An integrated molding composite honeycomb has been proposed, in which a seamless, 3D braided natural fiber cellular fabric serves as the reinforcement, with epoxy resin as the matrix. Three-point bending behaviors of the honeycomb, taking account of the effects of joint wall length and opening angle, were investigated. The fracture mechanisms during bending were monitored using 3D Digital Image Correlation. The validated Finite element model was developed and used to perform a parametric analysis identifying the effect of material Young's modulus and geometric variations on the flexural stiffness. The results reveal that fracture occurs at the junction of the joint wall and the free wall, characterized by shear-type failure and structural geometry parameters significantly affect flexural performance. Decreasing the joint wall length from 55 to 4 mm in 90° honeycombs reduced the maximum load by approximately 26% and the flexural stiffness (P/y) by about 55%, accompanied by an increase in maximum deflection. Conversely, for specimens with a 17 mm joint wall, increasing the opening angle from 60° to 120° decreased the maximum load and P/y by approximately 32% and 55%, respectively, while the flexural deflection gradually increased. The knowledge generated from this study is key in design and performance evaluation of 3D braided composite honeycomb cores for sandwich structures, which is crucial for enhancing the out-of-plane bending resistance of sandwich structures.

Interfacial wettability adjustment is a new method for intensifying vapor–liquid mass transfer process. Contact angle effect has been well investigated but not complete due to interfacial wettability consisting of both static behavior (contact angle) and dynamic behavior (contact angle hysteresis). Here, methods of adjusting contact angle hysteresis (CAH) were proposed, and then, the CAH effect on the hydrodynamics was investigated. A multiscale analysis of CAH effect, from interfacial force and wettability to single-bubble and gas–liquid two-phase flow inside the foam to bubble swarm hydrodynamics, was conducted, and thus, the hydrodynamic performance criteria were derived. The interfaces had similar contact angles, whereas a significant difference in the CAH was prepared by using the developed sol dip-coating and spray coating methods. Subsequent experiments revealed that lower CAH can decrease the pressure drop, homogenize the gas distribution, and increase the weeping rate, which are consistent with the derived criteria.

Higher speed, more freight and frequent maintenance increase ballast degradation and reduce the ballast lifespan. To reduce ballast degradation, crumb rubber used as buffering aggregates in ballast bed is relatively unexplored and needs more studies, because using it has the advantage of reusing the waster rubber and absorbing the noises. The effects of crumb rubber (CR) size and percentage on ballast degradation reduction is studied in this paper, and the optimal CR size and percentage are proposed. Three CR size ranges are utilised, i.e., 3 ∼ 5 mm, 10 ∼ 15 mm and 20 ∼ 25 mm, and the percentages are 0, 10, 20 and 30% by weight. Three kinds of ballast material with two size ranges are utilised. The deteriorated ballast particles were generated using Los Angeles Abrasion (LAA) tests, and the ballast degradation was evaluated with the 3D image analysis. The results indicate that ballast abrasion can be alleviated by adding the CR, while the CR has few influences on the ballast breakage. When CR size is close to ballast particle size, the effects of degradation reduction are not obvious. The corner and edge loss are the main types of ballast abrasion, although different ballast materials significantly influence the abrasion type and degree. Most importantly, the image analysis method is proved to have the ability to present ballast degradation process and has great potential for further degradation-related studies.