All issues

The paper presents a mathematical model that describes the process of obtaining biogas from livestock waste. This model describes the processes occurring in a biogas plant for mesophilic and thermophilic media, as well as for continuous and periodic modes of substrate inflow. The values of the coefficients of this model found earlier for the periodic mode, obtained by solving the problem of model identification from experimental data using a genetic algorithm, are given.

For the model of methanogenesis, an optimal control problem is formulated in the form of a Lagrange problem, whose criterial functionality is the output of biogas over a certain period of time. The controlling parameter of the task is the rate of substrate entry into the biogas plant. An algorithm for solving this problem is proposed, based on the numerical implementation of the Pontryagin maximum principle. In this case, a hybrid genetic algorithm with an additional search in the vicinity of the best solution using the method of conjugate gradients was used as an optimization method. This numerical method for solving an optimal control problem is universal and applicable to a wide class of mathematical models.

In the course of the study, various modes of submission of the substrate to the digesters, temperature environments and types of raw materials were analyzed. It is shown that the rate of biogas production in the continuous feed mode is 1.4–1.9 times higher in the mesophilic medium (1.9–3.2 in the thermophilic medium) than in the periodic mode over the period of complete fermentation, which is associated with a higher feed rate of the substrate and a greater concentration of nutrients in the substrate. However, the yield of biogas during the period of complete fermentation with a periodic mode is twice as high as the output over the period of a complete change of the substrate in the methane tank at a continuous mode, which means incomplete processing of the substrate in the second case. The rate of biogas formation for a thermophilic medium in continuous mode and the optimal rate of supply of raw materials is three times higher than for a mesophilic medium. Comparison of biogas output for various types of raw materials shows that the highest biogas output is observed for waste poultry farms, the least — for cattle farms waste, which is associated with the nutrient content in a unit of substrate of each type.

The article describes the basic approaches of the calculation procedure of payload swim-out (objects of different function with own propulsor) from the underwater carrier a method of a self-exit using modern CFD technologies. It contains the description of swim-out by a self-exit method, its advantages and disadvantages. Also it contains results of research of convergence on a grid of a final-volume model with accuracy-time criterion, and results of comparison of calculation with experiment (validation of models). Validation of models was carried out using the available data of experimental definition of traction characteristics of water-jet propulsor of the natural sample in the development pool. Calculations of traction characteristics of water-jet propulsor were carried out via software package FlowVision ver. 3.10. On the basis of comparison of results of calculations for conditions of carrying out of experiments the error of water-jet propulsor calculated model which has made no more than 5% in a range of advance coefficient water-jet propulsor, realised in the process of swim-out by a selfexit method has been defined. The received value of an error of calculation of traction characteristics is used for definition of limiting settlement values of speed of branch of object from the carrier (the minimum and maximum values). The considered problem is significant from the scientific point of view thanks to features of the approach to modelling hydrojet moving system together with movement of separated object, and also from the practical point of view, thanks to possibility of reception with high degree of reliability of parametres swim-out of objects from sea bed vehicles a method of the self-exit which working conditions are assumed by movement in the closed volumes, already on a design stage.

In this paper a fluid flow between two close located rough surfaces depending on their location and discontinuity in contact areas is investigated. The area between surfaces is considered as the porous layer with the variable permeability, depending on roughness and closure of surfaces. For obtaining closure-permeability function, the flow on the small region of surfaces (100 $\mu$m) is modeled, for which the surfaces roughness profile created by fractal function of Weierstrass – Mandelbrot. The 3D-domain for this calculation fill out the area between valleys and peaks of two surfaces, located at some distance from each other. If the surfaces get closer, a contacts between roughness peaks will appears and it leads to the local discontinuities in the domain. For the assumed surfaces closure and boundary conditions the mass flow and pressure drop is calculated and based on that, permeability of the equivalent porous layer is evaluated.The calculation results of permeability obtained for set of surfaces closure were approximated by a polynom. This allows us to calculate the actual flow parameters in a thin layer of variable thickness, the length of which is much larger than the scale of the surface roughness. As an example, showing the application of this technique, flow in the gap between the billet and conical die in 3D-formulation is modeled. In this problem the permeability of an equivalent porous layer calculated for the condition of a linear decreased gap.

The article deals with the problem of a distributed system operation reliability. The system core is an open integration platform that provides interaction of varied software for modeling gas transportation. Some of them provide an access through thin clients on the cloud technology “software as a service”. Mathematical models of operation, transmission and computing are to ensure the operation of an automated dispatching system for oil and gas transportation. The paper presents a system solution based on the theory of Markov random processes and considers the stable operation stage. The stationary operation mode of the Markov chain with continuous time and discrete states is described by a system of Chapman–Kolmogorov equations with respect to the average numbers (mathematical expectations) of the objects in certain states. The objects of research are both system elements that are present in a large number – thin clients and computing modules, and individual ones – a server, a network manager (message broker). Together, they are interacting Markov random processes. The interaction is determined by the fact that the transition probabilities in one group of elements depend on the average numbers of other elements groups.

The authors propose a multi-criteria dispersion model of risk assessment for such systems (both in the broad and narrow sense, in accordance with the IEC standard). The risk is the standard deviation of estimated object parameter from its average value. The dispersion risk model makes possible to define optimality criteria and whole system functioning risks. In particular, for a thin client, the following is calculated: the loss profit risk, the total risk of losses due to non-productive element states, and the total risk of all system states losses.

Finally the paper proposes compromise schemes for solving the multi-criteria problem of choosing the optimal operation strategy based on the selected set of compromise criteria.

Actin is a conserved structural protein that is expressed in all eukaryotic cells. When polymerized, it forms long filaments of fibrillar actin, or F-actin, which are involved in the formation of the cytoskeleton, in muscle contraction and its regulation, and in many other processes. The dynamic and mechanical properties of actin are important for interaction with other proteins and the realization of its numerous functions in the cell. We performed 204.8 ns long molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of an actin filament segment consisting of 24 monomers in the absence and the presence of MgADP at 300 K in the presence of a solvent and at physiological ionic strength using the AMBER99SBILDN and CHARMM36 force fields in the GROMACS software environment, using modern structural models as the initial structure obtained by high-resolution cryoelectron microscopy. MD calculations have shown that the stationary regime of fluctuations in the structure of the F-actin long segment is developed 80–100 ns after the start of the MD trajectory. Based on the results of MD calculations, the main parameters of the actin helix and its bending, longitudinal, and torsional stiffness were estimated using a section of the calculation model that is far enough away from its ends. The estimated subunit axial (2.72–2.75 nm) and angular (165–168^◦) translation of the F-actin helix, its bending (2.8–4.7 · 10⁻²⁶ N·m²), longitudinal (36–47·10⁻⁹ N), and torsional (2.6–3.1·10⁻²⁶ N·m²) stiffness are in good agreement with the results of the most reliable experiments. The results of MD calculations have shown that modern structural models of F-actin make it possible to accurately describe its dynamics and mechanical properties, provided that computational models contain a sufficiently large number of monomers, modern force fields, and relatively long MD trajectories are used. The inclusion of actin partner proteins, in particular, tropomyosin and troponin, in the MD model can help to understand the molecular mechanisms of such important processes as the regulation of muscle contraction.

The development of a viral infection in the organism is a complex process which depends on the competition race between virus replication in the host cells and the immune response. To study different regimes of infection progression, we analyze the general mathematical model of immune response to viral infection. The model consists of two ODEs for virus and immune cells non-dimensionalized concentrations. The proliferation rate of immune cells in the model is represented by a bell-shaped function of the virus concentration. This function increases for small virus concentrations describing the antigen-stimulated clonal expansion of immune cells, and decreases for sufficiently high virus concentrations describing down-regulation of immune cells proliferation by the infection. Depending on the virus virulence, strength of the immune response, and the initial viral load, the model predicts several scenarios: (a) infection can be completely eliminated, (b) it can remain at a low level while the concentration of immune cells is high; (c) immune cells can be essentially exhausted, or (d) completely exhausted, which is accompanied (c, d) by high virus concentration. The analysis of the model shows that virus concentration can oscillate as it gradually converges to its equilibrium value. We show that the considered model can be obtained by the reduction of a more general model with an additional equation for the total viral load provided that this equation is fast. In the case of slow kinetics of the total viral load, this more general model should be used.

This paper presents a methodology for modeling centrifugal pumps using the example of the NM 1250 260 main oil centrifugal pump. We use FlowVision CFD software as the numerical modeling instrument. Bench tests and numerical modeling use water as a working fluid. The geometrical model of the pump is fully three-dimensional and includes the pump housing to account for leakages. In order to reduce the required computational resources, the methodology specifies leakages using flow rate rather than directly modeling them. Surface roughness influences flow through the wall function model. The wall function model uses an equivalent sand roughness, and a formula for converting real roughness into equivalent sand roughness is applied in this work. FlowVision uses the sliding mesh method for simulation of the rotation of the impeller. This approach takes into account the nonstationary interaction between the rotor and diffuser of the pump, allowing for accurate resolution of recirculation vortices that occur at low flow rates.

The developed methodology has achieved high consistency between numerical simulations results and experiments at all pump operating conditions. The deviation in efficiency at nominal conditions is 0.42%, and in head is 1.9%. The deviation of calculated characteristics from experimental ones increases as the flow rate increases and reaches a maximum at the far-right point of the characteristic curve (up to 4.8% in head). This phenomenon occurs due to a slight mismatch between the geometric model of the impeller used in the calculation and the real pump model from the experiment. However, the average arithmetic relative deviation between numerical modeling and experiment for pump efficiency at 6 points is 0.39%, with an experimental efficiency measurement error of 0.72%. This meets the accuracy requirements for calculations. In the future, this methodology can be used for a series of optimization and strength calculations, as modeling does not require significant computational resources and takes into account the non-stationary nature of flow in the pump.

An approximate mathematical model of blood flow in an axisymmetric blood vessel is studied. Such a vessel is understood as an infinitely long circular cylinder, the walls of which consist of elastic rings. Blood is considered as an incompressible fluid flowing in this cylinder. Increased pressure causes radially symmetrical stretching of the elastic rings. Following J. Lamb, the rings are located close to each other so that liquid does not flow between them. To mentally realize this, it is enough to assume that the rings are covered with an impenetrable film that does not have elastic properties. Only rings have elasticity. The considered model of blood flow in a blood vessel consists of three equations: the continuity equation, the law of conservation of momentum and the equation of state. An approximate procedure for reducing the equations under consideration to the Korteweg – de Vries (KdV) equation is considered, which was not fully considered by J. Lamb, only to establish the dependence of the coefficients of the KdV equation on the physical parameters of the considered model of incompressible fluid flow in an axisymmetric vessel. From the KdV equation, by a standard transition to traveling waves, ODEs of the third, second and first orders are obtained, respectively. Depending on the different cases of arrangement of the three stationary solutions of the first-order ODE, a cnoidal wave and a soliton are standardly obtained. The main attention is paid to an unbounded periodic solution, which we call a degenerate cnoidal wave. Mathematically, cnoidal waves are described by elliptic integrals with parameters defining amplitudes and periods. Soliton and degenerate cnoidal wave are described by elementary functions. The hemodynamic meaning of these types of decisions is indicated. Due to the fact that the sets of solutions to first-, second- and third-order ODEs do not coincide, it has been established that the Cauchy problem for second- and third-order ODEs can be specified at all points, and for first-order ODEs only at points of growth or decrease. The Cauchy problem for a first-order ODE cannot be specified at extremum points due to the violation of the Lipschitz condition. The degeneration of the cnoidal wave into a degenerate cnoidal wave, which can lead to rupture of the vessel walls, is numerically illustrated. The table below describes two modes of approach of a cnoidal wave to a degenerate cnoidal wave.

Modeling of channel processes in the study of coastal channel deformations requires the calculation of hydrodynamic flow parameters that take into account the existence of secondary transverse currents formed at channel curvature. Three-dimensional modeling of such processes is currently possible only for small model channels; for real river flows, reduced-dimensional models are needed. At the same time, the reduction of the problem from a three-dimensional model of the river flow movement to a two-dimensional flow model in the cross-section assumes that the hydrodynamic flow under consideration is quasi-stationary and the hypotheses about the asymptotic behavior of the flow along the flow coordinate of the cross-section are fulfilled for it. Taking into account these restrictions, a mathematical model of the problem of the a stationary turbulent calm river flow movement in a channel cross-section is formulated. The problem is formulated in a mixed formulation of velocity — “vortex – stream function”. As additional conditions for problem reducing, it is necessary to specify boundary conditions on the flow free surface for the velocity field, determined in the normal and tangential direction to the cross-section axis. It is assumed that the values of these velocities should be determined from the solution of auxiliary problems or obtained from field or experimental measurement data.

To solve the formulated problem, the finite element method in the Petrov – Galerkin formulation is used. Discrete analogue of the problem is obtained and an algorithm for solving it is proposed. Numerical studies have shown that, in general, the results obtained are in good agreement with known experimental data. The authors associate the obtained errors with the need to more accurately determine the circulation velocities field at crosssection of the flow by selecting and calibrating a more appropriate model for calculating turbulent viscosity and boundary conditions at the free boundary of the cross-section.

We consider the hierarchical model of financial crashes introduced by A. Johansen and D. Sornette which reproduces the log-periodic power law behavior of the price before the critical point. In order to build the generalization of this model we introduce the dependence of an influence exponent on an ultrametric distance between agents. Much attention is being paid to a problem of critical point universality which is investigated by comparison of probability density functions of the crash times corresponding to systems with various total numbers of agents.