This thesis develops a method to analyze the roll response of a vessel during a damaged (flooded) scenario. This was done by developing a time-domain method in which the damaged compartment was flooding while the ship is simultaneously subjected to a seaway. The KRISO containership was used as a test hull and was subjected to three flooding conditions. These flooding conditions involved flooding Hold 5, Hold 3, and Hold 1 separately. Newmark’s Beta method for linear acceleration was used to solve the roll motion of equation in which the hydrodynamic coefficients A44, B44, and C44 were predetermined from linear strip theory for various drafts and trim angles. The roll response in the transient flooding state and the steady state, after flooding ceased (fully damaged state), while in wave action was simulated and plotted. The amplitudes from the initial and damaged steady states were recorded at the given wave frequency and wave amplitude, to generate the roll response amplitude operators for the vessel from wave frequency ω = 0.1 rad/s to ω = 2.1 rad/s. Analysis of the RAO curves revealed that the KRISO was not made significantly more unstable by the flooding, for the conditions that were considered, for nearly all wave frequencies except the natural frequency of 0.5 rad/s.

Historically wildfires have been beneficial to forests, however, human developments have encroached on forests when wildfire was artificially suppressed by federal and state agencies. The area burned by wildfire each year has increased twenty-fold in the past three decades. Large, high severity fires pose increased threats to human and aquatic communities within and downstream of the burned area due to post-wildfire effects on flooding and sedimentation. We need to understand the impacts of wildfires to be able to mitigate their damages and to recognize their potential benefits. This research addresses the questions: 1) Do wildfires impact rural and urban economies differently and what are managers doing to adapt management strategies? 2) Do floods increase after wildfire, and if so, by how much? 3) Do wildfires affect fish habitat, and if so, how? Chapter 2 provides insight into both positive and negative economic impacts on rural and urban economies after a wildfire, and brings to light manager’s inability to change their management strategies due to constraints such as budget limitations. Chapter 3 measures how floods change in nine basins after a wildfire occurred, and reveals that floods may increase up to 880 percent after a fire. Chapter 4 demonstrates that fish habitat is significantly altered after wildfires and why change is harmful to the fish. This work shows that wildfire significantly changes the burned and surrounding area, and that more work is needed for a better understanding of how to predict how a specific area will respond to wildfire.

Flooding is a natural phenomenon and in the past Thai people have adapted to flood events. However over the years land degradation, deforestation and bad urban practices have exacerbated the impact of flood disasters. This study of flood management in Thailand shows how human activities and interventions have impacted on the river basin system. This research focuses on the vulnerability to flood hazard of the people living or working near the Chao Phraya River. The case study is of the community living or working in the proximity of Wat Bang Luang (Bang Luang Temple) of the Pathum Thani Province, Thailand. This research explores the capacity of communities to live with or cope with floods. Their adaptations to changes in flood regimes will depend on several factors: political (especially when Thailand has a long history of preoccupation with engineering and technological solutions as the main approach to disaster response), economic, ecological (human modification to flood plains), social (kin-based networks) and cultural factors. The data collected from the target community showed a power struggle between Thai culture and the dominant hazard management paradigm. This research put a human face on natural disaster and looked at the issue of flooding from the experiences of ordinary people. The findings showed that some members of the community are resilient while others are passive and are more vulnerable to floods. However, it is important not to label any individual or group as either vulnerable or resilient as people can be both at the same time and policy makers need to build on the strengths, rather than focus on the weaknesses and on offering emergency relief.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wyoming, 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 20, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-216).

<p>Klimatfrågan har fått stor uppmärksamhet den senaste tiden i och med de klimatförändringar som har börjat ske på jorden. Följden av detta är fler naturolyckor där översvämningar är en fara som kommer att öka världen över. Idag är inte Sverige ett särskilt översvämningshotat land, men frekvensen bedöms öka även här. I Klimat- och sårbarhetsutredningens delbetänkande har undersökningar gjorts över risker och åtgärder för tre sjöar i Sverige, där Vänerområdet anses vara mycket hotat. Vänerns normalnivå är idag 44,54 m, men i ett förändrat klimat är den högsta, dimensionerande nivån (10 000-årsnivå) beräknad till 47,4 m. Vid denna nivå uppstår konsekvenser för samhället då en stor del bebyggelse, tung industri och jordbruksmark ligger mycket Vänernära. Uppsatsen är kvalitativ och baserad på både intervjuer och litteraturstudier. I uppsatsen görs en närmare studie av industrier där Akzo Nobel Base Chemicals är ett exempel. För övrigt diskuteras olika konsekvenser som finns för samhället och naturen vid en översvämning av industrier (som dock idag är svåra att förutsäga), vilka förslag på förebyggande som finns och om det finns någon lagstiftning som vidrör frågor kring naturrisker gällande industrier.</p> / <p>The Climate question has recently received much attention, with the climate changes which has begun to occur on the earth. This will result in more natural disasters, there is a risk that flooding will increase all over the world. Sweden isn’t a particularly flood prone country today, but the frequency is expected to increase even here. The Swedish Government Official Reports have done different studies about the risks and the measures for three lakes in Sweden, where the area around Vänern are expected to be much threatened. The normal level of Vänern is today 44, 54 m, but in a changing climate, the highest dimension level (10 000-year level) is estimated to 47, 4 m. This level may have consequences for the society because a large part of the buildings, heavy industry and agriculture areas are situated closely to Vänern. The essay is qualitative and based on both interviews and literature. This essay takes a closer study of the industries where Akzo Nobel Base Chemicals is an example. Moreover discusses the different kinds of consequences that exist for the society and nature by a flooding of the industries (which today are difficult to predict), which the proposals on preparations are and if some existing legislation takes up questions around natural risks for industries.</p>

This study aims to investigate the effect of elastic properties of viscoelastic polymer solutions on the microscopic sweep efficiency in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations. The effect of elasticity was studied as isolated from the shear viscosity effect using polymer blends with identical shear viscosity behavior but different elastic characteristics. Oil displacement results were compared and the individual effect of elasticity on the sweep efficiency was investigated. A detailed rheological characterization of the polymer solutions was done to measure their viscoelastic properties. A series of polymer flooding experiments were performed using a radial core holder. Results of the experiments indicated that the sweep efficiency of a polymeric fluid could be effectively improved by adjusting the molecular weight distribution (MWD) of the solution at constant shear viscosity and polymer concentration. An attempt was made to find a rheological parameter of polymer solutions that correlates better with the resultant oil recovery. / Petroleum Engineering

Klimatfrågan har fått stor uppmärksamhet den senaste tiden i och med de klimatförändringar som har börjat ske på jorden. Följden av detta är fler naturolyckor där översvämningar är en fara som kommer att öka världen över. Idag är inte Sverige ett särskilt översvämningshotat land, men frekvensen bedöms öka även här. I Klimat- och sårbarhetsutredningens delbetänkande har undersökningar gjorts över risker och åtgärder för tre sjöar i Sverige, där Vänerområdet anses vara mycket hotat. Vänerns normalnivå är idag 44,54 m, men i ett förändrat klimat är den högsta, dimensionerande nivån (10 000-årsnivå) beräknad till 47,4 m. Vid denna nivå uppstår konsekvenser för samhället då en stor del bebyggelse, tung industri och jordbruksmark ligger mycket Vänernära. Uppsatsen är kvalitativ och baserad på både intervjuer och litteraturstudier. I uppsatsen görs en närmare studie av industrier där Akzo Nobel Base Chemicals är ett exempel. För övrigt diskuteras olika konsekvenser som finns för samhället och naturen vid en översvämning av industrier (som dock idag är svåra att förutsäga), vilka förslag på förebyggande som finns och om det finns någon lagstiftning som vidrör frågor kring naturrisker gällande industrier. / The Climate question has recently received much attention, with the climate changes which has begun to occur on the earth. This will result in more natural disasters, there is a risk that flooding will increase all over the world. Sweden isn’t a particularly flood prone country today, but the frequency is expected to increase even here. The Swedish Government Official Reports have done different studies about the risks and the measures for three lakes in Sweden, where the area around Vänern are expected to be much threatened. The normal level of Vänern is today 44, 54 m, but in a changing climate, the highest dimension level (10 000-year level) is estimated to 47, 4 m. This level may have consequences for the society because a large part of the buildings, heavy industry and agriculture areas are situated closely to Vänern. The essay is qualitative and based on both interviews and literature. This essay takes a closer study of the industries where Akzo Nobel Base Chemicals is an example. Moreover discusses the different kinds of consequences that exist for the society and nature by a flooding of the industries (which today are difficult to predict), which the proposals on preparations are and if some existing legislation takes up questions around natural risks for industries.

In recent years, due to the issues of energy saving, the smart grid has become more important. AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) is the basic of smart grid. However, AMI¡¦s network initialization usually cost a lot of time delay and energy waste because of many collisions due to the initialization in the high node density and variable network. In this paper, we proposed a Dynamic Contention Slot Initialization Protocol (DCSI Protocol) to reduce time delay and energy waste in the network initialization. At the beginning, all nodes in DCSI protocol are set in the receiving state. The proposed approach reduces not only collisions but also the communication failure due to the interference out of the transmission range. We divided time into time slots and then composed them to superframe. The first slot of superframe is designed for master node¡¦s broadcast, and other time slots are devised for other nodes to join in the network. Based on the previous superframe, nodes for the proposed protocol adjust the number of the contention slot by detecting collisions to adapt the high node density and variable network. The simulation results demonstrate superiority of DCSI protocol over flooding.

The advent of smart well technology, which is the use of down hole sensors to adjust well controls (i.e. injection rate, bottomhole pressure, etc.), has allowed the possibility to control a field in all stages of the production. This possibility holds great promise in better managing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes, especially in terms of applying optimization techniques. However, some procedures for optimizing EOR processes are not based on the physics of the process, which may lead to erroneous results. In addition, optimization of EOR processes can be difficult, and limited, if there is no access to the simulator code for computation of the adjoints used for optimization. This research describes the development of a general procedure for designing an initial starting point for a surfactant flood optimization. The method does not rely on a simulator's adjoint computation or on external computing of adjoints for optimization. The reservoir simulator used for this research was Schlumberger's Eclipse 100, and optimization was accomplished through use of a program written in Matlab. Utility of the approach is demonstrated by using it to optimize the process net present value (NPV) of a 5-spot surfactant flood (320-acres) and incorporating the optimization solution into a probabilistic geological and economic setting. This thesis includes a general procedure for optimizing a surfactant flood and provides groundwork for optimizing other EOR techniques. This research is useful because it takes the optimal solution and calculates a probability of success for possible NPVs. This is very important when accessing risk in a business scenario, because projects that have unknown probability of success are most likely to be abandoned as uneconomic. This thesis also illustrates possible NPVs if the optimal solution was used.

CO2 has been widely used as a displacement fluid in both immiscible and miscible displacement processes to obtain tertiary recovery from the field. There are several problems associated with the application of CO2 flooding, especially when there is a significant presence of heterogeneous elements, such as fractures, channels and high permeability streaks within the reservoir. With flooding, CO2 will finger through the target zone while leaving most of the residual/trapped oil untouched. As a result, early gas breakthrough has been a very common problem in CO2-related projects, reducing the overall sweep efficiency of CO2 flooding. This research aims at improving the CO2 flood efficiency using cross-linked gel conformance control and CO2 viscosifier technique. A series of coreflood experiment studies have been performed to investigate the possibility of applying CO2 mobility control techniques. Corresponding simulation works have also been carried out to predict the benefits of applying CO2 mobility control techniques in the field. In the laboratory study, the CO2 coreflood system was integrated with the CT (Computed Tomography)-scanner and obtained real-time coreflood images of the CO2 saturation distributions in the core. This system was applied to the research of both cross-linked polymer gel treatment and CO2 viscosifier study and produced images with sharp phase contrasts. For the gel conformance study, promising results were obtained by applying cross-linked gel to eliminate permeability contrast and diverting CO2 into low permeability regions to obtain incremental oil recovery; also studied were the gel strength in terms of leak-off extent with the aid of CT (Computed Tomography) images. For the CO2 viscosifier research, we tested several potential viscosifier chemicals and found out PVAc (Polyvinylacetate)/toluene combination to be the most promising. The follow-up study clearly demonstrates the superiority of viscosified CO2 over neat CO2 in terms of sweep efficiency. This research serves as a preliminary study in understanding advanced CO2 mobility control techniques and will provide insights to future studies on this topic.