The formation of Fe-carbide phases is relevant to the synthesis of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalysts. We investigated the carburization of Raney Fe as a model catalyst using spectroscopic and temperature-programmed techniques. IR spectroscopy shows that CO dissociation already occurs at −150 °C, while C diffusion into metallic Fe requires much higher temperature (~180 °C). The carburization rate increases with increasing H₂/CO ratio, which can be attributed to the lower overall barrier for O removal as H₂O as compared to CO₂. O removal frees vacancies that are needed for CO dissociation. The resulting higher C coverage increases the driving force for Fe-carbide formation. A higher driving force leads to predominant formation of the more carbon-rich ε(́)-carbide, while χ-Fe₅C₂ is formed at lower H₂/CO ratio. The removal of surface O appears to be the rate-limiting step under all conditions. Initially, most of deposited C is used for Fe-carbide formation with a small contribution to hydrocarbons formation.

@en

Chinese cities have been expanding since the early 1980s under trends of rapid modernization, urbanization and globalization. Since then they have changed dramatically, and have in the process lost many of their traditional environments and spatial characteristics. Urban planners and designers have been and are facing unprecedented challenges in China. They not only have to learn to understand the constantly emerging new urban mechanisms, and seek balance among stakeholders, but they also need to cope with the political pressures and the changing context under often extreme time pressure. In such circumstances, future- and design-oriented analysis based on a ‘designerly’ way of thinking is useful—if not indispensable—for understanding the existing city and deciding on its transformations in a responsible and accountable way that is communicable among designers and with the public. This is especially so, in light of the growing awareness—also in China—of the value and importance of local urban identity, that is always—at least partially—based on history. In this ATLAS the Delft method of historical morphological analysis is applied to the city of Wuhan, valuing the importance of and finding meaning in the local urban identity of a city with a population over 11 million with a floating population of 14 million. The series of maps show the urban development, covering a century and a half.@en

The emission spectra of high color rendering phosphors, mixed with the yttrium aluminium garnet, silicon based oxynitride and nitride based phosphors, were predicted by the Lambert-Beer theory and back propagation neural network (BP NN). Firstly, the modified Lambert-Beer model was used to calculate the proportional coefficient of the emission spectra of the mixed phosphors in ratios. Next, the BP NN was implemented to train and predict the proportional coefficients. Finally, the prediction of the emission spectra of the mixed phosphors was estimated and verified by the experimental measurements. The results show that the prediction error fraction of the proportional coefficients can be controlled within 5%; the predicted emission spectra by BP NN keep high agreement with the experimental measurements with lower RMSE and Δxy as 0.019 and 0.0016, respectively.

@en

For a long time, the development of maritime communication has been restricted by the low data rate, high-latency and high cost of the current communication systems. The upgrade of new generation mobile communication technologies is attracting more and more attention to conduct a shore-based broadband mobile communication network with high-latency and high reliability to serve the maritime industries. This paper presents a solution by means of building a ship-to-infrastructure (S2I) and a ship-to-ship (S2S) wireless communication networks for an offshore region. We characterize the S2I and S2S channels at 5.9 GHz band based on the channel measurements in realistic environments. The channel characteristics, including power delay profile, delay spread, propagation path loss, are extracted and analyzed. In view of the difference between marine and terrestrial communications, we analyze the influencing factors of the offshore water, including effective reflection, divergence and shadowing from the water surface, and diffraction loss caused by the earth curvature. We also predict the power coverage range and the channel capacity for S2I and S2S wireless communications. Finally, the communication performance is evaluated according to the channel measurement and characterization analysis. The research results can be a reference for the construction of maritime communication networks.

@en

Light-emitting diode (LED) arrays have attracted increased attention in the area of high power intelligent automotive headlamps because of their superiority in disposing of the power limit of an individual LED package and controllably luminous intensity and illumination pattern. The optical and chromatic performances of an LED array do not equal to the sum of individual LED packages’ performances, as the thermal interactions between individual LED packages can’t be ignored in the actual application. This paper presents a thermal-electrical-spectral (TES) model to dynamically predict the optical and chromatic performances of the LED array. The thermal-electrical (TE) model considering the thermal coupling effect in the LED array is firstly proposed to predict the case temperature of each individual LED package, and the Spectral power distributions (SPDs) of individual LED package is then decomposed by the extended Asym2sig model to extract the spectral characteristic parameters. Finally, the experimental measurements of the designed LED arrays operated under usage conditions are used to verify the TES model. Some validation case studies show that the prediction accuracy of the proposed TES model, which is expressed as a quadratic polynomial function of current and case temperature, can be achieved higher than 95%. Therefore, it can be concluded that this TES model offers a convenient method with high accuracy to dynamically predict the optical and chromatic performances of LED arrays at real usages.

@en

The inherent luminous characteristics and stability of LED packages during the operation period are highly dependent on their junction temperatures and driving currents. In this paper, the luminous flux of LED packages operated under a wide range of driving currents and junction temperatures are investigated to develop a luminous flux response surface model. The coefficients of the proposed model are further extracted to compare the luminous efficacy decay mechanisms of LED packages with different packaging structures. Furthermore, a spectral power distribution (SPD) method modeled by the Gaussian function is proposed to analyze the long-term degradation mechanisms of all selected LED packages. The results of this study show that: (1) The luminous flux of phosphor converted white LED decreases to accompany with the increase of junction temperature, while that of bare blue LED die keeps relatively stable; (2) The proposed general luminous flux response surface model can be used to predict the luminous flux of LEDs with different packaging technologies accurately, and it can be known from the proposed model that the influences of driving current and temperature on LED chip and phosphor vary with different packaging structures; and (3) The driving current and temperature dependent sensitivities and degradation mechanisms of LED packages can be investigated by using both the luminous flux response surface model and the spectral power distribution method.

@en

With the acceleration of urbanisation in China, land shortage has become a severe problem in metropolises. As the medium and shallow underground space in central urban areas has been developed to a matured or even saturated extent, development of deep underground space (DUS) becomes inevitable. Based on the DUS utilisation planning in Shanghai, the depth classification and the conceptual model of DUS utilisation are discussed. Furthermore, deep geological conditions in Shanghai are described and the corresponding impact on deep foundation pit engineering and shield tunneling are analysed. Finally, a deep sewage tunnel system under construction in Shanghai is introduced as a case study.

@en

The uptake mechanism of heavy metal ions in layered double hydroxides (LDHs) is investigated in this paper via solid-solution exchange experiments and first principle study. The uptake capacities of C-LDHs for heavy metal ions from solutions are experimentally investigated and the structures of LDHs doped with various heavy metal ions are revealed. The doped structures of LDHs are further re-established with first principle calculations. The results show that Cu²⁺ or Cr³⁺ ions are immobilized in the form of isomorphic substitution for Mg²⁺ and Al³⁺ in the plate of the layered structure, respectively, during reconstruction of calcined LDHs, forming a non-stoichiometric structure. The structure of the Cu²⁺ doped LDHs is identified as [Mg²⁺ _{(1−x)(1−z)}Cu²⁺ _(1−x)zAl³⁺ _x(OH)₂] Aⁿ⁻ _x/n·yH₂O, where z is the molar ratio of Cu²⁺ to Mg²⁺. The structure of Cr³⁺ doped LDHs is identified as [Mg²⁺ _1−x Cr³⁺ _xzAl³⁺ _x(1−z)(OH)₂] Aⁿ⁻ _(x+z)/n·yH₂O, where z is the molar ratio of Cr³⁺ to Al³⁺. The Cu²⁺ or Cr³⁺ ions in the hardened cement paste modified with calcined Mg-Al LDHs as immobilizing admixture can be efficiently removed from the pore solution and chemically stabilized in the structure of LDHs.

@en

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) are attracting growing attention in industry because of their enhanced properties. Preforming of thermoset carbon fiber prepregs is one of the most common production techniques of CFRPs. To simulate preforming, several computational methods have been developed. Most of these methods, however, obtain the material properties directly from experiments such as uniaxial tension and bias-extension where the coupling effect between tension and shear is not considered. Neglecting this coupling effect deteriorates the prediction accuracy of simulations. To address this issue, we develop a Bayesian model calibration and material characterization approach in a multiscale finite element preforming simulation framework that utilizes mesoscopic representative volume element (RVE) to account for the tension-shear coupling. A new geometric modeling technique is first proposed to generate the RVE corresponding to the close-packed uncured prepreg. This RVE model is then calibrated with a modular Bayesian approach to estimate the yarn properties, test its potential biases against the experiments, and fit a stress emulator. The predictive capability of this multiscale approach is further demonstrated by employing the stress emulator in the macroscale preforming simulation which shows that this approach can provide accurate predictions.

@en

Chemical deformation (chemical shrinkage/expansion), the absolute volume change during reactions, is a key parameter influencing the volume stability, especially the autogenous deformation of a binder material. This work, for the first time, reports an in-depth investigation on the chemical deformation of metakaolin based geopolymer (MKG). Unlike ordinary Portland cement-based binders with monotonic chemical shrinkage, MKG experiences three stages of chemical deformations: chemical shrinkage in the first stage, chemical expansion afterward and chemical shrinkage again in the final stage. Various experimental techniques (XRD, FTIR and NMR) plus theoretical calculations are applied to explore the mechanisms behind the chemical deformation of MKG. Clear correlations are found between the chemical deformations and the reaction processes during geopolymerization. A conceptual chemical deformation model for geopolymer is summarised. The insights into the chemical deformation provided by this study will play a fundamental role in further understanding, controlling and even utilizing the deformation behaviours of geopolymers.@en

The uptake mechanism of heavy metal ions in Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) is investigated in this paper via solid-solution exchange experiments and first principle study. The structures of heavy metal doped LDHs are revealed with XRD, TEM and solid state NMR analysis combined with first principle calculations. The experimental results show that Cu2+ or Cr3+ ions are immobilized in the form of isomorphic substitution during reconstruction of calcined LDHs, forming a non-stoichiometric structure. The Cu2+ or Cr3+ ions are immobilized via isomorphic substitution for Mg2+ and Al3+ in the plate of the layered structure, respectively. The structure of Cu2+ doped LDHs is identified as as [Mg2+ (1-x)(1- z)Cu2+ (1-x)zAl3+ x(OH)2] Anx/ n·yH2O, where z is the Cu2+/Mg2+ molar ratio. The structure of Cr3+ doped LDHs is identified as [Mg2+ 1-x Cr3+ xzAl3+ x(1-z)(OH)2] An- (x+z)/n·yH2O, where z is the Cr3+/Al3+ molar ratio. The Cu2+ or Cr3+ ions from mixing water can be efficiently immobilized with Mg-Al LDHs in cement.@en

Interaction of tidal flow with a complex topography and bathymetry including headlands, islands, coral reefs and shoals create a rich submesoscale field of tidal jets, vortices, unsteady wakes, lee eddies and free shear layers, all of which impact marine ecology. A unique and detailed view of the submesoscale variability in a part of the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, Australia, that includes a number of small islands was obtained by using a “stereo” pair of 2-m-resolution visible-band images that were acquired just 54 s apart by the WorldView-3 satellite. Near-surface current and vorticity were extracted at a 50-m-resolution from those data using a cross-correlation technique and an optical-flow method, each yielding a similar result. The satellite-derived data are used to test the ability of the second-generation Louvain-la-Neuve ice-ocean model (SLIM), an unstructured-mesh, finite element model for geophysical and environmental flows, to reproduce the details of the currents in the region. The model succeeds in simulating the large-scale (> 1 km) current patterns, such as the main current and the width and magnitude of the jets developing in the gaps between the islands. Moreover, the order of magnitude of the vorticity and the occurrence of some vortices downstream of the islands are correctly reproduced. The smaller scales (< 500 m) are resolved by the model, although various discrepancies with the data are observed. The smallest scales (< 50 m) are unresolved by both the model- and image-derived velocity fields. This study shows that high-resolution models are able to a significant degree to simulate accurately the currents close to a rugged coast. Very-high-resolution satellite oceanography stereo images offer a new way to obtain snapshots of currents near a complex topography that has reefs, islands and shoals, and is a potential resource that could be more widely used to assess the predictive ability of coastal circulation models.

@en