Development of accurate, robust liquid equations of state for multi-phase CFD simulations with a modified AUSM+-up scheme

Eight equations of state (EOS) have been evaluated for the simulation of compressible liquid water properties, based on empirical correlations, the principle of corresponding states and thermodynamic relations. The IAPWS-IF97 EOS for water was employed as the reference case. These EOSs were coupled to a modified AUSM+-up convective flux solver to determine flow profiles for three test cases of differing flow conditions. The impact of the non-viscous interaction term discretisation scheme, interfacial pressure method and selection of low-Mach number diffusion were also compared. It was shown that a consistent discretisation scheme using the AUSM+-up solver for both the convective flux and the non-viscous interfacial term demonstrated both robustness and accuracy whilst facilitating a computationally cheaper solution than discretisation of the interfacial term independently by a central scheme. The simple empirical correlations gave excellent results in comparison to the reference IAPWS-IF97 EOS and were recommended for developmental work involving water as a cheaper and more accurate EOS than the more commonly used stiffened-gas model. The correlations based on the principles of corresponding-states and the modified Peng-Robinson cubic EOS also demonstrated a high degree of accuracy, which is promising for future work with generic fluids. Further work will encompass extension of the solver to multiple dimensions and to account for other source terms such as surface tension, along with the incorporation of phase changes. © 2013.

水华蓝藻产毒特性的PCR检测法

特异引物对（ＴＯＸ　１Ｐ／１Ｆ；ＴＯＸ　２Ｐ／２Ｆ）用于检测微囊藻毒素合成酶基因ｍｃｙＢ片段在３８种水华蓝藻中的分布情况。结果显示，所有能产生微囊藻毒素的微囊藻都有特异扩增条带，非产毒株则没有。几种常规的毒性检测方法验证了ＰＣＲ方法所获结果的准确性。本研究发展了以全细胞ＰＣＲ法检测ｍｃｙＢ片断，说明全细胞ＰＣＲ检测法适用于不同来源的蓝藻材料。结果证明以ＤＮＡ为基础鉴别产毒和非产毒微囊藻及其他水华蓝藻的方法是可行和实用的。

Open cycle thorium–uranium-fuelled nuclear energy systems

The potential for countries that currently have a nominal nuclear energy infrastructure to adopt thorium–uranium-fuelled nuclear energy systems, using a once-through ‘open’ nuclear fuel cycle, has been suggested by the International Atomic Energy Agency. This review paper highlights generation II, III and III+ nuclear energy technologies that could potentially adopt an open thorium–uranium fuel cycle and qualitatively highlights the main differences between the open thorium–uranium and open uranium fuel cycles.

稀有鮈鲫产卵频次和卵子发育的研究

对室养条件下20尾雌性稀有　鲫的产卵频次、成熟卵巢卵径分布及卵子补充过程进行了研究。产卵间隔中卵径分布呈现不同的峰值，卵母细胞成熟是分批的，Ⅴ期卵巢中MA、RE卵母细胞的数量代表了即将进行的一次产卵的产卵量；卵子补充速度快，成熟卵巢每隔数天可发育成熟一批卵，一级贮备库在12─33d即更新一次，不同发育时期卵母细胞的补充是连续的。对273批　产卵进行了统计，每尾雌鱼平均4．5d产卵一次，平均批产卵量265．6粒。稀有　鲫的产卵类型为连续产卵类型。

Geomembrane containment walls for liquefaction remediation

Ground improvement techniques can be adopted to prevent existing buildings built on liquefiable soils sustaining damage in future earthquakes. Impermeable geomembrane containment walls may be an economic and successful technique but their design and performance are currently not well defined or well understood for this application. This paper describes centrifuge testing carried out to investigate the performance of such containment walls as a liquefaction remediation method for a single degree of freedom frame structure. The results were compared with those from similar centrifuge testing carried out with the same structure founded on unimproved sand, to assess the effectiveness of the remediation method. It was found that the geomembrane containment walls tested were effective at reducing structural settlement and did not significantly increase the accelerations transmitted to the structure. Structural settlements were reduced primarily by mobilising hoop stress and preventing lateral soil movement. By preventing surface drainage, a decrease in the volume change of the foundation sand was also observed. In addition, the impermeability of the walls may be important as this prevented rapid migration of pore water fromthe free field to the foundation region.

人生长激素和转移的人生长激素基因对去垂体鱼的生长代偿效应

通过显微注射技术,将小鼠重金属螯合蛋白(MT-1)基因启动顺序与人生长激素基因顺序的重组体pMThGH注入鲤鱼(Cyprinus carpio)的受精卵内,由此发育的转基因鱼及其后代F1和F2均显示出快速生长效应。去垂体后,转基因鲤鱼F2持续生长,而非转基因鲤鱼和鲫鱼(Carassius auratus)的生长停止。给去垂体的鲫鱼腹腔注射生物合成的人生长激素(hGH),可恢复其生长。实验结果表明,转基因鱼体内表达和体外生物合成的hGH均能代偿鲤鱼和鲫鱼的内源生长激素并刺激去垂体鱼的生长。

The influence of room geometry on the overturning of smoke owing to a floor fire

The present paper explores the influence of room geometry on the overturning of smoke owing to a centrally located floor fire, and examines the implications on smoke filling times. The focus is on presenting practical design guidelines based on the theoretical predictions of the model of Kaye and Hunt. An engineering platform is developed for the prediction of smoke filling times, and a rational basis is provided by way of which smoke behaviour can be specified for simple room designs. The time taken for smoke to fill a room to a given height is critically affected by the room aspect ratio and the characteristic size of the buoyancy source. At large times, taller (small aspect ratio) rooms are shown to fill with smoke at a faster rate than wide (large aspect ratio) rooms owing to large-scale overturning and engulfing of ambient air during the initial transients. Larger area sources of buoyancy also decrease significantly the smoke filling times, with important implications for fire and smoke safety design. Simplified design curves incorporating the main findings have been developed for use as a tool by practising fire-safety engineers.

Remediation against floatation of underground structures

Underground structures located in liquefiable soil deposits are susceptible to floatation following an earthquake event due to their lower unit weight relative to the surrounding saturated soil. Centrifuge tests have been carried out to assess the effectiveness of existing remediation techniques in reducing the uplift of underground structures, namely in situ densification and the use of coarse sand backfill. The centrifuge test results showed that these methods do reduce the uplift displacement of buoyant structures. Their performance was thereafter linked to the theoretical mechanism of floatation of underground structures. Based on the understanding from preceding tests, a further improvement on the use of the coarse sand backfill was carried out, which produced a greater reduction in the uplift displacement of the structure. Each of these techniques, however, does pose issues when applied in the field, such as possible damage to surrounding structures, construction issues and maintenance problems.

Risk-based approaches to sustainability in civil engineering

Infrastructure project sustainability assessment typically entails the use of specialised assessment tools to measure and rate project performance against a set of criteria. This paper looks beyond the prevailing approaches to sustainability assessments and explores sustainability principles in terms of project risks and opportunities. Taking a risk management approach to applying sustainability concepts to projects has the potential to reconceptualise decision structures for sustainability from bespoke assessments to becoming a standard part of the project decisionmaking process. By integrating issues of sustainability into project risk management for project planning, design and construction, sustainability is considered within a more traditional business and engineering language. Currently, there is no widely practised approach for objectively considering the environmental and social context of projects alongside the more traditional project risk assessments of time, cost and quality. A risk-based approach would not solve all the issues associated with existing sustainability assessments but it would place sustainability concerns alongside other key risks and opportunities, integrating sustainability with other project decisions.

Shear transfer across a diagonal crack in reinforced concrete strengthened with externally bonded FRP fabric

Aging concrete infrastructure in developed economies and more recently constructed concrete infrastructure in the developing world are frequently found to be deficient in structural strength relative to current needs. This can be attributed to a variety of factors including deterioration, construction defects, accidental damage, changes in understanding and failure to design for future loading requirements. Strengthening existing concrete structures can be a cost and carbon effective alternative to replacement. A competitive option for the strengthening of concrete slab-on-beam structures that are deficient in shear capacity is the U-wrapping of the down-stand beam portion of the shear span with externally bonded FRP fabric. While guidance exists for the strengthening of reinforced concrete by U-wrapping, the interaction between internal steel reinforcement, concrete and external FRP in the presence of a dominant diagonal shear crack is not well understood. An approach adopted in previous work has been to explore this interaction through conventional push-off testing. In conventional push-off testing, unlike in a beam, the shear plane is parallel to the direction of loading and perpendicular to the principal fibre orientation. This paper presents a novel push-off test variation in which the shear plane is inclined at 45° to the direction of loading and the principal fibre orientation. A variety of reinforcement ratios, FRP thicknesses and FRP end conditions are modelled. The implications of inclined cracking on debonding of FRP are investigated. The suitability and relevance of inclined push-off tests for further work in this area is also assessed. © 2013, NetComposite Limited.

Multi-frequency operation of a mems vibration energy harvester by accessing five orders of parametric resonance

The mechanical amplification effect of parametric resonance has the potential to outperform direct resonance by over an order of magnitude in terms of power output. However, the excitation must first overcome the damping-dependent initiation threshold amplitude prior to accessing this more profitable region. In addition to activating the principal (1st order) parametric resonance at twice the natural frequency ω0, higher orders of parametric resonance may be accessed when the excitation frequency is in the vicinity of 2ω0/n for integer n. Together with the passive design approaches previously developed to reduce the initiation threshold to access the principal parametric resonance, vacuum packaging (< 10 torr) is employed to further reduce the threshold and unveil the higher orders. A vacuum packaged MEMS electrostatic harvester (0.278 mm3) exhibited 4 and 5 parametric resonance peaks at room pressure and vacuum respectively when scanned up to 10 g. At 5.1 ms-2, a peak power output of 20.8 nW and 166 nW is recorded for direct and principal parametric resonance respectively at atmospheric pressure; while a peak power output of 60.9 nW and 324 nW is observed for the respective resonant peaks in vacuum. Additionally, unlike direct resonance, the operational frequency bandwidth of parametric resonance broadens with lower damping. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.