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Natural gas is believed to be a critical transitional energy source. However, natural gas pipelines, once failed, will contribute to a large amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including methane from uncontrolled natural gas venting and carbon dioxide from flared natural gas. However, the GHG emissions caused by pipeline incidents are not included in the regular inventories, making the counted GHG amount deviate from the reality. This study, for the first time, establishes an inventory framework for GHG emissions including all natural gas pipeline incidents in the two of the largest gas producers and consumers in North America (United States and Canada) from 1980s to 2021. The inventory comprises GHG emissions resulting from gathering and transmission pipeline incidents in a total of 24 states or regions in the United States between 1970 and 2021, local distribution pipeline incidents in 22 states or regions between 1970 and 2021, as well as natural gas pipeline incidents in a total of 7 provinces or regions in Canada between 1979 and 2021. These datasets can improve the accuracy of regular emission inventories by covering more emission sources in the United States and Canada and provide essential information for climate-oriented pipeline integrity management.

Micro structures of viscoelastic materials (VEM) play an important role in their mechanical properties and energy dissipation capacities. This work shows a mathematical modeling of VEMs considering...

Simple and light-weighted quasi-zero stiffness (QZS) isolators can be designed based on nonlinear and negative stiffness generated by the snap-through effect of bistable structures. Traditionally, the snap-through force of the bistable structure is limited which makes the weight which can be isolated based on this mechanism very low. This paper investigates increasing loading capacity of this kind of isolator by using an optimized and varying sectional profile. Numerical models were derived for the bistable structures with variable sectional distributions. Optimized sections’ alignment of the bistable beam was derived based on the numerical model which was consequently validated by experimental results. Influences of the bistable beams with a variable section on nonlinear stiffness characteristics and performance of the isolator were at last investigated with the harmonic balance method.

Current numerical methods cannot simulate well three-dimensional (3D) fracture process of solids. In order to study 3D fracture process of brittle-like materials and improve crack growth path prediction accuracy, a method is developed based on continuum damage mechanics and finite element method. In the developed method, damage is computed by homogenizing stress or strain in the preset characteristic field for reducing the spurious mesh sensitivity. Meanwhile, an additional procedure is used to consider the unstable and competing fracture process, which can be used to consider stress redistribution due to local damage evolution during the fracture process simulation. In addition, a damage model of concrete is also developed and used to describe material damage. Finally, 3D fracture process of two numerical examples, were simulated and compared with the experimental results by using the developed method. The 3D crack growth path and macroscopic mechanical behaviors can be predicted by the developed method coupled with a damage model. From the comparison, the effectiveness and modeling capability of the developed method are verified, which can be used to study 3D fracture mechanisms of concrete-like materials.

As one of the most promising semi-active control devices, magnetorheological (MR) damper has received significant attention in the past few decades because it can offer the adaptability of active control devices in the absence of the associated large power sources. In this study, a new single-rod MR damper with combine volume compensator are proposed, and the design method of combined compensator with independent functions of volume compensation and compensation force is proposed. Then the dynamic tests of the single-rod MR damper are carried out to demonstrate its working performance. The identified sigmoid model is adopted as forward model to characterize the performance of the MR damper. And the force tracking method is put forward by performing inverse of the forward model. Finally, the force tracking simulation of the optimal LQR control force for the stay cable is given to show its feasibility.

The research on the movement of lunar-based equipment is an essential subject in lunar exploration. The uncertainties of the complex lunar surface environment affect the steady movement of lunar-based equipment. In this paper, a novel nonlinear robust control strategy, namely model-based p-sectionalized control strategy (MPS control), is proposed for the mechanical legs of lunar-based equipment to maintain stability. The novel controller is designed based on the nonlinear dynamic model of the mechanical leg and the controller is proved theoretically based on Lyapunov stability theory. The numerical simulation and the real-time experiment are carried out and traditional controllers are introduced in the comparison. The results of both the simulation and the experiment verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

The control–structure interaction (CSI) affects the performance and robustness of protective structures in active control system, and it is important to consider the CSI effect to achieve high performance in structural vibration control. In this paper, the electro-mechanical model of the torsional servomotor is derived by establishing dynamic voltage equilibrium equation. Three different active control models (non-CSI, reduced-order CSI, and higher-order CSI model) which considering different accuracy requirements of the electro-mechanical relationship are established to investigate the influence of the CSI on active tuned mass damper (ATMD) control system. The frequency- and time-domain responses of a three-story steel frame structure during different excitations are investigated, and as a comparison, the responses of the uncontrolled and tuned mass damper (TMD) control system are also studied. It can be concluded that the control performance of the active control system is reduced due to the CSI effect, especially at resonance frequency region of the structure (around 2.7 Hz, 8.2 Hz, and 13.2 Hz). The input voltage, velocity of the top floor, velocity of active mass, and higher-order of control forces have an important influence on the servomotor output control force. Furthermore, it can be found that, to achieve the same control effect, the required control voltage has been significantly increased due to the CSI effect.

Ultrasonic guided-wave technology has been successfully applied to detect multiple types of defects in pipes. However, cross-sectional deformation, which is a common defect, is less studied when compared with structural discontinuity defects in pipes. In this paper, the guided wave is employed to detect cross-sectional deformation. First, the effect of sectional deformation parameters on the reflection of guided waves is analyzed using a series of three-dimensional (3D) finite-element (FE) models, and the deformation parameters affecting the reflection are examined in light of the physics of the guided waves based on the FE results. The results show that the reflection occurs at the start of the cross-sectional deformation, while the subsequent gradual deformation region does not cause reflection. The reflection coefficient is dependent on the axial deformation severity, and the mode conversion ratio is dependent on the circumferential deformation extent. Second, an experimental study was conducted to evaluate guided-wave reflection characteristics due to pipe cross-sectional deformation in a realistic situation. Test pipes with local and overall deformations were manufactured, and the reflection from both types of deformation was investigated experimentally. The results show good agreement between the experimental measurement and the FE prediction. Two quantitative parameters, axial deformation rate δ and circumferential deformation rate β, are defined to represent the cross-sectional deformation, and are found to correlate well with the reflection coefficient and mode conversion ratio. The ratio of δ/βis suitable to be used to judge the deformation type.

To improve the efficiency of conventional isolation trench and lighten the impact of the excavation on neighbor buildings, a novel high damping isolation trench is proposed. The viscoelastic braces equipped in the high damping isolation trench can dissipate the energy of ground-borne vibration while providing supporting force to ensure the stability of the soil on both sides. According to two actual ancient buildings, two types of high damping isolation trenchs with the plane shape of U and L are designed to solve the potential damages caused by long-term train-induced vibration. First, three-dimensional finite/infinite models based on these two buildings are established, respectively. Then, the energy dissipation characteristics are obtained by experiments. Through calculation, the control effects of the high damping isolation trenchs for these two buildings are investigated. The results indicate that the viscoelastic braces possess high energy dissipation capacity. After setting the high damping isolation trenchs around the structures, even at a small excavation depth, the acceleration and velocity responses of the two buildings are reduced significantly. Furthermore, the selected U-shaped and L-shaped trenches also show superiority compared with the conventional linear-shaped trench in this project.