Search Results (620)

Subcooled flow boiling of distilled water was investigated in a vertical annular minichannel with smooth and surface-modified heated tubes. Copper and stainless-steel substrates were tested with ZnO and ZnO/PMHS coatings; Al₂O₃ was additionally tested on stainless steel. A simplified one-dimensional cylindrical model provided local effective heat transfer coefficients, and modified surfaces were compared pointwise with smooth references at matched operating conditions and axial positions. A modification was considered favourable only when the heat transfer coefficient increased without an increase in wall temperature. ZnO on stainless steel was the only modification meeting this criterion at both nominal mass flow rates: the mean pointwise coefficient increased by 44.2% at 7 kg/h and 42.9% at 10 kg/h, while mean wall temperature decreased by 36.9 and 32.8 K, respectively. Al₂O₃ and ZnO/PMHS on stainless steel reduced the coefficient and increased wall temperature, whereas copper modifications showed no robust improvement relative to the designated references. A separate model-sensitivity assessment did not alter the qualitative ranking. ZnO-modified stainless steel was therefore the best-performing configuration within the tested matrix; no broader superiority is claimed beyond the present geometry, fluid, flow rates, and heat-flux range. Full article

The Weibei Plain, characterized by its complex stratified aquifer system and extensive brine resources, faces severe groundwater salinization. Unraveling the precise evolutionary mechanisms of diverse hydrochemical types across varying depths and geomorphological zones remains a significant challenge. This study synthesizes a multi-batch hydrochemical dataset with multi-isotopic tracers (δ²H, δ¹⁸O, δ¹¹B, δ⁸¹Br, δ³⁷Cl) to establish a comprehensive groundwater evolutionary model from the piedmont plain to the coastal marine plain. The results indicate distinct hydrochemical zonation governed by geographic geomorphology and historical marine transgressions. Salinization in transitional waters is primarily driven by physical mixing and reverse cation exchange rather than extreme evaporative fractionation. Crucially, isotopic mass balance definitively reveals that deep brine (depth > 60 m) originates not from modern seawater intrusion, but from the extreme surface evaporation of ancient paleo-seawater. This paleo-brine underwent profound isotopic exchange during its gravity-driven downward migration, evidenced by intense clay mineral adsorption (yielding extreme δ¹¹B enrichment up to 64.42‰) and secondary evaporite dissolution. Furthermore, the regional cone of depression formed by intensive brine extraction has profoundly altered deep hydrodynamics, inducing overflow and membrane ultrafiltration across massively thick clay aquitards. This process distinctly drives the isotopic fractionation observed in deep brackish waters. The analysis process in this study combines the isotope method with the regional geomorphological zoning, which can provide a reference for the analysis of groundwater evolution characteristics in other coastal aquifers. Full article

Driven by China’s “Dual Carbon” strategy, medium-deep closed-loop geothermal energy has become a mainstream clean heating technology owing to the advantage of “heat extraction without groundwater production”. However, its large-scale application is restricted by low single-well heat output and an unclear matching mechanism between working fluids and wellbores. Taking sandstone geothermal reservoirs in Dezhou, Northwestern Shandong Depression, as the research object, a 3D coupled heat transfer model of the wellbore–reservoir was established via COMSOL Multiphysics. The heat transfer characteristics of water and CO₂ under variable injection temperature, mass flow rate and wellbore layout were compared. The results show that: (1) injection temperature dominates the heat extraction performance of water, which matches branched wells and delays overall reservoir thermal depletion during long-term exploitation; (2) CO₂ performance is highly sensitive to mass flow rate and suitable for connected wells, and an asymmetric geothermal field with “cooled injection zone and heated production zone” forms under a high flow rate; (3) limited by low specific heat capacity, CO₂ delivers lower heat power at an identical flow rate, while equivalent heat yield can be achieved when its flow rate doubles that of water. This study clarifies matched development schemes for two working fluids and provides a theoretical reference for optimized exploitation of closed-loop geothermal systems in sandstone reservoirs in Northwestern Shandong. Full article

Multi-site water quality sequences are jointly affected by seasonal periodicity, meteorological disturbances, and inter-site differences in the Jianghuai Watershed region. Conventional quality prediction models struggle to simultaneously achieve multi-scale feature extraction, spatial heterogeneity characterization, and prediction uncertainty expression. This study used daily-scale monitoring data on dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, and ammonia nitrogen (NH3N) from 32 monitoring stations within the region in 2025 and proposed the FT-TransONet (Fourier-enhanced Temporal Transformer Operator Network) multi-site probabilistic water quality prediction model. Within a Transformer framework, the model employed a FourierTime learnable frequency-domain filtering module, a GeoBias (Geographic Bias) attention bias mechanism, and a multi-residual ensemble strategy composed of a multilayer perceptron (MLP), a gated recurrent unit (GRU), and a temporal convolutional network (TCN) combined with a mass conservation constraint, thereby achieving both point and interval prediction of key water quality indicators. The results showed that FT-TransONet achieved the lowest Macro_RMSE among all compared methods on the multi-site water quality prediction task. At a prediction horizon of three days, its Macro_RMSE reached 0.2255, which was 21.89% lower than that of the long short-term memory network and 5.57% lower than that of the strongest baseline MC-Dropout. For the three individual indicators, the model attained coefficients of determination of 0.9135, 0.9338, and 0.8660 for dissolved oxygen, pH, and ammonia nitrogen, with corresponding root-mean-square errors of 0.5145, 0.1098, and 0.0523, confirming its potential to characterize the temporal variation in the main water quality indicators. Under multi-step prediction, the error grew gently, with the Macro_RMSE rising only from 0.2255 to 0.2384 as the horizon extended from three to seven days, and the ablation experiments, together with the probabilistic prediction results, further supported the effectiveness of the proposed structural design. Validated on 32 water quality monitoring stations in the Jianghuai Watershed, the method improved multi-site prediction accuracy while accounting for stability and uncertainty quantification, providing a preliminary reference for regional water quality early warning and management. Full article

This study evaluated the potential use of waste mineral wool recovered from heating pipe insulation as a functional additive in cement concrete. The research aimed to determine the effect of this fibrous recycled material on the mechanical, physical, durability, thermal, and microstructural properties of concrete. One reference mix and three modified mixes were prepared, incorporating waste mineral wool at 12%, 16%, and 20% by cement mass. All mixes were prepared using CEM I 32.5R cement, 0/2 mm basalt aggregate, 2/8 mm granite aggregate, and a superplasticizer. After 28 days of sample curing, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, density, water absorption, frost resistance, and thermal parameters were determined. Microstructural observations were also performed on concrete fracture surfaces. The results showed that the addition of mineral wool reduced the compressive strength from 84.9 MPa for the reference concrete to 63.8–53.3 MPa for the modified concretes. At the same time, moderate dosing improved the splitting tensile strength, reaching a maximum of 3.93 MPa with a 16% addition. The most favorable thermal effect was achieved with a 12% addition, for which the thermal conductivity coefficient decreased from 1.3461 to 1.1988 W/(m·K). The results indicate that waste mineral wool can be used in concretes with limited structural function; however, its dosage requires optimization due to increased water absorption and decreased compressive strength. Full article

The present study aimed to optimize the fabrication conditions of walnut oil–fructooligosaccharide emulsion and evaluate its efficacy in improving the quality of cooked rice. Three food-grade emulsifiers, namely sucrose fatty acid ester (SE), polyglycerol fatty acid esters (PGEs), and diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono- and diglycerides (DATEM), were adopted to investigate the influences of water–oil ratio, emulsifier dosage, and high-pressure microfluidization (HPM) pressure on emulsion indicators including the emulsion stability index (ESI), particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential, micromorphology, and storage stability. The results reveal that SE exhibited the superior emulsifying capacity, with the optimal water–oil ratio and SE dosage determined to be 6:4 and 4% (w/w, based on oil mass), respectively. HPM treatment further reduced droplet size and elevated the ESI, and 150 MPa was identified as the optimal homogenization pressure. Subsequently, the optimized emulsion was applied during rice cooking, with water, pure walnut oil, pure fructooligosaccharide (FOS), simple physical mixture of the two raw materials and crude emulsion set as parallel control groups. Compared with all control treatments, rice cooked with 150 MPa homogenized emulsion possessed the minimum hardness value of 3297.22 and the maximum springiness of 0.74, accompanied by the optimal water retention capacity, luminosity, and the most abundant volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In conclusion, walnut oil–fructooligosaccharide emulsion fabricated via HPM exerted synergistic improvements on the texture and flavor of cooked rice, which could provide a technical reference for the functional modification of staple foods. Full article

Alkali-activated mortars (AAMs) have emerged as sustainable alternatives to conventional hydraulic cement (HC) matrices produced with natural sand. In this context, interest in the valorization of industrial by-products to develop eco-efficient construction materials has gained crucial academic and industrial attention. This study investigates the feasibility of producing AAMs incorporating copper slag (CS) as an artificial fine aggregate (AFA) to partially or completely replace natural sand. Moreover, the binder matrix was formulated using 80% CS and 20% HC as precursors, activated with different alkaline solutions (Na₂SiO₃ + NaOH) at activator-to-precursor mass ratios ranging from 0.15 to 0.35. Concurrently, CS was incorporated as AFA at volumetric replacement levels of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. The AAMs were evaluated in terms of workability, physical performance (i.e., bulk density, water absorption, and void content), and mechanical performance. The results demonstrate that the workability of the AAMs increased with higher AFA dosages, reaching a maximum improvement of 23.8% compared with the AAM without AFA. The bulk density of the AAMs increased monotonically with increasing AFA content (consistent with the higher density of AFA with respect to natural sand), whereas water absorption and void content decreased progressively. Although all AAMs exhibited significantly lower compressive strengths than M1 at 7 and 28 days, the differences progressively decreased with curing age. At 56 and 90 days, M5 and M6, incorporating 75% and 100% AFA, respectively, achieved mean compressive strengths that were not statistically different from those of M1, indicating that the mixtures with the highest AFA contents maintained later-age mechanical performance within the variability of the conventional reference mortar. The study demonstrates the feasibility of the synergistic utilization of CS as both precursor and AFA in AAMs. This dual-pathway valorization closes materials loops and advances circular economy principles within the construction sector. Full article

This preliminary within-animal study focuses on the comprehensive characterization of pork jowl (PJ) by comparing it with pork belly (PB), Boston butt (BB), and spare ribs (SR) collected from the same ten castrated Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire (DLY) pigs; headspace volatile analysis used a matched subset of six pigs. Instrumental quality, proximate composition, amino-acid and fatty-acid profiles, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) water distribution and headspace solid-phase microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) volatile profiles were evaluated. PB exhibited the lowest shear force, hardness, and chewiness. Across the four pork cuts, crude protein content ranged from 16.87% to 18.10%, whereas crude fat content ranged from 13.03% to 22.20%. BB had the lowest crude fat content (13.03%) and relatively high protein (18.10%) and amino-acid contents. PJ showed highest content of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and the lowest numerical atherogenic (AI) and thrombogenic indices (TI), but also the highest n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) ratio. LF-NMR showed that PJ had the highest T₂₃ and P23 values, consistent with its higher cooking and centrifugal losses. Sixty-five headspace volatile compounds were tentatively identified under the standardized 80 °C HS-SPME conditions. OPLS-DA differentiated the four cuts, and ten compounds meeting the combined criteria of VIP > 1, q < 0.05, and OAV > 1 were retained as candidate discriminant aroma-relevant compounds. Overall, the four cuts exhibited distinct quality profiles: PJ combined a MUFA-rich lipid fraction with greater free-water mobility and water loss, PB showed the greatest instrumental tenderness, BB had the lowest crude fat content and relatively high protein and amino-acid contents, and SR exhibited the greatest headspace volatile abundance. The data provide a reference for cut-specific utilization of pork raw materials. Full article

Ferdinandea Island, part of a shallow-water submarine volcanic field, emerged in the Sicily Channel between Italy and Tunisia in July 1831 and was eroded below sea level within months; its submerged remnant forms the shallowest water depth region of Graham Bank. Here, we review nearly two centuries of historical accounts, geological interpretations and geomorphological data analysis and reassess them against high-resolution multibeam bathymetry, sub-bottom profiles (CHIRP) and published multichannel seismic data. The field comprises six volcanic edifices (V1–V6), 100–170 m high, located along structural trends characteristic of the Sicily Channel Rift. V3, the shallowest edifice, is the remnant of Ferdinandea Island formed during the 1831 Surtseyan eruption. Its flat summit, wave-reworked terrace and steep flanks record rapid post-eruptive modification. Historical observations and hydrographic surveys document the destruction of the emergent island and a further ~6 m lowering of its shallowest point between 1883 and 2012–2015; the separate contributions of wave erosion, subsidence and gravitational adjustment cannot be resolved from the available data. The same regional structural framework appears to have governed the distribution of the other volcanic centres, pockmarks, erosional escarpments and mass-transport deposits of the study area. Seventeen pockmarks, up to ~540 m wide and 22 m deep, occur as isolated, clustered and locally aligned depressions; they are associated with subsurface concave-upward reflectors and local water-column acoustic anomalies, consistent with focused fluid escape. Failures of volcanic and sedimentary slopes are widespread, with the largest debris-avalanche deposit covering ~2.2 km². Taken together, these observations indicate that tectonics, volcanism, fluid migration, wave- and bottom-current reworking, and gravitational instability have operated over different timescales to shape Graham Bank. Ferdinandea thus offers a rare historical and geological reference for investigating the rapid construction, degradation and long-term evolution of shallow-water volcanic edifices and highlights the still-open questions regarding the evolution and fate of ephemeral volcanic islands. Full article

The Dongting Basin in central China has experienced increasing pressure on water resources due to intensified industrial and agricultural activities and increasingly frequent droughts. Therefore, reliable estimates of groundwater recharge are essential for evaluating the sustainability of groundwater resources in this region. An integrated approach combining the water table fluctuation (WTF), groundwater age, and chloride mass balance (CMB) was applied to estimate groundwater recharge in the Quaternary aquifer of the Zishui Plain, a sub-basin of the Dongting Basin. The mean recharge values derived from these methods were 268.2, 226.2, and 167.03 mm/year, respectively. The corresponding mean R/P ratios were 19.4%, 16.5%, and 12.2%. Differences between the recharge estimates reflect methodological differences among the three approaches and suggest that lithology, river seepage, and human activities contribute to the observed spatial variability in groundwater recharge. The WTF method generally produced the highest recharge estimates, whereas the CMB and groundwater age methods tended to provide lower estimates because of their respective methodological limitations. The integrated application of these methods may provide a more comprehensive assessment of groundwater recharge and may serve as a useful reference for groundwater management in the Dongting Basin. Full article

The valorisation of industrial by-products as supplementary cementitious materials is a promising strategy to reduce clinker consumption and improve the sustainability of cement-based materials. In this study, the influence of submerged arc welding (SAW) slag on the hydration behaviour and microstructural evolution of cement pastes was investigated. Two SAW slags from different industrial sources were incorporated as partial replacements of ordinary Portland cement at 5%, 15%, and 30% by mass. Cement pastes were prepared with water-to-binder ratios of 0.3 and 0.4 and characterised through setting time, water demand, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that SAW slag systematically delayed both initial and final setting times, while having only a negligible effect on water demand. Under the fixed mix conditions adopted in this study, this retardation is interpreted as the combined effect of clinker dilution and modified fresh-state conditions. MIP analysis revealed higher early-age porosity in SAW-containing pastes, particularly at high replacement levels and higher water-to-binder ratios, although mixtures with up to 15% slag approached the reference pore structure at later ages. Thermal analysis indicated lower bound water and portlandite contents at early ages, mainly due to clinker dilution, while long-term hydration development remained comparable at moderate replacement levels. At higher slag contents, some mixtures showed higher calcium carbonate contents, suggesting a tendency toward increased carbonate formation under the investigated conditions. Overall, the results indicate that SAW slag primarily affected early paste behaviour and pore structure development, with clinker dilution appearing to be the main mechanism, although weak secondary physical or chemical contributions cannot be completely excluded. Full article

Nanoplastics (NPs) in drinking water should be interpreted as the downstream analytical endpoint of a broader continuum of aquatic plastic pollution rather than as an isolated problem. Their detection remains analytically immature because environmentally relevant concentrations are low, particle chemistries are heterogeneous, natural colloids and treatment residuals interfere with measurement, and no single method can simultaneously resolve size, morphology, polymer identity, and mass concentration. Unlike occurrence-centered reviews, this PRISMA-guided review treats drinking-water nanoplastics as a metrological and molecular-identification problem in which preprocessing, particle-level confirmation, polymer-specific quantification, and uncertainty reporting must be integrated. A formal search was closed on 11 April 2026 using prespecified query families across publicly accessible scholarly records and backward citation chaining; 33 unique records were screened, 25 full texts were assessed, and 22 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. Current evidence indicates that conventional FTIR and routine Raman workflows are inadequate for true nanoscale analysis, whereas advanced Raman-based approaches, AFM-IR, optical photothermal infrared spectroscopy, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry offer complementary strengths but still have major limitations in throughput, particle-level information, or quantification. The main conclusion is that current uncertainty reflects unresolved analytical chemistry and metrological constraints as much as environmental variability. Regulatory progress will depend on orthogonal workflows, contamination-controlled preprocessing, validated reference materials, LOD/LOQ reporting, and interlaboratory harmonization. Full article

Severe fracturing-fluid retention and low post-fracturing flowback efficiency are common in the Lianggaoshan shale reservoirs of the Sichuan Basin. Liquid loading may also occur during late production. To address these problems, this study investigates a synergistic flowback technology that combines natural fracturing-fluid flowback with CO₂ gas lift. First, based on the complex fracture network characteristics of the Lianggaoshan shale reservoir, the interaction mechanisms between hydraulic fractures and natural fractures were investigated. An energy model for fracturing-fluid flowback under natural flowback conditions was established, revealing that reservoir gas expansion energy, hydromechanical energy, and rock elastic energy are the primary driving forces for fracturing-fluid flowback. Furthermore, considering fracture closure behavior, fluid leakoff, and wellbore flow dynamics, a calculation model for the natural flowback of fracturing fluid was developed, and a staged pressure-controlled flowback strategy was proposed. Subsequently, to address the decline in liquid unloading capacity caused by formation-energy depletion during the late stage of natural flowback, a gas-lift-assisted flowback multiphase flow model for the wellbore was established. The effects of the gas injection pressure, gas injection rate, and wellhead pressure on liquid unloading efficiency were systematically investigated. The results indicate that the liquid unloading rate increases with an increasing gas injection pressure and gas injection rate; however, a pronounced diminishing marginal effect is observed. For the Well H1 reference case, the central recommended gas injection pressure was 12 MPa, the gas injection rate was 8 × 10⁴–10 × 10⁴ m³/d, and the wellhead backpressure was maintained below 0.5 MPa. Furthermore, the CO₂-assisted flowback mechanisms were evaluated by distinguishing between the effects explicitly represented in the model and the potential reservoir-scale physicochemical effects. The reduction in wellbore mixture density and bottomhole flowing pressure was simulated directly, whereas CO₂–oil mass transfer, viscosity reduction, mineral dissolution, and changes in water-blocking behavior were interpreted with reference to published experimental studies. Based on these mechanisms, a three-stage synergistic optimized flowback scheme, consisting of “CO₂ soaking–natural flowback–CO₂ gas lift,” was established. A sequence of stagewise quasi-steady PIPESIM calculations was subsequently performed over the 30-day operating schedule. Under the adopted simulation conditions, the recommended soaking period is 5–7 days. The operation should be switched to gas lift when the wellhead pressure falls below 1.5 MPa or when daily liquid production declines continuously by more than 20%. Under the synergistic scheme, the 30-day cumulative flowback volume was predicted to reach 3492 m³. This value was substantially higher than those obtained by conventional natural flowback and standalone gas-lift processes. Moreover, the flowback curve exhibits a distinct “secondary surge” characteristic. These findings provide a theoretical basis and technical support for efficient fracturing-fluid flowback and stable long-term production in the Lianggaoshan Formation. They may also be applicable to other shale oil reservoirs with low porosity and ultra-low permeability. Full article

Background: Skeletal muscle index (SMI, kg/m²) derived from bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is widely used to assess muscle mass. However, SMI is influenced by extracellular fluid, potentially leading to inaccurate estimation in patients with fluid imbalance. Intracellular water normalized by height squared (ICW/height², L/m²) may reflect intracellular body cell volume and provide complementary information to BIA-derived SMI, particularly in patients with altered hydration or low nutritional reserve. Based on these considerations, we hypothesised that ICW/height² would demonstrate stronger correlations with BMI than SMI, that the SMI–ICW/height² correlation would differ significantly by sex, and that hydration status (ECW/TBW) would modulate this relationship. Objective: To compare ICW/height² with SMI and evaluate their relationships with nutritional status and hydration in hospitalized patients. Specifically, we tested the hypotheses that (1) ICW/height² correlates more strongly with BMI than SMI; (2) the SMI–ICW/height² correlation differs significantly between sexes; and (3) ECW/TBW and sex interact to modulate the SMI–ICW/height² relationship. Methods: This single-centre, retrospective, exploratory cross-sectional study included 477 hospitalized patients (232 men and 245 women) who underwent body composition assessment using BIA. SMI and ICW/height² were examined in relation to body mass index (BMI) and hydration status assessed by extracellular water to total body water ratio (ECW/TBW). Correlation analyses were performed overall and stratified by sex, BMI categories (<18.5, 18.5–24.9, ≥25 kg/m²), and ECW/TBW groups (<0.36, 0.36–0.40, >0.40). Results: ICW/height² showed a stronger correlation with BMI than SMI in both men (R² = 0.492 vs. 0.338) and women (R² = 0.354 vs. 0.121). A strong correlation between SMI and ICW/height² was observed in men (R² = 0.634), whereas the correlation was weaker in women (R² = 0.316). In BMI-stratified analyses, the correlation between SMI and ICW/height² increased with higher BMI in men (R² = 0.192, 0.467, 0.791), while in women it was markedly attenuated in the low BMI group (R² = 0.134). Stratification by ECW/TBW showed that in men, the correlation remained strong under normal hydration conditions but was attenuated in the high ECW/TBW group. In contrast, in women, the correlation was weak even within the normal ECW/TBW range (R² = 0.336) and particularly poor in the low ECW/TBW group (R² = 0.060). Among women with normal ECW/TBW, those with low BMI demonstrated clear discordance between SMI and ICW/height². Exploratory four-quadrant classification using sex-specific SMI and ICW/height² thresholds further demonstrated that patients with discordant SMI and ICW/height² values had distinct BMI profiles, and BMI differed significantly among the four groups in both men and women (Kruskal–Wallis test, p < 0.001). Conclusions: These exploratory findings suggest that ICW/height² and BIA-derived SMI may show systematic discordance under specific clinical conditions, particularly in underweight or fluid-imbalanced hospitalised patients. Prospective validation against reference-standard body-composition measures is required before any clinical application. Full article

Long-span transmission towers in the Yangtze River basin are exposed to coupled low-temperature, high-humidity and strong-wind conditions, which promote nonuniform ice accretion on steel members and increase structural loads and ice-shedding risks. Although superhydrophobic coatings are promising passive anti-icing materials for civil infrastructure, most existing evaluations use idealized flat or cylindrical specimens and do not capture the geometry, substrate condition and coating uniformity of in-service tower members. Here, a multifactor coupled icing simulation system was developed, and comparative icing tests were conducted on three representative steel members (aged plain circular steel tube, new galvanized circular steel tube and new galvanized angle steel) under controlled temperature, wind speed, spray rate and icing duration. For uncoated members, ice mass increased with supercooling degree and spray rate, first increased and then decreased with wind speed, and exhibited a decelerating growth pattern within 24 h. The superhydrophobic coating reduced ice mass, ice thickness and circumferential nonuniformity under all tested conditions, but its effectiveness depended strongly on environmental loading and member geometry. Under reference conditions, the ice-reduction rates reached 41%, 45% and 38% for the three members, respectively, and remained 27–32% after 24 h of icing. Smooth circular substrates showed the best coating response, whereas angle steel was less effective because edge-induced flow distortion and poor coating uniformity promoted local wetting failure. Performance degradation under harsh conditions was associated with accelerated freezing, water-film formation and localized wetting failure. These findings define the applicability and durability limits of superhydrophobic coatings for passive anti-icing protection of long-span transmission tower steel members. Full article