Sharif Digital Repository

Over past decades, extensive research has been performed on the measurement of land subsidence as a result of compaction of aquifer. This paper describes results from a new field-monitoring system to evaluate changes in matric suction and temperature profiles in soil layers over an extended time period. The monitoring system used in this study consists of inserting dielectric sensors into a 105 m borehole, drilled in a site in Ardabil Plain, The monitoring results from the site were used to calibrate predictions from HYDRUS-1D. The physical and hydraulic properties of the soil materials in different layers were obtained through performing some soil characteristics and filter paper tests... 

This article aims to simulate the sudden and fast pressure drop of VVER-1000 reactor core coolant, regarding acoustic phenomenon. It is used to acquire a more accurate method in order to simulate the various accidents of reactor core. Neutronic equations should be solved concurrently by means of DRAGON 4 and DONJON 4 coupling codes. The results of the developed package are compared with WIMS/CITATION and final safety analysis report of Bushehr VVER-1000 reactor (FSAR). Afterwards, time dependent thermal-hydraulic equations are answered by employing Single Heated Channel by Sectionalized Compressible Fluid method. Then, the obtained results were validated by the same transient simulation in a... 

Transient analysis which is vital in safety analysis requires a reliable calculation method. Most valid tools use diffusion theory with many approximations by now. However, the Monte Carlo method inherently overcomes these approximations and accurately calculates the parameters of a reactor. In this paper, a new time-dependent transport approach is described to simulate the nuclear reactor dynamic correctly using the MCNPX code. In this approach the fundamental parameters of a nuclear reactor like multiplication factor (K eff ) and mean generation time (t G ) are calculated using MCNPX code. They are then employed in the formulas to compute neutron population, proportional to K eff , during... 

Dispersive soils, as one of the main categories of problematic soils, can be found in some parts of the earth, such as the eastern-south of Iran, nearby the Gulf of Oman. One of the most important factors enhancing the dispersive potential is the existence of dissolved salts in the soil water. The main objective of this study is to explore the influence of water salinity on the instability of a railway embankment due to rainfall infiltration. In order to achieve this goal, the embankment resting on a dispersive stratum is numerically modeled and subjected to transient infiltration flow. The effect of dispersion is simplified through variations in the soil-water retention curve with salinity.... 

Today the electric utility industry is being restructured from monopoly and regulated structure to competitive and deregulated structure. Changes in electricity markets, in technology, economics and regulatory structures have created a new interest in small-scale generation and efficiency resources, dispersed throughout the lower voltage networks. Many reasons have been developed and encouraged using DG (Distributed Generation) in different countries such as power system restructuring, DG technologies advances and price increases. The most important problems of many developing countries is the high cost of finance and limited access to financial resources because of the electric industry is... 

The phenomenon of the hydraulic jump is so complex that despite considerable laboratory and prototype studies, estimation of its main characteristics in a generalized and accurate form is still difficult. The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach aims at limiting the needs for costly and time-consuming experiments. In this study, two ANN models, multi-layer perceptron using back propagation algorithm (MLP/BP) and radial basis function using orthogonal least-squares algorithm (RBF/OLS), were used to predict the roller length, sequent depth, and the relative energy loss of the B-jump. Based on a pre-specified range of jump parameters, the input vectors include: upstream bed slope (tan θ),... 

This work takes a new approach to solving non-hydrostatic equations of layered flows over bottom topography. A perturbation technique is used to find explicit expressions for a flow for different regimes of single- and two-layer flows over a sill. Excellent agreement with previous solutions and experimental data is obtained, and more details of the non-hydrostatic flow over a sill are revealed. The proposed method is simple and compact and removes the need for complex numerical techniques to solve the non-hydrostatic equations. It is shown that in the approach-controlled regime of two-layer flow over a sill, the flow upstream and farther downstream the sill crest can be described by the... 

Longitudinal ventilation is a common technique for smoke management during a fire accident within tunnels. In this paper, fire and smoke movement behaviour in longitudinally ventilated tunnels is investigated focusing on critical ventilation velocity. Firstly, critical velocity (VC) is evaluated for different heat release rates and results are compared and verified with model scale experimental data. Secondly, two fire scenarios inside tunnels with different cross sections are arranged and the reliability of some existing correlations for VC is explored. Results illustrate that using a combined geometric scale rather than the traditional single length-scale ones results in better estimation... 

This paper introduces the concept of a submerged hydraulic jump being used for energy dissipation. A baffle wall is used to produce a stable deflected surface jet, thereby deflecting the high-velocity supercritical stream away from the bed to the surface. An elliptic relaxation turbulence model (v 2̄ - f model) has been used to simulate this submerged flow. During the last few years, the v2̄ - f turbulence model has become increasingly popular due to its ability to account for near-wall damping without use of damping functions. In addition, it has been proved that the v̄2 - f model is superior to other RANS methods in many fluid flows where complex flow features are present. In this study,... 

Physical and hydraulic properties of new stainless steel spring packing are introduced. The measured hydraulic properties are: dry and wetted packed bed pressure drop, loading and flooding points and the liquid holdups. The appropriate coefficients for predicting the mentioned hydraulic properties from different correlations are also reported. Hydraulic properties for this packing are compared with available packings. In spite of small size, the dry and wetted packed bed pressure drops of spring packing are less than similar Raschig and Protruded rings. The total liquid holdup of this packing is greater than other commercial packings. The big total liquid holdup and physical surface area are... 

The details of the Element Free Galerkin (EFG) method are presented with the method being applied to a study on hydraulic fracturing initiation and propagation process in a saturated porous medium using coupled hydro-mechanical numerical modelling. In this EFG method, interpolation (approximation) is based on nodes without using elements and hence an arbitrary discrete fracture path can be modelled.The numerical approach is based upon solving two governing partial differential equations of equilibrium and continuity of pore water simultaneously. Displacement increment and pore water pressure increment are discretized using the same EFG shape functions. An incremental constrained Galerkin... 

The connectivity of high conductivity pathways in geological formations depend on the spatial distribution of geological heterogeneities that may appear on various length scales. Appropriate modeling of this is crucial within in hydrology and petroleum systems. The approach taken in this study is to use percolation theory to quantify the connectivity, hydraulic conductivity, and breakthrough time behavior between an injector and a producer within such systems. In particular, a three-dimensional overlapping sandbody model is considered which assumes that the geological formation can be split into either conductive flow units (i. e., good sands) or non-conductive units (i. e., poor sands). The... 

Due to the nonlinear dynamics of hydraulic systems, applying high performance closed-loop controllers is complicated. In this paper, a single-rod hydraulic actuator is considered in which load displacement (for positioning purposes) is controlled via manipulation of the input voltage to the servo-valve. Dynamics of the servo-valve is described by first and second order transfer functions (named as Models 1 and 2). Through linearization of the system around its operating points, dynamics of the hydraulic actuator is represented in the state space. A full-order observer is designed for on-line states estimation. Then, feedback control system is designed for both regulation and tracking... 

Circulation is created in some parts of settling tanks. It can increase the mixing level, decrease the effective settling, and create a short circuiting from the inlet to the outlet. All above-mentioned phenomena act in such a way to decrease the tank's hydraulic efficiency, which quantitatively shows how flow within the tank is uniform and quiet. So, the main objective of the tank design process is to avoid forming the circulation zone, which is known as the dead zone. Prediction of the flow field and size of the recirculation zone is the first step in the design of settling tanks. In the present paper, the non-linear k - ε turbulence model is used for predicting the length of the... 

Side weirs are hydraulic control structures widely used in irrigation and drainage systems as well as wastewater treatment plants. These structures also serve as adjusting/diverting flow structures with a minimum head loss. In the present study, by applying experimental data of more than 400 laboratory tests and using the multivariable nonlinear partial least-squares (PLS) method, three nonlinear equations are proposed for discharge coefficient, CM, of triangular and asymmetric labyrinth side weirs. These equations relate the discharge coefficient to the relevant geometrical and hydraulic dimensionless characteristics of flow. Results indicate that the new proposed equations are more... 

Side weirs are hydraulic control structures widely used in irrigation, drainage networks and waste water treatment plants. These structures can be used for adjusting and diverting of flow with minimum energy loss. In spite of many studies were carried out on rectangular side weirs, the studies on oblique and labyrinth side weirs are scarce. In this study, based on the experimental data from more than 210 laboratory tests and through using the multivariable nonlinear partial least square (PLS) method, two nonlinear equations are presented for discharge coefficient CM of triangular labyrinth side weirs with one and two cycles. The obtained empirical equations relating CM with the relevant... 

The large heterogeneity in soil surface conditions makes it impracticable to obtain reliable estimates of soil hydraulic parameters for areas larger than few squared kilometers. However, identifying these parameters on a global scale is essential for many hydrological and climatic applications. In this study, a new approach named Drainage from Drydown (DfD) is proposed to estimate the coefficients of drainage using soil moisture observations. DfD firstly selects multiple drydown events when surface runoff and evapotranspiration rates are negligible compared to the drainage rate. Secondly, by inverting the soil water balance equation, the drainage coefficients are obtained. Synthetic...