Sharif Digital Repository

Numerical modeling of the fully coupled phenomena of solid deformation-fluid flow in partially saturated porous media is of great interest in many branches of science and engineering. In this study, a new formulation based on one of the famous mesh-less methods, called Element-Free Galerkin (EFG), is developed to simulate the water and air movement through variably saturated soils. For this purpose, the governing partial differential equations including the equilibrium equation and mass conservation laws for each fluid phase are discretized in space using the same EFG shape functions. To enforce the essential boundary conditions, penalty method is employed. Temporal discretization is... 

Limited energy in each node is the major design constraint in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). To overcome this limit, wireless rechargeable sensor networks (WRSNs) have been proposed and studied extensively over the last few years. In a typical WRSN, batteries in sensor nodes can be replenished by a mobile charger that periodically travels along a certain trajectory in the sensing area. To maximize the charged energy in sensor nodes, one fundamental question is how to control the traveling velocity of the charger. In this paper, we first identify the optimal velocity control as a key design objective of mobile wireless charging in WRSNs. We then formulate the optimal charger velocity... 

Thermal loadings in saturated (two-phase) clays induce excess pore water pressure due to the difference in the thermal expansion coefficient of the pore volume and the pore water. The gradual dissipation of the excess pore water pressure causes thermal volume reduction which is known as thermal consolidation. However, thermal consolidation in a three-phase soil system such as unsaturated soil is more sophisticated. In this paper, an analytical model for thermal consolidation around a heat source embedded in unsaturated clay or in calyey soils containing two immiscible fluids is developed based on the effective stress concept. Governing equations, including energy, mass, and momentum balance...