ACS133 Physical Systems

Assignment 2, 2023-2024
Lingzhong Guo, Patricio Ortiz

Assignment weighting
15%
Assignment released
Week 7, Spring Semester, 21 March 2024
Assignment due
Week 10, Spring Semester (Blackboard online submission deadline 23:59 pm, 2 May
2024). You may submit your work before the submission deadline (the deadline is not a target!).
Do not leave it to the last minute in case you encounter problems. For full information, see the
assignment briefing below.

Penalties for late submission

Late submissions will incur the usual penalties: a 5% reduction in the mark for every working day (or
part thereof) that the assignment is late and a mark of zero for submissions more than 5 working
days late. See https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/assessment/grades-results/submission-marking
for more information.

Feedback
No later than 2-3 weeks after the submission deadline. This will include the overall mark, individual
component marks, and comments on performance on the assignment. Note that marks may be
subject to change due to unfair means.

Unfair means
Work must be completed individually. Submitted work must be your own. All submitted work will
be checked. Suspected unfair means will be investigated and may lead to penalties.
See: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/new-students/unfair-means for guidance.
Special circumstances
If you have medical or personal circumstances that prevent you from submitting this assignment on
time or that may have affected your performance, please complete and submit a “special
circumstances form” along with documentary evidence of the circumstances. Please see:
https://students.sheffield.ac.uk/extenuating-circumstances for guidance as to which form is appropriate
for your circumstances and what, if any, supporting documentation is required.

Help
This assignment briefing, the lecture notes, and the laboratory handouts (all available on
Blackboard) provide all the information that is required to complete this assignment. It is not
expected that you should need to ask further questions. Remember that you need to decide on
what is the most appropriate approach to carry out the simulations and present your results. This is
also part of what you are being assessed on and will assess your knowledge and understanding of
the taught material for ACS133.

Assignment briefing
 This assignment/report will assess your fundamental understanding of physical systems,
including your use of MATLAB/Simulink relevant to the AC133 module. The assignment is a
case study of the modelling and simulation of a thermal system you studied in the Spring
semester.
 Your answers must consist of the MATLAB code and Simulink model(s) used to solve the
assignment questions shown below, along with any supporting output results (plots/figures
etc.) and other relevant evidence to justify your solution.
 In the report, you need to address the questions directly, include your working methodology
and justifications/assumptions, and include a brief discussion of the results as appropriate.
 MATLAB code must have comments that include the title, author, date, the purpose of the
code and help details as shown in the MATLAB laboratory sessions.
 When completing the assignment, you should be prepared to use the MATLAB help system
or Google searches and conduct a personal study about any necessary functions or features.
Submitting your work
You must submit a report document and all your relevant MATLAB/Simulink files.
 Report document: You must submit the completed assignment report as a single document
to the ACS133 Blackboard page via Turnitin. You must include your University registration
number at the top of every page (header). Your report should be word-processed, using a
minimum font size of 11 and a minimum of 2.5 cm on all margins. Please use “A guide to
technical report writing from the IET (The Institution of Engineering and Technology)”
provided in the course content in Blackboard as guidance when preparing your report.
 MATLAB/Simulink files: In addition to the report submission, you must also submit – via
Turnitin - a single compressed file (.zip) containing your MATLAB and Simulink files for the
tasks described below. Important: Before submitting your MATLAB files, create an empty
folder, copy the zip file there and expand it. Make sure your code works without any issues.
If something is missing, add it, re-create the zip file, and test until everything works properly.
This is how your code will be evaluated. If something is missing or doesn’t work, it is your
responsibility.
Marking criteria
The marking scheme is summarised here, but the marker will be focussed on what the student
submission is worth overall and may, therefore, move some marks from one criterion to another
where appropriate.
Report Task 1 8 Marks
Marks will be awarded for correct solutions and methodology,
relevant justifications and supporting discussion.
Report Task 2 12 Marks
Marks will be awarded for correct solutions and methodology,
relevant justifications and supporting discussion.
MATLAB and Simulink 25 Marks
Covering tasks 1 and 2 combined, it will be assessed whether
your code runs without errors and repeatedly does so; not
dependent on pre-existing values in workspace; gives the
correct answers and/or accompanying text and/or correct plots
with attention to detail regarding units, labels, etc., and you
have shown proficiency with MATLAB, Simulink and your GUI in
your attention to design, readability and consistency (clear
design, good indenting, sensible variable names, useful
comments, good quality help).
Report quality 5 Marks
Use of English, report structure and clarity of writing, quality of
figures/plots/diagrams, use of references and justifications of
solutions.
TOTAL 50 Marks
Assignment Tasks

Consider a system with two thermal capacitances ( C1 and C2 ). Heat is supplied to the first

capacitance at the rate q1(t) by a heater, and heat is lost at the left end to the environment. The

first capacitance is connected to the second one through the thermal resistance R2 . The second

capacitance is connected on the right side to the environment that has the temperature a . Except

for the thermal resistances R1 , R2 and R3 , the enclosure is assumed to be perfectly insulated.

The system model is given by

1 1 1 1
1  1  q1  a  2
C1R12 C1 C1 R1 C1 R2
1 1 1
2  2  a  1 ,
C2 R23 C2 R3 C2 R2
where
R1R2
R12  ,
R1  R2
and
 R2 R3
R23  .
R2  R3

Hence, using the substitutions 1  ˆ1   a and 2  ˆ2  a , the following incremental model is

obtained
1 1 1
𝜃̇ + 𝜃 = 𝑞 + 𝜃
𝐶𝑅 𝐶 𝐶𝑅

1 1
𝜃̇ + 𝜃 = 𝜃,
𝐶𝑅 𝐶𝑅

which corresponds to the following equations in the Laplace domain

1 1 1
Θ (𝑠) 𝑠 + = 𝑄 (𝑠) + Θ (𝑠)
𝐶𝑅 𝐶 𝐶𝑅

1 1
Θ (𝑠) 𝑠 + = Θ (𝑠)
𝐶𝑅 𝐶𝑅

Using these equations, the following transfer functions are derived

1
ˆ ( s)
 C1C2 R2
2

)  R2  R12 R23 2
2
Q1 ( s ) 1 1
s 2  s( 
C1 R12 C 2 R23 C1C 2 R12 R23 R2

and

1 2 1 1 1
s  s( 2  )  2
ˆ (s)
 C1 C1 R12 C1C2 R23 C1 C2 R12 R23
1

)  s( 21 2  1  R2  R12 R23 2 )  R2 2  R2 12 R23 2
2 2
Q1 ( s ) 2 1
s3  s2 ( 
C1 R12 C2 R23 C1 R12 C1C2 R12 R23 C1C2 R12 R23 R2 C1 C2 R12 R23 R2
Task 1
Consider the model described above with the following default values:
𝐶 = 50 J/K
𝐶 = 60 J/K
𝑅 = 10 K/W
𝑅 = 10 K/W
𝑅 = 10 K/W
𝜃 = 293.15 K (20 Celsius)
Implement the model in MATLAB and Simulink, using Simulink to model and MATLAB to set

parameters, call the model and plot the simulation results. Simulate the system with q1  0 for ten

minutes then apply a step input of amplitude 3 . Allow the system to reach steady state and plot in

a single figure: the temperatures 1(t) , 2 (t) and the input heat flow q1(t) . Plot the time in minutes

on the X-axis.

For each temperature ( 1 and 2 ), report the steady-state value and the time required to reach

2% of the steady state value.

Task 2
Create a MATLAB GUI that allows a user to explore different values for the model parameters and
the corresponding system response. Your task is also to explore the system enough to understand
the impact of each parameter on the system's response and to describe the significance of that
parameter in the actual thermal system modelled.

For example, to begin exploring the system, increase the value of the second thermal resistance to
𝑅 = 50K/W and plot the system's response. What are the main differences compared to the
response in Task 1? Relate the differences in the system's response with the actual thermal system
described in the assignment. Reset the parameters to the default case, then repeat this process for

three more cases with different values of 1) R1 or R3 , 2) C1 or C2 , and 3) a .