Il ne fait aucun doute que le coût relativement faible des échographes, la procédure rapide et la capacité d’imager des tissus biologiques mous ont permis à l’échographie de devenir l’un des outils de diagnostic médical les plus courants. Malheureusement, l’imagerie ultrasonore présente encore des inconvénients par rapport à d’autres techniques d’imagerie médicale, principalement en termes de qualité d’image et de détails fournis. Dans le souci d’améliorer la qualité d’image, le prix à payer est généralement la baisse de la cadence d’acquisition. Ce compromis profondément enraciné entre la qualité d'image fournie et le temps d'acquisition est peut-être l'un des plus difficiles verrous de la recherche dans le domaine de l’échographie et son dépassement pourrait mener à des meilleures performances des applications existantes et même à des nouvelles utilisations de l’échographie. Ce travail de thèse porte sur l’amélioration du compromis précédemment indiqué entre la qualité d’image et la cadence d’acquisition. En combinant des concepts tels que l’imagerie par ondes planes, les systèmes à entrées multiples / sorties multiples et les problèmes inverses, ce travail vise à acquérir simultanément des images ultrasonores du tissu insonifié, ce qui permet d’augmenter la cadence d’acquisition sans réduire la qualité de l’image fournie. À travers cette étude, nous avons mis au point un modèle mathématique permettant de modéliser la propagation des ondes ultrasonores dans les tissus mous. Ce modèle a été utilisé pour passer en revue un grand nombre de schémas d’acquisition en échographie déjà existants et pour exposer leurs avantages et leurs inconvénients. Nous avons proposé de surmonter le compromis qualité / cadence d’acquisition d'images en utilisant des ondes ultrasonores codées temporellement émises simultanément, et le modèle direct généré a permis l'utilisation des différentes approches de problèmes inverses afin de reconstruire la réponse impulsionnelle pulse / écho du milieu insonifié et donc de son image. De plus, nous avons encore amélioré le modèle direct, ce qui nous a permis de relier directement les échos rétrodiffusés à la position / magnitude des diffuseurs à l'intérieur du milieu imagé. Les résultats fournies par les approches de problèmes inverses basées sur ce modèle amélioré nous ont mis devant une méthode de pointe qui non seulement améliorent d’un facteur conséquent la qualité de l'image en termes de résolution et de cohérence du speckle, mais permettent également d'améliorer la cadence d'acquisition d’images. / It is beyond doubt that the relative low cost of ultrasound scanners, the quick procedure and the ability to image soft biological tissues helped ultrasound imaging to become one of the most common medical diagnostic tools. Unfortunately, ultrasound still has some drawbacks when compared to other medical imaging techniques mainly in terms of the provided image quality and details. In the quest for an improved image quality, usually, the price to pay is the drop in the frame acquisition rate. This deep rooted trade-off between the provided image quality and the acquisition time is perhaps one of the most challenging in today’s ultrasound research and its overcoming could lead to diagnostic improvements in the already existing ultrasound applications and even pave the way towards novel uses of echography. This study addresses the previously stated trade-off. Through a mix of such concepts as plane wave imaging, multiple-input /multiple-output systems and inverse problems, this work aims at acquiring ultrasound images of the insonified tissue simultaneously, thus providing an increased frame rate while not degrading the image quality. Through this study we came up with a mathematical model that allows modelling the ultrasound wave propagation inside soft tissues. This model was used to review a great number of existing ultrasound acquisition schemes and to expose their advantages and drawbacks. We proposed to overcome the image quality / frame rate trade-off by using temporally encoded ultrasound waves emitted simultaneously, and the generated direct model enabled the use of different inverse problem approaches in order to reconstruct the pulse-echo impulse response of the insonified medium and thus its image. Moreover, we further improved the direct model, which allowed us to directly link the backscattered echoes to the position / magnitude of the scatterers inside the imaged medium. The results yielded by the inverse problem approaches based on the former model put us face to face with state of the art method that not only increase the image quality several times in terms resolution and speckle coherence but also provide a boost in frame acquisition rate.

Métodos de resolução numérica de equações diferenciais parciais que utilizam ondaletas como base vêm sendo desenvolvidos nas últimas décadas, mas existe uma carência de estudos mais profundos das características computacionais dos mesmos. Neste estudo analisou-se detalhadamente um método espectral de Galerkin com base de ondaletas harmônicas. Revisou-se a teoria matemática referente às ondaletas harmônicas, que mostrou ter grande similaridade com a teoria referente à base trigonométrica de Fourier. Diversos testes numéricos foram realizados. Ao analisarmos a resolução da equação do transporte linear, e também de transporte não linear (equação de Burgers), obtivemos boas aproximações da solução esperada. O custo computacional obtido foi similar ao método com base de Fourier, mas com ondaletas harmônicas foi possível usar a localidade das ondaletas para detectar características de localidade do sinal. Analisamos ainda uma abordagem pseudo-espectral para os casos não lineares, que resultaram em um expressivo aumento de eficiência. Tendo em vista o uso das propriedades de localidade das ondaletas, usamos o método de Galerkin com base de ondaletas harmônicas para resolver um sistema de equações referente a um modelo de propagação de frentes de precipitação. O método mostrou boas aproximações das soluções esperadas, custo computacional ótimo e ainda a possibilidade de se obter espectralmente informações sobre a localização da frente de precipitação. / Numerical methods to solve partial differential equations based on wavelets have been developed in the last two decades, but there is a lack of studies on their computational characteristics. In this study a Galerkin spectral method using harmonic wavelets base has been thoroughly analyzed. We performed a review on the mathematics of harmonic wavelets, that showed a great similarity with Fourier basis. Several numerical experiments were made. Analyzing the use of the Galerkin method, with harmonic wavelets, on linear and non linear transport equations, we achieved good approximations in respect to the expected solution. The computational cost resulted to be similar to the same method with Fourier basis. On the other hand, employing harmonic wavelets we were able to obtain local information of the solution by simple inspection of the spectral coeffcients. We also analyzed a pseudo-spectral method based on harmonic wavelets for the non linear equations, resulting in a great improvement in efficiency. Looking towards using the locality propriety of harmonic wavelets, we tested the Galerkin method on a precipitation front propagation model. The method resulted in good approximations to the expected solution, optimal computational cost and the possibility of obtaining information on the locality of the precipitation fronts spectrally.

Métodos de resolução numérica de equações diferenciais parciais que utilizam ondaletas como base vêm sendo desenvolvidos nas últimas décadas, mas existe uma carência de estudos mais profundos das características computacionais dos mesmos. Neste estudo analisou-se detalhadamente um método espectral de Galerkin com base de ondaletas harmônicas. Revisou-se a teoria matemática referente às ondaletas harmônicas, que mostrou ter grande similaridade com a teoria referente à base trigonométrica de Fourier. Diversos testes numéricos foram realizados. Ao analisarmos a resolução da equação do transporte linear, e também de transporte não linear (equação de Burgers), obtivemos boas aproximações da solução esperada. O custo computacional obtido foi similar ao método com base de Fourier, mas com ondaletas harmônicas foi possível usar a localidade das ondaletas para detectar características de localidade do sinal. Analisamos ainda uma abordagem pseudo-espectral para os casos não lineares, que resultaram em um expressivo aumento de eficiência. Tendo em vista o uso das propriedades de localidade das ondaletas, usamos o método de Galerkin com base de ondaletas harmônicas para resolver um sistema de equações referente a um modelo de propagação de frentes de precipitação. O método mostrou boas aproximações das soluções esperadas, custo computacional ótimo e ainda a possibilidade de se obter espectralmente informações sobre a localização da frente de precipitação. / Numerical methods to solve partial differential equations based on wavelets have been developed in the last two decades, but there is a lack of studies on their computational characteristics. In this study a Galerkin spectral method using harmonic wavelets base has been thoroughly analyzed. We performed a review on the mathematics of harmonic wavelets, that showed a great similarity with Fourier basis. Several numerical experiments were made. Analyzing the use of the Galerkin method, with harmonic wavelets, on linear and non linear transport equations, we achieved good approximations in respect to the expected solution. The computational cost resulted to be similar to the same method with Fourier basis. On the other hand, employing harmonic wavelets we were able to obtain local information of the solution by simple inspection of the spectral coeffcients. We also analyzed a pseudo-spectral method based on harmonic wavelets for the non linear equations, resulting in a great improvement in efficiency. Looking towards using the locality propriety of harmonic wavelets, we tested the Galerkin method on a precipitation front propagation model. The method resulted in good approximations to the expected solution, optimal computational cost and the possibility of obtaining information on the locality of the precipitation fronts spectrally.

Design based on damage tolerance concepts has become mandatory in high technology structures. These concepts are also essential for evaluating life extension of aged structures which are in service beyond originally stipulated life. Fracture analysis of such structures in the presence of single or multiple three-dimensional flaws is essential for this approach. Surface cracks are the most commonly occurring flaws and development of accurate methods of analysis for such cracks is essential for structural integrity evaluation of newly designed or aged structures. The crack fronts of these surface flaws are usually approximated mathematically to be of either part-elliptical or part-circular in geometry. In this thesis, some of the issues related to fatigue crack growth of single and multiple surface cracks are studied in detail. Here emphasis is given to the development of simple and accurate post-processing techniques to estimate stress intensity factors for surface cracks, development and/or implementation of simple numerical methods to simulate three-dimensional single and multiple cracks in fatigue and their experimental verification. Modified virtual crack closure integral (MVCCI) technique for estimation of strain energy release rates has been improved (chapter II) to deal with curved crack front and unequal elements across the crack front. The accuracy of this method is evaluated and presented in this chapter for certain benchmark surface flaw problems. The improved MVCCI is used in the investigation of interaction between multiple surface cracks in three-dimensional solids. The interaction effects are studied for both interacting and coalescing phases as observed to occur in the growth of multiple surface cracks. Extensive numerical work is performed to study the effects of various parameters such as aspect ratio, thickness ratio, interspacing on the interaction factors. These solutions are used in formulating empirical equations to estimate interaction factors. This facilitated the development of a simple semi-analytical method to study fatigue crack growth of multiple cracks. The growth of surface cracks under fatigue loading in the finite width specimens of an aero-engine superalloy has been studied experimentally (presented in chapter III). Four configurations for single semi-elliptical cracks are considered. Fatigue crack growth is simulated by two models viz. two degrees of freedom and "multi degrees of freedom with ellipse fit'. These models are sometimes referred to as semi-analytical models as the crack growth is predicted by numerical integration combining Paris equation with an empirical form of stress intensity factor solution. In order to use two degrees of freedom model for fatigue crack growth prediction of semi-elliptical cracks, empirical solution for the Ml range of geometric parameters for stress intensity factor is required for the considered configurations. The available Newman-Raju solution is useful for this purpose within a limited range of surface crack length to width (c/W) of the specimen. Based on the present finite element results, the empirical equations are developed for extended values of c/W. It is well understood that the fatigue prediction for two-dimensional crack can be improved by inclusion of crack closure effects. Usually, in semi-analytical models for growth of surface cracks under fatigue loading, the crack closure is included as a ratio of crack closure factor at surface and depth locations of semi-elliptical crack. In the present work, this ratio for the considered material of specimens is obtained by an experimental study. The difference in characteristics of preferred propagation path between semi-elliptical crack in a finite width plate and a wide plate is clearly brought out. Current crack growth predictions for most of the structures are based on the presence of only a single crack. However, in structures several cracks may initiate simultaneously within a stress critical zone and may interact depending upon their geometry, spatial location, structure geometry and mode of loading. In this work various configurations of twin semi-elliptical cracks have been studied by experiments. The beachmarks created on the specimens during experiments are used in the investigation of crack shape progression during fatigue. A three degrees of freedom crack growth model for interacting and coalescing cracks has been proposed. The experimentally determined crack shape and lives have been compared with the corresponding values from numerical simulation. The correlation of experimental results with numerical predictions was carried out through improved MVCCI for eight-noded brick elements. This has worked well in the configurations analysed. However, it is known in literature that there are benefits of using 20-noded singular elements. There could be special situations where the regular elements could fail, and singular elements could be essential. For this purpose, further development of MVCCI were carried out using 20-noded quarter-point elements (presented in chapter IV). Also a novel technique of decomposed crack closure integral (DCCI) was developed (presented in chapter V) for both regular and singular elements to represent the variation of MVCCI more accurately along the crack front. It is well known that quarter-point elements at crack front produce the required singularity at the crack tip and give accurate stress distribution with fewer degrees of freedom than conventional elements. Thus to develop more efficient post-processing tools, the MVCCI expressions are formulated for 20-noded singular quarter-point element for various assumptions regarding stress and displacement distributions in the elements across the crack front. A comprehensive study is presented (chapter IV) on MVCCI for 20-noded singular brick element including various simplified expressions for three-dimensional part-through cracks in pure and mixed-mode state of deformation of fracture. The developed MVCCI expressions are also valid for 15-noded quarter-point Penta elements. The reduction in model size can further be obtained if 12-noded three-dimensional singular element is employed at the crack front and eight-noded elements are used away from the crack front. The MVCCI expressions are also developed for 12-noded singular element and their accuracy is evaluated by numerical solutions. Presently, MVCCI, estimates the average stress intensity factor at the center of each element along the crack front. In this thesis, a Decomposed Crack Closure Integral (DCCI) is formulated to represent an assumed variation of stress intensity factor along the crack front in each element. The DCCI is formulated for 8-noded brick, 20-noded conventional brick and 20-noded singular brick elements. The numerical examples presented here deal with three-dimensional problems of patch repair technology and part-through cracks. The technique showed a major advantage for the patch repair problems where SIF variations along the crack front are of significance and large mesh sizes are computationally expensive. This along with MVCCI for 12-noded and 20-noded singular elements formed a part of the work on development of accurate and effective post-processing tools. It is expected that the present work will be helpful in damage tolerance design and assessment of aerospace structures and the experimental work performed as a part of this thesis will enhance confidence in the damage tolerance analysis. The thesis is concluded in chapter VI presenting the contributions of this thesis and projecting future lines of work possible in this area.

內容感知的應用在今日已經變的越來越熱門，而位置資訊的可知也因此衍生出許多研究的議題。這篇論文提出了一套精準的室內無線網路系統名為Precise Indoor Location System (PILS)。大部分擁有良好定位精準度的定位系統都必須在事情花費許多的人力在收集大量的訊號上面，使得定位系統的變的不實用與需求過多的人力資源。在這篇論文裡，我們將目標放在減少在建置訊號地圖上的人力資源耗費並且保持住定位系統的精準度在一個可以接受的範圍。我們也提出了在資料收集上、訊號內插上、以及位置估計上的模型。另外我們也考慮了一連串連續訊號的相關度來提高準確度。無線網路訊號傳遞的特性也是我們研究的一部份，大小範圍的遮蔽包含在我們所研究的訊號傳遞現象裡面。最後我們提出了一套學習的模型來調整我們的訊號地圖，以改進因為測量數目的減少所造成的精準度下降。 / Context-aware applications become more and more popular in today’s life. Location-aware information derives a lot of research issues. This thesis presents a precise indoor RF-based WLAN (IEEE 802.11) locating system named Precise Indoor Locating System (PILS). Most proposed location systems acquire well location estimation results but consume high level of manual efforts to collect huge amount of signal data. As a consequence, the system becomes impractical and manpower-wasted. In this thesis, we aim to reduce the manual efforts in constructing radio map and maintain high accuracy in our system. We propose the models for data calibration, interpolating, and location estimation in PILS. In the data calibration and location estimation models, we consider the autocorrelation of signal samples to enhance accuracy. Large scale and small scale fading are involved in the wireless channel propagation model. We also propose a learning model to adjust radio map for improving the accuracy down caused by calibrated data reduction.

Submitted by Johnny Rodrigues (johnnyrodrigues@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-08-28T16:50:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 WAGNER DE SOUZA PORTO - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGCC 2009..pdf: 3676431 bytes, checksum: 91bede14a64447aa4598ba5c6b3365a4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-28T16:50:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 WAGNER DE SOUZA PORTO - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGCC 2009..pdf: 3676431 bytes, checksum: 91bede14a64447aa4598ba5c6b3365a4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-09-16 / Este trabalho apresenta o Auto-FDI (Automatic Fault Detection and Isolation), uma ferramenta de detecção e isolamento de falhas em sistemas. A ferramenta usa o conceito de redundância analítica, onde sinais obtidos do sistema (possivelmente com falha) são comparados com sinais esperados, obtidos de um modelo. O isolamento de falhas emprega uma técnica desenvolvida neste trabalho, chamada isolamento automático. A técnica usa uma abordagem baseada em grafos que considera a propagação de falhas e a falta de informação sobre determinados componentes do sistema. Falhas são localizadas de forma mais precisa possível, dado o nível de detalhe do modelo. No escopo deste trabalho foi abordado todo o processo de especificação, projeto, implementação e validação da ferramenta, utilizada como prova de conceito para a técnica desenvolvida. A validação da ferramenta foi feita através da realização de um estudo de caso por potenciais usuários, o que permitiu demonstrar a aplicabilidade da ferramenta e a da técnica desenvolvida. / This work presents Auto-FDI (Automatic Fault Detection and Isolation), a software tool for detection and diagnosis of faults in systems. The tool uses the analytical redundancy concept, where signals from the (possibly faulty) system are compared with expected signals from a model. The fault isolation employs a technique developed on this work, called automatic isolation. This technique uses a graph-based approach which considers the fault propagation and the lack of information about certain components of the system. Faults are pinpointed as accurately as possible given the level of detail in the model. In the scope of this work was addressed the whole process of specification, design, implementation and validation of the tool - used as proof of concept for the developed technique. The validation of the tool was made by conducting a case study for potential users, that has demonstrated the applicability of the tool and the technique developed.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FranciscoAA_Capa_ate_11.pdf: 7331054 bytes, checksum: 95b093e73afc9c2e5df63a5d0c5b2c6b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-07-06 / A 2.5D ray-tracing propagation model is proposed to predict radio loss in indoor environment. Specifically, we opted for the Shooting and Bouncing Rays (SBR) method, together with the Geometrieal Theory of Diffrartion (GTD). Besides the line-of-sight propagation (LOS), we consider that the radio waves may experience reflection, refraction, and diffraction (NLOS). In the Shooting and Bouncing Rays (SBR) method, the transmitter antenna launches a bundle of rays that may or may not reach the receiver. Considering the transmitting antenna as a point, the rays will start to launch from this position and can reach the receiver either directly or after reflections, refractions, diffractions, or even after any combination of the previous effects. To model the environment, a database is built to record geometrical characteristics and information on the constituent materials of the scenario. The database works independently of the simulation program, allowing robustness and flexibility to model other seenarios. Each propagation mechanism is treated separately. In line-of-sight propagation, the main contribution to the received signal comes from the direct ray, while reflected, refracted, and diffracted signal dominate when the line-of-sight is blocked. For this case, the transmitted signal reaches the receiver through more than one path, resulting in a multipath fading. The transmitting channel of a mobile system is simulated by moving either the transmitter or the receiver around the environment. The validity of the method is verified through simulations and measurements. The computed path losses are compared with the measured values at 1.8 GHz ftequency. The results were obtained for the main corridor and room classes adjacent to it. A reasonable agreement is observed. The numerical predictions are also compared with published data at 900 MHz and 2.44 GHz frequencies showing good convergence / Este trabalho apresenta um modelo 2,5D de tra?ado de raios para predi??o de propaga??o em ambientes interiores (indoor). Especificamente, optou-se pelo M?todo dos Raios For?ados (SBR) em combina??o com a Teoria Geom?trica da Difra??o (GTD). Considera-se que, al?m de propaga??o em visada direta (LOS), podem ocorrer os mecanismos de reflex?o, refra??o e difra??o (NLOS). No M?todo dos Raios For?ados (SBR), a antena transmissora lan?a um feixe de raios que pode ou n?o alcan?ar o receptor. Considerando a antena transmissora como elemento pontual, os raios s?o lan?ados dessa posi??o, podendo alcan?ar o receptor diretamente ou mediante reflex?es, refra??es, difra??es, ou pela combina??o dessas modalidades de propaga??o. Para o modelamento do ambiente, um banco de dados ? constru?do para armazenar as caracter?sticas geom?tricas e informa??es dos materiais constituintes do cen?rio. O banco de dados funciona independentemente do programa de simula??o, possibilitando robustez ? implementa??o e maior flexibilidade para a representa??o de outros ambientes. Cada mecanismo de propaga??o ? tratado separadamente. Na propaga??o em linha de visada, o raio direto oferece maior contribui??o ao sinal recebido, enquanto o raio refletido, refratado e difratado apresentam maior influ?ncia quando a propaga??o ocorre com obstru??o. Neste caso, o sinal transmitido alcan?a o receptor por diversas trajet?rias, ocorrendo desvanecimento por m?ltiplos percursos. O canal de transmiss?o, no sistema m?vel, ? simulado deslocando-se o transmissor ou o receptor ao longo do ambiente. A valida??o do m?todo ? verificada atrav?s de simula??es e medi??es. As perdas de percurso calculadas s?o comparadas com os valores medidos, na freq??ncia de 1,8 GHz. Os resultados s?o obtidos para ambientes de corredor e salas de aula adjacentes. Uma boa converg?ncia ? observada. Os resultados num?ricos deste trabalho s?o tamb?m comparados com os dispon?veis na literatura especializada, na freq??ncia de 900 MHz e 2,44 GHz, mostrando boa concord?ncia

Crack propagation in structures when subjected to fatigue loading, follows three different phases namely - short crack growth, stable crack growth and unstable crack growth. Accurate fatigue life prediction demands the consideration of every crack propagation phase rather than only the stable crack growth stage. Further, the use of existing crack growth laws in structures with small cracks under-predicts the growth rate compared to experimentally observed ones, thereby leading to an unsafe design and keeping the structure in a potentially dangerous state. In the present work, an attempt is made to establish fatigue crack propagation laws for plain concrete, reinforced concrete and concrete-concrete jointed interfaces from first principles using the concepts of dimensional analysis and self-similarity. Different crack growth laws are proposed to understand the behavior in each of the three regimes of the fatigue crack growth curve. Important crack growth characterizing material and geometrical parameters for each zone are included in the proposed analytical models. In real life applications to structures, the amplitude of cyclic loading rarely remains constant and is subjected to a wide spectrum of load amplitudes. Furthermore, the crack growth behavior changes in the presence of high amplitude load spikes within a constant amplitude history and this is incorporated in the model formulation. Using scaling laws, an improved understanding of the scaling behavior on different parameters is achieved. The models describing different regimes of crack propagation are finally unified to obtain the entire crack growth curve and compute the total fatigue life. In addition, crack growth analysis is performed for a reinforced concrete member by modifying the model derived for plain concrete in the Paris regime. Energy dissipation occurring due to shake-down phenomenon in steel reinforcement is addressed. The bond-slip mechanism which is of serious concern in reinforced concrete members is included in the study and a method is proposed for the prediction of residual moment carrying capacity as a function of relative crack depth. The application of the proposed analytical model in the computation of fatigue crack growth is demonstrated on three practical problems – beam in flexure, concrete arch bridge and a patch repaired beam. Through a sensitivity study, the influence of different parameters on the crack growth behavior is highlighted.

The demand for higher velocities and heavier axle loads for freight trains leads to higher forces on the railway wheels which in turn lead to an increase in stresses on and below the surface of the wheel-rail contact. By time, this induces wear on the wheels which consequently lead to higher maintenance costs and in some cases accidents. The ability to predict the evolution of wheel profiles due to uniform wear has been demonstrated with a rather accurate precision in most operational conditions. These wear models are based on wear coefficients and since they are not usually valid for real operational conditions, the models are generally calibrated against real-life scenarios in order to adjust the coefficients from test conditions to real-life lubrication conditions. This engineering approach can be useful in prediction of wear in systems where the materials and contact conditions do not vary. However, when addressing material development focused on reducing specific damage modes, the approach is of limited use because the obtained wear coefficients are not directly related to material properties. Therefore, attempts towards developing physical fracture propagation models that relates to the contact conditions and material properties have been made. The purpose has been to retrieve vital information about where a fracture initiates and how it propagates. In the long run, it is of great interest to be able to attain information about how a material particle is removed from the contact surface. Studies for this type of model was done in the 70’s and 80’s mainly with pin-disk experiments but has not been utilized in the specific field of wheel-rail contact. The thesis is part of the FR8RAIL project arranged by the European rail initiative Shift2Rail. Literature studies have been the basis for the thesis in order to gain vital insights into fracture mechanics and other related fields. The physical fracture propagation models have been constructed in the FE software Abaqus with the implementation of the XFEM. For the 2D model, the fracture initiates at the top of the implanted inclusion when the friction coefficient is  and propagates upwards a few elements. For , the fracture initiates at the right surface boundary where the pressure distribution and traction is applied. The fracture propagation angle increases relative to the surface as the friction coefficient value is increased. The fracture for the 3D model extends broader compared to the 2D model at the top of the inclusion in the case of . The fracture initiates at the same surface location as for the 2D model for . The fracture propagation is however non-existent due to convergence problems. The FE-models constructed are initial steps towards analysing the fracture propagation and closely related phenomena for a railway freight wheel in detail. At the end of the thesis, the simplified models give mainly information about the fracture initiation, propagation and its patterns. From this first phase, further adjustments and improvements can take place in order to eliminate the margins of error. In the long run, fully integrated models with further implementations such as detailed microstructure for the contact conditions, plastic behaviour for the material, and complete three-dimensional models can finally be employed. / Efterfrågan på högre hastigheter och tyngre axelbelastningar för godståg leder till högre krafter på järnvägshjulen som i sin tur leder till ökade spänningar på och under ytan vid hjul-räl-kontakten. Med tiden induceras slitage på hjulen som följaktligen leder till höga underhållskostnader och i vissa fall olyckor. Förmågan att förutse utvecklingen av hjulprofiler på grund av enhetligt slitage har visats kunna ske med en noggrann precision under de flesta driftsförhållanden. Dessa slitagemodeller bygger på slitagekoefficienter, och eftersom de vanligtvis inte är giltiga under realistiska driftsförhållanden är modellerna i allmänhet kalibrerade mot verkliga händelseförlopp för att justera koefficienterna från testförhållandena till realistiska smörjförhållanden. Detta tekniska tillvägagångssätt kan vara användbart vid prognos av slitage i system där material och kontaktförhållanden inte varierar. När man addresserar materialutveckling inriktad på att reducera specifika skadelägen är emellertid tillvägagångssättet av begränsad användning eftersom de erhållna slitagekoefficienterna inte är direkt relaterade till materialegenskaper. Därför har försök gjorts till att utveckla fysikaliska sprickbildningsmodeller som relateras till kontaktförhållanden och materialegenskaper. Syftet har varit att erhålla viktig information om var en spricka initieras och hur den fortskrider. I det långa loppet är det även av stor vikt att kunna erhålla information om hur en materialpartikel avlägsnas från kontaktytan. Studier för denna typ av modeller har gjorts på 70- och 80-talet i huvudsak med stift- och skivexperiment men har inte använts inom det specifika området för hjul-räl-kontakt. Avhandligen ingår i FR8RAIL-projektet som arrangeras av det europeiska järnvägsinitiativet Shift2Rail. Literaturstudier har varit grunden för avhandlingen för att få väsentlig insikt i frakturmekanik och andra relaterade områden. De fysiska sprickbildningsmodellerna har konstrueras i FE-mjukvaran Abaqus med XFEM som implementering. För 2D-modellen initieras sprickan överst vid den implanterade imperfektionen när friktionskoefficienten är  och propagerar uppåt några få element. För  initieras sprickan på högra ytgränsen där tryckfördelning och friktionskraft appliceras. Utbredningsvinkeln för sprickan ökar relativt till ytan då friktionskoefficienten ökar. Sprickan för 3D-modellen breder ut sig mer jämfört med 2D-modellen överst vid imperfektionen då . Sprickan initieras på samma ytplats som för 2D-modellen vid . Sprickbildningen är dock obefintlig på grund av konvergensproblem. De konstruerade FE-modellerna är initiala steg mot att analysera sprickutbredningen och närbesläktade fenomen för ett godstågs järnvägshjul i detalj. I slutet av avhandlingen ger de förenklade modellerna huvudsakligen information om sprickinitiering, utbredning och dess mönster. Ytterligare justeringar och förbättringar kan ske efter denna första fas i syfte att eliminera felmarginalerna. På lång sikt kan slutligen helt integrerande modeller med ytterligare implementeringar såsom detaljerad mikrostruktur för kontaktförhållandena, oelastiskt materialbeteende och kompletta tredimensionella modeller användas. / FR8RAIL

The Swedish law requires a set of noise limit for residential buildings for health and safety. Conventionally, the Nordic Prediction Method (NMT) is used to predict the noise. However Nord2000 and CNOSSOS is going to be introduced to replace NMT. An investigation was made to determine which is more accurate in predicting railway noises, particularly reflected railway noises due to the uncharacteristic result in preliminary test. Compromises were made to recreate the measured scenarios in SoundPLAN 8.1. CNOSSOS features an alternative source model requiring new data on the trains and tracks and therefore unable to be compared. The conversion between NMT and Nord2000 was not successful due to the poor documentation of the method. An equivalent value in octave band was used instead. The result were not conclusive as no correlation was found. This might be partly due to the lacking of source model data in the form of track roughness. Result in reflected sound was not conclusive as well since 2 of 3 cases favour Nord2000 and the remaining one favours NMT. The uncertainty introduced in using of the standards and measurements were also rather large, which is also one of the factor in non correlating results. / Svensk lag kräver en viss uppsättning bullergränser gällande boende i bostadshus för deras hälsa och säkerhet. Konventionellt används den nordiska beräkningsmodellen för tågbuller (NMT) för att förutsäga bullret. Nord2000 och CNOSSOS kommer dock att införas för att ersätta NMT. En undersökning gjordes för att avgöra vilken eller vilka modeller som är mest exakta för att kunna förutsäga järnvägsljud, i synnerhet reflekterade järnvägsljud på grund av tidigare osäkerhet i resultatet i det preliminära testet. Kompromisser gjordes för att återskapa de uppmätta scenarierna i SoundPLAN 8.1. CNOSSOS erbjuder en alternativ modellering men kräver ny data från både tåg och räls och omöjliggjorde därför att kunna jämföras. Konverteringen mellan NMT och Nord2000 lyckades inte på grund av den bristfälliga dokumentationen av metoden. Ett ekvivalent värde i oktavband användes istället. Resultatet var inte definitivt eftersom ingen korrelation upptäcktes. Detta kan delvis bero på bristande källmodelldata i form av spårgrovhet. Resultatet av reflekterat ljud var inte heller definitivt eftersom 2 av 3 fall förespråkar Nord2000 och det återstående förespråkar NMT. Osäkerheten som implementeras vid användning av standarder och mätningar är också av betydande storlek, vilket också är en av faktorerna som härleder korrelerande resultat.