87,365 research outputs found
Rain water transport and storage in a model sandy soil with hydrogel particle additives
We study rain water infiltration and drainage in a dry model sandy soil with
superabsorbent hydrogel particle additives by measuring the mass of retained
water for non-ponding rainfall using a self-built 3D laboratory set-up. In the
pure model sandy soil, the retained water curve measurements indicate that
instead of a stable horizontal wetting front that grows downward uniformly, a
narrow fingered flow forms under the top layer of water-saturated soil. This
rain water channelization phenomenon not only further reduces the available
rain water in the plant root zone, but also affects the efficiency of soil
additives, such as superabsorbent hydrogel particles. Our studies show that the
shape of the retained water curve for a soil packing with hydrogel particle
additives strongly depends on the location and the concentration of the
hydrogel particles in the model sandy soil. By carefully choosing the particle
size and distribution methods, we may use the swollen hydrogel particles to
modify the soil pore structure, to clog or extend the water channels in sandy
soils, or to build water reservoirs in the plant root zone
The structural, mechanical, electronic, optical and thermodynamic properties of t-XAs (X Si, Ge and Sn) by first-principles calculations
The structural, mechanical, electronic, optical and thermodynamic properties
of the t-XAs (X Si, Ge and Sn) with
tetragonal structure have been investigated by first principles calculations.
Our calculated results show that these compounds are mechanically and
dynamically stable. By the study of elastic anisotropy, it is found that the
anisotropic of the t-SnAs is stronger than that
of t-SiAs and
t-GeAs. The band structures and density of states
show that the t-XAs (Si, Ge and Sn) are
semiconductors with narrow band gaps. Based on the analyses of electron density
difference, in t-XAs As atoms get electrons, X
atoms lose electrons. The calculated static dielectric constants,
, are 15.5, 20.0 and 15.1 eV for
t-XAs (X Si, Ge and Sn), respectively. The
Dulong-Petit limit of t-XAs is about 10 J
molK. The thermodynamic stability successively
decreases from t-SiAs to
t-GeAs to t-SnAs.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 table
Effect of hydrogel particle additives on water-accessible pore structure of sandy soils: A custom pressure plate apparatus and capillary bundle model
To probe the effects of hydrogel particle additives on the water-accessible
pore structure of sandy soils, we introduce a custom pressure plate method in
which the volume of water expelled from a wet granular packing is measured as a
function of applied pressure. Using a capillary bundle model, we show that the
differential change in retained water per pressure increment is directly
related to the cumulative cross-sectional area distribution of the
water-accessible pores with radii less than . This is validated by
measurements of water expelled from a model sandy soil composed of 2 mm
diameter glass beads. In particular, the expelled water is found to depend
dramatically on sample height and that analysis using the capillary bundle
model gives the same pore size distribution for all samples. The distribution
is found to be approximately log-normal, and the total cross-sectional area
fraction of the accessible pore space is found to be . We then report
on how the pore distribution and total water-accessible area fraction are
affected by superabsorbent hydrogel particle additives, uniformly mixed into a
fixed-height sample at varying concentrations. Under both fixed volume and free
swelling conditions, the total area fraction of water-accessible pore space in
a packing decreases exponentially as the gel concentration increases. The size
distribution of the pores is significantly modified by the swollen hydrogel
particles, such that large pores are clogged while small pores are formed
Generalised additive multiscale wavelet models constructed using particle swarm optimisation and mutual information for spatio-temporal evolutionary system representation
A new class of generalised additive multiscale wavelet models (GAMWMs) is introduced for high dimensional spatio-temporal evolutionary (STE) system identification. A novel two-stage hybrid learning scheme is developed for constructing such an additive wavelet model. In the first stage, a new orthogonal projection pursuit (OPP) method, implemented using a particle swarm optimisation(PSO) algorithm, is proposed for successively augmenting an initial coarse wavelet model, where relevant parameters of the associated wavelets are optimised using a particle swarm optimiser. The resultant network model, obtained in the first stage, may however be a redundant model. In the second stage, a forward orthogonal regression (FOR) algorithm, implemented using a mutual information method, is then applied to refine and improve the initially constructed wavelet model. The proposed two-stage hybrid method can generally produce a parsimonious wavelet model, where a ranked list of wavelet functions, according to the capability of each wavelet to represent the total variance in the desired system output signal is produced. The proposed new modelling framework is applied to real observed images, relative to a chemical reaction exhibiting a spatio-temporal evolutionary behaviour, and the associated identification results show that the new modelling framework is applicable and effective for handling high dimensional identification problems of spatio-temporal evolution sytems
Time-varying signal processing using multi-wavelet basis functions and a modified block least mean square algorithm
This paper introduces a novel parametric modeling and identification method for linear time-varying systems using a modified block least mean square (LMS) approach where the time-varying parameters are approximated using multi-wavelet basis functions. This approach can be used to track rapidly or even sharply varying processes and is more suitable for recursive estimation of process parameters by combining wavelet approximation theory with a modified block LMS algorithm. Numerical examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed method for dealing with severely nonstatinoary processes
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