Math. Comput. Appl., Volume 23, Issue 4 (December 2018) – 29 articles

Spacers are designed to create a feed channel, but they are also obstacles to the flow in spiral wound membrane modules. The geometry of the feed spacer influences the flow pattern, which was investigated by using a three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model. For the conventional feed spacer, unavoidable disadvantages were caused by its line contact with the membrane. The pillar-like feed spacer was designed to achieve area contact, which made it possible to enhance the porosity and minimize the adverse effects from the dead zone caused by the transverse filament. Through reductions in the connecting filament’s diameter, the channel porosity reached 0.979. Regarding the maximum porosity, the dimensionless power number was reduced by 47.31% at Reynolds number 150 in comparison with a previously studied commercial spacer. Furthermore, a modified friction factor, as a dimensionless parameter, was employed to investigate the shear stress at the membrane’s surface. At dimensionless power number 10⁶, the enhancement of the modified friction factor increased by approximately 22.27% in comparison with the results of a previous study. Based on the numerical prediction, the homogenization of shear stress distribution, which changed the flow profile near the membrane, was featured through contour plots. Full article

The objective of this research is to develop metaheuristic methods by using the differential evolution (DE) algorithm for solving the U-shaped assembly line balancing problem Type 1 (UALBP-1). The proposed DE algorithm is applied for balancing the lines (manufacturing a single product within a fixed given cycle time), where the aim is to minimize the number of workstations. After establishing the method, the results from previous research studies were compared with the results from this study. For the UALBP, two groups of benchmark problems were used for the experiments: (1) For the medium-sized UALBP (21–45 tasks), it was found that the DE algorithm DE/best/2 to Exponential Crossover 1 produced better solutions when compared to the other metaheuristic methods: it could generate 25 optimal solutions from a total of 25 instances, and the average time used for the calculation was 0.10 seconds/instance; (2) for the large-scale UALBP (75–297 tasks), it was found that the basic DE algorithm and improved differential evolution algorithm generated better solutions, and DE/best/2 to Exponential Crossover 1 generated the optimal solutions and achieved the minimum solution search time when compared to the other metaheuristic methods: it could generate 36 optimal solutions from a total of 62 instances, and the average time used for the calculation was 4.88 seconds/instance. From the comparison of the DE algorithms, it was found that the improved differential evolution algorithm generated optimal solutions with a better solution search time than the search time of the basic differential evolution algorithm. The basic and improved DE algorithm are the effective methods for balancing UALBP-1 when compared to the other metaheuristic methods. Full article

Heat transfer enhancement employing an elliptical tube inside a circular tube to increase the heat transfer rate without increasing in pressure drop is investigated. The flow rate inside the narrow is in the range of Reynolds number 10,000 to 100,000. Commercial software is used to solve the governing equations (continuity, momentum, and energy) by adopting a finite volume method (FVM). The electrical heater is connected around the circular tube to apply uniform heat flux (3000 W/m²) as a boundary condition. The volume concentrations are in the range of 0.25% to 1% with different TiO₂ nanoparticle diameters in the range of 27 nm to 50 nm dispersed in water. The results indicate that the elliptical annulus tube can enhance heat transfer and friction factor by approximately 19% and 6% than the circular tube respectively. Results show that the heat transfer enhancement is significantly increasing as the volume concentrations increase and the nanoparticles size diameter decrease. Full article

In the paper, the dynamic motion of a point ball with a mass of $m$ , sliding in a viscous liquid between two concentric spheres under the influence of gravity and viscous and dry resistance, is investigated. In addition, it is considered that the ball starts its motion from some arbitrary point $M_0=M\left({\theta }_0,{\phi }_0\right)$ . A system of nonlinear differential equations in a spheroidal coordinate system is obtained for the angular variables $\theta$ and $\phi$ to account for all the forces acting on the ball. The dependence of the reaction force on the angular variables is found, and the solution of the resulting system of equations is numerically analyzed. The projections of the trajectories on the plane $x-y, y-z, x-z$ are found. Full article

The objective of this paper is to complete certain issues from our recent contribution (Calatayud, J.; Cortés, J.-C.; Jornet, M.; Villafuerte, L. Random non-autonomous second order linear differential equations: mean square analytic solutions and their statistical properties. Adv. Differ. Equ. 2018, 392, 1–29, doi:10.1186/s13662-018-1848-8). We restate the main theorem therein that deals with the homogeneous case, so that the hypotheses are clearer and also easier to check in applications. Another novelty is that we tackle the non-homogeneous equation with a theorem of existence of mean square analytic solution and a numerical example. We also prove the uniqueness of mean square solution via a habitual Lipschitz condition that extends the classical Picard theorem to mean square calculus. In this manner, the study on general random non-autonomous second order linear differential equations with analytic data processes is completely resolved. Finally, we relate our exposition based on random power series with polynomial chaos expansions and the random differential transform method, the latter being a reformulation of our random Fröbenius method. Full article

Brain dynamics, neuron activity, information transfer in brains, etc., are a vast field where a large number of questions remain unsolved. Nowadays, computer simulation is playing a key role in the study of such an immense variety of problems. In this work, we explored the possibility of studying brain dynamics using cellular automata, more precisely the famous Game of Life (GoL). The model has some important features (i.e., pseudo-criticality, 1/f noise, universal computing), which represent good reasons for its use in brain dynamics modelling. We have also considered that the model maintains sufficient flexibility. For instance, the timestep is arbitrary, as are the spatial dimensions. As first steps in our study, we used the GoL to simulate the evolution of several neurons (i.e., a statistically significant set, typically a million neurons) and their interactions with the surrounding ones, as well as signal transfer in some simple scenarios. The way that signals (or life) propagate across the grid was described, along with a discussion on how this model could be compared with brain dynamics. Further work and variations of the model were also examined. Full article

Contradictory demands are present in the dynamic modeling and analysis of legged locomotion: on the one hand, the high degrees-of-freedom (DoF) descriptive models are geometrically accurate, but the analysis of self-stability and motion pattern generation is extremely challenging; on the other hand, low DoF models of locomotion are thoroughly analyzed in the literature; however, these models do not describe the geometry accurately. We contribute by narrowing the gap between the two modeling approaches. Our goal is to develop a dynamic analysis methodology for the study of self-stable controlled multibody models of legged locomotion. An efficient way of modeling multibody systems is to use geometric constraints among the rigid bodies. It is especially effective when closed kinematic loops are present, such as in the case of walking models, when both legs are in contact with the ground. The mathematical representation of such constrained systems is the differential algebraic equation (DAE). We focus on the mathematical analysis methods of piecewise-smooth dynamic systems and we present their application for constrained multibody models of self-stable locomotion represented by DAE. Our numerical approach is demonstrated on a linear model of hopping and compared with analytically obtained reference results. Full article

In this work we obtain approximate solutions for Fredholm integral equations of the second kind by means of Petrov–Galerkin method, choosing “regular pairs” of subspaces, $\{X_n,Y_n\},$ which are simply characterized by the positive definitiveness of a correlation matrix. This choice guarantees the solvability and numerical stability of the approximation scheme in an easy way, and the selection of orthogonal basis for the subspaces make the calculations quite simple. Afterwards, we explore an interesting phenomenon called “superconvergence”, observed in the 1970s by Sloan: once the approximations $u_n\in X_n$ to the solution of the operator equation $u-Ku=g$ are obtained, the convergence can be notably improved by means of an iteration of the method, $u_n^{*}=g+K{u}_n$ . We illustrate both procedures of approximation by means of two numerical examples: one for a continuous kernel, and the other for a weakly singular one. Full article

This work presents a novel solution for magnetic field calculation in two-dimensional problems in which one region is defined with space-varying magnetic parameter. The proposed solution extends the well-established Maxwell–Fourier method for calculating magnetic fields in surface-mounted cylindrical high-speed permanent-magnet machines. This contribution is effective to evaluate more realistic magnetic parameters, where measurements of a high-speed permanent-magnet generator prototype indicate saturation in the retaining sleeve due to pole-to-pole leakage flux. The saturation profile is a function of mechanical angle and can be modeled with the aid of a space-varying relative permeability, expressed in terms of a Fourier series. As an example, the presented solution has been applied to a surface-mounted PM machine at no-load condition. Magnetic field calculations show that a simple saturation profile, with low order space-varying permeability in the retaining sleeve significantly affects the magnetic flux density distribution in the air-gap. The analytical solution is confronted with finite-element method, which confirms validity of the proposed methodology. Full article

This paper describes the scattering matrix approach to obtain the solution to electromagnetic field quantities in harmonic multi-layer models. Using this approach, the boundary conditions are solved in such way that the maximum size of any matrix used during the computations is independent of the number of regions defined in the problem. As a result, the method is more memory efficient than classical methods used to solve the boundary conditions. Because electromagnetic sources can be located inside the regions of a configuration, the scattering matrix formulation is developed to incorporate these sources into the solving process. The method is applied to a 3D electromagnetic configuration for verification. Full article

This work presents the modeling and simulation of a hydraulic network with four nodes and two branches that form a two-level water distribution system. It also proposes a distribution of hydraulic valves that allows emulating a leak using a valve and different network configurations, e.g., simple ducts, closed networks and branched networks. The network is modeled in the steady state considering turbulent flow. Numerical experiments are performed, and the results show that the proposed network is useful for the design of leakage diagnosis and control algorithms in different configurations and leakage scenarios. Full article

In this paper, we apply the notion of bipolar-valued fuzzy set to UP-algebras. We introduce the notions of bipolar fuzzy UP-subalgebras (resp., bipolar fuzzy UP-filters, bipolar fuzzy UP-ideals, and bipolar fuzzy strongly UP-ideals) of UP-algebras and prove their generalizations. We provide a condition for a bipolar fuzzy UP-filter to be a bipolar fuzzy UP-ideal. Further, we discuss the relation between bipolar fuzzy UP-subalgebras (resp., bipolar fuzzy UP-filters, bipolar fuzzy UP-ideals, and bipolar fuzzy strongly UP-ideals) and their level cuts. Full article

A wide variety of human decision-making is based on double-sided or bipolar judgmental thinking on a positive side and a negative side. This paper develops a new method called bipolar fuzzy extended TOPSIS based on entropy weights to address the multi-criteria decision-making problems involving bipolar measurements with positive and negative values. The extended bipolar fuzzy TOPSIS method incorporates the capability of bipolar information into the TOPSIS to address the interactions between criteria and measure the aggregate values on a bipolar scale. In practical problems, this method can be used to measure the benefits and side effects of medical treatments. We also discuss some novel applications of bipolar fuzzy competition graphs in food webs and present certain algorithms to compute the strength of competition between species. Full article

Human factors are intrinsically involved at virtually any level of most industrial/business activities, and may be responsible for several accidents and incidents, if not correctly identified and managed. Focusing on the significance of human behaviour in industry, this article proposes a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM)-based approach to support organizational risk assessment in industrial environments. The decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method is proposed as a mathematical framework to evaluate mutual relationships within a set of human factors involved in industrial processes, with the aim of highlighting priorities of intervention. A case study related to a manufacturing process of a real-world winery is presented, and the proposed approach is applied to rank human factors resulting from a previous organisational risk evaluation from which suitable inference engines may be developed to better support risk management. Full article

Graphs have powerful representations of all kinds of theoretical or experimental mathematical objects. A technique to measure the distance between graphs has become an important issue. In this article, we show how to define distance functions measuring the distance between graphs with directed edges over a fixed set of named and unnamed vertices, respectively. Furthermore, we show how to implement these distance functions via computational matrix operations. Full article

In this paper, a ternary 4-point rational interpolation subdivision scheme is presented, and the necessary and sufficient conditions of the continuity are analyzed. The generalization incorporates existing schemes as special cases: Hassan–Ivrissimtzis’s scheme, Siddiqi–Rehan’s scheme, and Siddiqi–Ahmad’s scheme. Furthermore, the fractal behavior of the scheme is investigated and analyzed, and the range of the parameter of the fractal curve is the neighborhood of the singular point of the rational scheme. When the fractal curve and surface are reconstructed, it is convenient for the selection of parameter values. Full article

In this paper, we attempt to determine the optimal duration of an anti-epidemic control strategy which targets susceptible people, under the isoperimetric condition that we could not control all individuals of this category due to restricted health resources. We state and prove the local and global stability conditions of free and endemic equilibria of a simple epidemic compartmental model devised in the form of four ordinary differential equations which describe the dynamics of susceptible-controlled-infected-removed populations and where it is taken into account that the controlled people cannot acquire long-lived immunity to move towards the removed compartment due to the temporary effect of the control parameter. Thereafter, we characterize the sought optimal control and we show the effectiveness of this limited control policy along with the research of the optimal duration that is needed to reduce the size of the infected population. The isoperimetric constraint is defined over a fixed horizon, while the objective function is defined over a free horizon present under a quadratic form in the payoff term. The complexity of this optimal control problem requires the execution of three numerical methods all combined together at the same time, namely, the forward–backward sweep method to generate the optimal state and control functions, the secant method adapted to the isoperimetric restriction, and, finally, the fixed point method to obtain the optimal final time. Full article

A complete MAPLE procedure is designed to effectively implement an algorithm for approximating trigonometric functions. The algorithm gives a piecewise polynomial approximation on an arbitrary interval, presenting a special partition that we can get its parts, subintervals with ending points of finite rational numbers, together with corresponding approximate polynomials. The procedure takes a sequence of pairs of interval–polynomial as its output that we can easily exploit in some useful ways. Examples on calculating approximate values of the sine function with arbitrary accuracy for both rational and irrational arguments as well as drawing the graph of the piecewise approximate functions are presented. Moreover, from the approximate integration on $[a,b]$ with integrands of the form $x^{m}sinx$ , another MAPLE procedure is proposed to find the desired polynomial estimates in norm for the best $L^2$ -approximation of the sine function in the vector space ${\mathcal{P}}_{\ell }$ of polynomials of degree at most ℓ, a subspace of $L^2(a,b)$ . Full article

This article presents the homotopy perturbation method (HPM) employed to investigate the effects of inclination on the thermal behavior of a porous fin heat sink. The study aims to review the thermal characterization of heat sink with the inclined porous fin of rectangular geometry. The study establishes that heat sink of an inclined porous fin shows a higher thermal performance compared to a heat sink of equal dimension with a vertical porous fin. In addition, the study also shows that the performance of inclined or tilted fin increases with decrease in length–thickness aspect ratio. The study further reveals that increase in the internal heat generation variable decreases the fin temperature gradient, which invariably decreases the heat transfer of the fin. The obtained results using HPM highlights the accuracy of the present method for the analysis of nonlinear heat transfer problems, as it agrees well with the established results of Runge–Kutta. Full article

In this article, we introduce the concept of graphs associated with commutative UP-algebra, which we say is a UP-graph whose vertices are the elements of commutative UP-algebra and whose edges are the association of two vertices, that is two elements from commutative UP-algebra. We also define a graph of equivalence classes of a commutative UP-algebra and prove some related results based on the algebraic properties of the graph. We show that two graphs are the same and complete bipartite if they are formed by equivalence classes of UP-algebra and the graph folding of commutative UP-algebra. An algorithm for checking whether a given set is a UP-algebra or not has also been given. Full article

Shape optimization is a very time-consuming and expensive task, especially if experimental tests need to be performed. To overcome the challenges of geometry optimization, the industry is increasingly relying on numerical simulations. These kinds of problems typically involve the interaction of three main applications: a solid modeler, a multi-physics solver, and an optimizer. In this manuscript, we present a shape optimization work-flow entirely based on open-source tools; it is fault tolerant and software agnostic, allows for asynchronous simulations, and has a high degree of automation. To demonstrate the usability and flexibility of the proposed methodology, we tested it in a practical case related to the naval industry, where we aimed at optimizing the shape of a bulbous bow in order to minimize the hydrodynamic resistance. As design variables, we considered the protrusion and immersion of the bulbous bow, and we used surrogate-based optimization. From the results presented, a non-negligible resistance reduction is obtainable using the proposed work-flow and optimization strategy. Full article

This paper presents a two-dimensional (2D) exact subdomain technique in polar coordinates considering the iron relative permeability in 6/4 switched reluctance machines (SRM) supplied by sinusoidal waveform of current (aka, variable flux reluctance machines). In non-periodic regions (e.g., rotor and/or stator slots/teeth), magnetostatic Maxwell’s equations are solved considering non-homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions (BCs). The general solutions of magnetic vector potential in all subdomains are obtained by applying the interface conditions (ICs) in both directions (i.e., r- and θ-edges ICs). The global saturation effect is taken into account, with a constant magnetic permeability corresponding to the linear zone of the nonlinear B(H) curve. In this investigation, the magnetic flux density distribution inside the electrical machine, the static/dynamic electromagnetic torques, the magnetic flux linkage, the self-/mutual inductances, the magnetic pressures, and the unbalanced magnetic forces (UMFs) have been calculated for 6/4 SRM with two various non-overlapping (or concentrated) windings. One of the case studies is a M1 with a non-overlapping all teeth wound winding (double-layer winding with left and right layer) and the other is a M2 with a non-overlapping alternate teeth wound winding (single-layer winding). It is important to note that the developed semi-analytical model based on the 2D exact subdomain technique is also valid for any number of slot/pole combinations and for non-overlapping teeth wound windings with a single/double layer. Finally, the semi-analytical results have been performed for different values of iron core relative permeability (viz., 100 and 800), and compared with those obtained by the 2D finite-element method (FEM). The comparisons with FEM show good results for the proposed approach. Full article

With the increase in the use of electronic transactions in everyday life, secure communications and data storage to withstand any kind of attack is warranted. The golden ratio, being the most irrational among irrational numbers, can be used in elliptic curve cryptosystems, power analysis security, and other applications. However, in such applications, cryptographic operations should take place very quickly before the keys are extracted or decoded by the attackers. This paper proposes an efficient method of golden ratio computation in cryptography to resist information security breaches. We compare our new golden ratio method with the well-known Fibonacci sequence method. The experimental results show that our proposed method is more efficient than the Fibonacci sequence method. Our golden ratio method with infinite precision provides reliable counter measure strategy to address the escalating security attacks. Full article

Surface-mounted permanent magnet machines are widely used in low and medium speed applications. Pulsating torque components is the most crucial challenge, especially in low-speed applications. Magnet pole shape optimization can be used to mitigate these components. In this research, an analytical model is proposed to calculate the magnetic vector potential in surface-mounted permanent magnet machines. A mathematical expression is also derived for optimal the magnet shape to reduce the cogging torque and electromagnetic torque components. The presented model is based on the resolution of the Laplace’s and Poisson’s equations in polar coordinates by using the subdomain method and applying hyperbolic functions. The proposed method is applied to the performance computation of a surface-mounted permanent magnet machine, i.e., a 3-phase 12S-10P motor. The analytical results are validated through the finite element analysis (FEA) method. Full article

We consider a Keller–Segel type chemotaxis model with logarithmic sensitivity and logistic growth. The logarithmic singularity in the system is removed via the inverse Hopf–Cole transformation. We then linearize the system around a constant equilibrium state, and obtain a detailed, pointwise description of the Green’s function. The result provides a complete solution picture for the linear problem. It also helps to shed light on small solutions of the nonlinear system. Full article

This study aims to solve the real-world multistage assignment problem. The proposed problem is composed of two stages of assignment: (1) different types of trucks are assigned to chicken farms to transport young chickens to egg farms, and (2) chicken farms are assigned to egg farms. Assigning different trucks to the egg farms and different egg farms to the chicken farms generates different costs and consumes different resources. The distance and the idle space in the truck have to be minimized, while constraints such as the minimum number of chickens needed for all egg farms and the longest time that chickens can be in the truck remain. This makes the problem a special case of the multistage assignment (S-MSA) problem. A mathematical model representing the problem was developed and solved to optimality using Lingo v.11 optimization software. Lingo v.11 can solve to optimality only small- and medium-sized test instances. To solve large-sized test instances, the differential evolution (DE) algorithm was designed. An excellent decoding method was developed to increase the search performance of DE. The proposed algorithm was tested with three randomly generated datasets (small, medium, and large test instances) and one real case study. Each dataset is composed of 12 problems, therefore we tested with 37 instances, including the case study. The results show that for small- and medium-sized test instances, DE has 0.03% and 0.05% higher cost than Lingo v.11. For large test instances, DE has 3.52% lower cost than Lingo v.11. Lingo v.11 uses an average computation time of 5.8, 103, and 4320 s for small, medium and large test instances, while DE uses 0.86, 1.68, and 8.79 s, which is, at most, 491 times less than Lingo v.11. Therefore, the proposed heuristics are an effective algorithm that can find a good solution while using less computation time. Full article

We devise a practical and systematic spreadsheet solution paradigm for general optimal control problems. The paradigm is based on an adaptation of a partial-parametrization direct solution method which preserves the original mathematical optimization statement, but transforms it into a simplified nonlinear programming problem (NLP) suitable for Excel NLP solver. A rapid solution strategy is implemented by a tiered arrangement of pure elementary calculus functions in conjunction with Excel NLP solver. With the aid of the calculus functions, a cost index and constraints are represented by equivalent formulas that fully encapsulate an underlining parametrized dynamical system. Excel NLP solver is then employed to minimize (or maximize) the cost index formula, by varying decision parameters, subject to the constraints formulas. The paradigm is demonstrated for several fixed and free-time nonlinear optimal control problems involving integral and implicit dynamic constraints with direct comparison to published results obtained by fundamentally different methods. Practically, applying the paradigm involves no more than defining a few formulas using basic Excel spreadsheet skills. Full article

The present study aimed at solving the stochastic generalized fractional diffusion equation (SGFDE) by means of the random finite difference method (FDM). Moreover, the conditions of mean square convergence of the numerical solution are studied and numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the method. Full article

We consider a discrete-time susceptible-infected-removed-susceptible “again” (SIRS) epidemic model, and we introduce an optimal control function to seek the best control policy for preventing the spread of an infection to the susceptible population. In addition, we define a new compartment, which models the dynamics of the number of controlled individuals and who are supposed not to be able to reach a long-term immunity due to the limited effect of control. Furthermore, we treat the resolution of this optimal control problem when there is a restriction on the number of susceptible people who have been controlled along the time of the control strategy. Further, we provide sufficient and necessary conditions for the existence of the sought optimal control, whose characterization is also given in accordance with an isoperimetric constraint. Finally, we present the numerical results obtained, using a computational method, which combines the secant method with discrete progressive-regressive schemes for the resolution of the discrete two-point boundary value problem. Full article