Simulation Facility Research Articles

Digital-twin co-simulation framework to support informed decision in healthcare planning and management

This manuscript aims to show the proof-of-concept for the integration of digital twin (DT) and discrete event co-simulation through its application to forward simulation of physical activities of care providers and robots in an intensive care unit (ICU). Co-simulation focuses on modular integration of heterogeneous simulation components to capture the complexity inherent in systems. Advancing this conception, the proposed co-simulation attempted to narrow gaps with real-world systems by using DT while simultaneously leveraging the forward simulation capacity of discrete event simulation (DES). In particular, we created a co-simulation for human–robot interactions in a simulated ICU facility, which modeled the hospital layout including the facility, robot, avatars for healthcare professionals, equipment, patient bed, and vital signs, which comprise physical twin (PT). In addition, specific patient-care scenarios were defined to drive PT for which the states of interest were represented in the DT, and then used for a dynamic input to the discrete event co-simulation. At the onset of the co-simulation, the parameters needed to run DES were manually configured to align the parameters with those of the DT. For internal validation, this DES was replicated under different work-system policies, and the co-simulation outcomes were interpreted in clinical context. Our co-simulation approach has potential for application to a broader class of problems in healthcare planning and management by supporting informed decision-making. Methodologically, timely information exchanges of PT with DT, and ensuing model updates in the Discrete Event System Specification (DEVS) is a promising approach for co-simulation, to maintain robustness against perturbations to real-world systems.

Simulation model for electrical and agricultural productivity of an olive hedgerow Agrivoltaic system

Given the need to promote a more sustainable energy model that contributes to the fight against Climate Change and the consequent advancement of photovoltaics, Agrivoltaics is presented as a solution to the conflict over land use, since it makes it possible to reconcile agricultural production and photovoltaic power simultaneously on the same piece of land. However, it is a new production model and there are still many aspects to research. This work presents a mathematical model to simulate the spatial distribution of the solar radiation in the canopy of the crop of an agrivoltaic plant in which N-S solar trackers are alternately combined with olive groves in hedgerows. In this way, simulation has the advantage of predicting the expected behaviour of one or more configurations of agrivoltaic installations and, on the basis of this simulated behaviour, making decisions during the design phase to optimize their performance. To do this, various models have been integrated to simulate both the behaviour of irradiance on its way from the Sun to the crop, using geometric-vector analysis, and the irradiance absorption processes on its way through the canopy of the crop. Thus, the global model presented allows estimating the electrical and oil production of an agrivoltaic plant such as the one described. From this global model, electrical and oil productions have been systematically simulated for a set of agrivoltaic plants whose design parameters range around the intermediate values of an agrivoltaic facility with olive groves in hedgerows spaced 10 m apart and alternated with 3 m wide and 3 m hight N-S solar trackers. For this intermediate facility, the annual productions of oil and electricity are 789kg/year·ha and 891MWh/year·ha, respectively. Finally, the oil and energy productions of all the simulated agrivoltaic facilities and their design parameters have been interrelated obtaining mathematical equations to determine in a simple way the influence on the productions of the geometrical design variables of the agrivoltaic installation (height of the solar trackers, width of the collectors and distance between hedgerows). Therefore, the model presented makes it possible to advance in the evaluation of the possible integration of olive groves in agrivoltaic systems and their profitability, constituting an important benefit for the implementation of agrivoltaics in the Mediterranean regions where olive groves play a significant role in agricultural production systems.

Main Stages and Results of the Development of Mobile Space Environment Simulation Facility “Metamorphosis”

Abstract This article presents the main stages and results of the project “Mobile Space Environment Testing Equipment Development of “Metamorphosis” Prototype for Transportation Intermodal Traffic”. For successful implementation of the project, the project has been divided into four stages: 1) Design calculations and design documentation for the design elements of the prototype; 2) Prototype software development; 3) Manufacturing of construction details and prototype assembly; 4) Industrial research and prototype testing. The goal of the project is, based on industrial research, to develop a prototype of the Mobile Space Environment Test Facility (MSTF) “Metamorphosis” transported in an intermodal environment, and to achieve the level of scientific and technical readiness of MSTF from TRL2 to TRL4 (by the scale of the European Space Agency (ESA)) for further development of the project. This project is unique and has no comparable analogues, as all existing test facilities are stationary. The project is implemented by Riga Technical University in cooperation with Cryogenic and Vacuum Systems Ltd.

Process scale-up simulation and techno-economic assessment of ethanol fermentation from cheese whey.

Production of cheese whey in the EU exceeded 55 million tons in 2022, resulting in lactose-rich effluents that pose significant environmental challenges. To address this issue, the present study investigated cheese-whey treatment via membrane filtration and the utilization of its components as fermentation feedstock. A simulation model was developed for an industrial-scale facility located in Italy's Apulia region, designed to process 539m3/day of untreated cheese-whey. The model integrated experimental data from ethanolic fermentation using a selected strain of Kluyveromyces marxianus in lactose-supplemented media, along with relevant published data. The simulation was divided into three different sections. The first section focused on cheese-whey pretreatment through membrane filtration, enabling the recovery of 56%w/w whey protein concentrate, process water recirculation, and lactose concentration. In the second section, the recovered lactose was directed towards fermentation and downstream anhydrous ethanol production. The third section encompassed anaerobic digestion of organic residue, sludge handling, and combined heat and power production. Moreover, three different scenarios were produced based on ethanol yield on lactose (YE/L), biomass yield on lactose, and final lactose concentration in the medium. A techno-economic assessment based on the collected data was performed as well as a sensitivity analysis focused on economic parameters, encompassing considerations on cheese-whey by assessing its economical impact as a credit for the simulated facility, dictated by a gate fee, or as a cost by considering it a raw material. The techno-economic analysis revealed different minimum ethanol selling prices across the three scenarios. The best performance was obtained in the scenario presenting a YE/L = 0.45g/g, with a minimum selling price of 1.43 €/kg. Finally, sensitivity analysis highlighted the model's dependence on the price or credit associated with cheese-whey handling. This work highlighted the importance of policy implementation in this kind of study, demonstrating how a gate fee approach applied to cheese-whey procurement positively impacted the final minimum selling price for ethanol across all scenarios. Additionally, considerations should be made about the implementation of the simulated process as a plug-in addition in to existing processes dealing with dairy products or handling multiple biomasses to produce ethanol.

Participating mass of large-scale complex dynamic machine foundation: taking the national facility for earthquake engineering simulation (NFEES) as an example

Participating mass of large-scale complex dynamic machine foundation: taking the national facility for earthquake engineering simulation (NFEES) as an example

Superdiffusive to ballistic transport in nonintegrable Rydberg simulator

A common wisdom posits that transport of conserved quantities across clean nonintegrable quantum systems at high temperatures is diffusive when probed from the emergent hydrodynamic regime. We show that this empirical paradigm may alter if the strong interaction limit is taken. Using Krylov-typicality and purification matrix-product-state methods, we establish in short-to-intermediate time scales the following observations for the nonintegrable lattice model imitating the experimental Rydberg blockade simulator. Given the strict projection owing to the infinite density-density repulsion V, the Rydberg chain’s energy transport in the presence of a transverse field g is tentatively superdiffusive at infinite temperature featured by an anomalous scaling exponent 34\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\frac{3}{4}$$\\end{document}, indicating the potential existence of a novel dynamical universality class. Imposing, in addition, a growing longitudinal field h causes a putative superdiffusion-to-ballistic transport transition at h ≈ g. Interestingly, all the above results persist for large but finite interactions and temperatures, provided that the strongly interacting condition g, h ≪ kBT ≪ V is fulfilled. Our predictions are testable by current Rydberg quantum simulation facilities.

Exploring the Influence of Human System Interfaces: Introducing Support Tools and an Experimental Study

Situational awareness and decision support tools such as procedures and alarm systems are vital for effective interaction among control room operators, especially in safety-critical situations. In safety-critical environments such as process plants, there remains a gap in evaluating specific tools during actual operations, or ”work-as-done.” Additionally, the underlying factors that might impact operators’ cognitive states and performance concerning safety have not been thoroughly explored. The need for such an evaluation is further bolstered by current interaction configurations where operators are more passive than active, thus reducing their cognitive performance. Therefore, this experimental study addresses the highlighted evaluation gap by introducing and comparing three human system interfaces/decision support tools in four human-in-the-loop configurations. The supports include two alarm design formats (prioritized vs. non-prioritized) and three procedure representation formats (paper, screen-based digitized, and an AI-based support system built with an integrated Bayesian network and reinforcement learning model). Ninety-two people (n = 92) participated voluntarily in the test. They were divided equally into four groups. Each group tested three safety-related events in a simulated formaldehyde production facility. Individuals belonging to the group with prioritized alarms and utilized paper procedures rated procedural support slightly higher on average than others in different groups. Unlike the other groups, their assessment of alarm prioritization support remained consistent across all scenarios. Further analysis of the impact of the setup on cognitive states and actual performance will be performed.

Conceptual design of the tail research experiment at the Space Plasma Environment Research Facility (SPERF-TREX)

The Space Plasma Environment Research Facility (SPERF) for ground simulation of the space plasma environment is a key component of the Space Environment Simulation Research Infrastructure (SESRI), a major national science and technology infrastructure for fundamental research. It is designed to investigate outstanding issues in the space plasma environment, such as energetic particle acceleration, transport, and interaction with electromagnetic waves, as well as magnetic reconnection processes, in magnetospheric plasmas. The Tail-Research EXperiment (TREX) is part of the SPERF for laboratory studies of space physics relevant to magnetic reconnection, dipolarization and hydromagnetic wave excitation in the magnetotail. SPERF-TREX is designed to carry out three types of experiments: the tail plasmoid for magnetic reconnection, dipolarization front formation, and magnetohydrodynamic waves excited by high-speed plasma jets. In this paper, the scientific goals and three scenarios of SPERF-TREX for typical processes in space plasmas are presented, and experimental plans for SPERF-TREX are also reviewed, together with the plasma sources applied to generate the plasma with the desired parameters and various magnetic configurations.

Experimental investigation of Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces for high-temperature solar receivers

This study experimentally investigates Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces (TPMS) as structured porous media for concentrated solar power systems. Two mock-up planar solar receivers with different TPMS lattices, Diamond and SplitP, were fabricated using Additive Manufacturing. Testing was conducted within the SFERA III project, funded by the EU, utilizing a solar simulator facility at IMDEA Energy Institute in Madrid, Spain. Thermal performance was evaluated under varying mass flow rates and heat flux levels, using synthetic air as the working fluid. Results show superior performance of the SplitP lattice over the Diamond lattice, exhibiting higher heat absorption, lower heat loss, and improved thermal and exergetic efficiencies. SplitP achieved a maximum thermal efficiency of approximately 70 %, compared to 60 % for Diamond, and an exergetic efficiency of approximately 12 %, compared to 8 % for Diamond.

Helicopter augmented control laws for ship deck landing: HACLAS ONERA/DLR Joint Team

Different types of control laws are implemented, tested and compared for maritime operations particularly ship deck landing maneuvers at the flight simulation facilities at both DLR (German Aerospace Center) and ONERA (The French Aerospace Lab). At DLR, “classical” cyclic and collective stick flight controls were used during the piloted simulator trials while active side-sticks were operated at ONERA. A joint maritime scenario for ship deck landing in the simulation environments of both institutes is presented. Test methodologies and assessment techniques to evaluate the ship deck landings are harmonized based on different criteria such as quantitative measures and handling qualities (HQ) ratings to analyze the developed control laws. Simulation results based on pilot studies for an EC135 in the DLR simulator and an EC225 at ONERA are presented.

Fair evaluation of federated learning algorithms for automated breast density classification: The results of the 2022 ACR-NCI-NVIDIA federated learning challenge

The correct interpretation of breast density is important in the assessment of breast cancer risk. AI has been shown capable of accurately predicting breast density, however, due to the differences in imaging characteristics across mammography systems, models built using data from one system do not generalize well to other systems. Though federated learning (FL) has emerged as a way to improve the generalizability of AI without the need to share data, the best way to preserve features from all training data during FL is an active area of research. To explore FL methodology, the breast density classification FL challenge was hosted in partnership with the American College of Radiology, Harvard Medical Schools’ Mass General Brigham, University of Colorado, NVIDIA, and the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute. Challenge participants were able to submit docker containers capable of implementing FL on three simulated medical facilities, each containing a unique large mammography dataset. The breast density FL challenge ran from June 15 to September 5, 2022, attracting seven finalists from around the world. The winning FL submission reached a linear kappa score of 0.653 on the challenge test data and 0.413 on an external testing dataset, scoring comparably to a model trained on the same data in a central location.

The ASPiH Standards – 2023: guiding simulation-based practice in health and care

The ASPiH Standards 2023 provide a common framework within educational and healthcare sectors, bolstering quality assurance for simulation providers, regulators, professional bodies and commissioners. They endeavour to meet the current needs of simulation practitioners and learners, reflect the evolution of simulation practice, and account for emerging technologies. Therefore, they are applicable to any modality of simulation-based education and training as well as to translational and transformative simulation interventions, including the use of simulation for quality improvement processes, whether carried out at education centres, simulation facilities or at the point of care. The standards encourage adherence to core values of safety, equity, diversity and inclusion, sustainability, and excellence. They provide guidance for all simulation practitioners, highlighting key principles for planning, facilitation and evaluation of simulation activities, as well as recommendations for optimum resource management. Implementation of these standards will require consideration of how they apply to each individual context, and what outcome measures are most meaningful to demonstrate alignment.

A Combustion-Driven Facility for Hypersonic Sustained Flight Simulation

This study reports on the development of a new Blowdown-Induction Facility driven by two different Oxygen-Fueled Guns. The facility has been conceived and realized to simulate different flow conditions in the context of hypersonic sustained flight. Here the underlying principles are illustrated critically, along with a focused description of the various facility subsystems, their interconnections and the procedures specifically conceived to overcome some of the technical complexities on which this facility relies. Its performances are finally presented in relation to some prototype applications, together with an indication of the related limits, advantages and possible directions for future improvements.

Evaluation of a Simulation Based Training Course for Non-Consultant Hospital Doctors (NCHDS) in Psychiatry

IntroductionSimulation-based training (Sim) is an established method of teaching in medical education and can help bridge the gap between medical theory and clinical practice. While sim is well-established in medical and surgical specialties, it is less well developed in psychiatry. Psychiatric emergencies often occur out of hours when there are fewer senior staff available on-site. Sim offers a safe setting for development of essential clinical skills with carefully delivered feedback.Sim can be high-cost involving specialized simulation facilities, especially when utilising high-fidelity equipment. Even lower-fidelity techniques requiring standardized patients (SPs) require funding for actors and this can be a barrier to utilising Sim.ObjectivesWe piloted a Sim course to NCHDs working in psychiatry in a tertiary university hospital with the aim of improving trainee skills and confidence in managing psychiatric emergencies on-call including risk assessment, involuntary admission and acute behavioural disturbance. A low-fidelity approach was taken with minimal use of SPs.MethodsA sim handbook developed by Irish Centre for Applied Patient Safety and Simulation (ICAPSS) was used for reference in developing the simulation modules. Three modules were delivered in a structured manner over three hours; involuntary admission, risk assessment and management of acute behavioural disturbance. Each module involved the simulation exercise (20 minutes) followed by debrief (20 minutes). The facilitated debrief involved open discussion and prompted reflective learning. Anonymous, paper-based questionnaires were used to collect feedback on participants’ experience of the training.ResultsThere were 12 attendees and ten participants completed the feedback. All participants (100%, n=10) agreed or strongly agreed that sim helped them to learn and all agreed that the topics covered were relevant to their clinical role. All participants (100%, n=10), indicated that they enjoyed the workshop. Eighty percent (n=8) agreed or strongly agreed that they would like to do more sim-based workshops. The supportive environment and debrief sessions were reported as the most enjoyable aspects of the workshop.ConclusionsParticipants unanimously agreed that the training was useful to them in their clinical roles and helped them to learn. Sim was effective in teaching high risk complex psychiatric cases to psychiatry NCHDs and consideration should be given to expand this teaching method within postgraduate psychiatry training in Ireland.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Application of augmented reality for crime scene investigation training and education

The role of the crime scene investigator is complex, and investigators need to be able to conduct multiple frequently performed tasks. Appropriate training and education are critical to impart the crime scene investigator with the necessary capabilities. For a range of reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for multi-disciplinary capabilities, training and education requirements have evolved in recent times to be more flexible and accessible.The skills of a crime scene investigator can be broadly categorised into two types of fundamental skills: decision-making and psychomotor skills. Both these skills need to be taught and assessed within training and education programs. The most common approach to impart these skills is by incorporating a crime scene simulation facility; however, not everyone has access to these facilities. Furthermore, crime scene staff often undertake refresher courses and are required to complete proficiency assessments. Conducting these activities in a dedicated crime scene simulation facility is time consuming and costly. Virtual tools have been developed in recent years to address this, but these tools only assess decision-making skills and not psychomotor skills.This paper argues that the implementation of augmented reality (AR) technology should be considered in crime scene investigator training and university education, because it can provide significant advantages when paired with conventional methods of training and education. When appropriately managed, AR can provide an avenue of training where both decision-making and psychomotor skills can be addressed simultaneously, while providing a more flexible and accessible approach. The implementation of AR has the potential to significantly improve the standards of teaching, resulting in better equipped crime scene investigators.The paper will explore how AR has the potential to improve accessibility of training, increase safety, enhance the student experience, enhance collaboration and feedback through connectivity and potentially reduce cost. This paper will also provide an insight into what would need to be considered before implementing AR technology into crime scene investigation training and education alongside current approaches. It is argued that the inclusion of AR into the current training and education arsenal provides significant benefits that are worthy of exploration.

Validation of TRACE 5.0 for steam line break with passive auxiliary feedwater system via the ATLAS facility

The TRAC/RELAP Advanced Computational Engine (TRACE) reactor systems code was validated for the Passive Auxiliary Feedwater System (PAFS) using the experimental data from the Advanced Thermal-Hydraulic Test Loop for Accident Simulation (ATLAS) facility. The accident scenario which emulates a Double-Ended Guillotine Break (DEGB) in the main steam line of Steam Generator 1, was meticulously analyzed, with a focus on transient events and steady-state conditions with an error margin of less than 2%. Comprehensive comparative analyses of key thermal hydraulic parameters, including system pressures, temperatures, flow rates, and water levels, were conducted. Discrepancies were systematically identified, investigated, and effectively resolved. The experimental results underscore the successful role of passive safety systems in mitigating potential accident impacts, emphasizing their pivotal contribution to the overall safety and reliability of nuclear reactor systems. Furthermore, the simulation results effectively mirror the experimental data, demonstrating TRACE's capability to adequately simulate the behavior of a passive feedwater system during a main steam line break.

Investigation of Heat Exchanger Performance in The Heating Tank Section of Loop FASSIP 03 NT

The Passive System Simulation Facility (FASSIP) loop is an experimental test facility for a passive cooling system to recover the residual heat from decay produced by the reactor core during accident conditions. The Heating Tank Section (HTS) is one of the components of the FASSIP 03 NT facility. This component is equipped with a heat exchanger, 3 types of heat exchangers can be applied to HTS. Namely heat exchangers of the Straight Pipe Heat Exchanger (SPHE) type, the Straight Pipe Fins Heat Exchanger (SPFHE) type, and the Helical Pipe Heat Exchanger (HPHE) type. A modification was made to increase the efficiency of HTS, namely replacing the electric heater on the HTS from a ceramic band heater type to an immersion heater type. With this modification, it is necessary to know the performance of the heat exchanger on HTS and its speed in reaching operational temperature. The HPHE-type heat exchanger is more efficient than the SPHE-type and SPFHE-type heat exchangers. The HPHE-type heat exchanger has a much larger length of 5.5 m, so the thermal resistance (Rth) is very small, namely 0.003926 ℃/W. To reach the working fluid temperature in the range of 50 – 90 ℃, the HPHE-type heat exchanger requires 35 – 86 minutes.

Blast waveform tailoring using controlled venting in blast simulators and shock tubes

A critical challenge of any blast simulation facility is in producing the widest possible pressure-impulse range for matching against equivalent high-explosive events. Shock tubes and blast simulators are often constrained with the lack of effective ways to control blast wave profiles and as a result have a limited performance range. Some wave shaping techniques employed in some facilities are reviewed but often necessitate extensive geometric modifications, inadvertently cause flow anomalies, and/or are only applicable under very specific configurations. This paper investigates controlled venting as an expedient way for waveforms to be tuned without requiring extensive modifications to the driver or existing geometry and could be widely applied by existing and future blast simulation and shock tube facilities. The use of controlled venting is demonstrated experimentally using the Advanced Blast Simulator (shock tube) at the Australian National Facility of Physical Blast Simulation and via numerical flow simulations with Computational Fluid Dynamics. Controlled venting is determined as an effective method for mitigating the impact of re-reflected waves within the blast simulator. This control method also allows for the adjustment of parameters such as tuning the peak overpressure, the positive phase duration, and modifying the magnitude of the negative phase and the secondary shock of the blast waves. This paper is concluded with an illustration of the potential expanded performance range of the Australian blast simulation facility when controlled venting for blast waveform tailoring as presented in this paper is applied.

Micro-environmental factors impact breathing zone exposures: A simulated petrochemical manufacturing facility task

This study investigates the impact of micro-environmental factors on worker breathing zone exposure levels in petrochemical facilities. A laboratory simulation study evaluated near-field exposure to methane for a typical maintenance task. Individual and combinations of micro-environmental factors significantly affected methane exposure. Airflow direction and speed were significant determinants of exposure concentration reduction. A side airflow direction at medium to high speed produced the lowest gas concentration in the breathing zone. Worker body orientation relative to the methane emission point was also a critical factor affecting gas concentration in the worker's breathing zone. The study provides insights into how variations in airflow and small changes in position impact near-field exposures for petrochemical tasks, guiding industrial hygiene professionals' training on qualitative exposure estimation and providing input for near-field exposure modeling to guide quantitative exposure and risk assessment.

Перспективы создания сети рыбоводных предприятий в российской Арктике

Fostering aquaculture aligns with key priorities for Arctic development in Russia, encompassing ecosystem sustainability, job creation, Northern import reduction, enhanced nutritional value of local products, support for small businesses, and advancement of high-tech industries. This study aims to determine the best configuration for a new network of Arctic fish farms in the Russian Arctic. To comprehend the potential of Arctic fish farming, the study starts from identifying feasible farm locations based on an analysis of demand in key Arctic settlements. Criteria-based assessments identified Pevek, Sabetta, Dudinka, Tiksi, Tazovsky, Yamburg, Kharasavey, and Khatanga as potential locations. A comparative economic analysis evaluates logistic options for networks featuring three to eight fish farms in conditions of limited infrastructure. The study determines the attending vessel location (Novosibirsk) and the genetic breeding center location (Pevek). Transportation schemes for feed, fry, and breeding material are developed in accordance with production process requirements. The study proposes the Arctic char as the focus of commercial cultivation at the simulated facility. Economic and mathematical modeling is employed to forecast the effects of creating networks in two configurations at the business, regional, and national levels. The findings reveal that a network of three facilities is more profitable for investors, while a network of eight facilities yields greater social significance with higher fiscal, social, and ecological effects. The quantitative estimates provided serve as a foundation for investment decisions in the development of fish farming in the Russian Arctic.