Three-dimensional urban wind field construction plays an important role not only in the analysis of pedestrian levels of comfort but also in the effectiveness of harnessing wind energy in an urban environment. However, it is challenging to accurately simulate urban wind flow due to the complex land use in urban environments. In this study, a three-dimensional numerical model was developed for urban wind flow construction. To obtain an accurate urban wind field, various turbulence models, including the Reynolds Stress Model (RSM), Shear-Stress Transport (SST) k-ω, realizable k-ε, and Re-Normalization Group (RNG) k-ε models were tested. Simulation results were compared with experimental data in the literature. The RSM model showed promising potential in simulating urban wind flow. The model was then adopted to simulate urban wind flow for Purdue University Northwest, which is located in the Northwest Indiana urban region. Based on the simulation results, the optimal location was identified for urban wind turbine siting and the wind comfort was analyzed in the walk sides between the buildings.

La réfrigération magnétique est une technologie innovante de production de froid, qui peut remplacer la technique classique de compression-détente de fluides frigorigènes. Son principe est basé sur l'effet magnétocalorique qui se traduit par le refroidissement ou l'échauffement de certains matériaux sous l'action d'un champ magnétique. Ce travail de thèse s'est déroulé dans le cadre d'un projet « CARNOT Energies du futur » et s'oriente vers l'étude magnétothermique et fluidique de systèmes de réfrigération. Pour cela, un outil numérique a été développé à l'aide du logiciel FLUENT afin de décrire le comportement thermique de différents régénérateurs, cœur même des systèmes de RM. En parallèle, deux systèmes de réfrigération magnétique ont été développés et améliorés, chacun d'eux présentant des performances intéressantes. Ces résultats ont permis de comprendre et définir les facteurs les plus influents sur leurs performances, et en déduire ainsi leurs conditions de fonctionnement optimales / The magnetic refrigeration is an innovative technology of production of cold, which can replace the refrigerants classic compression-relaxation technique. Its principle is based on the magnetocaloric effect which leads to the cooling or the heating of certain materials under the effect of a magnetic field. This thesis work took place within the framework of a project named " CARNOT Energies of future", and turns to the magnetothermal and fluidic study of refrigeration systems. For that purpose, a digital tool was developed using the FLUENT software to describe the thermal behavior of various regenerators, heart of the MR systems. In parallel, two magnetic refrigeration systems were developed and improved, each of them bringing interesting performances. These results allowed to understand and to define the most influential factors on their performances, so as to deduct their optimal operating conditions.

The presence of vegetation in open channel flow has a significant influence on flow resistance, turbulence structures and sediment transport. This study will evaluate flow resistance and scale velocity profile in depth limited flow conditions, specifically investigating the impact of vegetation on the flow resistance under submerged flow conditions. The resistance induced by vegetation in open channel flows has been interpreted differently in literature, largely due to different definitions of friction factors or drag coefficients and the different Reynolds numbers. The methods utilized in this study are based on analytical and numerical models to investigate the effects of vegetation presence on flow resistance in open channel flows. The performing strategy approach was applied by three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, using artificial cylinders for the velocity profile. This is to estimate the average flow velocity and resistance coefficients for flexible vegetation, which results in more accurate flow rate predictions, particularly for the case of low Reynolds number. This thesis shows different formulas from previous studies under certain conditions for a length scale metric, which normalises velocity profiles of depth limited open channel flows with submerged vegetation, using both calculated and simulated model work. It considers the submerged vegetation case in shallow flows, when the flow depth remains no greater than twice the vegetation height. The proposed scaling has been compared and developed upon work that have been influenced by logarithmic and power laws to present velocity profiles, in order to illustrate the variety of flow and vegetation configurations.