Dans un contexte d’augmentation constante des volumes de boues d’épuration à traiter, l’optimisation du traitement des boues est un enjeu primordial. Les étapes de traitement, et de transport mettent en jeu des écoulements qu’il est nécessaire de comprendre et de prédire afin, par exemple, de pour pouvoir estimer les pertes de charges en conduite ou bien pour dimensionner les installations de pompage. D’un point de vue physique, les boues peuvent être considérées comme une suspension de particules dans un gel suspendant. Ainsi, le comportement rhéologique des boues d’épuration présente des similitudes importantes avec les suspensions colloïdales et les gels polymériques. Ces trois types de matériaux, i.e. les boues d’épuration, les gels colloïdaux et les suspensions polymériques, présentent un comportement rhéologique complexe dépendant du temps et de la sollicitation imposée. Ils présentent un comportement dual, solide aux contraintes faibles, et liquide pour des contraintes élevées. La transition solide-liquide est généralement modélisée par la définition d’un seuil de contrainte ou de déformation, supposé séparer les régimes solide et liquide. Cependant, cette notion de seuil suppose une transition abrupte, et s’oppose aux observations expérimentales qui mettent en évidence une transition continue et progressive. L’étude de la littérature a permis de mettre en évidence une nécessité d’améliorer la compréhension et la modélisation du phénomène de transition solide-liquide. De plus, il est nécessaire d’unifier la description des régimes solide et liquide sous un même modèle, afin de mettre en lien une continuité mathématique avec le caractère continu et progressif du phénomène physique modélisé. Une analyse des résultats disponibles dans la littérature nous a permis de construire un modèle mathématique unique pour décrire le comportement solide et le comportement liquide des matériaux étudiés. Les hypothèses posées à partir de la littérature pour construire ce modèle ont ensuite été validées expérimentalement. Le modèle proposé est basé sur la décomposition de la complaisance du matériau en la somme d’une contribution solide et d’une contribution liquide, dépendant du temps, de la sollicitation appliquée et de l’histoire du matériau. Ce modèle permet une description commune des comportements solides et liquides du matériau, en tenant compte de l’existence d’une élasticité résiduelle y compris pour des contraintes élevées, et d’une dissipation visqueuse faible pour les contraintes faibles, conformément aux résultats expérimentaux. Ces travaux de thèse ont permis de mettre en évidence le fait que le mécanisme de transition solide-liquide était piloté non pas par la contrainte ou par la déformation, mais par la complaisance du matériau. De plus, ils ont permis d’ouvrir la voie à une nouvelle manière d’appréhender la thixotropie et la transition solide-liquide des matériaux pâteux. En effet, le comportement d’un matériau pâteux est piloté par deux paramètres : un module élastique plateau correspondant à un état totalement structuré, et une viscosité infinie correspondant à un état totalement déstructuré. Ces paramètres intrinsèques au matériau sont alors pondérés par des évolutions de la microstructure, menant à une compétition entre les effets élastiques et les effets visqueux. Ainsi, la différence entre un comportement de type loi de puissance et un comportement de type loi de puissance à seuil peut être expliquée simplement par l’apparition d’effets élastiques non négligeables. / In a context of constant increasing volumes of wastewater treatment sludge, optimizing the treatment of sludge appears to be crucial. Each step of treatment and transportation involves flows. It appears necessary to understand and predict these flows in order, for example, to estimate pressure drops in pipes or to size properly pumping facilities. In a physical point of view, sludge can be considered as a suspension of particles in a gel. Thus, its rheological behaviour presents significant similarities to that of colloidal suspensions of polymeric gels. These three types of materials, i.e. wastewater treatment sludge, colloidal suspensions and polymeric gels, present a complex rheological behaviour which depend on both time and the applied solicitation. They exhibit a dual behaviour, solid at low shear stresses, and liquid when the applied shear stress is high. The solid-liquid behaviour is generally modelled by defining a critical shear stress or a critical strain, supposed to be the limit between the solid and liquid regimes. Nevertheless, this concept implies an abrupt transition, unlike experimental observations showing a continuous and progressive transition. The study of the literature permitted to highlight the need to improve the understanding and modelling of the solid-liquid transition. Moreover, it appears necessary to unify the description of the solid and liquid regime in a unique model, in order to link a mathematical continuity with thecontinuous and progressive nature of the physical phenomenon to model. The study of the results available in the literature permited us to build a unique mathematical model to describe both the solid behaviour and the liquid behaviour of the studied materials. The assumptions made from the literature results have thus been experimentally validated. The proposed model is based on the decomposition of the compliance of the material in the sum of a solid contribution and a liquid contribution, depending on time, the applied solicitation and the story of the material. This model permits a unique description of solide and liquid regimes of the material, taking into account the existence of a residual elasticity at high shear stresses, and a viscous dissipation for low shear stresses, in accordance with experimental results. This work permitted to highlight the fact that the solid-liquid transition mecanism is controlled by the compliance of the material, and not the shear stress or the strain. Moreover, it opened the way to a new way of understanding the thixotropy and the solid-liquid transition of pasty materials. Thus, the behaviour of a pasty material is controlled by two parameters : a plateau elastic modulus corresponding to a totally structured state, and an infinite viscosity corresponding to a totally destructured state. These parameters intrinsic to the material are pondered by the evolutions of the microstructure, leading to a competition between elastic and viscous effects. Thus, the difference between the power law behaviour and the Herschel-Bulkley behaviour can be simply explained by the apparition of elastic effects that can’t be neglected.

This thesis work focuses mainly on the application of non-destructive testing (NDT) methods on wood-based panels (WBP) in order to estimate the bending properties. To prove the accuracy and applicability of these methods on WBP, their results are correlated with results from a standardized static bending test. The behavior in different climate conditions and the application on panels of larger sizes is also questioned to provide an indication about strong points and boundaries of NDT methods applied on WBP.The bending properties are of major importance, especially for materials suited to bear loads. Bending stiffness, represented by the modulus of elasticity (MOE), is an expression of the deflection rate of a material under load. The bending strength, represented by the modulus of rupture (MOR), is an expression of the maximum load withstood by a material before rupture.Before testing, the material is acclimatized in three climate conditions: dry (20°C, 35% RH), standard (20°C, 65% RH) and wet (20°C, 85% RH), to understand the bending properties variation and how the NDT methods are affected by the variation in moisture content.The materials used are seven types of WBP, in particular four types of particleboards (PB), one type of high-density fiberboard (HDF), one type of dual density PB (with high and low density areas along the production direction) and one type of light-weight panel (Board-on-stiles, a composite panel of HDF, PB and paper honeycomb).To test the bending properties the following NDT methods are considered: transversal resonance vibration and longitudinal resonance vibration with the use of the BING system and the time-of-flight with the use of Fakopp Ultrasonic Timer and Silvatest Trio. The resonance vibration methods, transversal and longitudinal, are based on the relation between resonance vibration properties and bending properties of a material. The relation with bending properties also exists for the stress wave velocity (SWV) through a material, calculated with the time-of-flight method. The dynamic MOE resulting from these tests is then correlated with the static MOE and MOR from the static bending test.The NDT methods resulted to be reliable on WBP, with generally high levels of correlation between dynamic MOE and static MOE and MoR. The highest correlation value for MoE is with the transversal resonance vibration while the highest for MOR is with the longitudinal resonance vibration. The results of the dynamic MOE for all the NDT methods are higher than the static MOE, as confirmed also in the literature; the average ratio between the dynamic and the static MOE is, for example, up to 1,6 for WBP in standard climate condition, tested with Fakopp U.T.. These results are extremely higher than values suggested by previous studies. Moreover, the ratio increases with increasing relative humidity of the climate condition. The results from the tests on larger sizes suggest a possible application in this field. The time-of-flight method is suitable for in-plane uniform materials, like the PB and HDF, while the transversal resonance methods give also a good representation of the properties of the dual density PB and the light-weight panel.

Le but de ce travail est d'étudier l'effet de la teneur en cuivre et de la valence des atomes de cuivre sur la structure et les propriétés mécanique du verre. Des verres de zinc- et plomb- cuivre borate ont été étudiés. Les changements structurels avec le remplacement de PbO ou ZnO par CuO sont observés par réflectance infrarouge et Raman. L'état d'oxydation, l'environnement du site et la liaison caractéristique d'ions de cuivre ont été étudiés par spectroscopie optique et de résonance de spin électronique. Les propriétés mécaniques ont été déterminées et corrélées à la structure du verre et à sa composition, en mettant l'accent sur les propriétés élastiques, le comportement d'indentation (dureté et micro-fissures), la ténacité et la dépendance à la température de l'élasticité. Le cuivre a une tendance à stabiliser le bore en coordinence trigonale et donne une structure de type métaborate plus homogène. L'ajout d'ions de cuivre au verre métaborate améliore les performances mécaniques (modules d'élasticité et dureté), et diminue la sensibilité à la température ainsi que le taux de ramollissement des verres au plomb. Toutefois, l'ajout d'ions de cuivre dans les verres au zinc a des effets opposés sur ces propriétés. Les changements chimiques à la surface des verres de borates de cuivre et de zinc après traitement thermique sont également étudiés. L'étude par nanoindentation et par rayage montre que la couche cristallisée améliore la résistance mécanique de la surface du verre. / The aim of this work is to study the effect of copper content and copper valence on the structural and mechanical properties of glass. Zinc- and lead- copper borate glasses were studied. Their structural changes with the substitution of CuO for ZnO or PbO are followed by Raman and reflectance infrared. The oxidation state, site environment and bonding characteristic of copper ions are studied by optical and electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The mechanical properties were determined and correlated to the glass structure and composition, with a particular emphasis on the elastic properties, sharp indentation behavior (hardness and micro-cracking), toughness and temperature dependence of elasticity. Copper tends to stabilize trigonal boron and gives a more homogeneous metaborate structure. Adding copper ions to the metaborate glass clearly improves the mechanical performance (elastic moduli and hardness), in the meantime decreases the temperature sensitivity and soften rate of lead borate glasses. However, adding copper ions in zinc borate glasses has opposite effects on these properties. The chemistry changes at zinc-copper-borate glass surface after heat-treatment are also studied. Investigation of the nanoindentation and scratch behavior show that the crystallized layer improves the mechanical resistant of glass surface.

L’informatique en nuage, au travers de son modèle en couche et de l’accès à ses services à la demande, a bouleversé la façon de gérer les infrastructures (IaaS) et la manière de produire les logiciels (SaaS). Grâce à l’élasticité de l’infrastructure, la quantité de ressource peut être ajustée automatiquement en fonction de la demande afin de satisfaire un certain niveau de qualité de service (QoS) aux clients tout en minimisant les coûts d’exploitation sous-jacents. Le modèle d’élasticité actuel qui consiste à ajuster les ressources IaaS au travers de services de dimensionnement automatique basiques montre ses limites en termes de réactivité et de granularité d’adaptation. De plus, bien qu’étant une caractéristique cruciale de l’informatique en nuage, l’élasticité est à ce jour pauvrement outillée empêchant ainsi les différents acteurs du Cloud de jouir pleinement de ses bienfaits. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous proposons d’étendre leconcept d’élasticité aux couches hautes du nuage, et plus précisément au niveau du SaaS. Nous présentons ainsi le nouveau concept d’élasticité logicielle que nous définissons comme la capacité d’un logiciel à s’adapter, idéalement de manière autonome, pour répondre aux changements de la demande et/ou aux limitations de l’élasticité des ressources de l’infrastructure. Il s’agit alors d’envisager l’élasticité de manière transverse et multi-couche en considérant l’adaptation des ressources Cloud au sens large. Pour ce faire, nous présentons un modèle pour la gestion autonome de l’élasticité multi-couche et le Framework ElaStuff associé. Dans le but d’outiller et d’industrialiser le processus de gestion de l’élasticité, nous proposons l’outil de surveillance perCEPtion basé sur le traitement des événements complexes et permettant à l’administrateur de mettre en place une observation avancée du système Cloud. De plus, un langage dédié à l’élasticité multi-couche nommé ElaScript est proposé pour exprimer simplement et efficacement des plans de reconfiguration orchestrant les actions d’élasticité de différents niveaux. Enfin, notre proposition d’étendre l’élasticité aux couches hautes du Cloud, et plus particulièrement au niveau SaaS, est validée expérimentalement selon plusieurs points devue (QoS, énergie, réactivité et précision du passage à l’échelle,etc.). / Cloud computing, through its layered model and access to its on-demand services, has changed the way of managing the infrastructures (IaaS) and how to produce software (SaaS). With the advent of IaaS elasticity, the amount of resources can be automatically adjusted according to the demand to satisfy a certain level of quality of service (QoS) to customers while minimizing underlying operating costs. The current elasticity model is based on adjusting the IaaS resources through basic autoscaling services, which reaches to its limit in terms of responsiveness and adaptation granularity. Although it is an essential feature for Cloud computing, elasticity remains poorly equipped which prevents the various actors of the Cloud to really enjoy its benefits. In this thesis, we propose to extend the concept of elasticity to higher layers of the cloud, and more precisely to the SaaS level. Then, we present the new concept of software elasticity by defining the ability of the software to adapt, ideally in an autonomous way, to cope with workload changes and/or limitations of IaaS elasticity. This predicament brings the consideration of Cloud elasticity in a multi-layer way through the adaptation of all kind of Cloud resources. To this end, we present a model for the autonomic management of multi-layer elasticity and the associated framework ElaStuff. In order to equip and industrialize the elasticity management process, we propose the perCEPtion monitoring tool, based on complex event processing, which enables the administrators to set up an advanced observation of the Cloud system. In addition, we propose a domain specific language (DSL) for the multi-layer elasticity, called ElaScript, which allows to simply and effectively express reconfiguration plans orchestrating the different levels of elasticity actions. Finally, our proposal to extend the Cloud elasticity to higher layers, particularly to SaaS,is validated experimentally from several perspectives (QoS,energy, responsiveness and accuracy of the scaling, etc.).

Résumé de l'étude in vitro. L'objectif de cette étude in vitro était de créer un fantôme avec la même architecture musculaire (fibre, aponévrose ...) et les mêmes propriétés mécaniques que le muscle en condition passive et active. Deux fantômes homogènes ont été fabriqués avec différentes concentrations de plastisol pour simuler les propriétés élastiques du muscle en condition passive (50% plastisol) et active (70% de plastisol). Pour cela, des fils en Téflon (d = 0,9 mm) ont été insérés dans la partie supérieure du fantôme (50%) pour représenter les fibres musculaires. De plus, une feuille en matière plastique (8 x 15 cm) a également été placée au milieu du fantôme pour imiter la structure de l'aponévrose. Ensuite, des tests ERM ont été effectués à 90 Hz avec deux stimulateurs pneumatiques de différentes formes (tube en silicone, membrane circulaire) pour analyser l'effet du type du stimulateur sur la propagation des ondes. La longueur d'onde a été mesurée à partir des images phase et les propriétés élastiques (module de cisaillement) ont été calculées. Les deux fantômes (50% et 70%) ont montré des propriétés élastiques similaires à celles du muscle à l’état passif (2,40 ± 0,18 kPa) et actif (6,24 ± 0,21 kPa). Le stimulateur en forme de tube a donné des valeurs plus élevées (environ 1,2 kPa à 1,53 kPa). L'analyse du comportement des ondes a révélé un glissement le long de la feuille plastique. Ce phénomène a aussi été observé in vivo le long de l’aponévrose. L'onde a également été sensible à la présence des fils en téflon car des coupures, des trous, ont été identifiés au cours de la propagation de l’onde. Une nouvelle méthode de post-traitement a été créée pour mesurer les paramètres G' et G" à partir de tests ERM réalisés à plusieurs fréquences (60, 80, 100 Hz) et en utilisant des modèles rhéologiques. Cette méthode a été testée sur un fantôme (50%) qui n’avait pas d’inclusion. Les résultats des mesures viscoélastiques (G', G") ont été validés avec la technique HFVS (Hyper-Fréquence viscoélastique Spectroscopy). Des valeurs similaires, G' et G’’, ont été obtenues avec les deux techniques. Ce dernier résultat valide la nouvelle méthode de post-traitement pour mesurer les propriétés viscoélastiques. Résumé de l'étude in vivo. L'objectif de cette étude in vivo a été de développer des protocoles ERM pour caractériser les propriétés élastiques (module de cisaillement) des neuf muscles de la cuisse. Ces tests ont été effectués à une seule fréquence (90 Hz). Différents modules de cisaillement ont été trouvés entre les muscles. Le gracilis a révélé des propriétés élastiques plus élevées que les autres muscles. Ces différentes élasticités peuvent être dues à différentes compositions physiologiques et architecturales entre les tissus. Ensuite, les propriétés viscoélastiques des muscles ischio (ST, SM, et la BC) et du muscle Gr ont été déterminées en appliquant la nouvelle méthode de post-traitement des données (précédemment validée sur le fantôme 50%) avec des tests ERM multi fréquences (70, 90 et 120 Hz) et en utilisant des modèles rhéologiques. Les résultats ont montré que deux modèles rhéologiques, Zener et springpot, peuvent être utilisés pour mesurer les propriétés viscoélastiques des muscles à l’état passif. De plus, des résultats similaires ont été trouvés entre G "/ G ', obtenus expérimentalement à 90 Hz, et la valeur α du modèle de springpot. / Summary of the vitro studies. The objective of this in vitro study was to create a phantom witch the same muscle architecture (fiber, aponeurosis …) and mechanical properties of muscle in passive and active states. Two homogeneous phantoms were manufactured with different concentrations of plastisol to simulate the muscle elastic properties in passive (50% of plastisol) and active (70% of plastisol) muscle conditions. Moreover, teflon tubing pipes (D = 0.9 mm) were thread in the upper part of the phantom (50%) to represent the muscle fibers and a plastic sheet (8 x 15 cm) was also included in the middle of the phantom to mimic the aponeurosis structure. Subsequently, MRE tests were performed at 90Hz with two different pneumatic drivers, tube and round shapes, to analyze the effect of the type of driver on the wave propagation. The wavelength was measured from the phase images and the elastic properties (shear modulus) were calculated. Both phantoms revealed elastic properties which were in the same range as in vivo muscle in passive (2.40 ± 0.18 kPa) and active (6.24 ± 0.21 kPa) states. The impact of the type of driver showed higher values with the tube (range: 1.2 kPa to 1.53 kPa). The analysis of the wave behavior revealed a sliding along the plastic sheet as it was observed for in vivo muscle study. The wave was also sensitive to the presence of the fibers where gaps were identified. A new post processing method was established to measure G’ and G” from experimental multi frequencies (60, 80, 100 Hz) MRE (MMRE) tests and rheological models. This method was tested on the phantom (50%) made without fiber. Cross validation of the viscoelastic (G’, G”) results was made with Hyper-Frequency Viscoelastic Spectroscopy (HFVS). Both techniques showed similar range of values for G’ and G” at the same frequencies. This last result validated our new data processing for the viscoelastic measurement. Summary of the in vivo studies. The objective of this in vivo study was to develop MRE protocols to characterize the elastic properties (shear modulus) of the nine thigh muscles. These tests were performed at a single frequency (90Hz). Different shear moduli were found between the muscles. The gracilis revealed the highest elastic properties compared to all the other muscles. These different elasticities may be due to different physiological and architectural compositions between the tissues. Then the viscoelastic properties of the ischio (ST, SM, and BC) and Gr muscles were determined based on our new data-processing method (validated on the phantom 50%) using MMRE tests (70, 90 and 120Hz) and rheological models. The results revealed that two rheological models, zener and springpot, can be used to measure the viscoelastic properties in passive state. A similar trend was found between the experimental ratios G”/G’ obtained at 90 Hz and the α value of the springpot model. The present MRE muscle protocol, and the viscoelastic data base, could be used as non-invasive diagnostic tools to evaluate tissue alterations, the progression of diseases, and the effect of treatments, such as the ongoing therapeutic trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The thesis reports on the application of advanced microanalytical techniques to answer a fundamental open question on the homeostasis of Plasmodium falciparum infected red blood cells, namely how infected cells retain their integrity for the duration of the parasite asexual reproduction cycle. The volume and shape changes of infected cells were measured and characterized at femtolitre resolution throughout the intraerythrocytic cycle using confocal microscopy. Fluorescence lifetime imaging and electron probe X-ray microanalysis were applied for the quantification of intracellular haemoglobin and electrolyte concentrations. The cytomechanical properties of uninfected and infected red cells were studied using a novel optical stretcher device, which enabled individual cells to be trapped and manipulated optomechanically in microfluidic channels. Combined, these methods offered a unique insight into the homeostatic and rheological behaviour of malaria-infected red cells. The results were analysed by comparison with predictions from a detailed physiological model of the homeostasis and volume regulation of infected cells, providing broad support to the view that excess haemoglobin consumptions by the parasite was necessary for the integrity of infected cells (the colloidosmotic hypothesis). The dissertation is introduced with an overview of malaria, red blood cells homeostasis and the changes induced by Plasmodium falciparum infection. In the following, this description is extended to an in-depth theoretical analysis of the infected red blood cell homeostasis, from which the need to characterise certain parameters arises. The subsequent chapters address sequentially the assessment of the haemoglobin and electrolyte concentration, cell shape and volume changes and ultimately alterations in cell elasticity. The experimental part is complemented with a comparison of the resulting data to the predictions from the theoretical analysis and an outlook on future work.

Micromachined biosensors are used in chemical and biological applications. A biosensor which uses mass based transduction is called a mass sensor. Mass sensors are used to detect extremely small mass of biomolecules such as proteins, viruses or even parts of DNA in the range of femtograms (10-15 gm) to zeptograms (10−21 gm). Highly effective and reliable microcantilevers are used for detecting the mass of biomolecules using either static deflection or dynamic resonant peak shifts. The main objective of our work is to investigate the effect of elasticity of the attached mass on the shift in the resonant frequency and examine the validity of the rigid mass assumption used in the literature. The natural frequencies of a resonator are either found by solving the governing differential equation or approximately using Rayleigh-Ritz method. The mass of a body, attached to a resonator beam is determined using resonant frequency shift method. In our study, we derive an analytical expression for ‘δm’ based on the shift in frequency ‘δf’ that accounts for the elasticity of the added mass and the location of the mass on the beam. We study the simplest model to incorporate these effects where the added mass is itself modeled as a single degree of freedom spring-mass system. The entire system is represented as a 2-DOF lumped model of cantilever and the attached elastic mass. The natural frequencies are obtained using eigenvalue analysis. We study the mass estimation of Escherichia Coli (E. Coli), a food borne pathogen, using experimental results reported in the literature. We treat E.Coli as an elastic mass and model it as a single degree of freedom system to account for its elasticity. We use the elastic model as well as the rigid mass model to check the results available in the literature and point out the difference that results in mass estimation using the two models. To demonstrate the effect of elasticity on mass sensing using the resonant peak shift technique, we conduct mesoscale experiments. Since the fundamental principle does not depend on any phenomenon exclusively dependent on micro scales, the mesoscale experiments are justified. For this purpose, an experimental set-up with metallic cantilevers and flexible rubber strands as attached masses are used. We also use our experimental set-up to study the effect of positional inaccuracy of the added mass (rigid) in the computation of its mass from the shift in the resonance frequency. The results obtained show that elasticity of the added mass as well as its position on the resonator affect the computed mass but this effect is dependent on the relative stiffness and mass of the resonator and the added mass. We also observe the limitations of the experiments in carrying out studies over the desired range of parameters. We also create a computational model of the system and carry out simulations to explore a larger range of parameter values. In particular, we create an FEM model of our system in ANSYS, and carry out modal analysis for the cantilever beam resonator with and without the added mass, varying the relative stiffness and mass of the two components (the cantilever beam and the added mass). We compare the results of shift in the resonant frequency with those obtained from the rigid mass model. The results show the effect of elasticity clearly in certain ranges of relative stiffness and mass.

This work analyzes partial slip contact problems in the theory of linear viscoelasticity using both the semi-analytical method and nite element method. Such problems arise in metal-polymer contacts in orthopedic implants and similar applications. The boundary conditions of such problems are inherently mixed and vary with time, thus restricting the use of classical correspondence principle, which have been the basic approach for most of the solved problems in viscoelasticity. In the present semi-analytical approach, the governing equations for the vis-coelastic partial-slip contact are formulated as a pair of coupled Singular Integral Equations (SIEs) for a pin-plate geometry using the viscoelastic analogues of Green's functions. The formulation is entirely in the time-domain, avoiding Laplace transforms. Both Coulomb and hysteretic e ects are considered, and arbitrary load histories, including the bidirectional pin loads and remote plate stresses, are allowed. Moreover, the contact patch is allowed to advance and recede with no restrictions. The presence of viscoelastic behavior necessitates the application of the stick zone boundary condition in convolved form, and also introduces additional convolved gap terms in the governing equations, which are not present in the elastic case. Transient, as well as steady-state contact tractions, are obtained under load-hold, unload-hold, unload-reload, cyclic bidirectional (fretting) and remote plate loading for a three-element delayed elastic solid. A wide range of loads, loading rates, friction coeficients and the conforming nature of the contact are considered. The contact size, stick-zone size, indenter approach, maximum pressure, Coulomb energy dissipation are tracked during fretting. The edge-of-contact stresses and the subsurface stresses for the viscoelastic plate due to the contact tractions are determined by solving an equivalent traction boundary value problem. It is found that the viscoelastic fretting contact tractions for materials with delayed elastic nature shakedown just like their elastic counterparts. However, the number of cycles to attain shakedown states is strongly dependent on the ratio of the load cycle time to the relaxation time constant of the viscoelastic material. In monotonic load-hold case, the viscoelastic steady-state tractions agree well with the tractions from an equivalent elastic analysis using the shear modulus at infinite time. Whereas, the viscoelastic fretting tractions in shakedown differ considerably from their elastic counterparts. This is due to the fact that the contact patch does not increase monotonically in fretting-type(cyclic) loading. Hence, an approximate elastic analysis misleads to an incorrect edge-of-contact stresses. During fretting, the edge-of-contact hoop stress also shakedown and reaches its peak value at the trailing edge-of-contact when the horizontal pin load reaches its maximum. Moreover, the peak tensile of the edge-of-contact hoop stress increases with the increase in the Coulomb friction coefficient. In cyclic loading, Coulomb dissipation in a cycle at steady-state is almost independent of the rate at which the load is cycled. However, the viscous energy dissipated in a cycle is a strong function of the ratio of the load cycle time to the relaxation time constant. The steady-state cyclic hysteretic energy dissipation typically dominates the cyclic Coulomb dissipation, with a more pronounced difference at slower load cycling. However, despite this, it is essential to model an accurate viscoelastic fretting contacts including the effects of both viscous and Coulomb friction dissipation to obtain accurate contact stresses. A 12-element generalized Maxwell solid with long time scales representing a well characterized viscoelastic material like PMMA is also studied. The material chosen is of slowly relaxing nature and the ratio of the instantaneous shear modulus(G0) to the modulus at the infinite time(G1) is almost equal to 1000. In such cases, the material is effectively always in a transient state, with no steady edge-of-contact. As a consequence, the location of the peak hoop stress keeps on shifting when the load cycle is repeated. Interestingly, the rate at which the viscoelastic material relaxes affects the contact tractions. It is observed that the rapidly relaxing materials show qualitatively different tractions in the partial slip, with local traction spikes close to the edges-of-contact and concomitant high-stress gradients. On the other hand, finite element method is also used to analyze the partial slip viscoelastic contacts. In FEA, the pin-plate geometry is modeled using a custom mesh maker, where a 2D-continuum plane strain element is used for the plate and rigid element for the pin. The technique uses 'ABAQUS Standard' solver to solve the contact problem. Finite element analysis for a wide range of loads comparable with the SIE technique is performed. The tractions and contact sizes for various load cases such as unload-reload, fretting-type cyclic loads from both SIE and FEA agrees well. In certain conditions, there exist multiple contact arcs or stick zones that are currently difficult to solve with SIE's. However, such problems are treated using FEA and one such problem is illustrated.

Performing tasks with a robotic hand often requires a complete knowledge of the manipulated object, including its properties (shape, rigidity, surface texture) and its location in the environment, in order to ensure safe and efficient manipulation. While well-established procedures exist for the manipulation of rigid objects, as well as several approaches for the manipulation of linear or planar deformable objects such as ropes or fabric, research addressing the characterization of deformable objects occupying a volume remains relatively limited. The fundamental objectives of this research are to track the deformation of non-rigid objects under robotic hand manipulation using RGB-D data, and to automatically classify deformable objects as either rigid, elastic, plastic, or elasto-plastic, based on the material they are made of, and to support recognition of the category of such objects through a robotic probing process in order to enhance manipulation capabilities. The goal is not to attempt to formally model the material of the object, but rather employ a data-driven approach to make decisions based on the observed properties of the object, capture implicitly its deformation behavior, and support adaptive control of a robotic hand for other research in the future. The proposed approach advantageously combines color image and point cloud processing techniques, and proposes a novel combination of the fast level set method with a log-polar mapping of the visual data to robustly detect and track the contour of a deformable object in a RGB-D data stream. Dynamic time warping is employed to characterize the object properties independently from the varying length of the detected contour as the object deforms. The research results demonstrate that a recognition rate over all categories of material of up to 98.3% is achieved based on the detected contour. When integrated in the control loop of a robotic hand, it can contribute to ensure stable grasp, and safe manipulation capability that will preserve the physical integrity of the object.

The thesis focuses on the influence of new natural gas sources on energy security in the USA. The new sources include mainly shale gas, but also tight gas and others. The main objective of the thesis is to evaluate the impact of changes in production and trade in gas on energy security and self-sufficiency of the USA. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is theoretic and thus provides the frameworks for the following parts of the thesis. It focuses on the security concept in literature and in the papers of international energy agencies, e.g. IEA. For the purposes of the thesis, energy security is defined as the ability of a state to secure uninterrupted and stable supply of energy at a reasonable price of sufficiently diversified energy sources, which can be flexibly substituted among each other without additional costs by the end consumers. The second chapter concentrates on energy security in the USA, the development of energy legislation and the position of the United States in international comparison from this point of view. The third chapter deals with the technical background of production and its legislative status of the USA. To compare, it also addresses the production legislation in some EU countries. It follows up market implications of increased domestic production, specifically its profitability, changes in energy mix and in trading position of the USA in energy sources. The fourth chapter analyzes price impacts using change in domestic and foreign demand and supply in natural gas, including their price elasticity, and the price development itself. The fifth chapter summarizes, based on the findings from previous chapters, perspectives of the future development, mainly impacts on economy and potential export. The thesis comes to the main conclusion stating that the production from domestic sources shall have a positive impact on energy security not only in the USA, but also consecutively in other countries dependent on import of energy sources through higher diversification of source countries. Better available commodity may contribute to greater price competitiveness of domestic products on international markets and help to substitute coal with gas in energy mix. The biggest risk is seen in the low gas price that makes the production economically unprofitable. However, the gas price should maintain the level which would allow for profit of the producers, reasonable price for the consumers and increased level of energy security thanks to further development of the production technology, its better price availability and increased demand on cleaner energy sources.