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.

Fiber Bundle Topology Optimization for Surface Flows

This paper presents a topology optimization approach for the surface flows on variable design domains.Via this approach,the matching between the pattern of a surface flow and the 2-manifold used to define the pattern can be optimized,where the 2-manifold is implicitly defined on another fixed 2-manifold named as the base manifold.The fiber bundle topology optimization approach is developed based on the description of the topological structure of the surface flow by using the differential geometry concept of the fiber bundle.The material distribution method is used to achieve the evolution of the pattern of the surface flow.The evolution of the implicit 2-manifold is realized via a homeomorphous map.The design variable of the pattern of the surface flow and that of the implicit 2-manifold are regularized by two sequentially implemented surface-PDE filters.The two surface-PDE filters are coupled,because they are defined on the implicit 2-manifold and base manifold,respectively.The surface Navier-Stokes equations,defined on the implicit 2-manifold,are used to describe the surface flow.The fiber bundle topology optimization problem is analyzed using the continuous adjoint method implemented on the first-order Sobolev space.Several numerical examples have been provided to demonstrate this approach,where the combination of the viscous dissipation and pressure drop is used as the design objective.

Super energy flows in a waveguide filled with air and left-handed materials

The phenomena of super energy flows are studied theoretically and numerically in a parallel-plate waveguide which is filled with two layered equally-thick different media, i.e. air and specific left-handed materials （LHM） with εr1 = -1/（1 ＋δ） ＋iγ and μr1 = -（1 ＋ δ） ＋ iγ. In this special waveguide, two-directional super-energy flows are excited by a three-dimensional horizontal electric dipole at the same time, which has transmission patterns different from those of two-dimensional source and three-dimensional vertical electric dipole. We also show that the retardation and loss in LHM are sensitive to the amplitude of super power densities, and the dimensions of waveguide determine the propagating modes, which makes super energy flows more practical.

Materials flow and phase transformation in friction stir welding of Al 6013/Mg

Material flow and phase transformation were studied at the interface of dissimilar joint between Al 6013 and Mg, produced by stir friction welding （FSW） experiments. Defect-free weld was obtained when aluminum and magnesium were placed in the advancing side and retreating side respectively and the tool was placed 1 mm off the weld centerline into the aluminum side. In order to understand the material flow during FSW, steel shots were implanted as indexes into the welding path. After welding, using X-ray images, secondary positions of the steel shots were evaluated. It was revealed that steel shots implanted in advancing side were penetrated from the advancing side into the retreating side, whereas the shots implanted in the retreating side remained in the retreating side, without penetrating into the advancing side. The welded specimens were also heat treated. The effects of heat treatment on the mechanical properties of the welds and the formation of new intermetallic layers were investigated. Two intermetallic compounds, Al3Mg2 and Al12Mg17, were formed sequentially at Al6013/Mg interface.

Comparison of Debris Flow Characteristics Obtained by Using Video Materials and Modeling

Velocity of debris flow is one of the most important characteristics for the protective construction design. Since debris flows are rare events, and observations are conducted only on stations in Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Switzerland, USA, China, Japan and New Zealand, the velocity is calculated rather than measured. Nowadays, a large number of videos with passing debris flows have appeared on the Internet. Scientists can use such video materials to obtain qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the debris flow. Therefore, the aim of our research is an attempt to measure the debris flow velocity using video materials and compare the obtained results with the calculated values using various methods. The debris flow that came down in Firgen, Austria on August 4, 2012 was chosen as the object of our study. The video was carried out from several angles, so it was possible to select a section of the channel, through which we could measure the debris flows waves velocity. In addition, we calculated the velocities of waves by formulas adopted in the regulatory documents and compared with the measured by video values. During the video analysis, debris flow velocities at different sites were observed: minimum—7.2 m/s and maximum—10 m/s. The calculated values varied from 4.5 m/s to 11.4 m/s. Moreover, we applied model of the transport-shear process of debris flow formation developed by Yu. B. Vinogradov. When we were comparing the obtained debris flow discharges with results from Austrian colleagues, we found out that the values were similar to each other. However, internal scatter in the model changed from 151 to 190 m3/s, while in the report of Austrian colleagues the discharges were from 80 to 250 m3/s.

A STUDY ON YIELD AND FLOW OF ORTHOTROPIC MATERIALS

On the assumption that the yield criterion of orthotropic materials is isomorphic with Huber-Mises criterion of isotropic materials, we put forward a dimensionless stress yield criterion, and obtained the associated plastic flow law. Using experimental stress-strain curves in various simple stress states, generalized effective stress-strain formulae may be derived correspondingly in various forms.

Polyoxometalate-based electrolyte materials in redox flow batteries:Current trends and emerging opportunities

Redox flow batteries have received wide attention for electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices due to their specific advantage of uncoupled power and energy devices,and therefore potentially to reduce the capital costs of energy storage.Terrific structural features of polyoxometalates exhibit unique advantages in redox flow batteries,such as,stable chemical properties,multi-electron reaction,good redox reversibility,low permeability,etc,which furnishes a novel perspective for settling various problems of redox flow batteries.This was a comprehensive and critical review of this type of batteries,focusing mainly on the chemistry of polyoxometalate electrolyte materials and introducing a systematic classification.Finally,challenges and perspectives of polyoxometalate electrolyte materials and polyoxometalate redox flow batteries are discussed.

Enhancing wood efficiency through comprehensive wood flow analysis:Methodology and strategic insights

Wood,an essential natural resource in human civilization,remains widely used despite advances in technology and material substitution.The surge in greenhouse gas emissions and environmental concerns accentuates the need for optimizing wood utilization.Material flow analysis is a powerful tool for tracking material flows and stocks,aiding resource management and environmental decision-making.However,the full extent of its methodological dimensions,particularly within the context of the wood supply chain,remains relatively unexplored.In this study,we delve into the existing literature on wood flow analysis,discussing its primary objectives,materials involved,temporal and spatial scales,data sources,units,and conversion factors.Additionally,data uncertainty,data reconciliation and crucial assumptions in material flow analysis are highlighted in this paper.Key findings reveal the significance of wood cascading and substitution effects by replacing non-wood materials,where they can reduce greenhouse gas emissions more than the natural carbon sink of forests and wood products.The immediate impact of short-term wood cascading might not be as robust as the substitution effect,with energy substitution showcasing better results than material substitution.However,it's crucial to note that these conclusions could experience significant reversal from a long-term and global perspective.Strategies for improving wood efficiency involve maximizing material use,advancing construction technologies,extending product lifespans,promoting cascade use,and optimizing energy recovery processes.The study underscores the need for standardized approaches in wood flow analysis and emphasizes the potential of wood efficiency strategies in addressing environmental challenges.

A Novel Mechanism for TRF of Plant-wide Material Flows in Process Industry MES

This paper is standing on the recent viewpoint originated from relevant industrial practices that well or-ganized tracing, representing and feedback(TRF) mechanism of material-flow information is crucial for system utility and usability of manufacturing execution systems(MES), essentially, for activities on the side of multi-level decision making and optimization mainly in the planning and scheduling. In this paper, we investigate a key issue emphasized on a route of multi-level information evolution on the side of large-scale feedback, where material-flow states could evolve from the measuring data(local states) to networked event-type information cells(global states) and consequently to the key performance indicators(KPI) type information(gross states). Importantly, with adapta-bilities to frequent structural dynamics residing in running material flows, this evolving route should be modeled as a suit of sophisticated mechanism for large-scale dynamic states tracking and representing so as to upgrade accu-racy and usability of the feedback information in MES. To clarify inherent complexities of this evolving route, the investigated issue is demonstrated from extended process systems engineering(PSE) point of view, and the TRF principles of the multi-level feedback information(states) are highlighted under the multi-scale methodology. As the main contribution, a novel mechanism called TRF modeling mechanism is introduced.

Application of Gridless Method to Simulation of Compressible Multi-Material Flows

The least-square gridless method was extended to simulate the compressible multi-material flows. The algorithm was accomplished to solve the Arbitrary Lagrange-Euler( ALE) formulation. The local least-square curve fits was adopted to approximate the spatial derivatives of a point on the base of the points in its circular support domain,and the basis function was linear. The HLLC( Harten-Lax-van Leer-Contact) scheme was used to calculate the inviscid flux. On the material interfaces,the gridless points were endued with a dual definition corresponding to different materials. The moving velocity of the interface points was updated by solving the Riemann problem. The interface boundary condition was built by using the Ghost Fluid Method( GFM).Computations were performed for several one and two dimensional typical examples. The numerical results show that the interface and the shock wave are well captured,which proves the effectiveness of gridless method in dealing with multi-material flow problems.

Visualization and simulation of plastic material flow in friction stir welding of 2024 aluminium alloy plates

Thin copper sheets as marker material were embedded into weld path of 2024 aluminium alloy plates and their final position after friction stir welding was examined by metallographic techniques. Referring to the visualized material flow patterns, a three-dimensional model was developed to conduct the numerical simulation of the temperature profile and plastic material flow in friction stir welding. The calculated velocity contour of plastic flow in close proximity of the tool is generally consistent with the visualized results. As the tool rotation speed increases at a constant tool travel speed, the material flow near the pin gets stronger. The predicted shape and size of the weld nugget zone match with the experimentally measured ones.

A Study on Alien Invasive Plants from the Interactive Mechanism between Species Niche and Material/Energy Flow

[Objective]This study was to reveal the essence of mechanism about how the alien invasive plants spread.[Method]Species niche and material/energy flow were used as basic research indicators to analyze the intrinsic mechanism of alien plants invasion.[Result]Most of the invasive plants have not been explicitly defined and their effective control methods not brought forward.[Conclusion]Overrun of alien invasive plants depends on whether the niche of a species could be continuously met at spatial level.Based on this we put forward corresponding control measures,proposed an assumption to establish a cylinder-network model and discussed the definition of alien invasive plants.

Impact of material and energy flow variation-based iron /steel ratio on production cost

This paper establishes a model for the production cost of iron and steel enterprise.The variation rule of the production cost versus the iron/steel ratio for two cases, namely,fixed steel production and a fixed amount of molten iron,is analyzed,and the concept of a steel scrap threshold price is proposed.According to the analysis results,when the steel scrap unit price exceeds the steel scrap threshold price, an increase in the iron/steel ratio can reduce the production cost,and vice versa.When the gap between the steel scrap unit price and the steel scrap threshold price is relatively large, the impact of the iron/steel ratio on the production cost is more prominent.According to the calculation example,when steel production is fixed （284 358 t/month）and the steel scrap unit price is 263.2 yuan/t more than the steel scrap threshold price,an increase of 0.01 in the iron/steel ratio causes a monthly production cost reduction of approximately 750 000 yuan （2.63 yuan/t）.When the amount of molten iron is fixed （270 425 t/month）and the steel scrap unit price is 140.7 yuan/t more than the threshold price,an increase of 0.01 in the iron/steel ratio causes a monthly production cost reduction of approximately 430 000 yuan （1.5 yuan/t）.The results indicate that iron and steel enterprise should adjust the production strategy in time when the scrap price fluctuates, and then the production cost will be reduced.

Changes in functions,forms,and locations of lead during its anthropogenic flows to provide services

Knowledge of the changes in a material’s function, form, and location during the transfer and transformation of materials to generate human services will improve our understanding of how humanity interacts with the environment and of how services are formed by human activities. We compared lead’s anthropogenic and biogeochemical cycles and found that the services, pathways, and changes in form requiring the most attention. We traced lead through its life cycle and identified the changes in its functions, forms, and locations by examining technology and engineering information. Lead ore and scrap were the two main anthropogenic sources of lead. When lead provides human services, its main functions included the storage and delivery of electricity, anti-corrosion treatments, and radiation protection; the main forms of lead in these products were Pb, PbO2 and PbSO4, and the main location changed from lithosphere in central China to regions in eastern China.

Calculating Method for Influence of Material Flow on Energy Consumption in Steel Manufacturing Process

From the viewpoint of systems energy conservation, the influences of material flow on its energy consumption in a steel manufacturing process is an important subject. The quantitative analysis of the relationship between material flow and the energy intensity is useful to save energy in steel industry. Based on the concept of standard material flow diagram, all possible situations of ferric material flow in steel manufacturing process are analyzed. The expressions of the influence of material flow deviated from standard material flow diagram on energy consumption are put forward.

Thin-film flow technology in controlling the organization of materials and their properties Special Collection:Distinguished Australian Researchers

Centrifugal and shear forces are produced when solids or liquids rotate.Rotary systems and devices that use these forces,such as dynamic thin-film flow technology,are evolving continuously,improve material structure-property relationships at the nanoscale,representing a rapidly thriving and expanding field of research high with green chemistry metrics,consolidated at the inception of science.The vortex fluidic device(VFD)provides many advantages over conventional batch processing,with fluidic waves causing high shear and producing large surface areas for micro-mixing as well as rapid mass and heat transfer,enabling reactions beyond diffusion control.Combining these abilities allows for a green and innovative approach to altering materials for various research and industry applications by controlling small-scale flows and regulating molecular and macromolecular chemical reactivity,self-organization phenomena,and the synthesis of novel materials.This review highlights the aptitude of the VFD as clean technology,with an increase in efficiency for a diversity of top-down,bottom-up,and novel material transformations which benefit from effective vortex-based processing to control material structure-property relationships.

A quantitative analysis of the US materials flow methodology and comparison to the EU methodology for MSW statistics

The European Union(EU)and the United States(US)determine municipal solid waste(MSW)statistics differently.The EU applies a site-specific methodology that directly measures waste whereas the US employs a materials flow methodology that estimates MSW statistics indirectly based on production and recovery data from industries.This study dissects the materials flow methodology and presents quantitative materials flow Sankey diagrams for the primary MSW materials to highlight data gaps that can be addressed to improve the methodology’s accuracy.Private industry plastics data were applied to the materials flow methodology,and the results were within 10%of the plastics statistics reported by the US Environmental Protection Agency(US EPA).Drawbacks to the methodologies include EU measurement inaccuracies due to double-counting and not accounting for residual waste in the US.The latter may partially explain why landfilling tonnages reported by the US EPA were approximately 60%less than the tonnages reported by the Waste to Energy Research and Technology Council(WTERT)in its national MSW survey that applied the EU methodology in the US.Unlike the EU,there is no US national policy that requires states to measure and report state-level waste data to the US EPA.Future improvements in US MSW statistics rely heavily on the implementation of national policies to homogenize the measurement and collection of waste data from states.

Influence of Material Flow in Steel Manufacturing Process on Atmosphere Environmental Load

The standard material flow diagram in steel manufacturing process was proposed to analyze the influences of various material flows on environmental load of 1tof final product.Two influence factors and reducing measures of environmental load were pointed out.The environmental load was appraised for a typical technological process in a Chinese steel plant.

Simulation of 3D material flow in friction stir welding of AA6061-T6

This paper reports the numerical simulation of the 3D material flow in friction stir welding process by using finite element methods based on solid mechanics. It is found that the material flow behind the pin is much faster than that in front of the pin. The material in front of the pin moves upwards and then rotates with the pin due to the effect of the rotating tool. Behind of the pin, the material moves downwards. This process of material movement is the real cause to make the friction stir welding process continuing successfully. With the increase of the translational velocity or the rotational velocity of the pin, the material flow becomes faster.

Effects of pin geometry on the material flow behavior of friction stir spot welded 2A12 aluminum alloy

A three-dimensional finite volume model was established by the ANSYS FLUENT software to simulate the material flow behavior during the friction stir spot welding （FSSW） process. Effects of the full-threaded pin and the reverse-threaded pin on the material flow behavior were mainly discussed. Results showed that the biggest material flow velocity appeared at the outer edge of the tool shoulder. The velocity value became smaller with the increase of the distance away from the tool surface. In general, material flows downwards along the pin thread when the full-threaded pin is used. Meanwhile, both the materials of the upper and the lower plates flow towards the lap interface along the pin thread when the reverse-threaded pin is used. The numerical simulation results were investigated by experiment, in which 2A12 aluminum alloy was used as the research object. The effective sheet thickness （EST） and stir zone （SZ） width of the joint by the reverse-threaded pin were much bigger than those by the full-threaded pin. Accordingly, cross tension failure load of the joint by the reverse-threaded pin is 23% bigger than the joint by the full-threaded pin.