Dans le cadre de cette étude, l'influence du confinement de la plasticité en pointe de fissure sur la ténacité mesurée du matériau a été abordée. Après une étude de la microstructure du matériau, une étude expérimentale approfondie de son comportement mécanique a été mise en oeuvre. Un modèle complexe combinant un écrouissage anisotrope avec un endommagement lui aussi anisotrope comprenant une prise en compte de l'éffet de géométrie par le paramètre de Lode a été mis en place. L'ensemble des travaux se termine par une étude d'un cas concret de gazoduc entaillé soumis à une pression interne jusqu'à éclatement duquel on peut conclure que l'éprouvette de type SENT est plus adaptée que les autres pour l'étude du comportement de structures tubulaires minces. / In this thesis the influence of plastic constraint at a crack tip on the mesured tough-ness of a material has been evaluated. After a study of the microstructure of the material, an ex-perimental study of its mechanical behaviour was made. A complex model combining an anisotrope hardening with an anisotrope damage law including a geometry contridution by means of the Lode parameter was then used. The porject ends with a study of the bursting test of a precracked line pipe. We can conclude from this test that the SENT specimen is more suitable for the study of thin tubes.

The purpose of this paper is to find out whether Hough transform if it is helpful to building extraction or not. This paper is written with the intention to come up with a building extraction algorithm that captures building areas in images as accurately as possible and eliminates background interference information, allowing the extracted contour area to be slightly larger than the building area itself. The core algorithm in this paper is based on the linear feature of the building edge and it removes interference information from the background. Through the test with ZuBuD database in Matlab, we can detect images successfully.  So according to this study, the Hough transform works for extracting building in 2D images.

This research is situated in the field of Computational AeroAcoustics (CAA). The thesis focuses on the computation of the aerodynamic noise generated by turbulent flows around wing, fan, or propeller airfoils. The computation of the noise radiated from a device is the first step for designers to understand the acoustical characteristics and to determine the noise sources in order to modify the design toward having acoustically efficient products. As a case study, the broadband or trailing-edge noise emanating from a CD (Controlled-Diffusion) airfoil, belonging to a fan is studied. The hybrid methods of aeroacoustic are applied to simulate and predict the radiated noise. The necessary tools were researched and developed. The hybrid methods consist in two steps simulations, where the determination of the aerodynamic field is decoupled from the computation of the acoustic waves propagation to the far field, so the first part of this thesis is devoted to an aerodynamic study of the considered airfoil. In this part of the thesis, a complete aerodynamic study has been performed. Some aspects have been developed in the used in-house solver SFELES, including the implementation of a new SGS model, a new outlet boundary condition and a new transient format which is used to extract the noise sources to be exported to the acoustic solver, ACTRAN. The second part of this thesis is concerned with the aeroacoustic study where four methods have been applied, among them two are integral formulations and the two others are partial-differential equations. The first method applied is Amiet’s theory, implemented in Matlab, based on the wall-pressure spectrum extracted in a point near the trailing edge. The second method is Curle’s formulation. It is applied proposing two approaches; the first approach is the implementation of the volume and surface integrals in SFELES to be calculated simultaneously with the flow in order to avoid the storage of noise sources which requires a huge space. In the second approach, the fluctuating aerodynamic forces, already obtained during the aerodynamics simulation, are used to compute the noise considering just the surface sources. Finally, Lighthil and Möhring analogies have been applied via the acoustic solver ACTRAN using sources extracted via SFELES. Maps of the radiated noise are demonstrated for several frequencies. The refraction effects of the mean flow have been studied. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Tree cavities are an important natural resource found in many habitats, providing breeding sites and shelter for arthropods, birds and mammals. However, nest boxes have been more frequently used in Brazil as a tool aiming the conservation of endangered psittacids. In view of this fact, the general objective of the present dissertation was to verify how the use of the artificial tree cavities by vertebrates and invertebrates occurs. In this study we tested the following hypotheses: 1) due to a possible lack of natural cavities at the forest edge, there will be a greater use of the artificial cavities at the edge than inside; 2) there will be an increased use of the artificial cavities by the exotic species at the edge than inside; 3) because there are natural predators, native species should prefer little depth nests and nests with small openings; 4) due to the edge effect, there will be a decline in the availability of natural cavities of the interior in the edge direction and 5) in transects with lower availability of natural cavities, there will be a greater use of the nest boxes. To carry out this work, we selected a subtropical Atlantic forest fragment, with an area of 80 ha, located in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Ten transects were established (five in edge and five inside the fragment), in which 120 artificial nests were hung (60 nests on the edge and 60 inside). The nests were installed in August 2013 and monitored every six days, between September and December 2013 and between September and December 2014. In order to allow the use of the nests by various groups of animals, these nests were made with medium and large-sizes (20 x 30 cm base and 30 cm high x 45 cm), with little or great depth (opening at the top or in the middle of the nest) and small openings (5 cm diameter), medium (10 cm) and large (15 cm). Inside the fragment, there were 29 uses and in the edge 31 uses. Hymenoptera was the most frequent group, corresponding to 61.40% of the occupations (35 of the 60 occupied boxes). Araneomorphae was the second most frequent group with 13 occupied nests; nine nests were occupied by birds (generating 17 chicks, 16 of Pyrrhura frontalis and a chick of Dendrocolaptes platyrostris). Mammals were the least frequent group with only three used boxes (two nests occupied by Didelphis albiventris and one by Guerlinguetus sp.). It was also observed a greater availability of natural cavities inside (50) than at the edge (14), which was considered significant through the statistical test of Mann-Whitney, since the p value was 0.047. Generally the native species sought more cavities with small and little depth openings, while the exotic species (A. mellifera) proved generalist. It was verified, therefore, that it was more difficult for birds and mammals to accept artificial cavities in a short time while the exotic species has demonstrated a rapid acceptance of these structures. / Cavidades arbóreas constituem um importante recurso natural presente em diversos hábitats, fornecendo sítios de reprodução e abrigo para artrópodes, aves e mamíferos. Entretanto, cavidades artificiais têm sido mais frequentemente utilizadas, no Brasil, como uma ferramenta que visa a conservação de psitacídeos ameaçados de extinção. Tendo em vista este fato, a presente dissertação teve como objetivo geral verificar como ocorre a utilização de ninhos artificiais por vertebrados e invertebrados. Neste trabalho foram testadas as seguintes hipóteses: 1) devido a uma possível carência de cavidades arbóreas na borda, haverá maior utilização de ninhos artificiais na borda do que no interior; 2) haverá maior utilização de cavidades artificias por abelha-doméstica na borda do que no interior; 3) por possuírem predadores naturais, as espécies nativas devem preferir ninhos grandes e ninhos com aberturas pequenas; 4) devido ao efeito de borda, haverá uma menor disponibilidade de cavidades arbóreas no interior do que na borda e 5) nas transecções com menor disponibilidade de cavidades arbóreas, haverá maior utilização de caixas-ninho. Para a realização deste trabalho foi selecionado um fragmento de Mata Atlântica subtropical, com área de 80 ha, localizado no município de Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Foram delimitadas 10 transecções (cinco na borda e cinco no interior do fragmento) onde foram instalados 120 ninhos artificiais (60 ninhos na borda e 60 no interior). Os ninhos foram instalados no mês de agosto de 2013 e monitorados a cada seis dias, entre setembro e dezembro de 2013 e entre setembro e dezembro de 2014. A fim de permitir a utilização dos ninhos por diversos grupos de animais, estes foram confeccionados com tamanhos médio e grande (20 cm de base x 30 de altura e 30 cm x 45 cm), com pouca ou grande profundidade (abertura no alto ou no meio do ninho) e aberturas pequenas (5 cm de diâmetro), médias (10 cm) e grandes (15 cm). No interior do fragmento, ocorreram 29 utilizações e na borda 31 utilizações. Hymenoptera foi o grupo mais frequente, correspondendo a 61,40% das ocupações (35 das 60 caixas ocupadas). Araneomorphae foi o segundo grupo mais frequente com 13 ninhos ocupados; nove ninhos foram ocupados por aves (gerando 17 filhotes, 16 de Pyrrhura frontalis e um filhote de Dendrocolaptes platyrostris). Os mamíferos foram o grupo menos frequente com apenas três caixas utilizadas (dois ninhos ocupados por Didelphis albiventris e um Guerlinguetus sp.). Foi constatada ainda uma maior disponibilidade de cavidades naturais no interior (50) do que na borda (14), o que através do teste estatístico de Mann-Whitney foi significativo (p = 0,04). De modo geral as espécies nativas procuraram mais cavidades com aberturas pequenas e pouco profundas, enquanto a espécie exótica (A. mellifera) mostrou-se generalista. Portanto a conservação de áreas florestadas é de extrema importância para manutenção de sítios reprodutivos, como as cavidades arbóreas, utilizados por diversas espécies da fauna silvestre.

Abstract A comparison between the two very important sulfide belts Raahe-Ladoga Ore Zone (RLZ) in Finland and Southern Edge of Altay (SEA) in China, including geological setting, metallogenic characters and geochemical exploration has been made. The two sulfide belts share similarities but differ from each other in the tectonic setting and metallogenic epoch. Polymetallic ores in RLZ and SEA are the products of the submarine volcanism, but mainly Zn-Cu type is present in RLZ and Pb-Zn, Cu-Pb-Zn and Cu-Zn types occur in SEA. A main Ni-Cu ore belt related to the mafic-ultramafic intrusions is also present in the RLZ. RLZ is metamorphosed to a higher grade than SEA. The Viholanniemi Zn-Au deposit is a veinlet-disseminated type, possibly beneath the stratabound sulphide ores, and the Keketale Pb-Zn deposit is a stratabound sulphide ore hosted by sedimentary rocks in the volcano-sedimentary formation. They show many differences. It is suggested that stratabound sulphide ores overlie stratigraphically the Viholanniemi stringer ores and Au-bearing stringers underlie the Keketale stratabound ores. Geochemical explorations of the two deposits exhibit different methods, subjects and procedures. Boulder tracing and till geochemical exploration proved to be very effective in finding the Viholanniemi deposit while stream sediment and soil geochemical surveys were the major and effective tools in finding the Keketale deposit. An extensional environment and the intensity of volcanism are the essential conditions for the formation of polymetallic ores related to the volcanism. It is feasible to classify the ores into the ores hosted by volcanics and sedimentary rocks in a volcano-sedimentary formation. The stratigraphical thickness of volcanic rocks and the amount of agglomerates are the two most crucial factors needed to be considered in prospecting. The chemical variations of the host rocks can indicate the sulphide ores hosted by sedimentary rocks in some circumstances.

Handaxes are some of the longest lasting and most iconic stone tools throughout human evolution. Appearing in the early Pleistocene, these bifacially flaked tools persisted around one and a half million years and span across all of the Old World, from Africa to eastern Asia. Despite their ubiquitous nature, relatively little is known about their function. Handaxes are often speculated to be multi-functional tools which were selected for due to their large cutting edge; however, only a handful of use-wear studies have attempted to elucidate their use in the archaeological record. The lack of experimental use-wear studies surrounding handaxe function is due to preservation issues and the fact that manufacturing and curating handaxes compounds the ambiguity of microwear signatures. The methodology undertaken in this research provides a pathway to overcoming these obstacles through experimental archaeology in conjunction with low powered microscopy, image-based GIS, and statistical hypothesis testing. In particular, this thesis investigates handaxe function at an assemblage scale (n = 56) in a late Lower Paleolithic to Middle Paleolithic archaeological site called Shishan Marsh – 1 (SM-1) in al-Azraq, Jordan. Experimental handaxes (n = 22) were replicated and used in various activities such as butchery, plant processing, woodworking, shellfish processing, and digging. The results of this research corroborates the idea of handaxes being used as multifunctional tools. These results have implications for handaxe function, hominin tool use in a desert refugia, and provides a new pathway to investigate inter-site variability in handaxe use. / Graduate / 2018-08-01

As an implication of rapid growth in Internet-of-Things (IoT) data, current focus has shifted towards utilizing and analysing the data in order to make sense of the data. The aim of which is to make instantaneous, automated, and informed decisions that will drive the future IoT. This corresponds to extracting and applying knowledge from IoT data which brings both a substantial challenge and high value. Context plays an important role in reaping value from data, and is capable of countering the IoT data challenges. The management of heterogeneous contextualized data is infeasible and insufficient with the existing solutions which mandates new solutions. Research until now has mostly concentrated on providing cloud-based IoT solutions; among other issues, this promotes real-time and faster decision-making issues. In view of this, this dissertation undertakes a study of a context-based approach entitled Distributed intelligence-assisted Autonomic Context Information Management (DACIM), the purpose of which is to efficiently (i) utilize and (ii) analyse IoT data. To address the challenges and solutions with respect to enabling DACIM, the dissertation starts with proposing a logical-clustering approach for proper IoT data utilization. The environment that the number of Things immerse changes rapidly and becomes dynamic. To this end, self-organization has been supported by proposing self-* algorithms that resulted in 10 organized Things per second and high accuracy rate for Things joining. IoT contextualized data further requires scalable dissemination which has been addressed by a Publish/Subscribe model, and it has been shown that high publication rate and faster subscription matching are realisable. The dissertation ends with the proposal of a new approach which assists distribution of intelligence with regard to analysing context information to alleviate intelligence of things. The approach allows to bring few of the application of knowledge from the cloud to the edge; where edge based solution has been facilitated with intelligence that enables faster responses and reduced dependency on the rules by leveraging artificial intelligence techniques. To infer knowledge for different IoT applications closer to the Things, a multi-modal reasoner has been proposed which demonstrates faster response. The evaluations of the designed and developed DACIM gives promising results, which are distributed over seven publications; from this, it can be concluded that it is feasible to realize a distributed intelligence-assisted context-based approach that contribute towards autonomic context information management in the ever-expanding IoT realm. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 7: Submitted.</p>

Wind-induced damages on low-slope roofs are a major and common problem that many buildings located in high wind areas suffer from. Most of these damages are initiated when the metal roof edge fails first, leading to overall roof failure. This is because peak wind pressures occur at the edges and corners of low-slope roof buildings. Currently, there are not enough wind design guidelines for the Canadian roofing community to quantify the dynamic wind uplift resistance of the roof edge system. The objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of wind-induced loads on roof edges using a finite element model, verify the numerical results with those obtained from controlled experiments, and perform parametric investigations for various design variables. In this research, the overall roof edge system was modelled using the commercial finite element software package ABAQUS, by simulating the roof edge system with shell elements and applying a uniform static pressure against the face of the edge cleat or coping. Results of the modelling were compared to the experimental ones in terms of deflection of the coping under uniform pressure. The results of the numerical model and the experiments show a good agreement. Furthermore, a parametric analysis of the system was conducted under the effect of varying parameters. i.e., coping gauge, nail spacing, coping and cleat length and wind and thermal load application.

In this thesis we focus on two NP-hard and intensively studied problems: The travelling salesman problem (TSP), which aims to find a minimum cost tour that visits every node exactly once in a complete weighted graph, and the 2-edge-connected spanning subgraph problem (2ECSS), which aims to find a minimum size 2-edge-connected spanning subgraph in a given graph. TSP and 2ECSS have many real world applications. However, both problems are NP-hard which means it is unlikely that polynomial time algorithms exist to solve them, so methods that return close to optimal solutions are sought. In this thesis we mainly focus on k-approximation algorithms for the two problems, which efficiently return a solution within k times of the optimal solution. For a special case of TSP called graph TSP, using ideas from Momke and Svensson, we present a 25/18-approximation algorithm for a special class of graphs using circulations and T-joins, which improves the previous known best bound of 7/5 for such graphs. Moreover, if the graph does not contain special nodes, our algorithm ensures the ratio of 4/3. For 2ECSS, given any k-edge-connected graph G=(V,E), |V|=n, |E|=m, we present an approximation algorithm that gives a 2-edge-connected spanning subgraph with the number of edges at most n+(m-n)/(k-1)-(k-2)/(k-1) with a novel use of circulations, which improves both the approximation ratio and the simplicity of the proof compared to a result by Huh in 2004.

The accurate evaluation of interlaminar stresses is of great significance in the analysis and design of laminated and piezoelectric laminated structures because complex behaviours of these stresses near free edges initiate edge delamination that raises concerns about the structural integrity and reliability. This thesis presented 3D hybrid analyses on the interlaminar stresses to investigate the electromechanical coupling and free edge effects of piezoelectric laminated plates with an emphasis on the realistic distributions of the 3D stress and electric fields near free edges. In this research, the state space equations for simply-supported and free-edge piezoelectric laminates under transverse loads and infinite long free-edge piezoelectric laminates under uniaxial extension were obtained in the framework of 3D piezoelasticity by considering all the independent elastic and piezoelectric constants. The equations satisfy the traction-free and open-circuit boundary conditions at free edges and the continuity conditions across all interfaces. On the basis of the transfer matrix and recursive solution approaches, 3D exact solutions were sought by a novel non-uniform layer refinement technique to evaluate the accuracy of the finite element method (FEM), and realistic gradients of interlaminar stresses and electric fields were captured. The FEM results were in good agreement with those from the present solutions except for the regions near free edges. For simply-supported and free-edge laminates, stress variations with material properties, geometries and stacking sequences were obtained. The interlaminar stress τxz was dominant at corners and τyz also tended to contribute to delamination. In the infinite long free-edge laminates, σz, τyz, Ey and Ez exhibited significant gradients near free edges. Furthermore, the considerable influence of the electromechanical coupling effect on interlaminar stresses revealed that piezoelectric laminates were more susceptible to edge delamination and the application of closed-circuited surface conditions might prevent such edge delamination. The present analytical solution demonstrated an improvement in precision over other 2D analytical and numerical solutions and could serve as a benchmark for the determination of interlaminar stresses and electric fields near the free edges of the piezoelectric laminates.