Effective Project Report Writing and Presentation

This document presents strategies you can use to write an effective project report, and prescribes an organizational structure for writing such a report. Four fundamental objectives for writing an effective project report are cited, namely, demonstration of your familiarity with the problem, establishment of your modeling expertise, maximization of instructor’s insight, and minimization of instructor’s effort. Writing strategies and organizational structure are meant to secure these objectives

PREDICTION OF CRUDE OIL VISCOSITY USING FEED-FORWARD BACK-PROPAGATION NEURAL NETWORK (FFBPNN)

Crude oil viscosity is an important governing parameter of fluid flow both in the porous media and in pipelines. So, estimating the oil viscosity at various operating conditions with accuracy is of utmost importance to petroleum engineers. Usually, oil viscosity is determined by laboratory measurements at reservoir temperature. However, laboratory experiments are rather expensive and in most cases, the data from such experiments are not reliable. So, petroleum engineers prefer to use published correlations but these correlations are either too simple or too complex and so many of them are region-based not generic. To tackle the above enumerated drawbacks, in this paper, a Feed-Forward Back-Propagation Neural Network (FFBPNN) model has been developed to estimate the crude oil viscosity (μo) of Undersaturated reservoirs in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The newly developed FFBPNN model shows good results compared to the existing empirical correlations. The μo FFBPNN model achieved an average absolute relative error of 0.01998 and the correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.999 compared to the existing empirical correlations. From the performance plots for the FFBPNN model and empirical correlations against their experimental values, the FFBPNN model's performance was excellent

Impact of Processing on Physical, Chemical and Pasting Properties of Tamarind (T. indica) Seed Flour

Tamarind seed is a discarded waste material from the tamarind pulp industry. The seed contains plethora of nutrients, however its application as food ingredient in Nigeria is limited. This study investigated the impact of processing techniques on physical (colour), proximate, mineral, anti-nutrient and pasting properties of tamarind seed flour using standard methods. Unprocessed seeds (sample A) served as the control, soaked seeds (sample B), roasted seeds (sample C) and autoclaved seeds (sample D). The obtained flour samples were analysed for the physical (colour), proximate, mineral, anti-nutrient and pasting properties using standard methods. Colour values (L*) of seed flour decreased whereas a* and b* values increased in processed flours compared to the control. Raw and processed tamarind seed flours are composed mainly of carbohydrate (65.0-75.2%) and protein (2.3-12.7%) with minuscule quantities of dietary fibre (3.50-7.10%), fat (5.4-6.8%) and ash (1.25-2.08%). The results revealed the following ranges in mineral concentrations: calcium (11.72-18.76mg/100g), magnesium (125.48-152.55mg/100g), potassium (224.49-487.37mg/100g) and iron (22.34-31.04mg/100g). Boiling, autoclaving and roasting significantly (p≤0.05) altered the anti-nutritional contents of tamarind seeds. There exist variation in the pasting viscosities with the control and processed tamarind flours being significantly different (p≤0.05).  The study highlighted that roasting of the seeds could eliminate the anti-nutrients and improved the quality of seeds compared to soaking and autoclaving processes. Exploring the potential of tamarind seeds for human consumption will clearly reduce the over-dependence on common legumes as protein source in marginalised communities

Acute Toxicity and Histopathological Changes in Gill and Liver of Catfish (Clarias Gariepinus) Juvenile Exposed to 2, 4-D Amine (Herbex D Sl®)

The acute toxicity and histopathological changes in the gill and liver of Clarias gariepinus juvenile exposed to Herbex-D SL ®, a herbicide containing 720g/l of 2, 4-D amine were investigated. In a static renewal bioassay, the fish were exposed to 0.00, 1.40, 1.44, 1.48 and 1.52mg/l of 2, 4-D amine. The 96 hours lethal concentration (LC50) of 2, 4-D amine to juvenile of Clarias gariepinus was 2g/l. The fish exposed to 2, 4-D amine showed toxicological signs of erratic swimming, loss of reflexes and lethargy. Histopathological changes in the gill architecture were characterized by lifting of epithelia layer, vacuolization, inter-lamella hyperplasia and mild desquamation of the epithelia lining. There was an evidence of advancing phase of hepatic necrosis in the liver of fish exposed to 2, 4-D amine. 2, 4-D amine is highly toxic and its use in or near aquatic environment should be monitored. Key words: 2,4- D amine (Herbex D SL®), Clarias gariepinus, Acute toxicity, Histopathology

Factors Influencing Construction Clients’/Contractors’ Choice of Subcontractors in Nigeria

Arising from the recent shift in the attitude of main contractors to subcontract procurement in some of the developing countries of the world, this study presents the findings of the importance of factors influencing the choice of subcontractors by the clients and contractors. With a focus on three commercial nerve centres of Nigeria (Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt), the study presents the findings of a survey of construction clients/contractors and rank the factors they consider in the selection of suitable subcontractors for project execution. The results of the relative index ranking technique indicate that five most important factors are: subcontractors’ past experience in terms of size and type of projects completed; subcontractors’ management resource in terms of formal and informal training; other related issues in terms of nature of contract and time of the year (weather), past relationships with the clients/contractors (past performance), and project facilitation in terms on labour/plant resources. It is concluded that greatest premiums should be attached to some of these factors for improved construction sustainability

Experimental Study of Darcy and Non-Darcy Flow in Porous Media

A simple experimental set-up is used to validate capillary-tube models of flow in porous media for (non-) spherical particles and coarse grains of particular/specific mesh sizes. Of the two models used, one model characterizes the structure of the media apart from particle diameter or equivalent particle diameter for non-spherical objects compared to the other model. The magnitude of computed tortuosity for particles/grains studied is in order, however, that of the spherical particles was slightly higher than published values for spheres. Likewise, the ratio of dynamic to static specific surface area was below anticipated and known results in literature. For the non-spherical particle that was approximated as a half-oblate spheroid, the possible error in computed volume and surface area may be the reason for the deviation of computed equivalent diameter from the effective diameter obtained by fitting Ergun correlation to experimental result. The deviation of computed results based on the conducted experiment may in fact be due to error in appropriately fitting straight line to plotted data and precision error of gauges, and possible hysteresis at low flow velocity due to experimental procedur

Water Coning in Horizontal Wells: Prediction of Post-Breakthrough Performance

This study attempts to predict post-breakthrough performance in horizontal wells as a result of water coning. The post breakthrough performance is measured in terms of the Water Oil Ratio (WOR). Correlations were developed to predict the WOR, time to breakthrough and the critical oil production rate in horizontal wells. The reservoir studied was modelled using a 3D simulator (ECLIPSE100). PVT and Relative permeability data from literatures were used in modelling the reservoir. A one well model was simulated by setting up a ‘base case’ scenario of reservoir parameters, the WOR from this base case was observed. Sensitivity analysis was then carried out by varying each of the reservoir parameters and production rate independently. Regression analysis was done to develop correlation between the height above/below the perforations and the WOR. The developed correlations compared favourably well with the existing ones

DETERMINATION OF PERMEABILITY OF SOILS FROM FUNAAB AGRICULTURAL LAND USE, USING IMPROVISED CONSTANT HEADPERMEAMETER

The knowledge of material property of the pore space through which water flow in soil for the optimization of water supplies for agricultural and engineering projects is fast becoming challenging due to intricate geometries of the media porous structures. The study determines the permeability coefficients of soils at six different Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, (FUNAAB) land-use (Hostel-Site, Cashew Plantation, FADAMA Farm, COLPLANT Farm, Forest nursery unit, FUNAAB health center) in order to estimate the flow rate through the soil using an improvised constant head permeameter. The soils were initially analyzed for their physical properties before determining the flow rate and permeability coefficients.  The reliability of result of permeameter was compared with standards for validity. The result shows that the soils were slightly acidic with pH average of 6.8, organic carbon ranging from 0.78% to 4.49% with the highest at the Fadama site. The total nitrogen ranged between 0.1% and 8.0% and the available phosphorus ranged between 1.20 to 3.95 mg kg-1 with the highest value experienced at cashew plantation. The improvised permeameter gave a reliable result with high positive correlation in volume rate of flow in soil and time of flow. The permeability coefficient of the soil samples (K) were in the range of 2.7 x 10-5to 4.2 x 10-5with the soil type ranging from sandy-loam to loamy sand similar to the result obtained during physical analysis. The soils were of relative permeability of semi-pervious, a characteristic of poor soil transmissivity.   &nbsp

Modelling the Effects of Temperature and Aging Time on the Rheological Properties of Drilling Fluids

The rheological properties of drilling fluid change owing to elevated temperature and aging time and these in effect, cause problems in drilling deep wells. A laboratory investigation of the effects of temperature and aging time on the properties of water-base drilling fluid is made with Fann Model 800 HighTemperature, High Pressure (HTHP) Viscometer. It is evident from the findings that effective viscosity, plastic viscosity and yield point decrease steadily with increase in temperature for all values of aging time. It is observed as well that viscosity at a given temperature decreases with increase in aging time and the aging effect are diminishing as the aging time increases especially for the effective viscosity and yield point. It is also observed from this study that viscosity, yield point, gel strength and shear stress at a given shear rate decrease with increase in temperature and aging time. Finally, this paper presents a predictive model equation good enough to analyse trends and predict future values for effective and plastic viscosities

WELL DELIVERABILITY PREDICTIONS OF GAS FLOW IN GAS-CONDENSATE RESERVOIRS, MODELLING NEAR-CRITICAL WELLBORE PROBLEM OF TWO PHASE FLOW IN 1 -DIMENSION

Production of gases from gas-condensate reservoirs are known to bear certain challenges largely due to the formation of retrograde condensates that hinder gas flow. The drop out of this liquid creates flow regions that are characterized by the liquid saturation as it affects the mobility of the two phase flow, thereby preventing the effective modeling of well productivity. In this study, a predictive model based on an analytical approach is developed to predict gas flow in gas condensate reservoirs. This study compares the estimated gas flow from the developed model for gas-condensate reservoirs to the flow of an existing model for gas reservoirs. This study observes the effects of liquid drop-out on productivity at low pressures and the condensate unloading pressure, which is comparable to that of commercial softwar