Effect of Shrinkage Reducing Agent and Steel Fiber on the Fluidity and Cracking Performance of Ultra-High Performance Concrete

Due to the low water-cement ratio of ultra-high-performance concrete(UHPC),fluidity and shrinkage cracking are key aspects determining the performance and durability of this type of concrete.In this study,the effects of different types of cementitious materials,chemical shrinkage-reducing agents(SRA)and steel fiber(SF)were assessed.Compared with M2-UHPC and M3-UHPC,M1-UHPC was found to have better fluidity and shrinkage cracking performance.Moreover,different SRA incorporation methods,dosage and different SF types and aspect ratios were implemented.The incorporation of SRA and SF led to a decrease in the fluidity of UHPC.SRA internal content of 1%(NSRA-1%),SRA external content of 1%(WSRA-1%),STS-0.22 and STE-0.7 decreased the fluidity of UHPC by 3.3%,8.3%,9.2%and 25%,respectively.However,SRA and SF improved the UHPC shrinkage cracking performance.NSRA-1%and STE-0.7 reduced the shrinkage value of UHPC by 40%and 60%,respectively,and increased the crack resistance by 338%and 175%,respectively.In addition,the addition of SF was observed to make the microstructure of UHPC more compact,and the compressive strength and flexural strength of 28 d were increased by 26.9%and 19.9%,respectively.

Analysis and Prediction Model Reinforced UHPC Shrinkage Property

This paper explores the shrinkage of reinforced UHPC under high-temperature steam curing and natural curing conditions.The results are compared with the existing shrinkage prediction models.The results show that the maximum shrinkage strain of reinforced UHPC after steam curing is 164μεand gradually becomes zero.As for natural curing,the maximum shrinkage strain is 173μεand the value stabilizes on the 10th day after pouring.This indicated that steam curing can significantly reduce shrinkage time.Compared with the plain UHPC tested in the previous literature,the structural reinforcement can significantly inhibit the UHPC shrinkage and greatly reduce the risk of cracking due to shrinkage.By comparing the results in this paper with the existing models for predicting the shrinkage strain development,it is found that the formula recommended in the French UHPC structural and technical specification is suitable for the shrinkage curve in the present paper.

Isotropic sintering shrinkage of 3D glass-ceramic nanolattices:backbone preforming and mechanical enhancement

There is a perpetual pursuit for free-form glasses and ceramics featuring outstanding mechanical properties as well as chemical and thermal resistance.It is a promising idea to shape inorganic materials in three-dimensional(3D)forms to reduce their weight while maintaining high mechanical properties.A popular strategy for the preparation of 3D inorganic materials is to mold the organic–inorganic hybrid photoresists into 3D micro-and nano-structures and remove the organic components by subsequent sintering.However,due to the discrete arrangement of inorganic components in the organic-inorganic hybrid photoresists,it remains a huge challenge to attain isotropic shrinkage during sintering.Herein,we demonstrate the isotropic sintering shrinkage by forming the consecutive–Si–O–Si–O–Zr–O–inorganic backbone in photoresists and fabricating 3D glass–ceramic nanolattices with enhanced mechanical properties.The femtosecond(fs)laser is used in two-photon polymerization(TPP)to fabricate 3D green body structures.After subsequent sintering at 1000℃,high-quality 3D glass–ceramic microstructures can be obtained with perfectly intact and smooth morphology.In-suit compression experiments and finite-element simulations reveal that octahedral-truss(oct-truss)lattices possess remarkable adeptness in bearing stress concentration and maintain the structural integrity to resist rod bending,indicating that this structure is a candidate for preparing lightweight and high stiffness glass–ceramic nanolattices.3D printing of such glasses and ceramics has significant implications in a number of industrial applications,including metamaterials,microelectromechanical systems,photonic crystals,and damage-tolerant lightweight materials.

Attention-Based Residual Dense Shrinkage Network for ECG Denoising

Electrocardiogram(ECG)signal is one of the noninvasive physiological measurement techniques commonly usedin cardiac diagnosis.However,in real scenarios,the ECGsignal is susceptible to various noise erosion,which affectsthe subsequent pathological analysis.Therefore,the effective removal of the noise from ECG signals has becomea top priority in cardiac diagnostic research.Aiming at the problem of incomplete signal shape retention andlow signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)after denoising,a novel ECG denoising network,named attention-based residualdense shrinkage network(ARDSN),is proposed in this paper.Firstly,the shallow ECG characteristics are extractedby a shallow feature extraction network(SFEN).Then,the residual dense shrinkage attention block(RDSAB)isused for adaptive noise suppression.Finally,feature fusion representation(FFR)is performed on the hierarchicalfeatures extracted by a series of RDSABs to reconstruct the de-noised ECG signal.Experiments on the MIT-BIHarrhythmia database and MIT-BIH noise stress test database indicate that the proposed scheme can effectively resistthe interference of different sources of noise on the ECG signal.

How Does Urban Shrinkage Affect Land Use Efficiency?A Case Study of Shrinking Cities in Northeast China

The effect of urban shrinkage has gradually become a new topic.Theoretically,urban shrinkage may exert great influence on land use efficiency(LUE)through various urban subsystems,but there is currently limited research examining these pathways.Using the Super-SBM-Undesirable model and the Structural Equation Model(SEM),this study calculates the LUE of shrinking cities in Northeast China and simulates the process of urban shrinkage affecting LUE.To quantify the process of urban shrinkage affecting LUE,three mediation variables,namely the economy,public services,and innovation,are used as latent variables to apply SEM.The results show that urban shrinkage will affect LUE through a direct path and indirect paths.In the direct path,urban shrinkage leads to an improvement in LUE.In the indirect paths,the economy and innovation will transmit the negative effect of urban shrinkage on LUE,while public services will reverse this effect.An important contribution of this study is that it quantifies the paths of urban shrinkage affecting LUE,thereby expanding the understanding of urban shrinkage effect and laying a foundation for the sustainable development of shrinking cities.

Effect of Lightweight Aggregates Incorporation on the Mechanical Properties and Shrinkage Compensation of a Cement-Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag-Phosphogypsum Ternary System

Shrinkage-induced cracking is a common issue in concrete structures,where the formation of cracks not only affects the aesthetic appearance of concrete but also potentially reduces its durability and strength.In this study,the effect of ceramsite sand addition on the properties of a ternary system of cement-ground granulated blast furnace slag(GGBFS)-phosphogypsum(PG)is investigated.In particular,the fluidity,rheology,hydration heat,compressive strength,autogenous shrinkage,and drying shrinkage of the considered mortar specimens are analyzed.The results indicate that an increase in PG content leads to a decrease in fluidity,higher viscosity,lower exothermic peak,and lower compressive strength.However,the shrinkage of the mortar specimens is effectively compensated.The incorporation of internal curing water from ceramsite sand improves fluidity,decreases both yield stress and viscosity,enhances the degree of hydration,and induces mortar expansion.However,the inferior mechanical properties of the ceramsite sand generally produce a decrease in the compressive strength.

Correlation analysis between the Aral Sea shrinkage and the Amu Darya River

The shrinkage of the Aral Sea,which is closely related to the Amu Darya River,strongly affects the sustainability of the local natural ecosystem,agricultural production,and human well-being.In this study,we used the Bayesian Estimator of Abrupt change,Seasonal change,and Trend(BEAST)model to detect the historical change points in the variation of the Aral Sea and the Amu Darya River and analyse the causes of the Aral Sea shrinkage during the 1950–2016 period.Further,we applied multifractal detrend cross-correlation analysis(MF-DCCA)and quantitative analysis to investigate the responses of the Aral Sea to the runoff in the Amu Darya River,which is the main source of recharge to the Aral Sea.Our results showed that two significant trend change points in the water volume change of the Aral Sea occurred,in 1961 and 1974.Before 1961,the water volume in the Aral Sea was stable,after which it began to shrink,with a shrinkage rate fluctuating around 15.21 km3/a.After 1974,the water volume of the Aral Sea decreased substantially at a rate of up to 48.97 km3/a,which was the highest value recorded in this study.In addition,although the response of the Aral Sea's water volume to its recharge runoff demonstrated a complex non-linear relationship,the replenishment of the Aral Sea by the runoff in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya River was identified as the dominant factor affecting the Aral Sea shrinkage.Based on the scenario analyses,we concluded that it is possible to slow down the retreat of the Aral Sea and restore its ecosystem by increasing the efficiency of agricultural water use,decreasing agricultural water use in the middle and lower reaches,reducing ineffective evaporation from reservoirs and wetlands,and increasing the water coming from the lower reaches of the Amu Darya River to the 1961–1973 level.These measures would maintain and stabilise the water area and water volume of the Aral Sea in a state of ecological restoration.Therefore,this study focuses on how human consumption of recharge runoff affects the Aral Sea and provides scientific perspective on its ecological conservation and sustainable development.

Spatial Distribution and Influencing Factors of Urban Shrinkage from the Perspective of Factor Flow - A Case Study of National Urban Agglomerations

This paper examines national urban agglomerations by taking factor flows as the focal point as the research subject.By dividing the stages of urban agglomeration development,a comprehensive framework of urban shrinkage is constructed,encompassing economic,population,and social shrinkage.The study explores the spatial distribution characteristics of urban shrinkage during different stages of urban agglomeration and investigates the influencing factors using a geographic detector model.The findings reveal that urban shrinkage within urban agglomerations is widely spread,predominantly in peripheral areas.During the diffusion stage,urban shrinkage is scattered,with population shrinkage concentrated in peripheral regions,economic shrinkage concentrated on old industrial cities,and social shrinkage concentrated on the northeast.The outcomes of the geographic detector model indicate that traffic flow,capital flow,information flow,node importance,network connectivity,government investment,openness,and environmental regulations all play significant roles in shaping the spatial distribution of urban shrinkage.

The Mechanism Behind Urban Population Growth and Shrinkage from the Perspective of Urban Network Externalities

Urban shrinkage is a global phenomenon,and it will coexist with urban growth for many years.At the same time,the network connection between cities continuously improved due to the construction of the transportation and information networks.However,the relationship between urban network externalities and urban population growth/shrinkage remains unclear.Therefore,based on high-speed railway(HSR)flow data,a spatial econometric model is used to explore the mechanism behind urban population growth and shrinkage from the perspective of network externalities in China.The results indicate that:1)the urban network experiences a certain clubbing effect.Growing cities that are strongly connected are concentrated along China’s main railway lines and the southeastern coastal areas,while shrinking cities that are weakly connected are distributed at the periphery of the network.2)Moreover,the network externality disregards spatial distance and together with the agglomeration externality influences the growth and shrinking of cities.3)Urban economic development still promotes the development of Chinese cities.However,the improvement of the urban economy has a negative cross-regional spillover effect on neighboring cities due to urban competition.4)Lastly,Local spillovers of urban network externalities are positive,while cross-regional ones are negative.Consequently,the government needs to promote the construction of multi-dimensional network connections between cities to promote cities’sustainable development.This study reveals the relationship between urban network externalities and urban development,enriches the theories of network externalities and urban growth/shrinkage,and provides a reference for regional coordinated development.

Investigating the causes of Lake Urmia shrinkage:climate change or anthropogenic factors?

In the current scenario,Lake Urmia,one of the vastest hyper saline lakes on the Earth,has been affected by serious environmental degradation.Using different satellite images and observational data,this study investigated the changes in the lake for the period 1970–2020 based on the effects of climate change and several human-induced processes on Lake Urmia,such as population growth,excessive dam construction,low irrigation water use efficiency,poor water resources management,increased sediment flow into the lake,and lack of political and legal frameworks.The results indicated that between 1970 and 1997,the process of change in Lake Urmia was slow;however;the shrinkage was faster between 1998 and 2018,with about 30.00%of the lake area disappearing.As per the findings,anthropogenic factors had a much greater impact on Lake Urmia than climate change and prolonged drought;the mismanagement of water consumption in the agricultural sector and surface and underground water withdrawals in the basin have resulted in a sharp decrease in the lake's surface.These challenges have serious implications for water resources management in Lake Urmia Basin.Therefore,we provided a comprehensive overview of anthropogenic factors on the changes in Lake Urmia along with existing opportunities for better water resources management in Lake Urmia Basin.This study serves as a guideline framework for climate scientists and hydrologists in order to assess the effects of different factors on lake water resources and for decision-makers to formulate strategies and plans according to the management task.

Exploring the Mechanical Properties,Shrinkage and Compensation Mechanism of Cement Stabilized Macadam-Steel Slag from Multiple Perspectives

Steel slag is characterized by high strength,good wear resistance and micro-expansion.This study aims at exploring the potential of steel slag in cement stabilized aggregates,mainly including mechanical properties,shrinkage and compensation mechanisms.For this purpose,the compressive strength and compressive resilient modulus of cement stabilized aggregates with different steel slag contents(CSMS)were initially investigated.Subsequently,the effects of steel slag and cement on dry shrinkage,temperature shrinkage,and total shrinkage were analyzed through a series of shrinkage test designs.Additionally,in combination with X-ray diffraction(XRD)and Scanning electron microscope(SEM),the characteristic peaks and microscopic images of cement,steel slag and cement-steel slag at different hydration ages were analyzed to identify the chemical substances causing the expansion volume of steel slag and reveal the compensation mechanism of CSMS.The results show that the introduction of 20%steel slag improved the mechanical properties of CSMS by 16.7%,reduced dry shrinkage by 21%,increased temperature shrinkage by 5.8%and reduced its total shrinkage by 19.2%.Compared with the hydration reaction of cement alone,the composite hydration reaction of steel slag with cement does not produce new hydrates.Furthermore,it is noteworthy that the volume expansion of the f-CaO hydration reaction in steel slag can compensate for the volume shrinkage of cement-stabilized macadam.This research can provide a solid theoretical basis for the application and promotion of steel slag in cement-stabilized macadam and reduce the possibility of shrinkage cracking.

Early-Age Properties Development of Recycled Glass Powder Blended Cement Paste:Strengths,Shrinkage,Nanoscale Characteristics,and Environmental Analysis

Recycling solid waste in cement-based materials cannot only ease its load on the natural environment but also reduce the carbon emissions of building materials.This study aims to investigate the effect of recycled glass powder(RGP)on the early-age mechanical properties and autogenous shrinkage of cement pastes,where cement is replaced by 10%,20%and 30%of RGP.In addition,the microstructure and nano-mechanical properties of cement paste with different RGP content and water to binder(W/B)ratio were also evaluated using SEM,MIP and nanoindentation techniques.The results indicate that the early-age autogenous shrinkage decreases with the increase of RGP content and W/B ratio.While the mechanical strength deteriorates due to the addition of RGP,it can be compensated by reducing the W/B ratio.Although the addition of RGP increases the total porosity of the hardened paste,it reduces the small size porosity(<50 nm).In addition,the proportions of different types of C-S-H are changed,and the volume fraction of porosity is increased,but that of hydration products of cement paste is reduced due to the incorporation of RGP.Besides its pozzolanic activity,the mitigated shrinkage deformation that RGP is generating in cement pastes is encouraging for its use as a novel supplementary cementitious material that reduces the early-age cracking risk of cement-based materials.Meanwhile,the life cycle assessments indicate that the RGP-cement component is an economical and eco-friendly novel engineering material.

Asymptotic Consistency of the James-Stein Shrinkage Estimator

The study explores the asymptotic consistency of the James-Stein shrinkage estimator obtained by shrinking a maximum likelihood estimator. We use Hansen’s approach to show that the James-Stein shrinkage estimator converges asymptotically to some multivariate normal distribution with shrinkage effect values. We establish that the rate of convergence is of order and rate , hence the James-Stein shrinkage estimator is -consistent. Then visualise its consistency by studying the asymptotic behaviour using simulating plots in R for the mean squared error of the maximum likelihood estimator and the shrinkage estimator. The latter graphically shows lower mean squared error as compared to that of the maximum likelihood estimator.

End-to-End Auto-Encoder System for Deep Residual Shrinkage Network for AWGN Channels

With the rapid development of deep learning methods, the data-driven approach has shown powerful advantages over the model-driven one. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end autoencoder communication system based on Deep Residual Shrinkage Networks (DRSNs), where neural networks (DNNs) are used to implement the coding, decoding, modulation and demodulation functions of the communication system. Our proposed autoencoder communication system can better reduce the signal noise by adding an “attention mechanism” and “soft thresholding” modules and has better performance at various signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). Also, we have shown through comparative experiments that the system can operate at moderate block lengths and support different throughputs. It has been shown to work efficiently in the AWGN channel. Simulation results show that our model has a higher Bit-Error-Rate (BER) gain and greatly improved decoding performance compared to conventional modulation and classical autoencoder systems at various signal-to-noise ratios.

Numerical simulation of concrete shrinkage based on heat and moisture transfer in porous medium

To simulate the concrete shrinkage in varying temperature and moisture environments, a simulate procedure comprising an analytical process and a finite element analysis is proposed based on the coupled partial differential equations describing heat and moisture transfer in a porous medium. Using the Laplace transformation method and transfer function to simplify and solve the coupled equations in Laplace domain, the moisture and temperature distribution in time domain are obtained by inverse Laplace transformation. The shrinkage deformations of concrete are numerically simulated by the finite element method （FEM） based on the obtained temperature and moisture distribution. This approach avoids the complex eigenvalues, coupling difficulty and low accuracy found in other solving methods, and also effectively calculates the moisture induced shrinkage which is almost impossible using familiar FEM software. The validity of the simulation procedure is verified by Hundt＇s test data. The results reveal that the proposed approach can be considered a reliable and efficient method to simulate the coupling moisture and temperature shrinkage of concrete.

Experimental study on shrinkage and rehydration of seed during drying process

Biomaterial will shrink during the drying process. The characteristics of shrinkage and rehydration of fresh peas were studied. Drying curves, shrinkage and rehydration curves of peas without seed coats and whole peas were compared. In addition, different volumetric shrinkage coefficients were obtained and discussed. The results show that seed coats resist moisture movement not only from inside to outside but also from outside to inside during different drying conditions. During a seed’s drying process, the drying curve is similar to the shrinkage curve. The higher the heat flux is, the less drying time is needed, and in the meantime, volume would shrink more and more intensively. Dried media will break easily at high heat flux. When we create a drying regime, both drying speed and the quality of dried media should be considered.

Influence of shrinkage-reducing admixture on drying shrinkage and mechanical properties of high-performance concrete

High-performance concrete （HPC） has specific performance advantages over conventional concrete in strength and durability. HPC mixtures are usually produced with water/binder mass ratios （mW/mB） in the range of 0.2-0.4, so volume changes of concrete as a result of drying, chemical reactions, and temperature change cannot be avoided. For these reasons, shrinkage and cracking are frequent phenomena. It is necessary to add some types of admixture for reduction of shrinkage and cracking of HPC. This study used a shrinkage-reducing admixture （SRA） for that purpose. Concrete was prepared with two different mW/mB （0.22 and 0.40） and four different mass fractions of SRA to binder （w（SRA） = 0%, 1%, 2%, and 4%）. The mineral admixtures used for concrete mixes were： 25% fly ash （FA） and 25% slag by mass of binder for the mixture with mW/mB = 0.40, and 15% silica fume （SF） and 25% FA for the mixture with mW/mB = 0.22. Tests were conducted on 24 prismatic specimens, and shrinkage strains were measured through 120 days of drying. Compressive strength, splitting strength, and static modulus of elasticity were also determined. The results show that the SRA effectively reduces some mechanical properties of HPC. The reductions in compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and elastic modulus of the concrete were 7%-24%, 9%-19%, and 5%-12%, respectively, after 90 days, compared to concrete mixtures without SRA. SRA can also help reduce drying shrinkage of concrete. The shrinkage strains of HPC with SRA were only as high as 41% of the average free shrinkage of concrete without SRA after 120 days of drying.

Collapse-type shrinkage characteristics in plantation-grown eucalypts： I . Correlations of basic density and some structural indices with shrinkage and collapse properties

Collapse-type shrinkage is one of highly refractory drying defects inlow-medium density plantation-grown eucalypt wood used as solid wood products. Basic density (BD),microfibril angle (MFA), double fibre cell wall thickness (DWT), proportion of ray parenchyma (RP),unit cell wall shrinkage, total shrinkage and residual collapse, which are associated withcollapse-type shrinkage characteristics, were investigated by using simple regression method forthree species of collapse-susceptible Eucalyptus urophyll,, E. grandis and E. urophyllaxE.grandis,planted at Dong-Men Forest Farm in Guangxi autonomous region, China. The results indicated that:unit cell wall shrinkage had a extremely strong positive correlation with BD, moderately strongpositive correlation with DWT, and a weakly or moderately negative correlation with RP and MFA;total shrinkage was positively correlated with BD, DWT and RP and negatively related to MFA, but notable to be predicted ideally by any examined factors alone owing to lower R^2 value (R^2≤0.5712);residual collapse was negatively correlated with BD and DWT, linearly positively correlated withMFA, and had strongly positive linear correlation with RP. It is concluded that BD can be used assingle factor (R^2≥ 0.9412) to predicate unit cell wall shrinkage and RP is the relatively soundindicator for predicting residual collapse

Characterisation of Early Age Deformations in Cement Paste: Case of Chemical and Autogenous Shrinkage

Concrete is commonly seen as a durable and long-lasting construction material. However, the long-term performance of a concrete structure can be greatly compromised by early-age cracking. This work is an experimental contribution to study early age deformations of cement paste. Its aim is, firstly, to develop an experimental dispositive for assessing chemical and autogenous shrinkage, and secondly, to measure these volumetric deformations in cement paste. The setup was done following the gravimetric method of measurement, which exploits the Archimedes’ principle. It is made up of an electronic balance, a data accusation unit, a temperature control unit and a buoyancy bath. Investigations were done on Portland cement (CPA-CEM II) at the following W/C ratios: 0.25, 0.3, 0.35, 0.4 and 0.5. It was noticed that the water-cement ratio does not influence the magnitude of the chemical shrinkage in a significant manner but had a kinetic effect;a lower W/C induces a faster rate of chemical shrinkage. Autogenous shrinkage was discovered to be highly inversely proportional to the W/C and was also noticed to be in a function of chemical shrinkage within the first 2 to 4 hours when the paste was still liquid.

因子分析-Shrinkage法在投资组合中的理论分析及应用

在不允许卖空的投资组合中,投资者往往希望通过投资组合模型得到最优投资组合以达到收益最大且风险最小的目标。本文对马科维茨模型以及重抽样和马科维茨模型相结合的模型进行了研究,但由于投资对象的总体分布不明确,用重抽样方法来估计总体分布可能会高估。Shrinkage法的应用缩减了估计量的方差。基于Shrinkage法及因子分析的思想,本文提出因子分析- Shrinkage法进一步优化估计量。用R软件对股票数据进行了实例分析与验证。