Extreme Responses of An Integrated System with A Semi-Submersible Wind Turbine and Four Torus-Shaped Wave Energy Converters in Different Survival Modes

Offshore wind power is a kind of important clean renewable energy and has attracted increasing attention due to the rapid consumption of non-renewable energy.To reduce the high cost of energy,a possible try is to utilize the combination of wind and wave energy considering their natural correlation.A combined concept consisting of a semi-submersible wind turbine and four torus-shaped wave energy converters was proposed and numerically studied under normal operating conditions.However,the dynamic behavior of the integrated system under extreme sea conditions has not been studied yet.In the present work,extreme responses of the integrated system under two different survival modes are evaluated.Fully coupled time-domain simulations with consideration of interactions between the semi-submersible wind turbine and the torus-shaped wave energy converters are performed to investigate dynamic responses of the integrated system,including mooring tensions,tower bending moments,end stop forces,and contact forces at the Column-Torus interface.It is found that the addition of four tori will reduce the mean motions of the yaw,pitch and surge.When the tori are locked at the still water line,the whole integrated system is more suitable for the survival modes.

Epidemiology of perforated peptic ulcer:Age-and gender-adjusted analysis of incidence and mortality

AIM:To investigate the epidemiological trends in inci-dence and mortality of perforated peptic ulcer(PPU)in a well-defined Norwegian population. METHODS:A retrospective,population-based,single-center,consecutive cohort study of all patients diag-nosed with benign perforated peptic ulcer.Included were both gastric and duodenal ulcer patients admitted to Stavanger University Hospital between January 2001 and December 2010.Ulcers with a malignant neoplasia diagnosis,verified by histology after biopsy or resection,were excluded.Patients were identified from the hospitals administrative electronic database using pertinent ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes(K25.1,K25.2,K25.5, K25.6,K26.1,K26.2,K26.5,K26.6).Additional searches using appropriate codes for relevant laparoscopic and open surgical procedures(e.g.,JDA 60,JDA 61,JDH 70 and JDH 71)were performed to enable a complete identification of all patients.Patient demographics,presentation patterns and clinical data were retrieved from hospital records and surgical notes.Crude and adjusted incidence and mortality rates were estimated by using national population demographics data. RESULTS:In the study period,a total of 172 patients with PPU were identified.The adjusted incidence rate for the overall 10-year period was 6.5 per 100 000 per year(95%CI:5.6-7.6)and the adjusted mortality rate for the overall 10-year period was 1.1 per 100 000 per year(95%CI:0.7-1.6).A non-significant decline in ad-justed incidence rate from 9.7 to 5.6 occurred during the decade.The standardized mortality ratio for the whole study period was 5.7(95%CI:3.9-8.2),while the total 30-d mortality was 16.3%.No difference in in-cidence or mortality was found between genders.However,for patients≥60 years,the incidence increased over 10-fold,and mortality more than 50-fold,compared to younger ages.The admission rates outside office hours were high with almost two out of three(63%) admissions seen at evening/night time shifts and/or during weekends.The observed seasonal variations in admissions were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION:The adjusted incidence rate,seasonal distribution and mortality rate was stable.PPU fre-quently presents outside regular work-hours.Increase in incidence and mortality occurs with older age.

Statistical analyses of Global U-Pb Database 2017

The method of obtaining zircon samples affects estimation of the global U-Pb age distribution.Researchers typically collect zircons via convenience sampling and cluster sampling.When using these techniques,weight adjustments proportional to the areas of the sampled regions improve upon unweighted estimates.Here,grid-area and modern sediment methods are used to weight the samples from a new database of 418,967 U-Pb ages.Preliminary tests involve two age models.Model-1 uses the most precise U-Pb ages as the best ages.Model-2 uses the^(206)Pb/^(238)U age as the best age if it is less than a1000 Ma cutoff,otherwise it uses the^(207)Pb/^(206)Pb age as the best age.A correlation analysis between the Model-1 and Model-2 ages indicates nearly identical distributions for both models.However,after applying acceptance criteria to include only the most precise analyses with minimal discordance,a histogram of the rejected samples shows excessive rejection of the Model-2 analyses around the1000 Ma cutoff point.Because of the excessive rejection rate for Model-2,we select Model-1 as the preferred model.After eliminating all rejected samples,the remaining analyses use only Model-1 ages for five rock-type subsets of the database:igneous,meta-igneous,sedimentary,meta-sedimentary,and modern sediments.Next,time-series plots,cross-correlation analyses,and spectral analyses determine the degree of alignment among the time-series and their periodicity.For all rock types,the U-Pb age distributions are similar for ages older than 500 Ma,but align poorly for ages younger than 500 Ma.The similarities(>500 Ma)and differences(<500 Ma)highlight how reductionism from a detailed database enhances understanding of time-dependent sequences,such as erosion,detrital transport mechanisms,lithification,and metamorphism.Time-series analyses and spectral analyses of the age distributions predominantly indicate a synchronous period-tripling sequence of^91-Myr,~273-Myr,and^819-Myr among the various rock types.

Event-triggered leader-following formation control for multi-agent systems under communication faults: application to a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles

The main contribution of this paper is the design of an event-triggered formation control for leader-following consensus in second-order multi-agent systems(MASs)under communication faults.All the agents must follow the trajectories of a virtual leader despite communication faults considered as smooth time-varying delays dependent on the distance between the agents.Linear matrix inequalities(LMIs)-based conditions are obtained to synthesize a controller gain that guarantees stability of the synchronization error.Based on the closed-loop system,an event-triggered mechanism is designed to reduce the control law update and information exchange in order to reduce energy consumption.The proposed approach is implemented in a real platform of a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)under communication faults.A comparison between a state-of-the-art technique and the proposed technique has been provided,demonstrating the performance improvement brought by the proposed approach.

Temperature cycling and its effect on mechanical behaviours of highporosity chalks

Temperature history can have a significant effect on the strength of water-saturated chalk.In this study,hydrostatic stress cycles are applied to understand the mechanical response of chalk samples exposed to temperature cycling between each stress cycle,compared to the samples tested at a constant temperature.The total accumulated strain during a stress cycle and the irreversible strain are reported.Chalk samples from Kansas (USA) and Mons (Belgium),with different degrees of induration (i.e.amount of contact cementation),were used.The samples were saturated with equilibrated water (polar) and nonpolar Isopar H oil to quantify water weakening.All samples tested during 10 stress cycles with varying temperature (i.e.temperature cycled in between each stress cycle) accumulated more strain than those tested at constant temperatures.All the stress cycles were performed at 30 ℃.The two chalk types behaved similarly when saturated with Isopar H oil,but differently when saturated with water.When saturated with water,the stronger Kansas chalk accumulated more total strain and more irreversible strain within each stress cycle than the weaker Mons chalk.

Impact of elliptical boreholes on in situ stress estimation from leak-off test data

We developed an inversion technique to determine in situ stresses for elliptical boreholes of arbitrary trajectory. In this approach, borehole geometry, drilling-induced fracture information, and other available leak-off test data were used to construct a mathematical model, which was in turn applied to finding the inverse of an overdetermined system of equations.The method has been demonstrated by a case study in the Appalachian Basin, USA. The calculated horizontal stresses are in reasonable agreement with the reported regional stress study of the area, although there are no field measurement data of the studied well for direct calibration. The results also indicate that 2% of axis difference in the elliptical borehole geometry can cause a 5% difference in minimum horizontal stress calculation and a 10% difference in maximum horizontal stress calculation.

Experimental Study of Oil Pipeline Leak Processes

This work provides a description of oil leak/spill processes from containment such as pipeline. Understanding of such processes is important in order to adequately estimate oil spills and to justify an appropriate emergency action for minimizing spills. Internal diameters of pipes used in the study are within 4 inches. Leaks are simulated from plastic pipeline oil containment fitted with valves. The leak response with time when upstream and downstream valves are operated is studied. Within the internal diameters of pipelines considered in the tests, two ranges of leak characteristics are evident;the “holding range” and the “flowing range” characteristics. The consequences of these characteristics in the oil industry operations have been discussed. The work suggests a spill estimation method based on this knowledge. Furthermore, in order to minimise spill in event of pipeline failure, it is observed that the optimum action on pipeline operational valves, is the immediate closure of upstream valve, followed by the downstream valve, nearly simultaneously. Future work will extend the test to larger diameter pipelines to attempt developing a mathematical approach for estimating limits of the “holding range” characteristics of pipelines given appropriate parameters and in-field test.

Influence of temperature cycling and pore fluid on tensile strength of chalk

Calcite has a highly anisotropic thermal expansion coefficient, and repeated heating and cooling cycles can potentially destabilize chalks by breaking cement bonds between neighboring particles. Based on tensile strength measurements, we investigated how temperature cycles induce weakening of chalk.Tensile strength tests were performed on chalk specimens sampled from Kansas(USA) and Mons(Belgium), each with differing amounts of contact cement. Samples of the two chalk types were tested in dry and water-saturated states, and then exposed to 0, 15, and 30 temperature cycles in order to find out under what circumstances thermally induced tensile strength reduction occurs. The testing results show that the dry samples were not influenced by temperature cycling in either of the chalk types. However, in the water-saturated state, tensile strength is increasingly reduced with progressive numbers of temperature cycles for both chalk samples, especially for the more cemented Kansas chalk. The Kansas chalk demonstrated higher initial tensile strength compared to the less cemented Mons chalk, but the strength of both chalks was reduced by the same relative proportion when undergoing thermal cycles in the water-saturated state.

Numerical optimisation of a classical stochastic system for targeted energy transfer

The paper studies stochastic dynamics of a two-degree-of-freedom system,where a primary linear system is connected to a nonlinear energy sink with cubic stiffness nonlinearity and viscous damping.While the primary mass is subjected to a zero-mean Gaussian white noise excitation,the main objective of this study is to maximise the efficiency of the targeted energy transfer in the system.A surrogate optimisation algorithm is proposed for this purpose and adopted for the stochastic framework.The optimisations are conducted separately for the nonlinear stiffness coefficient alone as well as for both the nonlinear stiffness and damping coefficients together.Three different optimisation cost functions,based on either energy of the system’s components or the dissipated energy,are considered.The results demonstrate some clear trends in values of the nonlinear energy sink coefficients and show the effect of different cost functions on the optimal values of the nonlinear system’s coefficients.

State of the Art and Emerging Trends in Operations and Maintenance of Offshore Oil and Gas Production Facilities:Some Experiences and Observations

Plant maintenance has been a discipline that has gradually evolved with the industrial revolution. For quite some time, it has been a ＂necessary evil＂ in production, manufacturing, and process settings. The changing business needs and industrial conditions have had various impacts on the maintenance process, particularly over the last few years. While some industries have inherent difficulties seeing what maintenance is all about, others have begun to add more flavor to the organizational maintenance practices. This article brings an overview of developments within the offshore oil and gas production sector.

ANALYSIS OF A COMPRESSIBLE GAS-LIQUID MODEL MOTIVATED BY OIL WELL CONTROL OPERATIONS

We are interested in a viscous two-phase gas-liquid mixture model relevant for modeling of well control operations within the petroleum industry. We focus on a simplified mixture model and provide an existence result within an appropriate class of weak solutions. We demonstrate that upper and lower limits can be obtained for the gas and liquid masses which ensure that transition to single-phase regions do not occur. This is used together with appropriate a prior estimates to obtain convergence to a weak solution for a sequence of approximate solutions corresponding to mollified initial data. Moreover, by imposing an additional regularity condition on the initial masses, a uniqueness result is obtained. The framework herein seems useful for further investigations of more realistic versions of the gas-liquid model that take into account different flow regimes.

An analytical model to predict the volume of sand during drilling and production

Over the past few decades, many optical fiber sensing techniques have been developed. Among these available sensing methods, optical fiber Bragg grating（FBG） is probably the most popular one. With its unique capabilities, FBG-based geotechnical sensors can be used as a sensor array for distributive（profile） measurements, deployed under water（submersible）, for localized high resolution and/or differential measurements. The authors have developed a series of FBG-based transducers that include inclination, linear displacement and gauge/differential pore pressure sensors. Techniques that involve the field deployment of FBG inclination, extension and pore-pressure sensor arrays for automated slope stability and ground subsidence monitoring have been developed. The paper provides a background of FBG and the design concepts behind the FBG-based field monitoring sensors. Cases of field monitoring using the FBG sensor arrays are presented, and their practical implications are discussed.

Analyzing the effect of steam quality and injection temperature on the performance of steam flooding

The heavy oil reservoirs are currently mainly targeted by thermal enhanced oil recovery technologies,particularly,steam flooding.Steam flooding is carried out by introducing heat into the reservoir to unlock the recovery of heavy oil by reducing oil viscosity.Several investigations were carried out to improve oil recovery by steam flooding.Most recently,high steam flooding is reported as an effective approach to improve recovery in high pressure heavy oil reservoirs.The oil recovery from steam flooding is sub-stantially affected by the steam quality and injection temperature.In this study,an attempt was made to look into the integration of parameters,i.e.steam quality and injection temperature upon steam flooding on oil recovery by using a simulation approach via ECLIPSE.The results obtained indicated that high temperature along with the moderate value of steam quality gives the best result regarding oil recovery for steam flooding in an economical way.

Impact of Passive Heave Compensator on Offshore Lifting

Splash zone crossing of the structures with large horizontal surface （e.g. manifolds） and the structures having large weight variation in water and air （e.g. suction anchors） is a critical marine operation. This is due to the large slamming forces and added mass of the structure, which results in high dynamic loads on the crane. The solution to this could be attaching a PHC （Passive Heave Compensator） between the crane hook and the payload. This paper analyzes the deployment of a subsea manifold with and without PHC unit in North Sea at a water depth of approximately 370 m. A detailed dynamic analysis is done for a seastate of 3 m significant wave height （Hs） over a range of zero up-crossing period （Tz） varying from 3s to 13 s. For better understanding of the result analysis has been done in two stages. The first stage covers the lowering of manifold through the splash zone while second stage covers the seabed landing of the manifold. Based on the results of the analyses it is concluded that PHC tends to reduce the dynamic peak load on the crane. Besides this, it also mitigates the risk of slack wire situations during splash zone crossing of the payload. Furthermore, reduction in both landing velocity and crane tip velocity is also achieved by using a well-designed PHC unit.

Continuity of Care during Care Transition: Nurses’ Experiences and Challenges

The aim of this study was to gain increased knowledge about nurses’ experiences of care transition of older patients from hospital to municipal health care, based on two research questions: How is nurses’ experience continuity during care transition of older patients from hospital to municipal health care? How would nurses describe an optimal care transition? Nurses have a pivotal role during care transitions of older patients. More knowledge about their experiences is necessary to develop favorable improvements for this important period in the older patient’s treatment and care. The study has a qualitative explorative design with follow-up focus group interviews. Nurses (N = 30) working in hospital (n = 16) and municipal (n = 14) health care were organized in five mixed focus groups during the period October-January 2014/2015. The focus groups met twice, answering the research questions following a previously circulated semi-structured interview guide. The interview analysis was inspired by content analysis. The analysis resulted in the themes “Administrative demands challenge terms for collaboration” and “Essentials for nursing determine optimal care transitions for older patients”. Administrative demands may prevent nurses’ professional dialogue and collaboration across health care levels. Older patients’ best interests should be ensured through a collaborative relationship between hospital and municipal nurses, to form continuous care across health care levels. Clinical practice should be aware of essentials for nursing, which could influence and facilitate a more individualized and continuous transition for older patients.

Effects of Low Concentration Methanol, PVP and PVCap on Structure-I Methane Hydrate Formation

Kinetic mechanisms describing how THIs （thermodynamic hydrate inhibitors） and KHIs （kinetic hydrate inhibitors） work on gas hydrate formation have drawn interests for decades. These mechanisms could be better revealed with more fundamental experimental studies. With experiments performed in an isochoric cell with continuous cooling and stirring, this paper presents observed effects of methanol, PVP （polyvinylpyrrolidone, Mw= 15,000） and PVCap （polyvinylcaprolactam, Mw = 6,000） on both nucleation and growth of structure-I methane hydrate at concentrations 100 to 3,000 ppm （i.e., 0.01 to 0.3 wt%）. The results suggest that methanol had no significant effect on nucleation, while it weakly promoted, spontaneous hydrate growth at an early stage. PVP and PVCap gave reduced average nucleation rate at and prior to hydrate onset, while increased the induction time and the degree of sub-cooling. PVP gave no observable effect on total gas intake and average hydrate growth rate. A decreased total gas intake was observed for all concentrations of PVCap.

WELL-POSEDNESS OF A COMPRESSIBLE GAS-LIQUID MODEL FOR DEEPWATER OIL WELL OPERATIONS

The main purpose of this paper is two-fold： （i） to generalize an existence result for a compressible gas-liquid model with a friction term recently published by Friis and Evje [SIAM J. Appl. Math., 71 （2011）, pp. 2014-2047]; （ii） to derive a uniqueness result for the same model. A main ingredient in the existence part is the observation that we can consider weaker assumptions on the initial liquid and gas mass, and still obtain an existence result. Compared to the above mentioned work, we rely on a more refined application of the estimates provided by the basic energy estimate. Concerning the uniqueness result, we borrow ideas from Fang and Zhang [Nonlinear Anal. TMA, 58 （2004）, pp. 719-731] and derive a stability result under appropriate constraints on parameters that determine rate of decay toward zero at the boundary for gas and liquid masses, and growth rate of masses associated with the friction term and viscous coefficient.

Patients’ Experiences of Trust in the Patient-Nurse Relationship——A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies

Aims and Objectives: To report a synthesis of the literature on the meaning of trust in the context of patients’ experiences of nursing. The review question was “How do patients describe the meaning of trust in the nursing relationship?” Background: Trust is essential in nursing as it has the potential to create opportunities for the human being to gain faith, hope and meaning in life as well as open up for new experiences. Trust is an interpersonal and essential element of all patient-nurse relationships and requires nurses to create a trusting relationship with the patients. Design: Systematic qualitative literature review. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted for the period January 2002 to December 2012, updated in January 2014. 20 papers were included. Results: Four categories emerged: Attitudes related to trust, indicating that trust is fundamental and existential;Experiences of trust, concerning how trust can be sensed;The patient-nurse relationship, revealing the qualities of the person who creates trust;and Where trust occurs, illuminating the contextual relevancies of trust. Conclusions: Patients’ experiences of trust in nursing are dependent on the nurses’ knowledge, level of commitment in the dialogue to creating and developing the relationship and contextual issues. Implications for nursing practice: Reflection on a trusting relationship with the patient is necessary for a deeper conceptual understanding of trust in nursing. Clinical nurse researchers nurse supervisors, managers and nurse educatorsshould discuss different areas of trust during nursing supervision and focus-group meetings as well as with nursing graduates to ensure that nurses develop knowledge of how to create a trusting patient-nurse relationship.