Accurate Numerical Computation of the Beta PDF

Authored by: Eduardo A. Brizuela, Willem Deconinck, Chris Lacor

Corresponding Author:
Name: Eduardo A. Brizuela
Affiliation:  Department of Mechanical Engineering

University of La Plata
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
 

To send a mail to the Corresponding Author click here.

The authors of this paper deal with specific aspects of the modelling of turbulent diffusion flames where the Beta probability distribution is used. The unique aspect of this paper is that the author shows that the traditional problems of over-flow and under-flow can be avoided using their unique method of calculation for certain limiting conditions.

Key Words: Beta PDF, numerical computation

Summary:
The computation of the Beta PDF is discussed and algorithms are described which permit calculation of the PDF over the full range of its parameters without recourse to approximations or polynomial expansions. This is achieved by giving simple rules for the treatment of the trivial cases and a new algorithm for the general cases, particularly for the cases where the PDF becomes infinity at the extremes of the range. The problems of underflow and overflow when performing the calculations on a digital computer are also addressed, and a general prescaling procedure is presented which overcomes these problems. It is shown that the new algorithms perform more efficiently than commercial mathematical packages.

FULL PAPER:
The full paper may be downloaded from the server, in the “New Papers” section.

Publication in the Journal
The Editor-in-Chief would like to remind all potential authors that publication in the Journal is open to all. If you have interesting results to publish in the field of, or related to, industrial combustion, we invite you to prepare a paper according to the guidelines given in the Author’s Guide on the website (http://www.journal.ifrf.net/).

Papers may be regular “articles” (typically up to 20 pages) or Communications (typically up to 4/5 pages). Review papers can of course be longer. Remember that figures and graphics in general can be in full color. This advantage should be encouraged.

All manuscripts and associated files, proposed for publication should be sent by the Corresponding Author in a compressed/zip file, as an email attachment to journal@ifrf.net. This file should include a statement that the proposal’s content is unpublished material that has not being submitted for publication elsewhere. When an article by the author(s) is cited in the proposed article as “in press”, a copy of this article should accompany the proposed article and should be included in the compressed file.

The Editor-in-Chief looks forward to receiving your proposals.