Uniaxial experimental study of the acoustic emission and deformation behavior of composite rock based on 3D digital image correlation (DIC)

In this paper, uniaxial compression tests were carried out on a series of composite rock specimens with different dip angles, which were made from two types of rock-like material with different strength. The acoustic emission technique was used to monitor the acoustic signal characteristics of composite rock specimens during the entire loading process. At the same time, an optical non-contact 3 D digital image correlation technique was used to study the evolution of axial strain field and the maximal strain field before and after the peak strength at different stress levels during the loading process. The effect of bedding plane inclination on the deformation and strength during uniaxial loading was analyzed. The methods of solving the elastic constants of hard and weak rock were described. The damage evolution process, deformation and failure mechanism, and failure mode during uniaxial loading were fully determined. The experimental results show that the θ = 0?–45?specimens had obvious plastic deformation during loading, and the brittleness of the θ = 60?–90?specimens gradually increased during the loading process. When the anisotropic angle θincreased from 0?to 90?, the peak strength, peak strain,and apparent elastic modulus all decreased initially and then increased. The failure mode of the composite rock specimen during uniaxial loading can be divided into three categories:tensile fracture across the discontinuities(θ = 0?–30?), slid-ing failure along the discontinuities(θ = 45?–75?), and tensile-split along the discontinuities(θ = 90?). The axial strain of the weak and hard rock layers in the composite rock specimen during the loading process was significantly different from that of the θ = 0?–45?specimens and was almost the same as that of the θ = 60?–90?specimens. As for the strain localization highlighted in the maximum principal strain field, the θ = 0?–30?specimens appeared in the rock matrix approximately parallel to the loading direction,while in the θ = 45?–90?specimens it appeared at the hard and weak rock layer interface.     

Bifurcations of a creeping air–water flow in a conical container

This numerical study describes the eddy emergence and transformations in a slow steady axisymmetric air–water flow, driven by a rotating top disk in a vertical conical container. As water height \(H_{\mathrm{w}}\) and cone half-angle \(\beta \) vary, numerous flow metamorphoses occur. They are investigated for \(\beta =30^{\circ }, 45^{\circ }\), and \(60^{\circ }\). For small \(H_{\mathrm{w}}\), the air flow is multi-cellular with clockwise meridional circulation near the disk. The air flow becomes one cellular as \(H_{\mathrm{w}}\) exceeds a threshold depending on \(\beta \). For all \(\beta \), the water flow has an unbounded number of eddies whose size and strength diminish as the cone apex is approached. As the water level becomes close to the disk, the outmost water eddy with clockwise meridional circulation expands, reaches the interface, and induces a thin layer with anticlockwise circulation in the air. Then this layer expands and occupies the entire air domain. The physical reasons for the flow transformations are provided. The results are of fundamental interest and can be relevant for aerial bioreactors.     

Macro and micro mechanics behavior of granite after heat treatment by cluster model in particle flow code

In this paper, a cluster model in particle flow code was used to simulate granite specimens after heat treatment under uniaxial compression. The results demonstrated that micro-cracks are randomly distributed in the specimen when the temperature is below 300?C, and have partial coalescence when the temperature is up to 450?C, then form macro-cracks when the temperature is above 600?C. There is more inter-granular cracking than intra-granular cracking, and their ratio increases with increasing temperature.The micro-cracks are almost constant when the temperature decreases from 900?C to room temperature, except for quartz α–β phase transition temperature(573?C). The fracture evolution process is obviously affected by these cracks, especially at 600–900?C. Elevated temperature leads to easily developed displacement between the grains, and the capacity to store strain energy becomes weaker, corresponding to the plasticity of granite after heat treatment.     

Delayed detached eddy simulations of fighter aircraft at high angle of attack

The massively separated flows over a realistic aircraft configuration at 40?, 50?, and 60?angles of attack are studied using the delayed detached eddy simulation(DDES).The calculations are carried out at experimental conditions corresponding to a mean aerodynamic chord-based Reynolds number of 8.93 × 10~5 and Mach number of 0.088. The influence of the grid size is investigated using two grids, 20.0×10~6cells and 31.0 × 10~6 cells. At the selected conditions, the lift,drag, and pitching moment from DDES predictions agree with the experimental data better than that from the Reynoldsaveraged Navier–Stokes. The effect of angle of attack on the flow structure over the general aircraft is also studied, and it is found that the dominated frequency associated with the vortex shedding process decreases with increasing angle of attack.     

On the Justification of Viscoelastic Elliptic Membrane Shell Equations

We consider a family of linearly viscoelastic shells with thickness \(2\varepsilon\), clamped along their entire lateral face, all having the same middle surface \(S=\boldsymbol{\theta}(\bar{\omega})\subset \mathbb{R}^{3}\), where \(\omega\subset\mathbb{R}^{2}\) is a bounded and connected open set with a Lipschitz-continuous boundary \(\gamma\). We make an essential geometrical assumption on the middle surface \(S\), which is satisfied if \(\gamma\) and \(\boldsymbol{\theta}\) are smooth enough and \(S\) is uniformly elliptic. We show that, if the applied body force density is \(O(1)\) with respect to \(\varepsilon\) and surface tractions density is \(O(\varepsilon)\), the solution of the scaled variational problem in curvilinear coordinates, \(\boldsymbol{u}( \varepsilon)\), defined over the fixed domain \(\varOmega=\omega\times (-1,1)\) for each \(t\in[0,T]\), converges to a limit \(\boldsymbol{u}\) with \(u_{\alpha}(\varepsilon)\rightarrow u_{\alpha}\) in \(W^{1,2}(0,T,H ^{1}(\varOmega))\) and \(u_{3}(\varepsilon)\rightarrow u_{3}\) in \(W^{1,2}(0,T,L^{2}(\varOmega))\) as \(\varepsilon\to0\). Moreover, we prove that this limit is independent of the transverse variable. Furthermore, the average \(\bar{\boldsymbol{u}}= \frac{1}{2}\int_{-1}^{1} \boldsymbol{u}dx_{3}\), which belongs to the space \(W^{1,2}(0,T, V_{M}( \omega))\), where

$$V_{M}(\omega)=H^{1}_{0}(\omega)\times H^{1}_{0}(\omega)\times L ^{2}(\omega), $$

satisfies what we have identified as (scaled) two-dimensional equations of a viscoelastic membrane elliptic shell, which includes a long-term memory that takes into account previous deformations. We finally provide convergence results which justify those equations.

     

On the Fiber Stretch in Shearing Deformations of Fibrous Soft Materials

The behavior of the fiber stretch in simple shear of soft materials fiber-reinforced with a single family of oriented parallel fibers is examined. The analysis is purely kinematical and the results are valid for both compressible and incompressible materials. It is shown that for a given amount of shear, for all fiber orientation angles in the range \(0 < \theta < \pi /4\), the fiber stretch increases with increasing \(\theta\) whereas in the range \(\pi /4 < \theta < \pi /2\), this is no longer the case and there is a particular fiber orientation for which the fiber stretch is a maximum. For a particular amount of shear corresponding to a special angle of shear (a “magic” angle of \(35.26^{\circ}\)), the fiber-orientation angle at which the fiber stretch is a maximum is its geometric complement namely a magic angle of \(54.74^{\circ}\). The results are also valid for torsion of a circular cylinder reinforced with a single family of helically wound fibers.     

Glimpses of Flow Development and Degradation During Type B Drag Reduction by Aqueous Solutions of Polyacrylamide B1120

Flow development and degradation during Type B turbulent drag reduction by 0.10 to 10 wppm solutions of a partially-hydrolysed polyacrylamide B1120 of MW \(=\) 18x10⁶ was studied in a smooth pipe of ID \(=\) 4.60 mm and L/D \(=\) 210 at Reynolds numbers from 10000 to 80000 and wall shear stresses Tw from 8 to 600 Pa. B1120 solutions exhibited facets of a Type B ladder, including segments roughly parallel to, but displaced upward from, the P-K line; those that attained asymptotic maximum drag reduction at low Re√ f but departed downwards into the polymeric regime at a higher retro-onset Re√ f; and segments at MDR for all Re√ f. Axial flow enhancement profiles of S\(^{\prime }\) vs L/D reflected a superposition of flow development and polymer degradation effects, the former increasing and the latter diminishing S\(^{\prime }\) with increasing distance downstream. Solutions that induced normalized flow enhancements S\(^{\prime }\)/S\(^{\prime }_{\mathrm {m}} <\) 0.4 developed akin to solvent, with L_e,p/D \(=\) L_e,n/D \(<\) 42.3, while those at maximum drag reduction showed entrance lengths L_e,m/D \(\sim \) 117, roughly 3 times the solvent L_e,n/D. Degradation kinetics were inferred by first detecting a falloff point (Re√f^∧, S\(^{{\prime }\wedge }\)), of maximum observed flow enhancement, for each polymer solution. A plot of S\(^{{\prime }\wedge }\)vs C revealed S\(^{{\prime }\wedge }\)linear in C at low C, with lower bound [S\(^{\prime }\)] \(=\) 5.0 wppm^??1, and S\(^{{\prime }\wedge }\) independent of C at high C, with upper bound S\(^{\prime }_{\mathrm {m}} =\) 15.9. The ratio S\(^{\prime }\)/S\(^{{\prime }\wedge }\) in any pipe section was interpreted to be the undegraded fraction of original polymer therein. Semi-log plots of (S\(^{\prime }\)/S\(^{{\prime }\wedge }\)) at a section vs transit time from pipe entrance thereto revealed first order kinetics, from which apparent degradation rate constants k_deg s^??1 and entrance severities ?ln(S\(^{\prime }\)/S\(^{{\prime }\wedge }\))₀ were extracted. At constant C, k_deg increased linearly with increasing wall shear stress Tw, and at constant Tw, k_deg was independent of C, providing a B1120 degradation modulus (k_deg/Tw) \(=\) (0.012 \(\pm \) 0.001) (Pa s)^??1 for 8 \(<\) Tw Pa \(<\) 600, 0.30 \(<\) C wppm \(<\) 10. Entrance severities were negligible below a threshold Twe \(\sim \) 30 Pa and increased linearly with increasing Tw for Tw \(>\) Twe. The foregoing methods were applied to Type A drag reduction by 0.10 to 10 wppm solutions of a polyethyleneoxide PEO P309, MW \(=\) 11x10⁶, in a smooth pipe of ID \(=\) 7.77 mm and L/D \(=\) 220 at Re from 4000 to 115000. P309 solutions that induced S\(^{\prime }\)/S\(^{\prime }_{\mathrm {m}} <\) 0.4 developed akin to solvent, with L_e,p/D \(=\) L_e,n/D \(<\) 23, while those at MDR had entrance lengths L_e,m/D \(\sim \) 93, roughly 4 times the solvent L_e,n/D. P309 solutions described a Type A fan distorted by polymer degradation. A typical trajectory departed the P-K line at an onset point Re√ f* followed by ascending and descending polymeric regime segments separated by a falloff point Re√f^∧, of maximum flow enhancement; for all P309 solutions, onset Re√ f* = 550 \(\pm \) 100 and falloff Re√f^∧ = 2550 \(\pm \) 250, the interval between them delineating Type A drag reduction unaffected by degradation. A plot of falloff S\(^{{\prime }\wedge }\) vs C for PEO P309 solutions bore a striking resemblance to the analogous S\(^{{\prime }\wedge }\) vs C plot for solutions of PAMH B1120, indicating that the initial Type A drag reduction by P309 after onset at Re√ f* had evolved to Type B drag reduction by falloff at Re√f^∧. Presuming that Type B behaviour persisted past falloff permitted inference of P309 degradation kinetics; k_deg was found to increase linearly with increasing Tw at constant C and was independent of C at constant Tw, providing a P309 degradation modulus (k_deg/Tw) \(=\) (0.011 \(\pm \) 0.002) (Pa s)^??1 for 4 \(<\) Tw Pa \(<\) 400, 0.10 \(<\) C wppm < 5.0. Comparisons between the present degradation kinetics and previous literature showed (k_deg/Tw) data from laboratory pipes of D \(\sim \) 0.01 m to lie on a simple extension of (k_deg/Tw) data from pipelines of D \(\sim \) 0.1 m and 1.0 m, along a power-law relation (k_deg/Tw) \(=\) 10^??5.4.D^??1.6. Intrinsic slips derived from PAMH B1120 and PEO P309-at-falloff experiments were compared with previous examples from Type B drag reduction by polymers with vinylic and glycosidic backbones, showing: (i) For a given polymer, [S\(^{\prime }\)] was independent of Re√ f and pipe ID, implying insensitivity to both micro- and macro-scales of turbulence; and (ii) [S\(^{\prime }\)] increased linearly with increasing polymer chain contour length Lc, the proportionality constant \(\beta =\) 0.053 \(\pm \) 0.036 enabling estimation of flow enhancement S\(^{\prime } =\) C.Lc.β for all Type B drag reduction by polymers.     

Characterization for elastic constants of fused deposition modelling-fabricated materials based on the virtual fields method and digital image correlation

Fused deposition modelling (FDM), a widely used rapid prototyping process, is a promising technique in manufacturing engineering. In this work, a method for characterizing elastic constants of FDM-fabricated materials is proposed. First of all, according to the manufacturing process of FDM, orthotropic constitutive model is used to describe the mechanical behavior. Then the virtual fields method (VFM) is applied to characterize all the mechanical parameters \((Q_{11}\), \(Q_{22}\), \(Q_{12}\), \(Q_{66})\) using the full-field strain, which is measured by digital image correlation (DIC). Since the principal axis of the FDM-fabricated structure is sometimes unknown due to the complexity of the manufacturing process, a disk in diametrical compression is used as the load configuration so that the loading angle can be changed conveniently. To verify the feasibility of the proposed method, finite element method (FEM) simulation is conducted to obtain the strain field of the disk. The simulation results show that higher accuracy can be achieved when the loading angle is close to \(30^{\circ }\). Finally, a disk fabricated by FDM was used for the experiment. By rotating the disk, several tests with different loading angles were conducted. To determine the position of the principal axis in each test, two groups of parameters \((Q_{11}\), \(Q_{22}\), \(Q_{12}\), \(Q_{66})\) are calculated by two different groups of virtual fields. Then the corresponding loading angle can be determined by minimizing the deviation between two groups of the parameters. After that, the four constants \((Q_{11}\), \(Q_{22}\), \(Q_{12}\), \(Q_{66})\) were determined from the test with an angle of \(27^{\circ }\).     

Further Dense Properties of the Space of Circle Diffeomorphisms with a Liouville Rotation Number

In continuation of Matsumoto’s paper (Nonlinearity 25:1495–1511, 2012) we show that various subspaces are \(C^{\infty }\)-dense in the space of orientation-preserving \(C^{\infty }\)-diffeomorphisms of the circle with rotation number \(\alpha \), where \(\alpha \in {\mathbb {S}}^1\) is any prescribed Liouville number. In particular, for every odometer \({\mathcal {O}}\) of product type we prove the denseness of the subspace of diffeomorphisms which are orbit-equivalent to \({\mathcal {O}}\).     

Displacement and Dissolution Characteristics of CO$$_{}$$/Brine System in Unconsolidated Porous Media

This study investigated the dynamic displacement and dissolution of \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) in porous media at 313 K and 6/8 MPa. Gaseous (\(\hbox {gCO}_{2}\)) at 6 MPa and supercritical \(\hbox {CO}_{2 }(\hbox {scCO}_{2}) \) at 8 MPa were injected downward into a glass bead pack at different flow rates, following upwards brine injection. The processes occurring during \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) drainage and brine imbibition were visualized using magnetic resonance imaging. The drainage flow fronts were strongly influenced by the flow rates, resulting in different gas distributions. However, brine imbibition proceeded as a vertical compacted front due to the strong effect of gravity. Additionally, the effects of flow rate on distribution and saturation were analyzed. Then, the front movement of \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) dissolution was visualized along different paths after imbibition. The determined \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) concentrations implied that little \(\hbox {scCO}_{2}\) dissolved in brine after imbibition. The dissolution rate was from \(10^{-8}\) to \(10^{-9}\, \hbox {kg}\, \hbox {m}^{-3} \, \hbox {s}^{-1}\) and from \(10^{-6}\) to \(10^{-8}\, \hbox {kg}\, \hbox {m}^{-3} \, \hbox {s}^{-1}\) for \(\hbox {gCO}_{2}\) at 6 MPa and \(\hbox {scCO}_{2 }\) at 8 MPa, respectively. The total time for the \(\hbox {scCO}_{2}\) dissolution was short, indicating fast mass transfer between the \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) and brine. Injection of \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) under supercritical conditions resulted in a quick establishment of a steady state with high storage safety.     

Multi-frame visualization for detonation wave diffraction

When a detonation wave emerges from a tube into unconfined space filled with a gas mixture, detonation wave diffraction occurs due to abrupt changes in the cross-sectional area. In the present study, we focused on the local explosion in reinitiation and propagation of a transverse detonation wave by performing comprehensive and direct observation with high time resolution visualization in a two-dimensional rectangular channel. Using the visualization methods of shadowgraph and multi-frame, short-time, open-shutter photography, we determined where the wall reflection point is generated, and also determined where the bright point is originated by the local explosion, and investigated the effects of the deviation angle and initial pressure of the gas mixture. We found that the reinitiation of detonation had two modes that were determined by the deviation angle of the channel. If the deviation angle was less than or equal to 30\(^{\circ }\), the local explosion of reinitiation might occur in the vicinity of the channel wall, and if the deviation angle was greater than or equal to 60\(^{\circ }\), the local explosion might originate on the upper side of the tube exit. With a deviation angle greater than 60\(^{\circ }\), the position of the wall reflection point depended on the cell width, so the radial distance of the wall reflection point from the apex of the tube exit was about 12 times the cell width. Similarly, the bright point (local explosion point) was located a distance of about 11 times the cell width from the apex of the tube exit, with a circumferential angle of 48\(^{\circ }\).     

Long-time Dynamics of Resonant Weakly Nonlinear CGL Equations

Consider a weakly nonlinear CGL equation on the torus \(\mathbb {T}^d\):

$$\begin{aligned} u_t+i\Delta u=\epsilon [\mu (-1)^{m-1}\Delta ^{m} u+b|u|^{2p}u+ ic|u|^{2q}u]. \end{aligned}$$

(*)

Here \(u=u(t,x)\), \(x\in \mathbb {T}^d\), \(0<\epsilon <<1\), \(\mu \geqslant 0\), \(b,c\in \mathbb {R}\) and \(m,p,q\in \mathbb {N}\). Define \(I(u)=(I_{\mathbf {k}},\mathbf {k}\in \mathbb {Z}^d)\), where \(I_{\mathbf {k}}=v_{\mathbf {k}}\bar{v}_{\mathbf {k}}/2\) and \(v_{\mathbf {k}}\), \(\mathbf {k}\in \mathbb {Z}^d\), are the Fourier coefficients of the function \(u\) we give. Assume that the equation \((*)\) is well posed on time intervals of order \(\epsilon ^{-1}\) and its solutions have there a-priori bounds, independent of the small parameter. Let \(u(t,x)\) solve the equation \((*)\). If \(\epsilon \) is small enough, then for \(t\lesssim {\epsilon ^{-1}}\), the quantity \(I(u(t,x))\) can be well described by solutions of an effective equation:

$$\begin{aligned} u_t=\epsilon [\mu (-1)^{m-1}\Delta ^m u+ F(u)], \end{aligned}$$

where the term \(F(u)\) can be constructed through a kind of resonant averaging of the nonlinearity \(b|u|^{2p}+ ic|u|^{2q}u\).

     

Comparative Study of Five Outcrop Chalks Flooded at Reservoir Conditions: Chemo-mechanical Behaviour and Profiles of Compositional Alteration

This study presents experimental results from a flooding test series performed at reservoir conditions for five high-porosity Cretaceous onshore chalks from Denmark, Belgium and the USA, analogous to North Sea reservoir chalk. The chalks are studied in regard to their chemo-mechanical behaviour when performing tri-axial compaction tests while injecting brines (0.219 mol/L \(\hbox {MgCl}_{2}\) or 0.657 mol/L NaCl) at reservoir conditions for 2–3 months (T = 130 \(^\circ \hbox {C}\); 1 PV/d). Each chalk type was examined in terms of its mineralogical and chemical composition before and after the mechanical flooding tests, using an extensive set of analysis methods, to evaluate the chalk- and brine-dependent chemical alterations. All \(\hbox {MgCl}_{2}\)-flooded cores showed precipitation of Mg-bearing minerals (mainly magnesite). The distribution of newly formed Mg-bearing minerals appears to be chalk-dependent with varying peaks of enrichment. The chalk samples from Aalborg originally contained abundant opal-CT, which was dissolved with both NaCl and \(\hbox {MgCl}_{2}\) and partly re-precipitated as Si-Mg-bearing minerals. The Aalborg core injected with \(\hbox {MgCl}_{2}\) indicated strongly increased specific surface area (from 4.9 \(\hbox {m}^{2}\hbox {/g}\) to within 7–9 \(\hbox {m}^{2}\hbox {/g}\)). Mineral precipitation effects were negligible in chalk samples flooded with NaCl compared to \(\hbox {MgCl}_{2}\). Silicates were the main mineralogical impurity in the studied chalk samples (0.3–6 wt%). The cores with higher \(\hbox {SiO}_{2}\) content showed less deformation when injecting NaCl brine, but more compaction when injecting \(\hbox {MgCl}_{2}\)-brine. The observations were successfully interpreted by mathematical geochemical modelling which suggests that the re-precipitation of Si-bearing minerals leads to enhanced calcite dissolution and mass loss (as seen experimentally) explaining the high compaction seen in \(\hbox {MgCl}_{2}\)-flooded Aalborg chalk. Our work demonstrates that the original mineralogy, together with the newly formed minerals, can control the chemo-mechanical interactions during flooding and should be taken into account when predicting reservoir behaviour from laboratory studies. This study improves the understanding of complex flow reaction mechanisms also relevant for field-scale dynamics seen during brine injection.     

The role of angular momentum in the laminar motion of viscous fluids

In laminar flow, viscous fluids must exert appropriate elastic shear stresses normal to the flow direction. This is a direct consequence of the balance of angular momentum. There is a limit, however, to the maximum elastic shear stress that a fluid can exert. This is the ultimate shear stress, \(\tau _\mathrm{y}\), of the fluid. If this limit is exceeded, laminar flow becomes dynamically incompatible. The ultimate shear stress of a fluid can be determined from experiments on plane Couette flow. For water at \(20\,^{\circ }\hbox {C}\), the data available in the literature indicate a value of \(\tau _\mathrm{y}\) of about \(14.4\times 10^{-3}\, \hbox {Pa}\). This study applies this value to determine the Reynolds numbers at which flowing water reaches its ultimate shear stress in the case of Taylor–Couette flow and circular pipe flow. The Reynolds numbers thus obtained turn out to be reasonably close to those corresponding to the onset of turbulence in the considered flows. This suggests a connection between the limit to laminar flow, on the one hand, and the occurrence of turbulence, on the other.     

Approximation of Flat <Emphasis Type="Italic">W</Emphasis><Superscript>2,2</Superscript> Isometric Immersions by Smooth Ones

Let \({S\subset\mathbb{R}^2}\) be a bounded Lipschitz domain and denote by \({W^{2,2}_{\text{iso}}(S; \mathbb{R}^3)}\) the set of mappings \({u\in W^{2,2}(S;\mathbb{R}^3)}\) which satisfy \({(\nabla u)^T(\nabla u) = Id}\) almost everywhere. Under an additional regularity condition on the boundary \({\partial S}\) (which is satisfied if \({\partial S}\) is piecewise continuously differentiable), we prove that the strong W ^2,2 closure of \({W^{2,2}_{\text{iso}}(S; \mathbb{R}^3)\cap C^{\infty}(\overline{S};\mathbb{R}^3)}\) agrees with \({W^{2,2}_{\text{iso}}(S; \mathbb{R}^3)}\).     

Models of Elastic Shells in Contact with a Rigid Foundation: An Asymptotic Approach

We consider a family of linearly elastic shells with thickness \(2\varepsilon\) (where \(\varepsilon\) is a small parameter). The shells are clamped along a portion of their lateral face, all having the same middle surface \(S\), and may enter in contact with a rigid foundation along the bottom face.We are interested in studying the limit behavior of both the three-dimensional problems, given in curvilinear coordinates, and their solutions (displacements \(\boldsymbol{u}^{\varepsilon}\) of covariant components \(u_{i}^{\varepsilon}\)) when \(\varepsilon\) tends to zero. To do that, we use asymptotic analysis methods. On one hand, we find that if the applied body force density is \(O(1)\) with respect to \(\varepsilon\) and surface tractions density is \(O(\varepsilon)\), a suitable approximation of the variational formulation of the contact problem is a two-dimensional variational inequality which can be identified as the variational formulation of the obstacle problem for an elastic membrane. On the other hand, if the applied body force density is \(O(\varepsilon^{2})\) and surface tractions density is \(O(\varepsilon^{3})\), the corresponding approximation is a different two-dimensional inequality which can be identified as the variational formulation of the obstacle problem for an elastic flexural shell. We finally discuss the existence and uniqueness of solution for the limit two-dimensional variational problems found.     

Topological Pressure of Generic Points for Amenable Group Actions

Let (X, G) be a G-action topological dynamical system (t.d.s. for short), where G is a countably infinite discrete amenable group. In this paper, we study the topological pressure of the sets of generic points. We show that when the system satisfies the almost specification property, for any G-invariant measure \(\mu \) and any continuous map \(\varphi \),

$$\begin{aligned} P\left( X_{\mu },\varphi ,\{F_n\}\right) = h_{\mu }(X)+\int \varphi d\mu , \end{aligned}$$

where \(\{F_n\}\) is a Følner sequence, \(X_{\mu }\) is the set of generic points of \(\mu \) with respect to (w.r.t. for short) \(\{F_n\}\), \(P(X_{\mu },\varphi ,\{F_n\})\) is the topological pressure of \(X_{\mu }\) for \(\varphi \) w.r.t. \(\{F_n\}\) and \(h_{\mu }(X)\) is the measure-theoretic entropy.

     

Insight into Heterogeneity Effects in Methane Hydrate Dissociation via Pore-Scale Modeling

A large number (1253) of high-quality streaming potential coefficient (\(C_\mathrm{sp})\) measurements have been carried out on Berea, Boise, Fontainebleau, and Lochaline sandstones (the latter two including both detrital and authigenic overgrowth forms), as a function of pore fluid salinity (\(C_\mathrm{f})\) and rock microstructure. All samples were saturated with fully equilibrated aqueous solutions of NaCl (10\(^{-5}\) and 4.5 mol/dm\(^{3})\) upon which accurate measurements of their electrical conductivity and pH were taken. These \(C_\mathrm{sp}\) measurements represent about a fivefold increase in streaming potential data available in the literature, are consistent with the pre-existing 266 measurements, and have lower experimental uncertainties. The \(C_\mathrm{sp}\) measurements follow a pH-sensitive power law behaviour with respect to \(C_\mathrm{f}\) at medium salinities (\(C_\mathrm{sp} =-\,1.44\times 10^{-9} C_\mathrm{f}^{-\,1.127} \), units: V/Pa and mol/dm\(^{3})\) and show the effect of rock microstructure on the low salinity \(C_\mathrm{sp}\) clearly, producing a smaller decrease in \(C_\mathrm{sp}\) per decade reduction in \(C_\mathrm{f}\) for samples with (i) lower porosity, (ii) larger cementation exponents, (iii) smaller grain sizes (and hence pore and pore throat sizes), and (iv) larger surface conduction. The \(C_\mathrm{sp}\) measurements include 313 made at \(C_\mathrm{f} > 1\) mol/dm\(^{3}\), which confirm the limiting high salinity \(C_\mathrm{sp}\) behaviour noted by Vinogradov et al., which has been ascribed to the attainment of maximum charge density in the electrical double layer occurring when the Debye length approximates to the size of the hydrated metal ion. The zeta potential (\(\zeta \)) was calculated from each \(C_\mathrm{sp}\) measurement. It was found that \(\zeta \) is highly sensitive to pH but not sensitive to rock microstructure. It exhibits a pH-dependent logarithmic behaviour with respect to \(C_\mathrm{f}\) at low to medium salinities (\(\zeta =0.01133 \log _{10} \left( {C_\mathrm{f} } \right) +0.003505\), units: V and mol/dm\(^{3})\) and a limiting zeta potential (zeta potential offset) at high salinities of \({\zeta }_\mathrm{o} = -\,17.36\pm 5.11\) mV in the pH range 6–8, which is also pH dependent. The sensitivity of both \(C_\mathrm{sp}\) and \(\zeta \) to pH and of \(C_\mathrm{sp}\) to rock microstructure indicates that \(C_\mathrm{sp}\) and \(\zeta \) measurements can only be interpreted together with accurate and equilibrated measurements of pore fluid conductivity and pH and supporting microstructural and surface conduction measurements for each sample.