Sharif Digital Repository

This research aims to optimize a multi-zone Air Handling Unit's (AHU) energy consumption by using a Non-linear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) approach. In this paper, Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Non-linear autoregressive network with exogenous inputs (NARX) have been utilized to design NMPC for a multi-zone AHU. The NMPC problem could be divided into two main sections: internal model and the optimizer. NARX serves as the controller's internal model to predict the building's thermal dynamics. GA is then used to solve the NMPC problem and find the optimal value of the control signals at each time step. The proposed NMPC jointly minimizes energy consumption of the AHU and the deviation from the... 

In the present research, results of buckling analysis of 384 finite element models, verified using three different test results obtained from three separate experimental investigations, were used to study the effects of five parameters such as D/t, L/D, imperfection, mesh size and mesh size ratio. Moreover, proposed equations by offshore structural standards concerning global and local buckling capacity of tubular members including former API RP 2A WSD and recent API RP 2A LRFD, ISO 19902, and NORSOK N-004 have been compared to FE and experimental results. One of the most crucial parts in the estimation of the capacity curve of offshore jacket structures is the correct modeling of... 

Gravity drainage is known as the controlling mechanism of oil recovery in naturally fractured reservoirs. The efficiency of this mechanism is controlled by block-to-block interactions through capillary continuity and/or reinfiltration processes. In this study, at first, several free-fall gravity drainage experiments were conducted on a well-designed three-block apparatus and the role of tilt angle, spacers’ permeability, wettability and effective contact area (representing a different status of the block-to-block interactions between matrix blocks) on the recovery efficiency were investigated. Then, an experimental-based numerical model of free-fall gravity drainage process was developed,... 

In this study, modeling of an irreversible thermoelectric heat pump was conducted, and its performance was assessed in terms of exergy for 10, 20, 30 and 40 K difference in temperature (∆T) by changing the values of the design parameters. By employing this model, positive impact of increasing cross-section area, current and thermocouple’s length which in turn increases the exergy efficiency is realized. In addition, diminishing adverse impact of adding more thermocouples on the exergy efficiency of the system is illustrated. Afterward, exergoeconomic performance of the thermoelectric heat pump is evaluated. Then, exergoeconomic factor for each of the system’s components is diagnosed. The... 

Gravity drainage is known as the controlling mechanism of oil recovery in naturally fractured reservoirs. The efficiency of this mechanism is controlled by block-to-block interactions through capillary continuity and/or reinfiltration processes. In this study, at first, several free-fall gravity drainage experiments were conducted on a well-designed three-block apparatus and the role of tilt angle, spacers’ permeability, wettability and effective contact area (representing a different status of the block-to-block interactions between matrix blocks) on the recovery efficiency were investigated. Then, an experimental-based numerical model of free-fall gravity drainage process was developed,... 

Reduced web section beams in shear-yielding moment-resistant steel frames are used for energy dissipating of earthquakes. The finite element analysis indicates that failure mode of these beams are governed by the combination of shear force and flexural moment. Therefore the analysis of frames with reduced web section beams needs consideration of shear-flexural interaction in those sections. In the present paper, modeling and analysis of reduced web section beams are investigated by using a special element which is called VM link element. The elastic and inelastic shear and flexural deformations and tangential stiffnesses in this link element are considered by using the multi- surfaces... 

A mixed shear-flexural beam element, which is called VM link element, is introduced. Dissimilar multi-surfaces in the shear-flexural space and non zero off diagonal components in flexibility matrixes are used for more realistic modeling of inelastic shear-flexural interaction. For preventing of intersecting among the yield surfaces, a new non-associated flow rule and a new kinematic hardening rule are developed. Capability of this element is examined for shear links used in eccentrically braced frames analysis for cyclic loading. It is shown that, the proposed link element is in a good agreement with the existing test results  

In this paper, we change the correlation detector at receiver of spread spectrum (SS) audio watermarking to present a mechanism that prevents the system against malicious attack. The receiver of typical SS-based watermarking can only detect the watermark bit, while a pirate can send a pure signal that may incorrectly be detected as a watermarked signal. In our system we consider all conditions that we may have in SS-based watermarking system. By computing a threshold, we can detect watermark in any of two cases of having watermarked signal or pure original signal at the receiver. We reduce false alarm probability to approximately zero in our system. This mechanism, as compared to SS, comes... 

Recently, wettability alteration has been much attended by researchers for studying well productivity improvement in gas condensate reservoirs. Previous studies in this area only utilized water/alcohol based chemicals for this purpose. While, hydrocarbon nature of the blocked condensate in retrograde gas reservoirs, may motivate application of hydrocarbon based chemical agents. In this study, a new hydrocarbon based wettability modifier is introduced to alter wettability of carbonate and sandstone rocks to preferentially gas wetting condition. Static and dynamic contact angle measurements, spontaneous imbibition and core flooding tests were conducted to investigate the effect of proposed... 

Condensate and water banking around gas condensate wells result in vital well deliverability issues. Wettability alteration of near wellbore region to gas wetting condition is known to be the most novel and the only permanent method, to improve condensate well productivity. In this work, a water based nanofluid is used to change the wettability of sandstone reservoir rocks from strongly liquid wetting to intermediate gas wetting condition. Static contact angle measurements demonstrated significant increase of liquid phase contact angle as a result of chemical treatment with SurfaPore M nanofluid. The characteristics of SurfaPore M adsorption on sandstone rock are quantified through kinetic... 

Condensate and water blockage are known as the most prevalent causes of well productivity decline in gas condensate reservoirs. The methodology of wettability alteration of near wellbore region to gas wetting condition, is a novel and permanent technique to address the aforementioned problem. In this work, we report the introduction of a hydrocarbon based polymer solution to change the wettability of reservoir rocks from liquid wetting to intermediate- to gas wetting condition. Both air-n-decane and air-water contact angles changed from liquid wetting condition to intermediate and gas wetting condition, respectively, after treatment of calcite and laminated glass thin sections with chemical... 

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible neurological disorder that progresses gradually and can cause severe cognitive and behavioral impairments. This disease is currently considered a social and economic incurable issue due to its complicated and multifactorial characteristics. Despite decades of extensive research, we still lack definitive AD diagnostic and effective therapeutic tools. Consequently, one of the most challenging subjects in modern medicine is the need for the development of new strategies for the treatment of AD. A large body of evidence indicates that amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide fibrillation plays a key role in the onset and progression of AD. Recent studies have reported... 

Productivity of gas condensate reservoirs reduces significantly due to the near wellbore condensate/water blockage phenomenon. A novel, permanent solution to alleviate this problem is near wellbore wettability alteration of reservoir rocks to preferentially gas wetting conditions; industrial chemical materials are good candidates for this purpose, because of their eco-friendly characteristics, economical price, and mass production. In this paper, a comparative study is conducted on two industrial fluorinated chemicals, MariSeal 800 and SurfaPore M. Static and dynamic contact angle measurements, spontaneous imbibition, and core flooding tests were conducted to investigate the effect of... 

A novel intelligent semi-active control system for an eleven degrees of freedom passenger car's suspension system using magnetorheological (MR) damper with neuro-fuzzy (NF) control strategy to enhance desired suspension performance is proposed. In comparison with earlier studies, an improvement in problem modeling is made. The proposed method consists of two parts: a fuzzy control strategy to establish an efficient controller to improve ride comfort and road handling (RCH) and an inverse mapping model to estimate the force needed for a semi-active damper. The fuzzy logic rules are extracted based on Sugeno inference engine. The inverse mapping model is based on an artificial neural network...