Microstructural characterization of a Canadian oil sand

The microstructure of oil sand samples extracted at a depth of 75 m from the estuarine Middle McMurray formation (Alberta, Canada) has been investigated by using high resolution 3D X-Ray microtomography ($\mu$CT) and Cryo Scanning Electron Microscopy (CryoSEM). $\mu$CT images evidenced some dense areas composed of highly angular grains surrounded by fluids that are separated by larger pores full of gas. 3D Image analysis provided in dense areas porosity values compatible with in-situ log data and macroscopic laboratory determinations, showing that they are representative of intact states. $\mu$CT hence provided some information on the morphology of the cracks and disturbance created by gas expansion. The CryoSEM technique, in which the sample is freeze fractured within the SEM chamber prior to observation, provided pictures in which the (frozen) bitumen clearly appears between the sand grains. No evidence of the existence of a thin connate water layer between grains and the bitumen, frequently mentioned in the literature, has been obtained. Bitumen appears to strongly adhere to the grains, with some grains completely being coated. The curved shape of some bitumen menisci suggests a bitumen wet behaviour

Characterizing Surface Properties of Aggregates Used in Hot Mix Asphalt

Physical and chemical properties of aggregates at the micro scale strongly impact the adhesive bond (strength and durability) between bitumen and aggregate. These properties include surface free energy, chemical interaction potential, and specific surface area. This report describes testing methods developed for the Universal Sorption Device (USD), the Wilhelmy Plate (WP), and the microcalorimeter (MC) to measure these surface properties of aggregates. Test results from five different asphalt binders and nine different aggregates are presented to demonstrate how these surface properties can be used to: (1) select combinations of bitumen and aggregates that are more resistant to moisture damage, (2) select additives that can be used to improve the performance of asphalt mixtures based on the physico-chemical nature of the bitumen and aggregate, and (3) predict the resistance of the mixture to moisture-induced damage.Aggregates Foundation for Technology, Research, and Education (AFTRE)Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

The effect of bitumen rheology to the permanent deformation of an asphalt concrete mixture

Bitumen which functions as a binder in asphalt concrete mixture is also a visco-elastic and thermoplastic material. The characteristics are also influence by the temperature. It is because in hot condition or at high temperature, bitumen acts like a viscous liquid. In cold climate or at low temperature, bitumen behaves like an elastic solid. Even though bitumen is an elastic solid at low temperatures, it may become too brittle and crack when excessively loaded. However, the characteristic of an asphalt concrete are influenced by the rheology of bitumen which having two important properties; resistance to permanent deformation and fatigue. In this study, the most important thing to measure is the rheology of two different types of bitumen. The measurement was done using the Dynamic Shear Rheometer to obtain the visco�elastic properties of bitumen. The bitumen was then used in preparing an asphalt concrete mixture in order to test the rutting or permanent deformation using the Static Creep test. An analysis was done to verify the correlation between the rheology of two different types of bitumen and the rate of permanent deformation of the asphalt concrete mixture. Results obtained showed that both bitumens having a different rheology. Moreover, rutting parameter, G*/sin 8 could predict the different of creep performance. However, bitumen with identical value of G*/sin 5 at a different temperature would not necessarily produce mixture with the same creep compliance under the related temperature. Therefore, for further study it is recommended to focus on the load effect to the creep compliance

Rak televisyen minimalis berkonsepkan bentuk geometri

Dengan peningkatan kadar populasi yang sangat tinggi berbanding keluasan tanah menyebabkan peningkatan permintaan terhadap pemilikan rumah adalah lebih tinggi berbanding jumlah rumah yang dibina. Ini secara langsung menyebabkan harga pemilikan sesebuah kediaman menjadi lebih tinggi ataupun mahal. Atas faktor ingin meningkatkan jumlah pemilikan rumah kediaman, beberapa inisiatif diperkenalkan oleh pihak kerajaan mahupun syarikat pembinaan perumahan di Malaysia. Antara inisiatif tersebut termasuklah pembinaan rumah kediaman bersaiz kecil (kos rendah) berbanding saiz kediaman sebelumnya. Sebagai contoh, saiz purata kediaman bagi sebuah pangsapuri yang mudah didapati di bandar-bandar utama seluruh Malaysia adalah 875 kaki persegi, dimana kebiasanya kediaman jenis ini adalah bersaiz 550 ke 1200 kaki persegi (Uittenbroek, 2016)

Formulation development and microstructure analysis of a polymer modified bitumen emulsion road surfacing : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Product Development at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The purpose of this research was to develop a formulation for a polymer modified bitumen emulsion road surfacing product called microsurfacing to a mid-scale prototype stage. A supplementary part of the development was to investigate the polymer-bitumen interactions and how they affected the products end properties using confocal microscopy. The formulation development consisted of three stages: technical design specifications, initial design, detailed design. The technical specification was developed to define the product performance in quantitative measures, and set the initial formulation parameters to work within. The initial design development screened three polymers, four methods of adding polymer to the emulsion and two grades of bitumen. Experimental design techniques were used to determine the best polymer-bitumen combination and emulsion process method. Further experimental investigations consisted of screening three emulsifiers and assessing the effect of aggregate cleanliness on the surfacing abrasion and curing rate. The detailed design used experimental factorial design to examine the effects of polymer concentration, emulsifier level, and emulsifier pH on the emulsion stability, microsurfacing wear resistance and cure rate. The emulsion residue was observed using confocal microscopy with fluorescence light and the microsurfacing mixture using both fluorescent and reflected light. The research showed that a emulsion using 100 penetration grade Safaniya bitumen with SBR latex polymer post added could provide microsurfacing abrasion resistance of less than 100 g/m 2 ; an improvement of 85% on the minimum specification. The vertical permanent deformation was less than the 10% and could not be attained without polymer addition. The use of aggregate with a high cleanliness and an alkyl amidoamine emulsifier resulted in surfacing cohesion development of 20 kg-cm within 90 minutes, which compares closely to the international specification. Unexpected results not reported before were that the emulsion residue from biphase modified emulsions had a softening point up to 10°C higher than polymer modified hot bitumen with the same polymer concentration. The biphase emulsified binder residue also has a very different microstructure to hot modified bitumen and this structure has been proposed to help account for the improved resistance to high temperature and applied stress. Modifications to the formulation are to improve the emulsion settlement and should focus on the density difference between the bitumen and polymer latex. This research has shown that a microsurfacing reading product can be successfully formulated with New Zealand bitumen and aggregate sources to meet key specified performance requirements. By systematically investigating the effects of materials on the performance properties of the product, a formulation ready for a mid-scale experiment has been proposed

Infiltration of basinal fluids into high-grade basement, South Norway: sources and behaviour of waters and brines

Quartz veins hosted by the high-grade crystalline rocks of the Modum complex, Southern Norway, formed when basinal fluids from an overlying Palaeozoic foreland basin infiltrated the basement at temperatures of c.220degreesC (higher in the southernmost part of the area). This infiltration resulted in the formation of veins containing both two-phase and halite-bearing aqueous fluid inclusions, sometimes with bitumen and hydrocarbon inclusions. Microthermometric results demonstrate a very wide range of salinities of aqueous fluids preserved in these veins, ranging from c. 0 to 40 wt% NaCl equivalent. The range in homogenization temperatures is also very large (99-322degreesC for the entire dataset) and shows little or no correlation with salinity. A combination of aqueous fluid microthermometry, halogen geochemistry and oxygen isotope studies suggest that fluids from a range of separate aquifers were responsible for the quartz growth, but all have chemistries comparable to sedimentary formation waters. The bulk of the quartz grew from relatively low delta(18)O fluids derived directly from the basin or equilibrated in the upper part of the basement (T< 200degreesC). Nevertheless, some fluids acquired higher salinities due to deep wall-rock hydration reactions leading to salt saturation at high temperatures (>300degreesC). The range in fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures and densities, combined with estimates of the ambient temperature of the basement rocks suggests that at different times veins acted as conduits for influx of both hotter and colder fluids, as well as experiencing fluctuations in fluid pressure. This is interpreted to reflect episodic flow linked to seismicity, with hotter dry basement rocks acting as a sink for cooler fluids from the overlying basin, while detailed flow paths reflected local effects of opening and closing of individual fractures as well as reaction with wall rocks. Thermal considerations suggest that the duration of some flow events was very short, possibly in the order of days. As a result of the complex pattern of fracturing and flow in the Modum basement, it was possible for shallow fluids to penetrate basement rocks at significantly higher temperatures, and this demonstrates the potential for hydrolytic weakening of continental crust by sedimentary fluids

On the scattering of longitudinal elastic waves from axisymmetric defects in coated pipes

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Journal of Sound and Vibration. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier B.V.Viscoelastic coatings are widely used to protect pipelines from their surrounding environment. These coatings are known to attenuate ultrasonic waves guided along the pipe walls, which may limit the range of a pulse/echo based inspection technique that seeks to detect defects in a pipeline. This article aims to investigate the attenuation of longitudinal modes in a coated pipe by comparing predicted and measured values for the reflection coefficient of an axisymmetric defect in a pipe coated with bitumen. This extends recent work undertaken by the authors for torsional modes, and also provides an independent investigation into the validity of those values proposed by the authors for the shear properties of bitumen, based on a comparison between prediction and experiment for torsional modes. Predictions are generated using a numerical mode matching approach for axially uniform defects, and a hybrid finite element based method for non-uniform defects. Values for the shear and longitudinal properties of bitumen are investigated and it is shown that the shear properties of the viscoelastic material play a dominant role in the propagation of longitudinal modes in a coated pipeline. Moreover, by using the shear values obtained from experiments on torsional modes, it is shown that good agreement between prediction and measurement for uniform and non-uniform defects may also be obtained for the longitudinal L(0,2) mode. This provides further validation for the shear bulk acoustic properties proposed for bitumen in the low ultrasonic frequency range, although in order to apply this methodology in general it is demonstrated that one must measure independently the reflection coefficient of both the torsional T(0,1) and the longitudinal L(0,2) mode before arriving at values for the shear properties of a viscoelastic material

Molecular study of lipids in humic acids by sequential chemical degradation

Lipidy v půdě vykazují poměrně vysokou resistenci k biodegradaci, mohou proto tak zajistit informace o zdrojích organické hmoty a diagenetických procesech. Půdní organická hmota je vysoce heterogenní a vyskytují se v ní různé dynamické systémy. Vztahy mezi těmito systémy a molekulární strukturou ještě nejsou úplně známy. Analýza lipidů a bitumenu byla provedena u dvou vzroků (rašelina a lignit). Množství skupin sloučenin (volné uhlovodíky a volné ketony, vázané alkoholy, vázané mastné kyseliny, vázané -hydroxy kyseliny, volné dikyseliny a polycyklické sloučeniny) bylo idetifikováno pro oba vzorky a jejich distribuce byly určeny. GC/MS analýza volných a vázaných lipidů zjistila jejich různé zdroje během chemické degradace. Některé podobné znaky mohou být znakem uchovávání části vosků a suberinu z vyšších rostlin (dlouhé řetězce vázaných mastných kyselin). Velké rozdíly v molekulárním složení lipidů byly pozorovány mezi vzorky, dokládající význam studia lipidů z mladého sedimentu (rašelina) a starého (lignit).Soil lipids were shown to have relatively high resistance to biodegradation and therefore could provide information on organic matter sources and diagenetic processes. Soil organic matter is highly heterogeneous and different dynamic pools have been evidenced. However the links between these pools and molecular structure have not yet been established. Lipid and bitumen analyses were performed for two samples (i.e. peat and lignite). Numerous compound classes (free hydrocarbons and free ketones, bound alkanols, bound fatty acids, bound -hydroxy acid, bound diacids and polycyclic compounds) were identified in both samples and their different distribution was determined. GC/MS analysis of the free and bound lipids has revealed different main sources depending on the differential degradation. Some similarities could be a strong sign of the preservation of a part of waxes and suberins from higher plants (long chained bound fatty acids.) Large differences in lipid molecular composition were observed between the samples, illustrating the importance of studying lipids from a young sediment (peat) and an older one (lignite).

Hydro-chemical modelling of in situ behaviour of bituminized radioactive waste in Boom Clay

The hydro-chemical (CH) interaction between swelling Eurobitum bituminized radioactive waste (BW) and Boom Clay was investigated to assess the feasibility of geological disposal for the long-term management of this waste. First, the long-term behaviour of BW in contact with water was studied. A CH formulation of chemically and hydraulically coupled flow processes in porous materials containing salt crystals is discussed. The formulation incorporates the strong dependence of the osmotic efficiency of the bitumen membrane on porosity and assumes the existence of high salt concentration gradients that are maintained for a long time and that influence the density and motion of the fluid. The impacts of temporal and spatial variations of key transport parameters (i.e. osmotic efficiency (s), intrinsic permeability (k), diffusion, etc.) were investigated. Porosity was considered the basic variable. For BW porosity varies in time because of the water uptake and subsequent processes (i.e. dissolution of salt crystals, swelling of hydrating layers, compression of highly leached layers). New expressions of s and k describing the dependence of these parameters on porosity are proposed. Several cases were analysed. The numerical analysis was proven to be able to furnish a satisfactory representation of the main observed patterns of the behaviour in terms of osmotic-induced swelling, leached mass of NaNO3 and progression of the hydration front when heterogeneous porosity and crystal distributions have been assumed. Second, the long-term behaviour of real Eurobitum drums in disposal conditions, and in particular its interaction with the surrounding clay, was investigated. Results of a CH analysis are presented.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version