Quantitative assessment of decadal water temperature changes in Lake Kasumigaura, a shallow turbid lake, using a one-dimensional model

To assess the decadal water temperature (WT) changes observed at the center of Lake Kasumigaura, a shallow turbid lake in Japan, we constructed a prediction model for WT. The thermal interactions among air, water, and sediment were simulated by a one-dimensional differential equation using hourly observations of meteorological and limnological parameters. The validated model showed good performance (i.e., <1 °C RMSE for the daily averaged WT) for 2012, 2013, and 2015, respectively, in both upper and lower water layers, which were attained by incorporating a physical sub-model regarding the surface water temperature (surface WT). The good description of seasonal, daily, and hourly changes in surface WT obtained with the sub-model was confirmed by the observed and simulated time series. We then quantified and evaluated the trends of the meteorological and limnological parameters influencing WT changes from 1979 to 2015 based on their effects on WT by using the prediction model with the increases in air temperature (AT), solar radiation (SR), wind velocity (WV), and turbidity during that period; then, WT in the former period (1979) was predicted according to the trends and compared with the measured WT. The observed WT changes during the period were quantitatively explained by the compound effects of the parameters' changes, i.e., the AT and SR raising the WT, and the WV and turbidity lowering the WT.

Pulsatility damping in the microcirculation: Basic pattern and modulating factors

Blood flow pulsatility is an important determinant of macro- and microvascular physiology. Pulsatility is damped largely in the microcirculation, but the characteristics of this damping and the factors that regulate it have not been fully elucidated yet. Applying computational approaches to real microvascular network geometry, we examined the pattern of pulsatility damping and the role of potential damping factors, including pulse frequency, vascular viscous resistance, vascular compliance, viscoelastic behavior of the vessel wall, and wave propagation and reflection. To this end, three full rat mesenteric vascular networks were reconstructed from intravital microscopic recordings, a one-dimensional (1D) model was used to reproduce pulsatile properties within the network, and potential damping factors were examined by sensitivity analysis. Results demonstrate that blood flow pulsatility is predominantly damped at the arteriolar side and remains at a low level at the venular side. Damping was sensitive to pulse frequency, vascular viscous resistance and vascular compliance, whereas viscoelasticity of the vessel wall or wave propagation and reflection contributed little to pulsatility damping. The present results contribute to our understanding of mechanical forces and their regulation in the microcirculation.

Hindered and compression solid settling functions - Sensor data collection, practical model identification and validation

Secondary settling tanks (SSTs) are the most hydraulically sensitive unit operations in activated sludge water resource recovery facilities (WRRF). Mathematical models for predicting activated sludge solids settling velocity include parameters that show irreducible epistemic uncertainty. Therefore, reliable and periodic calibration of the settling velocity model is key for predicting activated sludge process capacity, thus averting possible failures under wet-weather flow- and filamentous bulking conditions. The two main knowledge gaps addressed here are: (1) Do constitutive functions for hindered and compression settling exist, for which all velocity parameters can be uniquely estimated? (2) What is the optimum sensor data requirement of developing reliable settling velocity functions? Innovative settling column sensor and full-scale data were used to identify and validate amended Vesilind function for hindered settling and a new exponential function for compression settling velocity using one-dimensional and computational fluid dynamics simulations. Results indicate practical model identifiability under well-settling and filamentous bulking conditions.

Comparison of the Windkessel model and structured-tree model applied to prescribe outflow boundary conditions for a one-dimensional arterial tree model

One-dimensional (1D) modeling is a widely adopted approach for studying wave propagation phenomena in the arterial system. Despite the frequent use of the Windkessel (WK) model to prescribe outflow boundary conditions for 1D arterial tree models, it remains unclear to what extent the inherent limitation of the WK model in describing wave propagation in distal vasculatures affect hemodynamic variables simulated at the arterial level. In the present study, a 1D model of the arterial tree was coupled respectively with a WK boundary model and a structured-tree (ST) boundary model, yielding two types of arterial tree models. The effective resistances, compliances and inductances of the WK and ST boundary models were matched to facilitate quantitative comparisons. Obtained results showed that pressure/flow waves simulated by the two models were comparable in the aorta, whereas, their discrepancies increased towards the periphery. Wave analysis revealed that the differences in reflected waves generated by the boundary models were the major sources of pressure wave discrepancies observed in large arteries. Additional simulations performed under aging conditions demonstrated that arterial stiffening with age enlarged the discrepancies, but with the effects being partly counteracted by physiological aortic dilatation with age. These findings suggest that the method adopted for modeling the outflow boundary conditions has considerable influence on the performance of a 1D arterial tree model, with the extent of influence varying with the properties of the arterial system.

Mechanistic modeling of modular co-rotating twin-screw extruders

In this study, we present a one-dimensional (1D) model of the metering zone of a modular, co-rotating twin-screw extruder for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion (HME). The model accounts for filling ratio, pressure, melt temperature in screw channels and gaps, driving power, torque and the residence time distribution (RTD). It requires two empirical parameters for each screw element to be determined experimentally or numerically using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The required Nusselt correlation for the heat transfer to the barrel was determined from experimental data. We present results for a fluid with a constant viscosity in comparison to literature data obtained from CFD simulations. Moreover, we show how to incorporate the rheology of a typical, non-Newtonian polymer melt, and present results in comparison to measurements. For both cases, we achieved excellent agreement. Furthermore, we present results for the RTD, based on experimental data from the literature, and found good agreement with simulations, in which the entire HME process was approximated with the metering model, assuming a constant viscosity for the polymer melt.