Sharif Digital Repository

In growing economic energy systems, the interdependency of various energy infrastructures has led to a change in countries' policies in their expansion planning of energy networks. In this study, a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) model is proposed for expansion planning of the multi-carrier systems including electricity and gas distribution networks. The optimal planning determines the best location, time, and alternative for network assets in order to minimise investment costs and reduce losses. Also, as another distinctive feature of this study, given the integration of electricity and gas distribution networks and the complexity of the problem, a new MILP model using... 

This paper presents an analytical model to predict the residual stress distribution induced by Shot peening. The analytical approach is based on the work of Shen and Atluri (2006) [18] with some modifications. The modifications are related to the elasto-plastic unloading of shot impingements, friction coefficient effect and the fraction of kinetic energy transmitted to the treated material. In order to predict more realistic residual stresses, the elasto-plastic unloading phase of shot impacts is modeled using two nonlinear kinematic hardening models considering the Bauschinger effect. Moreover, the effect of the Coulomb friction between target surface and shots is evaluated. For this... 

Purpose - A numerical method is developed to capture the interaction of solid object with two-phase flow with high density ratios. The current computational tool would be the first step of accurate modeling of wave energy converters in which the immense energy of the ocean can be extracted at low cost. Design/methodology/approach - The full two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are discretized on a regular structured grid, and the two-step projection method along with multi-processing (OpenMP) is used to efficiently solve the flow equations. The level set and the immersed boundary methods are used to capture the free surface of a fluid and a solid object, respectively. The full... 

We study the impact of sub-array merging routines on merge-based sorting algorithms. More precisely, we focus on the galloping sub-routine that TimSort uses to merge monotonic (non-decreasing) sub-arrays, hereafter called runs, and on the impact on the number of element comparisons performed if one uses this sub-routine instead of a naive merging routine. The efficiency of TimSort and of similar sorting algorithms has often been explained by using the notion of runs and the associated run-length entropy. Here, we focus on the related notion of dual runs, which was introduced in the 1990s, and the associated dual run-length entropy. We prove, for this complexity measure, results that are... 

A new perspective suitable for understanding the details of nonlinear pumping (formation of traveling shocks) inside a pressurized cavity is constructed in this paper. Full compressible axisymmetric three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are used as the starting point to cover all complexities of the problem that exceedingly increase for particular ranges of Mach, Reynolds and Prandtl numbers. Then a very high-order numerical method is introduced to preserve the user-defined order of accuracy for practical simulations. For removal of spurious waves, higher-order compact filters are derived. All equations are marched in time using the classical Runge-Kutta algorithm which is appropriate... 

Large-stencil schemes which their spectral properties are acceptable in the vicinity of ω = π are analyzed for the first time. A machine independent model for evaluating the efficiency of generalized time-marching finite-difference algorithms over periodic domains is developed. This model which is based on operation count reveals that for small values of Total Computational Cost(TCC), the previous low-order small-stencil schemes are more efficient while for moderate TCC, the efficiency of optimized large-stencil schemes abruptly increases. This important result is the motivation for developing optimized large-stencil schemes. The current schemes are successfully implemented in a full... 

Recently, several high-order accurate methods have been developed for solving nonlinear equations governing in the high-frequency oscillations of a fluid column. If we assume that the value of Reynolds and Prandtl numbers are high enough then it is possible to neglect the effect of Stokes Layer and it has been previously shown that the calculated pressure profile obtained by solving three-dimensional axisymmetric compressible NS (Navier-Stokes) equations is in good agreement with one-dimensional adiabatic model of Ilinskii. For this particular flow which is the typical of engineering flows inside acoustical compressors, it is clear that high-resolution simulation of NS equations in higher... 

A new perspective suitable for understanding the details of nonlinear pumping (formation of traveling shocks) inside a pressurized cavity is constructed in this paper. Full compressible axisymmetric three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are used as the starting point to cover all complexities of the problem that exceedingly increase for particular ranges of Mach, Reynolds and Prandtl numbers. Then a very high-order numerical method is introduced to preserve the user-defined order of accuracy for practical simulations. For removal of spurious waves, higher-order compact filters are derived. All equations are marched in time using the classical Runge-Kutta algorithm which is appropriate... 

This study reports the successful fabrication of high-performance flexible binder-free lithium-ion battery anode and supercapacitor based on the synthesis of 3D hierarchical MnO2 nanoflakes (NFs) on vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) grown upon stainless steel (SS). The experimental results revealed that the prepared electrodes were well served as supercapacitors with a tremendous specific capacitance of MnO2 NFs VACNT/SS 1131 F/g at 0.25 A/g in 0.5 mol.L−1 Na2SO4, 518.8% more than VACNT/SS (218 F/g). Compared to other MnO2 NFs/CNT composites, as-fabricated binder-free MnO2 NFs/VACNTs electrode achieves outstanding performance with high initial discharge and charge capacities of... 

This study reports the successful fabrication of high-performance flexible binder-free lithium-ion battery anode and supercapacitor based on the synthesis of 3D hierarchical MnO2 nanoflakes (NFs) on vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) grown upon stainless steel (SS). The experimental results revealed that the prepared electrodes were well served as supercapacitors with a tremendous specific capacitance of MnO2 NFs VACNT/SS 1131 F/g at 0.25 A/g in 0.5 mol.L−1 Na2SO4, 518.8% more than VACNT/SS (218 F/g). Compared to other MnO2 NFs/CNT composites, as-fabricated binder-free MnO2 NFs/VACNTs electrode achieves outstanding performance with high initial discharge and charge capacities of... 

Shot peening is one of the most effective surface treatments for improving the fatigue strength of machine elements. In this paper, a new finite element-based model to predict the effect of coverage on the surface state is proposed and critically discussed. By this model, the effects of Rayleigh damping, mesh size, and target dimensions on residual stress profile are investigated using a random impingement simulation of shot peening. Moreover, the model enables the realistic simulation of shot peening process with an affordable computational time with respect of present approaches without reducing the number of impacts and analysis accuracy: the computational time was reduced by 25% in... 

We use multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA), to study sunspot number fluctuations. The result of the MF-DFA shows that there are three crossover timescales in the fluctuation function. We discuss how the existence of the crossover timescales is related to a sinusoidal trend. Using Fourier detrended fluctuation analysis, the sinusoidal trend is eliminated. The Hurst exponent of the time series without the sinusoidal trend is 0.12 ± 0.01. Also we find that these fluctuations have multifractal nature. Comparing the MF-DFA results for the remaining data set to those for shuffled and surrogate series, we conclude that its multifractal nature is almost entirely due to long range... 

We describe a general method for analyzing a nonstationary stochastic process X (t) which, unlike many of the previous analysis methods, does not require X (t) to have any scaling feature. The method is used to study the fluctuations in the daily price of oil. It is shown that the returns time series, y (t) =ln [X (t+1) X (t)], is a stationary and Markov process, characterized by a Markov time scale tM. The coefficients of the Kramers-Moyal expansion for the probability density function P (y,t y0, t0) are computed. P (y,t, y0, t0) satisfies a Fokker-Planck equation, which is equivalent to a Langevin equation for y (t) that provides quantitative predictions for the oil price over times that... 

The evolution of the organizational attitudes regarding strategic management of system physical assets and the emergence of new technologies call for special attention to maintenance and reliability. State-of-the-art literature suggested a number of techniques and strategies for estimating the equipment failure rates; however, paralyzed by lack of real-world data, existing literature mostly relied on simplifications that may bring about unique challenges and result in low-accuracy estimations. This paper reviews the existing literature in estimating and modeling the failure rate of power system equipment. The review includes the existing models and the ongoing research on degradation,... 

The waist parameter is a particularly important factor for functional expansion in terms of localized orthogonal basis functions. We present a systematic approach to evaluate an asymptotic trend for the optimum waist parameter in truncated orthogonal localized bases satisfying several general conditions. This asymptotic behavior is fully introduced and verified for Hermite - Gauss and Laguerre-Gauss bases. As a special case of importance, a good estimate for the optimum waist in projection of discontinuous profiles on localized basis functions is proposed. The importance and application of the proposed estimation is demonstrated via several optical applications  

The paper aims at understanding solidification phenomena and solid state precipitations during diffusion brazing of Hastelloy X nickel base superalloy using a ternary Ni–4.5Si–3.2 B (in wt-%) filler metal. The joint is featured by the formation of Ni-rich solid solution in an isothermal solidification zone, borides/silicide formation during eutectic-type solidification in an athermal solidification zone, on-cooling precipitation of fine nickel silicides in the joint centerline, in situ precipitation of Mo–Cr-rich borides in the diffusion affected zone and grain growth in the heat affected zone. The implication of the phase transformations on the joint properties is discussed. It is shown... 

The role of quantum tunneling in altering the structure of nucleotides to each other and causing a mutational event in DNA has been a topic of debate for years. Here, we introduce a new quantum mechanical approach for analyzing a typical point-mutation in DNA strands. Assuming each codon as a base state, a superposition of codon states could provide a physical description for a set of codons encoding the same amino acid and there are transition amplitudes between them. We choose the amino acids Phe and Ile as our understudy bio-systems which are encoded by two and three codons, respectively. We treat them as large quantum systems and use double- and triple-well potential models to study the... 

Quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno behaviors of a two-level macroscopic quantum system in interaction with a harmonic environment are studied using the perturbation theory. The system-environment interactions are applied in a successive and step-by-step way. A new expression for the probability of surviving the macrosystem in its initial state, after the Nth interaction step, is derived through a different method of calculation. It is shown that multiple transitions between Zeno and anti-Zeno behaviors can be found in our approach. We have shown that in addition to the environmental parameters like the Ohmicity, the macroscopic trait of the system also has a notable effect on the decay rate Γ(τ).... 

The microstructure of dissimilar transient liquid phase bond between Hastelloy X and IN792 nickel-based superalloys is featured by lack of sufficient formation of γ′ precipitates in the bond-centerline and extensive in-situ precipitation of boride second phases in the diffusion affected zones (DAZ). This paper investigates the impact of two thermal processing strategies, using standard solution treatment and aging of IN792 (STA strategy) and using solution treatment of IN792 followed by a post-bond heat treatment utilizing solution treatment of Hastelloy X and aging treatment of IN792 (SPTA strategy) on the joint microstructure and mechanical properties. The boride precipitates in the DAZ of...