In the aerospace industry, gas discharges have gained importance with the exploration of their performance and capabilities for flow control and combustion. Tunable properties of plasma make gas discharges efficient tools for various purposes. Since the scales of plasma and the available technology limit the knowledge gained from experimental studies, computational studies are essential to understand the results of experimental studies. The temporal and spatial scales of plasma also restrict the numerical studies. It is a necessity to use an idealized model, in which enough physics is captured, while the computational costs are acceptable.<br><br>In this work, numerical simulations of different low-pressure gas discharges are presented with a detailed analysis of the numerical approach. A one moment model is employed for DC glow discharges and nanosecond-pulse discharges. The cheap-est method regarding the modeling and simulation costs is chosen by checking the requirements of the fundamental processes of gas discharges. The verification of one-moment 1-D glow discharges with constant electron temperature variation is achieved by comparing other computational results.<br><br>The one moment model for pulse discharge simulation aims to capture the information from the experimental data for low-pressure argon discharges. Since the constant temperature assumption is crude, the local field approximation is investigated to obtain the data for electron temperature. It was observed that experimental data and computational data do not match because of the stagnant decay of electron number densities and temperatures. At the suggestion of the experimental group, water vapor was added as an impurity to the plasma chemistry. Although there was an improvement with the addition of water vapor, the results were still not in good agreement with experiment.<br><br>The applicability of the local field approximation was investigated, and non-local effects were included in the context of an averaged energy equation. A 0-D electron temperature equation was employed with the collision frequencies obtained from the local field approximation. It was observed that the shape of the decay profiles matched with the experimental data. The number densities; however, are less almost an order of magnitude.<br><br>As a final step, the two-moment model, one-moment model plus thermal electron energy equation, was solved to involve non-local effects. The two-moment model allows capturing of non-local effects and improves agreement with the experimental data. Overall, it was observed that non-local regions dominate low-pressure pulsed discharges. The local field approximation is not adequate to solve these types of discharges.

Le contrôle des écoulements vise à modifier le comportement naturel d’un écoulement fluidique. Dans le domaine des transports, contrôler les phénomènes fluidiques tels que le décollement peut permettre d’économiser du carburant, d’améliorer les performances des véhicules ou encore d’assurer davantage la sécurité des passagers. Dans ce contexte, des capteurs avec de fines résolutions temporelle et spatiale sont requis afin de connaître l’écoulement à contrôler et adapter en temps réel le contrôle. Dans ce travail, l’objectif a été de développer des micro-capteurs de frottement et de pression pour les mesures en écoulements turbulents et le contrôle de décollement. Tout d’abord un micro-capteur calorimétrique a été conçu et réalisé par des techniques de microfabrication pour mesurer simultanément le frottement pariétal et la direction de l’écoulement. Le micro-capteur a ensuite été intégré en paroi d’une soufflerie afin de réaliser son étalonnage statique et dynamique et d’étudier sa sensibilité à la direction de l’écoulement. Troisièmement, le micro-capteur calorimétrique a été utilisé pour caractériser des écoulements décollés. Plusieurs micro-capteurs avec électronique miniaturisée ont été intégrés avec succès dans une maquette de volet et des essais de contrôle actif ont été réalisés. Enfin, la quatrième partie concerne le développement d’un micro-capteur de pression et d’un micro-capteur multi-paramètres réunissant les deux technologies. L’ensemble de ces micro-capteurs ont été caractérisés avec succès et montrent des résultats prometteurs pour caractériser les écoulements turbulents et permettre la mise en place de contrôle d’écoulement en boucle fermée. / Flow control aims at artificially changing the natural behaviour of a flow. In transport industries, controlling fluidic phenomena such as boundary layer separation allows saving fuel and power, improving vehicles performances or insuring passenger’s safety. In this context, sensors with accurate spatial and temporal resolution are required. Such devices enable to estimate the flow to control and allow real-time adaptation of the control. In this work, the objective is to develop wall shear stress and pressure micro-sensors for turbulent flows measurements and flow separation control.Firstly, a calorimetric micro-sensor was designed and realized using micromachining techniques for measuring simultaneously the wall shear stress amplitude and the flow direction. Secondly, the micro-sensor was flush-mounted at the wall of a wind tunnel for static and dynamic calibrations. Thirdly, it was used to characterized separated flows. Several configurations were studied: separation on airfoil profile, separation and reattachment downstream a 2D square rib and the separation on a flap model. Several micro-sensors with embedded electronics were successfully integrated on a flap model and active flow control experiments were performed. Finally, the fourth part of the document concerns the development of a pressure micro-sensor and the development of a multi-parameter micro-sensor combining both technologies.All these micro-sensors have been successfully realized and characterized and demonstrate promising results for measuring turbulent flows and implementing closed loop reactive flow control

Afin d'atteindre leur cible, les projectiles guidés d'artillerie nécessitent d'être dotés d'un dispositif de pilotage. Des surfaces de contrôle déployables et orientables sont donc nécessaires. Toutefois, le montage de gouvernes ajustables sur une ogive est une tâche mécaniquement ardue. En effet, lors du tir effectué par canon, l'équipement de bord subit une accélération significative, ce qui implique que des liaisons mécaniques particulièrement robustes doivent être conçues entre les ailettes et le corps. Cette technologie est bien maîtrisée lorsqu'elle est employée sur des projectiles de gros calibre, mais devient bien plus compliquée quand elle doit être adaptée pour être intégrée dans des petits ou moyens calibres. Néanmoins, dans des conditions de vol supersonique, des ondes de choc qui interagissent avec des surfaces solides sont susceptibles de considérablement modifier la distribution de pression. Ce principe a permis d'imaginer une méthode alternative de pilotage de projectiles supersoniques en exploitant des ondes de choc générées au moyen de petites perturbations créées à partir d'un micro-actionneur de forme cylindrique, aussi appelé micro-plot. Comme les forces de portance exercée sur un corps sont essentiellement dues à une pression appliquée sur de grandes surfaces, il a été choisi de se baser sur une configuration stabilisée par empennage. En vue de simplifier l'étude, le travail a été effectué sur un projectile académique de référence bien connu appelé le Basic Finner.Des expériences ont tout d'abord été effectuées dans la soufflerie supersonique de l'ISL sur une plaque plane comportant un plot et deux ailettes verticales. Ces mesures ont permis de valider la capacité de simulations numériques stationnaires RANS à prédire à la fois la distribution pariétale de la pression que génère un tel actionneur et le champ de vitesse de l'écoulement dans son voisinage. Les distributions de pression et de vitesse ont été mesurées en utilisant des méthodes optiques appelés Pressure Sensitive Paints (PSP) et Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) afin d'être comparés avec les résultats de la CFD. Une étude paramétrique a ensuite été menée en se basant exclusivement sur ces simulations RANS. Ces calculs ont permis de déterminer l'emplacement optimal pour lequel le plot est le plus efficace sur toute l'enveloppe de vol du projectile. A partir de cette position optimale, deux configurations spécifiques ne générant aucun moment de roulis ont été étudiées numériquement et comparés en termes d'efficacité. En utilisant les coefficients aérodynamiques résultants de ce travail, des simulations de trajectoires à 6 degrés de liberté (6-DOF) ont été réalisées avec le code de BALCO (OTAN). Celles-ci ont permis de déterminer la déviation potentielle qui peut être obtenue sur une des deux configurations retenues en employant un tel micro-actionneur. Ces simulations 6-DOF ainsi que l'effet de du plot sur le projectile ont enfin été validés lors d'une campagne d'essai en vol libre qui a eu lieu sur le champ de tir de l'ISL. / In order to reach their target, guided artillery projectiles need some steering capability. Folding and adjustable control surfaces are thus necessary. However, mounting adjustable rudders on a shell is a difficult task, mechanically speaking. Indeed, during the gun launch, the onboard equipment undergoes significant acceleration so that robust mechanical joints have to be designed between the rudders and the body. This technique performs very well on large-caliber projectiles, but becomes more complicated when it has to be embedded in small- or medium-caliber ones. Nevertheless, under supersonic flight conditions, shock waves interacting with solid surfaces are likely to strongly modify the pressure distribution. This principle made it possible to imagine a way of steering small-caliber vehicles using shock waves generated by means of small disturbances created by a cylindrical-shaped micro-actuator, also called micro-pin. As lift forces exerted on a body are mainly due to the pressure applied to large surfaces, a finned configuration has been chosen. To simplify the study, the work has been conducted on the Basic Finner, a well known academic reference projectile.Experiments were first performed in the ISL supersonic wind tunnel on a flat plate on which a pin and two vertical projectile-like fins were mounted in order to validate the capability of steady RANS numerical simulations to predict both the pressure footprint of such an actuator and the flow velocity in its vicinity. Pressure and velocity distributions have been measured by using optical methods called Pressure-Sensitive Paint (PSP) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) in order to be compared with the calculation results. A parametric study was then conducted with these RANS simulations so that the optimum location for which the pin is the most effective over the complete flight envelope of the projectile could be determined. Using this optimum position two specific no-roll momentum configurations were studied numerically and compared in terms of effectiveness. By using the aerodynamic coefficients resulting from this work, 6-Degree-Of-Freedom (6-DOF) trajectory simulations were performed with the NATO BALCO code on one of these configurations in order to determine the potential deviation which can be obtained with such an actuator. These 6-DOF simulations as well as the pin effect on the projectile could finally be validated during a free-flight campaign that took place at the ISL open-range testing site.

<p>The success of the current Internet relies to a large extent on a cooperation between the users and the network. The network signals its current state to the users by marking or dropping packets. The users then strive to maximize the sending rate without causing network congestion. To achieve this, the users implement a flow-control algorithm that controls the rate at which data packets are sent into the Internet. More specifically, the <i>Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)</i> is used by the users to adjust the sending rate in response to changing network conditions. TCP uses the observation of packet loss events and estimates of the round trip time (RTT) to adjust its sending rate. </p><p>In this thesis we investigate and propose stochastic models for TCP. The models are used to estimate network performance like throughput, link utilization, and packet loss rate. The first part of the thesis introduces the TCP protocol and contains an extensive TCP modeling survey that summarizes the most important TCP modeling work. Reviewed models are categorized as renewal theory models, fixed-point methods, fluid models, processor sharing models or control theoretic models. The merits of respective category is discussed and guidelines for which framework to use for future TCP modeling is given. </p><p>The second part of the thesis contains six papers on TCP modeling. Within the renewal theory framework we propose single source TCP-Tahoe and TCP-NewReno models. We investigate the performance of these protocols in both a DropTail and a RED queuing environment. The aspects of TCP performance that are inherently depending on the actual implementation of the flow-control algorithm are singled out from what depends on the queuing environment.</p><p>Using the fixed-point framework, we propose models that estimate packet loss rate and link utilization for a network with multiple TCP-Vegas, TCP-SACK and TCP-Reno on/off sources. The TCP-Vegas model is novel and is the first model capable of estimating the network's operating point for TCP-Vegas sources sending on/off traffic. All TCP and network models in the contributed research papers are validated via simulations with the network simulator <i>ns-2</i>. </p><p>This thesis serves both as an introduction to TCP and as an extensive orientation about state of the art stochastic TCP models.</p>

This dissertation focused on the IRIS design since this will likely be one of the designs of choice for future deployment in the U.S and developing countries. With a net 335 MWe output IRIS novel design falls in the “medium” size category and it is a potential candidate for the so called modular reactors, which may be appropriate for base load electricity generation, especially in regions with smaller electricity grids, but especially well suited for more specialized non-electrical energy applications such as district heating and process steam for desalination. The first objective of this dissertation is to evaluate and quantify the performance of a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) comprised of two IRIS reactor modules operating simultaneously with a common steam header, which in turn is connected to a single turbine, resulting in a steam-mixing control problem with respect to “load-following” scenarios, such as varying load during the day or reduced consumption during the weekend. To solve this problem a single-module IRIS SIMULINK model previously developed by another researcher is modified to include a second module and was used to quantify the responses from both modules. In order to develop research related to instrumentation and control, and equipment and sensor monitoring, the second objective is to build a two-tank multivariate loop in the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee. This loop provides the framework necessary to investigate and test control strategies and fault detection in sensors, equipment and actuators. The third objective is to experimentally develop and demonstrate a fault-tolerant control strategy using this loop. Using six correlated variables in a single-tank configuration, five inferential models and one Auto-Associative Kernel Regression (AAKR) model were developed to detect faults in process sensors. Once detected the faulty measurements were successfully substituted with prediction values, which would provide the necessary flexibility and time to find the source of discrepancy and resolve it, such as in an operating power plant. Finally, using the same empirical models, an actuator failure was simulated and once detected the control was automatically transferred and reconfigured from one tank to another, providing survivability to the system.

The success of the current Internet relies to a large extent on a cooperation between the users and the network. The network signals its current state to the users by marking or dropping packets. The users then strive to maximize the sending rate without causing network congestion. To achieve this, the users implement a flow-control algorithm that controls the rate at which data packets are sent into the Internet. More specifically, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is used by the users to adjust the sending rate in response to changing network conditions. TCP uses the observation of packet loss events and estimates of the round trip time (RTT) to adjust its sending rate. In this thesis we investigate and propose stochastic models for TCP. The models are used to estimate network performance like throughput, link utilization, and packet loss rate. The first part of the thesis introduces the TCP protocol and contains an extensive TCP modeling survey that summarizes the most important TCP modeling work. Reviewed models are categorized as renewal theory models, fixed-point methods, fluid models, processor sharing models or control theoretic models. The merits of respective category is discussed and guidelines for which framework to use for future TCP modeling is given. The second part of the thesis contains six papers on TCP modeling. Within the renewal theory framework we propose single source TCP-Tahoe and TCP-NewReno models. We investigate the performance of these protocols in both a DropTail and a RED queuing environment. The aspects of TCP performance that are inherently depending on the actual implementation of the flow-control algorithm are singled out from what depends on the queuing environment. Using the fixed-point framework, we propose models that estimate packet loss rate and link utilization for a network with multiple TCP-Vegas, TCP-SACK and TCP-Reno on/off sources. The TCP-Vegas model is novel and is the first model capable of estimating the network's operating point for TCP-Vegas sources sending on/off traffic. All TCP and network models in the contributed research papers are validated via simulations with the network simulator ns-2. This thesis serves both as an introduction to TCP and as an extensive orientation about state of the art stochastic TCP models.

No description available.

A body exposed to hypersonic flow is subjected to extremely high wall heating rates, owing to the conversion of the kinetic energy of the oncoming flow into heat through the formation of shock waves and viscous dissipation in the boundary layer and this is one of the main concerns in the design of any hypersonic vehicle. The conventional way of tackling this problem is to use a blunt fore-body, but it also results in an increase in wave drag and puts the penalty of excessive load on the propulsion system. An alternative approach is to alter the flow field using external means without changing the shape of the body; and several such methods are reported in the literature. The superiority of such methods lie in the fact that the effective shape of the body can be altered to meet the requirements of low wave drag, without having to pay the penalty of an increased wall heat transfer rate. Among these techniques, the use of local energy addition in the freestream to alter the flow field is particularly promising due to the flexibility it offers. By the suitable placement of the energy source relative to the body, this method can be effectively used to reduce the wave drag, to generate control forces and to optimise the performance of inlets. Although substantial number of numerical investigations on this topic is reported in the literature, there is no experimental evidence available, especially under hypersonic flow conditions, to support the feasibility of this concept. The purpose of this thesis is to experimentally investigate the effect of energy deposition on the flow-field of a 120� apex angle blunt cone in a hypersonic shock tunnel. Energy deposition is done using an electric arc discharge generated between two electrodes placed in the free stream and various parameters influencing the effectiveness of this technique are studied. The effect of energy deposition on aerodynamic parameters such as the drag force acting on the model and the wall heat flux has been investigated. In addition, the unsteady flow field is visualised using a standard Z-type schlieren flow visualisation setup. The experimental studies have shown a maximum reduction in drag of 50% and a reduction in stagnation point heating rate of 84% with the deposition of 0.3 kW of energy. The investigations also show that the location of energy deposition has a vital role in determining the flow structure; with no noticeable effects being produced in the flow field when the discharge source is located close to the body (0.416 times body diameter). In addition, the type of the test gas used is also found to have a major influence on the effectiveness of energy deposition, suggesting that thermal effects of energy deposition govern the flow field alteration mechanism. The freestream mass flux is also identified as an important parameter. These findings were also confirmed by surface pressure measurements. The experimental evidence also indicates that relaxation of the internal degrees of freedom play a major role in the determination of the flow structure. For the present experimental conditions, it has been observed that the flow field alteration is a result of the interaction of the heated region behind the energy spot with the blunt body shock wave. In addition to the experimental studies, numerical simulations of the flow field with energy deposition are also carried out and the experimentally measured aerodynamic drag with energy deposition is found to match reasonably well with the computed values.

Both experimental and theoretical studies have beenconsidered on flat plate boundary layers as well as on wakesbehind porous cylinders. The main thread in this work iscontrol, which is applied passively and actively on boundarylayers in order to inhibit or postpone transition toturbulence; and actively through the cylinder surface in orderto effect the wakecharacteristics. An experimental set-up for the generation of the asymptoticsuction boundary layer (ASBL) has been constructed. This studyis the first, ever, that report a boundary layer flow ofconstant boundary layer thickness over a distance of 2 metres.Experimental measurements in the evolution region, from theBlasius boundary layer (BBL) to the ASBL, as well as in theASBL are in excellent agreement with boundary layer analysis.The stability of the ASBL has experimentally been tested, bothto Tollmien-Schlichting waves as well as to free streamturbulence (FST), for relatively low Reynolds numbers (Re). For the former disturbances good agreement is foundfor the streamwise amplitude profiles and the phase velocitywhen compared with linear spatial stability theory. However,the energy decay factor predicted by theory is slightlyoverestimated compared to the experimental findings. The latterdisturbances are known to engender streamwise elongated regionsof high and low speeds of fluid, denoted streaks, in a BBL.This type of spanwise structures have been shown to appear inthe ASBL as well, with the same spanwise wavelength as in theBBL, despite the fact that the boundary layer thickness issubstantially reduced in the ASBL case. The spanwise wavenumberof the optimal perturbation in the ASBL has been calculated andis β = 0.53, when normalized with the displacementthickness. The spanwise scale of the streaks decreases withincreasing turbulence intensity (Tu) and approaches the scale given by optimalperturbation theory. This has been shown for the BBL case aswell. The initial energy growth of FST induced disturbances hasexperimentally been found to grow linearly as Tu2Rexin the BBL, the transitional Reynolds numberto vary as Tu-2, and the intermittency function to have a relativelywell-defined distribution, valid for all Tu. The wake behind a porous cylinder subject to continuoussuction or blowing has been studied, where amongst other thingsthe Strouhal number (St) has been shown to increase strongly with suction,namely, up to 50% for a suction rate of 2.5% of the free streamvelocity. In contrast, blowing shows a decrease ofStof around 25% for a blowing rate of 5% of the freestream velocity in the considered Reynolds number range. Keywords:Laminar-turbulent transition, asymptoticsuction boundary layer, free stream turbulence,Tollmien-Schlichting wave, stability, flow control, cylinderwake. / QC 20100607

This thesis aims to develop control algorithms for irrigation canals in an experimental framework.These water transport systems are difficult to manage and present low efficiencies in practice. As a result, an important percentage of water is lost, maintenance costs increase and water users follow a rigid irrigation schedule.All these problems can be reduced by automating the operation of irrigation canals.In order to fulfil the objectives, a laboratory canal, called Canal PAC-UPC, was equipped and instrumented in parallel with the development of this thesis. In general, the methods and solutions proposed herein were extensively tested in this canal.In a broader context, three main contributions in different irrigation canal control areas are presented.Focusing on gate-discharge measurements, many submerged-discharge calculation methods are tested and compared using Canal PAC-UPC measurement data. It has been found that most of them present errors around ±10%, but there are notable exceptions. Specifically, using classical formulas with a constant 0.611 contraction value give very good results (error<±6%), but when data is available, a very simple calibration formula recently proposed in the literature significantly outperform the rest (error<±3%). As a consequence, the latter is encouragingly proposed as the basis of any gate discharge controller.With respect to irrigation canal modeling, a detailed procedure to obtain data-driven linear irrigation canal models is successfully developed. These models do not use physical parameters of the system, but are constructed from measurement data. In this case, these models are thought to be used in irrigation canal control issues like controller tuning, internal controller model in predictive controllers or simply as fast and simple simulation platforms. Much effort is employed in obtaining an adequate model structure from the linearized Saint-Venant equations, yielding to a mathematical procedure that verifies the existence of an integrator pole in any type of canal working under any hydraulic condition. Time-domain and frequency-domain results demonstrate the accuracy of the resulting models approximating a canal working around a particular operation condition both in simulation and experiment.Regarding to irrigation canal control, two research lines are exploited. First, a new water level control scheme is proposed as an alternative between decentralized and centralized control. It is called Semi-decentralized scheme and aims to resemble the centralized control performance while maintaining an almost decentralized structure. Second, different water level control schemes based on PI control and Predictive control are studied and compared. The simulation and laboratory results show that the response and performance of this new strategy against offtake discharge changes, are almost identical to the ones of the centralized control, outperforming the other tested schemes based on PI control and on Predictive control. In addition, it is verified that schemes based on Predictive control with good controller models can counteract offtake discharge variations with less level deviations and in almost half the time than PI-based schemes.In addition to these three main contributions, many other smaller developments, minor results and practical recommendations for irrigation canal automation are presented throughout this thesis.