Search results for: sliding velocity

Authors: Christopher Deekia Nwimae, Nigel Simms, Liyun Lao

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Erosion in a pipe bends caused by particles is a major concern in the oil and gas fields and might cause breakdown to production equipment. This work investigates the effect of sand particle transport in an elbow using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. Two-way coupled Euler-Lagrange and discrete phase model is employed to calculate the air/solid particle flow in the elbow. Generic erosion model in Ansys fluent and three particle rebound models are used to predict the erosion rate on the 90° elbows. The model result is compared with experimental data from the open literature validating the CFD-based predictions which reveals that due to the sand particles impinging on the wall of the elbow at high velocity, a point on the pipe elbow were observed to have started turning red due to velocity increase and the maximum erosion locations occur at 48°.

Keywords: Erosion, prediction, elbow, computational fluid dynamics, CFD.

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Authors: F. Nkontchou Ngongang, M. Tchawe Tchawe, B. Djeumako, B. Kenmeugne

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In this work, the flow structure in the Songloulou dam, is visualized in a time interval to observe the different fluid layers in our structure. Firstly, the three-dimensional modelling of the penstock is carried out in the software Gambit, followed by calculations in Fluent that proceeds introduction of boundary conditions. After calculation, we identified four periods corresponding to four regimes. In the first, spanning from 0.00 to 1.50s, we have the non-developed hydraulically rough turbulent regime, characterized by abrupt variations with modifications of the velocity fields. The second extends from 1.50 to 3.50s, where we have the transition regime characterized by slight variations and modifications of the velocity fields but with a great difference of the values of the current lines. From 3.50 to 5.00s, we encounter the third, which is the fully developed turbulent hydraulically rough regime, characterized by fields that vary no more, but have minute differences in the streamlines. The last period is from 5.00s and more, where we have a flow that is almost stationary, hence there are no changes in the fields.

Keywords: Unsteady flow, penstock, friction coefficient, hydroelectric dam.

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Authors: O. Maklouf, Ahmed Abdulla

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A general decline in the cost, size, and power requirements of electronics is accelerating the adoption of integrated GPS/INS technologies in consumer applications such Land Vehicle Navigation. Researchers have looking for ways to eliminate additional components from product designs. One possibility is to drop one or more of the relatively expensive gyroscopes from microelectromechanical system (MEMS) versions of inertial measurement units (IMUs). For land vehicular use, the most important gyroscope is the vertical gyro that senses the heading of the vehicle and two horizontal accelerometers for determining the velocity of the vehicle. This paper presents a simplified integration algorithm for strap down (ParIMU)\GPS combination, with data post processing for the determination of 2-D components of position (trajectory), velocity and heading. In the present approach we have neglected earth rotation and gravity variations, because of the poor gyroscope sensitivities of the low-cost IMU and because of the relatively small area of the trajectory.

Keywords: GPS, ParIMU, INS, Kalman Filter.

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Authors: Mehrdad N. Khajavi, Vahid Abdollahi

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The purpose of suspension system in automobiles is to improve the ride comfort and road handling. In this research the ride and handling performance of a specific automobile with passive suspension system is compared to a proposed fuzzy logic semi active suspension system designed for that automobile. The bodysuspension- wheel system is modeled as a two degree of freedom quarter car model. MATLAB/SIMULINK [1] was used for simulation and controller design. The fuzzy logic controller is based on two inputs namely suspension velocity and body velocity. The output of the fuzzy controller is the damping coefficient of the variable damper. The result shows improvement over passive suspension method.

Keywords: Suspension System, Ride Comfort, Fuzzy Logic Controller, Passive and Semi Active System.

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Authors: Xiaobai Li, Li Li, Yujin Hu, Weiming Deng, Zhe Ding

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A size-dependent Euler–Bernoulli beam model, which accounts for nonlocal stress field, strain gradient field and higher order inertia force field, is derived based on the nonlocal strain gradient theory considering velocity gradient effect. The governing equations and boundary conditions are derived both in dimensional and dimensionless form by employed the Hamilton principle. The analytical solutions based on different continuum theories are compared. The effect of higher order inertia terms is extremely significant in high frequency range. It is found that there exists an asymptotic frequency for the proposed beam model, while for the nonlocal strain gradient theory the solutions diverge. The effect of strain gradient field in thickness direction is significant in low frequencies domain and it cannot be neglected when the material strain length scale parameter is considerable with beam thickness. The influence of each of three size effect parameters on the natural frequencies are investigated. The natural frequencies increase with the increasing material strain gradient length scale parameter or decreasing velocity gradient length scale parameter and nonlocal parameter.

Keywords: Euler-Bernoulli Beams, free vibration, higher order inertia, nonlocal strain gradient theory, velocity gradient.

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Authors: Roslinda Nazar, Anuar Ishak, Ioan Pop

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Unsteady boundary layer flow of an incompressible micropolar fluid over a stretching sheet when the sheet is stretched in its own plane is studied in this paper. The stretching velocity is assumed to vary linearly with the distance along the sheet. Two equal and opposite forces are impulsively applied along the x-axis so that the sheet is stretched, keeping the origin fixed in a micropolar fluid. The transformed unsteady boundary layer equations are solved numerically using the Keller-box method for the whole transient from the initial state to final steady-state flow. Numerical results are obtained for the velocity and microrotation distributions as well as the skin friction coefficient for various values of the material parameter K. It is found that there is a smooth transition from the small-time solution to the large-time solution.

Keywords: Boundary layer, micropolar fluid, stretching surface, unsteady flow.

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Authors: Ellips Masehian, Yalda Katebi

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This paper presents a new sensor-based online method for generating collision-free near-optimal paths for mobile robots pursuing a moving target amidst dynamic and static obstacles. At each iteration, first the set of all collision-free directions are calculated using velocity vectors of the robot relative to each obstacle and target, forming the Directive Circle (DC), which is a novel concept. Then, a direction close to the shortest path to the target is selected from feasible directions in DC. The DC prevents the robot from being trapped in deadlocks or local minima. It is assumed that the target's velocity is known, while the speeds of dynamic obstacles, as well as the locations of static obstacles, are to be calculated online. Extensive simulations and experimental results demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed method and its success in coping with complex environments and obstacles.

Keywords: Dynamic Environment, Moving Target, RobotMotion Planning.

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Authors: Raphael Zanella, Todd A. Oliver, Karl W. Schulz

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This work deals with the finite element approximation of axisymmetric compressible flows with swirl velocity. We are interested in problems where the flow, while weakly dependent on the azimuthal coordinate, may have a strong azimuthal velocity component. We describe the approximation of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations with H1-conformal spaces of axisymmetric functions. The weak formulation is implemented in a C++ solver with explicit time marching. The code is first verified with a convergence test on a manufactured solution. The verification is completed by comparing the numerical and analytical solutions in a Poiseuille flow case and a Taylor-Couette flow case. The code is finally applied to the problem of a swirling subsonic air flow in a plasma torch geometry.

Keywords: Axisymmetric problem, compressible Navier- Stokes equations, continuous finite elements, swirling flow.

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Authors: Yanyan Yu, Haiping Ding, Pengjun Chen, Yiou Sun

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Fault depth is an important parameter to be determined in ground motion simulation, and peak ground velocity (PGV) demonstrates good application prospect. Using numerical simulation method, the variations of distribution and peak value of near-fault PGV with different fault depth were studied in detail, and the reason of some phenomena were discussed. The simulation results show that the distribution characteristics of PGV of fault-parallel (FP) component and fault-normal (FN) component are distinctly different; the value of PGV FN component is much larger than that of FP component. With the increase of fault depth, the distribution region of the FN component strong PGV moves forward along the rupture direction, while the strong PGV zone of FP component becomes gradually far away from the fault trace along the direction perpendicular to the strike. However, no matter FN component or FP component, the strong PGV distribution area and its value are both quickly reduced with increased fault depth. The results above suggest that the fault depth have significant effect on both FN component and FP component of near-fault PGV.

Keywords: Fault depth, near-fault, PGV, numerical simulation.

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Authors: Z. Al-Qodah, M. Al-Busoul, A. Khraewish

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The hydrothermal behavior of a bed consisting of magnetic and shale oil particle admixtures under the effect of a transverse magnetic field is investigated. The phase diagram, bed void fraction are studied under wide range of the operating conditions i.e., gas velocity, magnetic field intensity and fraction of the magnetic particles. It is found that the range of the stabilized regime is reduced as the magnetic fraction decreases. In addition, the bed voidage at the onset of fluidization decreases as the magnetic fraction decreases. On the other hand, Nusselt number and consequently the heat transfer coefficient is found to increase as the magnetic fraction decreases. An empirical equation is investigated to relate the effect of the gas velocity, magnetic field intensity and fraction of the magnetic particles on the heat transfer behavior in the bed.

Keywords: Magnetic stabilization; Magnetic stabilized fluidizedbeds; Gas-fluidized beds.

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Authors: Su Su Yi Mon, Fang Jiancheng

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Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is an imaging radar form by taking full advantage of the relative movement of the antenna with respect to the target. Through the simultaneous processing of the radar reflections over the movement of the antenna via the Range Doppler Algorithm (RDA), the superior resolution of a theoretical wider antenna, termed synthetic aperture, is obtained. Therefore, SAR can achieve high resolution two dimensional imagery of the ground surface. In addition, two filtering steps in range and azimuth direction provide accurate enough result. This paper develops a simulation in which realistic SAR images can be generated. Also, the effect of velocity errors in the resulting image has also been investigated. Taking some velocity errors into account, the simulation results on the image resolution would be presented. Most of the times, algorithms need to be adjusted for particular datasets, or particular applications.

Keywords: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Range Doppler Algorithm (RDA), Image Resolution.

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Authors: Azadeh Yazdi, Mohammadreza Nezamirad, Sepideh Amirahmadian, Nasim Sabetpour, Amirmasoud Hamedi

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Cavitation inside diesel injector nozzle is investigated using Reynolds-Stress-Navier stokes equations. Schnerr-Sauer cavitation model is used for modeling cavitation inside diesel injector nozzle. The carrying fluid utilized in the current study is diesel fuel. The flow is verified at the beginning by comparing with the previous experimental data and it was found that K-Epsilon turbulent model could lead to a better accuracy comparing to K-Omega turbulent model. Moreover, mass flow rate obtained numerically is compared with the experimental value and discrepancy was found to be less than 5% - which shows the accuracy of the current results. Finally, a real-size four-hole nozzle is investigated and the flow inside it is visualized based on velocity profile, discharge coefficient and cavitation number. It was found that the mesh density could be reduced significantly by utilizing periodic boundary condition. Velocity contour at the mid nozzle showed that maximum value of velocity occurs at the end of the needle before entering the orifice area. Last but not least, at the same boundary conditions, when different needle heights were utilized, it was found that as needle height increases with an increase in cavitation number, discharge coefficient increases, while the mentioned increases is more tangible at smaller values of needle heights.

Keywords: cavitation, diesel fuel, CFD, real size nozzle, mass flow rate

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Authors: Reza Hadjiaghaie Vafaie, Aysan Madanpasandi, Behrooz Zare Desari, Seyedmohammad Mousavi

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High lamination in microchannel is one of the main challenges in on-chip components like micro total analyzer systems and lab-on-a-chips. Electro-osmotic force is highly effective in chip-scale. This research proposes a microfluidic-based micropump for low ionic strength solutions. Narrow microchannels are designed to generate an efficient electroosmotic flow near the walls. Microelectrodes are embedded in the lateral sides and actuated by low electric potential to generate pumping effect inside the channel. Based on the simulation study, the fluid velocity increases by increasing the electric potential amplitude. We achieve a net flow velocity of 100 µm/s, by applying +/- 2 V to the electrode structures. Our proposed low voltage design is of interest in conventional lab-on-a-chip applications.

Keywords: Integration, electrokinetic, on-chip, fluid pumping, microfluidic.

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Authors: Aminu J. A. Koguna, Aliyu M. Aliyu, Olawale T. Fajemidupe, Yahaya D. Baba

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Production fluids are transported from the platform to tankers or process facilities through transfer pipelines. Water being one of the heavier phases tends to settle at the bottom of pipelines especially at low flow velocities and this has adverse consequences for pipeline integrity. On restart after a shutdown, this could result in corrosion and issues for process equipment, thus the need to have the heavier liquid dispersed into the flowing lighter fluid. This study looked at the flow regime of low water cut and low flow velocity oil and water flow using conductive film thickness probes in a large diameter 4-inch pipe to obtain oil and water interface height and the interface structural velocity. A wide range of 0.1–1.0 m/s oil and water mixture velocities was investigated for 0.5–5% water cut. Two fluid model predictions were used to compare with the experimental results.

Keywords: Interface height, liquid-liquid flow, two-fluid model, water cut.

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Authors: Praveen Kumar, Nitin Kumar, Hemant Kumar

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The modernization of computer technology and commercial computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation has given better detailed results as compared to experimental investigation techniques. CFD techniques are widely used in different field due to its flexibility and performance. Evaluation of pipeline erosion is complex phenomenon to solve by numerical arithmetic technique, whereas CFD simulation is an easy tool to resolve that type of problem. Erosion wear behaviour due to solid–liquid mixture in the slurry pipeline has been investigated using commercial CFD code in FLUENT. Multi-phase Euler-Lagrange model was adopted to predict the solid particle erosion wear in 22.5° pipe bend for the flow of bottom ash-water suspension. The present study addresses erosion prediction in three dimensional 22.5° pipe bend for two-phase (solid and liquid) flow using finite volume method with standard k-ε turbulence, discrete phase model and evaluation of erosion wear rate with varying velocity 2-4 m/s. The result shows that velocity of solid-liquid mixture found to be highly dominating parameter as compared to solid concentration, density, and particle size. At low velocity, settling takes place in the pipe bend due to low inertia and gravitational effect on solid particulate which leads to high erosion at bottom side of pipeline.

Keywords: Computational fluid dynamics, erosion, slurry transportation, k-ε Model.

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Authors: Xi Gu, Guan Heng Yeoh, Victoria Timchenko

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In the current work, a three-dimensional geometry of a 75% stenosed blood vessel is analyzed. Large eddy simulation (LES) with the help of a dynamic subgrid scale Smagorinsky model is applied to model the turbulent pulsatile flow. The geometry, the transmural pressure and the properties of the blood and the elastic boundary were based on clinical measurement data. For the flexible wall model, a thin solid region is constructed around the 75% stenosed blood vessel. The deformation of this solid region was modelled as a deforming boundary to reduce the computational cost of the solid model. Fluid-structure interaction is realized via a twoway coupling between the blood flow modelled via LES and the deforming vessel. The information of the flow pressure and the wall motion was exchanged continually during the cycle by an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method. The boundary condition of current time step depended on previous solutions. The fluctuation of the velocity in the post-stenotic region was analyzed in the study. The axial velocity at normalized position Z=0.5 shows a negative value near the vessel wall. The displacement of the elastic boundary was concerned in this study. In particular, the wall displacement at the systole and the diastole were compared. The negative displacement at the stenosis indicates a collapse at the maximum velocity and the deceleration phase.

Keywords: Large Eddy Simulation, Fluid Structural Interaction, Constricted Artery, Computational Fluid Dynamics.

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Authors: R. Blythman, N. Jeffers, T. Persoons, D. B. Murray

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The exploitation of flow pulsation in micro- and mini-channels is a potentially useful technique for enhancing cooling of high-end photonics and electronics systems. It is thought that pulsation alters the thickness of the hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layers, and hence affects the overall thermal resistance of the heat sink. Although the fluid mechanics and heat transfer are inextricably linked, it can be useful to decouple the parameters to better understand the mechanisms underlying any heat transfer enhancement. Using two-dimensional, two-component particle image velocimetry, the current work intends to characterize the heat transfer mechanisms in pulsating flow with a mean Reynolds number of 48 by experimentally quantifying the hydrodynamics of a generic liquid-cooled channel geometry. Flows circulated through the test section by a gear pump are modulated using a controller to achieve sinusoidal flow pulsations with Womersley numbers of 7.45 and 2.36 and an amplitude ratio of 0.75. It is found that the transient characteristics of the measured velocity profiles are dependent on the speed of oscillation, in accordance with the analytical solution for flow in a rectangular channel. A large velocity overshoot is observed close to the wall at high frequencies, resulting from the interaction of near-wall viscous stresses and inertial effects of the main fluid body. The steep velocity gradients at the wall are indicative of augmented heat transfer, although the local flow reversal may reduce the upstream temperature difference in heat transfer applications. While unsteady effects remain evident at the lower frequency, the annular effect subsides and retreats from the wall. The shear rate at the wall is increased during the accelerating half-cycle and decreased during deceleration compared to steady flow, suggesting that the flow may experience both enhanced and diminished heat transfer during a single period. Hence, the thickness of the hydrodynamic boundary layer is reduced for positively moving flow during one half of the pulsation cycle at the investigated frequencies. It is expected that the size of the thermal boundary layer is similarly reduced during the cycle, leading to intervals of heat transfer enhancement.

Keywords: Heat transfer enhancement, particle image velocimetry, localized and time-resolved velocity, photonics and electronics cooling, pulsating flow, Richardson’s annular effect.

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Authors: Wang Jing, Tao Tao, Li Xiyuan, Pei Yifei

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How to simulate experimentally the air flow and heat transfer under microgravity on the ground is important, which has not been completely solved so far. Influence of gravity on air natural convection results in convection heat transfer on ground difference from that on orbit. In order to obtain air temperature and velocity deviations of manned spacecraft during terrestrial thermal test, dimensionless number analysis and numerical simulation analysis are performed. The calculated temperature distribution and velocity distribution of the horizontal test cases are compared to the vertical cases. The results show that the influence of gravity is neglected for facility drawer racks and more obvious for vertical cabins.

Keywords: Gravity, Convection heat transfer, Manned spacecraft, Dimensionless number, Numerical simulation

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Authors: Eiko Takaoka, Ryohei Takahashi, Takashi Toyoda

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We installed solar panels and digital meteorological equipments whose electrical power is supplied using PV on July 13, 2011. Then, the relationship between the electric power generation and the irradiation, air temperature, and wind velocity was investigated on a roof at a university. The electrical power generation, irradiation, air temperature, and wind velocity were monitored over two years. By analyzing the measured meteorological data and electric power generation data using PTC, we calculated the size of the solar panel that is most suitable for this system. We also calculated the wasted power generation using PTC with the measured meteorological data obtained in this study. In conclusion, to reduce the "wasted power generation", a smaller-size solar panel is required for stable operation.

Keywords: Digital meteorological equipments, PV, photovoltaic, irradiation, PTC.

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Authors: N. Thongjub, B. Puangkird, V. Ngamaramvaranggul

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The numerical simulation of the slip effect via vicoelastic fluid for 4:1 contraction problem is investigated with regard to kinematic behaviors of streamlines and stress tensor by models of the Navier-Stokes and Oldroyd-B equations. Twodimensional spatial reference system of incompressible creeping flow with and without slip velocity is determined and the finite element method of a semi-implicit Taylor-Galerkin pressure-correction is applied to compute the problem of this Cartesian coordinate system including the schemes of velocity gradient recovery method and the streamline-Upwind / Petrov-Galerkin procedure. The slip effect at channel wall is added to calculate after each time step in order to intend the alteration of flow path. The result of stress values and the vortices are reduced by the optimum slip coefficient of 0.1 with near the outcome of analytical solution.

Keywords: Slip effect, Oldroyd-B fluid, slip coefficient, time stepping method.

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Authors: Fatma Ghangir, Andrzej F. Nowakowski, Franck C. G. A. Nicolleau, Thomas M. Michelitsch

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The performance of high-resolution schemes is investigated for unsteady, inviscid and compressible multiphase flows. An Eulerian diffuse interface approach has been chosen for the simulation of multicomponent flow problems. The reduced fiveequation and seven equation models are used with HLL and HLLC approximation. The authors demonstrated the advantages and disadvantages of both seven equations and five equations models studying their performance with HLL and HLLC algorithms on simple test case. The seven equation model is based on two pressure, two velocity concept of Baer–Nunziato [10], while five equation model is based on the mixture velocity and pressure. The numerical evaluations of two variants of Riemann solvers have been conducted for the classical one-dimensional air-water shock tube and compared with analytical solution for error analysis.

Keywords: Multiphase flow, gas-liquid flow, Godunov schems, Riemann solvers, HLL scheme, HLLC scheme.

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Authors: Raed H. Allawi

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Fracture pressure is the main parameter applied in wells design and used to avoid drilling problems like lost circulation. Thus, this study aims to predict the fracture pressure of oil reservoirs in the southern Iraq Oilfield. The data required to implement this study included bulk density, compression wave velocity, gamma-ray, and leak-off test. In addition, this model is based on the pore pressure which is measured based on the Modular Formation Dynamics Tester (MDT). Many measured values of pore pressure were used to validate the accurate model. Using sonic velocity approaches, the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was about 4%. The fracture pressure results were consistent with the measurement data, actual drilling report, and events. The model's results will be a guide for successful drilling in future wells in the same oilfield.

Keywords: Pore pressure, fracture pressure, overburden pressure, effective stress, drilling events.

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Authors: Toshifumi Hiramatsu, Satoshi Morita, Manuel Pencelli, Marta Niccolini, Matteo Ragaglia, Alfredo Argiolas

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Automation technologies for agriculture field are needed to promote labor-saving. One of the most relevant problems in automated agriculture is represented by controlling the robot along a predetermined path in presence of rough terrain or incline ground. Unfortunately, disturbances originating from interaction with the ground, such as slipping, make it quite difficult to achieve the required accuracy. In general, it is required to move within 5-10 cm accuracy with respect to the predetermined path. Moreover, lateral velocity caused by gravity on the incline field also affects slipping. In this paper, a path-tracking controller for tracked mobile robots moving on rough terrains of incline field such as vineyard is presented. The controller is composed of a disturbance observer and an adaptive controller based on the kinematic model of the robot. The disturbance observer measures the difference between the measured and the reference yaw rate and linear velocity in order to estimate slip. Then, the adaptive controller adapts “virtual” parameter of the kinematics model: Instantaneous Centers of Rotation (ICRs). Finally, target angular velocity reference is computed according to the adapted parameter. This solution allows estimating the effects of slip without making the model too complex. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed solution is tested in a simulation environment.

Keywords: Agricultural robot, autonomous control, path-tracking control, tracked mobile robot.

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Authors: S. Raja Balachandar, K. Kannan

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A new Meta heuristic approach called "Randomized gravitational emulation search algorithm (RGES)" for solving large size set covering problems has been designed. This algorithm is found upon introducing randomization concept along with the two of the four primary parameters -velocity- and -gravity- in physics. A new heuristic operator is introduced in the domain of RGES to maintain feasibility specifically for the set covering problem to yield best solutions. The performance of this algorithm has been evaluated on a large set of benchmark problems from OR-library. Computational results showed that the randomized gravitational emulation search algorithm - based heuristic is capable of producing high quality solutions. The performance of this heuristic when compared with other existing heuristic algorithms is found to be excellent in terms of solution quality.

Keywords: Set covering problem, velocity, gravitational force, Newton's law, meta heuristic, combinatorial optimization.

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Authors: Mohamed M. Mousa, Aidarkhan Kaltayev

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The equations governing the flow of an electrically conducting, incompressible viscous fluid over an infinite flat plate in the presence of a magnetic field are investigated using the homotopy perturbation method (HPM) with Padé approximants (PA) and 4th order Runge–Kutta method (4RKM). Approximate analytical and numerical solutions for the velocity field and heat transfer are obtained and compared with each other, showing excellent agreement. The effects of the magnetic parameter and Prandtl number on velocity field, shear stress, temperature and heat transfer are discussed as well.

Keywords: Electrically conducting elastico-viscous fluid, symmetry solution, Homotopy perturbation method, Padé approximation, 4th order Runge–Kutta, Maple

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Authors: John Walton, Vishal Parikh

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Contact centres have been exemplars of scientific management in the discipline of operations management for more than a decade now. With the movement of industries from a resource based economy to knowledge based economy businesses have started to realize the customer eccentricity being the key to sustainability amidst high velocity of the market. However, as technologies have converged and advanced, so have the contact centres. Contact Centres have redirected the supply chains and the concept of retailing is highly diminished due to over exaggeration of cost reduction strategies. In conditions of high environmental velocity together with services featuring considerable information intensity contact centres will require up to date and enlightened agents to satisfy the demands placed upon them by those requesting their services. In this paper we examine salient factors such as Power Distance, Knowledge structures and the dynamics of job specialisation and enlargement to suggest critical success factors in the domain of contact centres.

Keywords: Post Taylorism, Knowledge Management, Power Distance, Organisational Learning

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Authors: Collins C. Chiemeke

Abstract:

Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave (MASW) seismic method is widely used in geotechnical engineering for the measurement of shear wave velocity and evaluation of material property. This method was recently conducted at a Dam site located in Zaria, within the basement complex of northern Nigeria. The aim of this experiment was to make use of the MASW method in evaluating the strength of material properties of a section of the Dam embankment, which is vital to ascertain the safety of the Dam. The result revealed that, the material embankment showed general increase of shear wave velocity with depth. The range of shear wave velocities and the determined Poisson’s ratio falls within the normal range of consolidated rock material, indicating the Dam embankment is still consolidated. The range of shear modulus determined, also shows that the Dam embankment is rigid enough to withstand the shear stress imposed by the impounded water.

Keywords: Dam, MASW, Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave, Seismic.

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Authors: Santhakumar M., Asokan T.

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This paper addresses the problem of trajectory tracking control of an underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in the horizontal plane. The underwater vehicle under consideration is not actuated in the sway direction, and the system matrices are not assumed to be diagonal and linear, as often found in the literature. In addition, the effect of constant bias of environmental disturbances is considered. Using backstepping techniques and the tracking error dynamics, the system states are stabilized by forcing the tracking errors to an arbitrarily small neighborhood of zero. The effectiveness of the proposed control method is demonstrated through numerical simulations. Simulations are carried out for an experimental vehicle for smooth, inertial, two dimensional (2D) reference trajectories such as constant velocity trajectory (a circle maneuver – constant yaw rate), and time varying velocity trajectory (a sinusoidal path – sinusoidal yaw rate).

Keywords: autonomous underwater vehicle, system matrices, tracking control, time – varying feed back, underactuated control.

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Authors: Shen Weishou, Ji Di, Zhang Hui, Yan Shouguang, Li Haidong, Lin Naifeng

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Based on a long-term vegetation index dataset of NDVI and meteorological data from 68 meteorological stations in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and their relations with major climate factors were analyzed. The results show the following: 1) The linear trends of temperature in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau indicate that the temperature in the plateau generally increased, but it rose faster in the last 20 years. 2) The most significant NDVI increase occurred in the eastern and southern plateau. However, the western and northern plateau demonstrate a decreasing trend. 3) There is a significant positive linear correlation between NDVI and temperature and a negative correlation between NDVI and mean wind speed. However, no significant statistical relationship was found between NDVI and relative humidity, precipitation or sunshine duration.4) The changes in NDVI for the plateau are driven by temperature-precipitation, but for the desert and forest areas, the relation changes to precipitation-temperature-wind velocity and wind velocity-temperature-precipitation.

Keywords: Qinghai-Tibet plateau, NDVI, climate warming.

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Authors: M. S. Khurram, S. A. Memon, S. Khan

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Bed voidage behavior among different flow regimes for Geldart A, B, and D particles (fluid catalytic cracking catalyst (FCC), particle A and glass beads) of diameter range 57-872 μm, apparent density 1470-3092 kg/m³, and bulk density range 890-1773 kg/m³ were investigated in a gas-solid circulating fluidized bed of 0.1 m-i.d. and 2.56 m-height of plexi-glass. Effects of variables (gas velocity, particle properties, and static bed height) were analyzed on bed voidage. The axial voidage profile showed a typical trend along the riser: a dense bed at the lower part followed by a transition in the splash zone and a lean phase in the freeboard. Bed expansion and dense bed voidage increased with an increase of gas velocity as usual. From experimental results, a generalized model relationship based on inverse fluidization number for dense bed voidage from bubbling to fast fluidization regimes was presented.

Keywords: Axial voidage, circulating fluidized bed, splash zone, static bed.

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