In this paper, ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms are proposed for reservoir operation. Through a collection of cooperative agents called ants, the near-optimum solution to the reservoir operation can be effectively achieved. To apply ACO algorithms, the problem is approached by considering a finite horizon with a time series of inflow, classifying the reservoir volume to several interval...

One of sheet severe plastic deformation (SPD) operation, namely constrained groove pressing (CGP), is investigated here in order to specify the optimum values for geometrical variables of this process on pure aluminium sheets. With this regard, two different objective functions, i.e. the uniformity in the effective strain distribution and the necessary force per unit weight of the specimen, are...

In this study of coagulation operation, a comparison was made between the optimum jar test values for pH, coagulant and coagulant aid obtained from traditional methods (an adjusted one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) method) and with central composite design (the standard design of response surface methodology (RSM)). Alum (coagulant) and polymer (coagulant aid) were used to treat a water source with v...

Direct Capillary Nanofiltration (Direct CNF) is a new technique used for surface water and wastewater treatment in one step without pre-treatment. The CNF membrane module combines the favourable cleaning properties of capillary ultrafiltration membranes with the favourable separation properties of nanofiltration membranes in terms of removal of DOC, colour, bacteria, viruses and pesticides. Dir...

An exact approach is developed to determine the optimum machining conditions and tool allocation decisions simultaneously to minimize the total production cost on a CNC turning machine. There are multiple machining operations and we consider a set of alternative cutting tool types for each operation. The existing tool management approaches at the system level fail to relate the tooling issues t...

The possibilities to use capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) as a preparative tool have been studied, mostly from a theoretical point of view. The preparative performance of CZE is quantitated by the production rate, the amount of analyte that can be purified per unit of time. The production rate available with CZE is shown to depend in the first place on the chemical characteristics of the an...

In a complex system such as railway and aviation equipment’s, it may be necessary to employ a combination of Failure Finding Inspection (FFI) and a scheduled discard task, as suggested by Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM). This strategy ensures an adequate level of availability of hidden functions, as well as the reduction of the risk of multiple failures to an acceptable level. However, i...

The main purpose of Pulse-Width –Modulation (PWM) technique in power inverters is to control the output voltage. The most familiar techniques: uniform-pulse-width-modulation and sinusoidal-pulse-width-modulation. A Small Boundary-Pulse-Width (SBPW) technique for improving the inverter performance is proposed. The new method is based on pulse-width technique. Varied pulse-widths for the middle a...