Produced water presents economical and environmental challenges to oil producers. Downhole separation technology is able to separate oil or gas from produced fluid in downhole environment and injects waste water into deeper formations, thus saving energy and reducing waste emission. More than 120 downhole separation systems have been installed worldwide, but only about 60% of the installations achieved success. Most of the failures were due to the injectivity decline under the invasion of impurities in the injected water, such as suspended particles and oil droplets. A reliable model is needed to predict the reaction of reservoir permeability under the invasion of such impurities and serves as a tool to screen appropriate formations for downhole separator installations. / Previous experimental studies on particle-induced permeability damage reveal that high particle concentration, low fluid velocity, large particle size lead to more severe damage. The damage mechanisms are attributed to surface interception, bridging and size exclusion of particles in porous media. While for droplets, the resultant permeability decline is mostly due to surface interception. Empirical correlations with key parameters determined by core flooding data are widely applied to the simulation of permeability decline under invasion of particles and droplets. These correlations are developed based on characteristics of certain rocks and fluids, thus their applications are very restricted. / A more scientific method is to model the flow and capture of particulates at pore level. Reservoir rocks are porous media composed of pores of various sizes. Pore network models employ certain assumptions to imitate real porous media, and have been proved realistic in simulating fluid flow in porous media. In this study, a 2-dimensional square network model is used to simulate capture of particles and droplets in porous media. Pore bodies are represented by globes and pore throats are imitated with capillary tubes. The flow rates in the network are obtained by simultaneously solving mass balance equations at each pore body. The network model is tuned to match the porosity and permeability of a certain rock and serves as the infrastructure where the capture process takes place. / Particles are categorized as Brownian and non-Brownian particles according to size. For Brownian particles, diffusion is dominant and Fick’s law is applied to each pore inside the network to obtain deposition rate. For non-Brownian particles, their trajectories are mainly governed by gravity and drag force acting on them. Besides, the size of each particle is compared with the size of the pore where it is captured to determine the damage mechanism. For particles much smaller than the pore size, surface deposition is dominant and the permeability decline is gradual. For particles with sizes comparable to pore size, bridging and clogging are dominant and the permeability decline is much more severe. / Unlike particles, droplets can not be captured on top of each other. Accordingly, a captureequilibrium theory is proposed. Once the pore surface is covered by droplets, equilibrium is reached and droplets flow freely through porous media without being captured. The simulation on capture of oil droplets reveals that the surface wettability has significant influence on the resultant permeability damage. Most natural reservoirs are neutrally or oil wet. It is thus recommended to apply these surface conditions to future simulations. / The proposed model is validated with test data and reasonably good agreements are obtained. This new mechanistic model provides more insights into the capture process and greatly reduces the dependence on core flooding data.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland. / Typescript. Restricted until October 1994. Bibliography: l. 118-123. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Η ανάπτυξη των μεγαλουπόλεων συνεπάγεται τεράστιες εκπομπές αιωρούμενων σωματιδίων και άλλων ρυπαντών ουσιών στην ατμόσφαιρα, το οποίο οδηγεί σε πολύ μεγάλη υποβάθμιση της ποιότητας του ατμοσφαιρικού τους αέρα. Η καταγραφή και μελέτη όλων αυτών των αέριων ρυπαντών βελτιώνει σημαντικά τη γνώση μας, προκειμένου να καταλάβουμε αλλά και να διαχειριστούμε σωστά τέτοιου είδους σοβαρά περιβαλλοντικά προβλήματα. Στην παρούσα εργασία επεξεργαζόμαστε στατιστικά τα δεδομένα από 16 σταθμούς καταγραφής ατμοσφαιρικών ρύπων στην περιοχή της Αθήνας. Πιο συγκεκριμένα διαθέτουμε τις συγκεντρώσεις των αιωρούμενων σωματιδίων PM10 , του μονοξειδίου και διοξειδίου του αζώτου , του όζοντος , του μονοξειδίου του άνθρακα και του διοξειδίου του θείου για το έτος 2006, αλλά και τα μετεωρολογικά δεδομένα για το συγκεκριμένο έτος. Αναπαριστούμε γραφικά τις μέσες ημερήσιες αλλά και μηνιαίες τιμές για καθένα από τους παραπάνω ρύπους, για όλους τους σταθμούς στους οποίους μετρώνται οι συγκεντρώσεις τους και εξάγουμε συμπεράσματα για τις ώρες της ημέρας, αλλά και για το ποιούς μήνες, έχω τις μέγιστες τιμές για τον κάθε ρύπο. Ακόμα εξάγουμε συμπεράσματα σχετικά με τη συχνότητα εμφάνισης υπερβάσεων των θεσμοθετημένων ορίων , καθενός εκ των πιο πάνω ρυπαντών. Εφαρμόζουμε την μέθοδο της ανάλυσης γραμμικής παλινδρόμησης, με την οποία διαπιστώνουμε με ποιούς από τους υπόλοιπους ατμοσφαιρικούς ρύπους και με ποιες μετεωρολογικές παραμέτρους συσχετίζονται γραμμικά τα αιωρούμενα σωματίδια ενώ παρατηρούμε κάποια ετερογένεια ανάμεσα στους σταθμούς μέτρησής τους. Τέλος μέσω της διαδικασίας της ετεροσυσχέτισης των χρονοσειρών των ατμοσφαιρικών ρύπων των αιωρούμενων σωματιδίων, του μονοξειδίου του άνθρακα και του διοξειδίου του αζώτου μεταξύ των σταθμών καταγραφής τους, εξάγουμε συμπεράσματα σχετικά με τη συμπεριφορά των αντίστοιχων χρονοσειρών, δηλαδή το μέγεθος της σχέσης ανάμεσα στις δύο σειρές και τη χρονική απόσταση ανάμεσα στη θέση της μέγιστης ισοδυναμίας τους. / The development of big cities resulted in large emissions of suspended particulate matter (PM) and other pollutants in the atmosphere, which link to air quality deterioration. Monitoring and studying air pollutants improves our knowledge in order to understand and manage such significant environmental problems. In the present work, we perform statistics in the data of the 16 monitoring stations in Athens area. More specifically our data consists of the concentrations of PM10, NO, NO2, O3, SO2 and CO, as well as the meteorological data of the year 2006. We graphically represent mean daily and monthly values of each air pollutant and make appropriate conclusions. Moreover we deal with the exceedances of these air pollutants concentrations. We perform linear regression analysis in order to find out, which of the rest pollutants and meteorological data, PM10 have the best linear line fit with. We find enough differences between the monitoring stations. Finally through the cross correlation procedures of the time series of PM10, CO and NO2 between the monitoring stations, we make conclusions regarding the behavior of the time series as concerning the type of the relationship between them and the time distance between their maximum equivalence.

Vid miljöövervakning av konstruktionsprojekt såsom byggnation av väg och järnväg är det vanligt att uppsatta riktvärden för grumlighet överskrids. I en genomgång av årsrapporter från infrastrukturprojektet BanaVäg i Väst visade det sig att riktvärden för grumlighet ofta sätts upp utan noggrann kartläggning av vattendragens naturliga grumlighetsnivåer. Detta arbetssätt beror förmodligen på den oklara lagstiftningen gällande riktvärden på grumlighet och på bristfälliga anvisningar för hur referensprovtagning av grumlighet bör utformas. För att komma åt problematiken med opålitliga riktvärden borde riktvärden därför anpassas till enskilda vattendrag. I detta examensarbete gjordes ett försök att ta fram en metod för att kunna sätta vattendragsanpassade riktvärden. En dynamisk modell utvecklades för att ta fram grumlighet utifrån jordbruksareal, andel lera i avrinningsområdet samt vattenflöde. Modellen gav bäst, men trots allt inte tillfredställande, resultat för vattendrag med avrinningsområden mindre än 100 km2. För vattendrag som hade ett större avrinningsområde blev modellresultaten sämre, förmodligen på grund av en komplex samverkan mellan olika drivvariabler, där vissa inte ens togs hänsyn till i modellen. För att komma vidare med vattendragsanpassade riktvärden i Sverige föreslås fortsättningsvis en omfattande nationell satsning framförallt för större värdefulla vattendrag. Denna satsning bör innefatta anpassning av mer avancerade modeller för grumlighet till svenska förhållanden. Sammanfattningsvis visar studien tydligt att det finns ett stort behov av att förbättra metoderna för att kontrollera grumlighet samt att ta fram riktvärden anpassade utifrån naturliga grumlighetsnivåer i de olika vattendragen. / It has been noticed that construction activities close to watercourses often result in turbidity values that exceed guideline values. A detailed analysis of annual reports from the Swedish infrastructure project “BanaVäg i Väst” has shown that recommended values of turbidity often are determined without consideration of natural variations in turbidity. The performance probably depends on the lack of appropriate legislation on acceptable turbidity values and on how turbidity should be monitored during construction activities. The objective of this thesis was therefore to develop a method to determine background values for turbidity as a basis for setting water system adapted reference values. In the thesis a model for turbidity was developed with agricultural area, clay content within the watershed and discharge as input variables. With the dynamic model variations in turbidity could best be explained in watercourses of watersheds less than 100 km2, but even for these watercourses the model performance remained poor. For watercourses draining larger watersheds the model performance became even poorer, most probably due to complex interactions of a variety of driving variables, of which some were not included as input variables. A recommendation is therefore a national initiative where more advanced models can be used, at least for large watercourses that are highly vulnerable, after adaption to Swedish conditions. This study clearly shows that there is an urgent need in Sweden to improve methods to monitor turbidity as well as to improve guideline values by adjusting them according to background turbidity levels.

Since the Dust Bowl, conservation agriculture has become a common practice globally. Because of the rising interest in the use of corn biomass as a feedstock for biofuel production, the effects of corn stover removal on soil erosion were explored. It was hypothesized that selective harvesting strategies would impact soil erosion differently across a variety of slopes. Soil erosion boxes were constructed, and a rainfall simulator with an intensity of 30 mm hr-1 for 46 min was used to create runoff from slopes of 1, 5, and 10% and three cover factor treatments (no removal and two simulated corn stover removal strategies). Due to research time constraints, simulated corn roots were constructed to emulate actual corn roots in all experiments. The corn stover harvest strategies change the distribution of cobs, husks, leaves, and stalks in field; these changes were represented as the cover factor treatments. Changing the type of plant material on the soil surface impacted the predicted soil erosion from the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). Based on the results from this study, the effect of corn stover cover percentages had a significant impact on the predicted and observed soil loss.

[pt] Talhas são dispositivos mecânicos muito usados para carregar e descarregar objetos e/ou transportá-los em indústrias e em armazéns. O movimento da talha é controlado por um operador ou é programado e controlado automaticamente. Nos dois casos, o movimento da talha causa balanços indesejáveis da carga e da garra, levando a um tempo ocioso antes do agarramento e do posicionamento da carga, bem como podendo ocasionar o escape dos cabos das ranhuras das polias, sendo pois um problema de segurança. Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de modelos matemáticos que representam um sistema tipo pêndulo embarcado em um veículo que suporta uma carga suspensa por um ou mais cabos. A estrutura na qual se prende o ponto de fixação do cabo de sustentação, chamada de trolley, movimenta-se nas direções horizontal e vertical em função de excitações que são oriundas do movimento sofrido pelo veículo. Este veículo é representado por um outro modelo que está acoplado ao sistema do pêndulo. São projetadas leis de controle para cada um dos modelos criados para que sejam minimizadas as acelerações da carga suspensa. Um dos modelos criados representa uma maca com paciente, suspensos por cabo numa ambulância. A lei de controle deve dar conforto a este paciente ao ser transportado. Para avaliar e validar os modelos dinâmicos e os projetos de controle são realizadas várias simulações e análises experimentais. / [en] Cranes are very used mechanical devices to load and to unload objects and/or to carry them in industries and warehouses. The movement of the crane is controlled by an operator or is programmed and controlled automatically. In the two cases, the movement of the crane cause undesirable swings of the load and claw, leading to an idle time before the grasping and the positioning of the load, as well as being able to cause to the escape of the ropes of the grooves of the pulleys. This can cause a security problem. This work presents the development of mathematical models that represent a system like a pendulum, where the load is suspended by one or more ropes. The structure in which the point of attachment of the rope of sustentation, called trolley, have motion in the horizontal and vertical directions. These excitements are deriving of the movement suffered from another model that represents a vehicle that is coupled to the system of the pendulum. Laws of control are projected for each model created so that the accelerations of the suspended load are minimized. One of the models created represents a stretcher with patient suspended by rope in an ambulance. The control law must give comfort to this patient in the transport. To evaluate and to validate the dynamic models and the designs of control created some simulations and experimental analyses are carried through.

In this thesis the properties of graphene and its few-layers are engineered to make them highly conductive. Two different approaches were implemented to achieve this goal. One approach was to increase the concentration of charge carriers by intercalation of acceptor FeCl3 molecules between graphene planes. This resulted in a highly conductive yet transparent material which can be useful for applications. Another approach was to increase the mobility of carriers by means of removing surface contamination in the current annealing process. Optimal annealing parameters were found and a reproducible cleaning method was suggested.

O objetivo do presente estudo é caracterizar a hidrodinâmica e o transporte de material particulado em suspensão (MPS) no estuário de Caravelas sob diferentes condições de maré e vazão fluvial. Foram realizadas quatro campanhas hidrográficas durante ciclos completos de maré, sendo em condições de maré de sizígia e quadratura, e durante os períodos seco e chuvoso. Dados de nível de água, velocidade e direção de correntes, salinidade, temperatura e turbidez foram obtidos em uma estação fixa próxima da desembocadura do estuário. A partir destes dados foram obtidos os transportes residuais de MPS e calculado os mecanismos de transporte. As maiores concentrações médias de material particulado em suspensão ocorreram em condições de sizígia. Em condições de maré de quadratura o transporte resultante de MPS foi com sentido estuário acima, porém de pequena intensidade. Em condições de sizígia o estuário é caracterizado por correntes mais intensas e assimétricas, com dominância de vazante. Durante a condição de sizígia o estuário pode atuar como importador ou exportador de MPS. O estuário do rio Caravelas foi classificado como bem misturado e fracamente estratificado. A hidrografia e o balanço sedimentar são principalmente modulados pela altura da maré e o aporte de água doce é irrelevante. / The objective of the present study is to characterize the hydrodynamics and the suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the Caravelas Estuary under different tidal and river regimes. Four hydrographic campaigns were carried out comprising a complete semi-diurnal tidal cycle, comprising neap and spring tidal phases, and during dry and wet seasons. Water level, current speed and direction, salinity, temperature and turbidity were recorded in an anchored station near to the estuarine mouth. The residual SPM flux and the mechanisms of transport were calculated. The higher SPM concentrations were recorded during the spring tidal phase. During neap tides, the net SPM flux 1 was up-estuary, although with low scale. During spring tides the tidal currents are strongly ebb dominant, and the net flux can be either up- or down-estuary. The estuary was classified as well mixed or weakly stratified. The hydrography and the sediment balance are firstly modulated by the tidal range, and the fresh water inflow is negligible.

Prescribed fire has become a management tool utilized to restore or maintain the ecology of the mixed hardwoods ecosystem in the Ozark hills of southwestern Illinois. One effect of prescribed burning is consumption of fuel beds, including the litter layer that protects soil from erosion. Amount of sediment loss after prescribed burning in the steep topography of the Ozark hills is unknown. Erosion after prescribed burning could lead to increased soil loss and possibly stream sedimentation (Bladon etal., 2014). The objective of this research was to quantify the amount of sediment transport occurring on a watershed scale. Sediment yields were measured from five paired watersheds located in Trail of Tears State Forest in Union County, IL, USA from April 2009 into 2010. This location was selected because of the highly erodible loess soils and steeps slopes which present the highest probability of sediment transport following a prescribed burn treatment. One of the paired watersheds was randomly assigned as the control and the other assigned as the treatment. The treatment was a prescribed burn applied at standard burn prescription levels. Sediment loads were determined by collecting samples from a known volume of overland flow held in storage tanks below each watershed after rain events which produced runoff. The prescribed burn treatment significantly reduced the litter depth with 12.6%–31.5% litter remaining in the prescribed burn treatment watersheds. When data were combined across all watersheds, no significant differences were obtained between burn treatment and control watershed for total suspended solids and sediment concentrations or loads. The annual sediment losses varied between 1.41 to 90.54 kg·ha-1·year-1 in the four prescribed burn watersheds and 0.81 to 2.54 kg·ha-1·year-1 in the four control watersheds. Prescribed burn watershed 7 showed an average depth of soil loss of 4.2 mm, whereas control watershed 8 showed an average accumulation of sediments (9.9 mm), possibly due to steeper slopes. Prescribed burning did not cause a significant increase in soil erosion and sediment loss and can be considered acceptable in managing mixed hardwood forests of Ozark uplands and the Shawnee Hills physiographic regions of southern Illinois.