The Carboniferous Southern Pennine Basin, UK

Many of the Carboniferous outcrops located in the Derbyshire region of the Peak District National Park, UK, have provided sites for both significant and pioneering research relating to the clastic sedimentology of marine palaeoenvironments, particularly so during the 1960s and 1970s when early models describing the sedimentary architecture of fluvio-deltaic, submarine slope and deep-marine submarine-fan sedimentation were first developed. The area was subject to hydrocarbon exploration from the 1920s to 1950s, which although unsuccessful in economic terms left a legacy of sub-surface data. Despite a long-history of sedimentological research, the deposits exposed at several classic localities in the Pennine Basin continue to broaden and challenge our current understanding of sedimentary processes to this day

Servitisation or Productisation? Two cases of service-based SMEs moving into manufacturing

Purpose: This paper presents a preliminary comparison of two service-based SMEs which moved into product development and manufacturing. The motivations, mechanisms, customer benefits and outcomes in adopting productisation, and the potential influence on servitisation, were investigated. Approach: Following a thematic analysis, nine themes for comparison were identified from two previous publications. These themes were then mapped to the four aims of the investigation. Findings: There were similarities in terms of the motivations for productisation and the mechanisms for acquiring manufacturing capability. However, the organisations have subsequently evolved in different ways. The findings highlight a positive impact on organisational innovation, but also indicate that the embodiment of customer value and the supply chain may limit potential servitisation. Originality/Value: Cases of service organisations manufacturing are not well known and are therefore an interesting counterpoint to the existing literature on servitisation

Modelling the 3D stratigraphic complexity inherent in mixed fluvial-aeolian successions: examples from the Pennsylvanian to Permian of Southern Utah, USA

Within Paradox foreland basin of southeastern Utah and northern Arizona, the Pennsylvanian-Permian Cutler Group records a varied array of aeolian-fluvial interactions within its various stratigraphic divisions: the Lower Cutler Beds, the Cedar Mesa Sandstone, the Organ Rock Formation and the Undivided Cutler Formation. The preserved architectural elements and facies arrangements that record these styles of fluvial-aeolian interaction within the Cutler Group are typically intimately related to each other and, in places, smaller-scale elements are nested inside larger elements suggesting that interactions commonly occur on several spatial and temporal scales. Specifically, autogenic interactions arising from intrinsic competition between coeval fluvial and aeolian processes can be shown to occur within sequences ascribed to allogenic controls, such as climatic cycles and systematic variations in sediment supply. Many of the types of interaction inferred from the Cutler Group successions are widely recognised within other ancient successions and within present-day desert systems. Criteria for the recognition and prediction of styles of fluvial-aeolian interaction have applied implications because resultant facies configurations exert a primary control on stratigraphic heterogeneity and compartmentalisation within hydrocarbon reservoirs. The 3D summary models resulting from this work provide a set of tools for predicting architectural relationships and for predicting sand body connectivity within sub-surface reservoir intervals

Contrasting styles of aeolian, fluvial and marine interaction in the Cutler Group of the Paradox Basin, SE Utah, USA

The Permian-Pennsylvanian Cutler Group of the Paradox foreland basin of southeast Utah is characterised by a variety of styles of interaction between coeval aeolian, fluvial and marine environments that have resulted in the generation and preservation of a complex suite of stratal architectures. Detailed 3D architectural element analysis has enabled the nature of these interactions to be interpreted in order to constrain both the spatial and temporal scale over which competing processes operated. Of four formations that comprise the Cutler Group, detailed examples of aeolian-fluvial-marine interaction from two localities are presented here; firstly from the upper part of the Lower Cutler Beds and secondly from the upper part of the Cedar Mesa Sandstone and its transition with the overlying Organ Rock Formation

Assessment of backwater controls on the architecture of distributary channel fills in a tide-influenced coastal-plain succession: Campanian Neslen Formation, USA

The backwater zone of a river is its distal reach downstream of the point at which the streambed elevation reaches sea level. Backwater hydraulics is believed to exert an important control on fluvio-deltaic morphodynamics, but the expressions with which this may be recorded in the preserved stratigraphic record are not well understood. The seaward reaches of modern rivers can undergo flow acceleration and become erosional at high discharges due to drawdown of the in-channel water surface near the river mouth, in relation to the fixed water surface at the shoreline. As coastal-plain distributary channels approach the shoreline they tend to be subject to a reduction in lateral mobility, which could be related to diminished sediment flux at low flow. Current understanding of channel morphodynamics associated with backwater effects, as based on observations from numerical models and modern sedimentary systems, is here used to make predictions concerning the architecture of coastal distributary channel fills in the rock record. On the basis of existing knowledge, distributary channel fills are predicted to be typically characterized by low width-to-thickness aspect ratios, by a clustering of scour surfaces toward their base, by an aggradational infill style, by a facies organization that bears evidence of drawdown-influenced scour filling, possibly resulting in the overprint of tidal signals toward their base, and by co-genetic sand-prone overbank units of limited occurrence, thickness and sand content. To test these predictions, fieldwork was carried out to examine sedimentological characters of channel bodies from an interval of the Campanian Neslen Formation (eastern Utah, USA), which comprises a succession of sandstone, carbonaceous mudstone, and coal, deposited in a coastal-plain setting, and in which significant evidence of tidal influence is preserved. Three types of channel bodies are recognized in the studied interval, in terms of lithology and formative-channel morphodynamics: sand-prone laterally accreting channel elements, heterolithic laterally accreting channel elements and sand-prone aggradational ribbon channel elements. This study concentrates on the ribbon channel bodies since they possess a geometry compatible with laterally stable distributaries developed in the zone of drawdown. Sedimentological and architectural characteristics of these bodies are analyzed and compared with the proposed model of distributary channel-fill architecture. Although conclusive evidence of the influence of backwater processes in controlling the facies architecture of distributary channel fills is not reached, the studied bodies display an ensemble of internal architecture, lithological organization, nature of bounding surfaces and relationships with other units that conforms to the proposed model to a certain extent. The analyzed ribbon sandbodies are all characterized by erosional cut-banks, very limited proportions of mudstone deposits, a lack of genetically related barform units, clustering of scour fills at their base, and a lack of relationships with co-genetic river-fed overbank sandstones. This work provides a guide to future research, which is required to better understand the role of backwater processes in controlling the architecture of distributary channel bodies, their down-dip variations, and how these are expressed in the stratigraphic evolution of prograding coastal plains

Characterizing flow pathways in a sandstone aquifer: Tectonic vs sedimentary heterogeneities

Sandstone aquifers are commonly assumed to represent porous media characterized by a permeable matrix. However, such aquifers may be heavy fractured when rock properties and timing of deformation favour brittle failure and crack opening. In many aquifer types, fractures associated with faults, bedding planes and stratabound joints represent preferential pathways for fluids and contaminants. In this paper, well test and outcrop-scale studies reveal how strongly lithified siliciclastic rocks may be entirely dominated by fracture flow at shallow depths (≤ 180 m), similar to limestone and crystalline aquifers. However, sedimentary heterogeneities can primarily control fluid flow where fracture apertures are reduced by overburden pressures or mineral infills at greater depths. The Triassic St Bees Sandstone Formation (UK) of the East Irish Sea Basin represents an optimum example for study of the influence of both sedimentary and tectonic aquifer heterogeneities in a strongly lithified sandstone aquifer-type. This fluvial sedimentary succession accumulated in rapidly subsiding basins, which typically favours preservation of complete depositional cycles including fine grained layers (mudstone and silty sandstone) interbedded in sandstone fluvial channels. Additionally, vertical joints in the St Bees Sandstone Formation form a pervasive stratabound system whereby joints terminate at bedding discontinuities. Additionally, normal faults are present through the succession showing particular development of open-fractures. Here, the shallow aquifer (depth ≤ 180 m) was characterized using hydro-geophysics. Fluid temperature, conductivity and flow-velocity logs record inflows and outflows from normal faults, as well as from pervasive bed-parallel fractures. Quantitative flow logging analyses in boreholes that cut fault planes indicates that zones of fault-related open fractures characterize ~ 50% of water flow. The remaining flow component is dominated by bed-parallel fractures. However, such sub-horizontal fissures become the principal flow conduits in wells that penetrate the exterior parts of fault damage zones, as well as in non-faulted areas. The findings of this study have been compared with those of an earlier investigation of the deeper St Bees Sandstone aquifer (180 to 400 m subsurface depth) undertaken as part of an investigation for a proposed nuclear waste repository. The deeper aquifer is characterized by significantly lower transmissivities. High overburden pressure and the presence of mineral infillings, have reduced the relative impact of tectonic heterogeneities on transmissivity here, thereby allowing matrix flow in the deeper part of the aquifer. The St Bees Sandstone aquifer contrasts the hydraulic behaviour of low-mechanically resistant sandstone rock-types. In fact, the UK Triassic Sandstone of the Cheshire Basin is low-mechanically resistant and flow is supported both by matrix and fracture. Additionally, faults in such weak-rocks are dominated by granulation seams representing flow-barriers which strongly compartmentalize the UK Triassic Sandstone in the Cheshire Basin

Response of a Coal-Bearing Coastal Plain Succession to Marine Transgression: Campanian Neslen Formation, Utah, USA

The process regime of low-gradient coastal plains, delta plains and shorelines can change during transgression. In ancient successions, accurate assessment of the nature of marine influence is needed to produce detailed paleogeographic reconstructions, and to better predict lithological heterogeneity in hydrocarbon reservoirs. The Campanian lower Neslen Formation represents a fluvial-dominated and tide- and wave-influenced coastal-plain and delta-plain succession that accumulated along the margins of the Western Interior Seaway, USA. The succession records the interactions of multiple coeval sedimentary environments that accumulated during a period of relative sea-level rise. A high-resolution data set based on closely spaced study sites employs vertical sedimentary graphical logs and stratigraphic panels for the recognition and correlation of a series of stratal packages. Each package represents the deposits of different paleoenvironments and process regimes within the context of an established regional sequence stratigraphic framework. Down-dip variations in the occurrence of architectural elements within each package demonstrate increasing marine influence as part of the fluvial-to-marine- transition zone. Three marine-influenced packages are recognized. These exhibit evidence for an increase in the intensity of marine processes upwards as part of an overall transgression through the lower Neslen Formation. These marine-influenced packages likely correlate down-dip to flooding surfaces within the time-equivalent Îles Formation. The stratigraphic arrangement of these packages is attributed to minor rises in sea level, the effects of which were initially buffered by the presence of raised peat mires. Post-depositional auto-compaction of these mires resulted in marine incursion over broad areas of the coastal plain. Results demonstrate that autogenic processes modified the process response to overall rise in relative sea level through time. Understanding the complicated interplay of processes in low-gradient, coal-bearing, paralic settings requires analysis of high-resolution stratigraphic data to discern the relative role of autogenic and allogenic controls

A knowledge system to support manufacturing knowledge during preliminary design

The integration of manufacturing knowledge into the product introduction process is presented as a knowledge management problem. Concurrent engineering techniques are highly effective in sharing manufacturing knowledge, particularly for the re-use of knowledge at the detail design stage when the geometry has been developed. This research considers the use of manufacturing knowledge in the earlier, preliminary stage of design where the geometry is not so developed and where development of manufacturing technology may be required. An exploratory case study was carried out with a manufacturer of gas turbine engines for the civil aviation market. Semi-structured interviews were carried out to investigate the manufacturing knowledge required and its format. Using a data-driven analysis, a thematic code was developed and three themes emerged: manufacturing impact, expressions of impact and knowledge type. These themes indicate the requirement for a hybrid social-technical system to support both the tacit and explicit elements of manufacturing knowledge. An indication of the maturity of the manufacturing process also emerged as a major requirement in order to synchronize manufacturing technology developments with future product requirements. A prototype knowledge system is now being developed to meet the requirements identified through the coding analysis. The specification of the system, which uses a combination of information and social systems, is discussed

Experimental Validation of the Structural Integrity of Modular Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blades

The production, transportation and repair of long horizontal axis wind turbine blades measuring up to 85 m require expensive specialist machinery that increases the capital cost of wind power generation. A modular blade design is a potential solution to these problems however; the inclusion of joints could make the modular blades inherently weaker. This work investigates the effect of post-tensioned tendons on the structural integrity of modular blades, through cantilever deflection and tensile tests conducted on 3D printed small-scale prototypes. The experiment indicates 43% and 15.4% reduction in blade tip displacement and deflection caused by cyclic loading, respectively, in case of modular design with tendons compared to without tendons design

Anatomy and dimensions of fluvial crevasse-splay deposits: examples from the Cretaceous Castlegate Sandstone and Neslen Formation, Utah, U.S.A.

Crevasse-splay deposits form a volumetrically significant component of many fluvial overbank successions (up to 90% in some successions).Yet the relationships between the morphological form of accumulated splay bodies and their internal facies composition remains poorly documented from ancient successions. This work quantifies lithofacies distributions and dimensions of exhumed crevasse-splay architectural elements in the Campanian Castlegate Sandstone and Neslen Formation, Mesaverde Group, Utah, USA, to develop a depositional model. Fluvial crevasse-splay bodies thin from 2.1 m (average) to 0.8 m (average) and fine from a coarsest recorded grain size of lower-fine sand to fine silt away from major trunk channel bodies. Internally, the preserved deposits of splays comprise laterally and vertically variable sandstone and siltstone facies associations: proximal parts are dominated by sharp and erosional-based sandstone-prone units, which may be Structureless or may comprise primary current lineation on beds and erosional gutter casts; medial parts comprise sets of climbing-ripple strata and small scale deformed beds; distal parts comprise sets of lower-stage plane beds and complex styles of lateral grading into fine-grained floodbasin siltstones and coals. Lithofacies arrangements are used to establish the following: (i) recognition criteria for crevasse-splay elements; (ii) criteria for the differentiation between distal parts of crevasse-splay bodies and flood plain fines; and (iii) empirical relationships with which to establish the extent (ca. 500 m long by 1000 m wide) and overall semi-elliptical planform shape of crevasse-splay bodies. These relationships have been established by high-resolution stratigraphic correlation and palaeocurrent analysis to identify outcrop orientation with respect to splay orientation. This permits lateral changes in crevasse-splay facies architecture to be resolved. Facies models describing the sedimentology and architecture of crevasse-splay deposits preserved in floodplain successions serve as tools for determining both distance from and direction to major trunk channel sandbodies