In this dissertation, we focus on development of algorithms for estimating the severity of air leakage and for predicting the out-of-adjustment of pushrod in an air brake system of heavy commercial vehicles. The leakage of air from the brake system causes a reduction in the steady-state pressure in the brake chamber and an increase in the lag of the braking pressure response thereby increasing the stopping distance of the vehicle. Currently a presence of leak in the system is detected for the severities of leak that cause the reservoir pressure to drop below a threshold, such as, the leakage of compressed air due to rupture of the reservoir or of the hoses carrying the compressed air. The leakage of air is also possible due to several other reasons such as, cracks in the hoses, loose couplings between the hoses etc. The severities of leak, corresponding to such situations, do not lead to the reservoir pressure drop below the threshold; therefore, their presence remains undetected. For the detection and estimation of such severities of leak, a diagnostic scheme has been given and is based on a model developed for the mass ow rate of the leakage of air from the air brake system. Out-of-adjustment of the pushrod is the extension of pushrod beyond a prede- ned value and for safety concerns, an extension beyond this value is not desired. Currently no warning system is available for monitoring the out-of-adjustment of pushrod, except, during the safety inspection. Inspection of the pushrod for outof- adjustment is the most labor-intensive and time consuming task during a typical safety inspection procedure. For efficient and continuous monitoring of the pushrod for out-of-adjustment, a diagnostic algorithm for estimating the steady-state pushrod stroke has been developed. The scheme is expected to expedite the inspection process for the out-of-adjustment of pushrod. Experimental data from the air brake test setup at Texas A and M University has been used for corroborating both the models. Also, the problem of parameter estimation of sequential hybrid systems such as the air brake system, has been addressed. The \hybrid" nature of the air brake system stems from the system being in di erent modes corresponding to di erent values of the displacement of the pushrod and is a result of di erent spring compliances associated with the pushrod in di erent ranges of its displacement. The air brake system is \sequential" in the sense that as the pressure increases, the displacement of the pushrod increases and there is a distinct sequence of modes that the system will transition through and upon a reduction in pressure, the sequence of modes is revisited in the reverse order. The mode to mode transition of the air brake system is governed by the parameters, such as, the clearance between the brake pad and the brake drum. The problem of estimation, that has been addressed, is as follows: Suppose the pressure in the air brake system were to be measured and that the motion of the pushrod is not measured. Is it possible to estimate the nal displacement of the pushrod without knowing the parameters, such as the clearance, that govern the system to transition from one mode to another?

Hydraulic fracturing is an important method used to enhance the recovery of oil and gas from reservoirs, especially for low permeability formations. The distribution of pressure in fractures and fracture geometry are needed to design conventional and unconventional hydraulic fracturing operations, fracturing during water-flooding of petroleum reservoirs, shale gas, and injection/extraction operation in a geothermal reservoir. Designing a hydraulic fracturing job requires an understanding of fracture growth as a function of treatment parameters. There are various models used to approximately define the development of fracture geometry, which can be broadly classified into 2D and 3D categories. 2D models include, the Perkins-Kern-Nordgren (PKN) fracture model, and the Khristianovic-Geertsma-de. Klerk (KGD) fracture model, and the radial model. 3D models include fully 3D models and pseudo-three-dimensional (P-3D) models. The P-3D model is used in the oil industry due to its simplification of height growth at the wellbore and along the fracture length in multi-layered formations. In this research, the Perkins-Kern-Nordgren (PKN) fracture model is adopted to simulate hydraulic fracture propagation and recession, and the pressure changing history. Two different approaches to fluid leak-off are considered, which are the classical Carter's leak-off theory with a constant leak-off coefficient, and Pressure-dependent leak-off theory. Existence of poroelastic effect in the reservoir is also considered. By examining the impact of leak-off models and poroelastic effects on fracture geometry, the influence of fracturing fluid and rock properties, and the leak-off rate on the fracture geometry and fracturing pressure are described. A short and wide fracture will be created when we use the high viscosity fracturing fluid or the formation has low shear modulus. While, the fracture length, width, fracturing pressure, and the fracture closure time increase as the fluid leak-off coefficient is decreased. In addition, an algorithm is developed for the post-fracture pressure-transient analysis to calculate formation permeability. The impulse fracture pressure transient model is applied to calculate the formation permeability both for the radial flow and linear fracture flow assumption. Results show a good agreement between this study and published work.

This thesis introduces a method that combines automated test data generation techniques with high volume testing and resource monitoring. High volume testing repeats test cases many times, simulating extended execution intervals. These testing techniques have been found useful for uncovering errors resulting from component coordination problems, as well as system resource consumption (e.g. memory leaks) or corruption. Coupling automated test data generation with high volume testing and resource monitoring could make this approach more scalable and effective in the field.

A memory leak is a common software vulnerability that will lead to performance degradation of the software or crash or both. A Memory leak is one typical cause of software aging. The phenomenon of memory leaks usually occurs in C/C++ because programmers need to manage memory by themselves when programs run. However, many think that Java does not suffer from memory leaks since Java provides automatic garbage collection. Actually, Java programs will run out of memory unexpectedly after executing for a long time. The reason for Java memory leaks is that reachable objects are no longer needed. These objects should be reclaimed but they can¡¦t because they are still referenced. This thesis introduces a method for filtering the leaked objects in Java memory leak programs. First, we monitor the heap growth after each full garbage collection and the numbers of full garbage collection to identify programs that might have potential memory management problems. Second, we periodically keep track of growth trend of each object of problematic programs and filter out the suspected one by time series analysis. Finally, we execute the program blocks that include objects that we find out to see if the program will run out of memory eventually. The method has been implemented and has been verified successful by four Java memory leak programs.

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The technique of the distributed fiber optic sensor system, the principle that we use Sagnac interferometer to sense time-varying physical field, can be used to measure the position of the disturbed physical field and have the ability of detecting continuous position. Based on the configuration of the Sagnac interferometer, sensing optic fiber is loop design, which is hard to be set in real surroundings, and a half length of loop fiber have to be the isolated protection of the physical field. Therefore, this essay brings up the In-Line conception to be the design direction. And we make use of the physical field of pipeline leak acoustic to detect disturbance position. The measurable range of systematic structure signal is 3¡Ñ10-4 ~ 3¡Ñ10-2 , and the dynamic range is 40 dB. On the other hand, the structure of polarization insensitive is brought up, the measurable range is 1.5¡Ñ10-3 ~ 3¡Ñ10-2 , and the dynamic range is 26 dB.

Filter holders and continuous air monitors (CAMs) are used extensively in the nuclear industry. It is important to minimize leakage in these devices and in recognition of this consideration, a limit on leakage for sampling systems is specified in ANSI/HPS N13.1-1999; however the protocol given in the standard is really germane to measurement of significant leakage, e.g., several percent of the sampling flow rate. In the present study, a technique for quantifying leakage was developed and that approach was used to measure the sealing integrity of a CAM and two kinds of filter holders. The methodology involves use of sulfur hexafluoride as a tracer gas with the device being tested operated under dynamic flow conditions. The leak rates in these devices were determined in the pressure range from 2.49 kPa (10 In. H2O) vacuum to 2.49 kPa (10 In. H2O) pressure at a typical flow rate of 56.6 L/min (2 cfm). For the two filter holders, the leak rates were less than 0.007% of the nominal flow rate. The leak rate in the CAM was less than 0.2% of the nominal flow rate. These values are well within the limit prescribed in the ANSI standard, which is 5% of the nominal flow rate. Therefore the limit listed in the ANSI standard should be reconsidered as lower values can be achieved, and the methodology presented herein can be used to quantify lower leakage values in sample collectors and analyzers. A theoretical analysis was also done to determine the nature of flow through the leaks and the amount of flow contribution by the different possible mechanisms of flow through leaks.

This dissertation deals with the development of a model-based diagnostic system for air brake systems that are widely used in commercial vehicles, such as trucks, tractor-trailers, buses, etc. The performance of these brake systems is sensitive to maintenance and hence they require frequent inspections. Current inspection techniques require an inspector to go underneath a vehicle to check the brake system for possible faults, such as leaks, worn brake pads, out-of-adjustment of push rods, etc. Such inspections are time consuming, labor intensive and difficult to perform on vehicles with a low ground clearance. In this context, the development of an onboard/ handheld diagnostic tool for air brakes would be of significant value. Such a tool would automate the brake inspection process, thereby reducing the inspection time and improving the safety of operation of commercial vehicles. In this dissertation, diagnostic schemes are developed to automatically detect two important and prevalent faults that can occur in air brake systems – leaks and out-of-adjustment of push rods. These diagnostic schemes are developed based on a nonlinear model for the pneumatic subsystem of the air brake system that correlates the pressure transients in the brake chamber with the supply pressure to the treadle valve and the displacement of the treadle valve plunger. These diagnostic schemes have been corroborated with data obtained from the experimental facility at Texas A&M University and the results are presented. The response of the pneumatic subsystem of the air brake system is such that it can be classified as what is known as a “Sequential Hybrid System”. In this dissertation, the term “hybrid systems” is used to denote those systems whose mathematical representation involves a finite set of governing ordinary differential equations corresponding to a finite set of modes of operation. The problem of estimating the push rod stroke is posed as a parameter estimation problem and a transition detection problem involving the hybrid model of the pneumatic subsystem of the air brake system. Also, parameter estimation schemes for a class of sequential hybrid systems are developed. The efficacy of these schemes is illustrated with some examples.

In the Ottawa Hospital Weight Management Clinic, we have previously identified subpopulations of patients in the upper and lower quintiles for rate of weight loss, and characterized them as ‘obese diet sensitive’ (ODS) and ‘obese diet resistant’ (ODR) patient groups, respectively. Skeletal muscle is a major contributor to basal metabolic rate and mitochondrial proton leak in skeletal muscle can account for up to 50 % of resting oxygen consumption. The overall aim of this research is to explore differences in mitochondrial function in human primary myotubes from ODS and ODR subjects. Subsets of ODS and ODR subjects (n = 9/group) who followed a hypocaloric clinical weight loss program at the Ottawa Weight Management Clinic consented to a muscle (vastus lateralis) biopsy. Human primary myoblasts obtained from biopsies were immunopurified and differentiated into myotubes. Mitochondrial function and distribution were compared in intact myotubes from ODS and ODR subjects. Mitochondrial proton leak was significantly lower (p< 0.05) in ODR myotubes compared to ODS myotubes, independent of whether cells were differentiated in low or high glucose medium. In addition, in low glucose medium, ODR myotubes had higher MnSOD protein levels compared to ODS myotubes (p< 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in mitochondrial content, mitochondrial membrane potential, cellular ROS levels or ATP content between ODS and ODR myotubes. Overall, our in vitro mitochondrial proton leak results are consistent with our previous ex vivo results. Future research should examine the possibility that differences in proton leak between ODS and ODR groups may be related to mechanisms of cellular ROS regulation.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--University of South Australia, 1998.