Modeling of airflow resistance in grain bulk requires knowledge of the tortuosity and velocity of the air flow through the grain bulk. In this study, experiments were carried out to determine these characteristics of airflow paths by analyzing digital images of smoke-visualized airflow paths inside a grain bulk obtained with a high speed camera. Colored smoke with approximately the same density as air was introduced into the test box for the visualization of the airflow through the grain bulk. Soybeans with a moisture content of 8.82% on wet basis were used in this study. The high quality videos obtained by recoding the fast movement of the smoke through the grain bulk was first separated into frames using a commercial software, VirtualDub (CRIM, Montreal, Québec, Canada), and the 512× 384 pixel RGB image files (frames) extracted from the recorded videos and read into ImageJ an image processing Java-based software developed by the United State National institute of Health, to track the movement of the smoke in the images, frame by frame to determine lengths, tortuosities of the different flow paths, as well as their velocities.

Lime mortar and plaster have been investigated with the aim to improve the knowledge on how to make them as durable as before the cement technology was developed. The background was the durability problems experienced for newly produced lime plaster on the medieval churches on the island of Gotland, Sweden. In some cases the new lime plaster façades showed severe frost damages after only one winter. Although the lime was burnt and produced according to old local traditions, the lime mortar was still mixed and worked onaccording to methods developed for lime-cement mortar. This often led to a very porous lime plaster with a lime shell in the surface and such a plaster has been shown to be sensitive to frost expansion. Field studies were combined with laboratory studies of thin section specimens. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy have been important analytical methods showing the porosity and the structure of the binder and aggregate materials. The investigations have been carried out on both historic and on newly made reference mortar and plaster. The field studies were carried out mainly on Gotland, using local materials. The influence of the raw materials, i.e. lime, aggregate and blending ratio was investigated. The focus has been on the workability of the fresh mortars as well as the pore structure of the carbonated plaster. The craftsmanship, meaning mixing and application of mortar and working the plaster surface, was studied in order to clarify its final pore structure. The pore structure in a material determines many of its technical properties, such as moisture transportation, compressive strength, permeability and frost resistance. All these properties are closely connected to the durability of the mortar and plaster. The permeability of the plaster has an impact also on the durability of the covered construction materials. Behind low-permeable plasters made with hydraulic binder, examples of extensive damages of rotten wood and leached lime have been shown. The investigations have shown the importance of choosing a mortar adjusted to the building construction. They also showed the importance of choosing a blending ratio adjusted to the specific binder and sand used in order to get a mortar with a suitable pore structure and good durability. It has also shown the importance of knowing when and how to work on the plaster surface in order to obtain a homogenous material that is well receptive for lime wash and has a good frost resistance. The combination of all the investigations has led to a method for reconstructing historic mortar and plaster with good durability.

In this study, characterization of activated carbon produced from apricot stones by chemical activation technique using phosphoric acid (H3PO4) as activating agent, at relatively low temperatures (300, 400 and 500oC), was investigated. To produce activated carbon acid impregnated samples were heated / at a heating rate of 20oC/min to the final carbonization temperatures, 300oC, 400oC and 500oC. For each temperature four different carbonization time (90, 120, 180 and 210 min.) were used to produce twelve different activated carbons. The pore structures of activated carbons were determined as follows: The volume and area of macropores in the pore diameter range of 8180-50 nm were determined by mercury intrusion porosimetry. Mesopore (in the range of 50-2 nm) areas and volumes were determined by N2 gas adsorption technique at -195.6oC, BET surface areas of the samples were also determined, in the relative pressure range of 0.05 to 0.02, by the same technique. The pore volume and the area of the micropores with diameters less than 2 nm were determined by CO2 adsorption measurements at 0oC by the application of Dubinin Radushkevich equation. N2 (BET) and CO2 (D-R) surface areas of the samples were in the range of 444-709m2/g and 433-650m2/g, respectively. AC4.2 sample (carbonization temperature of 400oC and carbonization time of 120 min.) was found to have the maximum BET and CO2 area as 709m2/g and 650m2/g, respectively. Surface areas of the samples consisting of around 10% mesopores and over 90% micropores. N2 adsorption isotherms also confirm that pores are in the micropore range.

In this study, the pore structures and surface areas of activated carbons produced from hazelnut shell and hazelnut husk by chemical activation technique using phosphoric acid (H3PO4), at relatively low temperatures (300, 400 and 500oC), were investigated. Raw materials were impregnated with different H3PO4 solutions of 30%, 40%, 50% and 60% by weight. To produce activated carbon, acid impregnated samples were heated / at a heating rate of 20 oC/min to the final carbonization temperature and held at that temperature for 2 hours. The volume and surface areas of mesopores (2-50 nm) and BET surface areas of the samples were determined by N2 gas adsorption technique at -195.6oC. The pore volume and the area of the micropores with diameters less than 2 nm were determined by CO2 adsorption measurements at 0oC by the application of Dubinin Radushkevich equation. N2 (BET) surface areas of the hazelnut shell and hazelnut husk based activated carbons were in the range of 242-596 m2/g and 705-1565 m2/g, respectively. CO2 (D-R) surface areas of the hazelnut shell and hazelnut husk based activated carbons were in the range of 433-576 m2/g and 376-724 m2/g, respectively. The highest BET surface area was obtained as 596 m2/g among hazelnut shell based samples (HS 60.4 / shell impregnated with 60 wt.% H3PO4, carbonized at 400 &ordm / C) and as 1565 m2/g among hazelnut husk based samples (HH 40.4 / husk impregnated with 40 wt.% H3PO4, carbonized at 400 &ordm / C). Hazelnut shell based activated carbons were mainly microporous while hazelnut husk based ones were mesoporous.

Activated carbons have been modif fed using reactive chemicals to produce adsorbents of enhanced hydrophobic character which will also be resistant to surface oxidation that results from exposure to humid air ("ageing"). The intention was that modification would not disrupt the carbon pore structure. The adsorptive properties of the modified carbons have been investigated using probe molecules Including nitrogen, water, hexane, and chloropicrin, and the ageing characteristics of the carbons, and the factors controlling the adsorption of a model hydrophobic vapour from high humidity air have been studied. Directly fluorinated carbons were unstable, probably due to weakly adsorbed fluorine. Treatment of these adsorbents with other chemicals indicated the potential of the technique for Introducing specific functional groups onto the carbon surface. Carbons modified using selective fluorinating reagents (hexafluoropropene and 1,1-difluoroethene) were more hydrophobic, and adsorbed hydrophobic vapours more efficiently from humid air in comparison to controls. These adsorbents aged, but at a reduced rate in comparison to control carbon. Carbons modified using chlorinating reagents (carbonyl chloride and chlorine) and treated with solvents to remove adsorbed reagent and/or reaction products were of improved hydrophobic character, and adsorbed hydrophobic vapours from humid air at least as efficiently as the control samples. More importantly, these carbons offered resistance to ageing effects. A study of the factors controlling the efficiency with which hydrophobic vapours; are adsorbed from humid air revealed that the surface chemistry of the carbon is important, but that under typical conditions of use, filter performance was limited by the rate at which water displaced by the organic vapour could be carried away by the airstream. The results illustrate that filters containing chemically modified activated carbon offer advantages when volatile hydrophobic contaminant vapours are present, and where ageing effects are an important mechanism by which filtration efficiency is degraded.

Yes / The development of ultra-high performance cementitious composite (UHPCC) represents a significant advancement in the field of concrete science and technology, but insufficient hydration and high autogenous shrinkage relatively increase the pores inside UHPCC, in turn, affecting the macro-performance of UHPCC. This paper, initially, optimized the pore structure of UHPCC using different types and dimensions of nanofillers. Subsequently, the pore structure characteristics of nano-modified UHPCC were investigated by the mercury intrusion porosimeter method and fractal theory. Finally, the fluid permeability of nano-modified UHPCC was estimated by applying the Katz-Thompson equation. Experimental results showed that all incorporated nanofillers can refine the pore structure of UHPCC, but nanofillers with different types and dimensions have various effects on the pore structure of UHPCC. Specifically, CNTs, especially the thin-short one, can significantly reduce the porosity of UHPCC, whereas nanoparticles, especially nano-SiO2, are more conducive to refine the pore size. Among all nanofillers, nano-SiO2 has the most obvious effect on pore structure, reducing the porosity, specific pore volume and most probable pore radius of UHPCC by 31.9%, 35.1% and 40.9%, respectively. Additionally, the pore size distribution of nano-modified UHPCC ranges from 10-1nm to 105nm, and the gel pores and fine capillary pores in the range of 3-50nm account for more than 70% of the total pore content, confirming nanofillers incorporation can effectively weaken pore connectivity and induce pore distribution to concentrate at nanoscale. Fractal results indicated the provision of nanofillers reduces the structural heterogeneity of gel pores and fine capillary pores, and induces homogenization and densification of UHPCC matrix, in turn, decreasing the UHPCC fluid permeability by 15.7%-79.2%. / The authors thank the funding supported from the National Science Foundation of China (51978127, 52178188 and 51908103), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M720648 and 2022M710973) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (DUT21RC(3)039). / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 11 May 2024.

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Yes / The development of ultra-high performance cementitious composite (UHPCC) represents a significant advancement in the field of concrete science and technology, but insufficient hydration and high autogenous shrinkage relatively increase the pores inside UHPCC, in turn, affecting the macro-performance of UHPCC. This paper, initially, optimized the pore structure of UHPCC using different types and dimensions of nanofillers. Subsequently, the pore structure characteristics of nano-modified UHPCC were investigated by the mercury intrusion porosimeter method and fractal theory. Finally, the fluid permeability of nano-modified UHPCC was estimated by applying the Katz-Thompson equation. Experimental results showed that all incorporated nanofillers can refine the pore structure of UHPCC, but nanofillers with different types and dimensions have various effects on the pore structure of UHPCC. Specifically, CNTs, especially the thin-short one, can significantly reduce the porosity of UHPCC, whereas nanoparticles, especially nano-SiO2, are more conducive to refine the pore size. Among all nanofillers, nano-SiO2 has the most obvious effect on pore structure, reducing the porosity, specific pore volume and most probable pore radius of UHPCC by 31.9%, 35.1% and 40.9%, respectively. Additionally, the pore size distribution of nano-modified UHPCC ranges from 10-1nm to 105nm, and the gel pores and fine capillary pores in the range of 3-50nm account for more than 70% of the total pore content, confirming nanofillers incorporation can effectively weaken pore connectivity and induce pore distribution to concentrate at nanoscale. Fractal results indicated the provision of nanofillers reduces the structural heterogeneity of gel pores and fine capillary pores, and induces homogenization and densification of UHPCC matrix, in turn, decreasing the UHPCC fluid permeability by 15.7%-79.2%. / National Science Foundation of China (51978127, 52178188 and 51908103), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M720648 and 2022M710973) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (DUT21RC(3)039).