On se propose d’analyser le régime transitoire de décrochage à l’aide de la simulation numériqueinstationnaire de type DNS. Cette approche permet de reproduire avec fidélité l’écoulementdans la région critique de Bulbe de Décollement Laminaire au bord d’attaque, encoreimpossible à modéliser ou mesurer avec précision. Après une étape de validation, la sensibilitédu BDL au niveau de turbulence extérieure est étudiée et comparée favorablement à celleétablie récemment dans la littérature. La phase d’établissement du décollement massif depuisle BDL est reproduite en réalisant de petites variations d’incidence à travers l’angle critiqued’apparition du décrochage. Ce raisonnement ”aux petites perturbations” permet de reproduirel’éclatement du BDL communément rattaché au décrochage statique. La déstabilisation de larégion de BDL est alors étudiée à l’aide d’une base de données instationnaires et moyennes quipermet pour la première fois de rendre compte des déformations 3D du BDL. Conservant ceprotocole, et faisant varier la vitesse du profil, on est en mesure d’évaluer l’influence de cettedernière sur le régime transitoire. Des mouvements de rotation de plus forte amplitude angulaireont permis de mettre en évidence un mécanisme de décrochage sensiblement différent duprécédent. La couche de mélange surplombant le BDL s’enroule alors pour donner naissance àun tourbillon énergétique (Leading Edge Vortex), communément associé au décrochage dynamique.Enfin, l’analyse du champ de vitesse moyen a permis de valider un critère empiriqued’apparition de l’éclatement du BDL, qui s’est révélé pertinent aussi bien pour les mouvementsde faible amplitude que ceux plus amples. / High fidelity numerical simulation is used to study the transitory flow involved during the staIl ofan airfoil at high angle of attack. The nearly DNS resolution in the Laminar Separation Bubbleprovides the required accuracy to reproduce this complex flow that still represents a challenge forboth experimentation and modeling. The numerical procedure is comprehensively validated withparticular attention to the LSB region. The sensitivity of the LSB to an external disturbance ismonitored on the airfoil and is favorably compared with a recent study on flat plate in the literature.The destabilization of the LSB during staIl is reproduced with a small variation of the angle ofattack through the critical angle. The LSB bursting, typical of a static leading edge staIl, is thusreproduced. A comprehensive study of the unsteady events during the transitory flow is performedby means of a high frequency sampling of spanwise and short time averaged data base. Ofparticular interest is the 3D deformation of the flow captured by using a large spanwisecomputational domain (one chord length). The influence of the motion dynamic is then explored.The transitory is significantly affected by a high angular amplitude motion. The shear-Iayer in theLSB undergoes a roll-up which is found to be responsible for the formation of the Leading EdgeVortex, typical of a dynamic staIl configuration. An empirical criterion for the prediction of burstingis then assessed using the statistical data base. Results are found to surprisingly match the incipientof staIl in both static and dynamicaJ conditions.

The analysis procedures employed in earthquake engineering can be classified as linear static, linear dynamic, nonlinear static and nonlinear dynamic. Linear procedures are usually referred to as force controlled and require less analysis time and less computational effort. On the other hand, nonlinear procedures are referred to as deformation controlled and they are more reliable in characterizing the seismic performance of buildings. However, there is still a great deal of unknowns for nonlinear procedures, especially in modelling the reinforced concrete structures. Turkey ranks high among all countries that have suffered losses of life and property due to earthquakes over many centuries. These casualties indicate that, most regions of the country are under seismic risk of strong ground motion. In addition to this phenomenon, recent studies have demonstrated that near fault ground motions are more destructive than far-fault ones on structures and these effects can not be captured effectively by recent nonlinear static procedures. The main objective of this study is developing a simple nonlinear dynamic analysis procedure which is named as &ldquo / Dynamic Pull Analysis&rdquo / for estimating the seismic response of multi degree of freedom (MDOF) systems. The method is tested on a six-story reinforced concrete frame and a twelve-story reinforced concrete frame that are designed according to the regulations of TS-500 (2000) and TEC (1997).

The first objective of this dissertation is to present hybrid numerical-analytical approaches and reduced-order models to simulate microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) in multi-physics fields. These include electric actuation (AC and DC), squeeze-film damping, thermoelastic damping, and structural forces. The second objective is to investigate MEMS phenomena, such as squeeze-film damping and dynamic pull-in, and use the latter to design a novel RF-MEMS switch. In the first part of the dissertation, we introduce a new approach to the modeling and simulation of flexible microstructures under the coupled effects of squeeze-film damping, electrostatic actuation, and mechanical forces. The new approach utilizes the compressible Reynolds equation coupled with the equation governing the plate deflection. The model accounts for the slip condition of the flow at very low pressures. Perturbation methods are used to derive an analytical expression for the pressure distribution in terms of the structural mode shapes. This expression is substituted into the plate equation, which is solved in turn using a finite-element method for the structural mode shapes, the pressure distributions, the natural frequencies, and the quality factors. We apply the new approach to a variety of rectangular and circular plates and present the final expressions for the pressure distributions and quality factors. We extend the approach to microplates actuated by large electrostatic forces. For this case, we present a low-order model, which reduces significantly the cost of simulation. The model utilizes the nonlinear Euler-Bernoulli beam equation, the von K´arm´an plate equations, and the compressible Reynolds equation. The second topic of the dissertation is thermoelastic damping. We present a model and analytical expressions for thermoelastic damping in microplates. We solve the heat equation for the thermal flux across the microplate, in terms of the structural mode shapes, and hence decouple the thermal equation from the plate equation. We utilize a perturbation method to derive an analytical expression for the quality factor of a microplate with general boundary conditions under electrostatic loading and residual stresses in terms of its structural mode shapes. We present results for microplates with various boundary conditions. In the final part of the dissertation, we present a dynamic analysis and simulation of MEMS resonators and novel RF MEMS switches employing resonant microbeams. We first study microbeams excited near their fundamental natural frequencies (primary-resonance excitation). We investigate the dynamic pull-in instability and formulate safety criteria for the design of MEMS sensors and RF filters. We also utilize this phenomenon to design a low-voltage RF MEMS switch actuated with a combined DC and AC loading. Then, we simulate the dynamics of microbeams excited near half their fundamental natural frequencies (superharmonic excitation) and twice their fundamental natural frequencies (subharmonic excitation). For the superharmonic case, we present results showing the effect of varying the DC bias, the damping, and the AC excitation amplitude on the frequency-response curves. For the subharmonic case, we show that if the magnitude of the AC forcing exceeds the threshold activating the subharmonic resonance, all frequency-response curves will reach pull-in. / Ph. D.