• Energy Research
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Abstract The kinetics of methane hydrate decomposition was studied using a semibatch stirred-tank reactor. The decomposition was accomplished by reducing the pressure on a hydrate slurry in water to a value below the three-phase equilibrium pressure at the reactor temperature. The data were obtained at temperatures from 274 to 283 K and pressures from 0.17 to 6.97 MPa. The stirring rates were high enough to eliminate mass-transfer effects. Analysis of the data indicated that the decomposition rate was proportional to the particle surface area and to the difference in the fugacity of methane at the equilibrium pressure and the decomposition pressure. The proportionality constant showed an Arrhenius temperature dependence. An estimate of the hydrate particle diameters in the experiments permitted the development of an intrinsic model for the kinetics of hydrate decomposition.

Abstract The dynamics of isolated-photon plus two-jet production in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1. Cross sections are measured as functions of a variety of observables, including angular correlations and invariant masses of the objects in the final state, γ + jet + jet. Measurements are also performed in phase-space regions enriched in each of the two underlying physical mechanisms, namely direct and fragmentation processes. The measurements cover the range of photon (jet) transverse momenta from 150 GeV (100 GeV) to 2 TeV. The tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from Sherpa and Pythia as well as the next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from Sherpa are compared with the measurements. The next-to-leading-order QCD predictions describe the data adequately in shape and normalisation except for regions of phase space such as those with high values of the invariant mass or rapidity separation of the two jets, where the predictions overestimate the data.

Abstract This paper discusses the minimization of the fuel consumption of a gasoline engine through dynamic optimization. The minimization uses a mean value model of the powertrain and vehicle. This model has two state variables: the pressure in the engine intake manifold and the engine speed. The control input is the throttle valve angle. The model is identified on a universal engine dynamometer. Optimal state and control trajectories are calculated using Bock’s direct multiple shooting method, implemented in the software MUSCOD-II. The developed approach is illustrated both in simulation and experimentally for a generic test case where a vehicle accelerates from 1100 rpm to 3700 rpm in 30 s . The optimized trajectories yield minimal fuel consumption. The experiments show that a linear engine speed trajectory yields an extra fuel consumption of 13 % when compared to the optimal trajectory. It is shown that, with a simple model, a significant amount of fuel can be saved without loss of the fun-to-drive.