CECB423 NUMERICAL METHOD FOR CIVIL ENGINEERS MARKS:

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC 6
DUE DATE: 3 MAY 2020

QUESTION 1
The amount of a uniformly distributed radioactive contaminant contained in a closed reactor is
measured by its concentration c (becquerel/liter or Bq/L). The contaminant decreases at a decay
rate proportional to its concentration
𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑦 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 = −𝑘𝑐
where
k is a constant with units of day−1.
A mass balance for the reactor can be written as
𝑑𝑐
= −𝑘𝑐
𝑑𝑡
𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 = 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑦

Analyze the concentration from t = 0 to 1 day with k = 0.2 d−1 using Euler Method. Employ a step
size of t = 0.2. The initial concentration at t = 0 is 10 Bq/L. Keep your answer up to 4 decimal
places.
[15 marks]
QUESTION2
Given
𝑑𝑦
3 + 5𝑦 2 = sin 𝑥 , 𝑦(0) = 5
𝑑𝑥

Calculate 𝑦(1.0) by employing step size, 0.25 using

a) Heun method [20 marks]

b) Midpoint method [20 marks]

c) Ralston method [20 marks]

d) Runge-Kutta 4th order [25 marks]