Novel concepts enabling a resilient future power system and their subsequent experimental evaluation are experiencing a steadily growing challenge: large scale complexity and questionable scalability. The requirements on a research infrastructure (RI) to cope with the trends of such a dynamic system therefore grow in size, diversity and costs, making the feasibility of rigorous advancements questionable by a single RI. Analysis of large scale system complexity has been made possible by the real-time coupling of geographically separated RIs undertaking geographically distributed simulations (GDS), the concept of which brings the equipment, models and expertise of independent RIs, in combination, to optimally address the challenge. This article presents the outputs of IEEE PES Task Force on Interfacing Techniques for Simulation Tools towards standardization of GDS as a concept. First, the taxonomy for setups utilized for GDS is established followed by a comprehensive overview of the advancements in real-time couplings reported in literature. The overview encompasses fundamental technological design considerations for GDS. The article further presents four application oriented case studies (real-world implementations) where GDS setups have been utilized, demonstrating their practicality and potential in enabling the analysis of future complex power systems.

P-type β-Ga2O3 films deep-ultraviolet (DUV) solar-blind metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors (PDs) are fabricated with extremely high photoresponsivity (9.5 × 103 A/W), external quantum efficiency (4.7 × 106%), detectivity (1.5 × 1015 Jones), and gain-bandwidth product (106) at 5 V bias, very low noise equivalent power (4.9 × 10−16 W/Hz1/2) and high specific detectivity (1.9 × 1013 Jones) at 1 kHz and 3 V bias. The excellent performances of the p-type β-Ga2O3 DUV MSM PDs are attributed to the charge carrier multiplication via collective excitation of aggregated excitons and/or electron-hole liquid within the fabricated high-quality p-type β-Ga2O3 films, which possess the room-temperature Hall resistivity of 52.6 Ωcm, the hole mobility of 41.4 cm2/V⋅s, and the hole concentration of 2.86 × 1015 cm−3. The unprecedentedly high photoresponsivity and detectivity and the carrier multiplication mechanism in high-quality p-type β-Ga2O3 films pave a novel way to fabricate super sensitive DUV PDs based on p-type wide-bandgap oxide semiconductors.

Iron-matrix composites with calcium silicate (CS) bioceramic as the reinforcing phase were fabricated through powder metallurgy processes. The microstructures, mechanical properties, apatite deposition and biodegradation behavior of the Fe-CS composites, as well as cell attachment and proliferation on
their surfaces, were characterized. In the range of CS weight percentages selected in this study, the composites possessed compact structures and showed differently decreased bending strengths as compared with pure iron. Immersion tests in simulated body fluid (SBF) revealed substantially enhanced deposition of CaP on the surfaces of the composites as well as enhanced degradation rates as compared with pure iron. In addition, the composite containing 20% CS showed a superior ability to stimulate hBMSCs proliferation when compared to pure iron. Our results suggest that incorporating calcium silicate particles into iron could be an effective approach to developing iron-based biodegradable bone implants with improved biomedical performance.

The distribution of people in buildings, the occupancy of lecture-, work- and study places and the accessibility of facilities are essential information at university campuses who have to cope with limited and even shrinking budgets and huge, rising real estate costs. Only little insight is gained in both occupancy and movement patterns with traditional counting techniques and user-based questionnaires. Management teams state that rooms and facilities are hardly used, though staff and students complain about overcrowded facilities and limited flexibility. Actual and accurate data on a 24/7 scale with high-granularity is missing.
In general Facility- and Asset Management lacks efficient methods for realtime, comprehensive and high-granularity information of location, capacity and use of tangible and intangible assets. Asset management could benefit from more detailed, more accurate and longitudinal data on assets, providing more insight into efficiency and effectiveness on different levels of scale through time.
Existing technologies could provide a platform delivering those required insights. Navigation- and communication technologies such as GNSS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, RFID can be used to ‘locate’ users, estimate intensities and reveal patterns of movement and patterns of use. For Asset management indoor
localisation is essential.

The plunging of a large intruder sphere into a prefluidized granular bed with various constant velocities and various sphere diameters is investigated using a state-of-the-art hybrid discrete particle and immersed boundary method, in which both the gas-induced drag force and the contact force exerted on the intruder can be investigated separately. We investigate low velocities, where velocity dependent effects first begin to appear. The results show a concave-to-convex dependence of the plunging force as a function of intruder depth. In the concave region the force fits to a power law with an exponent around 1.3, which is in good agreement with existing experimental observations. Our simulation results further show that the force exerted on the frontal hemisphere of the intruder is dominant. At larger intruder velocities, friction with the granular medium causes a velocity-dependent drag force. As long as the granular particles have not yet closed the gap behind the intruder, this drag force is independent of the actual intruder depth. In this regime, the drag force experienced by intruders of different diameter moving at different velocities all fall onto a single master curve if plotted against the Reynolds number, using a single value for the effective viscosity of the granular medium. This master curve corresponds well to the Schiller-Naumann correlation for the drag force between a sphere and a Newtonian fluid. After the gap behind the intruder has closed, the drag force increases not only with velocity but also with depth. We attribute this to the effect of increasing hydrostatic particle pressure in the granular medium, leading to an increase in effective viscosity.

We numerically study the impact of a large sphere dropping into a prefluidized granular bed using a state-of-the-art hybrid discrete particle and immersed boundary (DP-IB) method. For the first time, both the gas-induced drag force and the contact force exerted on the intruder are investigated separately. Our results show that even for relatively large granular particles of 0.5. mm diameter, namely Geldart B particles, and an intruder of 1. cm, the drag exerted by the interstitial gas accounts for up to 5% of the total force experienced by the intruder. Our simulation results match well with existing experimental observations. This work shows that the current simulation scheme could become a tool to investigate the effect of interstitial gas on the dynamics of projectile impact cratering. More generally, the method allows for accurate simulation of the hydrodynamic effects of large internal objects moving through (pre-)fluidized granular beds.