Gradient-based optimization of flow through porous media: Version 3

These notes form part of the course material for the MSc course AES1490 "Advanced Reservoir Simulation" which has been taught at TU Delft over the past decade as part of the track "Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences" in the two-year MSc program "Applied Earth Sciences".<br/>The notes cover the gradient-based optimization of subsurface flow....

Challenges in adjoint-based well location optimization when using well models

There is a general consensus that the most efficient method for large-scale well location optimization is gradient-based with gradients computed with an adjoint formulation. Handels et al. (2007) (later published in journal form as Zandvliet et al., 2008), were the first to use the adjoint method for well placement optimization for which they...

Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis of Coupled Reactor Physics Problems: Method Development for Multi-Physics in Reactors

This thesis presents novel adjoint and spectral methods for the sensitivity and uncertainty (S&U) analysis of multi-physics problems encountered in the field of reactor physics. The first part focuses on the steady state of reactors and extends the adjoint sensitivity analysis methods well established for pure neutron transport problems to...

Stochastic Surrogates for Measurements and Computer Models of Fluids

Both measurements and computer simulations of fluids introduce a prediction problem. A Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurement of a flow field results in a discrete grid of velocity vectors, from which we aim to predict the velocity field or related quantities. In Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), the output of the computer code depends...

Quantifying nuclide contributions to reactor behaviour over time

This thesis describes the application of adjoint techniques to fuel cycle analysis, in order to provide a more accurate description of the effects of nuclides on reactor behaviour. Transmutation and decay processes change the composition of the fuel. Allowing for these changes makes it possible to create different fuel compositions that yield...

Shape Parameterization in Aircraft Design: A Novel Method, Based on B-Splines

This thesis introduces a new parameterization technique based on the Class-Shape-Transformation (CST) method. The new technique consists of an extension to the CST method in the form of a refinement function based on B-splines. This Class-Shape-Refinement-Transformation (CSRT) method has the same advantages as the original CST method, while also...

A zero-variance based scheme for Monte Carlo criticality simulations

The ability of the Monte Carlo method to solve particle transport problems by simulating the particle behaviour makes it a very useful technique in nuclear reactor physics. However, the statistical nature of Monte Carlo implies that there will always be a variance associated with the estimate obtained, making the reduction of this variance,...

Application of sonic boom optimization to supersonic aircraft design

Preliminary results on shape optimization of a wing-body configuration aiming at reducing sonic boom overpressure will be discussed. The optimization process uses a CAD modeler and an Euler CFD code with adjoint. Thickness, scale, twist and camber at section level were used to obtain gains in ground pressure signature.

Improved Monte Carlo Methods with Applications to Borehole Logging Simulations