Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-141) Also available in print.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2002--Mannheim.

O principal objetivo desse trabalho é caracterizar os métodos e processos que podem ser utilizados para obter melhores resultados dos azimutes sob a ótica da Astronomia Clássica e pelo Sistema de Posicionamento Global, levando em conta as diferentes natureza do tratamento aplicado às observações. Procurou-se também estabelecer a fronteira no comprimento das linhas Base, em que os resultados obtidos através de processos ela Astronomia Clássica tenham melhor precisão que os obtidos através dos recursos do Sistema de Posicionamento Global, além da caracterização e definição dos sistemas de referência e posicionamento, tratamentos necessários para minimizar os erros das observações e definição dos azimutes tratados pelas Engenharias. / The essential objective of this work is to characterize wich methods and processes should be used for obtain better results of the azimuths under the optics of the classic Astronomy and for the Global Positioning System, taking into account the different natures of the treatment aplied the observations. lt was also tried to establish the border in the length of base Iines, in that the results by process of the astronomy classic results of better quality that obtained by Global Positioning System, characterization and definition of the reference systems and positioning, necessary treatments to minimize the mistakes of the observations, and definition of the azimuths treated by Engineerings.

O principal objetivo desse trabalho é caracterizar os métodos e processos que podem ser utilizados para obter melhores resultados dos azimutes sob a ótica da Astronomia Clássica e pelo Sistema de Posicionamento Global, levando em conta as diferentes natureza do tratamento aplicado às observações. Procurou-se também estabelecer a fronteira no comprimento das linhas Base, em que os resultados obtidos através de processos ela Astronomia Clássica tenham melhor precisão que os obtidos através dos recursos do Sistema de Posicionamento Global, além da caracterização e definição dos sistemas de referência e posicionamento, tratamentos necessários para minimizar os erros das observações e definição dos azimutes tratados pelas Engenharias. / The essential objective of this work is to characterize wich methods and processes should be used for obtain better results of the azimuths under the optics of the classic Astronomy and for the Global Positioning System, taking into account the different natures of the treatment aplied the observations. lt was also tried to establish the border in the length of base Iines, in that the results by process of the astronomy classic results of better quality that obtained by Global Positioning System, characterization and definition of the reference systems and positioning, necessary treatments to minimize the mistakes of the observations, and definition of the azimuths treated by Engineerings.

The effects of abrasive particle size and tool surface roughness on tool and work wears of a polishing process were investigated. It was aimed to obtain a polishing condition that could result in a high work wear while the tool wear was low. An analytical study was first done to examine how the various operating conditions affected the wear rates of tool and work. It was done from a wear model developed by Su and Horng [1]. This model was further extended in the study to allow the wear rate analysis for an abrasive particle with ellipsoid shape. It was shown that an enhancement of abrasive particle size or tool surface roughness would increase the work wear while decrease the tool wear. Several sets of experiments were conducted to confirm the predictions of analytical study. It was shown that the experimental trends were the same as the analytical ones. Finally, the possible causes of observed phenomena and the limitations of the study were discussed.

Using the envelope theory, the mathematical model of the end face profile and the working tool path of a special optical fiber polishing machine is deve- loped in this study. During the polishing process, the polisher is controlled by three parameters including the fiber rotational angle, the height H and the angle between the fiber and polisher. The contact points between the optical fiber and the polishing plate will determine the profile of the fiber end face. The 3-D end face with double-variable curvatures can be fabricated by properly controlling these three parameters. Since the grinding (polishing) material removal rate is related to machining time and normal contact force, the grinding (polishing) tool path and parameters are needed some modification in order to get the precise end profiles. Example of fiber end faces of 2-D elliptical face and 3-D ellipsoid are given to check the developed mathematical model in this study by computer solid modeling.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2004--Kassel.

Forces and moments have been measured on slender bodies in both static angle conditions as well as rapid time-dependent large amplitude maneuvers with the Dynamic Pitch Plunge Roll (DyPPiR) apparatus. <br /> <br /> Lateral and transversal forces as well as all three moments have been measured at static angles of attack and sideslip and unsteady pitch ramp maneuvers at a fixed point of rotation at the quarter length of the body. The two bodies are the DARPA Suboff generic submarine shape and a non-Body-of-Revolution scalene ellipsoid with a constant cross-section midbody. An analytical two-mode equation has been shown to accurately describe the normal force and pitch moment as well as side force and yaw moment for the ellipsoid body. It is based on the observation that the center of pressure for the cross-flow contribution is at a fixed location. For the Suboff body, this assumption is invalid. Unsteady forces and moments can be measured to a very small magnitude of uncertainty and were found to differ from steady forces and moments at the time-instantaneous flow angle during the motion. / Ph. D.

We present a practical algorithm for computing the minimum volume n-dimensional ellipsoid that must contain m given points al,...,am C Rn . This convex constrained problem arises in a variety of applied computational settings, particularly in data mining and robust statistics. Its structure makes it particularly amenable to solution by interior-point methods, and it has been the subject of much theoretical complexity analysis. Here we focus on computation. We present a combined interior-point and active-set method for solving this problem. Our computational results demonstrate that our method solves very large problem instances (m = 30, 000 and n = 30) to a high degree of accuracy in under 30 seconds on a personal computer.

Les instabilités inertielles sont des instabilités fluides excitées au sein de modèles physiques simplifiés de planètes ou d'étoiles. Elles peuvent générer un champ magnétique dynamo. Ce sont donc des alternatives aux écoulements forcés par la convection thermo-chimique pour générer les champs magnétiques dans les noyaux liquides des planètes et les enveloppes fluides des étoiles. Cependant, ces modèles simplifiés questionnent la pertinence des résultats, qui sont ensuite extrapolés aux contextes géo- et astrophysique. D'un point de vue fondamental, de récentes études numériques et expérimentales, réalisées à grande ellipticité pour compenser l'importance des effets visqueux dans les modèles, semblent en désaccord avec les prédictions théoriques (valides dans la limite asymptotique d'une diffusion négligeable et à faible déformation). De plus, de nombreux effets physiques sont négligés dans les modèles. Par exemple, seules les orbites circulaires ont été considérées. Bien que généralement de faible amplitude, l'excentricité induit une dépendance temporelle dans le forçage orbital, ce qui pourrait générer de nouveaux phénomènes. Enfin, l'existence des instabilités inertielles dans les enveloppes fluides stablement stratifiées en densité, comme les zones radiatives des étoiles chaudes de masse intermédiaire (dont la masse est comprise entre une et huit masses solaires), reste incertaine. La génération de champs magnétiques dynamos dans ces enveloppes stratifiées permettrait de réconcilier les modèles avec les observations astronomiques. Lors de cette thèse, nous nous sommes attachés à rapprocher les modèles (théoriques, numériques ou expérimentaux) des contextes géo et astrophysique. Nous avons combiné les approches théoriques (analyses de stabilité locale et globale) et numériques (simulations non linéaires) afin d'étudier les effets des forc cages mécaniques de rotation dans un ellipsoïde fluide. Nous montrons que la dissipation en volume n'est en fait pas négligeable dans les expériences de laboratoire et les simulations numériques, contrairement aux régimes planétaires et stellaires. Nous montrons aussi que l’excentricité orbitale peut, via la variation temporelle des axes de l’ellipsoïde, générer des instabilités fluides pour dans une gamme de paramètres où elles n’étaient pas attendues. Enfin nous avons étudié la capacité dynamo de l'instabilité de marée, dans les enveloppes stablement stratifiées en densité des étoiles chaudes de masse intermédiaire. Environ 10~% de ces étoiles ont un champ magnétique de surface, dont l’origine reste énigmatique. Nous montrons que l’instabilité de marée peut générer des dynamos de grande échelle dans les enveloppes fluides stablement stratifiées. En particulier, ce mécanisme serait susceptible d’expliquer le champ magnétique de faible intensité des étoiles en rotation rapide similaires à Vega et déformées par un compagnon orbital. / Inertial instabilities are fluid instabilities excited by mechanical forcings (e.g. tides, precession) in fluid bodies (e.g. planetary liquid cores or stellar envelopes) orbited by celestial companions. The nonlinear outcome of these instabilities can drive self-sustained, dynamo magnetic fields. Thus they could be an alternative to thermo-chemical convection to generate magnetic fields in geophysics and astrophysics. These instabilities have only been studied in idealised models, which challenges the extrapolation towards the relevant regimes in geophysics and astrophysics. Recent laboratory and numerical studies, performed in the achievable range of parameters (i.e. large deformations and overestimated diffusive effects), seem apparently not in agreement with theoretical predictions representative of celestial fluid bodies (i.e. extremely small deformations and vanishing diffusive effects). Several physical ingredients have been also neglected, such as the orbital eccentricity. This could drive additional tidal effects, as a result of the time-dependent forcing. Similarly, density variations have been largely neglected in these models. However, rotationally powered magnetic fields in stably stratified stellar envelopes could reconcile astronomical observations with dynamo models. In this thesis we have adopted more realistic models, by combining theoretical tools (linear stability analyses in unbounded and bounded fluids enclosed in ellipsoids) and numerical ones (direct numerical simulations) to study rotationally driven inertial instabilities. We show, with a linear stability analysis in bounded ellipsoidal geometry, that bulk diffusion cannot be neglected emph{a priori} compared to the boundary layer diffusion in laboratory experiments and simulations. This phenomena is not expected in celestial fluid bodies. We also show that an orbital eccentricity could generate additional instabilities in deformed bodies, for orbital configurations which were believed to be linearly stable. Finally, we have studied the dynamo capability of tidal flows in stably stratified fluid envelopes. These are idealised models of hot, intermediate-mass stars (i.e. with a mass ranging from one to eight solar masses). Approximatively 10~% of hot stars exhibit observable magnetic fields. We show that the tidal instability can drive dynamo magnetic fields of large wavelength in stably stratified fluids. Predictions obtained with this tidal model seem consistent with the ultra-weak magnetism of rapidly rotating, tidally deformed Vega-like stars.