In the polymer extrusion process the product quality like mechanical, optical, electrical properties and homogeneity etc. can be achieved by controlling the melt temperature, melt pressure or viscosity within a narrow fluctuation range. In the earlier studies there are many literatures in connection with the extrusion quality and related quality controls; i.e. temperature control, pressure control and viscosity control. In each of the control strategies, it is believed that the most effective to maintain product quality utilising viscosity control, because a polymer viscosity closely correlates with its composition and molecular distribution, and hence the characteristic of the material. In the viscosity control strategy, viscosity is an induced variable calculated from either the (1) flow rate and pressure drop with in-line rheometer or (2) melt temperature, screw speed (or pressure), geometrical dimensions of extruder, and extrusion material constants without in-line rheometer; the former method may interfere the output rate while the latter one does not. On the demand of using viscosity-measuring instruments as sensors to control the quality of the products, we developed an empirical off-line viscosity model, which is used to derive the extrusion viscosity models in the control process without in-line rheometer. The off-line viscosity model is proved more accuracy than other previous suggested models, such as WLF and Andrade¡¦s equations, to fit the experimental data. Polypropylene (PP) was used in this study to test the effectiveness of the extrusion viscosity models. Comparing the calculated results, it was found that the viscosity characteristics obtained by the extrusion viscosity models are in agreement with those obtained by using an in-line rheometer. Both methods can be used to obtain the viscosity in the polymer extrusion process. The objective of this study is to develop extrusion viscosity models together with collected data from several experimental tests and template rule-base to build a Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) fuzzy logic closed-loop controller for the plastics extrusion control. The objective of this controller is to eliminate process variations and to produce the polymer of consistent quality. The fuzzy logic is provided for designing the MIMO closed-loop controller because it is suitable for applying to the polymer extrusion process control with such advantages as handling complex problems like non-linear, time varying behaviour and poor quality measurements happened in the extrusion process, etc. The experimental pre-tests include (1) investigation of the relationship between melt temperature and barrel setting temperatures (2) investigation of the relationship between melt pressure and screw speed and (3) building the relation equation between measured viscosity, melt temperature and speed for the in-line rheometer, etc. In order to test the effectiveness of the MIMO FLC, an off-line simulation program is developed, and the closed-loop tests are performed on the extruder. The test results prove that the designed MIMO FLC can effectively control the quality of products.

Polymers play a key role in several EOR processes such as polymer flooding, surfactant-polymer flooding and alkaline-surfactant-polymer flooding due to their critical importance of mobility control in achieving high oil recovery from these processes. Numerical simulators are used to predict the performance of all of these processes and in particular the injection rate of the chemical solutions containing polymer; since the economics is very sensitive to the injection rates. Injection rates are governed by the injection viscosity, thus, it is very important to model the polymer viscosity accurately. For the predictions to be accurate, not only the viscosity model must be accurate, but also the calculation of equivalent shear rate in each gridblock must be accurate because the non-Newtonian viscosity models depend on this shear rate. As the size of the gridblock increases, the calculation of this velocity becomes less numerically accurate, especially close to wells. This research presents improvements in polymer viscosity model. Using the improvements in shear thinning model, the laboratory polymer rheology data was better matched. For the first time, polymer viscosity was modeled for complete range of velocity using the Unified Viscosity Model for published laboratory data. New models were developed for relaxation time, time constant and high shear viscosity during that match. These models were then used to match currently available HPAM polymer's laboratory data and predict its viscosity for various concentrations for full flow velocity range. This research presents the need for injectivity correction when large grid sizes are used. Use of large grid sizes to simulate large reservoir due to computation constraints induces errors in shear rate calculations near the wellbore and underestimate polymer solution viscosity. Underestimated polymer solution viscosities lead to incorrect injectivity calculation. In some cases, depending on the well grid block size, this difference between a fine scale and a coarse simulation could be as much as 100%. This study focuses on minimizing those errors. This methodology although needs some more work, but can be used in accurate predictions of reservoir simulation studies of chemical enhanced oil recovery processes involving polymers. / text

The horizontal twin-roll casting (TRC) process is an energy saving and cost-efficient method for producing near-net-shape sheets of castable metals for light-weight production. In order to investigate the TRC process numerically, a code is generated in OpenFOAM and the commercial software STAR-CCM+ is used. Both are validated with the Stefan problem, the gallium melting test case, and a continuous casting experiment for magnesium AZ31. Different solidification models are tested that are similar to solution domain definitions and solid-fraction temperature relations. The comparison with temperature measurements of the MgF GmbH Freiberg pilot plant and the final microstructure exhibits good correlation. Sensitivity studies are carried out for thermophysical properties of AZ31 as well as pilot plant parameters. Furthermore, the rolls are incorporated into the simulation to determine the effect of a location-dependent heat-transfer coefficient. Finally, the results are compared to a second pilot plant situated at the Helmholtz-Centre Geesthacht in order to explore differences and similarities. / Das horizontales Gießwalzen ist eine energiesparende und kostengünstige Methode zur Erzeugung von Flachprodukten, die im Leichtbau verwendet werden. Um dieses Verfahren numerisch zu untersuchen wurde ein Programmcode in OpenFOAM entwickelt und die kommerzielle Software STAR-CCM+ verwendet, wobei beide mit dem Stefan Problem, dem Schmelzen von Gallium und Messdaten des Stranggusses von Magnesium AZ31 validiert wurden. Verschiedene Erstarrungsmodelle werden ebenso getestet wie Variationen des Simulationsbereiches und Feststoff-Temperatur-Verläufe. Vergleiche mit Temperaturmessdaten der Pilotanlage MgF GmbH Freiberg und der finalen Mikrostruktur zeigen gute Übereinstimmungen. Sensitivitätsanalysen werden durchgeführt, um die Einflüsse von thermophysikalischen Eigenschaften und Anlagenparametern abzuschätzen. Des Weiteren werden die Walzen in die Simulation mit einbezogen, um den Effekt eines lokal veränderlichen Wärmeübergangskoeffizienten zu beurteilen. Schließlich werden die Ergebnisse mit denen einer zweiten Pilotanlage am Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht verglichen. / Le laminage de coulée continue horizontal possède une faible consommation d’énergie et est bon marché pour la production des feuilles de métaux coulables utilisés dans la construction légère. Afin d’examiner ce processus numériquement, un code est généré dans OpenFOAM et le logiciel commercial STAR-CCM+ est utilisé, tous les deux sont validés en utilisant le problème de Stefan, la fusion du gallium et la coulée continue verticale de magnésium AZ31. Plusieurs modèles de solidification sont testés, ainsi que la variation du domaine de simulation, et des rélations entre la teneur en matière solide et la température. Des comparaisons avec des résultats de mesures de la température à l’installation pilote de MgF GmbH Freiberg ainsi que la microstructure donnent des bons résultats. Des analyses de sensibilité sont effectuées afin d’évaluer l’influence des propriétés thermophysiques et des paramètres de l’installation. De plus, les cylindres sont intégrés dans la simulation pour estimer l’impact du coefficient de transfert de chaleur dépendant du lieu. Finalement, les résultats sont comparés avec ceux du Helmholtz-Centre Geesthacht.

The horizontal twin-roll casting (TRC) process is an energy saving and cost-efficient method for producing near-net-shape sheets of castable metals for light-weight production. In order to investigate the TRC process numerically, a code is generated in OpenFOAM and the commercial software STAR-CCM+ is used. Both are validated with the Stefan problem, the gallium melting test case, and a continuous casting experiment for magnesium AZ31. Different solidification models are tested that are similar to solution domain definitions and solid-fraction temperature relations. The comparison with temperature measurements of the MgF GmbH Freiberg pilot plant and the final microstructure exhibits good correlation. Sensitivity studies are carried out for thermophysical properties of AZ31 as well as pilot plant parameters. Furthermore, the rolls are incorporated into the simulation to determine the effect of a location-dependent heat-transfer coefficient. Finally, the results are compared to a second pilot plant situated at the Helmholtz-Centre Geesthacht in order to explore differences and similarities. / Das horizontales Gießwalzen ist eine energiesparende und kostengünstige Methode zur Erzeugung von Flachprodukten, die im Leichtbau verwendet werden. Um dieses Verfahren numerisch zu untersuchen wurde ein Programmcode in OpenFOAM entwickelt und die kommerzielle Software STAR-CCM+ verwendet, wobei beide mit dem Stefan Problem, dem Schmelzen von Gallium und Messdaten des Stranggusses von Magnesium AZ31 validiert wurden. Verschiedene Erstarrungsmodelle werden ebenso getestet wie Variationen des Simulationsbereiches und Feststoff-Temperatur-Verläufe. Vergleiche mit Temperaturmessdaten der Pilotanlage MgF GmbH Freiberg und der finalen Mikrostruktur zeigen gute Übereinstimmungen. Sensitivitätsanalysen werden durchgeführt, um die Einflüsse von thermophysikalischen Eigenschaften und Anlagenparametern abzuschätzen. Des Weiteren werden die Walzen in die Simulation mit einbezogen, um den Effekt eines lokal veränderlichen Wärmeübergangskoeffizienten zu beurteilen. Schließlich werden die Ergebnisse mit denen einer zweiten Pilotanlage am Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht verglichen. / Le laminage de coulée continue horizontal possède une faible consommation d’énergie et est bon marché pour la production des feuilles de métaux coulables utilisés dans la construction légère. Afin d’examiner ce processus numériquement, un code est généré dans OpenFOAM et le logiciel commercial STAR-CCM+ est utilisé, tous les deux sont validés en utilisant le problème de Stefan, la fusion du gallium et la coulée continue verticale de magnésium AZ31. Plusieurs modèles de solidification sont testés, ainsi que la variation du domaine de simulation, et des rélations entre la teneur en matière solide et la température. Des comparaisons avec des résultats de mesures de la température à l’installation pilote de MgF GmbH Freiberg ainsi que la microstructure donnent des bons résultats. Des analyses de sensibilité sont effectuées afin d’évaluer l’influence des propriétés thermophysiques et des paramètres de l’installation. De plus, les cylindres sont intégrés dans la simulation pour estimer l’impact du coefficient de transfert de chaleur dépendant du lieu. Finalement, les résultats sont comparés avec ceux du Helmholtz-Centre Geesthacht.