Hydrate slurry as cold energy storage and distribution medium: Enhancing the performance of refrigeration systems

The research presented in this thesis focuses on the use of hydrate slurries in the air conditioning and refrigeration areas. Both experimental and mathematical methods have been used. Hydrate slurries have been suggested as promising cold storage materials that can be used in air conditioning systems due to their high latent heat (193 kJ/kg and...

Online reinforcement learning control for aerospace systems

Reinforcement Learning (RL) methods are relatively new in the field of aerospace guidance, navigation, and control. This dissertation aims to exploit RL methods to improve the autonomy and online learning of aerospace systems with respect to the a priori unknown system and environment, dynamical uncertainties, and partial observability. In the...

Deterioration and optimal rehabilitation modelling for urban water distribution systems

Pipe failures in water distribution systems can have a serious impact and hence it’s important to maintain the condition and integrity of the distribution system. This book presents a whole-life cost optimisation model for the rehabilitation of water distribution systems. It combines a pipe breakage number prediction model with a pipe...

Novel applications of ground-penetrating radar in oil fields

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), usually working in the frequency from tens of megahertz to several gigahertz, is widely applied in mapping near-surface applications. In recent decades, GPR is frequently utilized for fluid-related applications, such as groundwater assessment, contaminant monitoring, and water-filled fracture detection, based on...