The internal erosion of soil pipes can induce pipe collapses that affect soil erosion processes and landform evolution. The objective of this study was to determine the spatial distribution of pipe collapses in agricultural fields of Goodwin Creek watershed. Ground survey was carried out to detect pipe collapses, and the location, size and surface elevation was measured with differential GPS. A total of 143 of the 145 pipe collapses were found in cropland, and the density was approximately 0.58 collapses per hectare. The spatial distribution of pipe collapses was not uniform as pipe collapses were concentrated in the flat alluvial plains where the land use was dominated by cropland. One of the four parcels had 90% of the pipe collapses with a density of 7.7 collapses per hectare. The mean depth, area and volume of these pipe collapses were 0.12 m, 0.34 m2 and 0.02 m3, respectively, and all these properties exhibited a skewed distribution. The drainage area–slope gradient equation, which has been widely used for erosion phenomenon prediction, did not represent pipe collapses in this study as the coefficient of determination was <0.01. This is clear evidence that subsurface flow is not represented by surface topographic characteristics. The pipe collapses were found to intercept runoff, thereby reducing the slope length factor by 6% and the drainage area by 7%. Both of these factors can reduce the sheet and rill erosion; however, the increased subsurface flow could enhance ephemeral gully erosion. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Experimental investigation of electron oscillation inside the filter of a vacuum arc plasma source Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 422 (2001); 10.1063/1.1342779Effect of sheath evolution on metal ion implantation in a vacuum arc plasma source A plasma diffusion model is established to determine the optimal bias and sheath patterns in a positively biased magnetic filter of a metal arc plasma source. We determine the equation for the optimal bias on the magnetic filter. According to our model, the optimal bias is related to the electron speed, ion speed, ion mass, ion charge state, and plasma density in the filter. The optimal bias increases as these variables are increased with the exception of the electron speed. Even though the magnetic field is taken into account, it is not a variable in the final equation. Our experimental results confirm that the magnetic field has almost no influence on the optimal bias. An alternate design approach is suggested that should lead to enhanced plasma transport through the filter.

A dense ceramic oxide coating, about 50 µm thick, was prepared on a Ti–6Al–4V alloy by alternating current microarc oxidation in an aluminate solution. Its microstructure and phase composition were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The oxide coating contains two layers: an outer layer and a dense internal layer. The coating is mainly composed of TiO2 rutile and TiAl2O5 spinel phases. In the outer layer coating, the TiAl2O5 fraction is much higher than the rutile fraction. However, in the internal layer, rutile becomes the main phase while the TiAl2O5 fraction decreases significantly. During microarc oxidation, local melt–solidification processes take place in the coating, however, the microstructure of the Ti–6Al–4V substrate near the coating/metal interface is not changed. Aluminium from the solution is enriched in the outer layer coating, although it has also diffused into the interior of the coating.