The efficiency of one fluid displacing another in permeable media depends greatly on the pore-scale dynamics at the main wetting front. Experiments have shown that the frontal dynamics can result in two different flow regimes: a stable and an unstable front. In stable displacements, any perturbation of the front will diminish with time and the effect of variation in permeability will be lessened. In contrast, in unstable displacements any perturbation of the front will grow with time and any variation in permeability will be magnified. In this dissertation, the stability of two different displacement processes are contemplated; a) vertical infiltration of dense liquid into dry sand from above and b) horizontal displacement of nanoparticle suspension with high pressure liquid CO₂. Significant insights are obtained by measuring the in-situ flow patterns in real time with a light transmission method and CT scanning. Vertical infiltration of dense fluid into dry sands from above is often observed to be unstable and produce gravity driven fingers. The formation of gravity fingers can have large consequences on the sweep efficiency of a displacement. Infiltration experiments showed that gravity driven fingers have a unique saturation profile known as saturation overshoot with a higher saturation at the finger tips than the saturation at the finger tail. Despite the vast number of theoretical and experimental investigations, conditions under which the front is unstable, remain unclear. To determine what controls the saturation overshoot and how it relates to the dynamics at the initial wetting front, saturation overshoot was measured as a function of flux for seven different liquids. These liquids gave a range of molecular weights, viscosities, and vapor pressures. It is found that for each fluid there is a flux (called overshoot flux) below which saturation overshoot ceases and the front is diffuse. The magnitude of the overshoot flux depends inversely on the invading fluid's viscosity and shows little or no dependence on the invading fluid's surface tension, vapor pressure, or miscibility with water. Since the saturation overshoot is not described by the continuum multi-phase flow models, the experimental results are used to develop a semi-continuum model that bridges the continuum-scale and pore-scale physics. The proposed model predicts the observed dependence of overshoot on media permeability and invading fluid properties. At the planned depth for CO₂ injection, either as an enhanced oil recovery technique or for CO₂ storage, CO₂ is typically less dense and less viscous than the in-situ fluid. Therefore, CO₂ injection is unstable and produces viscous fingers. This can greatly reduce the efficiency of a CO₂ flood or CO₂ storage capacity of an aquifer. To remedy this behavior, surface treated nanoparticles were used to reduce the mobility of injected CO₂. Displacement experiments were performed at low pressure with a CO₂ analogue (n-octane) fluid and at high pressure with liquid CO₂. Saturation distributions and pressure drops were measured in real time with the CT scanner when high pressure liquid CO₂ or n-octane was used to displace brine in different cores with and without suspended nanoparticles. In the presence of nanoparticles, the displacement front is more spatially uniform with a later breakthrough compared to the same experiment with no suspended nanoparticles. These observations suggest that nanoparticle stabilized foam, which forms during the displacement, acts to suppress the instability. It is argued that the generation of droplets occurs at the leading front of all drainage displacements. In the presence of nanoparticles, these droplets are preserved when nanoparticle adhere at the fluid-fluid interface. The new mechanism for foam generation described here, provides an interesting alternative for mobility control in CO₂ floods. Moreover, the same mechanism can potentially a) increase the CO₂ storage capacity of an aquifer, b) enhance the CO₂ capillary trapping, and c) provide an engineered barrier to CO₂ leakage from a storage sites, thereby alleviating the risk of contaminating the overlying fresh groundwater resources for CO₂ storage projects. / text

Purpose: There is little agreement on the age at which visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity (CS) become adult-like. The ultimate purpose of this thesis was to determine whether VA and CS are adult-like at the age of 6-8 or 9-12 years by using both objective and subjective methods in the same individuals. The objective method (sweep visually evoked potentials [sVEP]) has many parameters that may affect the measurement of VA or CS and previously these had not been studied systematically, especially in children. Therefore, a second purpose was to study the effects of these parameters on VA and contrast thresholds and to determine the parameters that give the most repeatable measurements and the greatest number of viable readings in children, to be compared to previous data obtained in adults. Methods: The effect of five criteria (C0-C4) for choosing the endpoint for the regression line fitting and three luminance levels (25, 50, and 100 cd/m2) on the sVEP VA and contrast thresholds (at 1 and 8 cpd) was investigated in six 6-8 year old children. Additionally, the effect of these parameters on the number of viable readings obtained from five active electrodes was investigated. C0 was derived from the sVEP software (PowerDiva), C1 used the best fit by eye to determine the range over which the regression line was fitted, C2 used the data point between signal peak and the last data point with an SNR ≥ 1, C3 was similar to C2 but was defined so that the threshold should be within the sweep range, and C4 was similar to C2 except that the SNR should not fall below one at any point within the range used for the regression line fitting. The effects of two electrode placements, three temporal frequencies (6, 7.5, and 10 Hz), sweep direction (low to high and high to low), presence or absence of a fixation target, three stimulus areas (6, 4, and 2° for VA and 15, 10, and 6° for contrast thresholds) and three sweep durations (10, 15, and 20 sec) on VA and contrast thresholds (at 1, 4, or 8 cpd) measured with sVEP were also investigated in six 6-8 year-old children and six adults with normal vision. Additionally, the effect of these parameters on the number of viable readings obtained from five active electrodes was investigated. The sVEP parameters that were found to give the best threshold measurements were employed in a cross sectional study of the development of VA and CS. In this study the objective sVEP technique and two psychophysical techniques were used. The psychophysical techniques were comprised of a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) staircase for measuring VA and contrast thresholds and signal detection theory (SDT) for measuring contrast threshold. Crowded and uncrowded logMAR VA were also measured with a Bailey-Lovie logMAR chart. The study included three age groups (6-8, 9-12 year olds and adults). The criterion employed by each age group as indicated by the SDT was compared. Results: There was a significant effect of the criterion for choosing the endpoint for the regression line fitting (p < 0.05) on all the measures and a significant effect of luminance (p = 0.036) on contrast threshold at 1 cpd. Criterion C2 (in which the range for the regression line fit was defined to include all the data between the signal peak and the last data point [furthest from the peak] with an SNR ≥ 1) consistently gave more viable readings and better thresholds (i.e. higher VA and lower contrast thresholds) than the other criteria. Also C2 was the best criterion in terms of repeatability in children, and repeatability and validity in adults (Yadav et al., 2009). The luminance of 25 cd/m2 gave higher contrast thresholds than 50 or 100 cd/m2. There was a significant effect of temporal frequency on the number of viable readings for VA (p < 0.0001) and for contrast thresholds (p = 0.0001), with more viable readings at 7.5 Hz than at either 6 or 10 Hz. The adults gave more readings with the fixation target than without it (p = 0.04) for contrast threshold at 1 cpd. The smallest stimulus area used gave rise to fewer viable readings in both adults and children (p = 0.022 for VA and 0.0001 for contrast threshold). The other parameters (electrode placement, sweep direction and sweep duration) did not result in significant differences. There was a significant effect of age on crowded (p = 0.0001) and uncrowded (p < 0.0001) VA. The 6-8 year olds gave poorer VA than the 9-12 year olds or adults for both crowded and uncrowded VA. For the grating VA (sVEP and 2AFC staircase) there was a significant effect of age (p = 0.002). The 6-8 year olds had poorer VA than the 9-12 year olds or adults. For contrast threshold at 1 cpd, a significant effect of age was found for the 2AFC (p = 0.008) and SDT (p = 0.0003). The 6-8 year olds gave poorer contrast thresholds than adults with each procedure. For contrast thresholds at 8 cpd, there was a significant effect of age with the 2AFC staircase (p = 0.036). The 6-8 year olds gave poorer contrast thresholds than the 9-12 year olds. For SDT, there was a significant effect of age on criterion (p < 0.05), with adults being more likely to say “no” in the yes-no SDT procedure than both the 6-8 year olds and the 9-12 year olds for contrast threshold at 1 cpd. Adults were also more likely to say “no” than the 9-12 year olds for contrast thresholds at 8 cpd. Conclusions: This thesis has shown that VA and CS are not adult-like until the age of 9-12 years by these measures and that children do show differences in criterion compared to adults in psychophysical testing. This difference in criterion indicates the use of SDT or force-choice procedures to avoid this problem in any psychophysical developmental study. It has also shown that criterion for choosing the endpoint for the regression line fitting in the sVEP technique has the greatest effect on VA and contrast thresholds measurements and viable readings, while the other sVEP parameters have little effect on the thresholds.

[pt] O presente trabalho apresenta o método de varredura de valores iniciais para a solução de problemas não-similares de camada limite, aplicado a uma cunha em convecção mista. É feita uma análise dos efeitos da força de empuxo nas características de transferência de calor e atrito, na superfície da cunha submetida a um escoamento laminar em convecção forçada. Os casos analisados referem-se a temperatura uniforme na superfície e a fluxo de calor uniforme através da superfície. Apresentam-se resultados numéricos para a placa vertical e a cunha em 120 graus celsius (problema similar), os quais foram comparados com os disponíveis na literatura, apresentando-se excelente concordância. Ainda são apresentados resultados para a cunha em 90 graus celsius e em 180 graus Celsius. Os resultados foram obtidos para o número de Prandtl 0,7 em uma larga faixa do parâmetro de não-similaridade (0 a 100 para temperatura uniforme e 0 a 5 para fluxo de calor uniforme). Em geral, verifica-se que para ambos os casos estudados de condições da superfície, o coeficiente de atrito local e o número de Nusselt local aumentam com o aumento da força de empuxo para o escoamento ajudado e diminuem com o aumento da força de empuxo para o escoamento ajudado e diminuem com o aumento da força de empuxo para o escoamento oposto. Verifica-se também que os efeitos de convecção natural diminuem com o aumento do ângulo da cunha. Compara-se, por fim os resultados de transferência de calor entre os dois casos estudados. O método possibilita a obtenção de resultados com o uso de um microcomputador PC AT-286 com o co-processador matemático, sem o uso de dupla precisão. As tolerâncias utilizadas para a convergência são as mesmas dos resultados disponíveis na literatura. Adicionalmente, o tempo computacional necessário para a obtenção das soluções foi bastante reduzido. Para toda a faixa de variação do parâmetro de não-similaridade, o equacionamento utilizado foi o mesmo, baseado em parâmetros de correlação para convecção forçada em uma superfície plana com injeção de massa, com ótima concordância com resultados disponíveis na literatura. / [en] The present work introduces a method for searching initial values, to solve non-similar Boundary Layer problems. The new method has been applied to the problem of mixed convection on a Wedge. An analysis is performed to study the effects of buoyancy force on the heat transfer and friction characteristics of laminar forced convection flow which is either maintained at a uniform temperature or subjected to a uniform temperature or subjected to a uniform heat flux. Numerical results are presented for Prandtl number of 7,0 over a wide range of values of the buoyancy force parameters (0 to 100 for uniform temperature and 0 to 5 for uniform heat flux). The results for the vertical plate and for the similar wedge (120 graus celsius) Have been compared with solutions availabein the literature, showing an excellent agreement. In addition, solutions for the 90 degree celsius wedge and for the flat wall (180 degree celsius are also obtained. In general, it is found that for both surface heating conditions, the local friction factor and the local Nusselt number increase with increasing bouyancy force for assisting flow and decrease with inscreasing bouyancy force for opposing flow. Further, the effects of the buoyancy force on these two quantities are found to diminish as the angle of the wedge increases. A comparison is also made of the results beteween the case of uniform wall temperature and the case of uniform surface heat flux. The method turns possible to obtain results with the use of a microcomputer PC AT-286 with a Math co-processor, discarding the use of double precision. The tolerances for convergence are the same as the results available in the literature. The necessary computacional time to get the solution was greatly reduced. For the entire range of the buoyancy force parameter, the governing equations are the same, based upon forced convection parameters. To illustrate the flexibility of the method, the surface mass trasnfer problem of uniform injection (blowing) in a flat plate under forced cnvection, has been solved and the results compared with the available ones in the literature.

No description available.

Motivated by Robert Mast's original papers on lifting stability, this research study provides a method for predicting beam behavior during lifting, with application in the construction of bridges. A beam lifting cracking limit state is developed based on analytical equations for calculating the roll angle of the beam, the internal forces and moments, the weak-axis and strong-axis deflections, and the cross-sectional angle of twist. Finite element simulations are performed to investigate the behavior of concrete beams during lifting and to validate the proposed method. Additionally, a statistical characterization of beam imperfections is presented, based on recently conducted field measurements of beam lateral sweep and eccentricity of lift supports. Finally, numerical examples for two typical precast prestressed concrete beam cross-sections are included to demonstrate the proposed method. / Master of Science

Turbulence research in the laboratory has confirmed the existence of quasi-coherent structures amidst the chaos of a turbulent boundary layer. It has been observed that a quasi-periodic phenomena called “bursting” accounts for a major contribution to the turbulent Reynolds stress and the production of turbulent kinetic energy. Bursting is the term used for a sequence of events, where a low-speed streak of fluid from the near wall region lifts away from the wall, slowly at first, and then rapidly moves away from the wall as it convects downstream where it becomes unstable and breaks up violently upon interaction with the outer flow. This ejection of low speed fluid into the mean flow is responsible for locally high values of turbulent kinetic energy. Although a great deal is known about these structures in laboratory flows, little has been done to investigate if such structures are universal in turbulent flows, i.e., their existence in large Reynolds number flows such as the turbulent air flow over the ocean. It would seem, intuitively, that such structures, if present in the marine atmospheric boundary layer, would play a major role in the transfer of momentum, mass and heat across the air-sea interface. It is speculated that these motions may also be associated with large scale organized motions in wall bounded turbulent shear flows. The effort aimed at elucidating the physics underlying such structures would be invaluable in contributing to our understanding of the air-sea flux mechanism. In this dissertation, standard ejection detection schemes like the quadrant, the VITA and the modified u-level techniques have been applied to turbulent wind data measured over the ocean to confirm the existence of burst like structures. The proportions of contributions to the Reynolds stress from the four quadrants of the u’w’ plane are in close agreement with the corresponding contributions for a laboratory flow. Ejection detection followed by the grouping of ejections into bursts yielded a mean burst period of 47 s, at a height of 8.2 m above the water surface, where the mean wind velocity was 6.74 m/s. This burst period corresponds well with the peaks obtained from the autocorrelation of the streamwise velocity signal and the first moment of the stress spectrum, confirming the quasi-periodic nature of this phenomena. Furthermore, phase averages of these events show a structure which is similar to the structure of events detected in laboratory flows. The ejection periods are seen to decrease with increasing wind speed. The burst periods decrease at first with increasing wind speed and then appear to attain a constant value after a wind speed of 6-7 m/s. This has been attributed to the breakdown of the grouping algorithm at higher wind speeds. Ejection and burst frequencies exhibit no discernible dependence on the surface wave field. Ejection and sweep motions have been studied at various length scales. The original velocity signal is bandpass filtered for various frequency bands. For each band, the percentage contributions to the Reynolds stress from the quadrants of the u'w’ plane are close to the corresponding quadrant contributions of the other bands. This indicates similar turbulence structure at different scales. The velocity signals for each band have been normalized by their root mean square (RMS) value. Visualizing the signals on nondimensional time shows the signals from each band to be very similar. These results can also be interpreted as evidence for the ejection and sweep motions existing simultaneously at different scales, indicating the fractal nature of these events. Large scale motions, which appear to be associated with ejection and sweep motions, have been identified in the marine atmospheric surface layer using velocity probe measurements at multiple heights. Visualizing these velocity signals suggests that the organized features extend across the depth of the surface layer. Converting the temporal signals to spatial fluctuations suggests that these structures are inclined at an angle while convecting downstream. The inclination angle near the surface (z < 18 m) is approximately 15° and it increases with increasing height to about 45° when z = 45 m. The spatial velocity fluctuations also indicate that these organized features may be large transverse vortical arches. / Ph. D.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T14:19:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Robson Fernando Duda.pdf: 3342961 bytes, checksum: 3f61d3a8f1dcfb461c6860c82d3f54db (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This paper presents a solution to the routing problem of vehicles with homogeneous fleet. To do so, heuristic and metaheuristic based algorithms applied towards the development of a decision support system, with georeferenced interface were developed. The algorithms had as base heuristic methods built in two phases, besides a metaheuristic. The interface layer used as visualization component is based in cartographic data that indicates the location of the points to be assisted and the paths that connects them, forming a road system represented using the Google Maps® API. The algorithms were validated using instances from the literature, presenting satisfactory results regarding optimization based in the methods that were used, showing that it is possible the usage of the developed system in the distribution of agricultural products. / Este trabalho apresenta uma solução para o problema de roteamento de veículos com frotas homogêneas. Para tanto, foram desenvolvidos algoritmos baseados em heurísticas e meta-heurísticas aplicadas ao desenvolvimento de um sistema de apoio a decisão, com interface georreferenciada. Os algoritmos tiveram como base métodos heurísticos construtivos e em duas fases, além de uma meta-heurística. A camada de interface utilizada como componente de visualização é baseada em dados cartográficos que indicam a localização dos pontos a serem atendidos e as vias que os interligam, formando a malha viária que é representada utilizando a API do Google Maps®. Os algoritmos foram validados utilizando instâncias da literatura, apresentando resultados satisfatórios em relação a otimização baseada nos métodos utilizados, mostrando ser possível a utilização do sistema desenvolvido para a distribuição de produtos agrícolas.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-10-01T11:47:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Márcio Rafael Stracke_.pdf: 1667083 bytes, checksum: 7f8c37d9c5a822527980feaaec50278e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-01T11:47:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Márcio Rafael Stracke_.pdf: 1667083 bytes, checksum: 7f8c37d9c5a822527980feaaec50278e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-06-06 / HT Micron / Com o avanço da microeletrônica, cada vez mais surgem dispositivos eletrônicos portáteis. Isso traz diversos desafios à cadeia de semicondutores, desde o projeto, no desenvolvimento de circuitos integrados menores e mais eficientes até o encapsulamento, uma vez que os componentes tem ficado menores, mais finos e com um número maior de pinos de entrada e saída. Esses desafios estão presentes em todos os processos de fabricação de um chip e podemos citar a moldagem como um processo crítico em especial. A tecnologia de moldagem por transferência, que está consolidada e é a principal utilizada neste processo, necessita de cuidados especiais na otimização de seus parâmetros e materiais, tendo em vista os fatores citados e a consequente redução do diâmetro dos fios que realizam a interconexão do die com o substrato. Neste cenário, o wire sweep, que é o arraste destes fios de solda devido ao escoamento do encapsulante, acaba se tornando um problema, já que perdas no processo de moldagem implicam em sucatear o componente. A taxa de falhas devido a este tipo de falha podem chegar a 2,5%, segundo estudos de grandes fabricantes da cadeia de semicondutores divulgado em (SANDGREN; ROTH, 2004). Neste trabalho foi simulado o processo de moldagem de memórias DRAM com encapsulament do tipo BOC BGA, utilizando o módulo de FSI do software COMSOL. Os resultados da razão de wire sweep obtidos na simulação ficaram dentro do intervalo da média com um desvio padrão, na comparação com os valores reais medidos em peças fabricadas na condição simulada, tendo como erro máximo 15,26%. / The advancement of microelectronics makes more and more portable electronic devices emerge in our daily lives. This brings a number of challenges to the semiconductor chain, from design, to the development of smaller and more efficient integrated circuits to encapsulation, since the components have become smaller, thinner, and with a larger number of input and output pins. These challenges are present in all chip fabrication processes and we can define molding as a critical process in particular. The transfer molding technology, which is consolidated and the main one used in this process, requires special care in the optimization of its parameters and materials, since there are more and shorter wires realizing the connection between the die and the substrate. The wire sweep, which is the entrainment of the wires due to the flow of the mold compound, becomes a problem, since losses in the molding process imply scrapping the component. The failure rate due to this type of failure can reach 2.5%, according to studies by major semiconductor chain manufacturers disclosed in (SANDGREN; ROTH, 2004). In this project the DRAM memory molding process with BOC BGA encapsulation type was simulated using the FSI module in COMSOL software. Results of wire sweep ratio obtained are within the average adding or subtracting one standard deviation and the maximum error rate ranging was 15.26% considering manufactured boards using the simulation parameters.

La simulation haute-fidélité des coeurs de réacteurs nucléaires nécessite une évaluation précise du flux neutronique dans le coeur du réacteur. Ce flux est modélisé par l’équation de Boltzmann ou équation du transport neutronique. Dans cette thèse, on s’intéresse à la résolution de cette équation par la méthode des ordonnées discrètes (SN) sur des géométries cartésiennes. Cette méthode fait intervenir un schéma d’itérations à source, incluant un algorithme de balayage sur le domaine spatial qui regroupe l’essentiel des calculs effectués. Compte tenu du très grand volume de calcul requis par la résolution de l’équation de Boltzmann, de nombreux travaux antérieurs ont été consacrés à l’utilisation du calcul parallèle pour la résolution de cette équation. Jusqu’ici, ces algorithmes de résolution parallèles de l’équation du transport neutronique ont été conçus en considérant la machine cible comme une collection de processeurs mono-coeurs indépendants, et ne tirent donc pas explicitement profit de la hiérarchie mémoire et du parallélisme multi-niveaux présents sur les super-calculateurs modernes. Ainsi, la première contribution de cette thèse concerne l’étude et la mise en oeuvre de l’algorithme de balayage sur les super-calculateurs massivement parallèles modernes. Notre approche combine à la fois la vectorisation par des techniques de la programmation générique en C++, et la programmation hybride par l’utilisation d’un support d’exécution à base de tâches: PaRSEC. Nous avons démontré l’intérêt de cette approche grâce à des modèles de performances théoriques, permettant également de prédire le partitionnement optimal. Par ailleurs, dans le cas de la simulation des milieux très diffusifs tels que le coeur d’un REP, la convergence du schéma d’itérations à source est très lente. Afin d’accélérer sa convergence, nous avons implémenté un nouvel algorithme (PDSA), adapté à notre implémentation hybride. La combinaison de ces techniques nous a permis de concevoir une version massivement parallèle du solveur SN Domino. Les performances de la partie Sweep du solveur atteignent 33.9% de la performance crête théorique d’un super-calculateur à 768 cores. De plus, un calcul critique d’un réacteur de type REP 900MW à 26 groupes d’énergie mettant en jeu 1012 DDLs a été résolu en 46 minutes sur 1536 coeurs. / High-fidelity nuclear reactor core simulations require a precise knowledge of the neutron flux inside the reactor core. This flux is modeled by the linear Boltzmann equation also called neutron transport equation. In this thesis, we focus on solving this equation using the discrete ordinates method (SN) on Cartesian mesh. This method involves a source iteration scheme including a sweep over the spatial mesh and gathering the vast majority of computations in the SN method. Due to the large amount of computations performed in the resolution of the Boltzmann equation, numerous research works were focused on the optimization of the time to solution by developing parallel algorithms for solving the transport equation. However, these algorithms were designed by considering a super-computer as a collection of independent cores, and therefore do not explicitly take into account the memory hierarchy and multi-level parallelism available inside modern super-computers. Therefore, we first proposed a strategy for designing an efficient parallel implementation of the sweep operation on modern architectures by combining the use of the SIMD paradigm thanks to C++ generic programming techniques and an emerging task-based runtime system: PaRSEC. We demonstrated the need for such an approach using theoretical performance models predicting optimal partitionings. Then we studied the challenge of converging the source iterations scheme in highly diffusive media such as the PWR cores. We have implemented and studied the convergence of a new acceleration scheme (PDSA) that naturally suits our Hybrid parallel implementation. The combination of all these techniques have enabled us to develop a massively parallel version of the SN Domino solver. It is capable of tackling the challenges posed by the neutron transport simulations and compares favorably with state-of-the-art solvers such as Denovo. The performance of the PaRSEC implementation of the sweep operation reaches 6.1 Tflop/s on 768 cores corresponding to 33.9% of the theoretical peak performance of this set of computational resources. For a typical 26-group PWR calculations involving 1.02×1012 DoFs, the time to solution required by the Domino solver is 46 min using 1536 cores.

<p>Abstract</p><p>In this thesis, a measurement system was set to perform comprehensive measurements on RF power amplifiers. Data obtained from the measurements is then processed mathematically to obtain three dimensional graphs of the basic parameters affected or generated by nonlinearities of the amplifier i.e. gain, efficiency and distortion. Using a class AB amplifier as the DUT, two sets of signals – both swept in power level and frequency - were generated to validate the method, a two-tone signal and a WCDMA signal. The three dimensional plot gives a thorough representation of the behavior of the amplifier in any arbitrary range of spectrum and input level. Sweet spots are consequently easy to detect and analyze. The measurement setup can also yield other three dimensional plots of variations of gain, efficiency or distortion versus frequencies and input levels. Moreover, the measurement tool can be used to plot traditional two dimensional plots such as, input versus gain, frequency versus efficiency etc, making the setup a practical tool for RF amplifiers designers.</p><p>The test signals were generated by computer then sent to a vector signal generator that generates the actual signals fed to the amplifier. The output of the amplifier is fed to a vector signal analyzer then collected by computer to be handled. MATLAB® was used throughout the entire process.</p><p>The distortion considered in the case of the two-tone signals is the third order intermodulation distortion (IM3) whereas Adjacent Channel Power Ratio (ACPR) was considered in the case of WCDMA.</p>