Numerical Analysis of Moisture Influential Depth in Concrete and Its Application in Durability Design

Determining the moisture influential depth in concrete under drying-wetting cycles is of great interest for investigation of chloride ion transport and thus the initiation of reinforcement corrosion. In this paper, the moisture transport processes during drying and wetting are modeled by diffusion and absorption. A predictor-corrector implicit scheme of finite difference method is used to solve the partial differential equations. The stability of moisture influential depth is then analyzed with the available numerical tool for both initially saturate and unsaturated concretes. The concept of equilibrium time ratio is proposed for drying-wetting cycles by the balance between water loss and intake during drying and wetting. According to this time ratio, drying-wetting cycles are classified into drying-dominated, wetting-dominated, and equilibrium ones. For drying-dominated cycles, the drying front will penetrate gradually into material while the influential depth is determined by wetting; for wetting-dominated cycles, the wetting front will progress into material while the influential depth is determined by drying. This classification has strong engineering implication and can give a more rational division of convection and diffusion zones of chloride ion transport. The case of concrete in marine splash zone is investigated to illustrate the application of influential depth in durability design of concrete structures.     

Packaging Bags with the Function of Micro-environment Modification

Three kinds of packaging bags composited with barrier film and moisture absorbents were designed in order to find out how to create an internal micro-environment with low 02 content and relative humidity （RH）. Peanuts with different moisture contents were filled into packaging bags and stored in an environmental chamber for a certain period of time. An RH recorder was sealed in each bag and the RH inside the bag was recorded. The moisture contents of peanuts before and after storage were measured as well. It is found that peanuts with moisture content of 13 % can reduce 02 content inside the bag by the aerobic respiration, achieving the self modified atmosphere packaging （ MAP ） effect. A micro- environment with lower RH can be created by using super-absorbent fiber （SAF） or mineral bag as the moisture absorbent. The moisture contents of peanuts stored in the bags with SAF and mineral bag as moisture absorbent decreased from 13% to 10.5% and 11.3%, respectively. SAF is a promising material of packaging bags composited with barrier film, in which a low RH and high CO2 content can be created.     

Characteristic of Soil Hydro.Physical Properties and Water Dynamics under Different Vegetation Restoration Types

By combining the observation of the soil profile at field and the chemical and physical analysis in laboratory, a study on the hydro-physical properties of soil in six different vegetation types and the dynamics of water content after rain was conducted in Wanchanggou, Guangyuan City to find out the vegetation types with effective water-conservation functions in order to serve the ecological restoration in the low hill heavy rain area upper the Jialing River. Results showed that., the hydro-physical properties of soil in the mixed Alnus crernastogyne and Cupressua Leyland forest （AcCl） were best. But in the depth of 0-20 cm. The properties of soil in the abandoned cropland （Fm） was better than that in the AcCl. The soil bulk densities varied significantly between the layers of 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm in all the six vegetation types except that in the Robinia pseudoacacia shrub forest （RpII）, and the changes of the maximum and the capillary moisture capacity between layers were significant only in the Fm and in the AcCl. Of these stands, the AcCl had the shortest water-absorbing period and the strongest moisture changes in the upper layer （0-15 cm）. In the same stand, the deeper the soil layer, the slighter the soil moisture varied, and the longer the soil moisture accumulating process lasted.     

Building a high-resolution regional climate model for the Heihe River Basin and simulating precipitation over this region

Based on the Regional Integrated Environmental Model System （RIEMS 2.0） developed by START TEA-COM RRC and Department of Atmospheric Science of Nanjing University, a dataset of observation and remote sensing over the Heihe River Basin （HRB） was used to recalibrate the model＇s parameters, including topography elevation, land cover type, saturated soil water po- tential, saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, field moisture capacity, wilting point moisture, soil porosity, and parameter b of soil hydraulic conductivity, to build a high-resolution regional climate model for the HRB. Continuous simulation for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2000 was conducted using the regional climate model, with NCEP-FNL reanalysis data as the driving fields. The study focused on the ability of the model to simulate precipitation in the HRB. The analysis results showed the following： （1） For precipitation, the model could reproduce well the spatial pattern and seasonal cycle in different regions of the HRB, simulated precipitation was overestimated in the upper reaches of the HRB and underestimated in the lower reaches of the HRB, and seasonal precipitation biases were mostly in the range of -39.9%-9.6% of observations, which is mostly consistent with the IPCC report （2001）. （2） The model could reproduce reasonably temporal evolution of pentad precipitation in different regions. Correlation coefficients between the simulated and observed pentad precipitation were 0.8123, 0.5064, and 0.7033 in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the HRB, respectively. They reached a significance level of 1%. （3） Dynamical downscaling of a high-resolution regional climate model was used to overcome the deficiency of long-term, high-temporal/spatial-resolution meteorological dataset in the HRB, and to drive directly the integrated model that coupled ecological-hydrological and socioeco- nomic processes in the HRB.     

Movement scope of strata based on fuzzy BP neural network in underground metal mines

A prediction method of strata movement in underground metal mines is put forward, in which fuzzy BP neural network is applied. The results show that there is a strong nonlinear relation between the selected factors and strata movement angle, the anticipant and the actual output results are very similar. It is proved that the numerical value of movement angle is correlated with the selected factors in theory. The scope of strata and surface movement due to mining can be predicted. This research provides a thought to study the movement scope of strata due to mining.     

The salt accumulation at the shifting aeolian sandy soil surface with high salinity groundwater drip irrigation in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert

The EC analysis and water serial sampling was performed in the Tarim Desert Highway shelterbelt to explore the water and salt dynamics of the shallow aeolian sandy soil ( 0-30cm) under high salinity groundwater drip irrigation. It was found that in one irrigation cycle, the EC of the shallow shifting aeolian sandy soil ( 0-30cm) increased while the water content decreased. The EC of the surface aeolian sandy soil at the wetting front was far greater than that of the wetting area or the outside of the wetting area. During the irrigation cycle, the EC of the wetting front and the wetting area changed at a significant magnitude, whereas the EC of the outside of the wetting area remained largely steady. The horizontal influence distance of drip irrigation on the salt accumulation at the soil surface was about 100 cm, and the vertical influence depth was 5 cm. The three most abundant ions in the accumulated salt at the aeolian sandy soil surface were Na+, Cl- and SO42-. The salt accumulation at the soil surface was influenced by air temperature, wind speed, mineralization of irrigation water, sand burial thickness, soil texture, and litter content.     

The spring soil moisture and the summer rainfall in eastern China

The relation between the soil moisture in spring and the rainfall in summer in eastern China is investi- gated. Results show that the summer rainfall in eastern China is closely related to the spring soil moisture in the area from North China to the lower reaches of Yangtze River (NCYR). When spring soil moisture anomalies over NCYR are positive, the summer precipitation exhibits positive anomalies in Northeast China and the lower reaches of Yangtze River, and negative anomalies in southern China and North China. The higher soil moisture over NCYR cools land surface and reduces the land-sea tem- perature gradient, which weakens East Asian summer monsoon. The western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) is located to the south and shifts westward, resulting in more rainfall in the lower reaches of Yangtze River and less in southern China and North China.     

Numerical Analysis of Moisture Influential Depth in Concrete During Drying-Wetting Cycles

The influential depth of moisture transport in a concrete surface subject to drying-wetting cycles was analyzed numerically. The moisture transport was described by a diffusion model with different diffusivities for drying and wetting. A finite difference scheme was developed to solve the partial differential equations The influential depth was then investigated numerically for initially saturated and unsaturated concretes exposed to drying-wetting actions in marine environments using an equilibrium time ratio concept. The equilibrium time ratio was calculated numerically for a saturated condition and the moisture influential depth is shown to be a linear function of the square root of the drying time. However, this equilibrium time ratio does not exist for an unsaturated condition and the moisture influential depth depends on the initial saturation as well as the drying-wetting time ratio. The results indicate that this model gives more realistic predictions of moisture transport of in situ structural concrete and its durability.     

The dynamics variation of soil moisture of shelterbelts along the Tarim Desert Highway

We studied the variation of soil moisture as well as its regularity over the irrigation cycle at shelterbelts along the Tarim Desert Highway at different site types and different planting years. The results show that: (1) There is an obvious temporal variation of soil moisture within a typical irrigation period in shelterbelts along the Tarim Desert Highway, and the soil water storage varied linearly with the number of days after irrigation. Along the direction perpendicular to the soil top, the soil profile can be divided into four layers and each shows different dynamics of soil moisture variation, including the quickly changing layer (0—20 cm), the active layer (20—60 cm), the weakly layer (60—100 cm), and the regulated layer (under 100 cm). (2) Both the soil moisture and soil water content decreased gradually with the number of planting year, while the soil water deficit increased. It indicates that shelterbelts along the Tarim Desert Highway can retain the water accumulated from previous years. (3) The soil water storage of harden sand is the maximum among all types of sites. Specifically, it is about 1.58 times higher than that of longitudinal dune, 1.15 times higher than clay, and 1.43 times higher than flat sand. Its soil water deficit was over 900 mm.     

A new method to dynamically simulate groundwater table in land surface model VIC

Soil moisture plays an important role in water and energy balance in land-atmospheric interaction, but is impacted directly by the groundwater table. Dynamic variation of the groundwater table can be described mathematically by a moving boundary problem. In this paper, the moving boundary problem is reduced to a fixed boundary problem through a coordinate transformation. A new model of groundwater table simulation is developed using the mass-lumped finite element method and is coupled with the land surface model of Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC). The simulation results show that the new model not only can simulate the groundwater table dynamically, but also can evade the choice of water table depth scale in computation with a low computation cost.     

Exploitation of Locality for Energy Efficiency for Breadth First Search in Fine-Grain Execution Models

In the upcoming exa-scale era, the exploitation of data locality in parallel programs is very important because it benefits both program performance and energy efficiency. However, this is a hard topic for graph algorithms such as the Breadth First Search （BFS） due to the irregular data access patterns. This study analyzes the exploitation of data locality in the BFS and its impact on the energy efficiency with the Codelet fine-grain dataflow-inspired execution model. The Codelet Model more efficiently exploits data locality than the OpenMP-like execution models which traditionally focus on coarse-grain parallelism inside loops. A BFS algorithm is then given to exploit the locality between two loop iterations that belong to two different loops （inter-loop locality）. This kind of locality can be exploited by the Codelet Model but not by traditional coarse-grain execution models like OpenMR Tests were performed on fsim which is a simulation platform developed by Intel for the Ubiquitous High Performance Computing （UHPC） project to design future exa-scale architectures. The results show that this BFS algorithm saves up to 7% of the dynamic energy for memory accesses compared to a BFS implementation based on OpenMP loop scheduling.     

Experimental research of overburden movement and subsurface water seeping in shallow seam mining

Shallow seam coal field has the largest coal reserve in China. Mining in shallow depth causes serious problems, and subsurface dewatering is a major issue. In this paper, the physical simulating models were prepared to study overburden movement and aquiclude stability in the shallow seam mining of Yushuwan Coalfield, China. According to the characteristic of clay aquiclude and bedrock in the overburden, the proper simulation materials for simulating the plastic clay aquiclude layers and brittle bedrock layers were determined by the stress-strain tests and hydrophilic tests. The physical simulating models of solid medium and two phases of solid-liquid medium were carried out to simulate the failure and caving process of the roof and overburden, as well as the subsurface water seeping. Based on the simulation, it was found that the movement of clay aquiclude follows the movement of the underlying bedrock layers. The stability of aquiclude is mainly affected by cracks in fracture zone. The tests also showed that the best way to control the stability of aquiclude is to reduce the subsiding gradient, and there is a possibility of ground water conservation under longwall mining in Yushuwan Mine. This research provides a foundation for further study on mining dewatering and water conservation.     

Physiological response of natural plants to the change of groundwater level in the lower reaches of Tarim River, Xinjiang

Based on the analysis of the three-year (2000-2002) monitoring data of the four times intermittent stream water conveyance to the lower reaches of Tarim River where the stream flow was dried up for more than 30 years and the measurement of PRO, SOD and POD in plants collected from 24 vegetation plots, it is concluded that the stream water conveyance plays an important role in lifting groundwater level. The groundwater nearby the watercourse was raised from 5～8 m in depth before the stream water conveyance to 2.5～5 m after stream water conveyance. The physiological response of Phragmites communis, Tamarix spp. And Populus euphratica to the change of groundwater is sensitive and represents a grads change obviously. The growth of the plants in the lower reaches of Tarim River is stressed by drought to various degrees. Lengthways, the drought stress exposed to the plants increases with groundwater depth from the upper sections to the lower sections; and breadthwise, the drought stress exposed to the plants is increased with the increase of distance away from the river channel of stream intermittent water releases and of the groundwater depth. Combining the field investigation and the analysis of the plots, it is considered that the stress groundwater depths for the Phragmites communis, Tamarix spp. And Populus euphratica are 3.5 m, 5 m and 4.5 m respectively.     

Factors affecting runoff change in the upper reaches of the Yellow River

The formation and change of runoff are affected by many factors including both natural and human activities. This paper studies the effect of solar activity, ocean-atmospheric interactivity and underlaying surface on runoff change in the upper reaches of the Yellow River using the historical runoff data from the Lanzhou hydrological station. The relationship of relative sunspot number and runoff change is shown to be a positive correlation with the grey correlation and cross spectrum method. The impact of El Nino and La Nina events on high-low runoff change is analyzed statistically, and the impact of soil and water conservation on runoff change is also investigated with the double mass curve method.     

Theoretical analysis of the limiting rate of phreatic evaporation for aeolian sandy soil in Taklimakan Desert

Phreatic evaporation is a great lose for shallow groundwater in the Taklimakan Desert. Given soil type and groundwater table, the limiting rate of phreatic evaporation is defined as the maximum of water transferred from groundwater to soil surface per unit time, which is a key parameter and control condition for phreatic evaporation model developing. The soil water characteristic curve for the aeolian sandy soil in the Taklimakan Desert was fitted with the least square method based on the formula of soil moisture characteristics curve proposed by Van Genuchten, using observed soil moisture and soil water suction data. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity was determined by the instantaneous profile method in situ and the calculation formula for unsaturated hydraulic conductivity was established. According to the steady flow theory, the quasi-analytical solution of limiting rate of phreatic evaporation was derived on the basis of generalization of the formula of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. The results show that the soil moisture characteristics in the Taklimakan Desert can be well described by Van Genuchten’s formula, and the limiting rate of phreatic evaporation declines by power function with the descending of groundwater table.     

Water Transport Models of Moisture Absorption and Sweat Discharge Yarns

An important property of moisture absorption and sweat discharge yarns is their water transport property. In the paper, two water transport models of moisture absorption and sweat discharge yarns were developed to investigate the influence factors on their wicking rate. In parallel Column Pores Model, wicking rate is determined by the equivalent capillary radius R and length of the capillary tube L. In Pellets Accumulation Model, wicking rate is decided by the capillary radius r and length of the fiber unit assemble L0.     

Indian monsoon influences altitude effect of δ~(18)O in precipitation/river water on the Tibetan Plateau

The δ^18O variation in precipitation acquired from 28 stations within the network of Tibetan Observation and Research Platform （TORP） is studied, with the focus on the altitude effect of δ^18O in river water during monsoon precipitation in an effort to understand the monsoon influence on isotopic composition in annual river water. It is found that δ^18O in precipitation on the Plateau is influenced by different moisture sources, with significant Indian monsoon influence on δ^18O composition in plateau precipitation and river water. The δ^18O of water bodies in the monsoon domain is generally more depleted than that in the westerly domain, suggesting gradual rainout of southwesterly borne marine moisture in the course of long-distance transportation and lifting over the Himalayas. The lapse rate of δ^18O in river water with altitude is the largest during monsoon precipitation, due to the increased temperature vertical gradient over the southern Plateau region controlled by monsoon circulation. The combination of δ^18O in river water in monsoon （wet） and non-monsoon （dry） seasons shows a larger lapse rate than that in non-monsoon （dry） season alone. As the altitude effect of δ^18O in precipitation and river water on the Tibetan Plateau results from the combined effect of monsoon moisture supply and westerly moisture supply, the δ^18O composition and its altitude effect on the Plateau during monsoon seasons should be considered in the reconstruction of paleoelevation of the Tibetan Plateau.     

Biporous nanocarbon foams and the effect of the structure on the capillary performance

Biporous nanocarbon foams (NC foams) which have both nano-pores and micro-pores,were fabricated and used to explore the liquid transportation in the porous structures formed by nanomaterials.Scanning electron microscopy was utilized to observe the structure of the NC foams.Capillary rise tests using acetone as the working fluid were conducted by the IR thermal imaging method.The results show that the capillary rise height of the NC foam with 65μm micro-pore size was 47%higher than that with 9μm micro-pore size in 50 s.The capillary performance of the NC foams was reduced when its density was higher than 60 mg/cm~3.A model is built to illustrate the effect of both nano-structure and micro-structure on the transportation of working fluid in the biporous foam.The data indicates that the nano-structure generated high capillary pressure while the microstructure provided low resistant pathways for fast liquid transportation.The size of micro-pores and the ratio of micro-pores to nano-pores were two important factors.It is demonstrated that the NC foams had large sorption capacity up to 878 mg/cm~3and their capillary performance was further enhanced when using a substrate.     

Influence of Bionic Non-smooth Surface on Water Flow in Antiskid Tire Tread Pattern

Inspired by the idea that bionic non-smooth surfaces （BNSS） can reduce water flow resistance,the application of BNSS resistance reduction method in grooves surface of antiskid tire tread pattern has been investigated for increasing hydroplaning velocity of tire by using computational fluid dynamics （CFD） simulation.Three kinds of BNSS （riblet,convex dome,and dimple concave） are arranged in tire tread grooves to study the water flow resistance effects in grooves with non-smooth characteristics.A tire-water coupled model is established and CFD technique is applied to simulating hydroplaning.The simulation results show that BNSS grooves can reduce water flow resistance and increase mean flow rate by disturbing the eddy movement in boundary layers.The drag forces of riblet and dimple surface are lower and drainage capacity is higher than those of smooth surface under the same void space on tread pattern,but it is not in dome.BNSS is a good way to promote antiskid performance without increasing additional groove space;extra tire-road noise production is therefore avoided due to groove space enlargement.