Engineering Commons^™

Dig Limits Optimization Using Binary Integer Linear Programming Method In Open Pit Mines, Hussam Naif Altalhi

Masters Theses

"Dig limits optimization is the process for classifying different materials (e.g., ore, stockpile material, and waste) into appropriately sized contiguous zones for open pit mining. The efficient determination of dig-limits is crucial for profitable and sustainable resource extraction in mining. Previous research has focused on defining dig-limits manually or using optimization approaches, but these methods are limited to only handling two material destinations (ore and waste). Thus, there is a need for operations research methods that consider the selectivity of mining equipment and can optimize dig-limits for metal mining operations with more than two material destinations. Consequently, the objective of …

Particle Swarm Optimization For Critical Experiment Design, Cole Michael Kostelac

Masters Theses

“Critical experiments are used by nuclear data evaluators and criticality safety engineers to validate nuclear data and computational methods. Many of these experiments are designed to maximize the sensitivity to a certain nuclide-reaction pair in an energy range of interest. Traditionally, a parameter sweep is conducted over a set of experimental variables to find a configuration that is critical and maximally sensitive. As additional variables are added, the total number of configurations increases exponentially and quickly becomes prohibitively computationally expensive to calculate, especially using Monte Carlo methods.

This work presents the development of a particle swarm optimization algorithm to design …

Determination Of Significant Parameters That Drive Fracture Optimization In The Glauconite Formation, Southern Chile, Ghassan Saleh Mahdi Alqatrani

Masters Theses

"The Glauconite Formation in the Magallanes Basin of Southern Chile is a clay- and silica-rich formation with low permeability. As with many of the unconventional resources, the Glauconite Formation requires a hydraulic fracturing operation to enhance the productivity of the wells in this area.

Data and pertinent information of fracturing, completion, and reservoir quality parameters along with post-fracture production data were collected to initiate a database of nearly 70 wells, to be used to develop a better understanding of the fracturing behavior, optimize the well stimulation, and overcome the major barriers in the hydraulic fracturing of the Glauconite Formation. The …

Aspen Simulation Of Oil Shale And Biomass Process, Anand Alembath

Masters Theses

"This thesis focuses on design and analysis of two major chemical processes using computer simulation which performs a steady state computation. The objective is to design processes using Aspen simulation to establish optimum operating conditions by performing various simulation runs which are challenging to execute at lab scale.

Increasing energy needs and decline of global oil prices has shifted our focus on commercially developing unconventional and renewable resources. Commercialization of any process relies on developing a process model that identifies different process parameters by performing a steady state mass and heat balance. Aspen simulation is considered an effective process modeling …

The Evaluation Of Sequential Optimization And Reliability Analysis, Guannan Liu

Masters Theses

"Sequential Optimization and Reliability Assessment (SORA) has been used for more than one decade for reliability-based design (RBD), but comprehensive theoretical studies on its performance have not been conducted. Further investigations on its performance are still needed. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the performance of SORA for various testing problems. The performance of SORA evaluated in this thesis includes (1) accuracy, (2) efficiency, and (3) convergence behavior or robustness with numerical testing problems. SORA is evaluated with comparison with other major RBD methodologies. The testing problems are in different scales (numbers of design variables, random variables, and …

An Analysis Of Burn Cut Pull Optimization Through Varying Relief Hole Depths, Michael Robert Allen

Masters Theses

"In underground blasting, the pull of the initial cut is the limiting factor for the success of the rest of the round. By improving the pull of the first cut, a critical step is made towards improving the entire round. This project attempted to optimize a burn cut's effective pull by varying the depths of the relief holes in the burn, and then analyzing the results. In testing, relief holes were drilled to depths both shorter and longer than that of the cut's charged holes. The overall objective was to consistently achieve greater pull than in a standard burn, using …

A Multiple-Plan Evaluation Model For Small Ungauged Watersheds, James R. Dexter

Masters Theses

A computer solution model is proposed for simulation of the effect of alternative measures for flood damage reduction. The goal of the model is to optimize the value of an objective function which will maximize the amount of net benefits returned by the project. The evaluation includes unit hydrograph synthesis, direct runoff construction, computation of average annual damages, and optimization of an objective function. A test application of the model is made on a small community affected by floods from a small ungauged stream"--Abstract, page iii.