The effect of inclined soil layers on surface vibration from underground railways using a semi-analytical approach

Ground vibration due to underground railways is a significant source of disturbance for people living or working near the subways. The numerical models used to predict vibration levels have inherent uncertainty which must be understood to give confidence in the predictions. A semi-analytical approach is developed herein to investigate the effect of soil layering on the surface vibration of a halfspace where both soil properties and layer inclination angles are varied. The study suggests that both material properties and inclination angle of the layers have significant effect ( ± 10dB) on the surface vibration response. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.

A detailed chemistry multi-cycle simulation of a gasoline fueled HCCI engine operated with NVO

A previously developed Stochastic Reactor Model (SRM) is used to simulate combustion in a four cylinder in-line four-stroke naturally aspirated direct injection Spark Ignition (SI) engine modified to run in Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) mode with a Negative Valve Overlap (NVO). A portion of the fuel is injected during NVO to increase the cylinder temperature and enable HCCI combustion at a compression ratio of 12:1. The model is coupled with GT-Power, a one-dimensional engine simulation tool used for the open valve portion of the engine cycle. The SRM is used to model in-cylinder mixing, heat transfer and chemistry during the NVO and main combustion. Direct injection is simulated during NVO in order to predict heat release and internal Exhaust Gas Recycle (EGR) composition and mass. The NOx emissions and simulated pressure profiles match experimental data well, including the cyclic fluctuations. The model predicts combustion characteristics at different fuel split ratios and injection timings. The effect of fuel reforming on ignition timing is investigated along with the causes of cycle to cycle variations and unstable operation. A detailed flux analysis during NVO unearths interesting results regarding the effect of NOx on ignition timing compared with its effect during the main combustion. © 2009 SAE International.

The Influence of Strain Gradient on the shear Band in a Saturated Soil

The dynamic localization of saturated soil is investigated by considering the influence of higher strain gradient. It is shown that the strain gradient has a significant influence on the evolution of shear band in saturated soil and that the width of shear band is proportional to the square root of the strain gradient softening coefficient. The numerical simulation is processed to investigate the influences of shear strain gradient and other factors on the evolution of shear band.

Simulation of Coal Combustion by AUSM Turbulence-Chemistry Char Combustion Model and a Full Two-Fluid Model

An algebraic unified second-order moment (AUSM) turbulence-chemistry model of char combustion is introduced in this paper, to calculate the effect of particle temperature fluctuation on char combustion. The AUSM model is used to simulate gas-particle flows, in coal combustion in a pulverized coal combustor, together with a full two-fluid model for reacting gas-particle flows and coal combustion, including the sub-models as the k-epsilon-k(p) two-phase turbulence niodel, the EBU-Arrhenius volatile and CO combustion model, and the six-flux radiation model. A new method for calculating particle mass flow rate is also used in this model to correct particle outflow rate and mass flow rate for inside sections, which can obey the principle of mass conservation for the particle phase and can also speed up the iterating convergence of the computation procedure effectively. The simulation results indicate that, the AUSM char combustion model is more preferable to the old char combustion model, since the later totally eliminate the influence of particle temperature fluctuation on char combustion rate.

Methane chemistry involved in a low-pressure electron cyclotron wave resonant plasma discharg

A low-pressure methane plasma generated by electron cyclotron wave resonance was characterized in terms of electron temperature, plasma density and composition. Methane plasmas were commonly used in the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous carbon thin films. Little variation in the plasma chemistry was observed by mass spectrometry measurements of the gas phase with increasing electron temperature. The results show that direct electron-impact reactions exert greater influence on the plasma chemistry than secondary ion-neutral reactions.

Numerical study on rainfall infiltration in rock-soil slop

A mathematical model for the rain infiltration in the rock-soil slop has been established and solved by using the finite element method. The unsteady water infiltrating process has been simulated to get water content both in the homogeneous and heterogeneous media. The simulated results show that the rock blocks in the rock-soil slop can cause the wetting front moving fast. If the rain intensity is increased, the saturated region will be formed quickly while other conditions are the same. If the rain intensity keeps a constant, it is possible to accelerate the generation of the saturated region by properly increasing the vertical filtration rate of the rock-soil slop. However, if the vertical filtration rate is so far greater than the rain intensity, it will be difficult to form the saturated region in the rock-soil slop. The numerical method was verified by comparing the calculation results with the field test data.