Erosion wear is a common failure mode in the oil and gas industry. In the hydraulic fracturing, the fracturing pipes are not only in high-pressure working environment, but also suffer from the impact of the high-speed solid particles in the fracturing fluid. Beneath such complex conditions, the vulnerable components of the pipe system are prone to perforation or even burst accidents, which has become one of the most serious risks at the fracturing site. Unfortunately, it is not yet fully understood the erosion mechanism of pipe steel for hydraulic fracturing. Therefore, this article provides a detailed analysis of the erosion behavior of fracturing pipes under complex working conditions based on experiments and numerical simulations. Firstly, we conducted erosion experiments on AISI 4135 steel for fracturing pipes to investigate the erosion characteristics of the material. The effects of impact angle, flow velocity and applied stress on erosion wear were comprehensively considered. Then a particle impact dynamic model of erosion wear was developed based on the experimental parameters, and the evolution process of particle erosion under different impact angles, impact velocities and applied stress was analyzed. By combining the erosion characteristics, the micro-structure of the eroded area, and the micro-mechanics of erosion damage, the erosion mechanism of pipe steel under fracturing conditions was studied in detail for the first time. Under high-pressure operating conditions, it was demonstrated through experiments and numerical simulations that the size of the micro-defects in the eroded area increased as the applied stress increased, resulting in more severe erosion wear of fracturing pipes.
The uplift of the Tibetan Plateau significantly affected the global climate system. However, the timing of its uplift and the formation of its vast expanse are poorly understood. The occurrence of two types of leucogranites (the two-mica leucogranites and garnet-bearing leucogranites) identified in the Ailaoshan-Red River (ASRR) shear zone suggests an extension event in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. The age of these leucogranites could be used to constrain the timing of uplift and southeastward expansion of the plateau. Petrography, geochronology and geochemistry investigations, including Sr–Nd isotope analysis, were conducted on the two-mica leucogranites and garnet-bearing leucogranites from the ASRR shear zone. LA-ICP-MS zircon U–Pb dating indicates that these rocks were emplaced at ~27 Ma, implying that the Tibetan Plateau had already achieved maximum uplift prior to the late Oligocene. It subsequently started to expand southeastward as a result of crustal flow. Compared to classic metapelite-derived leucogranites from Himalaya, the two-mica leucogranites show high K2O/Na2O (1.31–1.92), low Rb/Sr, CaO, lower 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7089–0.7164) and higher εNd(t) (−8.83 to −3.10). This whole-rock geochemical characteristics likely indicates a mixing source origin, composed predominantly of amphibolite with subordinated metapelite, which is also evidenced by 87Sr/86Sr vs. εNd(t) diagram. However, The garnet-bearing leucogranites with high SiO2 contents (72.25–74.12 wt.%) have high initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7332–0.7535) and low εNd(t) (−16.36 to −18.98), indicating that they are derived from the source comprised of metapelite and results of fluexed muscovite melting under lower crustal level, which is also evidenced by the Rb–Sr–Ba systematics. These leucogranites formed from partial melting of the thickened lower crust, which resulted in the formation of granitic melt that weakened the crust. The weakened crust aided the left-lateral strike-slip movement of the ASRR shear zone, triggering the escape of the Indochina terrane in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau during the late Oligocene.
Microsatellite (SSR) markers are the most popular markers for genetic analyses and molecular selective breeding in plants and animals. However, the currently available methods to develop SSRs are relatively time-consuming and expensive. One of the most factors is low frequency of polymorphic SSRs. In this study, we developed a software, SSREnricher, which composes of six core analysis procedures, including SSR mining, sequence clustering, sequence modification, enrichment containing polymorphic SSR sequences, false-positive removal and results output and multiple sequence alignment. After running of transcriptome sequences on this software, a mass of polymorphic SSRs can be identified. The validation experiments showed almost all markers (>90%) that were identified by the SSREnricher as putative polymorphic markers were indeed polymorphic. The frequency of polymorphic SSRs identified by SSREnricher was significantly higher ( P < 0.05) than that of traditional and HTS approaches. The software package is publicly accessible on GitHub ( https://github.com/byemaxx/SSREnricher ).