1,720,988 research outputs found

    Thermal expansion of mantle mineral inclusions in diamonds

    Full text link
    The aim of this PhD thesis is to provide new constraints on the thermoelastic behavior of some minerals phases frequently occurring as inclusions in diamonds. Knowledge of the thermoelastic properties of minerals is a fundamental requirement to enable the estimate of the entrapment pressures for host-inclusion pairs using elastic geobarometry. As it will be shown in the present study precision and accuracy in determining the thermoelastic coefficients can strongly affect the results in terms of calculated entrapment pressures. The new measurements performed on pyroxenes and garnets will be used here also to illustrate the importance of using consistent and homogeneous compressibility and thermal expansion dataset determined using the same measurements protocols on a single sample. This approach allows us to obtain a complete set of thermoelastic coefficients to reliably describe the behavior of a crystalline phase at high-P and T. A new micro-furnace developed by our research group here at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Pavia has been described . The furnace allows to perform in situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments at high temperature up to 1200K. The combined use of a K-type small diameter thermocouple together with mineral phases with well characterized lattice expansion (allowed us to determine a very accurate temperature calibration from room temperature to about 1273 K. Furthermore, we could evaluate thermal gradients and stability while performing a simulated experiment. Thermal expansion behavior from room T to 1073 K of two Pbca orthopyroxene samples has been investigated, donpeacorite and enstatite. The investigation has been performed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Data demonstrated that there is no difference in the volume thermal expansion coefficient as a function of composition. The negligible effect of the Fe-Mn substitution on the bulk thermal expansion allows a strong simplification when elastic geobarometry is applied to orthopyroxenes. In fact, even though the compressibility effect is still not known, it is certain that the nearly identical thermal expansion coefficients will not affect the calculated entrapment pressure (Pe). The elastic behaviour of synthetic single crystals of grossular garnet has been studied in situ as a function of pressure and temperature separately. The same data collection protocol has been adopted to collect both the pressure-volume (P-V) and temperature-volume (T-V) datasets in order to make the measurements consistent with one another. The consistency between the two datasets allows simultaneous fitting to a single pressure-volume-temperature equation of state (EoS). The evaluation of the possible role of iron oxidation on the lattice parameters thermal expansion for Fe-rich aluminosilicate garnets. The oxidation state of the two garnets recovered after the high-T single crystal X-ray diffraction experiments performed under different fO2 conditions has been evaluated using single-crystal Mössbauer spectroscopy. Mössbauer data confirmed that no oxidation occurs for the Fe-rich garnets up to at least about 1100 K neither for the “no buffer” nor for the “iron-wustite” buffered sample. The thermal expansion data nearly identical (within 2 e.s.d.’s) one to another indicates that there is no evident effect of the different fO2 conditions in the vial on the thermal expansion behavior. The resulting thermal expansion coefficients and bulk moduli have been combined for each composition into a single pressure-volume-temperature equation of state that allowed us to compare the thermoelastic properties measured on the eclogitic garnet with those calculated from the endmembers EoS. The remarkable agreement between the calculated and measured thermoelastic coefficients will enable us to calculate EoS coefficients and in turn entrapment pressures for virtually any aluminosilicate garnet occurring in diamonds

    Earthquakes and Tie-Rods: Assessment, Design, and Ductility Issues

    No full text
    The effectiveness of tie-rods is widely stressed in past earthquakes and they are still used today as reinforcement intervention, given that their use is a low-invasive and low-expensive technique. However, the earthquake design of these devices is not so simple since the main feature of a tie-rod derives from its ductility and that should be preserved as was done in the past. In this article, some considerations about static and seismic design of tie-rods are made, highlighting the main failure modes of the system. To assess seismic vulnerability of I-mode mechanism, displacement-based methods are usually used, requiring high elongation capability of the tie-rods. For this reason, an experimental campaign was carried out to define clearly the maximum elongation of tie-rods and to investigate the influence of bar length on ductility. The results have shown a good displacement capacity that decreases with the increase of steel strength. A simplified formulation, obtained from nonlinear kinematic analysis, is derived to evaluate quickly the seismic vulnerability of I-mode mechanism with tie-rods and to design this common retrofitting intervention in existing buildings

    Aqua Claudia

    No full text
    Claudius Aqueduct was one of the most important aqueduct of Rome. The 1.5 kilometres of Claudius Aqueduct in the “park of the aqueducts” is well preserved while the near portions are seriously affected by declineandabandonment. Some NTD tests are performed on two pillars of Claudio Aqueduct to evaluate the state of conservation of this archaeological finds. These experimental analyses demonstrate that sonic tests are able to define the consistency of the material and locate the presence of internal crack. Moreover the value of sonic velocity, relatedtointactmaterial,canalsogiveameasureofthedamageforaquantitativepointofview. A finite element model was achieve from a survey with high level of detail and after a stratigraphic analysis conductbyUniversityofPadova. Structural analyses are carried out to evaluate the static and the dynamic response of a part of aqueduct. The damage mechanism that cause the collapse of a lot of arches seems isn’t directly connected to seismic phenomena, but can be clarify more easily supposing the settlement of the foundation. This hypothesis is credible considering the measure taken to reinforce the Aqueduct a few years after its construction, through therealizationofmasonryarches. Even if the static analyses have not shown particular problems, the severe state of degradation can quickly leadtocollapseofblocks,significantlyreducingthesafety
    corecore