Sharif Digital Repository

A novel mathematical-based approach is proposed to develop reliable models for prediction of saturated crude oil viscosity in a wide range of PVT properties. A new soft computing approach, namely least square support vector machine modeling optimized with coupled simulated annealing optimization technique, is proposed. Six models have been developed to predict saturated oil viscosity, which are designed in such a way that could predict saturated oil viscosity with every available PVT parameter. The constructed models are evaluated by carrying out extensive experimental saturated crude oil viscosity data from Iranian oil reservoirs, which were measured using a "Rolling Ball viscometer." To... 

In this paper, creeping motion of a viscoelastic drop falling through a Newtonian fluid is investigated experimentally and analytically. A polymeric solution of 0.08 % xanthan gum in 80:20 glycerol/water and silicon oil is implemented as the viscoelastic drop and the bulk viscous fluids, respectively. The shape and motion of falling drops are visualized using a high speed camera. The perturbation technique is employed for both interior and exterior flows, and Deborah and capillary numbers are considered as perturbation parameters up to second order. The product of Deborah and capillary numbers is also used as a perturbation parameter to apply the boundary condition on the deformation on the... 

An experimental investigation has been performed to realize thorough behavior of a vortex tube system. In this work attention has been focussed on the classification of the parameters affecting vortex tube operation. The effective parameters are divided into two different types, namely geometrical and thermo-physical ones. A reliable test rig has been designed and constructed to investigate the effect of geometrical parameters i.e. diameter and length of main tube, diameter of outlet orifice, shape of entrance nozzle. Thermo-physical parameters which have been designated and studied are inlet gas pressure, type of gas, cold gas mass ratio and moisture of inlet gas. The effects of these... 

This paper describes how to find optimal operating conditions of three controlling parameters, i.e. temperature, transmembrane pressure (TMP), and cross-flow velocity (CFV) for maximizing the permeate flux and total organic carbons (TOC) rejection, and minimizing the fouling resistance using Taguchi method in ultrafiltration (UF) treatment of the real produced water. At first, the optimal operating conditions were found at a temperature of 45°C, TMP = 4 bar, and CFV of 2.25 m/s. To determine the most significant parameters affecting the response parameters, an analysis of variance was employed. In the second stage, performance of applied polymeric membrane in the UF system was studied under... 

Despite numerous studies, there is a lack of fundamental understanding about the displacement behavior of surfactant-crude oil systems under the influence of different fractures' geometrical properties in five-spot systems. In this work, a series of flow visualization experiments were carried out on one-quarter five spot glass micromodels at various fractures' geometrical properties, such as fracture density and fracture continuity, under oil-wet condition. The influences of injection of Linear Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate and Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate surfactants as well as the effect of fracture geometrical parameters, on macroscopic and microscopic displacement behavior have been investigated.... 

In the present study, two-phase refrigerant flow is simulated using drift flux model for straight and helical capillary tubes. The conservation equations of mass, energy and momentum are solved using the 4th order Runge-Kutta method. This model is validated by previously published experimental and numerical results and also by experimental results presented in this work. The effect of various parameters such as inlet pressure, inlet temperature, sub-cooling degree, and geometric dimensions are studied. The results of the present study show that for the same length and under similar conditions, mass flux through helical capillary tube with coil diameter of 40 mm are about 11% less than that... 

Alkaline flooding is one of the newest chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods. Alkaline generates in situ surfactants when in reacts with acid content of the oil. This economic surfactant generated in oil-water interface, reduces interfacial tension (IFT) significantly that leads to increase in oil recovery by extracting oil from tiny pores. In this study, three alkaline i.e. Na2CO3, NaOH and KOH in various concentrations were flooded in a glassy micromodel to detect displacement mechanisms and compare oil recovery. According to the results, increase in alkaline concentration leads to increase in recovery. However, in this case, alkaline type does not play a significant role. In... 

The main objective of this paper is to make a detailed systematic analysis of two-stage, axial flow turbine by using of different losses models and a new suggested algorithm based on one-dimensional simulation. The suggested method is found to be effective, fast and stable, in obtaining performance characteristics of multi-stage axial flow turbines. In one-dimensional modeling, mass flow rate, pressure ratio and efficiency are unknown, with define turbine geometry, inlet total pressure and temperature the turbine performance characteristics can be modeled. This modeling is based on common thermodynamics and aerodynamics principles in a mean stream line analysis under steady state condition.... 

This paper describes how to find optimal operating conditions of three controlling parameters, i.e. temperature, transmembrane pressure (TMP), and cross-flow velocity (CFV) for maximizing the permeate flux and total organic carbons (TOC) rejection, and minimizing the fouling resistance using Taguchi method in ultrafiltration (UF) treatment of the real produced water. At first, the optimal operating conditions were found at a temperature of 45°C, TMP = 4 bar, and CFV of 2.25 m/s. To determine the most significant parameters affecting the response parameters, an analysis of variance was employed. In the second stage, performance of applied polymeric membrane in the UF system was studied under... 

In this study an experimental design was developed to optimize the performance and structure of a membrane-based parallel-plate liquid desiccant dehumidifier used in air conditioning regeneration system which operates under high humidity weather conditions. We conducted a series of polymeric porous membranes with different compositions fabricated that were prepared with various weight percentages of polysulfone (PSU), mixed with N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and dimethyl form amide (DMF) solvents. Furthermore, the designed experiments were performed under various operating conditions, indicating that the dehumidification efficiency declines with increasing flow rate, temperature, and... 

The boundary-layer control authority of a DBD plasma actuator using surface mounted hot-film sensors is evaluated. Wind tunnel experiments on a wind-turbine blade section were established at a Reynolds number of 0.27 x 106. Aerodynamic performance of the wind-turbine blade section for both plasma-ON and plasma-OFF modes are evaluated using measurements made by both surface pressure and wake survey behind the model. Two distinct boundary-layer states are recognized. A state which occurs at the onset and in proximity of the deep stall, which is affected by the low-frequency instabilities of the separated flow. In this case, the steady actuation of plasma imparts local momentum on the nearby... 

One of the miscellaneous units that are frequently used in water and wastewater systems is flush tank. Flush tank increases the self cleaning velocity in the conduit, and helps to clear the conduits from deposits and contaminations. While these units have been used for many years, there is not enough information about the hydraulic performance of these units in respect to the discharge, distance from the tank and the pipe hydraulics. In this paper the experimental results from observed hydrographs at different distances from the flush tank in a pipe has been presented. The variables include; volume of releasing water (or inlet hydrograph), upstream head, pipe diameter (3 cm), pipe length and... 

This paper presents a review of the existing models for the estimation of explosion-induced crushed and cracked zones. The control of these zones is of utmost importance in the rock explosion design, since it aims at optimizing the fragmentation and, as a result, minimizing the fine grain production and recovery cycle. Moreover, this optimization can reduce the damage beyond the set border and align the excavation plan with the geometric design. The models are categorized into three groups based on the approach, i.e., analytical, numerical, and experimental approaches, and for each group, the relevant studies are classified and presented in a comprehensive manner. More specifically, in the... 

In the upstream asphaltene flow assurance community, both academics and industries are actively involved to predict the asphaltene deposit profile in wellbores and pipelines. Essential information for such a study is the amount of asphaltenes that can precipitate and, hence, deposit. In this work, the perturbed chain form of the statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT) is applied to predict the asphaltene precipitation onset condition as well as the amount of precipitate under pressure depletion and high-pressure and high-temperature gas injection conditions. Previous PC-SAFT asphaltene studies in crude oil required the compositional data for both flashed gas and flashed liquid. This... 

Identification and minimization of error sources are important issues in experimental investigations. Mainly in micro-scale problems, precise settings should be applied to high-tech test beds to reduce disturbance and induced motion. An experimental study is conducted to assess the role of induced forces and velocity fields in a particulate system used for particle identification and separation. Two main effects caused by disturbances are sampling errors and induced motion in the channel, either on fluid or dispersed phases. Different disturbance scenarios are implemented on the test bed and then the system response is reported. In order to assess induced motion as a result of applied... 

Improvement of microcantilever-based sensors and actuators chiefly depends on how comprehensively they are modeled and precisely formulated. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is the most widespread application of microcantilever beam as a sensor, which is usually influenced by the tip-sample interaction force. For this, vibration of AFM microcantilever probe is analyzed in this paper, along with analytical, numerical and experimental investigation of the influence of the sample interaction force on the microcantilever vibration. Nonlinear integro-partial equation of microcantilever vibration subject to the tip-sample interaction is then derived and numerically simulated. Moreover, multiple time... 

The study of water hammer in air-water, two-phase flows in hydraulic structures such as pressurized pipelines and tunnels, siphons, culverts, and junctions is of great importance for design purposes. Water hammer if combined with a periodic slug flow would lead to severe periodic transient pressure fluctuations inside the conduit. Laboratory experiments have been conducted to investigate waterhammer pressure inside a horizontal rectangular conduit carrying a two-phase, air-water slug flow. Tests were performed in an experimental apparatus comprising a 6.8-m-long transparent pipeline 0.06 m wide and 0.1 m high. By rapidly closing a control gate at the end of the conduit, propagating pressure... 

Laser ablation of titanium target in distilled water for synthesis of colloidal nanoparticles is studied both experimentally and theoretically. The effects of laser parameters such as wavelength, pulse energy, fluence and shot numbers on the ablation rate and size properties of colloidal nanoparticles are investigated. The experimental approach addresses the interesting issue for finding the optimal main experimental parameters of laser ablation. The theoretical thermal model of nanosecond pulsed laser ablation is developed to visualize the evolution of temperature distributions and ablation depth. The simulation result of ablation depth has been compared with the experimental result... 

Capillary pressure is one of the most important parameters for reservoir engineering studies. Although different experimental methods are devised to measure capillary pressure, these methods do not represent the physics of fluid flow, which happens at reservoir conditions. Thus, it is attempted to extract the capillary pressure from spontaneous imbibition data, the common mechanism of oil production in water wet porous media. In this work, a new approach is developed to obtain the imbibition capillary pressure curve by using spontaneous water imbibition data in oil-water-rock systems. Comparison of calculated imbibition capillary pressure curves by the new approach with experimental values...