the top. A jump variation of the bending moment on the pile was observed near the soil interface in all three input earthquake events. It is thought that the shake table tests could provide the groundwork for further seismic performance studies of low-cap pile groups used in bridges located on liquefiable groun.

Study on soil-pile-structure-TMD interaction system by shaking table model test

The success of the tuned mass damper (TMD) in reducing wind-induced structural vibrations has been well established. However, from most of the recent numerical studies, it appears that for a structure situated on very soft soil, soil-structure interaction (SSI) could render a damper on the structure totally ineffective. In order to experimentally verify the SSI effect on the seismic performance of TMD, a series of shaking table model tests have been conducted and the results are presented in this paper. It has been shown that the TMD is not as effective in controlling the seismic responses of structures built on soft soil sites due to the SSI effect. Some test results also show that a TMD device might have a negative impact if the SSI effect is neglected and the structure is built on a soft soil site. For structures constructed on a soil foundation, this research verifies that the SSI effect must be carefully understood before a TMD control system is designed to determine if the control is necessary and if the SSI effect must be considered when choosing the optimal parameters of the TMD device.

Test of subcritical crack growth and fracture toughness under water-rock interaction in three types of rocks

The subcritical crack growth and fracture toughness in peridotite, lherzolite and amphibolite were investigated with double torsion test. The results show that water-rock interaction has a significant influence on subcritical crack growth. With water-rock interaction, the crack velocity increases, while the stress intensity factor declines, which illustrates that water-rock interaction can decrease the strength of rocks and accelerate the subcritical crack growth. Based on Charlse theory and Hilling & Charlse theory, the test data were analyzed by regression and the correlation coefficients were all higher than 0.7, which shows the correlation is significant. This illustrates that both theories can explain the results of tests very well. Therefore, it is believed that the subcritical crack growth attributes to the breaking of chemical bond, which is caused by the combined effect of the tensile stress and the chemical reaction between the material at crack tip and the corrosive agent. Meanwhile, water-rock interaction has a vital effect on fracture toughness. The fracture toughness of samples under atmospheric environment is higher than that of samples immersed in water. And water-rock interaction has larger influence on fracture toughness in amphibolite than that in peridotite and lherzolite.

Effect of the sloping seabed on 3D soil-spudcan interaction using a material point-finite element(MPM-FEM)model

The sloping seabed affects the bearing capacity and failure mechanism of soil,which may compromise the stability and safety of offshore structures such as jack-up platforms.This paper employs a coupled model combining the material point method and finite element method(MPM-FEM)to analyze the impact of sloping seabeds on the three-dimensional soil-spudcan interaction.The MPM-FEM model implements the B¯approach to solve the challenge of volumetric locking due to the incompressibility constraints imposed by yield criterion.It is validated against the centrifuge results.The effects of sloping seabeds on penetration resistance,soil flow pattern,lateral response,stress distribution,and failure mechanism are discussed.The soil mainly undergoes overall failure when the ratio of penetration depth to spudcan diameter(i.e.D P/D)is between 0 and 0.25.As the slope angle increases,the soil on the side of lower slope is expelled further,resulting in an asymmetric stress distribution and a larger horizontal sliding force of soil.When D P/D increases to 0.75,the soil transitions to localized plastic flow failure,and the range of soil flow affected by the spudcan penetration decreases.The results show that,when the slope angle increases,the lateral displacement and stress distribution on the lower slope of a sloping seabed is significantly larger than that of a horizontal seabed,impacting the spudcan and surrounding soil behavior.The study suggests that the seabed slope significantly affects the range of soil flow and failure at shallow penetration,indicating that the slope angle should be taken into account in the design and installation of offshore jack-up rigs,particularly in areas with sloping seabeds.

Uncertainty Analysis for Ship-Bank Interaction Tests in A Circulating Water Channel

This paper presents a systematic model test program to assess the uncertainty of the ship-bank interaction forces,using the planar motion mechanism(PMM)system in a circulating water channel(CWC).Therefore,the uncertainties due to ship-bank distance and water depth are considered,and they are calculated via the partial differentials of the regression formulae based on the test data.The general part of the uncertainty analysis(UA)is performed according to the ITTC recommended procedure 7.5-02-06.04,while the uncertainty of speed is identified as the bias limit due to the flow velocity maldistribution in the CWC.In each example test for the UA of ship-bank interaction forces,12 repeated measurements were conducted.Results from the UA show that the contribution of water depth error and flow velocity maldistribution to the total uncertainty is noticeable,and the paper explains how they increase with the change of the test conditions.The present study will be useful in understanding the uncertainty regarding the ship-bank interaction force measurement in a CWC.

Test particle simulations of resonant interactions between energetic electrons and discrete, multi-frequency artificial whistler waves in the plasmasphere

Modulated high frequency （HF） heating of the ionosphere provides a feasible means of artificially generating ex- tremely low frequency （ELF）/very low frequency （VLF） whistler waves, which can leak into the inner magnetosphere and contribute to resonant interactions with high energy electrons. Combining the ray tracing method and test particle simulations, we evaluate the effects of energetic electron resonant scattering driven by the discrete, multi-frequency arti- ficially generated ELF/VLF waves. The simulation results indicate a stochastic behavior of electrons and a linear profile of pitch angle and kinetic energy variations averaged over all test electrons. These features are similar to those associated with single-frequency waves. The computed local diffusion coefficients show that, although the momentum diffusion of relativistic electrons due to artificial ELF/VLF whistlers with a nominal amplitude of ~ 1 pT is minor, the pitch angle scattering can be notably efficient at low pitch angles near the loss cone, which supports the feasibility of artificial triggering of multi-frequency ELF/VLF whistler waves for the removal of high energy electrons from the magnetosphere. We also investigate the dependences of diffusion coefficients on the frequency interval （△f） of the discrete, multi-frequency waves. We find that there is a threshold value of Af for which the net diffusion coefficient of multi-frequency whistlers is inversely proportional to △f （proportional to the frequency components Nw） when △f is below the threshold value but it remains unchanged with increasing Af when △f is larger than the threshold value. This is explained as being due to the fact that the resonant scattering effect of broadband waves is the sum of the effects of each frequency in the ＇effective frequency band＇. Our results suggest that the modulation frequency of HF heating of the ionosphere can be appropriately selected with reasonable frequency intervals so that better performance of controlled precipitation of high energy electrons in the plasmasphere by artificial ELF/VLF whistler waves can be achieved.

Spin-Spin Interactions in Gauge Theory of Gravity, Violation of Weak Equivalence Principle and New Classical Test of General Relativity

For a long time, it has been generally believed that spin-spin interactions can only exist in a theory where Lorentz symmetry is gauged, and a theory with spin-spin interactions is not perturbatively renormalizable. But this is not true. By studying the motion of a spinning particle in gravitational field, it is found that there exist spin-spin interactions in gauge theory of gravity. Its mechanism is that a spinning particle will generate gravitomagnetic field in space-time, and this gravitomagnetic field will interact with the spin of another particle, which will cause spin-spin interactions. So, spin-spin interactions are transmitted by gravitational field. The form of spin-spin interactions in post Newtonian approximations is deduced. This result can also be deduced from the Papapetrou equation. This kind of interaction will not affect the renormalizability of the theory. The spin-spin interactions will violate the weak equivalence principle, and the violation effects are detectable. An experiment is proposed to detect the effects of the violation of the weak equivalence principle.

Cyclic testing of moment-shear force interaction in reinforced concrete shear wall substructures

Previous quasi-static cyclic tests of shear walls,which routinely used an incremental lateral displacement test protocol with a constant axial load,failed to reflect the character of moment-shear force interaction of prototype buildings.To study the effect of the moment-shear force interaction on the seismic performance of shear walls,three identical 2-story shear wall specimens with different loading patterns were constructed at 1/2 scale,to represent the lower portion of an 11-story high-rise building,and were tested under reversed cyclic loads.The axial force,shear force and bending moment were simultaneously applied to simulate the effects of gravity loads and earthquake excitations on the prototype.The axial force and bending moment delivered from the upper structure were applied to the top of the specimens by two vertical actuators,and the shear force was applied to the specimens by two horizontal actuators.A mixed force-displacement control test program was adopted to ensure that the bending moment and the lateral shear were increased proportionally.The experimental results show that the moment-shear force interaction had a significant effect on the failure pattern,hysteretic characteristics,ductility and energy dissipation of the specimens.It is recommended that moment-shear force interaction should be considered in the loading condition of RC shear wall substructures cyclic tests.

Simulation analysis for O-cell test of pile and the interaction of upper pile and lower pile

In this paper,the soil-pile system of O-cell test of pile is simplified as an axi-symmetric problem.By using aggregation of quadrilateral isoparametric elements to simulate pile and soil,setting Goodman's elements between pile and soils,a method of numerical simulation analysis on O-cell test of pile is presented with the consideration of nonlinear mechanical behavior of soils and pile-soil interface.The method is applied to the analysis of a case of O-cell test of pile.The load-displacement curves and axial force curves of upper pile and lower pile obtained from the O-cell test of pile are fitted,and parameters of the mechanical model of soils and interface are determined.Analysis results validate that the numerical simulation analysis method put forward in this paper is applicable.Furthermore,the interaction and influence of upper pile and lower pile in the O-cell test are also studied with the method.The result shows that if load box is located in a soil layer with fine mechanical behavior,the interaction of upper pile and lower pile in O-cell test can be ignored generally.

Transmission Based Conditional Logistic Model for Testing Main and Interaction Effects

Transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) is a popular family based genetic association method. Under multiplicative assumption, a conditional logistic regression for matched pair, affected offspring with allele transmitted from parents and pseudo-offspring (control) with allele non-transmitted from parents, was built to detect the main effects of genes and gene-covariate interactions. When there exist genotype uncertainties, expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm was adopted to estimate the coefficients. The transmission model was applied to detect the association between M235T polymorphism in AGT gene and essential hypertension (ESH). Most of parents are not available in the 126 families from HongKong Chinese population. The results showed M235T is associated with hypertension and there is interaction between M235T and the case’s sex. The allele T is higher risk for male than female.

Accounting for interaction in language test validation:Applying the competition-mediation-moderation(CMM)approach to enhance the transparency of test score interpretation

Interaction in language ability refers to the exchange of information across different predictors of language ability in determining language test performance.Although interaction has long been claimed to be an essential mechanism in the construct of language ability and language test validation,systematic investigations into this issue are rare in language testing research.The current study revisited the concept of interaction in language testing and proposes the competition-mediation-moderation(CMM)approach for inquiry in language test validation to enhance the transparency of test score interpretation.As a demonstration,the paper used Test for English Majors Grade Four(TEM4)data and tested the interaction between vocabulary and grammar in predicting L2 reading performance.The results showed:1)grammar played a dominant role in predicting TEM4 reading performance,2)grammar fully mediated the effect of vocabulary on TEM4 reading performance,and 3)vocabulary did not moderate the effect of grammar on TEM4 reading performance.The paper has theoretical and methodological implications for language testing research as well as practical implications for language test preparation.

STUDY ON TESTING TECHNIQUE FOR MEASUREMENT OF FATIGUE－CREEP INTERACTION RESISTANCE

By using dropped stress creep method a new testing technique for measurement of the fa-tigue-creep interaction resistance is developed. At varied adjusted mean stresses the creep testingwas performed repeatedly When an unlimited extensive incubation period with zero creep rate oc-curred. the stress cavsing zero creep rate is defined as fatigue-creep resistance. The developped test-ing technique was used to measure the fatigue-creep resistance in F anc C regions. The dynamic ef-fective stress could yield a better descrption of fatigue and creep interaction. The fatigue-creep rateequations with varied exponents inF of C region are established. The different deformation mecha-nisms in F or C regions are indicated

Influence of dynamic soil-pile raft-structure interaction:an experimental approach

Traditionally seismic design of structures supported on piled raft foundation is performed by considering fixed base conditions, while the pile head is also considered to be fixed for the design of the pile foundation. Major drawback of this assumption is that it cannot capture soil-foundation-structure interaction due to flexibility of soil or the inertial interaction involving heavy foundation masses. Previous studies on this subject addressed mainly the intricacy in modelling of dynamic soil structure interaction (DSSI) but not the implication of such interaction on the distribution of forces at various elements of the pile foundation and supported structure. A recent numerical study by the authors showed significant change in response at different elements of the piled raft supported structure when DSSI effects are considered. The present study is a limited attempt in this direction, and it examines such observations through shake table tests. The effect of DSSI is examined by comparing dynamic responses from fixed base scaled down model structures and the overall systems. This study indicates the possibility of significant underestimation in design forces for both the column and pile if designed under fixed base assumption. Such underestimation in the design forces may have serious implication in the design of a foundation or structural element.

Protein-protein Interaction Between Domains of PDZ and BAR from PICK1

Two DNA fragments encoding PDZ domain （21-110 residues） and BAR domain （ 150-360 residues） from PICK1 （1-416 residues） were amplified by PCR and then introduced into vectors, pET-32M and pMAL-e2X respectively to generate recombinant plasmids, pE-pdz and pM-bar. Having been separately transferred into the hosts E. coli BL21 and E. coli JM109, these two strains can express fusion proteins： His-tagged PDZ（PDZ domain） and maltose binding protein-BAR（ MBP-BAR domain） respectively, as confirmed by both SDS-PAGE and Wostem blotting. The interaction between these two domains is dose-dependence, as identified by a pull-down test. Moreover, it has been shown from the ELISA analysis that the actual amount of PDZ bound to MBP-BAR-amylose beads reaches （ 16 ± 0. 5）%, as calculated by the molar ratio of PDZ to MBP-BAR. In addition, the interaction between BAR（bait） and PDZ（prey） in vivo was also examined with a yeast two-hybrid system.

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Hydrodynamic Interactions of Two VLFS Modules Deployed in Tandem

This paper numerically and experimentally investigates the hydrodynamic interaction between two semi-submersible type VLFS modules in the frequency domain. Model tests were conducted to investigate the relationship between interactions and wave headings. Numerical studies were performed by solving the radiation-diffraction problem and were validated against the experimental results. Motion Response Amplitude Operators (RAOs) were obtained from numerical and experimental studies. The dependency of the hydrodynamic interaction effect on wave headings is clarified. The influence of different wave periods on the motion responses of two-module VLFS and wave elevations in the gap is studied. The results indicate that the hydrodynamic interactions of the two modules are directly related to the wave headings and the periods of the incident wave. The shielding effect plays an important role in short wave, and the influence decreases with the increase of the incident wavelength. The numerical results based on the diffraction-radiation code can give a relatively good estimation to the responses in short wave while for long wave, it would over-predict the response.

Mechanical behaviors of interaction between coral sand and structure surface

Based on the interface shear tests,the macro-and meso-mechanical behaviors of interaction between coral sand and different structure surfaces are studied,in which CCD camera is used to capture digital images to analyze the evolution of the interaction band and a particle analysis apparatus is applied to studying the distribution characteristics of particle morphology.This study proposes four-stage evolution process based on the shear stress−strain curve.During the shear process,coral sand particles slide and rotate within the interaction band,causing the changes in shear stress and vertical displacement.In addition,the effects of structure surface roughness on shear strength,volume change and particle breakage are illustrated that the greater the roughness of slabs is,the larger the shear stress is,the more obvious the contraction effect is and the more the particles break.Furthermore,the change in particle’s 3D morphology during the breakage will change not only their size but also other morphological characteristics with convergence and self-organization.

Phenomenology of plume-surface interactions and preliminary results from the Tianwen-1 landing crater on Mars

The plume-surface interaction(PSI)is a common phenomenon that describes the environment surrounding the landers resulting from the impingement of hot rocket exhaust on the regolith of planetary bodies.The PSI will cause obscuration,erosion of the planetary surface,and high-speed spreading of dust or high-energy ejecta streams,which will induce risks to a safe landing and cause damage to payloads on the landers or to nearby assets.Safe landings and the subsequent scientific goals of deep-space exploration in China call for a comprehensive understanding of the PSI process,including the plume flow mechanics,erosion mechanism,and ejecta dynamics.In addition,the landing crater caused by the plume provides a unique and insightful perspective on the understanding of PSI.In particular,the PSI can be used directly to constrain the composition,structure,and mechanical properties of the surface and subsurface soil.In this study,we conducted a systematic review of the phenomenology and terrestrial tests of PSI:we analyzed the critical factors in the PSI process and compared the differences in PSI phenomena between lunar and Martian conditions;we also reviewed the main erosion mechanisms and the evolution and development of terrestrial tests on PSI.We discuss the problems with PSI,challenges of terrestrial tests,and prospects of PSI,and we show the preliminary results obtained from the landing crater caused by the PSI of Tianwen-1.From analysis of the camera images and digital elevation model reconstructions,we concluded that the landing of Tianwen-1 caused the deepest crater(depth>40 cm)on a planetary surface reported to date and revealed stratigraphic layers in the subsurface of Martian soil.We further constrained the lower bounds of the mechanical properties of Martian soil by a slope stability analysis of the Tianwen-1 landing crater.The PSI may offer promising opportunities to obtain greater insights into planetary science,including the subsurface structure,mineral composition,and properties of soil.

Localized characteristics of lump and interaction solutions to two extended Jimbo–Miwa equations

We focus on the localized characteristics of lump and interaction solutions to two extended Jimbo–Miwa equations.Based on the Hirota bilinear method and the test function method,we construct the exact solutions to the extended equations including lump solutions,lump–kink solutions,and two other types of interaction solutions,by solving the underdetermined nonlinear system of algebraic equations for associated parameters.Finally,analysis and graphical simulation are presented to show the dynamical characteristics of our solutions and the interaction behaviors are revealed.