more funding must be allocated for their rehabilitation or replacement. The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program has been developed to help bridge stakeholders make the best decisions concerning the allocation of these funds. This is done through the use of high quality data obtained through numerous testing processes. As part of the LTBP Pilot Program, researchers have performed live load tests on the U.S. Route 15 Southbound bridge over Interstate-66. The main performance and behavior characteristics focused on are service strain and deflection, wheel load distribution, dynamic load allowance, and rotational behavior of bridge bearings. Data from this test will be used as a tool in developing and refining a plan for long-term bridge monitoring. This includes identifying the primarily loaded girders and their expected range of response under ambient traffic conditions. Information obtained from this test will also aid in the refinement of finite element models by offering insight into the performance of individual bridge components, as well as overall global behavior. Finally, the methods and results of this test have been documented to allow for comparison with future testing of this bridge, which will yield information concerning the changes in bridge behavior over time. / Master of Science

Στην εργασία αυτή διερευνάται η δυναμική απόκριση κρυογενικών δεξαμενών υγροποιημένου φυσικού αερίου υποκείμενων σε δράση σεισμού. Επειδή οι εν λόγω δεξαμενές αποτελούν κρίσιμα στοιχεία για τη λειτουργία ενός συστήματος διανομής φυσικού αερίου και επειδή ενδεχόμενη καταστροφική αστοχία τους θα είχε δυσβάστακτες κοινωνικές επιπτώσεις, ιδιαίτερα αυστηρές απαιτήσεις ισχύουν σχετικά με τον αντισεισμικό σχεδιασμό τους. Για το σχεδιασμό έναντι σεισμού προδιαγράφονται συνήθως ένα σεισμικό γεγονός με μέση περίοδο επαναφοράς της τάξης των 500 ετών, κατά το οποίο οι δεξαμενές απαιτείται να παραμένουν πλήρως λειτουργικές, και ένα σεισμικό γεγονός με μέση περίοδο επαναφοράς της τάξης των 5000 έως 10000 ετών, κατά το οποίο απαιτείται η εξασφάλιση της ασφαλούς διακοπής της λειτουργίας των δεξαμενών, ενώ ελάχιστη μόνο βλάβη είναι αποδεκτή στα δομικά στοιχεία τους. Οι εν λόγω δεξαμενές αποτελούνται από δύο κελύφη: Ένα εξωτερικό κυλινδρικό κέλυφος από προεντεταμένο σκυρόδεμα με θολωτή στέγη από οπλισμένο σκυρόδεμα και ένα εσωτερικό κέλυφος από κρυογενικό χάλυβα, εντός του οποίου αποθηκεύεται το προϊόν. Τα δύο κελύφη εδράζονται σε κοινή πλάκα βάσης. Στην εργασία αυτή εξετάζονται δύο εναλλακτικοί τρόποι έδρασης της πλάκας βάσης: α) απλή έδραση επί του διαμορφωμένου εδάφους και β) εφαρμογή κάποιας διάταξης σεισμικής μόνωσης επί της οποίας εδράζεται η πλάκα βάσης. Ειδικότερα, εξετάζονται τα ακόλουθα συστήματα σεισμικής μόνωσης: α) μόνωση με ελαστομεταλλικά εφέδρανα με ελαστομερές υψηλής απόσβεσης, β) μόνωση με ελαστομεταλλικά εφέδρανα με πυρήνα μόλυβδου, και γ) μόνωση με συνδυασμό γραμμικών ελαστομεταλλικών εφεδράνων και μη γραμμικών αποσβεστήρων. Στις ιδιαιτερότητες του δυναμικού προβλήματος περιλαμβάνονται, εκτός από την επίδραση της μόνωσης, η δυναμική αλληλεπίδραση των δύο κελυφών, η δυναμική αλληλεπίδραση υγρού-δεξαμενής, ο κυματισμός της ελεύθερης επιφάνειας του υγρού και η δυναμική αλληλεπίδραση εδάφους-δεξαμενής. Τα φαινόμενα αυτά λαμβάνονται υπόψη στην ανάλυση. Για τη μελέτη του κυματισμού της ελεύθερης επιφάνειας χρησιμοποιείται η γραμμική θεωρία κυμάτων. Για τη μελέτη της αλληλεπίδρασης υγρού-δεξαμενής εφαρμόζεται μια προσέγγιση τύπου Lagrange με χρήση πεπερασμένων στοιχείων υγρού. Για τη μελέτη της αλληλεπίδρασης εδάφους-δεξαμενής χρησιμοποιούνται συγκεντρωμένα στοιχεία δυσπαραμορφωσιμότητας και απόσβεσης. Επίσης, συγκεντρωμένα στοιχεία δυσπαραμορφωσιμότητας και απόσβεσης χρησιμοποιούνται για την προσομοίωση των συστημάτων μόνωσης. Τα χαρακτηριστικά των παραπάνω συγκεντρωμένων στοιχείων για την προσομοίωση της αλληλεπίδρασης εδάφους-δεξαμενής και των συστημάτων μόνωσης επιλέγονται με βάση ρεαλιστικές υποθέσεις για τις δυναμικές ιδιότητες του εδάφους θεμελίωσης και τα χαρακτηριστικά των συστημάτων μόνωσης. Δύο περιπτώσεις υφιστάμενων δεξαμενών υιοθετούνται προς ανάλυση. Οι δύο δεξαμενές διαφέρουν κυρίως ως προς τη χωρητικότητα και το λόγο ύψους προς ακτίνα. Και οι δύο δεξαμενές έχουν μελετηθεί και κατασκευαστεί χωρίς σεισμική μόνωση. Ένα συνθετικό επιταχυνσιογράφημα συμβατό με το φάσμα απόκρισης σχεδιασμού του Ευροκώδικα 8 για λόγο απόσβεσης 5%, για την αντίστοιχη κατηγορία εδάφους και για μέγιστη εδαφική επιτάχυνση λίγο μεγαλύτερη από αυτή για την οποία είναι σχεδιασμένες οι δεξαμενές περιγράφει τη διέγερση της κατασκευής στην οριζόντια διεύθυνση. Για την ανάλυση αναπτύσσεται ένα συνολικό παραμετρικό προσομοίωμα πεπερασμένων στοιχείων το οποίο περιλαμβάνει τα δύο κελύφη και το αποθηκευμένο υγρό. Στο προσομοίωμα συμπεριλαμβάνονται, ανάλογα με την περίπτωση που κάθε φορά αναλύεται, τα κατάλληλα στοιχεία για την προσομοίωση της αλληλεπίδρασης εδάφους-δεξαμενής ή των διαφόρων συστημάτων μόνωσης. Το προσομοίωμα χρησιμοποιείται για τον υπολογισμό των ιδιομορφών και την πραγματοποίηση δυναμικών γραμμικών και μη γραμμικών αναλύσεων με ολοκλήρωση στο πεδίο του χρόνου. Οι μη γραμμικές αναλύσεις είναι αναγκαίες για να ληφθεί υπόψη με ρεαλιστικό τρόπο η έντονα μη γραμμική συμπεριφορά των συστημάτων μόνωσης. Στην περίπτωση αυτή η μη γραμμικότητα είναι συγκεντρωμένη στα στοιχεία που προσομοιώνουν τη μόνωση ενώ για την υπόλοιπη κατασκευή γίνεται σε κάθε περίπτωση η παραδοχή γραμμικής συμπεριφοράς. Η παραδοχή αυτή προκύπτει από το γεγονός ότι για τις δεξαμενές αυτού του τύπου η αποδεκτή βλάβη, και επομένως μη γραμμικότητα στη συμπεριφορά, των δομικών στοιχείων είναι ελάχιστη. Παρουσιάζονται επιλεγμένα αποτελέσματα των αναλύσεων που πραγματοποιήθηκαν με χρήση του προσομοιώματος πεπερασμένων στοιχείων. Τα αποτελέσματα αυτά αναφέρονται κυρίως στην τέμνουσα βάσης, τη ροπή ανατροπής, τις οριζόντιες μετακινήσεις της κατασκευής σε διάφορες στάθμες και το ύψος του κυματισμού. Έμφαση δίνεται στην ποσοτικοποίηση της επίδρασης της αλληλεπίδρασης εδάφους-δεξαμενής και της σεισμική μόνωσης στα ανωτέρω μεγέθη. Η εργασία τελειώνει με γενικά συμπεράσματα. / In the present work the dynamic response of liquefied natural gas cryogenic tanks subjected to earthquake action is investigated. Since these tanks are critical elements for the function of a natural gas distribution system and because a potential failure of them could lead to a major disaster, very severe requirements concerning the seismic design of these tanks are imposed. For the design against earthquake action two seismic events are generally considered: an event with a mean return period of 475 years during which the tanks are expected to remain fully operational and an event with a mean return period of the order of 5000 to 1000 years during which the safe shut down of the tanks is to be ensured, while minimum damage is accepted at the structural parts of the tanks. The type of tanks under consideration is constituted of two shells: an outer one made of prestressed concrete and an inner one made of cryogenic steel in which the product is stored. Both shells rest on a common base slab. In these work two alternative ways for the support of this slab are examined: a) the slab lays directly on the ground and b) the slab lays on a number of devices which provide seismic isolation. The following isolation systems are examined. a) high damping rubber bearings, b) lead core rubber bearings and c) low damping rubber bearing in conjunction with non-linear viscous dampers. The examined structural dynamic problem is characterised by certain particularities, besides the one of the implementation of an isolation system. The most important of them are sloshing of the free surface, dynamic fluid-structure interaction, dynamic soil-structure interaction and interaction between the inner and outer shell. These phenomena are taken into consideration in the preformed analyses. For the modeling of the free surface effect the realistic assumption of small wave height is made and the linear wave theory is employed. For the modeling of the fluid-structure interaction a Lagrangian approach is applied using finite elements for the modeling of the liquid and the solid domain. The soil-structure interaction is simulated by using concentrated stiffness and damping elements. Concentrated stiffness and damping elements are used for the modeling of the isolation systems as well. Two cases of existing tanks are adopted for analysis. The two tanks differ mainly in capacity and in the height to radius ratio. Both tanks are designed and constructed without seismic isolation. A global parametric finite element model is developed for the analyses. In this model the appropriate elements are incorporated for the modeling of the soil-structure interaction and the seismic isolation system, depending on the analysed case. The model is used for the calculation of eigenmodes and eigenfrequencies and for performing linear and non-linear transient analyses in time domain. Non-linear analyses are necessary in order for the highly non-linear behavior of the isolation devices to be properly simulated. In these cases the non-linearity is concentrated at the elements which simulate the seismic isolation system while the rest of the structure is considered elastic in all cases. This consideration is justified by the fact that for these tanks the acceptable damage, and consequently non-linearity in the behavior of the structural part, is minimum. Selective results of the performed analyses are presented. These results refer mainly to base shear forces, overturning moments, horizontal displacements at different levels of the tank and sloshing heights. Emphasis is on the quantification of the impact of the soil-structure interaction and the implementation of the examined seismic isolation systems.

Die vorliegende Arbeit verfolgte die Zielstellung der Substitution des etablierten Weißmetalls als Laufschicht von hydrodynamischen Mehrflächengleitlagern durch neuartige Kunststoffschichten. Dazu wurden vergleichende Bauteilversuche an Mehrflächengleitlagern mit verschiedenen Laufschichten und Bohrungsformen vorgenommen. Eine Zinnbasislegierung als Laufflächenbeschichtung diente dabei als Referenzwerkstoff. Zur Durchführung des Versuchsprogrammes kam ein vorhandener, messtechnisch neu konditionierter Turbinenlagerprüfstand zum Einsatz. Die Versuchsreihen haben durchweg positive Beurteilungen der Lagerkennwerte im untersuchten Betriebsbereich der neuen Lagervarianten ergeben. Die neuartigen Laufschichtvarianten erfüllten die hohen tribologischen und thermischen Anforderungen. Einzelne Abweichungen der ermittelten Kennwerte wurden zahlenmäßig dokumentiert und können mit bereits verfügbaren physikalischen Modellen beschrieben werden. Die Ergebnisse erwiesen sich als unabhängig von der Lagerbauform aber abhängig von der gewählten Schichtvariante. Die Untersuchungen zum Betriebsverhalten unter hydrodynamischer Dauerbelastung sowie im Mischreibungsgebiet und im Notlaufbetrieb führten zu teilweise unterschiedlichen Ergebnissen. Im Mischreibungsgebiet wiesen die untersuchten Lager kaum Unterschiede im Betriebsverhalten auf. Im Dauerversuch zeigten die Lager mit Weißmetall, Gleitlack und Keramikschicht hervorragende Eigenschaften. Die Variante Klüberplast besaß eine ungenügende Bindefestigkeit und führte zu plastischen Verformungen der Schicht infolge der hydrodynamischen Drücke. Im Notlaufbetrieb übertrafen die untersuchten Kunststoffvarianten die Standzeiten des Referenzwerkstoffs Weißmetall. / The aim of this study was to identify and test an alternative liner material instead of common liner materials such as white alloy for multi-lobe radial bearings. For this purpose comparative tests with different radial bearings were carried out. The white alloy material was taken as a reference. In preparation for these test series, the measurement system of the turbine bearing test rig was upgraded. Experiments showed beneficial performances of the bearings with a plastic liner by evaluating the static and dynamic properties of different bearing geometries and liner thicknesses under a wide range of operating conditions. The new bearings fulfilled the high tribological and thermal requirements. Observed deviations of the determined parameters were documented in number and can be described with available physical models. The results were independent of the bearing type and depending on the selected liner material variant. The studies on operating performance in continuous operation in the mixed friction area and in dry running operation led to partially different results. The mixed friction tests showed little difference in the examined stock performance. The bearings with white alloy, ceramic layer and bonded coating showed excellent fatigue properties of long-term experiment. On Klüberplast insufficient bonding strength and plastic deformation of the layer due to the hydrodynamic pressure was found. In the dry running operation the investigated polymers exceeded the lifetime of the referencematerial white alloy.

<p>Detta examensarbete har utförts på Fläktwoods AB i Växjö, som producerar stora axialfläktar för olika industriapplikationer. Syftet är att öka kunskapen om fettsmorda axiella kullager genom FE analyser.</p><p>Projektet har genomförts i fem delsteg för att avgöra påverkan av en eller några få parametrar i taget. De studerade parametrarna är: elementstorlek, kontaktstyvhet, last, lagergeometri (dvs. oskulation), ickelinjär geometri och ickelinjära materialegenskaper (dvs. plasticitet).</p><p>Slutsatsen är att elementstorleken bör väljas fint nog för att ge ett jämnt resultat men grovt nog för att beräkningstiden skal vara rimlig. Kontaktstyvheten har inte stor, men tydlig, inverkan på kontakttrycket och penetrationen. Förändringar av oskulationen leder till förändringar i kontaktellipsens form medan olika laster inte påverkar formen på ellipsen, utan snarare storleken. När det handlar om plasticitet är sträckgränsen den viktigaste faktorn att beakta.</p> / <p>This thesis project was carried out at Fläktwoods AB in Växjö who produces large axial fans for different industry applications. The purpose is to increase the knowledge of grease lubricated axial ball bearings through FE analyses.</p><p>The project was executed into five sub steps to determine the influence of one or few parameters at a time. The studied parameters are: mesh density, contact stiffness, load, bearing geometry (i.e. osculation), geometrical nonlinearity and material nonlinearity (i.e. plasticity).</p><p>It is concluded that the mesh density should be selected fine enough to give a smooth result but course enough to give a reasonable calculation time. The contact stiffness has not a major, but a clear, impact on the contact pressure and penetration. Changes of the osculation lead to changes of the contact ellipse shape and applying different load level does not affect the shape of the ellipse but rather the size. When dealing with plasticity the yield strength is the most important factor to take in consideration.</p>

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The objective of this thesis is to provide an aircraft with an optimal route to its destination that avoids encroaching into surface-to-air weapons killing envelopes in real time. The optimal route computed will be updated dynamically, depending on the location of the vehicle and the location of the Surface to Air Missile (SAM) sites. The problem was solved using heuristic algorithms instead of the conventional Dijkstra's & Bellman Ford algorithms, which are computationally expensive. Data fusion techniques such as spatial correlation and triangulation algorithms are presented in detail. Such techniques are important for situational awareness in a real time combat environment. Important information provided by onboard sensors are merged with the preplanned data to provide the operator with a better integrated picture of the combat environment. / Civilian, Singapore Ministry of Defense

Rolling element bearings are a vital part in many rotating machinery, including vehicles. A defective bearing can be a symptom of other problems in the machinery and is due to a high failure rate. Early detection of bearing defects can therefore help to prevent malfunction which ultimately could lead to a total collapse. The thesis is done in collaboration with Scania that wants a better understanding of how external sensors such as accelerometers, can be used for condition monitoring in their gearboxes. Defective bearings creates vibrations with specific frequencies, known as Bearing Characteristic Frequencies, BCF [23]. A key component in the proposed method is based on identification and extraction of these frequencies from vibration signals from accelerometers mounted near the monitored bearing. Three solutions are proposed for automatic bearing fault detection. Two are based on data-driven classification using a set of machine learning methods called Support Vector Machines and one method using only the computed characteristic frequencies from the considered bearing faults. Two types of features are developed as inputs to the data-driven classifiers. One is based on the extracted amplitudes of the BCF and the other on statistical properties from Intrinsic Mode Functions generated by an improved Empirical Mode Decomposition algorithm. In order to enhance the diagnostic information in the vibration signals two pre-processing steps are proposed. Separation of the bearing signal from masking noise are done with the Cepstral Editing Procedure, which removes discrete frequencies from the raw vibration signal. Enhancement of the bearing signal is achieved by band pass filtering and amplitude demodulation. The frequency band is produced by the band selection algorithms Kurtogram and Autogram. The proposed methods are evaluated on two large public data sets considering bearing fault classification using accelerometer data, and a smaller data set collected from a Scania gearbox. The produced features achieved significant separation on the public and collected data. Manual detection of the induced defect on the outer race on the bearing from the gearbox was achieved. Due to the small amount of training data the automatic solutions were only tested on the public data sets. Isolation performance of correct bearing and fault mode among multiplebearings were investigated. One of the best trade offs achieved was 76.39 % fault detection rate with 8.33 % false alarm rate. Another was 54.86 % fault detection rate with 0 % false alarm rate.

Este trabalho apresenta o modelo numérico de um banco experimental onde foi feita uma avaliação sobre as características estáticas do eixo e a identificação das características dinâmicas de um mancal aerostático cerâmico poroso. Nos últimos anos, o uso da cerâmica estrutural tem crescido significativamente para a concepção e fabricação de peças mecânicas. O uso da cerâmica porosa como restritor em mancais aerostáticos pode melhorar o seu desempenho relacionado com o desgaste, a estabilidade térmica, a rigidez e capacidade de carga, permitindo que eixos trabalhem com precisão a uma velocidade acima de 20.000 rpm, com pequenas folgas (40 microns). A fim de investigar este tipo de mancal foram desenvolvidas análises estáticas para obter a rigidez do eixo de suporte, assim como do mancal aerostático cerâmico poroso e identificação dinâmica para o banco experimental. As análises estáticas indicaram a rigidez do eixo e do mancal aerostático de 20,1 kN/mm e 2,6 kN/mm, respectivamente. As análises dinâmicas indicaram que a primeira frequência natural do rotor está próximo de 1365,9 Hz, o que é muito mais elevada do que a primeira frequência natural da mancal aerostático cerâmico poroso cujo valor é 775,0 Hz. Pode-se concluir que a configuração geométrica e condições de suporte escolhidos permitem uma condição robusta para prosseguir com os testes experimentais para obter as características dinâmicas do mancal poroso. / This work presents the numerical model of an experimental set-up where it was made an evaluation on the static characteristics of the shaft and the identification of the dynamic characteristics for an aerostatic radial porous bearing. In recent years, the use of the structural ceramic has grown significantly for design and manufacturing of mechanical parts. The use of ceramic porous as restrictor in aerostatic bearings can improve its perform related to the wear, thermal stability, stiffness and load capacity allowing that spindles work with precision at speed above 20.000 rpm with small clearances (40 microns). In order to investigate this kind of bearing were developed static analyses to obtain the stiffness of the support shaft, as well as aerostatic porous bearing and dynamic identification for experimental set-up. The static analysis indicated stiffness of shaft and aerostatic porous bearing of 20.1 kN/mm and 2.6 kN/mm, respectively. The dynamic analysis indicated that the first natural frequency of the rotor is close to 1365.9 Hz, which is much higher than the first natural frequency of the aerostatic ceramic porous bearing whose value is 775.0 Hz. One can conclude that geometrical configuration and support conditions choosen allow a robust condition to proceed in experimental tests to obtain dynamic characteristics of the porous bearing.

Para aplicações de extração de petróleo de poços em terra foi desenvolvido pelo Laboratório de Eletromagnetismo Aplicado (LMAG) da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo um protótipo de motor de indução linear tubular (MILT), onde o movimento axial do secundário do motor aciona diretamente a bomba de extração situada no fundo do poço. Numa segunda etapa, foi prevista a substituição dos mancais mecânicos por dois mancais magnéticos ativos (AMBs), que permitem melhor movimentação e praticamente nenhum atrito, reduzindo o desgaste causado por impurezas contidas no petróleo extraído, e consequentemente os esforços de manutenção. Todavia, o protótipo atual possui apenas um mancal magnético, e o outro é mecânico. O presente trabalho apresenta a instalação do segundo mancal magnético ao protótipo do MILT, e propõe realizar o controle do sistema de mancais magnéticos para o MILT, tendo em vista um problema multivariável, onde as posições do secundário do motor em relação aos dois mancais são correlacionadas, bem como as ações de controle sobre os mesmos. O trabalho faz uma revisão do sistema atual com um AMB, abordando sua concepção física, modelagem e o controlador, e tal controlador é replicado para o segundo AMB. Um novo modelo é apresentado, considerando o comportamento multivariável dos dois AMBs, e um sistema de controle robusto multivariável é projetado, através da técnica LQG/LTR. Resultados de simulação do novo controlador são analisados e comparados com os resultados experimentais do controlador atual aplicado aos dois AMBs, e apresentam-se as conclusões. / For onshore oil extraction applications, a tubular linear induction motor (TLIM) prototype was developed by Applied Electromagnetism Laboratory (LMAG) of Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, on which the axial movement of the motor secondary drives the suction pump, placed in the down hole of the oil well. In a second step, it was planned to replace the mechanical bearings by two Active Magnetic Bearings (AMB), in order to have better movement and practically no friction, reducing damages caused by impurities in the oil, thus reducing maintenance effort. Nevertheless, the actual prototype has only one AMB, being the other one a mechanical bearing. This paper presents the installation of the second AMB onto TLIM prototype, and a proposal to implement the control algorithm for the TLIM magnetic bearing system, considering now a multivariable problem, where the position of the motor secondary for both AMB are related, as well as control efforts. The present work review the actual system with only one AMB, approaching its physical construction, mathematical model and applied control system; and this control system is applied to the second AMB. A new model is presented, considering the AMB system multivariable behavior, and a multivariable robust control system is then designed, using LQG/LTR approach. Simulation results for the new controller are analyzed and compared to experimental results from the actual controller applied to both AMB, and some conclusions are presented.

Este trabalho apresenta o modelo numérico de um banco experimental onde foi feita uma avaliação sobre as características estáticas do eixo e a identificação das características dinâmicas de um mancal aerostático cerâmico poroso. Nos últimos anos, o uso da cerâmica estrutural tem crescido significativamente para a concepção e fabricação de peças mecânicas. O uso da cerâmica porosa como restritor em mancais aerostáticos pode melhorar o seu desempenho relacionado com o desgaste, a estabilidade térmica, a rigidez e capacidade de carga, permitindo que eixos trabalhem com precisão a uma velocidade acima de 20.000 rpm, com pequenas folgas (40 microns). A fim de investigar este tipo de mancal foram desenvolvidas análises estáticas para obter a rigidez do eixo de suporte, assim como do mancal aerostático cerâmico poroso e identificação dinâmica para o banco experimental. As análises estáticas indicaram a rigidez do eixo e do mancal aerostático de 20,1 kN/mm e 2,6 kN/mm, respectivamente. As análises dinâmicas indicaram que a primeira frequência natural do rotor está próximo de 1365,9 Hz, o que é muito mais elevada do que a primeira frequência natural da mancal aerostático cerâmico poroso cujo valor é 775,0 Hz. Pode-se concluir que a configuração geométrica e condições de suporte escolhidos permitem uma condição robusta para prosseguir com os testes experimentais para obter as características dinâmicas do mancal poroso. / This work presents the numerical model of an experimental set-up where it was made an evaluation on the static characteristics of the shaft and the identification of the dynamic characteristics for an aerostatic radial porous bearing. In recent years, the use of the structural ceramic has grown significantly for design and manufacturing of mechanical parts. The use of ceramic porous as restrictor in aerostatic bearings can improve its perform related to the wear, thermal stability, stiffness and load capacity allowing that spindles work with precision at speed above 20.000 rpm with small clearances (40 microns). In order to investigate this kind of bearing were developed static analyses to obtain the stiffness of the support shaft, as well as aerostatic porous bearing and dynamic identification for experimental set-up. The static analysis indicated stiffness of shaft and aerostatic porous bearing of 20.1 kN/mm and 2.6 kN/mm, respectively. The dynamic analysis indicated that the first natural frequency of the rotor is close to 1365.9 Hz, which is much higher than the first natural frequency of the aerostatic ceramic porous bearing whose value is 775.0 Hz. One can conclude that geometrical configuration and support conditions choosen allow a robust condition to proceed in experimental tests to obtain dynamic characteristics of the porous bearing.

La durée de vie des pièces mécaniques en contact est fortement affectée par la présence d'hétérogénéités dans le matériau, comme des renforts (fibres, particules), des précipités, des porosités, ou encore des fissures. Des hétérogénéités dures et de formes complexes peuvent créer des surcontraintes locales, initiatrices de fissures par fatigue à proximité de la surface de contact. Une analyse quantitative des surcontraintes créées par les hétérogénéités est nécessaire à la compréhension des mécanismes d'endommagement. Cette étude s'applique à des roulements de ligne d'arbre qui font partie des éléments critiques de moteurs en aéronautique. Elle vise à déterminer précisément la distribution du champ de pression sur l'aire effective de contact et à prédire le profil et l'évolution des champs de contraintes/déformations à chaque passage de la charge sur un volume élémentaire représentatif prenant en compte le gradient de dureté, la présence de carbures et l'existence des contraintes initiales d'origine thermochimique. Une partie de l’étude est consacrée au développement d’un solveur du problème de contact roulant élasto-plastique avec présence d’hétérogénéité par les méthodes semi analytiques assurant un excellent gain en temps et ressources de calculs. Ensuite, un algorithme homogénéisation a été conçu pour analyser le comportement effectif d’un massif élasto-plastique hétérogène sous indentation. Enfin une partie expérimentale est dédiée à la caractérisation microstructurale des aciers étudiés dans le but de déterminer leurs propriétés. Les analyses des résultats de cette étude concourent à soutenir que bien que les inclusions de particules non métalliques soient responsables de la haute résistance de ces matériaux, certaines d’entre elles (celles de longueur dépassant les dizaines de micromètre ou celles qui forment des chaines dans une direction particulière) deviennent, au cours des cycles de fatigue, les principales sources d’endommagement depuis l’échelle locale jusqu’à la rupture globale de la structure. / The lifetime of contacting mechanical parts is strongly affected by the presence of heterogeneities in their materials, such as reinforcements (fibers, particles), precipitates, porosities, or cracks. Hard heterogeneities having complex forms can create local overstress that initiating fatigue cracks near the contact surface. The presence of heterogeneities influences the physical and mechanical properties of the material at microscopic and macroscopic scales. A quantitative analysis of the over-stresses generated by heterogeneities is necessary to the comprehension of the damage mechanisms. The present study is applied to rolling bearings which are the critical elements of the aero-engine's mainshaft. The performance required for these bearings, led SKF Aerospace to introduce a new technology of hybrid bearing with ceramic rolling elements on high-strength steels having experienced a double surface treatment (carburizing followed by nitriding). The study aims to precisely determine the pressure field distribution on the effective contact area and to predict the profile and the evolution of the stress/strain fields at each loading cycle on a representative elementary volume that takes into account the gradient of hardness, the presence of carbides and the existence of an initial compressive stress from thermochemical origin. A major part of this study is devoted to develop a heterogeneous elastic-plastic rolling contact solver, by semi-analytical methods ensuring an excellent saving of calculation time and resources. Thereafter, a homogenization algorithm was built to analyze the effective behavior of a heterogeneous elastic-plastic half-space subjected to an indentation loading. Finally, an experimental part is dedicated to the microstructure characterization of the studied steels with intent to determine their properties. A description of the carbides behavior inside the matrix during micro-tensile tests was carried out under SEM in-situ observation. In the scheme of all analyses conducted in the present work, it can be argued that, although the heterogeneities (such as carbides or nitrides) are responsible for the high resistance of the studied materials, some of them (those whose length exceeds tens of micrometer or those which form stringers in a particular direction) become, over fatigue cycles, the main sources of damage, from their local scale up to the macroscopic failure of the structure.