Ce manuscrit présente l'étude et l'analyse d'écoulements de gaz raréfiés, induits par la transpiration thermique. Le terme de transpiration thermique désigne le mouvement macroscopique d'un gaz raréfié engendré par l'effet du seul gradient de température. L'aspect principal de ce travail est centré autour de la mesure du débit stationnaire déclenché en soumettant un micro tube à un gradient de température appliqué le long de son axe. On a développé à cet effet un appareillage expérimental original ainsi qu'une méthodologie expérimentale innovatrice basée sur la dépendance du phénomène, analysé dans son ensemble, à l'égard du temps. Les résultats obtenus pour le débit stationnaire initial de transpiration thermique et pour les paramètres thermo-moléculaires caractérisant l'équilibre final de débit nul, ont été comparés aux résultats obtenus numériquement par la résolution de l'équation cinétique modèle de Shakhov et par la méthode de simulation directe de Monte-Carlo. / This thesis presents the study and analysis of rarefied gas flows induced by thermal transpiration. Thermal transpiration refers to the macroscopic movement of rarefied gas generated by a temperature gradient. The main aspect of this work is centered around the measurement of the mass flow rate engendered by subjecting a micro-tube to a temperature gradient along its axis. In this respect, an original experimental apparatus and an original time-dependent experimental methodology was developed. The experimental results for the initial stationary thermal transpiration mass flow rate and for the final zero- flow thermal molecular parameters were compared with the results obtained from the numerical solution of the Shakhov model kinetic equation and the direct simulation Monte Carlo method.

Les méthodes Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) sont utilisées par Ariane group pour calculer les torseurs d'efforts aérodynamiques et les flux thermiques sur les engins spatiaux pour des écoulements hypersoniques en milieu raréfié.Afin de pouvoir caractériser la dislocation des étages de lanceurs et donc l'empreinte de retombée de débris, une modélisation précise des mécanismes générateurs de flux thermiques est nécessaire. Les réactions chimiques étant dimensionnantes pour le calcul du flux thermique, l'objectif de cette thèse est de développer l'outil de calcul avec la méthode DSMC nommé IEMC de manière à pouvoir prendre en compte les écoulements réactifs.Deux modèles de chimie sont mis en place pour pouvoir prendre en compte la totalité des réactions. Après leur vérifications sur des cas élémentaires, ils sont appliqués et validés sur des cas tests de rentrée pour différentes atmosphères. Les différents modèles considérés sont testés afin d'évaluer leur influence. Les modèles de chimie dépendent de nouveaux paramètres d'entrée, dont les valeurs numériques sont incertaines. Une étude de quantification de leur incertitude est menée et a permis de vérifier que les grandeurs de sorties de la simulation avec un écoulement réactif, notamment le flux thermique, n'est que peu impacté par ces paramètres incertains. / Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) methods are used in Ariane group to compute aerodynamic forces and moments and heat fluxes on space objects for hypersonic flows in rarefied regimes.To caracterise the dislocation of the stages and the debris footprints, a precise modelisation of the mechanism that contribute to the heat flux is necessary. The contribution of the chemical reactions is important for the determination of the heat flux. The purpose of this thesis is to develop the in house IEMC tool using the DSMC method so that it can compute reactive flows.The different steps of the developments are presented in this work. The first step is the presentation, implementation and verification of two different chemistry models. They are validated for simulations on real test cases. Different models are tested in order to evaluate their effect. Chemical models implemented in the code depend on new input parameters, whose numerical data are uncertain. Using a uncertainty quantification study, it is shown that the output data of the reactive simulation, especially the heat flux, is weakly impacted by the tested uncertain parameters.

Orientador: Hélio Aparecido Navarro / Banca: Vicente Luiz Scalon / Banca: Luben Cabezas Gomez / Resumo: No presente trabalho desenvolve-se um estudo de modelagem matemática e simulação numérica do escoamento bifásico gás-sólido em leito fluidizado borbulhante. Utiliza-se o modelo Euleriano de duas fases separadas formulando o tensor das tensões da fase sólida através da teoria cinética dos escoamentos granulares. As simulações numéricas são realizadas através do código fonte MFIX (Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchanges) desenvolvido no NETL (National Energy Technology Laboratory). Os resultados de simulação numérica são avaliados por meio da análise da influência dos seguintes parâmetros: malha computacional e esquemas de discretização dos termos convectivos das equações de conservação. Com base nos estudos teóricos e resultados obtidos durante o trabalho conclui-se que esquemas de primeira, tais como FOUP são altamente difusivos, já os resultados obtidos utilizando o esquema de alta ordem, Superbee, produziu resultados de melhor qualidade para as malhas testadas neste trabalho. Além disso, os resultados mostraram-se bastante dependentes do tamanho da malha computacional. / Abstract: In the present work is described a mathematical model and numerical simulation of gas-solid two-phase flow in a bubbling fluidized bed. It is used the Eulerian gas-solid two-fluid model and the solid phase stress tensor is modeled considering the kinetic theory of granular flows. The numerical simulations were developed using the MFIX (Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchanges) code developed in NETL (National Energy Technology Laboratory). The numerical diffusion is analyzed considering a single bubbling detachment and its movement process in a two-dimensional bubbling fluidized bed using the bubble shape as a metric for results description. The influence of computacional grid it is also analyzed. It is concluded that SuperBee scheme produces the better results and analysis about estimating uncertainty in grid refinement should be studied. / Mestre

Um dos problemas mais importantes que precisa ser resolvido, tanto pela física de partículas como pela cosmologia, é a existência de assimetria bariônica. Entre os cenários mais atrativos para a geração dinâmica da assimetria bariônica (Bariogênese) encontra- se a denominada Leptogênese. Nesse cenário, cria-se uma assimetria leptônica que será convertida em assimetria bariônica por processos não perturbativos mediados por sphalerons. Na realização mais simples da Leptogênese, que será estudada nesta dissertação, neutrinos pesados de mão direita, produzidos termicamente, decaem violando CP, gerando um assimetria leptônica nesses decaimentos. O principal atrativo deste cenário é que conecta duas escalas aparentemente diferentes: a escala da geração de assimetria leptônica e a escala das massas e oscilações dos neutrinos ativos mediante o mecanismo de See-Saw. O estudo usual da Leptogênese utiliza equações de Boltzmann para determinar a evolução temporal da assimetria. Porém, a equação de Boltzmann é uma equação semiclássica, dado que envolve, por um lado, uma função clássica no espaço de fases, a função de distribuição, mas, por outro, os termos de colisão envolvem quantidades obtidas na teoria quântica de campos à temperatura nula. Em particular, a formulação de Boltzmann não permite descrever fenômenos quânticos como oscilações coerentes e efeitos de decoêrencia e interferência. Uma descrição quântica completa da evolução da assimetria leptônica na leptogênese deve, de fato, ser obtida no contexto da teoria quântica de campos fora do equilíbrio térmico. O formalismo de Schwinger-Keldysh permite realizar isso. Nesta dissertação descreveremos a leptogênese no formalismo de Schwinger-Keldysh para o caso em que são adicionados ao espectro de partículas do Modelo Padrão três neutrinos de mão direita, sem fazer qualquer suposição sobre a hierarquia de massas. / One of the most important problems that is needed to solve by the Elementary Particle Physics as well as by the Cosmology is the existence of baryonic asymmetry. Among the most attractive scenarios of dynamic generation of baryonic asymmetry (Baryogenesis) is the so-called Leptogenesis. In that scenario, a leptonic asymmetry is treated in such a way that it will be converted in baryonic asymmetry by non-perturbative processes mediated by sphalerons. In the simplest realization of Leptogenesis, that will be studied in this disertation, heavy right-handed neutrinos, produzed thermally, decay violating CP generating a leptonic asymmetry in these decays. The principal attractive of this scenario is that it connects two apparently different scales, the scale of leptonic asymmetry generation and the scale of masses and oscillations of the active neutrinos through the See-Saw mechanism. The usual study of the leptogenesis uses Boltzmann equations in order to determine the temporal evolution of the asymmetry. However, the Boltzmann equation is a semiclassical equations, since, on one side, it is formulated for a classical function in phases space, the distribution function, but, on the other hand, the collision term involves quantities obtained in the Quantum Field Theory at zero temperature. In particular, Boltzmann formulation does not allow to describe quantum phenomena such coherent oscillations and effects of decoherence and interference. Indeed, a proper quantum description of the evolution of the leptonic asymmetry must be obtained in the context of the Non-Equilibrium Quantum Field Theory. The Schwinger-Keldysh formalism allows to perform this. In this dissertation, leptogenesis is described using the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism for the case in which there are three right-handed neutrinos without a definite mass hierarchy.

Um dos problemas mais importantes que precisa ser resolvido, tanto pela física de partículas como pela cosmologia, é a existência de assimetria bariônica. Entre os cenários mais atrativos para a geração dinâmica da assimetria bariônica (Bariogênese) encontra- se a denominada Leptogênese. Nesse cenário, cria-se uma assimetria leptônica que será convertida em assimetria bariônica por processos não perturbativos mediados por sphalerons. Na realização mais simples da Leptogênese, que será estudada nesta dissertação, neutrinos pesados de mão direita, produzidos termicamente, decaem violando CP, gerando um assimetria leptônica nesses decaimentos. O principal atrativo deste cenário é que conecta duas escalas aparentemente diferentes: a escala da geração de assimetria leptônica e a escala das massas e oscilações dos neutrinos ativos mediante o mecanismo de See-Saw. O estudo usual da Leptogênese utiliza equações de Boltzmann para determinar a evolução temporal da assimetria. Porém, a equação de Boltzmann é uma equação semiclássica, dado que envolve, por um lado, uma função clássica no espaço de fases, a função de distribuição, mas, por outro, os termos de colisão envolvem quantidades obtidas na teoria quântica de campos à temperatura nula. Em particular, a formulação de Boltzmann não permite descrever fenômenos quânticos como oscilações coerentes e efeitos de decoêrencia e interferência. Uma descrição quântica completa da evolução da assimetria leptônica na leptogênese deve, de fato, ser obtida no contexto da teoria quântica de campos fora do equilíbrio térmico. O formalismo de Schwinger-Keldysh permite realizar isso. Nesta dissertação descreveremos a leptogênese no formalismo de Schwinger-Keldysh para o caso em que são adicionados ao espectro de partículas do Modelo Padrão três neutrinos de mão direita, sem fazer qualquer suposição sobre a hierarquia de massas. / One of the most important problems that is needed to solve by the Elementary Particle Physics as well as by the Cosmology is the existence of baryonic asymmetry. Among the most attractive scenarios of dynamic generation of baryonic asymmetry (Baryogenesis) is the so-called Leptogenesis. In that scenario, a leptonic asymmetry is treated in such a way that it will be converted in baryonic asymmetry by non-perturbative processes mediated by sphalerons. In the simplest realization of Leptogenesis, that will be studied in this disertation, heavy right-handed neutrinos, produzed thermally, decay violating CP generating a leptonic asymmetry in these decays. The principal attractive of this scenario is that it connects two apparently different scales, the scale of leptonic asymmetry generation and the scale of masses and oscillations of the active neutrinos through the See-Saw mechanism. The usual study of the leptogenesis uses Boltzmann equations in order to determine the temporal evolution of the asymmetry. However, the Boltzmann equation is a semiclassical equations, since, on one side, it is formulated for a classical function in phases space, the distribution function, but, on the other hand, the collision term involves quantities obtained in the Quantum Field Theory at zero temperature. In particular, Boltzmann formulation does not allow to describe quantum phenomena such coherent oscillations and effects of decoherence and interference. Indeed, a proper quantum description of the evolution of the leptonic asymmetry must be obtained in the context of the Non-Equilibrium Quantum Field Theory. The Schwinger-Keldysh formalism allows to perform this. In this dissertation, leptogenesis is described using the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism for the case in which there are three right-handed neutrinos without a definite mass hierarchy.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-07-25T11:57:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrezza Cacione.pdf: 1380246 bytes, checksum: 70140b96b4c0cbf9c9bd395f8542f91e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-25T11:57:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrezza Cacione.pdf: 1380246 bytes, checksum: 70140b96b4c0cbf9c9bd395f8542f91e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-14 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The work in question discusses the usage of probabilistic arguments on the Kinetic Theory of gases by James Clerk Maxwell, more specifically when describing the speed of the gas particles. The reflection on the gas behavior and its constituents develops during the 19th century. In this context, it can be verified the use of probabilist arguments in formulation of this knowledge. This work aims to identify the factors that influenced the use of such probabilistic arguments in the development of the Kinetic Theory of gas by Maxwell, and in which sense his approach differentiates from the existing ones, since the probability was already considered in previous formulations of the same theory. In order to identify the subjects studied by Maxwell and the varieties of reflections to which he was exposed, we searched for information on the calendar of the Cambridge University in the period he frequented the institution, we also researched papers published which he might have had contact with and letters exchanged with family and friends / O trabalho em questão versa sobre a utilização de argumentos probabilísticos na Teoria Cinética dos Gases por James Clerk Maxwell, mais especificamente ao descrever a velocidade das partículas que compõem um gás. A reflexão sobre o comportamento dos gases e de seus constituintes ocorreu ativamente ao longo do século XIX. Nesse contexto, percebe-se a utilização de argumentos probabilísticos na construção desse conhecimento. Este trabalho tem como objetivo identificar fatores que influenciaram o uso de argumentos probabilísticos na construção da Teoria Cinética dos Gases por Maxwell e em que sua abordagem a diferencia das teorias já existentes, uma vez que a probabilidade já era considerada em formulações anteriores para a mesma teoria. A fim de identificar os assuntos estudados por Maxwell e a quais tipos de reflexão ele foi exposto, buscamos informações no calendário da Universidade de Cambridge nos anos em que ele a frequentou, em artigos publicados na época com que de alguma forma ele tenha tido contato e também em cartas trocadas com familiares e amigos

Apesar dos avanços na última metade de século na teoria de transporte em Física de Plasmas, muitos de seus aspectos ainda são pouco compreendidos. Grande parte dessa limitação se deve à carência de modelos de primeiros princípios minimamente capazes de reproduzir os resultados experimentais. De fato, sem o embasamento em hipóteses fundamentais, os modelos devem se restringir à descrição do comportamento observado nos diferentes regimes de transporte no plasma, sem necessariamente especificar por que ou quais são os mecanismos envolvidos; até mesmo a identificação dos elementos envolvidos no transporte, por exemplo, se partículas ou células convectivas, é prejudicada. Uma abordagem que vem ganhando destaque na comunidade de Física de Plasmas ao longo dos anos é a estatística não-extensiva. Em particular, o interesse na teoria de Tsallis está na sua capacidade de descrever sistemas distantes do equilíbrio termodinâmico, uma característica comum à maioria dos plasmas de laboratório e astrofísicos. De fato, nessas circunstâncias, é sabido que as funções de distribuição das partículas são distantes das distribuições Maxwellianas, com longas-caudas, especialmente para os elétrons. A capacidade da teoria de Tsallis em descrever fenômenos da Física de Plasmas é retratada nas suas diversas aplicações encontradas na literatura, por exemplo, o transporte anômalo, oscilações eletrostáticas, ventos solares, plasmas empoeirados, onde é sabido que as previsões dadas pela estatística de Maxwell-Boltzmann não são capazes de descrever corretamente os resultados experimentais. A proposta desta tese de doutoramento é utilizar a estatística não-extensiva para determinar o transporte colisional em plasmas intensamente magnetizados. O desenvolvimento completo do modelo de transporte no contexto não-extensivo é estabelecido rigorosamente: partindo da definição da entropia de Tsallis e da hipótese das interações fracas (a condição do transporte colisional), somos capazes de deduzir as equações de fluidos utilizando apenas métodos estatísticos genéricos, e sem hipóteses adicionais. Nesse percurso, apresentamos, sempre de maneira consistente com a estatística não-extensiva, a definição da temperatura; a dedução da equação cinética com o operador colisional para plasmas; a generalização do método utilizado por Braginskii para determinar as soluções aproximadas da equação cinética; e o cálculo dos coeficientes de transporte. Porém, também apresentamos a aplicação de nosso modelo no transporte de calor em ventos solares e no pulso frio em plasmas de laboratório. / Despite the advances in the last half century in the plasma transport theory, many aspects of such phenomena remain poorly understood. Most of this limitation is due to the lack o first principles models capable of reproducing experimental observations. In fact, without a fundamental hypothesis, the models are restricted to describing the behavior of the observed plasma transport in diferent regimes, without specifying why or which mechanisms take part in the process; even the determination of the elements involved in the transport, for instance, whether particles or convective cells, is impaired. One approach that has been attracting attention in Plasma Physics community over the years is the non-extensive statistics. In particular, the interest in the Tsallis\'s theory lies in its ability to describe systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium, a common feature in most laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. The capability of the non-extensive statistics in describing phenomena of Plasma Physics is portrayed in various applications, for example, the anomalous transport, electrostatic oscillations, solar winds, dusty plasmas, where it is know that the predictions given by Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics cannot describe the experimental results. Indeed, under such cases, it is well known that the particle distribution functions are quite distant from Maxwellian distributions, with long tails, especially for electrons. The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to use the non-extensive statistics in order to obtain a model for the collisional transport in strongly magnetized plasmas. The complete development of the model in the non-extensive context is strictly established; starting with the definition of the Tsallis entropy and the weak interactions hypothesis (the collisional transport condition), we are able to derive the fluid equations using only generic statistical methods, without additional hypotheses. For such task, we present, consistently with non-extensive statistics, the definition of temperature; the deduction of the kinetic equation with the collision operator for plasmas, which are also appropriated for the determination of the fluid equations; the generalization of the method used by Braginskii to approximate the solution of the kinetic equation for electrons; and the calculation of electron transport coeficients. Lastly, we present the application of our model in the heat transport in the solar winds and in the phenomena of the cold pulse in laboratory plasmas.

La thèse est divisée en deux parties, correspondantes aux deux sujets principaux de mon travail de thèse.Dans la première partie, on introduit les systèmes avec interactions à longue portée, dont les plasmas et les systèmes auto-gravitants. On résume les caractéristiques bien connues des systèmes isolés, en se focalisant sur la relaxation à l'équilibre. Ensuite, on considère les systèmes avec interactions à longue portée forcées hors d'équilibre et on généralise la théorie cinétique des systèmes isolés à des systèmes hors d'équilibre. Notre travail présentera les généralisations pour décrire les écoulements géophysiques et la turbulence bidimensionelle.La deuxième partie de la thèse traite des propriétés d'équilibre des systèmes Hamiltoniens utilisant les techniques des paysages énergétiques. On résume plusieurs résultats récents et on les applique à des systèmes avec interactions à longue et à courte portée. L'objectif principal de ce travail est l'étude de modèles avec un paysage énergétique beaucoup plus compliqué que ceux étudiés dans la littérature. Dans le cas de modéles O(n) ferromagnétiques, notre analyse a dévoilé une ressemblance surprenante entre l'énergie critique du modèle d'Ising et celle des autres modèles O(n). Une généralisation du formalisme de Stillinger et Weber est discutée. / The thesis is divided in two parts, corresponding to the two main subjects on which I have worked during my PhD. In the first Part, we introduce many-body long-range interacting systems, such as plasma and self-gravitating systems. We first review the well known properties of isolated systems, which show peculiar behaviors both for what concern the equilibrium and the relaxation to equilibrium. We then consider long-range systems driven away from equilibrium and we show how the techniques developed for isolated systems can be extended to describe these situations. Generalizations to describe simplified models relevant for geophysical flows and two-dimensional turbulence are also discussed. Our work stands at the edge between the study of long-range interacting systems and the study of non-equilibrium systems.The second part of the thesis is devoted to the study of equilibrium properties of Hamiltonian systems with energy landscape techniques. A number of recent results is reviewed and applied to long and short-range interacting systems. One of the scope of my work was to study models whose energy landscape is much more complicated than what previously done. In the case of ferromagnetic short-range O(n) models on hypercubic lattices, our analysis unveiled a striking similarity between the critical energies of the Ising model and the O(n) models defined on the same lattice with the same interaction matrix. Generalizations of the Stillinger and Weber formalism are discussed as preliminary results and future perspectives.

Cette thèse est dédiée à l'étude mathématique et numérique d'une classe d'équations cinétiques collisionnelles, de type équation de Boltzmann. Nous avons porté un intérêt tout particulier à l'équation des milieux (ou gaz) granulaires, initialement introduite dans la littérature physique pour décrire le comportement hors équilibre de matériaux composés d'un grand nombre de grains, ou particules, non nécessairement microscopiques, et interagissant par des collisions dissipant l'énergie cinétique. Ces modèles se sont révélés avoir une structure mathématique très riche. Cette thèse se structure en trois partie pouvant être lues de manière indépendante, mais néanmoins en rapport avec des équations cinétiques collisionnelles en général, et l'équation des milieux granulaires en particulier. La première partie est dédiée à l'étude mathématique du comportement asymptotique de certaines équations cinétiques collisionnelles dans un cadre homogène en espace. Nous y montrons des résultats de type explosion et convergence vers la solution autosimilaire avec calcul explicite des taux, pour des opérateurs de type Boltzmann, grâce à l'utilisation (entre autre) d'une nouvelle méthode de changement de variables dépendant directement de la solution de l'équation considérée. En particulier, nous démontrons que pour un modèle de gaz granulaire - dit anormal - il est possible d'observer une explosion en temps fini. Dans la deuxième partie, orientée analyse numérique et calcul scientifique, nous nous intéressons développement et à l'étude de méthodes spectrales pour la résolution de problèmes multi-échelles, issus de la théorie des équations cinétiques collisionnelles. Les méthodes de changement de variables tiennent aussi une place importante dans cette partie, et permettent d'observer numériquement des phénomènes non triviaux qui apparaissent lors de l'étude de gaz granulaires, comme la création d'amas de matière ou la caractérisation précise du retour vers l'équilibre. La troisième et dernière partie est dédiée à l'étude spectrale de l'opérateur des milieux granulaires avec bain thermique, linéarisé au voisinage d'un équilibre homogène en espace, afin d'établir des résultats de type stabilité et convergence vers une limite hydrodynamique. Ce travail est en fait la généralisation d'un résultat célèbre dans la théorie de l'équation de Boltzmann, dû à R. Ellis et M. Pinsky, et établissant rigoureusement la première limite hydrodynamique vers les équations d'Euler compressibles linéaires puis Navier-Stokes de cette équation / This dissertation is dedicated to the mathematical and numerical study of a class of collisional kinetic equations, such as the Boltzmann equation of perfect gases. We took a particular interest in the granular media (or gases) equation, which has been first introduced in the physical literature to describe the nonnequilibrium behavior of materials composed of a large number of grains (the particles) of macroscopic size, interacting through energy dissipative collisions. These models have a very rich mathematical structure. This dissertation is divided in three independent part, all related to the theory of collisional kinetic equation, with a strong emphasis on granular media. The first part concerns the mathematical study of the asymptotic behavior of space homogeneous Boltzmann-like kinetic equations. We prove some blow up results, as well as convergence towards self-similarity, with explicit rates for two different models. One of the key tools of our proofs is the use of a new scaling method, where the scaling function depends on the solution itself. We especially prove that for a particular model of granular gases (also know as anomalous), finite time blow up occurs. The second part is dedicated to the development and study of spectral methods for the resolution of multi-scale problems, coming from the theory of collisional kinetic equations. Some rescaling methods take a very important place in this part, allowing to observe numerically some nontrivial phenomena such as the clustering in space which occurs in the time evolution of a space inhomogeneous granular gas, or to investigate numerically the trend to equilibrium for this equation. The whole third (and last) part is dedicated to the spectral study of the granular gases operator with a thermal bath, linearized near a space homogeneous self-similar profile. The goal of this work is to prove some stability results for the complete space inhomogeneous equation, and to investigate the hydrodynamic limit of the model. This work is based and extend the famous result of R. Ellis and M. Pinsky on the spectrum of the linearized Boltzmann equation, intended to establish rigorously the hydrodynamic limit of this equation towards the linearized Euler and Navier-Stokes equations

The dynamics wetting of fiber is of crucial importance in the fields, such as composites, optical fiber or textile industries. It is therefore valuable to acquire a clear understanding of the fundamental physical mechanisms which govern this phenomenon. In the case of partial wetting, it is assumed that the loss of energy due to the change in shape of the liquid-fluid interface (surface tension) is balanced by two channels of dissipation. One is associated with the viscosity of the liquid (hydrodynamics), whereas the other is due to the friction between the liquid and the solid (molecular-kinetic theory). Translated into equations, this original approach leads to the conclusion that the friction regime should precede the hydrodynamic one for a low viscosity liquid. The crossover time between the two regimes is calculated and shown to be material dependent. To validate these theoretical predictions, both experiments and large scale molecular dynamics simulations of the spontaneous spreading of a liquid along a fiber are run. The experiments consist in capturing images of meniscus formation around the fiber via a high speed camera. For each image, the liquid-air profile is extracted and fitted to a solution of the Laplace equation yielding the contact angle and the height of the meniscus as a function of the time. For low viscosity liquid it is found that the measured dynamic contact angle follows the friction regime, whereas for higher viscosity liquid the viscous regime is recovered as presented theoretically. The same kind of procedure is followed to study the wetting of a nanofiber by molecular dynamics. The properties of the liquid are first assessed (viscosity, shape of the molecule, molecular volume). Because of the very low viscosity of the model liquid, it is expected that the friction between the liquid and the solid is the dominant channel. Indeed, the data from the simulation validates this assumption. Moreover, according to the results of the simulation, it is also confirmed that for a given equilibrium contact angle, a maximum of speed wetting occurs. Actually, a low (or high) equilibrium contact angle involves both a strong (or weak) driving force and adhesion of the liquid molecules to the solid atoms. These opposite effects do not simply cancel out and therefore lead to the existence of a maximum rate at which a liquid can wet a solid. To examine in detail this last statement, the forced wetting of fiber is studied by molecular dynamics. The fiber, at a constant velocity, goes through the meniscus of a liquid which is consequently elongated. Stationary receding and advancing contact angles are then measured as a function of the fiber velocity. It is found that the contact angle dependence on the fiber velocity follows the molecular-kinetic theory, thereby confirming the existence of a maximum. Moreover, a comparison between the values of the microscopic parameters obtained via the adjustement of the theory and a direct measurement of these parameters permits us to check the validity of the chosen theory as well as the reliability of the simulation tool. Finally in order to study the wetting of fibrous materials like fabrics, an effective system is studied via molecular dynamics. It is shown that the measurements of capillary imbibition and droplet spreading are well modelled by a set of equations taking into account the conservation of the volume of the liquid, the influence of a dynamic contact angle inside the pore and the spreading on top of the surface. This single pore geometry is extended theoretically to the case of multiple non-interconnected pores. The time required to absorb the droplet completely is then calculated.