Thermal Analysis in Examination of Reduction of Blast Furnace Pellets

This paper presents applications of thermal analysis to observe the course of reduction of acidic pellets, metallurgical substances whose reducibility and strength are basic parameters of use in blast furnace processes. Both parameters depend on the mineral composition of the samples. The investigations included determination of the chemical and phase compositions of the initial samples and reduction products. Research was conducted on acidic pellets from Połtawa (Poland), applied in the T. Sendzimir Steelworks (Poland), in comparison with pellets from Brazil, Canada and Lebedyn (Russia). This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Fouling Mitigation in a Heat Exchanger: High Cycles of Concentration for a Cooling-Tower Application

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of a physical water treatment (PWT) technology on fouling mitigation in a simulated cooling tower operating at high cycles of concentration. Hard water was produced by evaporating pure water in a circulating open cooling tower, where dissolved calcium carbonate ions became concentrated with time. Heat transfer tests were conducted in a rectangular channel by varying the cycle of concentration (COC) from 5 to 10, and fouling resistances were measured over 270 hrs for each case with and without the PWT treatment. Another test was conducted with no blowdown case with and without the PWT treatment. The fouling resistance at 5 cycles with the PWT treatment was about 70% less than that in the case without the PWT treatment at the end of 270-hr tests. Even at 10 cycles, the PWT treatment reduced the fouling resistance by 60% from the value for the no treatment case. Thus, one can conclude that the PWT technology can help circulating cooling-tower water at relatively high COC for significant freshwater conservation, while keeping fouling resistances below industry standards.     

A multi-stage financial hedging approach for the procurement of manufacturing materials

This paper addresses the problem of mitigating procurement risk that arises from volatile commodity prices by proposing a hedging strategy within a multi-stage time frame. The proposed multi-stage hedging strategy requires a commodity futures position to be correctly initialised and rebalanced with adequate volumes of short/long positions, so as to reduce the volatility in the total procurement cost that would otherwise be generated by varying commodity spot prices. The novelty in the approach is the introduction of the rebalancing of commodity futures position at defined intermediate stages. To obtain an efficient or near optimal multi-stage hedging strategy, a discrete-time stochastic control model (DSCM) is developed. Numerical experiments and Monte Carlo simulation are used to show that the proposed multi-stage hedging strategy compares favourably with the minimal-variance hedge and the one-stage hedge. A close-form optimal solution is also presented for the case when procurement volume and price are independent.     

Exogenous Sodium Nitroprusside Mitigates Salt Stress in Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) by Affecting the Growth,Yield, and Biochemical Properties

Soil salinity disrupts the physiological and biochemical processes of crop plants and ultimately leads to compromising future food security. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a contributor to nitric oxide (NO), holds the potential to alleviate abiotic stress effects and boost tolerance in plants, whereas less information is available on its role in salt-stressed lentils. We examined the effect of exogenously applied SNP on salt-stressed lentil plants by monitoring plant growth and yield-related attributes, biochemistry of enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD)) amassing of leaf malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Salinity stress was induced by NaCl application at concentrations of 50 mM (moderate salinity) and 100 mM (severe salinity), while it was alleviated by SNP application at concentrations of 50 µM and 100 µM. Salinity stress severely inhibited the length of roots and shoots, the relative water content, and the chlorophyll content of the leaves, the number of branches, pods, seeds, seed yield, and biomass per plant. In addition, MDA, H₂O₂ as well as SOD, CAT, and POD activities were increased with increasing salinity levels. Plants supplemented with SNP (100 µM) showed a significant improvement in the growth- and yield-contributing parameters, especially in plants grown under moderate salinity (50 mM NaCl). Essentially, the application of 100 µM SNP remained effective to rescue lentil plants under moderate salinity by regulating plant growth and biochemical pathways. Thus, the exogenous application of SNP could be developed as a useful strategy for improving the performance of lentil plants in salinity-prone environments.     

爆炸载荷下脆性颗粒体系破碎特性的数值研究

试验发现,以球形TNT为中心爆源,球形玻璃珠构成的颗粒和球壳中发生破碎的颗粒体积分数随当量比(颗粒球壳的质量与TNT炸药的质量比)的增加呈现指数衰减规律。采用有限元与离散元耦合的连续非连续数值方法,揭示了中心炸药起爆后颗粒环壳内爆炸波的传播衰减和在环壳外界面反射后的稀疏卸载过程。由于爆炸波的短脉冲特性,颗粒内部应力场始终处于应力非均衡状态,采用应力均衡状态下颗粒破碎强度的Weibull分布会得到远高于试验测得的破碎颗粒体积分数。因此采用破坏波传播特征时间内的平均诱导应力而非瞬时诱导应力作为颗粒破碎强度的应力指标,并通过试验结果确定破坏波传播特征时间。考虑了应力传播的非均匀性对于颗粒破碎的影响,得到了平均诱导应力峰值的概率分布随比例距离的变化规律,结合修正后的颗粒破碎强度Weibull分布建立了破碎颗粒体积分数随比例距离的变化模型。     

阻尼对空爆荷载等效静载动力系数的影响

为考查阻尼参数对空爆荷载等效静载动力系数的影响,理论推导了空爆荷载下结构等效单自由体系弹塑性位移解及延性比解,设计并计算了阻尼比0.000 1～0.1、延性比1～4的20种典型工况的动力系数,并与现行抗爆设计规范动力系数公式结果进行了对比。结果表明:阻尼比小于0.000 1时可基本代表无阻尼状态,阻尼比0.01的动力系数比无阻尼的最大降低幅度为2.08%,数值差异很小,因此阻尼比为0.01以内时,可忽略阻尼对动力系数的影响;阻尼比0.05的动力系数比无阻尼的降低幅度约9.92%,数值差异较大,认为阻尼比0.05以上时将具有明显的经济效益;现行设计规范动力系数更适用于柔性结构体系,运用于刚性结构抗爆设计时,计算误差较大,对阻尼比较小的结构设计更不利。     

Preparation and characterization of a novel green tea essential oil nanoemulsion and its antifungal mechanism of action against Magnaporthae oryzae

Blast is one of the most devastating fungal diseases of rice caused by Magnaporthe oryzae. Plant essential oil (EO) can function as antifungal agents and are regarded as a safe and acceptable method for plant disease control. However, EOs are unstable and hydrophobic, which limits its use. In the present study, we aimed for the preparation and characterization of a nanoemulsion (NE) from green tea essential oil (GTO) by ultrasonication method and determined the antifungal activity of NE on M. oryzae. The particle size and zeta potential of the NE were 86.98 nm and −15.1 mV, respectively. The chemical composition and functional groups of GTO and NE were studied by using GC–MS analysis, portable Raman spectroscopy, and FTIR coupled with chemometric analysis. GC–MS analysis showed the major components in GTO and NE were n-Hexyl cinnamaldehyde and L-α-Terpineol. Both GTO and NE showed good antioxidant activity and total phenol content. Moreover, the NE showed good antifungal activity against M. oryzae which was further confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination. Also, confocal Raman micro-spectroscopy (CRM) revealed the antifungal mechanism of GTO and NE on M. oryzae which proves the cell damage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on the antifungal activity of GTO and NE against M. oryzae and also the use of CRM for the evaluation of the chemical changes in single fungal hyphae in a holistic approach. This study suggests that the prepared NE could be a potential candidate for use as a substitute for synthetic fungicides.     

爆炸荷载作用下钢筋混凝土梁的动力响应及破坏形态分析

对基于Timoshenko梁理论建立的非线性动力有限元法作了改进。根据压区理论得到混凝土的平均剪应力和平均剪应变关系,建立了能反映箍筋的抗剪作用的材料模型;此外,对结构在爆炸荷载作用下可能出现的各种响应现象进行了描述,以准确地预测梁破坏时不同位置截面上钢筋和混凝土的受力、变形及破坏情况。应用改进的材料模型,对爆炸荷载作用下的五个钢筋混凝土试验梁的动力响应和破坏形态进行了数值模拟,结果表明,该数值方法能较好地模拟钢筋混凝土梁的弯曲、弯剪和剪切等破坏形态。     

控制爆破拆除大型球磨机基础

在选矿车间的狭小范围内,用控爆技术拆除大型构筑物的基础是一大难题。本文针对大型设备基础的爆破实践,简述了复杂环境下控爆拆除方案及使用不同爆破参数和装药结构的设计,并对预裂切割爆破的特点及爆破效果进行了评述。     

抑制损伤发展的CO_2激光修复技术及机理研究

熔石英表面激光损伤发展问题一直制约着激光器的运行通量。采用CO2激光在线熔融修复损伤点,修复后形成一个光滑的高斯坑,去除了损伤点中的裂纹,平滑了凹凸不平的表面,并且在紫外脉冲激光作用下,修复斑再次产生损伤的阈值高于熔石英元件的损伤生长阈值。因此CO2熔融修复技术能有效地抑制损伤发展。通过分析CO2激光作用下熔石英表面的温度分布,讨论修复坑的形成过程,确定激光参数对修复效果的影响,为寻找最佳修复参数提供理论基础。同时利用原子力显微镜(AFM)、轮廓仪细致分析损伤点和修复斑的微细结构,采用有限差分时域方法计算损伤点和修复斑周围的光强分布,探索消除裂纹和平滑表面对抑制损伤生长的作用。