Reproduction de : Thèse de docteur-ingénieur : mathématiques : Grenoble 1 : 1956. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. p. 91.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-148).

Thesis (Ph.D)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Michaels, Thomas; Committee Co-Chair: Michaels, Jennifer; Committee Member: Degertekin, Levent; Committee Member: Qu, Jianmin; Committee Member: Ruzzene, Massimo; Committee Member: Scott, Waymond. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

By integrating three complementary imaging techniques - ultrasound, elasticity and photoacoustic imaging, a hybrid imaging system utilizing an array transducer is proposed for various biomedical imaging applications including cancer detection, diagnosis and therapy monitoring. Simultaneous imaging of the anatomy (ultrasound imaging), changes in biomechanical properties (elasticity imaging) and cancer-induced angiogenesis (photoacoustic imaging) of tissue is based on many synergistic features of these modalities and may result in a unique and important imaging tool. In this study, numerical analysis and experimental studies are presented to demonstrate the feasibility, to evaluate the performance, and also to improve the quality of the combined array-based ultrasound, elasticity and photoacoustic imaging system. To estimate spatial resolution, a point source was imaged using ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging modes. Then, several tissue mimicking phantoms were examined using ultrasound, photoacoustic and elasticity imaging. In elasticity imaging, ultrasound frames were acquired during deformation of the tissue. To reduce the data acquisition time of the system, high frame rate imaging was used. High frame rate imaging is possible by transmitting a broader and less focused ultrasound beam but the image quality is sacrificed. Thus, we compared the quality of the high frame rate and conventional ultrasound images. In photoacoustic imaging, acoustic transients are generated simultaneously in the entire volume of the laser irradiated tissue. Hence, image formation (beamforming) algorithms were developed based on the characteristics of the photoacoustic signals. Then, adaptive beamforming method is suggested to improve the image quality of the photoacoustic imaging. The results of the numerical analyses and experimental studies clearly indicate that ultrasound, elasticity and photoacoustic imaging techniques complement each other and together provide critical information needed for the reliable detection and diagnosis of diseases. / text

This work focuses on the development of a reliable numerical model for investigating the bone-conduction of sound in the human head. The main challenge of the problem is the lack of fundamental knowledge regarding the transmission of acoustic energy through non-airborne pathways to the cochlea. I employed a fully coupled model based on the acoustic/elastic interaction problem with a detailed resolution of the cochlea region and its interface with the skull and the air pathways. The problem was simulated via hp-finite element approximation, employing a hybrid mesh (tetrahedral, prismatic and pyramidal elements) to better capture the geometrical features of the head. The numerical results thus obtained provide an insight into this fundamental, long standing research problem. / text

Polymers used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) help to control the mobility ratio between oil and aqueous phases and as a result, polymer flooding improves sweep efficiency in reservoirs. However, the conventional wisdom is that polymer flooding does not have considerable effect on pore-level displacement because pressure forces would not be enough to overcome trapping caused by capillary forces. Recently, both coreflood experiments and field data suggest that injecting viscoelastic polymers, such as hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM), can result in lower residual oil saturation. The hypothesis is that the polymer elasticity provides several pore-level mechanisms for oil mobilization that are generally not significant for purely-viscous fluids. Both experiments and modeling need to be performed to investigate the effect of polymer elasticity on residual oil saturation. Pore-scale modeling and micro-fluidic experiments can be used to investigate pore-level physics, and then used to upscale to the macro-scale. The objective of this work is to understand the effect of polymer elasticity on apparent viscosity and residual oil saturation in porous media. Single- and multi-phase pore-level computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling for viscoelastic polymer flow is performed to investigate the dominant mechanisms at the pore level to mobilize trapped oil. Several interesting results are found from the CFD results. First, the elasticity of the polymer results in an increase in normal stress at the pore-level; therefore, the normal stresses exerted on a static oil droplet are significant and not negligible as for a purely-viscous fluid. The CFD results show that viscoelastic fluid exerts additional forces on the oil-phase which may help mobilize trapped oil out of the porous medium. Second, due to the elasticity of polymer, the viscoelastic polymer has some level of pulling effect; while passing above a dead-end pore it can pull out the trapped oil phase and then mobilize it. However, both CFD modeling and micro-fluidic experiments show the pulling-effect is not likely the main mechanism to reduce oil saturation at pore-level. Third, dynamic CFD simulations show less deformation of the oil phase while viscoelastic polymer is displacing fluid compared to purely viscous fluid. It may justify the hypothesis that polymer elasticity resists against snap-off mechanism. As a result, when viscoelastic polymer displaces the oil ganglia, the oil phase does not snap off, and the oil phase remains connected, and therefore easier to move in porous media compared to disconnected oil. For single phase flow, a closed-form flow equation has been developed based on CFD modeling in converging/diverging ducts representative of pore throats. The pore-level equations were substituted into a pore-network model and validated against experimental data. Good agreement is observed. This study reveals important findings about the effect of polymer elasticity to reduce the residual oil saturation; however, more experiments and simulations are recommended to fully-understand the mobilization mechanisms and take advantage of them to optimize the polymer-flooding process in the field. / text

Platelets play an important role in the haemostatic process in order to seal damaged blood vessels. The platelets form a platelet plug at the damaged area and prevent blood loss. Once the damage to the vessel wall has been covered, the platelets retract the coagulum, to allow the blood to flow freely in the vessel. Free oscillation rheometry (FOR) can be used for analysis of coagulation as measured by clotting time and changes in clot elasticity (G'). Clot G' provides information about the fibrin network in the coagulum and the platelets’ ability to retract the coagulum. FOR analysis is performed using the ReoRox® 4 instrument. The blood sample is added to a cylindrical sample cup, which is set into free oscillation. The frequency and damping of the oscillation is recorded over time as the blood coagulates. The change in G' is calculated from the frequency and damping measured. Patients with malignant haematological diseases are often thrombocytopaenic and require platelet transfusions to prevent or stop bleeding. To ensure good haemostatic function in the recipient it is important that the quality of the platelets used for transfusion is well preserved. The aim of this thesis was to determine the quality of platelet concentrates (PCs), during storage, using various in vitro methods, including FOR, and to investigate how various preparation processes affect the quality. We also investigated whether FOR can be used to evaluate the haemostatic status in subjects at risk for thrombosis or bleeding as well as how the haemostatic status was affected by a platelet transfusion. We show that FOR can provide information about the coagulation properties in subjects at risk of thrombosis (pregnant women) or bleeding (thrombocytopaenic patients). We also show that the coagulation as measured by FOR is influenced by red blood cells and the fibrinogen concentration. However, the presence of functional platelets accounted for 90% of the G'. Furthermore we present data that FOR can provide information on the haemostatic effect of platelet transfusions and on the function of the transfused platelets. PCs produced by two different cell separators showed similar quality during storage for 7 days as assessed by FOR analysis. Leukocytes in the PCs can cause transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease which can be prevented by gamma irradiation of the PCs. Gamma irradiation did not affect the quality of PCs during 7 days of storage as analysed by FOR. The clotting time was unchanged during the storage period. The capacity of platelets to retract the coagulum was reduced from days 1 to 5 of storage as seen by a prolonged time to reach maximum G' and the reduced mean change in G' per minute. However, if sufficient time is allowed for the platelets to regain their function, the clot will be fully retracted (as seen by a well maintained maximum G'). The FOR parameters were similar for 5- and 7-day old PCs, which, combined with other in vitro tests (e.g. hypotonic shock response, changes in pH, swirling, lactate and glucose), support the prolongation of the platelet storage period to 7 days. Intercept™ treatment of PCs can be performed to inhibit replication of contaminating bacteria in PCs. Intercept™ treatment of PCs did not diminish the clot-promoting capacity of the platelets as assessed by FOR clotting time. In conclusion, FOR is a promising method for assessing hyper- and hypocoagulability. It can provide information on the haemostatic effect of platelet transfusions and the function of the transfused platelets. FOR was also shown to be useful for analysing PC quality during different preparation and storage conditions.

The flow and stability of co-extruded layers of different polymers in a forced assembly process is studied computationally to determine the extent of the stable process window and the types of instabilities that occur. Recent advances in layer-multiplying co-extrusion of incompatible polymers have made possible the fabrication of multilayered nanostructures with improved barrier, thermal and mechanical behavior. However, existing layering techniques are very sensitive to mismatches in viscosity and elasticity of the co-extruded polymers which often give rise to layer non-uniformity and flow instabilities, such as encapsulation. Simulations of the flows inside the feedblock and the successive multiplier dies of the multi-layering system are used to track the interface and predict instabilities and degrees of encapsulation as a function of process parameters, primarily the flow rates and rheology of the polymers. Encapsulation is found to be negligible in practice in the feedblock even for large viscosity contrasts and differences in elasticity between the two co-extruded polymers. Encapsulation or pinch-off of interfaces is more severe in the multiplier dies when there the rheologies of the polymers differ. A secondary flow due to the second normal stress differences for non-Newtonian fluids is primarily responsible for the encapsulation. A new multiplier design is proposed and simulated. The pressure drop in the proposed design is half that of the current design, which is useful for extruding highly elastic materials. Further, the degree of encapsulation is also reduced. The results of the simulations are validated with experimental measurements of pressure drop and flow visualization provided by research collaborators. / text

Cancer has been one of main causes of human deaths for many years. Early detection of cancer is essential to provide definitive treatment. Among many cancer treatment methods, nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy is considered as one of the promising cancer treatment methods because of its non-invasiveness and cancer-specific therapy. Ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging can be utilized for both cancer detection and photothermal therapy guidance. Ultrasound elasticity imaging can detect cancer using tissue elastic properties. Once cancer is diagnosed, spectroscopic photoacoustic imaging can be used to monitor nanoparticle delivery before photothermal therapy. When nanoparticles are well accumulated at the tumor, ultrasound and photoacoustic-based thermal imaging can be utilized for estimating temperature distribution during photothermal therapy to guide therapeutic procedure. In this dissertation, ultrasound beamforming, elasticity imaging, and spectroscopic photoacoustic imaging methods were developed to improve cancer detection and therapy guidance. Firstly, a display pixel based synthetic aperture focusing method was developed to fundamentally improve ultrasound image qualities. Secondly, an autocorrelation based sub-pixel displacement estimation method was developed to enhance signal-to-noise ratio of elasticity images. The developed elasticity imaging method was utilized to clinically evaluate the feasibility of using ultrasound elasticity imaging for prostate cancer detection. Lastly, a minimum mean square error based spectral separation method was developed to robustly utilize spectroscopic photoacoustic imaging. The developed spectroscopic photoacoustic imaging method was utilized to demonstrate ultrasound and photoacoustic image-guided photothermal cancer therapy using in-vivo tumor-bearing mouse models. The results of these studies suggest that ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging can assist both cancer detection and therapy guidance. / text

Compliance with current and evolving federal and commercial regulations require the monitoring of injected carbon dioxide for geological sequestration. The goal of this project is to provide geophysicists with tools to quantitatively interpret seismic data for the amount of carbon dioxide retained in subsurface reservoirs. Rock physics can be used to predict the effects on the seismic response of injecting carbon dioxide on the reservoir. However, classical rock physics models fail when chemical reactions alter the microstructure of the host rock. These chemically induced changes can stiffen or soften the rock frame by precipitation or dissolution, respectively, of minerals in the pore space. Increasing pore pressure is another effect of sequestering carbon dioxide. The amount of change in the microstructure due to chemical reactions and pressure variations depends on the reservoir into which the fluid is injected. Therefore, measuring velocities on site-specific subsurface core samples may provide the ability to differentiate between chemical reactions and pressure variations on the elastic properties of the reservoir rock. Core samples come from the Lower Tuscaloosa Sandstone of the Cranfield study area in Mississippi. The experiments consisted of injecting core plugs with carbon dioxide rich brine and measuring compressional and shear velocities at different effective pressures. The elastic moduli of the rock frame are calculated from the measured elastic wave propagation velocities at specific injected pore volumes and effective pressures. Injecting carbon dioxide rich brine into sandstone core samples, which are composed on average of 80% quartz and 20% clay minerals, resulted in softening of the rock frame due to the dissolution of iron bearing minerals. The moduli exponentially decreased with injected pore volumes and were linearly proportional to effective pressure. The bulk modulus and rigidity of the more quartz rich sample decreased by 13% and 6.5%, respectively, due to a combined effect of changing differential pressure from 35 MPa to 27 MPa and injecting CO₂-rich brine. For the more clay rich sample, the moduli decreased by even larger percentages (39.0% and 20.1%, respectively), which could have significant implications on time-lapse seismic data and subsequent estimations of injected CO₂ volumes. / text