Time-Variable Solutions

Steve Chapra

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Tufts University

19 June 2012

TIME-VARIABLE
SOLUTIONS
! Analytical closed-form solutions
! The general solution
! Eigenvalues & response times
! Numerical solutions
! Eulers method
! 4th-order Runge-Kutta method
! Demo

TEMPORAL ASPECTS OF
POLLUTANT REDUCTION
Questions:
How long will it take for improvement to occur?
What will the shape of the recovery look like?

W(t)

c(t)

?
0

EIGENVALUES
dc
V dt = W - Qc - kVc
Divide by volume to get canonical form:

dc Q
W (t)
+ + k c =

dt V
V

dc
W(t)
+

c =

dt
V
= eigenvalue =

Q
+
k
V

TIME-VARIABLE SOLUTIONS
ANALYTICAL VS. NUMERICAL
dc
W(t)
+

c =

dt
V
analytical (closed form)

numerical

calculus

computer

continuous

discrete

equation

table of values

IF WE HAVE COMPUTERS:
WHY ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS???
! Great for insights and fundamental

understanding
! For example, dimensionless numbers
! Quick assessments
! Back of the envelope calculations
! Useful for checking numerical

computer solutions

GENERAL AND PARTICULAR SOLUTIONS

n

dc
+

c =

dt

Wn (t )


i =
1
V

SUPERPOSITION:
n

c =
c g +

c p ,i ( t )


i =
1

General Solution [W(t) = 0]

Given a non-zero initial condition,
what happens when we turn off
the loading?

Particular solution(s)
What is the temporal
response of the system
to various forcing
functions, W(t)?

THE GENERAL SOLUTION

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE SHUT OFF LOADINGS?

dc
+

c = 0 ; with c = c0 @ t = 0
dt

c = c0e- t

c
c0

t
0

PROBLEMS WITH

! Problems with communicating
with managers & stakeholders:
! Has units of inverse time
! As gets large, response
time gets small
! Response time is, in reality
infinite!!!

RESPONSE TIME
Half life:

0.50co =
co e -

t50

e
t50 =
2
50% response time

% Response time:
1

t50 =

0.693

1
100
t
=
ln

100 -

100
3
t 95 = ln
=
100 95

RESPONSE TIMES
Response
Time

Formula

t50

0.693


1


1.39


2.3


3


4.6

t63.2
t75
t90
t95
t99

RESPONSE TIMES
c
c0

1
Notice that I've made
time dimensionless

0.5

t
0
0

t50

t75

2 t90

t95

LABILE ORGANIC MATTER

(AKA "Freddie's dilemma")
c

kVc

c = c0 e

=k
k = 0.1 to 0.3/d
t95 = 30 to 10 d

- kt

TIME-VARIABLE SOLUTIONS
ANALYTICAL VS. NUMERICAL
dc
W(t)
+

c =

dt
V
analytical (closed form)

numerical

calculus

computer

continuous

discrete

equation

table of values

NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS
! Do not involve calculus
! Can be solved for nonlinear models
! Can be solved for arbitrary loadings
W

EULERS METHOD
dc = W(t)
- c
dt
V

dc
dt
c
t

dc c = ci +1 - ci
t
t i +1 - t i
dt

Wi
c i +1 - c i
=
- ci
t i +1 - t i
V

t
ti

ti +
1

EULERS METHOD
Wi
c i +1 - c i
=
- ci
t i +1 - t i
V

ci +1 =
ci +1 =

Wi

ci + - ci ( ti+1 - t i )
V

ci +

(new) = (old) +

dc
dt

(step)

(slope)

COMPARISON OF ANALYTICAL
SOLUTION WITH EULERS METHOD
40

Euler

(mg/m )

Analytical

20

0
0

t (d)

10

2 EQUATION EULER
dc1

c10

c20

dt
dc2
dt

= f1(t, c1, c2)

where c1(0) = c10

= f2(t, c1, c2)

where c2(0) = c20

4TH-ORDER RUNGE-KUTTA
c

k2
k3

k1

ci

k1

k2

k1 + 2k2 + 2k3 + k4
6

k3

k4
h
ti

ti+1/2

t
ti+1

DEMO