Engineering Commons^™

Analytical And Computational Modeling Of Membrane Nanotubes, Sina Mirzaeifard

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the interplay between cell membranes and the actin cytoskeleton in cellular structures known as membrane nanotubes. Membrane nanotubes are slender membrane structures that physically connect cells over long distances, and experiments suggest that they play a role in transferring material and information between cells. Disrupting the actin cytoskeleton disrupts membrane nanotubes. Although recent studies have revealed insight into the physical properties and functions of membrane-actin systems, further research is needed to understand their behavior in biological contexts. Membrane nanotubes provide a novel system with which to investigate interactions between the cell membrane and actin.

In this thesis, …

Effect Of Chemotherapeutic Treatment Schedule On A Tissue Transport Model, Dan E. Ganz

Masters Theses

Current chemotherapeutic treatment schedule prediction methods rely heavily on PK/PD-based models and overlook the important contribution of tissue-level transport and binding. Tissue-level transport and binding phenomena are essential to understanding drug delivery and efficacy in tumors. Drugs with desirable PK/PD properties often fail in vivo due to poor tissue-level transport. We developed an in silico method to predict the effect of treatment schedule on efficacy that couples PK/PD with tissue-level transport. Treatment schedules were implemented on theoretical drugs with different PK/PD and transport properties. For each drug with a given clearance rate, diffusivity, and binding, treatment schedules consisting of one …

Turbulent Transition In Electromagnetically Levitated Liquid Metal Droplets, Jie Zhao

Masters Theses

The condition of fluid flow has been proven to have a significant influence on a wide variety of material processes. In electromagnetic levitation (EML) experiments, the internal flow is driven primarily by electromagnetic forces. In 1-g, the positioning forces are very strong and the internal flows are turbulent. To reduce the flows driven by the levitation field, experiments may be performed in reduced gravity and parabolic flights experiments have been adopted as the support in advance. Tracer particles on the surface of levitated droplets in EML experiment performed by SUPOS have been used to investigate the transition from laminar to …

Metabolic Modeling Of Secondary Metabolism In Plant Systems, Lisa M. Leone

Masters Theses

In the first part of this research, we constructed a Genome scale Metabolic Model (GEM) of Taxus cuspidata, a medicinal plant used to produce paclitaxel (Taxol®). The construction of the T. cuspidata GEM was predicated on recent acquisition of a transcriptome of T. cuspidata metabolism under methyl jasmonate (MJ) elicited conditions (when paclitaxel is produced) and unelicited conditions (when paclitaxel is not produced). Construction of the draft model, in which transcriptomic data from elicited and unelicited conditions were included, utilized tools including the ModelSEED developed by Argonne National Laboratory. Although a model was successfully created and gapfilled by ModelSEED …

Self-Supported Printed Multi-Layer Capacitors, Michael James Joyce

Masters Theses

The increasing demand for miniaturized electronic devices has increased the need for rechargeable micro-power sources. Although lithium and lithium ion batteries have been utilized in these applications since the late 1990s, other energy harvesting technologies, such as thermal, mechanical, and solar, are now being used to augment batteries to enable systems to be self-powered. However, the lifetime of any battery is finite, which may be a major problem when the application is in a permanent structure or medical implant device. For power or significant energy storage applications, printed multilayer capacitors or supercapacitors are being explored as an enhancement, or replacement …

A Novel Silica-Based Nano Pigment As A Titanium Dioxide Replacement, Ryan Stoneburner

Masters Theses

This research focused on the evaluation of a new Silica-based pigment for the replacement of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) in paperboard coatings. The silica-based pigment has shown the ability to be a replacement in terms of functionality and runnability. TiO₂ is currently the highest opacifying pigment used in paper coatings, but it is also the most costly. Finding a less expensive pigment that doesn't reduce effectiveness is critical to reducing the cost of TiO₂ formulations. To evaluate the new pigment, coatings will be applied using a Cylindrical Laboratory Coater (CLC) with varying amounts of TiO₂ and …

Theoretical Analysis Of Shape Separation Of Particles Using Flow Field-Flow Fractionation, Mehrdad Alfi

Masters Theses

"Size separation of spherical and rod-like particles in Flow Field-flow Fractionation was investigated theoretically. The effect of cross flow migration and rod orientation was also investigated as a new mode of study. It has been shown that the rod local orientation makes different diffusivity values in comparison with spherical particles and helps particle separation. Additionally, a new mechanism of lift-hypelayer mode was used for rod-like particles which can be compared with steric mode of spherical particles. This mechanism is said to be due to hydrodynamic interaction of rod-like particle with wall and with other rods.

As a measure of axial …

Evaluation Of Prosper For Modeling Long Lateral Gas Well Productivity In Toe Up, Toe Down, Horizontal Well Geometry, Abdussalam Mahmoud Mohamed

Masters Theses

"Most horizontal wells are not truly horizontal and may be drilled 'toe-up' or 'toe-down' to follow geological formations or in an attempt to keep the well from loading up. Challenges in directional drilling may also lead to horizontal gas wells with undulating wellbore profiles. This wellbore profile creates natural traps for heavy fluids in the lows and light fluid in the highs, which may result in chocked production. Hence, there is an interest in determining the best wellbore trajectory - toe-up, horizontal, or toe-down - for well unloading.

This study evaluates the capability of the well productivity software PROSPER to …

Evaluation Of Ceramic Coaxial Cable Sensors For Long-Term In-Situ Monitoring Of Geologic Co₂ Injection And Storage, Yurong Li

Masters Theses

"Monitoring is an essential component of CO₂ injection and storage projects in order to manage the injection process, identify leakage risks, provide early failure warnings, determine the movement of CO₂ plume and provide input into reservoir models. In-situ monitoring provides critical and direct data points that can be used to fulfill the above objectives. However, downhole sensors that can withstand the harsh conditions and run over decades of the project life cycle remain unavailable. A new idea of ceramic coaxial cable temperature, pressure and strain sensor has recently been put forward and the sensors are under development.

A high pressure …

Numerical Simulations For Wellbore Stability And Integrity For Drilling And Completions, Nevan Christopher Himmelberg

Masters Theses

"Conventional wellbore trajectory planning is commonly based on an Andersonian state of stress [SoS] and the optimum well azimuth and inclination for a specific depth can be determined using stereographic projections of the safe mud weight window. In this thesis a new methodology using the complete stress tensor is developed to determine optimal well trajectories for complex in-situ stress scenarios. This study uses a 3D finite element analysis to simulate the SoS based on an integrated 3D MEM. The model yields the complete stress tensor at every location for a planned future well path. Using standard equations to determine the …

Updated Screening Criteria For Steam Flooding Based On Oil Field Projects Data, Mariwan Qadir Hama

Masters Theses

"Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) screening is considered the first step in evaluating potential EOR techniques for candidate reservoirs. Therefore, as new technologies are developed, it is important to update the screening criteria. Many of the screening criteria for steam flooding that have been described in the literature were based on data collected from EOR surveys biennially published in the Oil & Gas Journal. However, these datasets contain some problems, including outliers, missing data, inconsistent data and duplicate data, that could affect the accuracy of the results. Despite the importance of ensuring the quality of a dataset before running analyses, data …

Techno-Economic And Life-Cycle Modeling And Analysis Of Various Energy Storage Technologies Coupled With A Solar Photovoltaic Array, Brian Andrew Peterson

Masters Theses

"Renewable energies, such as wind and solar, are a growing piece of global energy consumption. The chief motivation to develop renewable energy is two-fold: reducing carbon dioxide emissions and reducing dependence on diminishing fossil fuel supplies. Energy storage is critical to the growth of renewable energy because it allows for renewably-generated electricity to be consumed at times when renewable sources are unavailable, and it also enhances power quality (maintaining voltage and frequency) on an electric grid which becomes increasingly unstable as more renewable energy is added. There are numerous means of storing energy with different advantages, but none has emerged …

The Effect Of Using Different Rock Failure Criteria In Wellbore Stability Analysis, Reza Rahimi

Masters Theses

"Determination of the appropriate drilling fluid density by rock failure analysis is an essential step to control wellbore instability. To determine wellbore failure stresses, the rock strength has to be known, an appropriate constitutive model has to be selected, and finally an accurate rock failure criterion must be chosen. Linear-poro elastic modeling of the mechanical wellbore failure is the most common approach to investigate wellbore instability. Numerous failure criteria have been used for the rock failure analysis but there is not any commonly accepted agreement of which failure criteria to use. Rock failure criteria differ in two main characteristics. First, …

Influence Of Erosional Unloading On The State Of Stress For Low Amplitude Single-Layer Buckle Folds - Implications For Tensile Fracture Occurrence, Mengke Li

Masters Theses

"The existence of fractures associated to buckle folds is related to the strain distribution of the fold. The erosional unloading process can amplify the remnant strain in the folded layer. Two-dimensional plane strain Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used to investigate the influence of the erosional unloading step on both the evolution of the state of stress and the associated failure patterns in low amplitude buckle folds. Sensitivity analyses on different input parameters, including viscosity, shortening ratio, and overburden pressure, are performed. Based on the simulation results, tensile stress can be initiated both in the crest and in the limb …

Data Mining And Statistical Analysis Of Completions In The Canadian Montney Formation, Mustafa Adil Al-Alwani

Masters Theses

"This thesis documents a data-mining study and statistical analysis of well completion methods and their impact on production for more than 3300 horizontal wells in the Canadian Montney resource play.

The statistical software JMP is used to analyze well and production data for both horizontal Montney gas and oil wells, examining production trends with changes in completion parameters, such as the type of completion, fluid volume pumped, proppant load, number of fracture stages and completion costs. The analysis also provides a general understanding of average treatment characteristics, and how completions have changed with time for the Montney play.

Among the …

Aspen Simulation Of Furfural And Hydroxymethylfurfural Production From Biomass, Zachary Daniel King

Masters Theses

"Biomass field liquefaction is a concept where green biomass is chemically treated to produce organic liquids using small-scale equipment in the field. If liquefaction occurs as the crop is harvested, the energy requirements for growing the biomass can be charged to the crop as if the biomass were left in the field. The energy in the organic liquid product is available at the expense of the energy required by the process. A simplified process was simulated using ASPEN to assess the energy production feasibility.

Acid catalyzed liquefaction of cellulose and hemicellulose solids produces furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). The simulation assumed …

Gel Treatment Field Application Survey For Water Shut Off In Production Wells, Jingyi Liao

Masters Theses

"Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) screening criteria are considered as a guideline for candidate evaluation and determination. Not many screening criteria for gel treatment had been published. Some published gel treatment application surveys for water shut off only include limited number of oil fields and locations.

The current work aims to summarize the worldwide gel treatment applications for water shut off in production wells by creating and analyzing a dataset from a variety of sources. This study started from collecting and cleaning the gel treatment application data. All the data were from SPE field publications from 1990 to 2012 and from …

Performance Comparison Of Transverse And Longitudinal Fractured Horizontal Wells Over Varied Reservoir Permeability, Fen Yang

Masters Theses

"Since the first application in the mid-1980's, multiple fractured horizontal wells have proven to be an effective means of extracting hydrocarbons. These wells require careful consideration of wellbore orientation relative to the horizontal principle stress. Wellbore orientation can lead to transverse fractures which are perpendicular to the wellbore, or longitudinal fractures parallel the wellbore. Questions arise regarding whether one fracture orientation is consistently preferred over the other, or if certain conditions affect the choice.

Historical work has examined the impact of horizontal wellbore azimuth in the Barnett and Marcellus Shale where public data was reviewed and statistical well analysis was …

Studies Of Influencing Factors For Shale Gas Reservoir Performance, Jiaqi Wang

Masters Theses

"Shale gas resource plays a significant role in energy supply worldwide. For economic production of shale gas, technologies of horizontal well and hydraulic fracturing are used for shale gas reservoirs. Therefore, the productivity of the shale gas reservoirs will be influenced by both reservoir condition, and hydraulic fracture properties.

In this thesis, parameters that will influence shale gas production were classified into two categories: reservoir properties and hydraulic fracture properties. Published shale gas simulation studies were surveyed for determining the typical ranges of those properties. CMG-GEM was employed to finish the reservoir simulation work, and CMG-CMOST was used to complete …

An Analytical Pressure Model To Guide Downhole Sensor Placement For Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Monitoring, Yilin Mao

Masters Theses

"Injecting CO₂ into saline aquifers is currently the most viable approach to mitigate global greenhouse gas effect. Various monitoring techniques are required to achieve 99% accuracy in determining the location of the injected CO₂ plume. Sensor locations are critical to the monitoring quality necessary to meet this requirement but have scarcely been discussed. The pressure profile needs to be modeled accurately at the initial stage of CO₂ injection to guide sensor locations. The objective of this thesis was to develop an analytical solution for CO₂ sequestration based on time and distance. This will guide the locations of downhole pressure sensors …

Gold-Magnetite Nanoparticle-Biomolecule Conjugates: Synthesis, Properties And Toxicity Studies, Akshay Pariti

Masters Theses

"This thesis study focuses on synthesizing and characterizing gold-magnetite optically active magnetic nanoparticle and its conjugation with biomolecules for biomedical applications, especially magnetic fluid hyperthermia treatment for cancerous tissue. Gold nanoparticles have already displayed their potential in the biomedical field. They exhibit excellent optical properties and possess strong surface chemistry which renders them suitable for various biomolecule attachments. Studies have showed gold nanoparticles to be a perfect biocompatible vector. However, clinical trials for gold mediated drug delivery and treatment studied in rat models identified some problems. Of these problems, the low retention time in bloodstream and inability to maneuver externally …

Computational Fluid Dynamics (Cfd) Modeling Of Proppant Transport In A Plug-And-Perf Completion With Different Perforation Phasing, Jinlin Zhang

Masters Theses

"Perf-and-plug is a completion technique commonly used in multistage fracturing. Fracture performance modeling assumes that fluid and proppant distributes uniformly among all perforations along the length of the wellbore in a plug and perf completion Crespo et al. (2012) has conducted a limited proppant flow experiment using a 63 foot stage, and three 0.42 inch, zero phased simulated perforations. His work demonstrates proppant does not distribute evenly, but the work is limited to a single perforation scheme.

In this study, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software has been used to simulate proppant transport and distribution in a single stage of a …

Investigation Of Cased Wellbore Integrity In The Wabamun Area Sequestration Project, Benjamin Lee Weideman

Masters Theses

"Loss of cased wellbore integrity can cause many significant problems, including lost production, aquifer contamination, blowouts, and other environmental damage. The objective of this study is to conduct an analysis of the Wabamun Area Sequestration Project (WASP) to determine if wells in that area are suitable for CO₂ sequestration. This was done by conducting laboratory experiments on the common cement compositions found in the area, simulating the various conditions possible in a wellbore, and by analyzing three case studies from the WASP. The cases include two existing production wells and a proposed injection well specifically designed for CO₂ sequestration. This …

Data Analysis And Summary For Surfactant-Polymer Flooding Based On Oil Field Projects And Laboratory Data, Pratap D. Chauhan

Masters Theses

"Enhanced oil recovery screening is considered as an important first step towards evaluating a potential EOR technique for a candidate reservoir. A vast amount of research is continuously been conducted in EOR. Therefore, it is imperative to update the screening criteria regularly.

This study involves updating the screening criteria for surfactant polymer flooding for field projects dataset and laboratory dataset. Many of the screening criteria for surfactant-polymer flooding in the literature were achieved on the basis of data collected from the EOR surveys published biennially in Oil & Gas Journals. However, these datasets contain problems like missing data and inconsistent …