Design of passive methane oxidation biosystems considering their response to the presence of capillary barrier effect

La construction des biosystèmes d’oxydation passive du méthane (BOPM) est une option économique et durable pour réduire les émissions de méthane des sites d’enfouissement de déchets et des effets subséquents du réchauffement climatique. Les BOPM sont constitués de deux couches principales: la couche d'oxydation du méthane (MOL) et la couche de distribution du gaz (GDL). L'oxydation du méthane se produit dans la MOL par les réactions biochimiques des bactéries méthanotrophes, et la GDL est construite sous la MOL pour intercepter et distribuer les émissions fugitives de biogaz à la base de la MOL. Fondamentalement, l'efficacité d'un BOPM est définie en fonction de l'efficacité d'oxydation du méthane dans la MOL. Par conséquent, il est indispensable de fournir des conditions adéquates pour les activités bactériennes des méthanotrophes. En plus des paramètres environnementaux, l'intensité et la distribution du biogaz influencent l'efficacité des BOPM, et ils peuvent rendre le matériau de la MOL - avec une grande capacité d'accueillir les activités bactériennes - inutilisables en termes d'oxydation du méthane sur place. L'effet de barrière capillaire le long de l'interface entre la GDL et la MOL peut provoquer des émissions localisées de méthane, due à la restriction ou la distribution non uniforme de l’écoulement ascendant du biogaz à la base de la MOL. L'objectif principal de cette étude est d'incorporer le comportement hydraulique non saturé des BOPM dans la conception des BOPM, afin d’assurer la facilité et la distribution adéquates de l'écoulement du biogaz à la base de la MOL. Les fonctions de perméabilité à l'air des matériaux utilisés pour construire la MOL des BOPM expérimentaux au site d’enfouissement des déchets de St Nicéphore (Québec, Canada), ainsi que celles d'autres de la littérature technique, ont été étudiés pour évaluer le comportement d'écoulement non saturé du gaz dans les matériaux et pour identifier le seuil de migration sans restriction du gaz. Ce dernier seuil a été introduit en tant que un paramètre de conception avec lequel le critère de conception recommandé ici, c’est à dire la longueur de la migration sans restriction de gaz (LMSG), a été défini. La LMSG est considérée comme la longueur le long de l'interface entre la GDL et la MOL où le biogaz peut migrer à travers la MOL sans restriction. En réalisant des simulations numériques avec SEEP/W, les effets de la pente de l'interface, des paramètres définissant la courbe de rétention d'eau, de la fonction de la conductivité hydraulique du matériau de la MOL sur la valeur de la LMSG (représentant la facilité d'écoulement du biogaz à l'interface) et de la distribution de l'humidité (et par conséquent celle du biogaz) ont été évalués. Selon les résultats des simulations, la conductivité hydraulique saturée et la distribution des tailles de pores du matériau de la MOL sont les paramètres les plus importants sur la distribution de l'humidité le long de l'interface. Ce dernier paramètre influe également sur la valeur du degré de saturation et donc la facilité du biogaz à la base de la MOL. La densité sèche du matériau de MOL est un autre paramètre qui contrôle la facilité d'écoulement ascendant du biogaz. Les limitations principales de la présente étude sont associées au nombre de matériaux de MOL testés et à l'incapacité de SEEP/W de considérer l'évapotranspiration. Toutefois, compte tenu des hypothèses raisonnables dans les simulations et en utilisant les données de la littérature, on a essayé de réduire ces limitations. En utilisant les résultats des expériences et des simulations numériques, des étapes et des considérations de conception pour la sélection du matériau de MOL et de la pente d'interface ont été proposées. En effet,le comportement hydraulique non saturé des matériaux serait intégré dans les nécessités de conception pour un BOPM efficace, de sorte que la capacité maximale possible d'oxydation du méthane du matériau de la MOL soit exploitée.

Simulação numérica do escoamento monofásico em uma bomba centrífuga radial

Centrifugal pumps are vastly used in many industrial applications. Knowledge of how these components behave in several circumstances is crucial for the development of more efficient and, therefore, less expensive pumping installations. The combination of multiple impellers, vaned diffusers and a volute might introduce several complex flow characteristics that largely deviate from regular inviscid pump flow theory. Computational Fluid Dynamics can be very helpful to extract information about which physical phenomena are involved in such flows. In this sense, this work performs a numerical study of the flow in a two-stage centrifugal pump (Imbil ITAP 65-330/2) with a vaned diffuser and a volute. The flow in the pump is modeled using the software Ansys CFX, by means of a multi-block, transient rotor-stator technique, with structured grids for all pump parts. The simulations were performed using water and a mixture of water and glycerin as work fluids. Several viscosities were considered, in a range between 87 and 720 cP. Comparisons between experimental data obtained by Amaral (2007) and numerical head curves showed a good agreement, with an average deviation of 6.8% for water. The behavior of velocity, pressure and turbulence kinetic energy fields was evaluated for several operational conditions. In general, the results obtained by this work achieved the proposed goals and are a significant contribution to the understanding of the flow studied.

Studies of turbulent flows in continuous casting of steel with and without magnetic field

This thesis develops and tests various transient and steady-state computational models such as direct numerical simulation (DNS), large eddy simulation (LES), filtered unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) and steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) with and without magnetic field to investigate turbulent flows in canonical as well as in the nozzle and mold geometries of the continuous casting process. The direct numerical simulations are first performed in channel, square and 2:1 aspect rectangular ducts to investigate the effect of magnetic field on turbulent flows. The rectangular duct is a more practical geometry for continuous casting nozzle and mold and has the option of applying magnetic field either perpendicular to broader side or shorter side. This work forms the part of a graphic processing unit (GPU) based CFD code (CU-FLOW) development for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulent flows. The DNS results revealed interesting effects of the magnetic field and its orientation on primary, secondary flows (instantaneous and mean), Reynolds stresses, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budgets, momentum budgets and frictional losses, besides providing DNS database for two-wall bounded square and rectangular duct MHD turbulent flows. Further, the low- and high-Reynolds number RANS models (k-ε and Reynolds stress models) are developed and tested with DNS databases for channel and square duct flows with and without magnetic field. The MHD sink terms in k- and ε-equations are implemented as proposed by Kenjereš and Hanjalić using a user defined function (UDF) in FLUENT. This work revealed varying accuracies of different RANS models at different levels. This work is useful for industry to understand the accuracies of these models, including continuous casting. After realizing the accuracy and computational cost of RANS models, the steady-state k-ε model is then combined with the particle image velocimetry (PIV) and impeller probe velocity measurements in a 1/3rd scale water model to study the flow quality coming out of the well- and mountain-bottom nozzles and the effect of stopper-rod misalignment on fluid flow. The mountain-bottom nozzle was found more prone to the longtime asymmetries and higher surface velocities. The left misalignment of stopper gave higher surface velocity on the right leading to significantly large number of vortices forming behind the nozzle on the left. Later, the transient and steady-state models such as LES, filtered URANS and steady RANS models are combined with ultrasonic Doppler velocimetry (UDV) measurements in a GaInSn model of typical continuous casting process. LES-CU-LOW is the fastest and the most accurate model owing to much finer mesh and a smaller timestep. This work provided a good understanding on the performance of these models. The behavior of instantaneous flows, Reynolds stresses and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis quantified the nozzle bottom swirl and its importance on the turbulent flow in the mold. Afterwards, the aforementioned work in GaInSn model is extended with electromagnetic braking (EMBr) to help optimize a ruler-type brake and its location for the continuous casting process. The magnetic field suppressed turbulence and promoted vortical structures with their axis aligned with the magnetic field suggesting tendency towards 2-d turbulence. The stronger magnetic field at the nozzle well and around the jet region created large scale and lower frequency flow behavior by suppressing nozzle bottom swirl and its front-back alternation. Based on this work, it is advised to avoid stronger magnetic field around jet and nozzle bottom to get more stable and less defect prone flow.

QuasiGeostrophic Diagnosis of Mixed-Layer Dynamics Embedded in a Mesoscale Turbulent Field

A quasigeostrophic model is developed to diagnose the three-dimensional circulation, including the vertical velocity, in the upper ocean from high-resolution observations of sea surface height and buoyancy. The formulation for the adiabatic component departs from the classical surface quasigeostrophic framework considered before since it takes into account the stratification within the surface mixed layer that is usually much weaker than that in the ocean interior. To achieve this, the model approximates the ocean with two constant stratification layers: a finite-thickness surface layer (or the mixed layer) and an infinitely deep interior layer. It is shown that the leading-order adiabatic circulation is entirely determined if both the surface streamfunction and buoyancy anomalies are considered. The surface layer further includes a diabatic dynamical contribution. Parameterization of diabatic vertical velocities is based on their restoring impacts of the thermal wind balance that is perturbed by turbulent vertical mixing of momentum and buoyancy. The model skill in reproducing the three-dimensional circulation in the upper ocean from surface data is checked against the output of a high-resolution primitive equation numerical simulation

Three-dimensional kinetic simulations of active suspensions: effect of chemotaxis and steric interaction

In this work, the effects of chemotaxis and steric interactions in active suspensions are analyzed by extending the kinetic model proposed by Saintillan and Shelley [1, 2]. In this model, a conservation equation for the active particle configuration is coupled to the Stokes equation for the flow arising from the force dipole exerted by the particles on the fluid. The fluid flow equations are solved spectrally and the conservation equation is solved by second-order finite differencing in space and second-order Adams-Bashforth time marching. First, the dynamics in suspensions of oxytactic run-and-tumble bacteria confined in thin liquid films surrounded by air is investigated. These bacteria modify their tumbling behavior by making temporal comparisons of the oxygen concentration, and, on average, swim towards high concentrations of oxygen. The kinetic model proposed by Saintillan and Shelley [1, 2] is modified to include run-and-tumble effects and oxygentaxis. The spatio-temporal dynamics of the oxygen and bacterial concentration are analyzed. For small film thicknesses, there is a weak migration of bacteria to the boundaries, and the oxygen concentration is high inside the film as a result of diffusion; both bacterial and oxygen concentrations quickly reach steady states. Above a critical film thickness (approximately 200 micron), a transition to chaotic dynamics is observed and is characterized by turbulent-like 3D motion, the formation of bacterial plumes, enhanced oxygen mixing and transport into the film, and hydrodynamic velocities of magnitudes up to 7 times the single bacterial swimming speed. The simulations demonstrate that the combined effects of hydrodynamic interactions and oxygentaxis create collective three-dimensional instabilities which enhances oxygen availability for the bacteria. Our simulation results are consistent with the experimental findings of Sokolov et al. [3], who also observed a similar transition with increasing film thickness. Next, the dynamics in concentrated suspensions of active self-propelled particles in a 3D periodic domain are analyzed. We modify the kinetic model of Saintillan and Shelley [1, 2] by including an additional nematic alignment torque proportional to the local concentration in the equation for the rotational velocity of the particles, causing them to align locally with their neighbors (Doi and Edwards [4]). Large-scale three- dimensional simulations show that, in the presence of such a torque both pusher and puller suspensions are unstable to random fluctuations and are characterized by highly nematic structures. Detailed measures are defined to quantify the degree and direction of alignment, and the effects of steric interactions on pattern formation will be presented. Our analysis shows that steric interactions have a destabilizing effect in active suspensions.

The Becker-Döring equations with monomer input, competition and inhibition

We investigate the Becker-Döring model of nucleation with three generalisations; an input of monomer, an input of inhibitor and finally, we allow the monomers to form two morphologies of cluster. We assume size-independent aggregation and fragmentation rates. Initially we consider the problem of constant monomer input and determine the steady-state solution approached in the large-time limit, and the manner in which it is approached. Secondly, in addition to a constant input of monomer we allow a constant input of inhibitor, which prevents clusters growing any larger and this removes them from the kinetics of the process; the inhibitor is consumed in the action of poisoning a cluster. We determine a critical ratio of poison to monomer input below which the cluster concentrations tend to a non-zero steady-state solution and the poison concentration tends to a finite value. Above the critical input ratio, the concentrations of all cluster sizes tend to zero and the poison concentration grows without limit. In both cases the solution in the large-time limit is determined. Finally we consider a model where monomers form two morphologies, but the inhibitor only acts on one morphology. Four cases are identified, depending on the relative poison to monomer input rates and the relative thermodynamic stability. In each case we determine the final cluster distribution and poison concentration. We find that poisoning the less stable cluster type can have a significant impact on the structure of the more stable cluster distribution; a counter-intuitive result. All results are shown to agree with numerical simulation.

Finite difference calculations of permeability in large domains in a wide porosity range.

Determining effective hydraulic, thermal, mechanical and electrical properties of porous materials by means of classical physical experiments is often time-consuming and expensive. Thus, accurate numerical calculations of material properties are of increasing interest in geophysical, manufacturing, bio-mechanical and environmental applications, among other fields. Characteristic material properties (e.g. intrinsic permeability, thermal conductivity and elastic moduli) depend on morphological details on the porescale such as shape and size of pores and pore throats or cracks. To obtain reliable predictions of these properties it is necessary to perform numerical analyses of sufficiently large unit cells. Such representative volume elements require optimized numerical simulation techniques. Current state-of-the-art simulation tools to calculate effective permeabilities of porous materials are based on various methods, e.g. lattice Boltzmann, finite volumes or explicit jump Stokes methods. All approaches still have limitations in the maximum size of the simulation domain. In response to these deficits of the well-established methods we propose an efficient and reliable numerical method which allows to calculate intrinsic permeabilities directly from voxel-based data obtained from 3D imaging techniques like X-ray microtomography. We present a modelling framework based on a parallel finite differences solver, allowing the calculation of large domains with relative low computing requirements (i.e. desktop computers). The presented method is validated in a diverse selection of materials, obtaining accurate results for a large range of porosities, wider than the ranges previously reported. Ongoing work includes the estimation of other effective properties of porous media.

A novel methodology for simulating contact-line behavior in capillary-driven flows

Despite the wide swath of applications where multiphase fluid contact lines exist, there is still no consensus on an accurate and general simulation methodology. Most prior numerical work has imposed one of the many dynamic contact-angle theories at solid walls. Such approaches are inherently limited by the theory accuracy. In fact, when inertial effects are important, the contact angle may be history dependent and, thus, any single mathematical function is inappropriate. Given these limitations, the present work has two primary goals: 1) create a numerical framework that allows the contact angle to evolve naturally with appropriate contact-line physics and 2) develop equations and numerical methods such that contact-line simulations may be performed on coarse computational meshes.

Fluid flows affected by contact lines are dominated by capillary stresses and require accurate curvature calculations. The level set method was chosen to track the fluid interfaces because it is easy to calculate interface curvature accurately. Unfortunately, the level set reinitialization suffers from an ill-posed mathematical problem at contact lines: a ``blind spot'' exists. Standard techniques to handle this deficiency are shown to introduce parasitic velocity currents that artificially deform freely floating (non-prescribed) contact angles. As an alternative, a new relaxation equation reinitialization is proposed to remove these spurious velocity currents and its concept is further explored with level-set extension velocities.

To capture contact-line physics, two classical boundary conditions, the Navier-slip velocity boundary condition and a fixed contact angle, are implemented in direct numerical simulations (DNS). DNS are found to converge only if the slip length is well resolved by the computational mesh. Unfortunately, since the slip length is often very small compared to fluid structures, these simulations are not computationally feasible for large systems. To address the second goal, a new methodology is proposed which relies on the volumetric-filtered Navier-Stokes equations. Two unclosed terms, an average curvature and a viscous shear VS, are proposed to represent the missing microscale physics on a coarse mesh.

All of these components are then combined into a single framework and tested for a water droplet impacting a partially-wetting substrate. Very good agreement is found for the evolution of the contact diameter in time between the experimental measurements and the numerical simulation. Such comparison would not be possible with prior methods, since the Reynolds number Re and capillary number Ca are large. Furthermore, the experimentally approximated slip length ratio is well outside of the range currently achievable by DNS. This framework is a promising first step towards simulating complex physics in capillary-dominated flows at a reasonable computational expense.

Nonlinear development of matrix-converter instabilities

Matrix converters convert a three-phase alternating-current power supply to a power supply of a different peak voltage and frequency, and are an emerging technology in a wide variety of applications. However, they are susceptible to an instability, whose behaviour is examined herein. The desired “steady-state” mode of operation of the matrix converter becomes unstable in a Hopf bifurcation as the output/input voltage transfer ratio, q, is increased through some threshold value, qc. Through weakly nonlinear analysis and direct numerical simulation of an averaged model, we show that this bifurcation is subcritical for typical parameter values, leading to hysteresis in the transition to the oscillatory state: there may thus be undesirable large-amplitude oscillations in the output voltages even when q is below the linear stability threshold value qc.

Credit risk & forward price models

Doutoramento em Gestão

Estudo comparativo de pás para aerogeradores de grande porte fabricadas em materiais compósitos reforçadas com fibra de carbono ou fibra de vidro

The research and development of wind turbine blades are essential to keep pace with worldwide growth in the renewable energy sector. Although currently blades are typically produced using glass fiber reinforced composite materials, the tendency for larger size blades, particularly for offshore applications, has increased the interest on carbon fiber reinforced composites because of the potential for increased stiffness and weight reduction. In this study a model of blade designed for large generators (5 MW) was studied on a small scale. A numerical simulation was performed to determine the aerodynamic loading using a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. Two blades were then designed and manufactured using epoxy matrix composites: one reinforced with glass fibers and the other with carbon fibers. For the structural calculations, maximum stress failure criterion was adopted. The blades were manufactured by Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM), typical for this type of component. A weight comparison of the two blades was performed and the weight of the carbon fiber blade was approximately 45% of the weight of the fiberglass reinforced blade. Static bending tests were carried out on the blades for various percentages of the design load and deflections measurements were compared with the values obtained from finite element simulations. A good agreement was observed between the measured and calculated deflections. In summary, the results of this study confirm that the low density combined with high mechanical properties of carbon fibers are particularly attractive for the production of large size wind turbine blades

Predição não-linear de curvas de produção de petróleo via redes neurais recursivas

One of the main activities in the petroleum engineering is to estimate the oil production in the existing oil reserves. The calculation of these reserves is crucial to determine the economical feasibility of your explotation. Currently, the petroleum industry is facing problems to analyze production due to the exponentially increasing amount of data provided by the production facilities. Conventional reservoir modeling techniques like numerical reservoir simulation and visualization were well developed and are available. This work proposes intelligent methods, like artificial neural networks, to predict the oil production and compare the results with the ones obtained by the numerical simulation, method quite a lot used in the practice to realization of the oil production prediction behavior. The artificial neural networks will be used due your learning, adaptation and interpolation capabilities

Estudo de sistemas multicomponentes no processo de injeção cíclica de vapor

In Brazilian Northeast there are reservoirs with heavy oil, which use steam flooding as a recovery method. This process allows to reduce oil viscosity, increasing its mobility and consequently its oil recovery. Steam injection is a thermal method and can occurs in continues or cyclic form. Cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) can be repeated several times. Each cycle consisting of three stages: steam injection, soaking time and production phase. CSS becomes less efficient with an increase of number of cycles. Thus, this work aims to study the influence of compositional models in cyclic steam injection and the effects of some parameters, such like: flow injection, steam quality and temperature of steam injected, analyzing the influence of pseudocomponents numbers on oil rate, cumulative oil, oil recovery and simulation time. In the situations analyzed was compared the model of fluid of three phases and three components known as Blackoil . Simulations were done using commercial software (CMG), it was analyzed a homogeneous reservoir with characteristics similar to those found in Brazilian Northeast. It was observed that an increase of components number, increase the time spent in simulation. As for analyzed parameters, it appears that the steam rate, and steam quality has influence on cumulative oil and oil recovery. The number of components did not a lot influenced on oil recovery, however it has influenced on gas production

Comportamento mecânico de um agregado reciclado a partir de resíduos de construção e demolição submetido a carregamentos cíclicos

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geotecnia, 2016.

Estudo dos parâmetros operacionais do processo de combustão in situ em reservatório de petróleo pesado

The occurrence of heavy oil reservoirs have increased substantially and, due to the high viscosity characteristic of this type of oil, conventional recovery methods can not be applied. Thermal methods have been studied for the recovery of this type of oil, with a main objective to reduce its viscosity, by increasing the reservoir temperature, favoring the mobility of the oil and allowing an increasing in the productivity rate of the fields. In situ combustion (ISC) is a thermal recovery method in which heat is produced inside the reservoir by the combustion of part of the oil with injected oxygen, contrasting with the injection of fluid that is heated in the surface for subsequent injection, which leads to loss heat during the trajectory to the reservoir. The ISC is a favorable method for recovery of heavy oil, but it is still difficult to be field implemented. This work had as an objective the parametric analysis of ISC process applied to a semi-synthetic reservoir with characteristics of the Brazilian Northeast reservoirs using vertical production and vertical injection wells, as the air flow injection and the wells completions. For the analysis, was used a commercial program for simulation of oil reservoirs using thermal processes, called Steam, Thermal and Advanced Processes Reservoir Simulator (STARS) from Computer Modelling Group (CMG). From the results it was possible to analyze the efficiency of the ISC process in heavy oil reservoirs by increasing the reservoir temperature, providing a large decrease in oil viscosity, increasing its mobility inside the reservoir, as well as the improvement in the quality of this oil and therefore increasing significantly its recovered fraction. Among the analyzed parameters, the flow rate of air injection was the one which had greater influence in ISC, obtaining higher recovery factor the higher is the flow rate of injection, due to the greater amount of oxygen while ensuring the maintenance of the combustion front