On the Optimal Control of a Class of Non-Newtonian Fluids

We consider optimal control problems of systems governed by stationary, incompressible generalized Navier-Stokes equations with shear dependent viscosity in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional domain. We study a general class of viscosity functions including shear-thinning and shear-thickening behavior. We prove an existence result for such class of optimal control problems

Existence of optimal boundary control for the Navier-Stokes equations with mixed boundary conditions

Variational approaches have been used successfully as a strategy to take advantage from real data measurements. In several applications, this approach gives a means to increase the accuracy of numerical simulations. In the particular case of fluid dynamics, it leads to optimal control problems with non standard cost functionals which, when constraint to the Navier-Stokes equations, require a non-standard theoretical frame to ensure the existence of solution. In this work, we prove the existence of solution for a class of such type of optimal control problems. Before doing that, we ensure the existence and uniqueness of solution for the 3D stationary Navier-Stokes equations, with mixed-boundary conditions, a particular type of boundary conditions very common in applications to biomedical problems

Recursive bayesian identification of nonlinear autonomous systems

This paper concerns the recursive identification of nonlinear discrete-time systems for which the original equations of motion are not known. Since the true model structure is not available, we replace it with a generic nonlinear model. This generic model discretizes the state space into a finite grid and associates a set of velocity vectors to the nodes of the grid. The velocity vectors are then interpolated to define a vector field on the complete state space. The proposed method follows a Bayesian framework where the identified velocity vectors are selected by the maximum a posteriori (MAP) criterion. The resulting algorithms allow a recursive update of the velocity vectors as new data is obtained. Simulation examples using the recursive algorithm are presented

Experimental assessment of RRM techniques in 5 GHz dense WiFi networks using REMs

“© 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”The increasing acceptance of WiFi has created unprecedented levels of congestion in the unlicensed frequency bands, especially in densely populated areas. This results mainly because of the unmanaged interference and uncoordinated op- eration between WiFi access points. Radio Environment Maps (REM) have been suggested as a support for coordination strategies that optimize the overall WiFi network performance. In this context, the main objective of this experiment is to assess the benefit of a coordinated management of radio resources in dense WiFi networks at 5 GHz band, using REMs for indoor scenarios. It was shown that REMs can detect the presence of interfering links on the network or coverage holes, and a suitable coordination strategy can use this information to reconfigure Access Points (AP) channel assignment and re-establish the client connection, at a cost of diminishing the aggregate throughput of the network. The technique of AP hand-off was tested to balance the load from one AP to another. Using REMs, the Radio Resource Management (RRM) strategy could reconfigure the network to optimize the client distribution among available APs. Although the aggregate throughput is lower after load balancing, the RRM could increase the throughput of the overloaded AP.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

First Steps Towards a Runtime Comparison of Natural and Artificial Evolution

Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) form a popular optimisation paradigm inspired by natural evolution. In recent years the field of evolutionary computation has developed a rigorous analytical theory to analyse their runtime on many illustrative problems. Here we apply this theory to a simple model of natural evolution. In the Strong Selection Weak Mutation (SSWM) evolutionary regime the time between occurrence of new mutations is much longer than the time it takes for a new beneficial mutation to take over the population. In this situation, the population only contains copies of one genotype and evolution can be modelled as a (1+1)-type process where the probability of accepting a new genotype (improvements or worsenings) depends on the change in fitness. We present an initial runtime analysis of SSWM, quantifying its performance for various parameters and investigating differences to the (1+1)EA. We show that SSWM can have a moderate advantage over the (1+1)EA at crossing fitness valleys and study an example where SSWM outperforms the (1+1)EA by taking advantage of information on the fitness gradient

A State-of-the-art Integrated Transportation Simulation Platform

Nowadays, universities and companies have a huge need for simulation and modelling methodologies. In the particular case of traffic and transportation, making physical modifications to the real traffic networks could be highly expensive, dependent on political decisions and could be highly disruptive to the environment. However, while studying a specific domain or problem, analysing a problem through simulation may not be trivial and may need several simulation tools, hence raising interoperability issues. To overcome these problems, we propose an agent-directed transportation simulation platform, through the cloud, by means of services. We intend to use the IEEE standard HLA (High Level Architecture) for simulators interoperability and agents for controlling and coordination. Our motivations are to allow multiresolution analysis of complex domains, to allow experts to collaborate on the analysis of a common problem and to allow co-simulation and synergy of different application domains. This paper will start by presenting some preliminary background concepts to help better understand the scope of this work. After that, the results of a literature review is shown. Finally, the general architecture of a transportation simulation platform is proposed

Densifying the sparse cloud SimSaaS: The need of a synergy among agent-directed simulation, SimSaaS and HLA

Modelling & Simulation (M&S) is broadly used in real scenarios where making physical modifications could be highly expensive. With the so-called Simulation Software-as-a-Service (SimSaaS), researchers could take advantage of the huge amount of resource that cloud computing provides. Even so, studying and analysing a problem through simulation may need several simulation tools, hence raising interoperability issues. Having this in mind, IEEE developed a standard for interoperability among simulators named High Level Architecture (HLA). Moreover, the multi-agent system approach has become recognised as a convenient approach for modelling and simulating complex systems. Despite all the recent works and acceptance of these technologies, there is still a great lack of work regarding synergies among them. This paper shows by means of a literature review this lack of work or, in other words, the sparse Cloud SimSaaS. The literature review and the resulting taxonomy are the main contributions of this paper, as they provide a research agenda illustrating future research opportunities and trends

Hybrid Ionic Liquids/Metal Organic Frameworks for CO2/CH4 Separation

Nesta tese produziram-se nove novos materiais compósitos de ZIF-8, uma rede organometálica porosa (MOF), impregnado com diferentes líquidos iónicos (ILs). Estes novos compósitos, designados genericamente por IL@ZIF-8, foram preparados e caracterizados com o objetivo de serem considerados potenciais adsorventes a aplicar em processos de separação por adsorção, tais como o upgrading ou condicionamento de biogás a biometano. Numa primeira fase, a mesma quantidade molar de nove ILs diferentes foi incorporada na estrutura do ZIF-8, garantindo uma comparação válida entre as amostras. O efeito da incorporação do IL na capacidade de adsorção dos materiais compósitos foi estudado, bem como a influência do catião e do anião do IL na capacidade de adsorção de CO2 (dióxido de carbono) e CH4 (metano) e respetivo efeito na seletividade ideal CO2/CH4. A caracterização textural exaustiva a cada material compósito foi feita com recurso a picnometria de He, adsorção-dessorção de N2 a 77 K, difração de raios-X de pó (PXRD), espectroscopia de infravermelho com transformada de Fourier (FT-IR) e microscopia eletrónica de varrimento (SEM). Os resultados de equilíbrio de adsorção-dessorção de CO2 e CH4 nos compósitos mostram que o catião imidazólio com uma curta cadeia alquílica favorece a capacidade de adsorção para estes materiais. No entanto, quem tem um papel mais ativo de adsorção de gás é o anião e o melhor daqueles que foi testado é o acetato. Em termos de seletividade ideal CO2/CH4, em traços gerais, as amostras que capturaram menos gás são as mais seletivas. O compósito C10@ZIF-8 é o material mais seletivo entre 1 e 3 bar; de 4 a 16 bar, C2OH@ZIF-8 é o material mais seletivo, com ganhos médios de quase 25% na seletividade em comparação com o ZIF-8 puro. O compósito C6B(CN)4@ZIF-8 apresenta boa capacidade de adsorção de gás, tendo ao mesmo tempo uma boa seletividade CO2/CH4. O efeito da quantidade de IL impregnada (loading) foi também estudado. Novas amostras C2OH@ZIF-8 e C6B(CN)4@ZIF-8 foram produzidas com diferentes loadings e caraterizadas com as mesmas técnicas anteriormente mencionadas. Os resultados obtidos de equilíbrio de adsorção para estas amostras foram inconclusivos. Este trabalho abre assim as portas para um campo de investigação de novos materiais com resultados potencialmente interessantes em aplicações de adsorção, dada a multitude de ILs e MOFs existentes.For this thesis nine new composite materials of ZIF-8, a porous organometallic network (MOF), impregnated with different ionic liquids (ILs) were produced. These new composites, generically named IL@ZIF-8, were prepared and characterized with the purpose of studying their potential use as adsorbents in adsorption separation processes such as biogas upgrading or biogas to biomethane conditioning. Firstly, the same molar amount of nine different ILs was incorporated in ZIF-8 structure, assuring a valid comparison among samples. IL impregnation effect on the adsorption capacity of the composite materials was studied, as well as the influence of the cation and anion of the IL on the adsorption capacity of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and CH4 (methane) and respective effect on ideal CO2/CH4 selectivity. An exhaustive textural characterization was performed for every composite, such as He pycnometry, N2 adsorption-desorption at 77 K, Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). CO2 and CH4 adsorption-desorption equilibria results indicate that the imidazolium cation with shorter alkyl chains favours the adsorption capacity for these materials. However, it is the anion that has the key role in adsorption capacity; of all tested, the best one was acetate. Generally speaking, CO2/CH4 ideal selectivities show that samples with less adsorption capacity are the most selective. C10@ZIF-8 composite is the most selective material between 1 and 3 bar; from 4 to 16 bar, C2OH@ZIF-8 is the most selective material, with average gains of almost 25% in selectivity when compared to pristine ZIF-8. C6B(CN)4@ZIF-8 presents good gas adsorption capacity, while at the same time showing good ideal CO2/CH4 selectivity. IL loading effect was also tested, with new C2OH@ZIF-8 and C6B(CN)4@ZIF-8 samples with different loadings being manufactured and texturally characterized by the above-mentioned techniques. Adsorption equilibria results for these new samples were inconclusive. This thesis opens new possibilities for the manufacture of good and selective adsorbent materials for adsorption applications, given the amount of existing MOFs and ILs