Barrier island restoration and nourishment is necessary for sustaining coastal systems worldwide. In the Mississippi River Delta Plain, the lack of sediment supply, relative sea level rise, and reworking of abandoned delta lobes promote rapid disintegration of barriers, which can contribute to mainland storm impacts. Barrier island restorations that utilize higher quality sediments (Outer Continental Shelf- OCS) are expected to exhibit higher resiliency, withstanding coastal erosion, event-induced erosion, and ongoing transgression when compared to barriers nourished using lower quality nearshore (NS) sands. Additionally, use of OCS sediments increases sediment supply by adding material to the system supporting increased barrier longevity by maintaining a subaerial footprint longer compared to NS sediments. We used the Delft3D modeling suite to study barrier geomorphic trajectories nourished using OCS/NS sands, compared with control simulations with no nourishment. Resulting morphologies from 18 simulations with forcing that included annualized forcing, storms, and SLR are evaluated and compared.

Au cours des dernières décennies, l'angiographie par résonance magnétique a été utilisée comme routine clinique pour l'exploration précise et non invasive des vaisseaux sanguins, ainsi que pour le diagnostic des affections neurovasculaires les plus courantes. Plusieurs méthodes spécifiques ont été développées pour simuler numériquement le procédé de formation des angiographies. Cependant, à ce jour, la plupart des logiciels de simulation IRM avancés sont exclusivement spécialisés dans l'imagerie des tissus statiques. Le présent travail a donc été réalisé pour étendre les possibilités d'un logiciel existant afin de proposer un outil complet pour la simulation IRM des écoulements fluides. L'efficacité de cette approche est démontrée en reproduisant les principales séquences angiographiques et les artéfacts de flux les plus courants. Pour finir, des applications sur des simulations de flux sanguins dans des géométries de vaisseaux réalistes sont présentées. / During the last decades, magnetic resonance angiography has been used as a clinical routine for precise and non-invasive exploration of vessels, as well as for diagnosis of the most common neurovascular diseases. Several dedicated methods were developed to simulate specifically the process of angiographic acquisitions. Though, currently, most of advanced MRI simulators are exclusively specialized in static tissues imaging. This work was carried out to expand the possibilities of one of those simulators in order to propose a complete tool for MRI simulation of flow motion.The efficiency of this approach is proven by replicating the main angiographic pulse sequences and the most common flow artifacts. Finally, applications are provided on simulations of blood flow in realistic vessels geometries.

Le développement et l'exploitation de réservoirs géothermiques profonds s'accompagnent généralement d'une sismicité induite - un effet secondaire indésirable. Cette recherche est axées sur l'utilisation de simulations numériques pour étudier la propagation des fractures hydrauliques et la réactivation de failles préexistantes lors de la stimulation hydraulique des réservoirs afin de mieux comprendre le comportement du réservoir fracturé et de réduire le risque potentiel de sismicité induite.La sismicité induite est d'abord étudiée du point de vue de l'utilisation de la loi de conservation de l'énergie afin d'expliquer le mécanisme de génération d'ondes élastiques à partir d'une rupture de roche. Ensuite, une approche approximative est proposée pour calculer les accélérations de pointe (PGA) induites par le glissement de faille. Les PGA calculés à la surface du sol servent à évaluer la perception humaine des ondes sismiques et le potentiel de dégradation des structures. / The development and the exploitation of deep geothermal reservoirs are usually accompanied with induced seismicity - an unwanted side effect. This research is focused on using numerical simulations to investigate the propagation of hydraulic fractures and the reactivation of pre-existing faults during the hydraulic stimulation of the reservoirs in an effort to better understand the fractured reservoir behavior and to reduce the potential risk of induced seismicity.The induced seismicity is studied first from the standpoint of using the law of energy conservation in order to explain the mechanism of generating elastic waves from rock failure. Then an approximate approach is proposed to calculate the peak ground accelerations (PGAs) that are induced by the fault slip. The computed PGAs on ground surface are used to assess the human perception of the seismic waves and the damage potential to structures.

La formulation de nouveaux adhésifs durant les dernières décennies a permis de développer des procédés de collage innovants pour l’industrie du bois. Dans cette optique, le collage du bois à l’état vert permet de créer une chaîne d’élaboration de matériaux techniques, sans ruptures de charges dans le processus industriel grâce à un séchage en fin de cycle. Or le collage implique un retrait empêché des assemblages au cours du séchage, induisant un développement de contraintes. À ce jour, de nombreuses études numériques portant sur le comportement du bois collé soumis à des variations hydriques ont été effectuées, sans pour autant avoir été mises en relation avec des études expérimentales. L’extension récente des techniques de corrélation d'images permet d'effectuer des mesures de champs sans contact, particulièrement adaptées à un matériau hygroscopique tel que le bois. L’objectif de la thèse est d’appréhender par des approches expérimentale et numérique les contraintes hydromécaniques qui peuvent survenir dans des assemblages contrecollés. Une expérimentation, permettant de mesurer les champs durant le séchage a été mise en place. Le modèle numérique retenu est un modèle élastique orthotrope, permettant de prendre en compte la morphologie du matériau bois. Nous pouvons identifier les paramètres gouvernant les mécanismes d'endommagement du joint de colle et proposer des conditions de mise en œuvre optimisant la tenue de l'assemblage au séchage. / The development of new adhesives during the last decades has implied radically changes in the sawmill industry. The gluing of unseasonned wood, called green gluing, allows a new order in the process of engineered wood products, thanks to the final position of the drying step. Nevertheless, the jointing prevents the free shrinkage of wood during the mass transfer, involving a stress development. Nowadays, numerous drying models have been developed to predict the deformations and stresses of wood, but few have been confirmed by experimental tests. For an organic material such as wood, the measurement of hygromechanical properties will be more efficient if there is no interaction between the material and the measurement system. One of the most promising experimental techniques for this kind of issue is noncontact optical measurement based on Digital Image Correlation principles. The objective of this study is to evaluate by experimental and numerical solutions the stress development in green-glued wood laminated timber subjected to drying conditions. An experimental method has been set up and the results allow to validate a numerical finite elements model. The model which has been chosen is an orthotropic elastic model, able to describe the morphology of the wood material. This study allows to identify the parameters governing the damage of the interface. This approach leads to suggest some preconizationsin order to optimize the behavior of product during the drying procedure.

<p>The MIUU mesoscale model was further developed, in order to include information on large-scale atmospheric fields from global or regional atmospheric climate- and weather-prediction models. For this purpose, a new lateral boundary condition was developed and implemented into the model. The new lateral boundary condition is a combination of two existing conditions, namely the flow relaxation scheme and the tendency modification scheme.</p><p>Tests indicated that an optimum lateral boundary configuration would be obtained with moderate to strong flow relaxation at higher levels, small flow relaxation at lower levels (within the atmospheric boundary layer), upstream advection at the outermost 4 grid points, and 6% horizontal grid stretching starting at a substantial distance from the lateral boundaries. The flow relaxation coefficients should be specified carefully, in order to minimize the reflection of all kinds of waves at the lateral boundaries.</p><p>The summer thermal low in the mean-sea-level pressure field over North America is traditionally analyzed over the northern end of the Gulf of California. The position of this low is influenced by the application of the so-called plateau correction in obtaining mean-sea-level pressure values from highly elevated stations in North America. A model study indicated that the low should be located approximately 450 km to the north and somewhat to the east of the above location. </p><p>A statistical comparison of model results from two mesoscale models against upper-air and surface measurements from several sites was carried out. Statistical methods, however, give only an insufficient picture of overall model performance. A comparison between predicted and measured tracer concentrations could be used to better evaluate the overall performance of different models.</p><p>Sound propagation in the atmosphere was predicted in a mountain valley using a mesoscale atmospheric model together with a sound propagation model. This suggests that forecasts of sound propagation should be possible in future.</p>

The MIUU mesoscale model was further developed, in order to include information on large-scale atmospheric fields from global or regional atmospheric climate- and weather-prediction models. For this purpose, a new lateral boundary condition was developed and implemented into the model. The new lateral boundary condition is a combination of two existing conditions, namely the flow relaxation scheme and the tendency modification scheme. Tests indicated that an optimum lateral boundary configuration would be obtained with moderate to strong flow relaxation at higher levels, small flow relaxation at lower levels (within the atmospheric boundary layer), upstream advection at the outermost 4 grid points, and 6% horizontal grid stretching starting at a substantial distance from the lateral boundaries. The flow relaxation coefficients should be specified carefully, in order to minimize the reflection of all kinds of waves at the lateral boundaries. The summer thermal low in the mean-sea-level pressure field over North America is traditionally analyzed over the northern end of the Gulf of California. The position of this low is influenced by the application of the so-called plateau correction in obtaining mean-sea-level pressure values from highly elevated stations in North America. A model study indicated that the low should be located approximately 450 km to the north and somewhat to the east of the above location. A statistical comparison of model results from two mesoscale models against upper-air and surface measurements from several sites was carried out. Statistical methods, however, give only an insufficient picture of overall model performance. A comparison between predicted and measured tracer concentrations could be used to better evaluate the overall performance of different models. Sound propagation in the atmosphere was predicted in a mountain valley using a mesoscale atmospheric model together with a sound propagation model. This suggests that forecasts of sound propagation should be possible in future.

Future climate in temperate regions is projected to get warmer and in many cases wetter. This poses questions about how phytoplankton in our lakes will respond. A dynamic modeling approach based on an allometric description of phytoplankton characteristics was used to investigate how the biomass of different functional groups of phytoplankton will respond to a changed future climate. Simulations based on a warmer future climate scenario suggest that we will experience an increase in phytoplankton biomass in northern temperate lakes. Moreover, phytoplankton groups are projected to shift towards a dominance of cyanobacteria at the expense of diatoms. Climate may affect phytoplankton, either via in-lake changes in temperature and stratification, or due to altered processes at the watershed level, which influence rates of nutrient export and water discharge. This study found that changes in lake temperature and stratification are the major causes of the projected increase in phytoplankton biomass, but that changes in the timing of nutrient export did influence the succession of diatoms. Variation in SPIM (suspended particulate inorganic matter) can have an important role in influencing the depth of the euphotic zone in a turbid lake, and hence the light climate experienced by phytoplankton. Wind and river discharge were found to regulate SPIM in this study, not only wind as in many other studies. Variations in SPIM could be adequately described by a few governing equations. This thesis suggests that, as a result of climate change, lakes close to the limit of becoming eutrophied may be pushed past a threshold beyond which water quality problems will become more prevalent. Finally it is important to bear in mind that all models are simplifications of the reality as we understand it. Still, the use of models can often give a good indication as to what might be expected in the future.

Increased knowledge into the physics and chemistrycontrolling emissions from flame-surface interactions shouldhelp in the design of combustion engines featuring improvedfuel economy and reduced emissions. The overall aim of this work has been to obtain afundamental understanding of wall-related, premixed combustionusing numerical modeling with detailed chemical kinetics. Thiswork has utilized CHEMKIN®, one of the leading softwarepackages for modeling combustion kinetics. The simple fuels hydrogen and methane as well as the morecomplex fuels propane and gasified biomass have been used inthe model. The main emphasis has been on lean combustion, andthe principal flow field studied is a laminar boundary layerflow in two-dimensional channels. The assumption has been madethat the wall effects may at least in principle be the same forlaminar and turbulent flames. Different flame geometries have been investigated, includingfor example autoignition flames (Papers I and II) and premixedflame fronts propagating toward a wall (Papers III and IV).Analysis of the results has shown that the wall effects arisingdue to the surface chemistry are strongly affected by changesin flame geometry. When a wall material promoting catalyticcombustion (Pt) is used, the homogeneous reactions in theboundary layer are inhibited (Papers I, II and IV). This isexplained by a process whereby water produced by catalyticcombustion increases the rate of the third-body recombinationreaction: H+O2+M ⇔ HO2+M. In addition, the water produced at higherpressures increases the rate of the 2CH3(+M) ⇔ C2H6(+M) reaction, giving rise to increased unburnedhydrocarbon emissions (Paper IV). The thermal coupling between the flame and the wall (theheat transfer and development of the boundary layers) issignificant in lean combustion. This leads to a sloweroxidation rate of the fuel than of the intermediatehydrocarbons (Paper III). Finally in Paper V, a well-known problem in the combustionof gasified biomass has been addressed, being the formation offuel-NOx due to the presence of NH3 in the biogas. A hybridcatalytic gas-turbine combustor has been designed, which cansignificantly reduce fuel-NOx formation. Keywords:wall effects, premixed flames, flamequenching, numerical modeling, CHEMKIN, boundarylayerapproximation, gasified biomass, fuel-NOx, hybrid catalytic combustor. / QC 20100504

Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical (THM) behavior in geological porous media has been a subject of great interest in many geoengineering disciplines. Many attempts have been made to develop numerical prediction capabilities associated with topics such as the movement of pollutant plumes, gas injection, energy storage, geothermal energy extraction, and safety assessment of repositories for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. This thesis presents a new numerical modeling approach and a new computer code for simulating coupled THM behavior in geological porous media in general, and compacted bentonite clays in particular, as buffer materials in underground radioactive waste repositories. New governing equations were derived according to the theory of mixtures, considering interactions among solid-phase deformation, flows of water and gases, heat transport, and phase change of water. For three-dimensional problems, eight governing equations were formulated to describe the coupled THM processes. A new thermal conductivity model was developed to predict the thermal conductivity of geological porous media as composite mixtures. The proposed model considers the combined effects of solid mineral composition, temperature, liquid saturation degree, porosity and pressure on the effective thermal conductivity of the porous media. The predicted results agree well with the experimental data for MX80 bentonite. A new water retention curve model was developed to predict the suction-saturation behavior of the geological porous media, as a function of suction, effective saturated degree, temperature, porosity, pore-gas pressure, and the rate of saturation degree change with time. The model was verified against experimental data of the FEBEX bentonite, with good agreement between measured and calculated results. A new finite element code (ROLG) was developed for modeling fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in geological porous media. The new code was validated against several analytical solutions and experiments, and was applied to simulate the large scale in-situ Canister Retrieval Test (CRT) at Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, SKB, Sweden, with good agreement between measured and predicted results. The results are useful for performance and safety assessments of radioactive waste repositories. / QC20100720 / THERESA

This thesis focused on investigating flow, coherent structures, and mechanisms leading to scour around a series of three submerged groynes in a high curvature (radius of curvature (R)/channel width (B)=1.5) channel bend using a Large Eddy Simulation Numerical (LES) model. Flow was investigated during both an initial and a later stage of scour. The results showed that the groynes appeared effective in keeping the main core of high streamwise velocity away from the outer bank wall in the region where they were installed, although high potential still existed for local scour around the groynes. During the initial stage of scour, horseshoe vortices (HVs) showed the greatest propensity to induce scour immediately upstream of the groyne tips. During the later stage of scour, the HV in front of the first upstream groyne (G1) induced very high mean pressure fluctuations on the outer bank wall. Scour was also of very great concern around the tip of G1 due to severe mean bed pressure fluctuations. Downstream of the groyne field, the presence of a counter-rotating outer bank cell was capable of endangering the stability of the outer bank. The second focus of this thesis was to investigate flow in a 135° channel bend using both Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) and LES numerical models. The RANS study examined the effects of curvature ratio (R/B), and aspect ratio (B/H, where H is the inlet flow depth), on secondary circulation strength, and bed shear stresses. The study revealed that a decrease in R/B was associated with an increase in secondary circulation strength and peak bed shear stress. A change in B/H also substantially affected cross stream circulation strength. The LES study was conducted in a 135° (R/B = 1.5) bend flume with a fixed bed corresponding to near equilibrium scour conditions, and the results were compared to a similar high curvature 193° bend numerical study. Inner bank vortices and shear layers were present in both cases although their characteristics were substantially different. Distributions of boundary friction velocities, and turbulence were also quite different for each case.