Application of control volume based finite element method for solving the black-oil fluid equations

This is the second paper of a series where we introduce a control volume based finite element method （CVFEM） to simulate multiphase flow in porous media. This is a fully conservative method able to deal with unstructured grids which can be used for representing any complexity of reservoir geometry and its geological objects in an accurate and efficient manner. In order to deal with the inherent heterogeneity of the reservoirs, all operations related to discretization are performed at the element level in a manner similar to classical finite element method （FEM）. Moreover, the proposed method can effectively reduce the so-called grid orientation effects. In the first paper of this series, we presented this method and its application for incompressible and immiscible two-phase flow simulation in homogeneous and heterogeneous porous media. In this paper, we evaluate the capability of the method in the solution of highly nonlinear and coupled partial differential equations by simulating hydrocarbon reservoirs using the black-oil model. Furthermore, the effect of grid orientation is investigated by simulating a benchmark waterflooding problem. The numerical results show that the formulation presented here is efficient and accurate for solving the bubble point and three-phase coning problems.

An integrated simulation system for operating solar sail spacecraft

An integrated simulation system for solar sail spacecraft with individually controllable elements(SSICE)is investigated in this paper,including the modelling of power management,thermal control,attitude control,umbra prediction,and orbit prediction subsystems.Considering the self-control and reactivity subsystems,an agent based method is applied to develop the subsystem models.Each subsystem is an individual agent component,which manages itself autonomously and reacts to the requirements from other agents.To reduce computing burden on a specified computer and improve the suitability and flexibility of the integrated simulation system,a distributed framework is employed in the system by deploying agent components on different computers.The data transmission among agents is based on the transmission control protocol/Internet protocol(TCP/IP).A practical example of sun pointing is used to test the operating effect of the integrated system and the working condition of subsystems.The simulation results verify that the integrated system has higher sun pointing accuracy,quicker dynamical response to variations of the lighting,attitude and temperature and fewer computing resources with effective and accurate subsystems.The integrated system proposed in this paper can be applied to solar sail design,operation,and mission planning.

The discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin method for one-dimensional compressible Euler equations in the Lagrangian coordinate

In this paper, a Petrov-Galerkin scheme named the Runge-Kutta control volume （RKCV） discontinuous finite ele- ment method is constructed to solve the one-dimensional compressible Euler equations in the Lagrangian coordinate. Its advantages include preservation of the local conservation and a high resolution. Compared with the Runge-Kutta discon- tinuous Galerkin （RKDG） method, the RKCV method is easier to implement. Moreover, the advantages of the RKCV and the Lagrangian methods are combined in the new method. Several numerical examples are given to illustrate the accuracy and the reliability of the algorithm.

Elliptical formation control based on relative orbit elements

A new set of relative orbit elements（ROEs）is used to derive a new elliptical formation flying model.In-plane and out-of-plane motions can be completely decoupled,which benefts elliptical formation design.The inverse transformation of the state transition matrix is derived to study the relative orbit control strategy.Impulsive feedback control laws are developed for both in-plane and out-of-plane relative motions.Control of in-plane and out-of-plane relative motions can be completely decoupled using the ROE-based feedback control law.A tangential impulsive control method is proposed to study the relationship of fuel consumption and maneuvering positions.An optimal analytical along-track impulsive control strategy is then derived.Different typical orbit maneuvers,including formation establishment,reconfguration,long-distance maneuvers,and formation keeping,are taken as examples to demonstrate the performance of the proposed control laws.The effects of relative measurement errors are also considered to validate the high accuracy of the proposed control method.

Investigation of Coulomb force effects on ethylene glycol based nanofluid laminar flow in a porous enclosure

Forced convection heat transfer of ethylene glycol based nanofluid with FeOinside a porous medium is studied using the electric field. The control volume based finite element method(CVFEM) is selected for numerical simulation. The impact of the radiation parameter(R), the supplied voltage(?φ), the volume fraction of nanofluid(?), the Darcy number(Da), and the Reynolds number(Re) on nanofluid treatment is demonstrated. Results prove that thermal radiation increases the temperature gradient near the positive electrode. Distortion of isotherms increases with the enhance of the Darcy number and the Coulomb force.

INVESTIGATION ON THE APPLICATION OF THE BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD TO THE SPILL GROOVED THRUST BEARING

An application of the boundary element method (BEM) is presented to calculate the behaviors of a spiral grooved thrust bearing (SGTB). The basic reason is that the SGTB has very complex boundary conditions that can hinder the effective or sufficient applications of the finite difference method (FDM) and the finite element method (FEM), despite some existing work based on the FDM and the FEM. In other to apply the BEM, the pressure control equation, i. e., Reynolds' equation, is first transformed into Laplace's and Poisson's form of the equations. Discretization of the SGTB with a set of boundary elements is thus explained in detail, which also includes the handling of boundary conditions. The Archimedean SGTB is chosen as an example of the application Of BEM, and the relationship between the behaviors and structure parameters of the bearing are found and discussed through this calculation. The obtained results lay a solid foundation for a further work of the design of the SGTB.

3D image reconstruction with a controllable overlapping number of elemental images in computational integral imaging

In this Letter, we propose a three-dimensional （3D） image reconstruction method with a controllable overlapping number of elemental images in computational integral imaging. The proposed method can control the overlap- ping number of pixels coming from the elemental images by using the subpixel distance based on ray optics between a 3D object and an image sensor. The use of a controllable overlapping number enables us to provide an improved 3D image visualization by controlling the inter-pixel interference within the reconstructed pixels. To find the optimal overlapping number, we simulate the pickup and reconstruction processes and utilize the numerical reconstruction results using a peak signal-to-noise ratio （PSNR） metric. To demonstrate the feasibility of our work in optical experiments, we carry out the preliminary experiments and present the results.

Source and Control of Nitrogen for X70 Pipeline Steel

The effects of some key factors on nitrogen absorption during the smelting process of X70 pipeline steel were studied,and the source of nitrogen pick-up was analyzed to find the bottleneck for nitrogen control.A series of measures were put forward to decrease the nitrogen pick-up.The results indicated that an exponential relationship existed between the nitrogen absorption index and the free oxygen in molten steel.Nitrogen absorption index could decrease below 0.3when free oxygen in molten steel was above 100×10^（-6） after tapping.For low sulfur killed steel,the nitrogen absorption ratio and sulfur content satisfied a linear relationship with a slope of-0.007.Low free-oxygen and sulfur were beneficial to the deep desulfurization during vacuum treatment.The contradiction of high desulfurization ratio and low nitrogen pick-up during LF process could be resolved by skimming oxidizing slag after tapping and making new high basicity top slag.After optimization,the average content of nitrogen in final product decreased from 46×10（-6）to 35×10（-6）.

Numerical investigation of Reynolds number and scaling effects in microchannels flows

Compared with conventional channels, experiments of microchannel often exhibit some controversial findings and sometimes even opposite trends, most notably the effects of the Reynolds number and the scaled channel height on the Poiseuille number. The experimental method has still been constrained by two key facts, firstly the current ability to machine microstructures and secondly the limitation of measurement of parameters related to the Poiseuille number. As a consequence, numerical method was adopted in this study in order to analyze a flow in two-dimensional rectangular microchannels using water as working fluid. Results are obtained by the solution of the steady laminar incompressible Navier-Stokes equations using control volume finite element method（CVFEM） without pressure correction. The computation was made for channel height ranging from 50 ？m to 4.58 ？m and Reynolds number varying from 0.4 to 1 600. The effect of Reynolds number and channel heights on flow characteristics was investigated. The results showed that the Poiseuille numbers agree fairly well with the experimental measurements proving that there is no scale effect at small channel height. This scaling effect has been confirmed by two additional simulations being carried out at channel heights of 2.5 ？m and 0.5 ？m, respectively and the range of Reynolds number was extended from 0.01 up to 1 600. This study confirm that the conventional analysis approach can be employed with confidence for predicting flow behavior in microchannels when coupled with carefully matched entrance and boundary conditions in the dimensional range considered here.

Effect of Ionic Concentration on Drug Release from Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel Carriers Analyzed via Triphasic Mechanism Model

In different parts of the gastrointestinal tract, the rate of drug release from polyelectrolyte hydrogel tablets is highly affected by variance of ionic concentration. This research aims at revealing clearly how the drug release from a hydrogel matrix is affected by ionic concentration of external solution through the finite element simulation and triphasic mechanism model. The coupled relationship of the motions including the polyelectrolyte hydrogel swelling, the water flow and the ion diffusion, is illustrated in the present work. In order to simulate the drug controlled release from a swollen polyelectrolyte hydrogel carrier, the mathematical model was built on the basis of the multiphasic theory of polyelectrolyte hydrogels. Finally, the reliability of the simulation method was verified qualitatively by experimental results. The results reveal that when the initial concentration of fixed anions of polymer network is higher than the concentration of free anions in the external solution, the drug release rate increases with increasing the ionic concentration of the external solution. The research is helpful for the optimal design of oral drug release in gastrointestinal tract.