Numerical Modelling of Underground Water Pipelines exposed to Seismic Loading

The essential factor that must get the interest by the engineers during the primary design stage of underground pipes is understanding mechanism of damage during earthquakes. The attention during design period increased due to the increment of seismic catastrophes throughout the few past decades. Therefore, finite element procedure was used for studying the seismic performance of buried pipes. PLAXIS-2D program was using for simulating the seismic performance of buried pipes using earthquake motion of single frequency. The response of both seismic vertical displacement, and acceleration of the buried pipe were simulated. The experiments of shaking table for two models of buried pipe in dry case that surrounded with sand and gravel were compared with numerical simulation results. According to the obtained results, the amplification of seismic wave raised considerably from the buried pipe base to the pipe crown, the biggest amplification occurred in the highest point of the pipe model. It can be noticed that Plaxis-2D software provides an accurate method for the prediction of seismic behaviour of buried pipe due to the obvious compatibility between the results of experiments and numerical simulation.

Investigating the effects of intersection flow localization in equivalent-continuum-based upscaling of flow in discrete fracture networks

Predicting effective permeabilities of fractured rock masses is a crucial component of reservoir modeling. Its often realized with the discrete fracture network (DFN) method, whereby single-phase incompressible fluid flow is modeled in discrete representations of individual fractures in a network. Depending on the overall number of fractures, this can result in high computational costs. Equivalent continuum models (ECMs) provide an alternative approach by subdividing the fracture network into a grid of continuous medium cells, over which hydraulic properties are averaged for fluid flow simulations. While continuum methods have the advantage of lower computational costs and the possibility of including matrix properties, choosing the right cell size to discretize the fracture network into an ECM is crucial to provide accurate flow results and conserve anisotropic flow properties. Whereas several techniques exist to map a fracture network onto a grid of continuum cells, the complexity related to flow in fracture intersections is often ignored. Here, numerical simulations of Stokes flow in simple fracture intersections are utilized to analyze their effect on permeability. It is demonstrated that intersection lineaments oriented parallel to the principal direction of flow increase permeability in a process we term intersection flow localization (IFL). We propose a new method to generate ECMs that includes this effect with a directional pipe flow parameterization: the fracture-and-pipe model. Our approach is compared against an ECM method that does not take IFL into account by performing ECM-based upscaling with a massively parallelized Darcy flow solver capable of representing permeability anisotropy for individual grid cells. While IFL results in an increase in permeability at the local scale of the ECM cell (fracture scale), its effects on network-scale flow are minor. We investigated the effects of IFL for test cases with orthogonal fracture formations for various scales, fracture lengths, hydraulic apertures, and fracture densities. Only for global fracture porosities above 30 % does IFL start to increase the systems permeability. For lower fracture densities, the effects of IFL are smeared out in the upscaling process. However, we noticed a strong dependency of ECM-based upscaling on its grid resolution. Resolution tests suggests that, as long as the cell size is smaller than the minimal fracture length and larger than the maximal hydraulic aperture of the considered fracture network, the resulting effective permeabilities and anisotropies are resolution-independent. Within that range, ECMs are applicable to upscale flow in fracture networks.

Fruit tree crop models: an update

Functional structural plant models of tree crops are useful tools that were introduced more than two decades ago. They can represent the growth and development of a plant through the in silico simulation of the 3D architecture in connection with physiological processes. In tree crops, physiological processes such as photosynthesis, carbon allocation, and growth are usually integrated into these models although other functions such as water and nutrient uptake are often disregarded. The implementation of the 3D architecture involves different techniques such as L-system frameworks, pipe model concepts, and Markovian models to simulate branching processes, bud fates, and elongation of stems based on the production of metamers. The simulation of root architecture is still a challenge for researchers due to a limited amount of information and experimental issues in dealing with roots because root development is not based on the production of metamers. This review aims to focus on functional-structural models of fruit tree crops, highlighting their physiological components. The potential and limits of these tools are reviewed to point out the topics that still need more attention.

Design and simulation analysis of impact-resistant flexible drill pipe for rock-breaking rig

In the process of drilling and coring by the rock-breaking rig, the drill rod is affected by the intermittent impact force, which reduces the efficiency of the rig to break the rock and increases the cost of the drilling and coring. Therefore, it is very important to improve the impact resistance of the drill pipe during the rock-breaking process. To achieve this goal, a flexible design of the drill pipe was carried out, and a dynamical model of the drilling rig based on a series elastic actuator was established. Considering the dynamic performance of the system, a torque feedforward link is introduced and a control model based on the force source is established. The influence of the equivalent inertia of the transmission system and the series elastic actuator damping coefficient on the system stability was analyzed by drawing the frequency domain characteristic curve of the system. By using the control and Simulink simulation software, the electromechanical simulation of the model is carried out, and the torque step tracking response of the system is obtained. A torque feedforward link is introduced to establish the control model of the system based on force source. Through dynamic simulation software ADAMS, dynamic and static impact simulation experiments were carried out on the system. The results show that when a force of 200 N is applied to the output end of the drill pipe in the tangential direction, the maximum moments received by the joint under static and dynamic environments are 34.1 N·m and 57.9 N·m, respectively. When the impact force disappears, the time required for the flexible drill pipe to reach a stable state is only 0.15 s, which verifies that the series elastic actuator–based drill pipe model can alleviate the impact of the external environment and protect the internal structure of the rig.