Sharif Digital Repository

This research addresses the escalation of the ‘discourse of going’ among Iranian educated people in recent years through highlighting the influential role played by for-profit study abroad institutions. Utilizing a discourse-analytic approach, we engage the theoretical concept of chronotope, caliberation, and commodification to investigate the ways through which for-profit study abroad institutions represent the images of ‘life beyond’. The data were obtained in interview sessions with ten certified Iranian study-abroad institutions. The results of the data analysis revealed two main themes, namely, hypothetical utopia there and dystopia here as well as success here-and-now and... 

Mechanical properties, microstructural events, residual stresses, and aging behavior of friction stir-welded AA6061-T6 were investigated in this work. Microstructural and mechanical characterizations of the friction stir-welded joints in as-welded and post-welded conditions were made by means of optical metallography, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction for determination of residual stresses, tensile testing, and hardness measurements. It was found that weld strength and hardness variations after welding are mainly dependent on the imposed heat input per unit length. Besides, the kinetics of natural aging in the welded samples was found to be noticeable within the first 14... 

In this study, in order to investigate the effect of the underlying pore-scale processes on continuum scale simulations of porous media dissolution, we improve the standard Lattice Boltzmann method using Quadtree grid refinement approach to simulate fluid flow and reactive transport through large domain sizes. Our results have shown considerable computational improvements up to 80% in simulation time together with increased numerical accuracy. The results and the added value of the new approach are discussed using comparison of our model with the conventional LBM. Moreover, we have applied a systematic analysis by increasing complexity levels and starting from fluid flow and continuing with... 

In this article, the flow behavior around a NACA 0012 airfoil which is oscillating with different Reynolds numbers and in various amplitudes has been investigated numerically. Numerical simulations have been performed with ANSYS software. First, the 2-D geometry has been studied in different Reynolds numbers and angles of attack with various numerical methods in its static condition. This analysis was to choose the best turbulent model and comparing the grids to have the optimum one for dynamic simulations. Because the analysis was to study the blades of wind turbines, the Reynolds numbers were not arbitrary. They were in the range of 9.71e5 to 22.65e5. The angle of attack was in the range... 

Reservoir fluid modelling is one of the most important steps in reservoir simulation and modelling of flow lines as well as surface facilities. One of the most uncertain parameters of the reservoir fluids is the plus fraction. An accurate and consistent splitting scheme can reduce this uncertainty and as a result, enhance the modelling of reservoir fluids. The existing schemes for splitting plus fractions are all based on assuming a specific mole fraction-molecular weight distribution with predefined constant values that may yield inaccurate and inconsistent results. In this study, an optimization-based algorithm was developed to determine the aforementioned controlling parameters of the... 

In this paper, analysis of the throughput and delay in a spectrally phase-encoded optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) system, using a simplified slotted packet network protocol is conducted. Steady-state throughput and average packet delay of the system are derived. In evaluating the performance of the system, only multiple access interference is considered and other sources of noise are neglected. Comparing different systems with the fixed bit rate and chip duration leads us to conclude that increasing the code length will improve the performance of networks with small average activity; but in highly active networks, decreasing the code length will result in a significant... 

In this article, transient two-dimensional mixed convection of nanofluids in the entrance region of a vertical channel has been studied carefully. The geometry under consideration consisted of a parallel-plate channel partly filled with a porous medium with a constant wall temperature. In the free flow region, the two-dimensional flow field has been governed by the Navier-Stokes equations. The general formulation of the momentum equations accounting for the inertial and the viscous effects in the presence of a porous medium has been used. Viscous dissipation effects have also been incorporated in the thermal energy equation. Effects of Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis have also been... 

Recently production optimization has gained increasing interest in the petroleum industry. The most computationally expensive part of the production optimization process is the evaluation of the objective function performed by a numerical reservoir simulator. Employing surrogate models (a.k.a. proxy models) as a substitute for the reservoir simulator is proposed for alleviating this high computational cost.In this study, a novel approach for constructing adaptive surrogate models with application in production optimization problem is proposed. A dynamic Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) is employed as the approximation function while the training is performed using an adaptive sampling... 

Application of the fiber contained fluids has been extensively increased in many industries. In the petroleum industry, fibrous fluids are utilized for different applications. For instance, they have been applied in drilling operations for hole cleaning and cutting removal. In this article, the results of the studies performed on the application of Hydrated Basil Seeds (HBS) as the herbal eco-friendly fiber on hole cleaning and filtration control were presented. In order to investigate the application of HBS on hole cleaning, Polyacrylamide (PA) was added to the pure water to provide the base fluid and HBS at different concentrations were suspended in the base fluid and the effect of HBS on... 

Influence of gas tungsten arc welding on the thermal responses, residual stress distribution and final mechanical properties of the naturally age-hardened (T4) and artificially age-hardened (T6) AA2024 plates was studied. The results showed that age hardening and over-aging occurred in various sections of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of T4 sample, depending on their locations, while in the HAZ of T6 sample, over-aging is the governing phenomenon. Also, subsequent natural aging occurred in HAZ, weld metal (WM) and partially melted material (PMM) of both weldments. This recent phenomenon is more obvious in the T4 sample in comparison with the T6 one. In both microstructures, weld metal is the... 

In this research, a new diffusion mechanism called "double cross-phase diffusion"is introduced and applied to simulate the non-equilibrium gas injection process into fractured rocks. This new mechanism represents additional multicomponent gas diffusion into the crude oil through the water phase, existing in porous media as initial water saturation. Therefore, a lab-scale simulator, by implementing the generalized Fick's law of multicomponent diffusion, is developed and used for predicting the experimental data of oil recovery during CO2 injection in chalk fractured rocks in the presence of initial water saturation. The results revealed a significant difference in the oil recovery predicted... 

Sustainable technologies are the main concerns of the 21st century modified oilfield industries. The insufficiency of conventional drilling fluid formulations with a combination of hardly degradable hazardous chemicals as additives raise the demands of field-applicable innovative and environmentally friendly methods. Pistachio Shell discards as degradable wastes, which can intellectually apply in drilling fluid formulation. The experimental oilfield investigations of utilizing pistachio shell powder prove the significant enhancement of rheological properties, reduction of fluid loss and mud cake thickness in both API (Low Pressure —Low Temperature) and High Pressure—High Temperature (HPHT)... 

Ultrasonic waves have been extensively used in many industrial applications including clean devices, pipes and vessels. A clear extension of this usage is the removal of wellbore contaminants by exposing it to high-power ultrasonic waves. In this paper, a mathematical model for ultrasonic propagation through the porous medium around the wellbore is presented. The equations of wave propagation are written in a cylindrical coordinate according to Biot theory and the induced stress in the rock are calculated at each point using finite difference approach Comparison of imposed local stresses with adhesion forces between scales and rock, the properties of ultrasonic transducer, such as frequency... 

In this work, the thermomechanical responses during the dissimilar friction stir welding of aluminum alloys have been evaluated employing a three-dimensional model and the finite element software ABAQUS. Furthermore, welding experiments have been conducted under different working conditions and the temperature variations during and after welding as well as the produced residual stresses in various positions of the welded samples were measured using hole-drilling technique. The model results were then examined by experimental data, and a reasonable agreement was observed. It is found that tool rotational speed significantly affects the amount of maximum tensile residual stress while traverse... 

In this work, the effect of tool geometric parameters on thermo-mechanical behaviour in friction stir welding of AA5086 has been investigated. For doing so, the thermo-mechanical responses of material during welding with different tools have been predicted by a three-dimensional finite-element model using the finite-element code ABAQUS. In addition, welding experiments have been carried out to study the developed microstructures and the mechanical properties of welded alloy. The results show that tool geometry significantly affects the energy input, deformation pattern, plunge force, microstructures, and mechanical properties of the joint. The conical tool with the shoulder angle of 2° has... 

In this work, thermo-mechanical behavior and microstructural evolution in similar and dissimilar friction stir welding of AA6061-T6 and AA5086-O have been investigated. Firstly, the thermo-mechanical behaviors of materials during similar and dissimilar FSW operations have been predicted using three-dimensional finite element software, ABAQUS, then, the mechanical properties and the developed microstructures within the welded samples have been studied with the aid of experimental observations and model predictions. It is found that different strengthening mechanisms in AA5086 and AA6061 result in complex behaviors in hardness of the welded cross section where the hardness variation in similar... 

In this research, thermo-mechanical behavior and microstructural events in dissimilar friction stir welding of AA6061-T6 and AA5086-O have been evaluated. The thermo-mechanical responses of materials during the process have been predicted employing a three-dimensional model together with a finite element software, ABAQUS. Then, mechanical properties and microstructures of the weld zone were studied with the aid of experimental observations and model predictions. It is found that the mixing of material in the weld nugget is performed more efficiently when AA5086 is in the advancing side and also the temperature field is distributed asymmetrically resulting in larger thermally affected region... 

In this study, the thermal cycles and the grain structure in the weld heat-affected zone (HAZ) are predicted. At the first stage, a combined heat transfer and fluid flow model is employed to assess the temperature fields during and after welding of 304 stainless steel and then, the evolution of grain structure is conducted using the predicted temperature distribution and an analytical model of grain growth. The grain sizes of the CGHAZ (coarse grain heat affected zone) achieved from the model are basically in agreement with those obtained from experimental measurement under different heat inputs in the range of 0.33-1.07 MJ/m. Both the experimental data and the calculated results show that... 

The primary challenge of spectroscopic techniques in selective detection and characterization of tautomeric structures of DNA and RNA bases, and moreover, the accurate interpretation and explanation of the experimental results are the main motives of theoretical studies. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) can be a powerful approach to distinguish cytosine in the presence of its tautomers. For this respect, herein, the theoretical simulation of the SERS spectra of cytosine and its three most stable tautomers adsorbed on silver clusters is carried out. The calculations of SERS spectra is based on the excited-state energy gradient approximation as a well-established approach that gives... 

This work studies the natural frequencies and modes of liquid sloshing in a rectangular 3D tank with the slotted baffles in middle. A new vibrational model incorporating the pressure difference between the two sides of the baffle, using a transmission function in Laplace space is presented. To this end, a part of the baffle that includes the wall and the slot is modeled in Fluent software, to express this pressure difference as a function of the fluid velocity passing through the baffle. Then, using the boundary element method, and boundary conditions, the equations of the fluid domain are developed. In this research, the rigid baffle is surrounded by a three-dimensional irrotational...