• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2013.01a
• /
• pp.403-411
• /
• 2013

Horizontal construction projects such as oil and gas pipeline projects typically involve repetitive-work activities with the same crew and equipment from one end of the project to the other. Repetitive scheduling also known as linear scheduling is known to have superior schedule management capabilities specifically for such horizontal construction projects. This study discusses on expanding the capabilities of repetitive scheduling to account for the variance in production rates and visual representation by developing an automated alignment based linear scheduling program for applying temporal and spatial changes in production rates. The study outlines a framework to apply changes in productions rates when and where they will occur along the horizontal alignment of the project and illustrates the complexity of construction through the time-location chart through a new linear scheduling model, Linear Scheduling Model with Varying Production Rates (LSM_VPR). The program uses empirically derived production rate equations with appropriate variables as an input at the appropriate time and location based on actual 750 mile natural gas liquids pipeline project starting in Wyoming and terminating in the center of Kansas. The study showed that the changes in production rates due to time and location resulted in a close approximation of the actual progress of work as compared to the planned progress and can be modeled for use in predicting future linear construction projects. LSM_VPR allows the scheduler to develop schedule durations based on minimal project information. The model also allows the scheduler to analyze the impact of various routes or start dates for construction and the corresponding impact on the schedule. In addition, the graphical format lets the construction team to visualize the obstacles in the project when and where they occur due to a new feature called the Activity Performance Index (API). This index is used to shade the linear scheduling chart by time and location with the variation in color indicating the variance in predicted production rate from the desired production rate.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.405-413
• /
• 2024

Several techniques for determining the reverse peak current from a cyclic voltammogram (CV) for a reversible system are described in the literature: CV itself as a baseline with long switching potential (E_λ) that serves as a baseline for other CVs, Nicholson equation that uses CV parameters to calculation reverse peak current and linear extrapolation of the current obtained at the switching potential. All methods either present experimental difficulties or large errors in the peak current determination. The paper demonstrates, both theoretically and experimentally, that trapezoidal cyclic voltammetry (TCV) can be used as a baseline to determine anodic peak current (i_ap) with high accuracy and with a switching potential shorter than that used by CV, as long as E_λ is at least 130 mV away from the cathodic peak. Beyond this value of switching potential the electroactive specie is completely depleted from the electrode surface. Using TCV with E_λ = 0.34 V and a switching time (t_λ) of 240 s as a baseline, the determination of the reverse peak current presents a deviation from the expected value of less than 1% for most of the CVs studied (except cases when E_λ is close to the direct potential peak). This result presents better accuracy than the Nicholson equation and the linear extrapolation of the current measured at the switching potential, in addition to presenting a smaller error than that obtained in the acquisition of the experimental current. Furthermore, determining the reverse peak current by extrapolating the linear fit of i_ap vs. ${\sqrt[1/]{t_{\lambda}}}$ to infinite time gave a reasonable approximation to the expected value. Experiments with aqueous potassium hexacyanoferrate (II) and ferrocene in acetonitrile confirmed the theoretical predictions.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.29 no.1A
• /
• pp.45-52
• /
• 2009

In conventional structural design, deterministic optimization which satisfies codified constraints is performed to ensure safety and maximize economical efficiency. However, uncertainties are inevitable due to the stochastic nature of structural materials and applied loads. Thus, deterministic optimization without considering these uncertainties could lead to unreliable design. Recently, there has been much research in reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) taking into consideration both the reliability and optimization. RBDO involves the evaluation of probabilistic constraint that can be estimated using the RIA (Reliability Index Approach) and the PMA(Performance Measure Approach). It is generally known that PMA is more stable and efficient than RIA. Despite the significant advancement in PMA, RBDO still requires large computation time for large-scale applications. In this paper, A new reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) method is presented to achieve the more stable and efficient algorithm. The idea of the new method is to integrate a response surface method (RSM) with PMA. For the approximation of a limit state equation, the moving least squares (MLS) method is used. Through a mathematical example and ten-bar truss problem, the proposed method shows better convergence and efficiency than other approaches.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.747-752
• /
• 2006

In this paper, the adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller with two systems is designed. The existing sliding mode controller used to $approximation{\^{u}}(t)$ with discrete sgn function and sat function for keeping the state trajectories on the sliding surface[1]. The proposed controller decrease the disturbance for uncertain control gain and This paper is concerned with an Adaptive Fuzzy Sliding Mode Control(AFSMC) that the fuzzy systems ate used to approximate the unknown functions of nonlinear system. In the adaptive fuzzy system, we adopt the adaptive law to approximate the dynamics of the nonlinear plant and to adjust the parameters of AFSMC. The stability of the suggested control system is proved via Lyapunov stability theorem, and convergence and robustness properties ate demonstrated. Futhermore, fuzzy tuning improve tracking abilities by changing some sliding conditions. In the traditional sliding mode control, ${\eta}$ is a positive constant. The increase of ${\eta}$ has led to a significant decrease in the rise time. However, this has resulted in higher overshoot. Therefore the proposed ${\eta}$ tuning AFSMC improve the performances, so that the controller can track the trajectories faster and more exactly than ordinary controller. The simulation results demonstrate that the performance is improved and the system also exhibits stability.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.127-136
• /
• 1978

We have applied the temperature dependent Thomas-Fermi theory to evaluate the equations of state, chemical potentials, entropies, % ionizations, total energies and kinetic energies of an atom, and seveal thermodynamic quantifies of one of metallic substance, Na, for a density range of 0.1$\rho$$_{0}$ ~ 10$\rho$$_{0}$, where $\rho$$_{0}$ is the normal density of Na at its melting point, and for a temperature range of 60.88Ryd. ~0.0216 Ryd., where the system is expected to be in a gaseous or liquid state. The main interest of present work lies in physical quantities at high temperatures and high densities, however, we have included those quantities of Na at sufficiently low temperatures and low densities to show that the approximation is not so crude as one might expect. Particularly, at high temperatures, the calculated equations of state, kinetic energies of an atom, chemical potentials and entropies are compared with those, of an ideal Fermi gas. The results show that, at high temperatures, the agreement seems good for chemical Potentials. However, the differences in, entropy, kinetic energy of an atom, and equation of state are not negligible even at such high temperature as $textsc{k}$T=60.88Ryd.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.386-401
• /
• 2011

Mathematical models for various steps in coal gasification reactions were developed and applied to investigate the effects of operation parameters on dynamic behavior of gasification process. Chemical reactions considered in these models were pyrolysis, volatile combustion, water shift reaction, steam-methane reformation, and char gasification. Kinetics of heterogeneous reactions between char and gaseous agents was based on Random pore model. Momentum balance and Stokes' law were used to estimate the residence time of solid particles (char) in an up-flow reactor. The effects of operation parameters on syngas composition, reaction temperature, carbon conversion were verified. Parameters considered here for this purpose were $O_2$-to-coal mass ratio, pressure of reactor, composition of coal, diameter of char particle. On the basis of these parametric studies some quantitative parameter-response relationships were established from both dynamic and steady-state point of view. Without depending on steady state approximation, the present model can describe both transient and long-time limit behavior of the gasification system and accordingly serve as a proto-type dynamic simulator of coal gasification process. Incorporation of heat transfer through heterogenous boundaries, slag formation and steam generation is under progress and additional refinement of mathematical models to reflect the actual design of commercial gasifiers will be made in the near futureK.

• Journal of Power Electronics
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.476-489
• /
• 2017

Under partial shading conditions (PSCs), multiple maximums may be exhibited on the P-U curve of string inverter photovoltaic (PV) systems. Under such conditions, heuristic methods are invalid for extracting a global maximum power point (GMPP); intelligent algorithms are time-consuming; and model-based methods are complex and costly. To overcome these shortcomings, a novel hybrid MPPT (MPF-IP&O) based on a model-based peak forecasting (MPF) method and an improved perturbation and observation (IP&O) method is proposed. The MPF considers the influence of temperature and does not require solar radiation measurements. In addition, it can forecast all of the peak values of the PV string without complex computation under PSCs, and it can determine the candidate GMPP after a comparison. Hence, the MPF narrows the searching range tremendously and accelerates the convergence to the GMPP. Additionally, the IP&O with a successive approximation strategy searches for the real GMPP in the neighborhood of the candidate one, which can significantly enhance the tracking efficiency. Finally, simulation and experiment results show that the proposed method has a higher tracking speed and accuracy than the perturbation and observation (P&O) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) methods under PSCs.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.479-490
• /
• 2009

A number of temporal abstraction approaches have been suggested so far to handle the high computational complexity of Markov decision problems (MDPs). Although the structure of temporal abstraction can significantly affect the efficiency of solving the MDP, to our knowledge none of current temporal abstraction approaches explicitly consider the relationship between topology and efficiency. In this paper, we first show that a topological measurement from complex network literature, mean geodesic distance, can reflect the efficiency of solving MDP. Based on this, we build an incremental method to systematically build temporal abstractions using a network model that guarantees a small mean geodesic distance. We test our algorithm on a realistic 3D game environment, and experimental results show that our model has subpolynomial growth of mean geodesic distance according to problem size, which enables efficient solving of resulting MDP.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.518-528
• /
• 1992

To determine the optimal conformation of sulfonylureas, the correlation between conformation and hypoglycemic activity of the two sulfonylureas of tolbutamide and chlorpropamide as hypoglycemic agent was studied using an empirical potential function (ECEPP/2) and the hydration shell model in the unhydrated and hydrated states. The conformational energy was minimized from several starting conformations with possible torsion angles in each molecule. The conformational entropy change of each conformation was computed using a harmonic approximation. To understand the hydration effect on the conformation of the molecules in aqueous solution, the contribution of water-accessible volume of each group or atom in the lowest-free-energy conformation was calculated and compared each other. From comparison of the computed lowest-free-energy conformations of two sulfonylureas, it could be suggested that the hydration of sulfonylurea moiety is related to increase the hypoglycemic activity. From the calculation results, it was known that the conformational entropy is the major contribution to stabilize the low-free-energy conformations of two sulfonylureas in unhydrated state. Whereas, in hydrated state, the hydration free energy largely contributes to the total free energies of low-free-energy conformations of tolbutamide and conformational entropy contributes to stabilize the low-free-energy conformations of chlorpropamide. The torsion angles from phenyl ring to urea moiety of the low-free-energy conformations of the two sulfonylureas were shown the nearly regular trend. On the basis of these results, the conformation exhibiting the optimal hypoglycemic activity of sulfonylureas and the binding direction to pancreatic receptor site A could be predicted. Also, according to the side chain lengthening of urea moiety, tolbutamide showed various conformational change. Therefore, steric effect may be important factor in the interaction between sulfonylureas and the putative pancreatic receptor.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.615-639
• /
• 2016

Although the underlying mechanism of rain-wind induced vibrations (RWIVs) of stay cables has not been fully understood, some countermeasures have been successfully applied to mitigating this kind of vibration. Among these, installing dampers near the bridge deck was widely adopted, and several field observations have shown its effectiveness. In this study, the effectiveness of dampers to RWIVs of stay cables is numerically investigated comprehensively by means of finite difference method (FDM). Based on the free vibration analysis of a taut string, it is found that the 3-points triangle scheme, which can be easily implemented in FDM, can offer an excellent approximation of the concentrated damping coefficient (expressed as a Dirac delta function) at the location where the damper is installed. Then, free vibration analysis of a 3-D continuous stay cable attached with two dampers is carried out to study the relationship of modal damping ratio and damping coefficient of the dampers. The effects of orientation of the dampers and cable sag on the modal damping ratio are investigated in detail. Finally, the RWIV response of a 3-D continuous stay cable attached with two dampers is examined. The results indicate that 0.5% of damping ratio is sufficient to reduce the RWIV vibration of the Cable A20 on the No.2 Nanjing Bridge over Yangtze River.