Oil Occurrence States in Shale Mixed Inorganic Matter Nanopores

In present paper, the mineral and fluid compositions of shale oil from the Songliao Basin are analyzed systematically using core samples, X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and gas chromatography (GC). The effects of shale mineral composition, pore size, temperature, and pressure on the mass density of the adsorbed layers are then studied utilizing molecular dynamics simulation. The results show that illite and quartz are predominant in the micro petrological components of the shale, and nC19 is the main carbon peak. The fluid consists primarily of n-alkane molecules, and nC19 is found to be representative of the shale oil composition. Moreover, the adsorbing effect of quartz-illite mixed wall is between that of a pure mineral wall (illite and quartz), indicating that the selection of a mixed wall is similar to the actual shale composition. If the pores are inorganic, the minimum pore size of only adsorption oil is smaller than the organic pores. The critical adsorption point of shale oil in inorganic pores is less than 3.2 nm. Furthermore, compared to pressure, the temperature has a more significant effect on fluid adsorption due to the correlation with the kinetic energy of alkane molecules. This research shows the oil occurrence status in inorganic matter nanopore with a mixed solid wall, and provides theoretical support for shale oil exploration.

Wire, hybrid, and laser-cut X-pinches as Talbot-Lau backlighters for electron density diagnostics

Talbot-Lau X-ray Deflectometry (TXD) enables refraction-based imaging for high-energy-density physics (HEDP) experiments, and thus, it has been studied and developed with the goal of diagnosing plasmas relevant to Inertial Confinement and Magnetic Liner Inertial Fusion. X-pinches, known for reliably generating fast (~1 ns), small (~1 µm) x-ray sources, were driven on the compact current driver GenASIS (~200 kA, 150 ns) as a potential backlighter source for TXD. Considering that different X-pinch configurations have characteristic advantages and drawbacks as x-ray generating loads, three distinct copper X-pinch configurations were studied: the wire X-pinch, the hybrid X-pinch, and the laser-cut X-pinch. The Cu K-shell emission from each configuration was characterized and analyzed regarding the specific backlighter requirements for an 8 keV TXD system: spatial and temporal resolution, number of sources, time of emission, spectrum, and reproducibility. Recommendations for future experimental improvements and applications are presented. The electron density of static objects was retrieved from Moiré images obtained through TXD. This allowed to calculate the mass density of static samples within 4% of the expected value for laser-cut X-pinches, which were found to be the optimal X-pinch configuration for TXD due to their high reproducibility, small source size (≤5 µm), short duration (~1 ns FWHM), and up to 10^6 W peak power near 8 keV photon energy. Plasma loads were imaged through TXD for the first-time using laser-cut X-pinch backlighting. Experimental images were compared with simulations from the X-ray Wave-Front Propagation code, demonstrating that TXD can be a powerful x-ray refraction-based diagnostic for dense Z-pinch loads. Future plans for Talbot-Lau Interferometry diagnostics in the pulsed-power environment are described.

Theories on the Formation and Evolution of Black Holes & Galaxies

Conventional theory suggests that black holes are singularities of enormous mass-density: matter compressed beyond imagination due to extreme mass-based gravitational forces and possessing so much mass-based gravity that light itself cannot escape them. As an alternative to convention, this paper builds on the theories of fire-tornado accretion cylinder vortex forces and colossal magnetic pressure spawned within (previously described by the authors in their paper on ~2D planar celestial kinematics), and analyzes them in more detail specifically for black holes and the formation / evolution of galaxies. Several interesting charge-distribution and associated electromagnetic field components will be utilized in the modeling. To demonstrate concept, the proposed forces during formation and evolution will be computationally modeled and translated into visual simulations in 4-D space-time using C# programming in the Unity operating platform.

Mechanical properties and densification mechanism of powder-in-tube BaxK1-xFe2As2 superconductors

BaxK1-xFe2As2 (BaK-122) iron-based superconductors (IBSs) have been considered to be promising for high-field applications. The transport J c performance of BaK-122 wires and tapes is continuously enhanced by introducing advanced fabricating methods. The mass density of BaK-122 superconducting core in wires and tapes is important to the transport J c performance and related to the mechanical behavior during preparation. In this work, the mechanical property parameters including Poisson's ratio-density, yield strength-density, and elastic modulus-density of BaK-122 IBS powder were examined via uniaxial compression experiments. The density-dependent mechanical constitutive of BaK-122 was obtained for the first time. The relationship function between density and Vickers hardness of BaK-122 was established as HV0.05=0.0249ρ5.332 based on the numerical simulation of hardness testing, and a method for characterizing the BaK-122 core density was developed. It had been found the sheath materials and preparation method have great influences on the stress state of the BaK-122 core, and then affect the density. The densification mechanism and corresponding improvement method were revealed to provide guidance for preparing high-density BaK-122 wires and tapes. Finally, the generalized relationship between density and the superconducting transport J c was established according to lots of experimental data from multiple BaK-122 samples, which has confirmed the positive correlation of ρcore and J c. We comparatively discussed the various cold-work and heat-treatment processes used in our team for preparing the BaK-122 wires and tapes, and the critical factors affecting the transport performance were summarized.

Acoustic metamtaterial and metasurface composed of meta-atoms and meta-molecules

Acoustic metamaterials (AMMs) and acoustic metasurfaces (AMSs) are artificially structured materials with the unique properties not found in natural materials. We reviewed herein the properties of AMM and AMS that have been designed using the meta-atoms of split hollow spheres (SHSs) and hollow tubes (HTs) or meta-molecules of split hollow tubes (SHTs) with local resonance. AMMs composed of SHSs or HTs display a transmission dip with negative modulus or negative mass density. AMMs composited with SHSs and HTs present a transmission peak and a phase fluctuation in the overlapping resonant frequency region, indicating that they simultaneously have a negative modulus and a negative mass density. Furthermore, the meta-molecule AMMs with SHTs also exhibit double-negative properties. Moreover, the acoustic meta-atoms or meta-molecules can be used to fabricate acoustic topological metamaterials with topologically protected edge states propagation. These meta-atoms and meta-molecules can also attain phase discontinuity near the resonant frequency, and thus they can be used to design AMSs with the anomalous manipulation for acoustic waves. The various tunability of the meta-molecules provides a feasible path to achieve broadband AMS.

Sooting tendencies of diesel fuel component mixtures follow a linear mixing rule

With the growing importance of climate change, soot emissions from engines have been receiving increasing attention since black carbon is the second largest source of global warming. A sooting tendency can be used to quantify the extent of soot formation in a combustion device for a given fuel molecule, and therefore to quantify the soot reduction benefits of alternative fuels. However real fuels are complex mixtures of multiple components. In this work, we have used experimental methods to investigate how the sooting tendency of a blended fuel mixture is related to the sooting tendencies of the individual components. A test matrix was formulated that includes sixteen mixtures of six components that are representative of the main categories of hydrocarbons in diesel (eicosane (ECO) for alkanes, isocetane (ICE) for isoalkanes, butylcyclohexane (BCH) for cycloalkanes, 1-methylnaphthalene (1MN) for aromatics, tetralin for naphthoaromatics, and methyl-decanoate (MDC) for oxygenates). Most of the mixtures contain three to five components. The sooting tendency of each mixture was characterized by yield sooting index (YSI), which is based on the soot yield when a methane/air nonpremixed flame is doped with 1000 ppm of the test fuel. The YSIs were measured experimentally. The results show that the blending behavior is linear, i.e., the YSI of the mixtures is the mole-fraction-weighted average of the component YSIs. Experimental results have shown that the sooting tendency of a fuel mixture can be accurately estimated as the linear combination of the individual components. In addition, mass density of the mixtures is also measured, and a linear blending rule is applied to test whether mixing rules exist for mass density of diesel mixtures in this study. Results also have shown that the mixing rule tested in this study is valid and mass density of a mixture can be accurately estimated from the linear combination of the individual components.

Statistical Modelling of the Fatigue Bending Strength of Norway Spruce Wood

When wood is used as a structural material, the fact that it is a highly inhomogeneous material, which significantly affects its static and fatigue properties, presents a major challenge to engineers. In this paper, a novel approach to modelling the fatigue-life properties of wood is presented. In the model, the common inverse-power-law relationship between the structural amplitude loads and the corresponding number of load cycles to failure is augmented with the influence of the wood’s mass density, the loading direction and the processing lot. The model is based on the two-parametric conditional Weibull’s probability density function with a constant shape parameter and a scale parameter that is a function of the previously mentioned parameters. The proposed approach was validated using the example of experimental static and fatigue-strength data from spruce beams. It turned out that the newly presented model is capable of adequately replicating the spruce’s S-N curves with a scatter, despite the relatively scarce amount of experimental data, which came from different production lots that were loaded in different directions and had a significant variation in density. Based on the experimental data, the statistical model predicts that the lower density wood has better fatigue strength.

An ultrathin acoustic metasurface composed of an anisotropic three-component resonator

An ultrathin acoustic metasurface consisting of an anisotropic three-component resonator is proposed. The resonator can induce nondegenerate dipole resonances at the same resonant frequencies. A large phase delay can be obtained based on the resonance, which can be modulated by the direction of polarization. The anisotropic resonator can be regarded as an effective homogenous medium with an anisotropic mass density, and the phase change can also be attributed to the change of the effective material parameters. A good comparison between the results for the metasurface and its effective slab is obtained.

Correlative all-optical quantification of mass density and mechanics of sub-cellular compartments with fluorescence specificity

Quantitative measurements of physical parameters become increasingly important for understanding biological processes. Brillouin microscopy (BM) has recently emerged as one technique providing the 3D distribution of viscoelastic properties inside biological samples - so far relying on the implicit assumption that refractive index (RI) and density can be neglected. Here, we present a novel method (FOB microscopy) combining BM with optical diffraction tomography and epi-fluorescence imaging for explicitly measuring the Brillouin shift, RI and absolute density with specificity to fluorescently labeled structures. We show that neglecting the RI and density might lead to erroneous conclusions. Investigating the nucleoplasm of wild-type HeLa cells, we find that it has lower density but higher longitudinal modulus than the cytoplasm. Thus, the longitudinal modulus is not merely sensitive to the water content of the sample - a postulate vividly discussed in the field. We demonstrate the further utility of FOB on various biological systems including adipocytes and intracellular membraneless compartments. FOB microscopy can provide unexpected scientific discoveries and shed quantitative light on processes such as phase separation and transition inside living cells.

CASPA-ADM: a mission concept for observing thermospheric mass density

Cold Atom technology has undergone rapid development in recent years and has been demonstrated in space in the form of cold atom scientific experiments and technology demonstrators, but has so far not been used as the fundamental sensor technology in a science mission. The European Space Agency therefore funded a 7-month project to define the CASPA-ADM mission concept, which serves to demonstrate cold-atom interferometer (CAI) accelerometer technology in space. To make the mission concept useful beyond the technology demonstration, it aims at providing observations of thermosphere mass density in the altitude region of 300–400 km, which is presently not well covered with observations by other missions. The goal for the accuracy of the thermosphere density observations is 1% of the signal, which will enable the study of gas–surface interactions as well as the observation of atmospheric waves. To reach this accuracy, the CAI accelerometer is complemented with a neutral mass spectrometer, ram wind sensor, and a star sensor. The neutral mass spectrometer data is considered valuable on its own since the last measurements of atmospheric composition and temperature in the targeted altitude range date back to 1980s. A multi-frequency GNSS receiver provides not only precise positions, but also thermosphere density observations with a lower resolution along the orbit, which can be used to validate the CAI accelerometer measurements. In this paper, we provide an overview of the mission concept and its objectives, the orbit selection, and derive first requirements for the scientific payload.