The Importance of the Shape Parameter in a Bulk Parameterization Scheme to the Evolution of the Cloud Droplet Spectrum during Condensation

The shape parameter of the Gamma size distribution plays a key role in the evolution of the cloud droplet spectrum in the bulk parameterization schemes. However, due to the inaccurate specification of the shape parameter in the commonly used bulk double-moment schemes, the cloud droplet spectra cannot reasonably be described during the condensation process. Therefore, a newly-developed triple-parameter condensation scheme with the shape parameter diagnosed through the number concentration, cloud water content, and reflectivity factor of cloud droplets can be applied to improve the evolution of the cloud droplet spectrum. The simulation with the new parameterization scheme was compared to those with a high-resolution Lagrangian bin scheme, the double-moment schemes in a parcel model, and the observation in a 1.5D Eulerian model that consists of two cylinders. The new scheme with the shape parameter varying with time and space can accurately simulate the evolution of the cloud droplet spectrum. Furthermore, the volume-mean radius and cloud water content simulated with the new scheme match the Lagrangian analytical solutions well, and the errors are steady, within approximately 0.2%.

New cubic rational basis with tension shape parameters

By using the blossom approach, we construct four new cubic rational Bernsteinlike basis functions with two shape parameters, which form a normalized B-basis and include the cubic Bernstein basis and the cubic Said-Ball basis as special cases. Based on the new basis, we propose a class of C2 continuous cubic rational B-spline-like basis functions with two local shape parameters, which includes the cubic non-uniform B-spline basis as a special case.Their totally positive property is proved. In addition, we extend the cubic rational Bernsteinlike basis to a triangular domain which has three shape parameters and includes the cubic triangular Bernstein-B′ezier basis and the cubic triangular Said-Ball basis as special cases. The G1 continuous conditions are deduced for the joining of two patches. The shape parameters in the bases serve as tension parameters and play a foreseeable adjusting role on generating curves and patches.

Bézier curves with shape parameter

In this paper, Bézier basis with shape parameter is constructed by an integral approach. Based on this basis, we define the Bézier curves with shape parameter. The Bézier basis curves with shape parameter have most properties of Bernstein basis and the Bézier curves. Moreover the shape parameter can adjust the curves’ shape with the same control polygon. As the increase of the shape parameter, the Bézier curves with shape parameter approximate to the control polygon. In the last, the Bézier surface with shape parameter is also constructed and it has most properties of Bézier surface.

Circular object recognition based on shape parameters

To recognize circular objects rapidly in satellite remote sensing imagery, an approach using their geometry properties is presented. The original image is segmented to be a binary one by one dimension maximum entropy threshold algorithm and the binary image is labeled with an algorithm based on recursion technique. Then, shape parameters of all labeled regions are calculated and those regions with shape parameters satisfying certain conditions are recognized as circular objects. The algorithm is described in detail, and comparison experiments with the randomized Hough transformation （RHT） are also provided. The experimental results on synthetic images and real images show that the proposed method has the merits of fast recognition rate, high recognition efficiency and the ability of anti-noise and anti-jamming. In addition, the method performs well when some circular objects are little deformed and partly misshapen.

Convexity-preserving interpolation of trigonometric polynomial curves with a shape parameter

In computer aided geometric design(CAGD) ,it is often needed to produce a convexity-preserving interpolating curve according to the given planar data points. However,most existing pertinent methods cannot generate convexity-preserving in-terpolating transcendental curves;even constructing convexity-preserving interpolating polynomial curves,it is required to solve a system of equations or recur to a complicated iterative process. The method developed in this paper overcomes the above draw-backs. The basic idea is:first to construct a kind of trigonometric polynomial curves with a shape parameter,and interpolating trigonometric polynomial parametric curves with C2(or G1) continuity can be automatically generated without having to solve any system of equations or do any iterative computation. Then,the convexity of the constructed curves can be guaranteed by the appropriate value of the shape parameter. Performing the method is easy and fast,and the curvature distribution of the resulting interpolating curves is always well-proportioned. Several numerical examples are shown to substantiate that our algorithm is not only correct but also usable.

Subtle Influence of the Weibull Shape Parameter on Homer Optimization Space of a Wind Diesel Hybrid Gen Set for Use in Southern Brazil

Wind power is an increasingly important alternative for obtaining energy supplies, both in large interconnected power systems and in smaller hybrid systems and even in backup systems. The temporal and spatial variability of the winds represent an obstacle to be overcome so that wind energy can be increasingly used. The capacity factor of wind farms shows how this variability impacts the operation of the plants and its value is of the order of 30% to 35%. The variability of the wind speed is influenced if the point of interest is on land or on sea, the shape of the surface, the proximity of water bodies, among other factors. The availability of wind is best described by the Weibull probability distribution, which has as one of its defining parameters one which is termed as shape parameter. This parameter is much higher as higher is the variability of the wind speed. This paper studies the subtle influence of Weibull shape parameter on the optimal combination of components in a wind diesel hybrid system, by means of computer simulations with the well known software Homer. The results indicate a relatively small influence (as expected) in the studied system, which appears particularly when the cost of diesel is higher and the availability of wind is lower.

Generate mesh with shape parameters

In CAD/CAM, mesh rather than smooth surface is only needed sometimes. A mesh-generating method from permanence principle of Coons patch is developed. A new mesh point is defined through local small subpatch and all mesh points are computed by a linear system with special symmetric block tridiagonal coefficient matrix. By simplification, the determinant of coefficient matrix is determined by determinants of submatrices. Condition of existence of solution is given. Whether coefficient matrix is singular can be judged by a simple polynomial function with the eigenvalue of submatrix as variable. Numerical examples demonstrate the effects of shape parameters.

Dendritic tip selection during solidification of alloys:Insights from phase-field simulations

The effect of undercooling DT and the interface energy anisotropy parameter e4 on the shape of the equiaxed dendritic tip has been investigated by using a quantitative phase-field model for solidification of binary alloys.It was found that the tip radius r increases and the tip shape amplitude coefficient A4 decreases with the increase of the fitting range for all cases.The dendrite tip shape selection parameter sdecreases and then stabilizes with the increase of the fitting range,and sincreases with the increase of e4.The relationship between sand e4 follows a power-law function sµea 4,and a is independent of DT but dependent on the fitting range.Numerical results demonstrate that the predicted sis consistent with the curve of microscopic solvability theory(MST)for e4<0.02,and sobtained from our phase-field simulations is sensitive to the undercooling when e4 is fixed.

A Radial Basis Function Method with Improved Accuracy for Fourth Order Boundary Value Problems

Accurately approximating higher order derivatives is an inherently difficult problem. It is shown that a random variable shape parameter strategy can improve the accuracy of approximating higher order derivatives with Radial Basis Function methods. The method is used to solve fourth order boundary value problems. The use and location of ghost points are examined in order to enforce the extra boundary conditions that are necessary to make a fourth-order problem well posed. The use of ghost points versus solving an overdetermined linear system via least squares is studied. For a general fourth-order boundary value problem, the recommended approach is to either use one of two novel sets of ghost centers introduced here or else to use a least squares approach. When using either ghost centers or least squares, the random variable shape parameter strategy results in significantly better accuracy than when a constant shape parameter is used.

Data-driven surrogate model for aerodynamic design using separable shape tensor method

In the context of increasing dimensionality of design variables and the complexity of constraints, the efficacy of Surrogate-Based Optimization(SBO) is limited. The traditional linear and nonlinear dimensionality reduction algorithms are mainly to decompose the mathematical matrix composed of design variables or objective functions in various forms, the smoothness of the design space cannot be guaranteed in the process, and additional constraint functions need to be added in the optimization, which increases the calculation cost. This study presents a new parameterization method to improve both problems of SBO. The new parameterization is addressed by decoupling affine transformations(dilation, rotation, shearing, and translation) within the Grassmannian submanifold, which enables a separate representation of the physical information of the airfoil in a highdimensional space. Building upon this, Principal Geodesic Analysis(PGA) is employed to achieve geometric control, compress the design space, reduce the number of design variables, reduce the dimensions of design variables and enhance predictive performance during the surrogate optimization process. For comparison, a dimensionality reduction space is defined using 95% of the energy,and RAE 2822 for transonic conditions are used as demonstrations. This method significantly enhances the optimization efficiency of the surrogate model while effectively enabling geometric constraints. In three-dimensional problems, it enables simultaneous design of planar shapes for various components of the aircraft and high-order perturbation deformations. Optimization was applied to the ONERA M6 wing, achieving a lift-drag ratio of 18.09, representing a 27.25% improvement compared to the baseline configuration. In comparison to conventional surrogate model optimization methods, which only achieved a 17.97% improvement, this approach demonstrates its superiority.

Numerical Study of Air Chamber for Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Convertor

Oscillating Water Column （OWC） wave energy converting system is one of the most widely used facilities all over the world. The air chamber is utilized to convert the wave energy into the pneumatic energy. The numerical wave tank based on the two-phase VOF model is established in the present study toinvestigate the operating performance of OWC air chamber. The RANS equations, standard k-ε turbulence model and dynamic mesh technology are employed in the numerical model. The effects of incident wave conditions and shape parameters on the wave energy converting efficiency are studied and the capability of the present numerical wave tank on the corresponding engineering application is validated.

A new type of the generalized Bézier curves

In this paper, we improve the generalized Bernstein basis functions introduced by Han, et al. The new basis functions not only inherit the most properties of the classical Bernstein basis functions, but also reserve the shape parameters that are similar to the shape parameters of the generalized Bernstein basis functions. The degree elevation algorithm and the conversion formulae between the new basis functions and the classical Bernstein basis functions are obtained. Also the new Q-Bezier curve and surface constructed by the new basis functions are given and their properties are discussed.

Prediction of rock brittleness using nondestructive methods for hard rock tunneling

Sand production is an undesired phenomenon occurring in unconsolidated formations due to shear failure and hydrodynamic forces. There have been many approaches developed to predict sand production and prevent it by changing drilling or production strategies. However, assumptions involved in these approaches have limited their applications to very specific scenarios. In this paper, an elliptical model based on the borehole shape is presented to predict the volume of sand produced during the drilling and depletion stages of oil and gas reservoirs. A shape factor parameter is introduced to estimate the changes in the geometry of the borehole as a result of shear failure. A carbonate reservoir from the south of Iran with a solid production history is used to show the application of the developed methodology. Deriving mathematical equations for determination of the shape factor based on different failure criteria indicate that the effect of the intermediate principal stress should be taken into account to achieve an accurate result. However, it should be noticed that the methodology presented can only be used when geomechanical parameters are accurately estimated prior to the production stage when using wells and field data.

Factors affecting accuracy of radial point interpolation meshfree method for 3-D solid mechanics

Recently,the radial point interpolation meshfree method has gained popularity owing to its advantages in large deformation and discontinuity problems,however,the accuracy of this method depends on many factors and their influences are not fully investigated yet.In this work,three main factors,i.e.,the shape parameters,the influence domain size,and the nodal distribution,on the accuracy of the radial point interpolation method(RPIM)are systematically studied and conclusive results are obtained.First,the effect of shape parameters(R,q)of the multi-quadric basis function on the accuracy of RPIM is examined via global search.A new interpolation error index,closely related to the accuracy of RPIM,is proposed.The distribution of various error indexes on the R q plane shows that shape parameters q[1.2,1.8]and R[0,1.5]can give good results for general 3-D analysis.This recommended range of shape parameters is examined by multiple benchmark examples in 3D solid mechanics.Second,through numerical experiments,an average of 30 40 nodes in the influence domain of a Gauss point is recommended for 3-D solid mechanics.Third,it is observed that the distribution of nodes has significant effect on the accuracy of RPIM although it has little effect on the accuracy of interpolation.Nodal distributions with better uniformity give better results.Furthermore,how the influence domain size and nodal distribution affect the selection of shape parameters and how the nodal distribution affects the choice of influence domain size are also discussed.

Population structure of Araucaria angustifolia under distinct forest protection status:implications for management and conservation

Araucaria angustifolia is the dominant coniferous species in Brazil,a long-lived pioneer species and a supplier of valuable timber and non-timber products,which gives it key-species status.This study examines how A.angustifolia population structure affects the stand structure,and whether these relationships differ between protected and unprotected areas.The study was carried out on two protection status forests(national forest and urban forest)in a region of Atlantic mixed forest in ParanáState,southern Brazil.Skewness coefficient and the Weibull shape parameter described the population structure and its effects on species diversity and biomass stock.Population diameter distribution differed significantly between forests,with unbalanced structure in both,although regeneration was more abundant in the protected area.Skewness positively affected aboveground biomass whereas shape negatively affected it and species diversity.These relationships differed between protected and unprotected stands.The effect of A.angustifolia populations on stand structure was conditioned on protection status.Old-growth populations may have lower diversity and biomass stock even supporting large trees.Consequently,old-growth forests,can lead to wood loss through mortality,senescence,and declining populations,representing the waste of a valuable timber resource.These findings provide useful knowledge for forest management,species conservation,and the carbon market.

Local Radial Basis Function Methods: Comparison, Improvements, and Implementation

Radial Basis Function methods for scattered data interpolation and for the numerical solution of PDEs were originally implemented in a global manner. Subsequently, it was realized that the methods could be implemented more efficiently in a local manner and that the local approaches could match or even surpass the accuracy of the global implementations. In this work, three localization approaches are compared: a local RBF method, a partition of unity method, and a recently introduced modified partition of unity method. A simple shape parameter selection method is introduced and the application of artificial viscosity to stabilize each of the local methods when approximating time-dependent PDEs is reviewed. Additionally, a new type of quasi-random center is introduced which may be better choices than other quasi-random points that are commonly used with RBF methods. All the results within the manuscript are reproducible as they are included as examples in the freely available Python Radial Basis Function Toolbox.

A New Approach for the DFT NIST Test Applicable for Non-Stationary Input Sequences

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) document is a list of fifteen tests for estimating the probability of signal randomness degree. Test number six in the NIST document is the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) test suitable for stationary incoming sequences. But, for cases where the input sequence is not stationary, the DFT test provides inaccurate results. For these cases, test number seven and eight (the Non-overlapping Template Matching Test and the Overlapping Template Matching Test) of the NIST document were designed to classify those non-stationary sequences. But, even with test number seven and eight of the NIST document, the results are not always accurate. Thus, the NIST test does not give a proper answer for the non-stationary input sequence case. In this paper, we offer a new algorithm or test, which may replace the NIST tests number six, seven and eight. The proposed test is applicable also for non-stationary sequences and supplies more accurate results than the existing tests (NIST tests number six, seven and eight), for non-stationary sequences. The new proposed test is based on the Wigner function and on the Generalized Gaussian Distribution (GGD). In addition, this new proposed algorithm alarms and indicates on suspicious places of cyclic sections in the tested sequence. Thus, it gives us the option to repair or to remove the suspicious places of cyclic sections (this part is beyond the scope of this paper), so that after that, the repaired or the shortened sequence (original sequence with removed sections) will result as a sequence with high probability of random degree.

Analysis of Water Pipeline Breaks

This study explores the arrivals of water pipeline break failures. The aim is to assist the facility manager in the decision making process. Based on characteristics of the data set ranging from 2011 to 2014, two steps of analysis were presented in the paper. This first step is the analysis of partially complete data set (2011 data). The 2-sample KS test is adopted to check the similarity between this data set and the entire data set with no underlying distribution implied. In order to conduct the reliability analysis, the Weibull distribution is adopted to evaluate the data. For annual data set, the 2-parameter Weibull distribution fits data sets pretty well. The shape parameters are a little greater than 1, indicating a slightly increasing arrival rate of such failures. For the entire data set, the 3-parameter Weibull tends to fit the data better than the 2-parameter Weibull. The shape parameter is well above 1, indicating an increasing arrival rate of the failures. To eliminate the impact of missing points for the 2011 data set, data from 2012 to 2014 were also considered as a new set, the Weibull distribution generated a decent fitting. The shape parameter is a little greater than 1. Therefore, there is a slightly increasing arrival rate of those pipeline failures. Results from this study provide decision makers valuable information in terms of whether additional efforts shall be made to enhance the system’s performance in order to reduce the failure rate.

Light curve inversion of asteroid(585)Bilkis with Lommel-Seeliger ellipsoid method

The basic physical parameters of asteroids, such as spin parameters, shape and scattering parameters, can provide us with information on the formation and evolution of both the asteroids themselves and the entire solar system. In a majority of asteroids, the disk-integrated photometry measurement constitutes the primary source of the above knowledge. In the present paper, newly observed photometric data and existing data on（585） Bilkis are analyzed based on a Lommel-Seeliger ellipsoid model. With a Markov chain Monte Carlo（MCMC） method, we have determined the spin parameters（period, pole orientation）and shape（b/a, c/a） of（585） Bilkis and their uncertainties. As a result, we obtained a rotational period of 8.5738209 h with an uncertainty of 9×10^-7h, and derived a pole of（136.46°, 29.0°） in the ecliptic frame of J2000.0 with uncertainties of 0.67°and 1.1°in longitude and latitude respectively. We also derived triaxial ratios b/a and c/a of（585） Bilkis as 0.736 and 0.70 with uncertainties of 0.003 and 0.03 respectively.

A new method in highway route design:joining circular arcs by a single C-Bézier curve with shape parameter

We constructed a single C-Bezier curve with a shape parameter for G^2 joining two circular arcs. It was shown that an S-shaped transition curve, which is able to manage a broader scope about two circle radii than the Bezier curves, has no curvature extrema, while a C-shaped transition curve has a single curvature extremum. Regarding the two kinds of curves, specific algorithms were presented in detail, strict mathematical proofs were given, and the effectiveness of the method was shown by examples This method has the following three advantages： （1） the pattern is unified; （2） the parameter able to adjust the shape of the transition curve is available; （3） the transition curve is only a single segment, and the algorithm can be formulated as a low order equation to be solved for its positive root. These advantages make the method simple and easy to implement.