L'interaction dynamique sol-structure a été largement explorée en supposant le comportement linéaire du sol. Néanmoins, pour des séismes d'intensité modérée à forte, la contrainte de cisaillement maximale peut facilement atteindre la limite élastique du sol. Du point de vue de l'interaction sol-structure, les effets non linéaires peuvent modifier la rigidité du sol à la base de la structure ainsi que la quantité d'énergie dissipée dans le sol. En conséquence, ignorer les caractéristiques non linéaires du sol dans l'interaction dynamique sol-structure (IDSS) peut conduire à des prédictions erronées de la réponse de la structure. Le but de ce travail est d'implémenter dans un code numérique une loi de comportement non linéaire pour le sol afin d'examiner l'effet de la nonlinéarité du sol sur l'interaction dynamique sol-structure. De plus, différents aspects sont pris en compte tels que l'effet de la contrainte de confinement sur le module de cisaillement du sol, les conditions statiques initiales, les conditions d'interface entre le sol et la structure, etc. Durant ce travail, une méthode simple de couche absorbante basée sur une formulation de Rayleigh / Caughey pour l'amortissement, qui est généralement disponible dans les logiciels existants d'éléments finis, a également été développée. Les conditions de stabilité des problèmes de propagation d'onde sont étudiées et on montre que les comportements linéaire et non linéaire sont très différents en ce qui concerne la dispersion numérique. La règle habituelle de 10 points par longueur d'onde, recommandée dans la littérature pour les milieux élastiques, apparaît pas suffisante dans le cas non linéaire.Le modèle implémenté est d'abord vérifié numériquement en comparant les résultats avec ceux d'autres codes numériques connus. Après cela, une étude paramétrique est menée pour différents types de structures et des profils de sol variés afin de caractériser les effets non linéaires. Différentes caractéristiques de l'IDSS sont comparées à celles du cas linéaire: modification de l'amplitude et du contenu fréquentiel des ondes se propageant dans le sol, fréquence fondamentale, dissipation de l'énergie dans le sol et réponse du système sol-structure. A travers ces études paramétriques nous montrons qu'en fonction des propriétés du sol, le contenu fréquentiel de la réponse du sol peut changer significativement à cause des nonlinéarités de comportement. Les pics de la fonction de transfert entre le champ libre et le rocher affleurant se décalent vers les basses fréquences et l'amplification se produit dans cette gamme de fréquences. Une réduction de l'amplification pour les hautes fréquences et même une dé-amplification peuvent se produire pour un fort niveau des mouvements d'entrée. Ces changements influencent la réponse de la structure. Ce travail montre également que la proximité des fréquences fondamentales de la structure et du sol influence fortement l'interaction sol-structure. Enfin, l'effet du poids de la structure et du balancement de la superstructure peut être significatif. Finalement, le bassin de Nice est utilisé comme un exemple de propagation d'onde dans un milieu non linéaire hétérogène et d'interaction dynamique sol-structure. La réponse du bassin dépend fortement de la combinaison de la nonlinéarité du sol, des effets topographiques et du contraste d'impédance entre les couches de sol. Pour les structures et les profils de sol sélectionnés dans ce travail, les simulations numériques réalisées montrent que le décalage de la fréquence fondamentale n'est pas un bon indicateur pour distinguer le comportement linéaire du sol du comportement non linéaire / The interaction of the soil with the structure has been largely explored the assumption of material and geometrical linearity of the soil. Nevertheless, for moderate or strong seismic events, the maximum shear strain can easily reach the elastic limit of the soil behavior. Considering soil-structure interaction, the nonlinear effects may change the soil stiffness at the base of the structure and therefore energy dissipation into the soil. Consequently, ignoring the nonlinear characteristics of the dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI) this phenomenon could lead toerroneous predictions of structural response. The goal of this work is to implement a fully nonlinear constitutive model for soils into anumerical code in order to investigate the effect of soil nonlinearity on dynamic soil structureinteraction. Moreover, different issues are taken into account such as the effect of confining stress on the shear modulus of the soil, initial static condition, contact elements in the soil-structure interface, etc. During this work, a simple absorbing layer method based on a Rayleigh / Caughey damping formulation, which is often already available in existing. Finite Element softwares, is also presented. The stability conditions of the wave propagation problems are studied and it is shown that the linear and nonlinear behavior are very different when dealing with numerical dispersion. It is shown that the 10 points per wavelength rule, recommended in the literature for the elastic media is not sufficient for the nonlinear case. The implemented model is first numerically verified by comparing the results with other known numerical codes. Afterward, a parametric study is carried out for different types of structures and various soil profiles to characterize nonlinear effects. Different features of the DSSI are compared to the linear case : modification of the amplitude and frequency content of the waves propagated into the soil, fundamental frequency, energy dissipation in the soil and the response of the soil-structure system. Through these parametric studies we show that depending on the soil properties, frequency content of the soil response could change significantly due to the soil nonlinearity. The peaks of the transfer function between free field and outcropping responsesshift to lower frequencies and amplification happens at this frequency range. Amplificationreduction for the high frequencies and even deamplication may happen for high level inputmotions. These changes influence the structural response.We show that depending on the combination of the fundamental frequency of the structureand the the natural frequency of the soil, the effect of soil-structure interaction could be significant or negligible. However, the effect of structure weight and rocking of the superstructurecould change the results. Finally, the basin of Nice is used as an example of wave propagation ona heterogeneous nonlinear media and dynamic soil-structure interaction. The basin response isstrongly dependent on the combination of soil nonlinearity, topographic effects and impedancecontrast between soil layers. For the selected structures and soil profiles of this work, the performed numerical simulations show that the shift of the fundamental frequency is not a goodindex to discriminate linear from nonlinear soil behavior

Cette thèse a pour objet d’aborder l’information en tant que lien essentiel entre les sciences de la nature et les sciences humaines. Il y est principalement fait état de principes de la science physique, alliés à un ensemble d’approches scientifiques issues, notamment, des théories de la complexité, du chaos, de l’information, de l’auto-organisation, des émergences et des écosystèmes. Les lois de la thermodynamique jouent un rôle central dans ce contexte, où l’organisation et la néguentropie sont directement inscrites dans le champ de la production d’informations. Il y est en particulier fait référence à la Loi de maximisation d’entropie (ou, autrement dit, de dissipation d’énergie), dont l’incidence sur le fonctionnement et le comportement des structures dissipatives que sont les humains est soulignée via un large éventail d’exemples pris dans la vie courante, incidences fondées à la base sur le rôle omniprésent de l’information. L’approche systémique, à laquelle il est fait appel dans un certain nombre de considérations, conduit ici à souligner en profondeur les incidences interactives de l’environnement (l’écosystème) - et des principes de la sélection naturelle qui le déterminent - avec le comportement humain et les phénomènes d’information qui définissent celui-ci. Les applications de l’approche globale de cette thèse s’expriment dans une grande variété de domaines, dont également ceux de la survie, du bien-être, de la conversation et de la robotique. / This thesis aims at considering the information as essential link between the sciences of the nature and the human sciences. It is mainly refered to principles of the natural science, allied in a set of scientific stemming approaches, in particular, theories of the complexity, of chaos, of information, auto-organization, emergences and ecosystems. The laws of the thermodynamics play a central role in this context, where the organization and the negentropy make directly part of the field of information production. There is in particular refered to Law of maximization of entropy Production (or, in other words, of energy dissipation), among which the incidence on the functioning and the behavior of the human being as a dissipative structure is underlined via a wide range of examples taken in the common life, incidence basically established on the omnipresent role of the information. The systemics approach, to which it is brought up in a number of considerations, leads here to underline the interactive incidences of the environment (the ecosystem) - linked to the principles of the natural selection which determines its evolution - with the human behavior linked to the information phenomena which define it. The applications of the global approach of this thesis appear in a broad variety of domains, of which also those of the survival, the well-being, the conversation and robotics.

Dans l’optique de la conception et du développement d’un siège aéronautique et afin derespecter la règlementation sécuritaire en vigueur, la structure du siège développé doitpermettre une dissipation rapide de l’énergie perçue en cas de crash aérien (Fig. 1), ceci dansle but de protéger les passagers. La majorité des systèmes intégrés à la structure des sièges etpermettant cette absorption d’énergie (Fig. 2) est constituée de composants métalliques qui sedéforment plastiquement pour dissiper l’énergie due au crash. Actuellement, l’industrie et larecherche se tournent vers les matériaux composites pour substituer de tels systèmes.Cependant le comportement de ces matériaux lors de sollicitations mécaniques sévères estfortement différent des matériaux métalliques, notamment dû au fait que les mécanismesd’endommagement sont très distincts.Le but de cette étude portant sur des structures tubulaires composites est d’évaluer leurcapacité à dissiper l’énergie. A cette fin, différentes stratifications ont été testées encompression (Fig. 3 et 4) dans le but de déterminer leur comportement, comparer leurspropriétés et calculer leurs valeurs de SEA (absorption d'énergie spécifique, en kJ.kg-1)servant à évaluer leur aptitude à dissiper l’énergie engendrée en cas de crash. Ces dernièressont issues des courbes effort-déplacement obtenues lors des essais d’écrasement (Fig. 5). Lesdifférents essais de compression ont été instrumentés et suivis au moyen de caméras rapides etdes images post-essais ont été réalisées par tomographie pour comprendre les mécanismesd’endommagement mis en jeu (Fig. 4 et 6). Ces essais ont été réalisés à vitesse de chargementquasi-statique puis dynamique et selon diverses conditions limites. Les différents résultats decomportement en compression sont également utilisés dans le but de construire et enrichir unmodèle de calcul par éléments finis (Fig. 7 et 8) permettant de simuler la réponse de structurescomposites de différentes natures soumises au crash en intégrant la géométrie et lacomposition de la structure (Fig. 8).L’objectif de ce travail de recherche est ainsi d’évaluer l’énergie pouvant être dissipée par desstructures tubulaires composites, de comparer les absorptions induites par des structurescomposites de compositions différentes, et/ou bi-matériaux, et enfin de fournir un modèleéléments finis représentant le comportement de structures composites en compression jusqu’àl’endommagement et la ruine de la structure.Il a ainsi été établi qu’en chargement statique, un stratifié unidirectionnel orienté à 0° etstabilisé par des plis de tissus répond fortement aux attentes en terme de dissipation d’énergie,mais pas en sollicitation dynamique. Dans ce cas, une stratification à 90° semble plusadéquate. D’autre part, un confinement forcé vers l’intérieur est avantageux dans la plupartdes cas, réduisant le pic d’effort initial sans diminuer drastiquement la valeur de SEA. / With the perspective of the design and development of an aircraft seat and in order to respectthe safety regulations in effect, the structure of the developed seat must allow for a swiftdissipation of the energy received in the event of an aircraft crash (Fig. 1) so as to protect thepassengers. The majority of systems integrated into the seats structure and allowing energydissipation (Fig. 2) consists of metal components that sustain plastic deformation to dissipatethe energy induced by the crash. Currently, industry and research sectors are turning theirfocus towards composite materials to substitute such systems. However, the behavior of thesematerials during severe mechanical stress is strongly different from metallic materials, inparticular due to the fact that damage mechanisms are very distinct.The purpose of this study on composite tubular structures is to evaluate their ability todissipate the energy. To this end, different laminate structures were tested in compression(Fig. 3 and 4) in order to identify their behavior, compare their properties and calculate theirSEA value (Specific Energy Absorption, in kJ.kg-1) used to evaluate their capacity to dissipatethe energy generated during a crash. Those are resulting from the load-displacement curvesobtained during the crushing tests (Fig. 5). The various compression tests were instrumentedand monitored by means of rapid imaging cameras and post-crushing tomographic imaginghas been realized in order to understand the damage mechanisms involved (Fig. 4 and 6).Testing has been carried out under quasi-static and dynamic loading and using severalboundary conditions. The different results of compression and crushing behavior are also usedin order to build and improve a finite element calculation model (Fig. 7 and 8) allowing tosimulate the response of composite structures of different natures subjected to crash byintegrating the geometry and the composition of the structure (Fig. 8).The objective of this research work is thus to evaluate the energy that can be dissipated bycomposite tubular structures, to compare the absorption values induced by compositestructures of different compositions, and/or bi-materials, and, finally, to provide a finiteelement model representing the behavior of composite structure submitted to compressionuntil damage and fracture of the structure.It has consequently been established that in static loading, a unidirectional laminate orientedat 0° and stabilized by woven plies strongly meets the expectations in terms of energydissipation, but that is not the case in dynamic loading. In this case, a 90° stratification seemsmore adequate. Incidentally, an inner constrained containment is more effective in most cases,reducing the initial peak load without drastically reducing the SEA value.

L'objectif de cette thèse est l'étude des échanges et de la dissipation d'énergie aux échelles mésoscopiques, à travers l'étude de nanotubes, de nanofils ou de pointes taillées par exemple. Notre intérêt pour la dissipation d'énergie nous portera vers les NEMS (Nano Electro Mechanical Systems) et leur facteur de qualité. Pour étudier les échanges d'énergie nous nous intéresserons à la thermodynamique aux petites échelles et notamment aux machines thermiques qui exploitent ces échanges d'énergie pour extraire un travail utile (mécanique, électrique...). Ce travail se concentre dans un premier temps sur la dissipation d'énergie et plus particulièrement sur le facteur de qualité de nanotubes de carbone mono-paroi à température ambiante et sur la façon de l'augmenter par application d'une tension électrique. Cette tension électrique induit un fort tirage sur le nanotube et la modification concomitante de la forme du mode résonant modifie la dissipation d’énergie. Ce phénomène, couplé à une modification des propriétés de l’ancrage (effet d’ancrage mou ajustable en tension) résultant également de la tension, diminue drastiquement la dissipation d’énergie et on atteint alors des facteurs de qualité record. Dans un second temps, nous nous intéressons aux machines thermiques : une machine stochastique cyclique et une machine électrique continue. La machine thermique stochastique est réalisée avec un nanofil vibrant sous ultra haut vide. La thermodynamique stochastique permet de redéfinir le travail et la chaleur pour un objet qui stocke des quantités d’énergies similaires aux fluctuations du bain thermique avec lequel il est en contact. Le premier objectif est de réaliser un cycle de Carnot permettant d'atteindre le rendement du même nom, inaccessible pour les machines macroscopiques. Pour la machine thermique continue nous étudions numériquement un prototype de machine thermique électrique basé sur des effets de résonance d'effet tunnel qui pourrait être une amélioration du principe des machines thermoïoniques. L’utilisation de l’effet tunnel permet à priori de réduire la température de la source chaude de la machine puisque l’on a plus besoin de vaincre le travail de sortie des deux électrodes. Les résonances dans l’effet tunnel, obtenues par confinement dans une dimension, permettent un filtrage en énergie des électrons passant d’un réservoir thermique à l’autre, ce qui a pour effet d’améliorer le rendement de la machine / The purpose of this work is the study of energy transfer and dissipation at the mesoscopic scale, through the study of nanotubes, nanowires, or sharp tips for example. Our interest for energy dissipation will lead us to dive into Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (NEMS) and their quality factor. Energy transfers will be studied with small scale thermodynamics and stochastic heat engines which use those energy transfers to produce useful work (mechanical, electrical…). This work is focused in a first time on the energy dissipation and particularly on the quality factor of single wall carbon nanotubes at room temperature and the ways to improve it by applying an electrical voltage. This voltage induces a strong pulling on the nanotube and the resulting vibrating shape modification changes the dissipation. This phenomenon, coupled with a clamping modification (tunable soft clamping) also stemming from the voltage, drastically reduces the dissipation. We can then achieve record high quality factors. In a second time we take interest in heat engines: a stochastic cyclic heat engine and a continuous electrical heat engine. The stochastic heat engine is realized with a vibrating nanowire under high vacuum. The stochastic thermodynamics allow us to redefine work and heat for an object that stores energies of the order of magnitude of thermal fluctuations in the thermal bath it interacts with. The aim is to build a Carnot cycle and achieve the corresponding yield, out of reach for macroscopic engines. Concerning the continuous heat engine we study numerically a prototype for an electrical heat engine based on resonant tunneling which could be an improvement of the thermionic heat engines. Allowing the thermal reservoirs to exchange electrons through tunneling allows in principle to reduce the temperature of the hot source because overcoming the work function of both electrodes is not necessary anymore. The resonances in the tunnel effect, obtained through confinement of one dimension, is useful for filtering the energy of the electrons tunneling from one reservoir to another, thus increasing the yield of the heat engine

In this work the semiclassical hybrid dynamics is extended in order to be capable of treating open quantum systems considering finite baths. The corresponding phenomena, i.e. decoherence and dissipation, are investigated for various scenarios.

The Lattice-Boltzmann-model is analyzed with regard to application to numerical solution of flow acoustic problems. In the first part of this study the description of sound wave propagation by common variants of the Lattice-Boltzmann-model is examined by calculation of phase velocity and effective viscosity for sound waves. Schemes with nine velocities in two dimensions and nineteen velocities in three dimensions are considered. For each of these a single relaxation time model (LBGK-model) and a multiple relaxation time model (MRT) is investigated. All schemes exhibit an almost isotropic error in phase speed of sound waves. With a spatial resolution of 10 or 30 grid spacings per wavelength the deviation of phase speed is less than 1 % or 0.1 %, respectively. The dissipation of sound waves is not simulated correctly by LBGK-models since there the bulk viscosity is fixed to the shear viscosity. Apart from that there is only very little numerical dissipation. The dissipation error therefor is negligible in the audible frequency range in air as long as the simulation volumes do not become very large, i.e. much more than some hundred wavelengths. The MRT-models allow to adjust the bulk viscosity by a suitable choice of relaxation parameters. However, if the bulk viscosity is set to a realistic value, stability of the scheme requires free relaxation parameter values which are close to the relaxation parameters that determine the viscosities. Then the gain in stability of MRT-models compared to LBGK-models is lost to some extent. All schemes considered here are able to reproduce the effect of sound wave convection in homogeneous background flows. Although additional numerical errors arise in transport coefficients, the overall errors are of the same order of magnitude as in the case with zero background flow and are not critical in practical applications. In the second part of the work numerical experiments are described which demonstrate the coupling of the flow- and sound field. Three test cases are considered: Sound generation by a single vortex interaction with the leading edge of a semi-infinite flat plate, sound generation by a grazing flow over a partially covered cavity and instationary flow around a half-cylinder with an attached wedge tail. The first test case is simulated in two dimensions with a self-written program. The sound calculated directly is compared to prediction based on an acoustic analogy. The observed amplitudes of the radiated sound agree quantitatively well for all flow and eddy velocities considered here. This implies, that the coupling of the sound and flow field is correct. In the case of the cavity the flow is computed in two dimensions with a self-written program as well as in three dimensions with the commercially available program PowerFLOW. The simulated pressure fluctuations in the cavity are compared to results of a wind tunnel experiment. Good agreement between simulation and wind tunnel experiment is found. The instationary flow around a half cylinder with an attached wedge tail is simulated in three dimensions using PowerFLOW. The radiated sound cannot be captured with PowerFLOW because of insufficient quantization of fluid density. However, pressure fluctuations on the surface of the body exhibit good agreement with the result of a wind tunnel test. Summarizing the results of this work it can concluded, that the Lattice-Boltzmann-model is well suited to numerical solutions of flow acoustic problems.

In the present thesis the dynamics of the correlations between an open quantum system and its environment is investigated. This becomes feasible by means of a very useful representation of the total system-environment state. General conditions for separability and entanglement of the latter are derived, and investigated in the framework of an open quantum two-level system, which is coupled to a dissipative and a dephasing environment.

In this thesis we study the global existence of small data solutions to the Cauchy problem for semilinear damped wave equations with an effective dissipation term, where the data are supposed to belong to different classes of regularity. We apply these results to the Cauchy problem for weakly coupled systems of semilinear effectively damped waves with respect to the defined classes of regularity for different power nonlinearities. We also presented blow-up results for semi-linear systems with weakly coupled damped waves.

No description available.

Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The work presented in this thesis forms part of the participation of the University of Stellenbosch in an electric vehicle project. The thesis deals with three aspects of the dynamics and energy management of the electric vehicle. The three aspects that are dealt with are the suspension system of an electric vehicle with in-wheel propulsion, the traction control of an electric vehicle and the energy system of such a vehicle. An investigation is presented in the thesis on the effect the mass of the hub motors has on the safety, stability and comfort of the electric vehicle. The investigation is done through a system frequency analysis and a comparative simulation. A comparison is made between a standard vehicle and a vehicle with in-wheel propulsion. A vehicle model is derived for the simulation of the vehicle. Finally, a few of the results of physical measurements performed are also presented. The traction control requirements of an EV are investigated. A discussion is given on the parts that make up an EV’s traction control system. A few examples of possible traction control systems are given through a step by step evolution of a traction control system. A vehicle model is derived for both static and kinetic friction conditions. The model is used in simulations to illustrate the need for traction control in EV’s. The thesis presents two methods for choosing a battery pack size, in terms of energy capacity etc. The difficulties associated with choosing a battery pack, using each of these methods are given. A battery pack choice for the specific electric vehicle, is presented. The measurements of one of the required charge-discharge cycles are presented to illustrate the charge and discharge curves of the battery cells used. The management of energy flow within the energy system of the EV is crucial, especially if regenerative braking is utilized. This is to protect the battery cells as well as to extend the range of the vehicle. The thesis presents the evaluation of an energy management system (EMS) using ultra capacitors as auxiliary storage device. An electronic load system is designed to simulate the operation of the vehicle motors. The transfer functions for the EMS and load system are derived and used to design the respective control algorithms. The control algorithms were implemented in both simulation as well as a laboratory setup to show the operation of the EMS. A new energy system configuration is presented. The aim of the new configuration is to solve certain problems encountered when implementing a conventional EMS. The operation of the new configuration is discussed. A comparative study is made between the conventional and the new configurations.