Exploring the Applications of Digital Twin Technology in Enhancing Sustainability in Civil Engineering:A Review

With the advent of the big data era and the rise of Industrial Revolution 4.0,digital twins(DTs)have gained sig-nificant attention in various industries.DTs offer the opportunity to combine the physical and digital worlds and aid the digital transformation of the civil engineering industry.In this paper,605 documents obtained from the search werefirst analysed using CiteSpace for literature visualisation,and an author co-occurrence network,a keyword co-occurrence network,and a keyword clustering set were obtained.Next,through a literature review of 86 papers,this paper summarises the current status of DT application in civil engineering based on a review of the origins,concepts,and implementation techniques of DTs,and it introduces the application of DTs in the full project lifecycle.This study shows that DTs have great potential to address many of the challenges faced by civil engineering.In this regard,the paper also presents some thoughts on the future directions of DT research.

A dual-RPA based lateral flow strip for sensitive,on-site detection of CP4-EPSPS and Cry1Ab/Ac genes in genetically modified crops

Traditional transgenic detection methods require high test conditions and struggle to be both sensitive and efficient.In this study,a one-tube dual recombinase polymerase amplification(RPA)reaction system for CP4-EPSPS and Cry1Ab/Ac was proposed and combined with a lateral flow immunochromatographic assay,named“Dual-RPA-LFD”,to visualize the dual detection of genetically modified(GM)crops.In which,the herbicide tolerance gene CP4-EPSPS and the insect resistance gene Cry1Ab/Ac were selected as targets taking into account the current status of the most widespread application of insect resistance and herbicide tolerance traits and their stacked traits.Gradient diluted plasmids,transgenic standards,and actual samples were used as templates to conduct sensitivity,specificity,and practicality assays,respectively.The constructed method achieved the visual detection of plasmid at levels as low as 100 copies,demonstrating its high sensitivity.In addition,good applicability to transgenic samples was observed,with no cross-interference between two test lines and no influence from other genes.In conclusion,this strategy achieved the expected purpose of simultaneous detection of the two popular targets in GM crops within 20 min at 37°C in a rapid,equipmentfree field manner,providing a new alternative for rapid screening for transgenic assays in the field.

Spatiotemporal variations and driving factors of habitat quality in the loess hilly area of the Yellow River Basin:A case study of Lanzhou City,China

Rapid industrialization and urbanization have led to the most serious habitat degradation in China,especially in the loess hilly area of the Yellow River Basin,where the ecological environment is relatively fragile.The contradiction between economic development and ecological environment protection has aroused widespread concern.In this study,we used the habitat quality of Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs(InVEST-HQ)model at different scales to evaluate the dynamic evolution characteristics of habitat quality in Lanzhou City,Gansu Province of China.The spatiotemporal variations of habitat quality were analyzed by spatial autocorrelation.A Geographical Detector(Geodetector)model was used to explore the driving factors that influencing the spatial differentiation of habitat quality,including natural factors,socio-economic factors,and ecological protection factors.The results showed that the habitat quality index of Lanzhou City decreased from 0.4638 to 0.4548 during 2000-2018.The areas with reduced the habitat quality index were mainly located in the Yellow River Basin and Qinwangchuan Basin,where are the main urban areas and the new economic development areas,respectively.The spatial distribution of habitat quality presented a trend of high in the surrounding areas and low in the middle,and showed a significant positive spatial autocorrelation.With the increase of study scale,the spatial distribution of habitat quality changed from concentrated to dispersed.The spatial differentiation of habitat quality in the study area was the result of multiple factors.Among them,topographic relief and slope were the key factors.The synergistic enhancement among these driving factors intensified the spatial differentiation of habitat quality.The findings of this study can provide a scientific basis for land resources utilization and ecosystem restoration in the arid and semi-arid land.

Recent Progress in Improving Rate Performance of Cellulose-Derived Carbon Materials for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Cellulose-derived carbon is regarded as one of the most promising candidates for high-performance anode materials in sodium-ion batteries;however,its poor rate performance at higher current density remains a challenge to achieve high power density sodium-ion batteries.The present review comprehensively elucidates the structural characteristics of cellulose-based materials and cellulose-derived carbon materials,explores the limitations in enhancing rate performance arising from ion diffusion and electronic transfer at the level of cellulose-derived carbon materials,and proposes corresponding strategies to improve rate performance targeted at various precursors of cellulose-based materials.This review also presents an update on recent progress in cellulose-based materials and cellulose-derived carbon materials,with particular focuses on their molecular,crystalline,and aggregation structures.Furthermore,the relationship between storage sodium and rate performance the carbon materials is elucidated through theoretical calculations and characterization analyses.Finally,future perspectives regarding challenges and opportunities in the research field of cellulose-derived carbon anodes are briefly highlighted.

Modeling and Analysis of OFDMA-NOMA-RA Protocol Considering Imperfect SIC in Multi-User Uplink WLANs

To address the problems of network congestion and spectrum resources shortage in multi-user large-scale scenarios,this paper proposes a twice random access OFDMA-NOMA-RA protocol combining the advantages of orthogonal frequency division multiple access(OFDMA)and non-orthogonal multiple access(NOMA).The idea of this protocol is that OFMDA is used to divide the entire frequency field into multiple orthogonal resource units(RUs),and NOMA is used on each RU to enable more users to access the channel and improve spectrum efficiency.Based on the protocol designed in this paper,in the case of imperfect successive interference cancellation(SIC),the probability of successful competition subchannels and the outage probability are derived for two scenarios:Users occupy the subchannel individually and users share the subchannel.Moreover,when two users share the channel,the decoding order of the users and the corresponding probabilities are considered.Then,the system throughput is obtained.To achieve better outage performance in the system,the optimal power allocation algorithm is proposed in this paper,which enables the optimal power allocation strategy to be obtained.Numerical results show that the larger the imperfect SIC coefficient,the worse the outage performance of weak users.Compared with pure OFDMA and NOMA,OFDMA-NOMA-RA always maintains an advantage when the imperfect SIC coefficient is less than a specific value.

High-efficiently doping nitrogen in kapok fiber-derived hard carbon used as anode materials for boosting rate performance of sodium-ion batteries

The engineering of plant-based precursor for nitrogen doping has become one of the most promising strategies to enhance rate capability of hard carbon materials for sodium-ion batteries;however,the poor rate performance is mainly caused by lack of pyridine nitrogen,which often tends to escape because of high temperature in preparation process of hard carbon.In this paper,a high-rate kapok fiber-derived hard carbon is fabricated by cross-linking carboxyl group in 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid with the exposed hydroxyl group on alkalized kapok with assistance of zinc chloride.Specially,a high nitrogen doping content of 4.24%is achieved,most of which are pyridine nitrogen;this is crucial for improving the defect sites and electronic conductivity of hard carbon.The optimized carbon with feature of high nitrogen content,abundant functional groups,degree of disorder,and large layer spacing exhibits high capacity of 401.7 mAh g^(−1)at a current density of 0.05 A g^(−1),and more importantly,good rate performance,for example,even at the current density of 2 A g^(−1),a specific capacity of 159.5 mAh g^(−1)can be obtained.These findings make plant-based hard carbon a promising candidate for commercial application of sodium-ion batteries,achieving high-rate performance with the enhanced pre-cross-linking interaction between plant precursors and dopants to optimize aromatization process by auxiliary pyrolysis.

Effect of external magnetic field on the instability of THz plasma waves in nanoscale graphene field-effect transistors

The instability of plasma waves in the channel of field-effect transistors will cause the electromagnetic waves with THz frequency.Based on a self-consistent quantum hydrodynamic model,the instability of THz plasmas waves in the channel of graphene field-effect transistors has been investigated with external magnetic field and quantum effects.We analyzed the influence of weak magnetic fields,quantum effects,device size,and temperature on the instability of plasma waves under asymmetric boundary conditions numerically.The results show that the magnetic fields,quantum effects,and the thickness of the dielectric layer between the gate and the channel can increase the radiation frequency.Additionally,we observed that increase in temperature leads to a decrease in both oscillation frequency and instability increment.The numerical results and accompanying images obtained from our simulations provide support for the above conclusions.

Lift-Off Effect of Koch and Circular Differential Pickup Eddy Current Probes

A flexible or planar eddy current probe with a differential structure can suppress the lift-off noise during the inspection of defects.However,the extent of the lift-off effect on differential probes,including different coil structures,varies.In this study,two planar eddy current probes with differential pickup structures and the same size,Koch and circular probes,were used to compare lift-off effects.The eddy current distributions of the probes perturbed by 0°and 90°cracks were obtained by finite element analysis.The analysis results show that the 90°crack can impede the eddy current induced by the Koch probe even further at relatively low lift-off distance.The peak-to-peak values of the signal output from the two probes were compared at different lift-off distances using finite element analysis and experimental methods.In addition,the effects of different frequencies on the lift-off were studied experimentally.The results show that the signal peak-to-peak value of the Koch probe for the inspection of cracks in 90°orientation is larger than that of the circular probe when the lift-off distance is smaller than 1.2 mm.In addition,the influence of the lift-off distance on the peak-to-peak signal value of the two probes was studied via normalization.This indicates that the influence becomes more evident with an increase in excitation frequency.This research discloses the lift-off effect of differential planar eddy current probes with different coil shapes and proves the detection merit of the Koch probe for 90°cracks at low lift-off distances.

Effects of individual heterogeneity on social contagions

Despite having significant effects on social contagions,individual heterogeneity has frequently been overlooked in earlier studies.To better understand the complexity of social contagions,a non-Markovian model incorporating heterogeneous social influence and adoption thresholds is introduced.For theoretical analysis,a generalized edge-based compartmental theory which considers the heterogeneities of social influence and adoption thresholds is developed.Focusing on the final adoption size,the critical propagation probability,and the phase transition type,social contagions for adoption thresholds that follow normal distributions with various standard deviations,follow various distributions,and correlate with degrees are investigated.When thresholds follow normal distributions,a larger standard deviation results in a larger final adoption size when the information propagation probability is relatively low.However,when the information propagation probability is relatively high,a larger standard deviation results in a smaller final adoption size.When thresholds follow various distributions,crossover phenomena in phase transition are observed when investigating the relationship of the final adoption size versus the average adoption threshold for some threshold distributions.When thresholds are correlated with degrees,similar crossover phenomena occur when investigating the relationship of the final adoption size versus the degree correlation index.Additionally,we find that increasing the heterogeneity of social influence suppresses the effects of adoption threshold heterogeneity on social contagions in three cases.Our theory predictions agree well with the simulation results.

Exploration of the coupled lattice Boltzmann model based on a multiphase field model:A study of the solid-liquid-gas interaction mechanism in the solidification process

A multiphase field model coupled with a lattice Boltzmann(PF-LBM)model is proposed to simulate the distribution mechanism of bubbles and solutes at the solid-liquid interface,the interaction between dendrites and bubbles,and the effects of different temperatures,anisotropic strengths and tilting angles on the solidified organization of the SCN-0.24wt.%butanedinitrile alloy during the solidification process.The model adopts a multiphase field model to simulate the growth of dendrites,calculates the growth motions of dendrites based on the interfacial solute equilibrium;and adopts a lattice Boltzmann model(LBM)based on the Shan-Chen multiphase flow to simulate the growth and motions of bubbles in the liquid phase,which includes the interaction between solid-liquid-gas phases.The simulation results show that during the directional growth of columnar dendrites,bubbles first precipitate out slowly at the very bottom of the dendrites,and then rise up due to the different solid-liquid densities and pressure differences.The bubbles will interact with the dendrite in the process of flow migration,such as extrusion,overflow,fusion and disappearance.In the case of wide gaps in the dendrite channels,bubbles will fuse to form larger irregular bubbles,and in the case of dense channels,bubbles will deform due to the extrusion of dendrites.In the simulated region,as the dendrites converge and diverge,the bubbles precipitate out of the dendrites by compression and diffusion,which also causes physical phenomena such as fusion and spillage of the bubbles.These results reveal the physical mechanisms of bubble nucleation,growth and kinematic evolution during solidification and interaction with dendrite growth.

Extraction and recycling technologies of cobalt from primary and secondary resources:A comprehensive review

Cobalt has excellent electrochemical,magnetic,and heat properties.As a strategic resource,it has been applied in many hightech products.However,the recent rapid growth of the battery industry has substantially depleted cobalt resources,leading to a crisis of cobalt resource supply.The paper examines cobalt ore reserves and distribution,and the recent development and consumption of cobalt resources are summarized as well.In addition,the principles,advantages and disadvantages,and research status of various methods are discussed comprehensively.It can be concluded that the use of diverse sources(Cu-Co ores,Ni-Co ores,zinc plant residues,and waste cobalt products)for cobalt production should be enhanced to meet developmental requirements.Furthermore,in recovery technology,the pyro-hydrometallurgical process employs pyrometallurgy as the pretreatment to modify the phase structure of cobalt minerals,enhancing its recovery in the hydrometallurgical stage and facilitating high-purity cobalt production.Consequently,it represents a promising technology for future cobalt recovery.Lastly,based on the above conclusions,the prospects for cobalt are assessed regarding cobalt ore processing and sustainable cobalt recycling,for which further study should be conducted.

Numerical Simulation of Wet Particles Motion in a Vertical Powder Dryer

In this study,the motion of wet particles in the drying unit of a vertical powder dryer is investigated by using a Discrete element method(DEM)coupled with a liquid bridge force.In particular,by varying parameters such as the particle mass flow rates,the superficial gas velocities,and superficial gas temperatures,the influence of the moisture content on the flow behavior is examined.The results show that when the moisture content increases,the mean particle velocity decreases while the bed mean solid“holdup”and the mean residence time(MRT)of particles grow.It is also found that the local solid holdup is relatively higher in the near-wall region and decreases towards the near-fluid region.Two regression models are introduced accordingly for the mean particle velocity and the bed mean solid holdup by means of the RSM-BBD(Response surface methodology-Box-Behnken design)method to obtain the optimal combination of parameters for flooding prevention.Finally,the optimal results are compared with numerical observations.As the relative error is less than 10%,this demonstrates that the proposed methodology can accurately describe the particle flow dynamics in the drying unit.

Frost Resistance of Pervious Concrete Mixed with Waste Glass Powder

The contents of waste glass powder(WGP)(0%,10%,15%,20%,25%)and water-binder ratio(W/C)(0.24,0.26,0.28)were used as influencing factors,and the quality loss rate(Δm)and compressive strength loss rate(Δfc)were used as characterization parameters.The Ca/Si ratio and main element contents of C-S-H gels with different WGP content were investigated by energy dispersive spectrometry(EDS).The pore structure evolution characteristics of WGP composite cementing materials were investigated by low field nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR).UsingΔfc as the index of frost resistance degradation and Weibull function,the frost resistance degradation of glass doped pervious concrete(WGP-PC)was modeled.The results show that,with WGP,for the same number of cycles,Δm andΔfc decrease and increase with the increase of WGP.Under the same WGP content,Δm andΔfc decrease first and then increase with the increase of W/C.After 100 freeze-thaw cycles,the samples with WGP content of 20%and W/C of 0.26 have the best freeze-resistance.Microscopic tests show that with the increase of WGP content,the Ca/Si ratio of C-S-H gel decreases at first and then increases with the increase of WGP content.The extreme value of Ca/Si is 2.36 when WGP is added by 20%.The pore volume of hardened paste with 20%WGP content decreased by 18.6%compared with that of cement system without WGP.The overall compactness of the specimen was improved.On the basis of the test data,a life prediction model was established according to Weibull function.The experiment showed thatΔfc could be used as a durability degradation index,and the slope of the reliability curve became gentle after WGP was added,which reduced the damage degradation rate of PC.W/C was 0.26.It's about 5000 hours.

A Blockchain and CP-ABE Based Access Control Scheme with Fine-Grained Revocation of Attributes in Cloud Health

The Access control scheme is an effective method to protect user data privacy.The access control scheme based on blockchain and ciphertext policy attribute encryption(CP–ABE)can solve the problems of single—point of failure and lack of trust in the centralized system.However,it also brings new problems to the health information in the cloud storage environment,such as attribute leakage,low consensus efficiency,complex permission updates,and so on.This paper proposes an access control scheme with fine-grained attribute revocation,keyword search,and traceability of the attribute private key distribution process.Blockchain technology tracks the authorization of attribute private keys.The credit scoring method improves the Raft protocol in consensus efficiency.Besides,the interplanetary file system(IPFS)addresses the capacity deficit of blockchain.Under the premise of hiding policy,the research proposes a fine-grained access control method based on users,user attributes,and file structure.It optimizes the data-sharing mode.At the same time,Proxy Re-Encryption(PRE)technology is used to update the access rights.The proposed scheme proved to be secure.Comparative analysis and experimental results show that the proposed scheme has higher efficiency and more functions.It can meet the needs of medical institutions.

Effects of Using Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Tailings as Lightweight Aggregate on the Mechanical Properties of Specified Density Concrete

Municipal solid waste incineration tailings were used as lightweight aggregate(MSWIT-LA)in the preparation of specified density concrete to study the effects on compressive strength,axial compressive strength,flexural strength,microhardness,total number of pores,pore area,and pore spacing.The results showed that the internal curing and morphological effects induced by an appropriate quantity of MSWIT-LA improved the compressive response of specified density concrete specimens,whereas an excessive quantity of MSWIT-LA significantly reduced their mechanical properties.An analysis of pore structure indicated that the addition of MSWIT-LA increased the total quantity of pores and promoted cement hydration,resulting in a denser microstructure than that of ordinary concrete.The results of a principal component analysis showed that the mechanical response of specified density concrete prepared with 25%MSWIT-LA was superior to that of an equivalent ordinary concrete.It was therefore concluded that MSWIT-LA can be feasibly applied to achieve excellent specified density concrete properties while utilising municipal solid waste incineration tailings to protect the environment and alleviate shortages of sand and gravel resources.

Optimization of a Pipeline-Type Savonius Hydraulic Turbine

This study focuses on a DN50 pipeline-type Savonius hydraulic turbine.The torque variation of the turbine in a rotation cycle is analyzed theoretically in the framework of the plane potential flow theory.Related numerical simulations show that the change in turbine torque is consistent with the theoretical analysis,with the main power zone and the secondary power zone exhibiting a positive torque.In contrast,the primary resistance zone and the secondary resistance zone are characterized by a negative torque.Analytical relationships between the turbine’s internal flow angleθ,the deflector’s inclination angleα0,and the coverage angleαof the power zone are introduced,and a method for calculating the optimal number of blades is proposed to maximize the power zone.Results are presented about performance tests conducted on five groups of hydraulic turbines with the blade number ranging from 3 to 7.Such results indicate that both the turbine’s recovery power and efficiency attain the highest values when the blade number is 4,which is in agreement with the number of blades calculated by the proposed method.Additionally,the study examines the effects of the flow rate on turbine parameters and the projected energy generation and cost savings for a specific pipeline configuration.

Dynamics and synchronization of neural models with memristive membranes under energy coupling

Dynamical modeling of neural systems plays an important role in explaining and predicting some features of biophysical mechanisms.The electrophysiological environment inside and outside of the nerve cell is different.Due to the continuous and periodical properties of electromagnetic fields in the cell during its operation,electronic components involving two capacitors and a memristor are effective in mimicking these physical features.In this paper,a neural circuit is reconstructed by two capacitors connected by a memristor with periodical mem-conductance.It is found that the memristive neural circuit can present abundant firing patterns without stimulus.The Hamilton energy function is deduced using the Helmholtz theorem.Further,a neuronal network consisting of memristive neurons is proposed by introducing energy coupling.The controllability and flexibility of parameters give the model the ability to describe the dynamics and synchronization behavior of the system.

Research on the Stability Analysis Method of DC Microgrid Based on Bifurcation and Strobe Theory

During the operation of a DC microgrid,the nonlinearity and low damping characteristics of the DC bus make it prone to oscillatory instability.In this paper,we first establish a discrete nonlinear system dynamic model of a DC microgrid,study the effects of the converter sag coefficient,input voltage,and load resistance on the microgrid stability,and reveal the oscillation mechanism of a DC microgrid caused by a single source.Then,a DC microgrid stability analysis method based on the combination of bifurcation and strobe is used to analyze how the aforementioned parameters influence the oscillation characteristics of the system.Finally,the stability region of the system is obtained by the Jacobi matrix eigenvalue method.Grid simulation verifies the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Effect of Mn content on microstructure and properties of AlCrCuFeMnx high-entropy alloy

AlCrCuFeMnx(x=0,0.5,1,1.5,and 2)high-entropy alloys were prepared using the vacuum arc melting technology.The microstructure and mechanical properties of AlCrCuFeMnxwere analyzed and tested by XRD,SEM,TEM,nanoindentation,and electronic universal testing.The results indicate that the AlCrCuFeMnxhigh-entropy alloy exhibits a dendritic structure,consisting of dendrites with a BCC structure,interdendrite regions with an FCC structure,and precipitates with an ordered BCC structure that form within the dendrite.Manganese(Mn)has a strong affinity for dendritic,interdendritic,and precipitate structures,allowing it to easily enter these areas.With an increase in Mn content,the size of the precipitated nanoparticles in the dendritic region initially increases and then decreases.Similarly,the area fraction initially decreases and then increases.Additionally,the alloy’s strength and wear resistance decrease,while its plasticity increases.The Al Cr Cu Fe Mn1.5alloy boasts excellent mechanical properties,including a hardness of 360 HV and a wear rate of 2.4×10^(-5)mm^(3)·N^(-1)·mm^(-1).It also exhibits impressive yield strength,compressive strength,and deformation rates of 960 MPa,1,700 MPa,and 27.5%,respectively.

A Numerical Study on the Effect of the Backflow Hole Position on the Performances of a Self-Priming Pump

A self-priming pump is a centrifugal pump that has the ability to prime itself. Typically, its performance dependson the configuration of its reflux hole. In this study, the ANSYS FLUENT software is used to investigate the effectsof three different radial positions of the reflux hole on gas-liquid two-phase distribution, pressure pulsation, andimp during self-priming. The research results indicate that: (1) The effective channel size for the reflux liquid toenter the volute varies depending on the location of the reflux hole. The effect of the impeller rotation on thereflux liquid becomes more obvious as the setting distance of the reflux aperture decreases. (2) The position ofthe reflux hole significantly affects the gas phase mass fraction inside the impeller, resulting in a significant reductionin the time it takes for the mass fraction to exceed 80%. (3) The position of the reflux hole significantly affectsthe average pressure on each monitoring surface. (4) Placing the reflux hole at a excessively distant radial distancecan result in an excessive vertical component. (5) The self-priming performance of the pump can be improved tosome extent by placing the return hole at a small radial distance.