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The Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) is a recognized geothermal exploitation system for hot dry rock (HDR), which is a rich resource in China. In this study, a numerical simulation method is used to study the effects of geothermal fluid dryness and non‐condensable gas content on the specific enthalpy of geothermal fluid. Combined with the organic Rankine cycle (ORC), a numerical model is established to ascertain the difference in power generation caused by geothermal fluid dryness and non‐condensable gas content. The results show that the specific enthalpy of geothermal fluid increases with the increase of geothermal fluid temperature and geothermal fluid dryness. If the dryness of geothermal fluid is ignored, the estimation error will be large for geothermal fluid enthalpy. Ignoring non condensable gas will increase the estimation of geothermal fluid enthalpy, so the existence of the non‐condensable gas tends to reduce the installed capacity of a geothermal power plant. Additionally, both mass flow of the working medium and net power output of the ORC power generation system are increased with increasing dryness of geothermal fluid, however there is some impact of geothermal fluid dryness on thermal efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive alcohol and iron intake can reportedly cause liver damage. In the present study, we investigated the effect of Lactobacillus casei on liver injury in rats co‐exposed to alcohol and iron and evaluated its possible mechanism. Sixty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups for 12 weeks: the Control group (administered normal saline by gavage and provided a normal diet); alcohol +iron group (Model group, treated with alcohol [3.5–5.3 g/kg/day] by gavage and dietary iron [1,500 mg/kg]); Model group supplemented with L. casei (8 × 108 CFU kg−1 day−1) (L. casei group). Using hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and transmission electron microscopy, we observed that L. casei supplementation could alleviate disorders associated with lipid metabolism, inflammation, and intestinal mucosal barrier injury. Moreover, levels of serum alanine aminotransferase, gamma‐glutamyl transferase, triglyceride (TG), and hepatic TG were significantly increased in the model group; however, these levels were significantly decreased following the 12‐week L. casei supplementation. In addition, we observed notable improvements in intestinal mucosal barrier function and alterations in T lymphocyte subsets and natural killer cells in L. casei‐treated rats when compared with the model group. Furthermore, L. casei intervention alleviated serum levels of tumor necrosis factor‐α and interleukin‐1β, accompanied by decreased serum endotoxin levels and downregulated expression of toll‐like receptor 4 and its related molecules MyD88, nuclear factor kappa‐B p65, and TNF‐α. Accordingly, supplementation with L. casei could effectively improve liver injury induced by the synergistic interaction between alcohol and iron. The underlying mechanism for this improvement may be related to immune regulation and inhibition of enterogenic endotoxin‐mediated inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mine fires are becoming a serious issue as the intensity of mining increases, especially in deep mines. Loose coal gob has a hidden ignition location and a high possibility of spontaneous combustion, which makes fire prevention difficult. Therefore, based on the theory of gas seepage and the characteristics of loose coal, a model of air leakage and spontaneous combustion in gob is established in this paper. Using working face #10414 in the Yangliu coal mine as an example, the relationship between the three spontaneous coal combustion (CSC) zones and the three stress zones is analyzed and verified by combining a FLAC3D simulation with field monitoring. In addition, the influence of advancing speed on the CSC is discussed, and suggestions for fire prevention are presented. The results show that the variation in the calorific value of the CSC with increasing degree of looseness of the residual coal in the gob forms an arch‐shape. There is a one‐to‐one relationship between the distribution of the three stress zones and the three CSC zones. In addition, as the advancing speed increases, the contact time between the loose coal body and the air decreases and the possibility of CSC decreases. This study provides a scientific basis for fire prevention and control in mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Intracranial arterial calcification (IAC) is a risk factor of ischemic stroke. However, the relationship between IAC patterns and clinical outcome of ischemic stroke remains controversial. We aimed to investigate the correlation between IAC patterns and the effects of reperfusion therapy among acute stroke patients. Methods: Consecutive acute ischemic stroke patients who underwent reperfusion therapy were included. IAC was categorized as intimal or medial. Based on its involvement, IAC was further classified as diffuse or focal. Neurologic dysfunction was assessed by the National Institute of Health stroke scale (NIHSS). Clinical outcome including favorable neurologic outcome (FNO) and early neurologic deterioration (END) were assessed. Results: Of 130 patients, 117 had IAC. Intimal IAC was identified in 74.6% of patients and medial IAC was present in 64.6% of patients. Diffuse IAC was present in 31.5% of patients. All diffuse IACs were medial pattern. Diffuse IAC was associated with higher baseline NIHSS (p = 0.011) and less FNO (p = 0.047). Compared with patients with focal or single diffuse IAC, patients with multiple diffuse IAC had higher baseline NIHSS (p = 0.002) and less FNO (p = 0.024). Multivariable linear regression (p < 0.001) and logistic regression (p = 0.027) suggested that multiple diffuse IAC was associated with higher baseline NIHSS and less FNO. No significant association was found between END and different IAC patterns. Interpretation: Multiple diffuse medial IAC may predict severer neurologic dysfunction and less favorable neurologic outcome after reperfusion therapy in acute stroke patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas disasters are a major factor influencing safe production in mines: Gas extraction can reduce the gas content in coal seams, providing a guarantee of safer production. The parameters for gas extraction are the primary factors influencing the effectiveness thereof. Aiming at the creep properties of soft coal, a fluid‐solid coupling mathematical model considering creep properties of coal was established based on dynamic evolution equation for permeability considering the effects of matrix shrinkage and effective stress. Additionally, by utilizing COMSOL Multiphysics software, the gas extractions from a single borehole and multiple boreholes were calculated. Moreover, the parameters for gas extraction were optimized and applied and tested in field conditions. The result showed the reduction in gas pressure around the boreholes was larger than that from a single borehole when conducting gas extraction from multiple boreholes. The borehole spacing when extracting gas in coal seams by drilling multiple boreholes should be more than twice that of the effective drainage radius. The optimal borehole spacing ranged from 3.2 to 4.2 m for gas extraction lasting 180 d. Numerical simulation was carried out to ascertain the distribution of stress on coal around a roadway. The result revealed that the damage radius of the roadway was 11.8 m, and a reasonable hole‐sealing depth was 12 m. On condition that the borehole spacing during gas extraction from multiple boreholes was 4 m, the reasonable pre‐extraction time was 180 days taking the gas pressure being reduced to <0.74 MPa as a critical point. Furthermore, the gas content, the amount of extracted gas, etc, in a working face after the parameters for gas extraction were optimized were measured. The result suggested that the effect of gas extraction after optimizing parameters conformed to industry standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the increase in mining depth and strength, coal‐rock gas dynamic disasters, such as coal and gas outburst, have shown an increasing trend. Acoustic emission (AE) technology has been viewed as a promising method that can effectively forecast coal and gas dynamic disasters. This paper first tests the AE characteristics of coal and rock samples during loading. Then, self‐developed AE continuous monitoring and early warning equipment is used to monitor and predict the coal and gas outburst dynamic disasters on the working face. And it is found that the coal samples primarily show ductile failure, and the AE exhibits the evolutionary characteristics of "rise‐peak‐fall". The rock samples primarily exhibit brittle failure, and the AE evolution mode is almost no falling stage. Coal and gas outbursts occur after the stress peak. Before coal and gas outbursts occur, there is a clear increasing trend in the AE ahead of the gas concentration variation. When the gas‐bearing coal is damaged by the load, the coal body first breaks due to the stress, and the AE value increases. Then, due to the fracture of the coal body, the crack penetrates, gas rushes out, and the gas concentration increases. The research results can provide an advanced technical method for the monitoring and early warning of coal–rock gas dynamic disasters, and improve the prediction accuracy for dynamic disasters. The AE exhibits the evolutionary characteristics of "rise‐peak‐fall"; the rock sample exhibits brittle failure, and the AE evolution mode lacks the "decline" stage. There is a clear increasing trend in the AE before the gas concentration variation and accidents. When the coal‐containing gas is damaged by the load, the coal body first breaks due to stress, and the AE value increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The permeability characteristics of gas‐containing coal under different radial stress, different axial stress, and gas pressure were studied by orthogonal experiments, using a self‐developed three‐axis servo fluid infiltration system with a gas‐solid coupling of gas‐containing coal, on the basis of a single‐factor influence on the permeability of gas‐containing coal. By considering the effective stress, three kinds of relationships between permeability and radial stress, permeability and axial stress, as well as permeability and gas pressure were established. The results show that radial stress, axial stress, and gas pressure have a great influence on the permeability characteristics of gas‐containing coal: (a) The influence of radial stress on gas permeability is significant, whereas the influence of axial stress is negligible. The degree of influence of radial stress, gas pressure, and axial stress on the permeability decreases in turn; (b) The permeability decreases following a power function with the increase of the radial stress; (c) The permeability gradually increases with the increase of axial stress. With the increase of axial stress, the permeability increases following a power function; (d) The increase in gas pressure will reduce the effective stress on the coal, and the number of pores and cracks inside the coal body will decrease. This will increase the effective seepage flow and gas flow rate of the gas and eventually lead to the increase of coal permeability. There is a quadratic function relationship between the permeability and gas pressure. The influence of radial stress on gas permeability of gas‐containing coal is significant, whereas the influence of axial stress is negligible. The permeability of coal sample increases with the radial stress and it decreases following a power function. With the increase of axial stress, the permeability of coal samples increases following a power function. There is a quadratic function relationship between the permeability of gas‐containing coal and gas pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deformation and fracture of surrounding rock in deep underground engineering have the characteristics of time mutation and space continuity. In order to monitor and provide early warning of the dynamic deformation and fracture characteristics of deep surrounding rock, a real‐time digital displacement measuring instrument was developed in this paper. The proposed device represented a kind of surrounding rock deformation and fracture monitoring method, which had the continuous and real‐time advantages. Based upon the simulation experiments, the dynamic deformation and fracture of deep roadway surrounding rock were measured synchronously using the digital displacement measuring instrument testing system (DDMITS) and the V‐STARS measurement system. Comparative measurement results indicated that the DDMITS had a higher reliability. The deformation of roadway surrounding rock gradually increased with the increase of loading. The roof deformation and caving changing patterns in coal seam mining were studied using similar simulation experiments based on the DDMITS. The vertical displacement response of rock strata was more obvious than the horizontal displacement. There was a sharp increase in the vertical displacement during the collapse of the rock strata. Additionally, the vertical displacement velocity showed fluctuations. Meanwhile, the fluctuations in the vertical displacement acceleration increased significantly. The DDMITS could achieve full‐field measurement and the noncontact measurement of three‐dimensional deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low‐concentration gas is one of the most realistic and reliable supplementary or alternative energy sources of conventional natural gas, which has a wide range of applications. However, this gas is flammable and explosive during pipeline transportation and easily causes an explosion. In order to achieve safe transmission, the explosion characteristics and propagation law of low‐concentration gas are systematically studied through a large‐scale pipeline experimental system. We found that the peak pressure of low‐concentration gas explosion in pipeline has a quadratic function relationship with the propagation distance. Moreover, the peak pressure of gas explosion initially decreases from the explosion source, and then a turning point appears after a certain distance of propagation, which is followed by a sharp increase of peak pressure of gas explosion. The explosion pressure becomes maximum at the outlets of a pipeline. The arrival time of explosion flame is logarithmically relevant to propagation distance, while the speed of flame propagation gradually increases along with the increase of propagation distance. The flame propagation is faster at the exit point. In addition, the diameter of pipeline has also an important influence on the explosion propagation process of low‐concentration gas. So, the larger the diameter, the higher the explosion pressure. The explosion pressure of DN700 pipeline is obviously higher than that of DN500, and the explosion pressure rises faster; the speed of flame propagation of gas explosion in DN700 pipeline is also higher than that in DN500 pipeline. This study provides a theoretical reference for the prevention and control of explosion accidents in low‐concentration gas pipelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the water jet technique has been more frequently used for coal bed methane stimulation. As the ultimate component of the water jet system, the nozzle has important influence on the rock breaking ability of water jet. To optimize the nozzle, a simplified model for impinging water jet was established. The effects of geometric structure (cylindrical, conical, and conical‐straight) and parameters (outlet diameter d, conical angle α, and length L) on the flow field of the impinging water jet are simulated through computational fluid dynamics software Fluent14.0. Besides, the effects of inlet pressure (Pin) and target distances (S) on the jet dynamics are also discussed based on the simulation results. The results show that the jet dynamic parameters including dynamic pressure, velocity, and impinging pressure vary with different nozzles. The jet dynamic parameters linearly increase with the inlet pressure, while they first increase then decrease with the increase in target distance. Additionally, the optimal nozzle designed based on the numerical simulation was used in the field test, and the results indicate that this technique can effectively improve the gas drainage efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the stress‐cracks‐permeability evolution law inside coal body under cyclic loading is significant to optimize the gas extraction technology and gas disasters prevention technology. In order to explore the influence of mining cyclic stress on the mechanical behavior and permeability variation of gas‐bearing seams, the experiments on permeability evolution, deformation law, and acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of coal samples under cyclic loading with different loading stress level and different loading frequency were carried out. These results indicate that the higher loading stress level, the shorter the fatigue life of coal sample. With the increase of the loading stress level, the change rate of permeability became higher and the relation curves between permeability and loading cycles developed from "U" to "V," which can be defined and divided into three stages, for example, decrease stage, stable stage, and increase stage. And the permeability in the decrease stage can be modeled as a power function of the loading cycles, while the permeability in the increase stage can be modeled as an exponential function of the loading cycles. Besides, the loading stress level has a significant on the permeability, while the loading frequency has little impact on the permeability evolution. In the process of coal deformation under cyclic loading, the strain development of strain coal samples was in the shape of inverted "S," while the variation of the peak values of corresponding AE ring counts presented "U" type. In addition, there was a good correlation between the permeability and the AE parameters of coal samples, which provide a new sight into the dynamic variation process of the stress‐cracks‐permeability evolution inside coal body under cyclic loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic fracturing can evidently improve the coalbed methane production in underground coal mines, but it is difficult to delimit the stimulated area accurately. In order to evaluate the stimulated area, microseismic (MS) monitoring technique is proposed to investigate the seismic responses of the induced fractures of hydraulic fracturing. Three coal seams were targeted to be treated in a coal mine. An array of geophones was set along the underground roadway to detect the MS signals caused by HF. In order to verify the result of MS monitoring, water content of each coal seam has been measured before and after HF treatment. The results showed that a series of MS events were detected during the entire HF process, and a sharp MS event usually occurred during the first hour of HF process. The energy of the sharp MS event had higher magnitude than others. The MS distribution exhibited complex morphological features. The directionless MS response was distributed over a radius of less than 40 m but tended to be significantly conjugated with a radius of more than 40 m. HF could stimulate both the coal seam and the rock layers nearby. The achievable stimulated area in the coal seam was determined to be 50 m × 50 m according to the MS density and water content. The stimulated area in terms of MS density was easily found to be broader than the area of water direct intrusion. The present study indicated that MS monitoring technique could potentially be used for evaluation of HF in underground coal mine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]