This work focuses on the development of a highly accurate energy-based hysteresismodel for the modeling of magnetic hysteresis phenomena. The model relies on anexplicit representation of the magnetic pinning effect as a dry friction-like force actingon the magnetic polarization. Unlike Preisach and Jiles-Atherton models, this modelis vectorial from the beginning and derives from thermodynamic first principles.Three approaches are considered: the first one, called vector play model, relies on asimplification that allows an explicit, and thus fast, update rule, while the two others,called the variational and the differential approaches, avoid this simplification,but require a non-linear equation to be solved iteratively. The vector play model andthe variational approach were already used by other researchers, whereas the differentialapproach introduced in this thesis, is a new, more efficient, exact implementation,which combines the efficiency of the vector play model with the accuracy of the variationalapproach. The three hysteresis implementations lead to the same result forpurely unidirectional or rotational excitation cases, and give a rather good approximationin all situations in-between, at least in isotropic material conditions.These hysteresis modeling approaches are incorporated into a finite-element code asa local constitutive relation with memory effect. The inclusion is investigated in detailfor two complementary finite-element formulations, magnetic field h or flux densityb conforming, the latter requiring the inversion of the vector hysteresis model,naturally driven by h, for which the Newton-Raphson method is used. Then, at thefinite-element level, once again, the Newton-Raphson technique is adopted to solvethe nonlinear finite-element equations, leading to the emergence of discontinuous differentialreluctivity and permeability tensors, requiring a relaxation technique in theNewton-Raphson scheme. To the best of the author’s knowledge, the inclusion of anenergy-based hysteresis model has never been successfully achieved in a b-conformfinite-element formulation before. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Currently, online advertisements are created for specific dimensions and must be laboriously modified by advertisers to support different aspect ratios. In addition, publishers are constrained to design web pages to accommodate this limited set of sizes. As an alternative we present a framework for automatically generating visual banners at arbitrary sizes based on individual prototype ads. This technique can be used to create flexible visual ads that can be resized to accommodate various aspect ratios. In the proposed framework image and text data are stored separately. Resizing involves selecting a sub-region of the original image and updating text parameters (size and position). This problem is posed within an optimization framework that encourages solutions which maintain important structural properties of the original ad. The method can be applied to advertisements containing a wide variety of imagery and provides significantly more flexibility than existing solutions.

Currently, online advertisements are created for specific dimensions and must be laboriously modified by advertisers to support different aspect ratios. In addition, publishers are constrained to design web pages to accommodate this limited set of sizes. As an alternative we present a framework for automatically generating visual banners at arbitrary sizes based on individual prototype ads. This technique can be used to create flexible visual ads that can be resized to accommodate various aspect ratios. In the proposed framework image and text data are stored separately. Resizing involves selecting a sub-region of the original image and updating text parameters (size and position). This problem is posed within an optimization framework that encourages solutions which maintain important structural properties of the original ad. The method can be applied to advertisements containing a wide variety of imagery and provides significantly more flexibility than existing solutions.

Acoustical-based imaging techniques have found merit in determining the behavior of vibrating structures. These techniques are commonly used in numerous applications to obtain detailed noise source information and energy distributions on source surfaces. This thesis focuses on the continued development of the nearfield acoustic holography (NAH) approach. Conventional NAH consists of first capturing pressure data on a two-dimensional conformal measurement contour in the nearfield of the radiating source. These data are then propagated back to the vibrating structure to obtain the normal velocity profile on the source surface. With the source surface velocity profile known, the acoustic pressure, particle velocity, and intensity generated by the source can be reconstructed anywhere in space. The precision of source reconstruction is reliant upon accurate measurement of the pressure field at the hologram surface. For complex acoustic fields this requires fine spatial resolution and therefore demands large microphone arrays. In this thesis, a technique is developed for performing NAH using energy-based measurements. Recent advancements in the area of acoustic sensing technology have made particle velocity field information more readily available. Because energy-based measurements provide directional information about the field, a more accurate measurement of the pressure field is obtained. It is proposed that an energy-based system will significantly reduce the number of measurements required to perform NAH without sacrificing accuracy. Significantly reducing the number of measurements required to perform NAH will reduce the time, and therefore the expense, of using NAH as an analysis tool. Many potential applications exist for an improved NAH measurement method in the automobile and aerospace industries. These industries provide numerous large-scale applications where employing time-consuming scanning methods is not cost-effective. This is especially the case for airplane in-flight passenger noise tests, where the expense of operating the airplane is extremely high. Therefore, even a small savings in data acquisition time would be very beneficial.

No description available.

Severe seismic events in urban regions during the last two decades revealed that the structures constructed before the development of modern seismic codes are the most vulnerable to earthquakes. Sub-standard reinforced concrete buildings constitute an important part of this highly vulnerable urban building stock. There is urgent need for the development and improvement of methods for seismic performance assessment of existing reinforced concrete structures. As an alternative to current conventional force-based assessment methods, a performance evaluation procedure for structural members, mainly reinforced concrete columns is proposed in this study, by using an energy-based approach combined with the low cycle fatigue concept. An energy-based hysteresis model is further introduced for representing the inelastic response of column members under severe seismic excitations. The shape of the hysteresis loops are controlled by the dissipated cumulative energy whereas the ultimate strength is governed by the low cycle fatigue behavior. These two basic characteristics are obtained experimentally from full scale specimens tested under constant and variable amplitude displacement cycles. The first phase of the experimental program presented in the study constitutes of testing sub-standard non-conforming column specimens. The second phase of testing was conducted on standard, code compliant reinforced concrete columns. A total number of 13 specimens were tested. The behavior of these specimens was observed individually and comparatively according to the performance based objectives. The results obtained from the experiments were employed for developing relations between the energy dissipation capacity of specimens, the specimen properties as well as the imposed displacement history. Moreover, the measured rotation capacities at the plastic regions are evaluated comparatively with the limits proposed by modern displacement-based seismic design and assessment provisions.

In nature, through millions of years of evolution, fish and cetaceans have developed fast efficient and highly manoeuvrable methods of marine propulsion. A recent explosion in demand for sub sea robotics, for conducting tasks such as sub sea exploration and survey has left developers desiring to capture some of the novel mechanisms evolved by fish and cetaceans to increase the efficiency of speed and manoeuvrability of sub sea robots. Research has revealed that interactions with vortices and other unsteady fluid effects play a significant role in the efficiency of fish and cetaceans. However attempts to duplicate this with robotic fish have been limited by the difficulty of predicting or sensing such uncertain fluid effects. This study aims to develop a gait generation method for a robotic fish with a degree of passivity which could allow the body to dynamically interact with and potentially synchronise with vortices within the flow without the need to actually sense them. In this study this is achieved through the development of a novel energy based gait generation tactic, where the gait of the robotic fish is determined through regulation of the state energy rather than absolute state position. Rather than treating fluid interactions as undesirable disturbances and `fighting' them to maintain a rigid geometric defined gait, energy based control allows the disturbances to the system generated by vortices in the surrounding flow to contribute to the energy of the system and hence the dynamic motion. Three different energy controllers are presented within this thesis, a deadbeat energy controller equivalent to an analytically optimised model predictive controller, a $H_\infty$ disturbance rejecting controller with a novel gradient decent optimisation and finally a error feedback controller with a novel alternative error metric. The controllers were tested on a robotic fish simulation platform developed within this project. The simulation platform consisted of the solution of a series of ordinary differential equations for solid body dynamics coupled with a finite element incompressible fluid dynamic simulation of the surrounding flow. results demonstrated the effectiveness of the energy based control approach and illustrate the importance of choice of controller in performance.

Characterizing the full range of damage and plastic behaviour of asphalt mixtures under varying strain-rates and stress states is a complex and challenging task. One reason for this  is partly due to the strain rate and temperature dependent nature of the material as well as the variation in the properties of the constituent materials that make up the composite asphalt mixture. Existing stress-based models for asphalt concrete materials are developed based on mechanics principles, but these models are, however, limited in their application for actual pavement analysis and design since rate dependency parameters are needed in the constitutive model to account for the influence of the strain rate on the stress-based yield and evolution criteria. Till date, we are yet to arrive at simple and comprehensive constitutive models that can be used to model the behaviour of asphalt mixture over a wide range of strain-rate which is experienced in the actual pavement sections. The aim of this thesis is to develop an increased understanding of the strength and deformation mechanism of asphalt mixtures through multi-scale modeling and to develop simple and comprehensive continuum models to characterize the non-linear behaviour of the material under varying stress-states and conditions. An analysis framework is developed for the evaluation of the influence of asphalt mixture morphology on its mechanical properties and response using X-Ray CT and digital image processing techniques. The procedure developed in the analysis framework is then used to investigate the existence of an invariant critical energy threshold for meso-crack initiation which serves as the basis for the development of a theory for the development of energy-based damage and plastic deformation models for asphalt mixtures. A new energy-based viscoelastic damage model is developed and proposed based on continuum damage mechanics (CDM) and the thermodynamics of irreversible processes. A second order damage variable tensor is introduced to account for the distributed damage in the material in the different principal damage directions. In this way, the material response in tension and compression can be decoupled and the effects of both tension- and compression stress states on the material behaviour can be accounted for adequately. Based on the finding from the energy-based damage model, an equivalent micro-crack stress approach is developed and proposed for the damage and fracture characterization of asphalt mixtures. The effective micro-crack stress approach takes account of the material stiffness and a critical energy threshold for micro-crack initiation in the characterization of damage and fracture properties of the mixture. The effective micro-crack stress approach is developed based on fundamental mechanics principles and it reduces to the Griffith's energy balance criterion when purely elastic materials are considered without the need for the consideration of the surface energy and a crack size in the determination of the fracture stress. A new Continuum Plasticity Mechanics (CPM) model is developed within the framework of thermodynamics to describe the plastic behaviour of asphalt concrete material with energy-based criteria derived for the initiation and evolution of plastic deformation. An internal state variable termed the "plasticity variable" is introduced to described the distributed dislocation movement in the microstructure. The CPM model unifies aspects of existing elasto-plastic and visco-plastic theories in one theory and shows particular strength in the modeling of rate-dependent plastic behaviour of materials without the need for the consideration of rate dependency parameters in the constitutive relationships. The CPM model is further extended to consider the reduction in the stiffness properties with incremental loading and to develop a unified energy-based damage and plasticity model. The models are implemented in a Finite Element (FE) analysis program for the validation of the models. The result shows that the energy-based damage and plastic deformation models are capable of predicting the behaviour of asphalt concrete mixtures under varying stress-states and strain-rate conditions. The work in this thesis provides the basis for the development of more fundamental understanding of the asphalt concrete material response and the application of sound and solid mechanics principles in the analysis and design of pavement structures. / En heltäckande karakterisering av skador och plastiska beteende hos asfaltblandningar under varierande belastningshastighet och spänningstillstånd är en komplex och svår uppgift. En orsak till detta är relaterat till materialets belastningshastighet- och temperaturberoende, såväl som variationen i materialegenskaperna hos de ingående komponenterna i den sammansatta asfaltblandningen. Befintliga spänningsbaserade modeller för asfaltbetongmaterial är utvecklade baserade på mekanikprinciper, men dessa modeller är begränsade när det gäller analys och design av verkliga asfaltsbeläggningar eftersom hastighetsberoende parametrar behövs i den konstitutiva modellen även med hänsyn till töjningshastighetens inverkan på kriterier för gränser och utveckling av spänningstillstånd. Det finns därför behov av att utveckla enkla men ändå heltäckande konstitutiva modeller som kan användas för att modellera beteendet hos asfaltmassan över ett brett spektrum av belastningshastigheter för olika av sektioner asfaltsbeläggningar. Syftet med denna avhandling är att öka förståelsen av hållfasthets- och deformationsmekanismer för asfaltblandningar genom multi-modellering. Målet är att utveckla enkla och heltäckande kontinuummodeller som karakteriserar materialets olinjära beteende under varierande spänningstillstånd och betingelser. Ett analysramverk har utvecklats för utvärdering av påverkan av asfaltmassans morfologi på dess mekaniska egenskaper och beteende med hjälp av röntgendatortomografi och digital bildbehandlingsteknik. Detta förfarande har sedan använts för att undersöka förekomsten av inneboende kritiska tröskelvärden för brottenergin för mesosprickinitiering vilket i sin tur ligger till grund för utvecklingen av en teori för modellering av energibaserade skador och plastisk deformation hos asfaltblandningar. En ny energidensitet baserad viskoelastisk skademodell utvecklas och föreslås utgå från kontinuum-skade-mekanik (CDM) och termodynamik för irreversibla processer. En andra ordningens skadevariabeltensor införs för att ta hänsyn till  skadedistributionen i materialen i de olika principiella skaderiktningarna. På detta sätt kan materialets respons i drag- och tryckbelastning separeras och effekterna av spänningstillstånd i både drag och tryck kan beaktas på ett adekvat sätt. Baserat på resultaten från den energibaserade skademodellen utvecklas och föreslås en motsvarande metod för mikrosprickspänning gällande skade- och brottkarakteriseringen av asfaltblandningar. Metoden för den effektiva mikrosprickspänningen tar hänsyn till materialets styvhet och en kritisk tröskelenergi för mikrosprickinitiering för karakteriseringen av skador och brottegenskaper hos blandningen. Denna metod är utvecklad baserat på grundläggande mekanikprinciper och kan för rent elastiska material reduceras till Griffiths energibalanskriterium utan hänsyn till ytenergi och sprickstorlek vid bestämningen av brottspänningen. En ny termodynamikbaserad modell för kontinuumplasticitetsmekanik (CPM) utvecklas för att beskriva det plastiska beteendet hos asfaltbetongmaterial med energibaserade kriterier härledda för initiering och progression av plastisk deformation. En intern tillståndsvariabel kallad "plasticitetvariabeln" införs för att beskriva den fördelade dislokationsrörelsen i mikrostrukturen. CPM-modellen förenar befintliga elasto-plastiska och visko-plastiska teorier i en teori och visar sig vara särskilt effektiv i modelleringen av hastighetsberoende plastiskt beteende hos material utan att behöva beakta hastighetsberoende parametrar i de konstitutiva sambanden. CPM-modellen utvidgas ytterligare för att kunna beakta reduktionen av styvheten med stegvis ökad belastning och för att utveckla en enhetlig energibaserad skade- och plasticitetmodell. Modellerna är implementerade i ett finit element (FE)-analysprogram för validering av modellerna. Resultatet visar att de energibaserade modellerna för skador och plastisk deformation kan förutsäga beteendet hos asfaltbetongblandningar under varierande spänningstillstånd och töjningshastighetsförhållanden. Arbetet i denna avhandling utgör grunden för utvecklingen av mer grundläggande förståelse av asfaltbetongmaterialets respons och tillämpningen av sunda och robusta mekanikprinciper i analys och design av asfaltstrukturer. / <p>QC 20161220</p>

De nos jours, les évolutions technologiques imposent aux ingénieurs de modéliser desphénomènes toujours plus multiphysiques et complexes tout au long du processus dedéveloppement d’un système : le cycle en V. Pour cela, il est primordial d’avoir à disposition desoutils adaptés et performants, afin de réduire les temps de mise sur le marché, tout en obtenantdes produits plus matures et plus économes en énergie. Les travaux présentés ici décrivent lamise en place d’une plate-forme de prototypage virtuel et l’intérêt d’intégrer des considérationsénergétiques dans toutes les étapes de la modélisation. Cette approche permet, par exemple, dequantifier l’efficacité d’un système et de ses composants, et donc d’optimiser au plus tôt le coûténergétique d’une solution technique. Nous avons, dans un second temps, souhaité répondre àla problématique du « modèle le plus adapté ». Après analyse des différentes méthodes deréduction de modèles, nous avons décidé de développer la méthode PEMRA permettant depallier les limitations de la méthode MORA, introduite par Louca et al. en 1997. Les variables depuissance et d’énergie introduites précédemment sont utilisées pour calculer deux nouveauxcritères dans le processus de réduction de modèles, permettant de converger vers un modèleréduit plus simple et plus précis qu’avec la méthode MORA. Nous montrons enfin qu’enchoisissant judicieusement le signal d’excitation et un critère dit de précision temporelle adapté, ilest possible, par une approche innovante à la fois énergétique et fréquentielle, de trouver unmodèle réduit mieux adapté aux exigences imposées par l’utilisateur. / Nowadays, technological evolutions are leading engineers to model increasingly multiphysic andcomplex phenomena throughout the systems design process: the V-cycle. Adapted and efficientsystems design tools are therefore necessary in order to reduce time-to-market, while stillensuring fully developed and energy-saving products. First, this work describes the set-up of avirtual prototyping platform and highlights the interest of integrating energetic aspects in allmodelling stages. For example, this approach enables to quantify the system and components’efficiency, and therefore to optimise earlier in the process the energy consumption of a technicalsolution. Secondly, the problematic of the “Proper Model” has been addressed. After the study ofthe model reduction methodologies, we decide to develop PEMRA in order to compensate forlimitations of the MORA methodology, introduced by Louca et al. in 1997. The previous powerand energy variables are then used to compute two new model reduction criteria, in order toobtain a simpler and more accurate reduced model than with MORA methodology. Finally, weshow that a well-defined excitation signal and a new adapted temporal validation criterion willlead, with this innovative energy- and frequency-based approach, to a better suited reducedmodel.

abstract: The Solid State Transformer (SST) is an essential component in the FREEDM system. This research focuses on the modeling of the SST and the controller hardware in the loop (CHIL) implementation of the SST for the support of the FREEDM system demonstration. The energy based control strategy for a three-stage SST is analyzed and applied. A simplified average model of the three-stage SST that is suitable for simulation in real time digital simulator (RTDS) has been developed in this study. The model is also useful for general time-domain power system analysis and simulation. The proposed simplified av-erage model has been validated in MATLAB and PLECS. The accuracy of the model has been verified through comparison with the cycle-by-cycle average (CCA) model and de-tailed switching model. These models are also implemented in PSCAD, and a special strategy to implement the phase shift modulation has been proposed to enable the switching model simulation in PSCAD. The implementation of the CHIL test environment of the SST in RTDS is described in this report. The parameter setup of the model has been discussed in detail. One of the dif-ficulties is the choice of the damping factor, which is revealed in this paper. Also the grounding of the system has large impact on the RTDS simulation. Another problem is that the performance of the system is highly dependent on the switch parameters such as voltage and current ratings. Finally, the functionalities of the SST have been realized on the platform. The distributed energy storage interface power injection and reverse power flow have been validated. Some limitations are noticed and discussed through the simulation on RTDS. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Electrical Engineering 2014