Ce mémoire présente à la fois un état des lieux de la recherche scientifique sur le sujet, en réponse à une certaine demande sociale, une synthèse de notre propre activité, et un positionnement scientifique dans le champ de la géographie des risques. Il est alimenté par des réflexions théoriques et méthodologiques plus ou moins abouties, mais illustrées par des résultats concrets issus de nos recherches. Il laisse le champ à des questionnements scientifiques à portée opérationnelle et à des perspectives de recherche visant à mieux caractériser les systèmes de vulnérabilité aux catastrophes naturelles et faciliter ainsi les modes d'évaluation intégrée et spatialisée des risques naturels. Evaluation intégrée, car la vulnérabilité y est appréhendée selon des approches multi-critères propres à caractériser les multiples facettes et facteurs qui la déterminent. Evaluation spatialisée, car le risque est mis en carte, de différentes façons et à différentes échelles, toujours selon une démarche intégrée où se combinent, critères de vulnérabilité, enjeux et aléas.

Rapporten går ut på att se om laserskanning är en bra metod att använda sig av vid ombyggnation, tillbyggnad och renovering. För att få fram ett svar på detta har två takbalkar i Södra Climate Arena skannats av. Vid genomförandet användes en laserskanner från Leica av varianten P30. Försöket innehåller fyra stycken uppställningar som riktas mot sex stycken måltavlor. Informationen som fåtts ut från skanningen i form av en sektion i AutoCAD har jämförts med befintliga ritningar för att se om informationen från skanningen stämmer överens med ritningarna. I modellen som fåtts ut från försöket har också mätning och undersökning skett för att se hur bra det går att mäta i modellen och om det är något som fungerar lätt att använda sig av i praktiken. Arbetet går även ut på att få en god inblick i hur laserskannern Leica P30 fungerar.

Neste trabalho, buscou-se investigar a aplicação de uma modelagem RANS, com a utilização do modelo de turbulência das Tensões de Reynolds (RSTM), na modelagem do escoamento de gás no interior de ciclones, especialmente na simulação do movimento periódico do vórtice, conhecido como Precessing Vortex Core (PVC), com apoio da Fluidodinâmica Computacional. Utilizou-se o pacote de CFD de código aberto OpenFOAM, e as simulações foram realizadas em regime transiente. Dois modelos RSTM foram testados, o modelo LRR com os valores padrões para as constantes e uma modificação das constantes do termo de redistribuição. Compararam-se os resultados obtidos com dados da literatura e verificou-se que ambos os modelos representaram o campo médio de velocidade. No entanto, somente o modelo LRR conseguiu reproduzir o campo de flutuações de velocidade. Detectou-se o movimento de precessão do vórtice, que pode ser visualizado através de imagens sequenciais do escoamento, e uma frequência característica do movimento pode ser calculada através do Espectro de potência. / The flow field of a gas cyclone was simulated with a RANS model using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and the Precession of the Vortex Core (PVC) was investigated. The CFD simulations were carried out using the open source code OpenFOAM and the simulations were performed in a transient regime. Two Reynolds Stress Turbulence Models (RSTM) were investigated - the LRR model with standard constants and another with modified constants in the pressure-strain term. The results obtained by the models were compared with values of mean velocity taken from the literature and predictions were satisfactory. However, only the LRR model with standard constants predicted with precision the fluctuation velocity field. The precessing vortex was detected and illustrated by the flow field visualization and a characteristic frequency was calculated by Power Spectrum Density.

Neste trabalho, buscou-se investigar a aplicação de uma modelagem RANS, com a utilização do modelo de turbulência das Tensões de Reynolds (RSTM), na modelagem do escoamento de gás no interior de ciclones, especialmente na simulação do movimento periódico do vórtice, conhecido como Precessing Vortex Core (PVC), com apoio da Fluidodinâmica Computacional. Utilizou-se o pacote de CFD de código aberto OpenFOAM, e as simulações foram realizadas em regime transiente. Dois modelos RSTM foram testados, o modelo LRR com os valores padrões para as constantes e uma modificação das constantes do termo de redistribuição. Compararam-se os resultados obtidos com dados da literatura e verificou-se que ambos os modelos representaram o campo médio de velocidade. No entanto, somente o modelo LRR conseguiu reproduzir o campo de flutuações de velocidade. Detectou-se o movimento de precessão do vórtice, que pode ser visualizado através de imagens sequenciais do escoamento, e uma frequência característica do movimento pode ser calculada através do Espectro de potência. / The flow field of a gas cyclone was simulated with a RANS model using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and the Precession of the Vortex Core (PVC) was investigated. The CFD simulations were carried out using the open source code OpenFOAM and the simulations were performed in a transient regime. Two Reynolds Stress Turbulence Models (RSTM) were investigated - the LRR model with standard constants and another with modified constants in the pressure-strain term. The results obtained by the models were compared with values of mean velocity taken from the literature and predictions were satisfactory. However, only the LRR model with standard constants predicted with precision the fluctuation velocity field. The precessing vortex was detected and illustrated by the flow field visualization and a characteristic frequency was calculated by Power Spectrum Density.

Les cyclones tropicaux, gigantesques machines thermiques redistribuent l'énergie entre les régions chaude et froide du globe. Cette énergie (chaleur latente) provient surtout des processus de condensation. La connaissance de la chaleur latente devrait améliorer la prévision de l'évolution de ses systèmes dévastateurs détectables par satellite. TRMM lancé en 1997, permet la restitution des contenus en hydrométéores grâce à des mesures couplées radar/radiomètre (PR/TMI). Cette thèse porte sur la restitution de la chaleur latente. On a donc développé un algorithme original de type bayésien utilisant des bases de données, construites à partir des mesures du PR. Cette méthode, appliquée au cyclone Bret (1999) a été validée par comparaison avec des résultats de mesures aéroportées et sol. On reproduit assez bien sur ce cas une structure énergétique propre à différents stade de son évolution. Une étude statistique pourrait ainsi permettre un diagnostic de l'évolution.

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Recent studies have found that equatorial Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) variability may be influencing tropical Indian Ocean climate (Kucharski 2009, Wang 2009). Due to the economic and social impact of tropical cyclones, it is important to investigate how an Atlantic-Indian Ocean connection may be affecting tropical cyclone behavior in the southern Indian Ocean. In this study, the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrAC) tropical cyclone database is used to derive metrics of tropical cyclone behavior, which are then compared with indices of tropical Atlantic SST variability representing Atlantic Niño, and Benguela Niño events. Changes in tropical Atlantic SSTs are found to coincide with significant differences in tropical cyclone activity for portions of the southern Indian Ocean. In addition, for these same regions, tropical Atlantic SST variability is associated with changes in large-scale atmospheric conditions, including steering flow, low level vorticity, and humidity, typically associated with tropical cyclogenesis, and tropical cyclone track. The changes in steering flow related to both indices of Atlantic SST anomaly are reproduced by an atmospheric model. The changes in steering flow are also found to be linked to changes in TC translational velocity, and TC tracking. These findings indicate a possible link between tropical Atlantic conditions and cyclone activity in the Indian Ocean mediated through a teleconnection between tropical Atlantic SSTs and large scale atmospheric conditions over the southern Indian Ocean. The teleconnection related to the Benguela Niño region of SST variability was found to consist of a Rossby wave initiated off the coast of South America, and propagating into the Indian Ocean, thereby influencing several atmospheric variables, including steering flow. The teleconnection related to the Atlantic Niño region of SST variability was not well defined, although there was some evidence of a Walker circulation anomaly extending from the equatorial Atlantic over the continent of Africa, and influencing SIO steering flow. / Graduation date: 2012

Annually, tropical cyclones do tremendous damage and are agents of long-term coastal change. To test this idea of different tropical cyclones delivering consistent coastal change, a landform with such evolution is needed. One such landform is a spit. What contributions do tropical cyclones give toward the evolution of a spit, and do tropical cyclones give the same kinds of impacts? To determine if tropical cyclones have similar impacts, shoreline and volumetric change from four storms impacting Bolivar Peninsula are considered. Being a southwest-trended spit at a length of 33.5 kilometers, storm impacts are measured in the form of one dimensional shoreline and two dimensional volumetric change. These impacts are abstracted into shoreline change and volumetric change patterns. These patterns are identified and compared for differences between each storm and similarity among all storms. Results indicate that shoreline accretionary zones vary alongshore. Results from Hurricane Ike indicate an accretionary zone ten kilometers from the distal end. Shoreline change patterns for Hurricane Rita show an unstable accretionary zone at four kilometers from the distal end. Results for Tropical Storm Fay indicate an unstable accretionary zone that begins at the distal end and continues to the middle of the spit. In terms of similarity for shoreline change, all patterns from storms demonstrated erosion near Rollover Fish Pass. One dimensional volumetric change patterns were entirely erosive for Hurricanes Rita and Ike, and Tropical Storm Fay had by small zones of accretion near the distal portion of the spit. Tropical Storm Josephine demonstrated an accretion zone between the middle and distal portion of the spit. Results from two dimensional volumetric change patterns suggest a threshold for inland penetration. Tropical Storm Fay showed a ten to twenty meter wide pattern of erosion around five kilometers from the distal end and near the proximal end of the spit, and Hurricane Rita demonstrated a twenty meter wide pattern of erosion near the distal end. Hurricane Ike had erosive penetration of up to 200 meters around fifteen kilometers from the distal end. Results suggest that certain storms reinforce the standard spit growth model, and others work against it.

La transition entre la turbulence isotrope 3D et la turbulence anisotrope quasi-2D sous l'effet d'une rotation d'ensemble est étudiée expérimentalement. Un écoulement turbulent est généré par la translation d'une grille dans une cuve remplie d'eau en rotation, et un système de vélocimétrie par images de particules est utilisé pour mesurer les champs de vitesse instantanés dans un plan perpendiculaire à l'axe de rotation. Nous décrivons dans un premier temps les différents régimes qui caractérisent la décroissance de la turbulence : une loi approximativement autosimilaire est présente pour des temps plus petits que le temps d'Ekman, tandis qu'une décroissance exponentielle de l'énergie prend place à temps long. Les exposants de déclin mesurés expérimentalement sont en assez bon accord avec les valeurs prédites par un modèle phénoménologique, dans lequel les effets de la rotation et du confinement sont pris en compte. Même à très faible vitesse, la rotation a une grande influence sur la loi de déclin de l'énergie en faisant que l'échelle intégrale verticale croît beaucoup plus rapidement à travers la propagation d'ondes d'inertie. Nous décrivons, par la suite, l'influence de la rotation sur les transferts d'énergie à travers les échelles. Le coefficient d'asymétrie des dérivées de vitesse décroît comme le nombre de Rossby microscopique, reflétant l'inhibition des transferts d'énergie par la rotation d'ensemble. Enfin nous présentons des résultats nouveaux concernant l'asymétrie cyclone-anticyclone qui caractérise les écoulements en milieu tournant. L'analyse temporelle de cette asymétrie a montré une croissance en loi de puissance tant que le confinement n'est pas présent.

Coal preparation plants are required in some cases to produce a high-grade product using a low specific gravity cut-point. For these situations, a second higher gravity separation would be desirable to generate a mid-grade product that can be utilized for electricity generation thereby maximizing coal recovery. A study was conducted to evaluate the potential of achieving efficient separations at two different density cut-points in a single stage using a three-product dense medium cyclone. Variations in density cut-point and process efficiency values were quantified as a function of the feed medium density, feed medium-to-coal ratio, and feed pressure using a three-level experimental design program. Results indicate the ability to effectively treat coal over a particle size range from 6mm to 0.15mm while achieving both low- and high-density cut-points up to 1.95 relative density. Ash content decreased from 27.98% in the feed to an average of 7.77% in the clean coal product and 25.76% in the middlings product while sulfur content was reduced from 3.87 to 2.83% in the clean coal product. The overall combustible recovery was maintained above 90% while producing clean coal products with ash and total sulfur content as low as 5.85 and 2.68%, respectively. Organic efficiency values were consistently about 95% and probable error values were in the range of 0.03 to 0.05, which indicates the ability to provide a separation performance equivalent to or better than traditional coal cleaning technologies.