The goal of this thesis is to develop a constraint based viscoplastic fluid model suitable for time-efficient dynamics simulation in 3D of granular matter. The model should be applicable to both the static and dense flow regime and at large pressures. The thesis is performed for UMIT Research Lab at Umeå University. It is a part of the research at UMIT connected to LKAB and Volvo CE and its applications can be in simulating industrial processes or training simulators. My work is based on previous work done by Claude Lacoursière, Martin Servin and Kenneth Bodin. They have created a constraint fluid model based on {\sph} and Claude's PhD. thesis. This model is extended with additional constraints to handle shear forces, which is necessary to model granular material. Some test cases are specified and compared visually to each other and to the results of other work. The model seems to work visually but more analysis and larger systems are needed to be certain. The model should scale well and is well suited for parallellization.

<p>A mathematical model for a consolidation process of a highlyconcentrated, flocculated suspension is developed.Thesuspension is treated as a mixture of a fluid and solidparticles by an Eulerian two-phase fluid model.W e characterizethe suspension by constitutive relations correlating thestresses, interaction forces, and inter-particle forces toconcentration and velocity gradients.This results in threeempirically determined material functions: a hystereticpermeability, a non-Newtonian viscosity and a non-reversibleparticle interaction pressure.P arameters in the models arefitted to experimental data.</p><p>A simulation program using finite difference methods both intime and space is applied to one and two dimensional testcases.Numer ical experiments are performed to study the effectof different viscosity and permeability models. The effect ofshear on consolidation rate is studied and it is significantwhen the permeability hysteresis model is employed.</p>

Cette travail de thèse est lié au besoin de modélisation des écoulements diphasiques en générateurs de vapeur (entrée liquide et sortie vapeur). La démarche proposée consiste à faire le choix d'une modélisation hybride de l'écoulement, en scindant la phase gaz en deux champs, modélisés de manières différentes. Ainsi, les petites bulles sphériques sont modélisées avec une approche dispersée classique avec le modèle eulérien à deux fluides, et les bulles déformées sont simulées à l'aide d'une méthode de localisation d'interface.Le travail effectué porte sur la mise en place, la vérification et la validation du modèle dédié aux larges bulles déformées, ainsi que le couplage entre les deux approches pour le gaz gaz, permettant des premiers calculs de démonstration utilisant l'approche hybride complète. / The present study is related to the need of modeling the two-phase flows occuring in a steam generator (liquid at inlet and vapour at outlet). The choice is made to investigate a hybrid modeling of the flow, considering the gas phase as two separated fields, each one being modeled with different closure laws. In so doing, the small and spherical bubbles are modeled through a dispersed approach within the two-fluid model, and the distorted bubbles are simulated with an interface locating method.The main outcome is about the implementation, the verification and the validation of the model dedicated to the large and distorted bubbles, as well as the coupling of the two approaches for the gas, allowing the presentation of demonstration calculations using the so-called hybrid approach.

abstract: Resource allocation in communication networks aims to assign various resources such as power, bandwidth and load in a fair and economic fashion so that the networks can be better utilized and shared by the communicating entities. The design of efficient resource-allocation algorithms is, however, becoming more and more challenging due to the precipitously increasing scale of the networks. This thesis strives to understand how to design such low-complexity algorithms with performance guarantees. In the first part, the link scheduling problem in wireless ad hoc networks is considered. The scheduler is charge of finding a set of wireless data links to activate at each time slot with the considerations of wireless interference, traffic dynamics, network topology and quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. Two different yet essential scenarios are investigated: the first one is when each packet has a specific deadline after which it will be discarded; the second is when each packet traverses the network in multiple hops instead of leaving the network after a one-hop transmission. In both scenarios the links need to be carefully scheduled to avoid starvation of users and congestion on links. One greedy algorithm is analyzed in each of the two scenarios and performance guarantees in terms of throughput of the networks are derived. In the second part, the load-balancing problem in parallel computing is studied. Tasks arrive in batches and the duty of the load balancer is to place the tasks on the machines such that minimum queueing delay is incurred. Due to the huge size of modern data centers, sampling the status of all machines may result in significant overhead. Consequently, an algorithm based on limited queue information at the machines is examined and its asymptotic delay performance is characterized and it is shown that the proposed algorithm achieves the same delay with remarkably less sampling overhead compared to the well-known power-of-two-choices algorithm. Two messages of the thesis are the following: greedy algorithms can work well in a stochastic setting; the fluid model can be useful in "derandomizing" the system and reveal the nature of the algorithm. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2015

The focus of the project is to validate the fluid model with different flooring materials and the measurements of an instrument to test flooring materials and its force attenuating capabilities using mathematical models to describe the signature and coefficients of the floor.As a part of improving the knowledge about the linear dynamics of vibrations involved during the sudden impact caused on hip bones of elderly people during fall. The project initiated in January 2017 and end date was set to May 2017.The main contribution of the present work focuses on the development of a mathematical fluid model for floors. The aim of the thesis was to analyze, compare different floor materials and to study the linear dynamics of falling impacts on floors. The impact of the hammer during a fall is captured by an accelerometer and response is collected using a picoscope. The collected data was analyzed using matlab least square method which is coded as per the fluid model.The finding from this thesis showed that the fluid model works with a more elastic model but it doesn't work for rigid materials like wood. The importance of parameters like velocity, mass, energy loss and other coefficients of a floor which influences the model during the impact of falling on floors were identified and a standardized testing method was set.

Ce travail a été consacré à la simulation numérique des équations de la mécanique des fluides par des méthodes de volumes finis implicites. Tout d’abord, nous avons étudié et mis en place une version implicite du schéma de Roe pour les écoulements monophasiques et diphasiques compressibles. Grâce à la méthode de Newton utilisée pour résoudre les systèmes nonlinéaires, nos schémas sont conservatifs. Malheureusement, la résolution de ces systèmes est très coûteuse. Il est donc impératif d’utiliser des algorithmes de résolution performants. Pour des matrices de grande taille, on utilise souvent des méthodes itératives dont la convergence dépend de leur spectre. Nous avons donc étudié le spectre du système linéaire et proposé une stratégie de Scaling pour améliorer le conditionnement de la matrice. Combinée avec le préconditionneur classique ILU, notre stratégie de Scaling a réduit de façon significative le nombre d’itérations GMRES du système local et le temps de calcul. Nous avons également montré l’intérêt du schéma centré pour la simulation de certains écoulements à faible nombre de Mach. Nous avons ensuite étudié et implémenté la méthode de décomposition de domaine pour les écoulements compressibles. Nous avons proposé une nouvelle variable interface qui rend la méthode du complément de Schur plus facile à construire et nous permet de traiter les termes de diffusion. L’utilisation du solveur itératif GMRES plutôt que Richardson pour le système interface apporte aussi une amélioration des performances par rapport aux autres méthodes. Nous pouvons également découper notre domaine de calcul en un nombre quelconque de sous-domaines. En utilisant la stratégie de Scaling pour le système interface, nous avons amélioré le conditionnement de la matrice et réduit le nombre d’itérations GMRES de ce système. En comparaison avec le calcul distribué classique, nous avons montré que notre méthode est robuste et efficace. / This thesis deals with numerical simulations of compressible fluid flows by implicit finite volume methods. Firstly, we studied and implemented an implicit version of the Roe scheme for compressible single-phase and two-phase flows. Thanks to Newton method for solving nonlinear systems, our schemes are conservative. Unfortunately, the resolution of nonlinear systems is very expensive. It is therefore essential to use an efficient algorithm to solve these systems. For large size matrices, we often use iterative methods whose convergence depends on the spectrum. We have studied the spectrum of the linear system and proposed a strategy, called Scaling, to improve the condition number of the matrix. Combined with the classical ILU preconditioner, our strategy has reduced significantly the GMRES iterations for local systems and the computation time. We also show some satisfactory results for low Mach-number flows using the implicit centered scheme. We then studied and implemented a domain decomposition method for compressible fluid flows. We have proposed a new interface variable which makes the Schur complement method easy to build and allows us to treat diffusion terms. Using GMRES iterative solver rather than Richardson for the interface system also provides a better performance compared to other methods. We can also decompose the computational domain into any number of subdomains. Moreover, the Scaling strategy for the interface system has improved the condition number of the matrix and reduced the number of GMRES iterations. In comparison with the classical distributed computing, we have shown that our method is more robust and efficient.

This thesis presents the experimental and theoretical studies of nonthermal and stable atmospheric-pressure glow discharges. With the excitation frequency in the kilohertz range, a uniform and stable glow discharge has been successfully produced in atmospheric helium without the usually indispensable dielectric barrier. For this barrier-free cold atmospheric discharge, there are two discharge events occurring, respectively, in the voltage-rising and the voltage-falling phases, and in general they compete with each other. This distinct feature is illustrated through a detailed fluid simulation. For direct current atmospheric glow discharges, their cathode fall region is shown to depend critically on the discharge current density. For atmospheric glow discharges excited at 13.56 MHz on the other hand, we present observations that after gas breakdown, the discharge evolves from the normal glow mode to the abnormal glow mode and then through the recovery mode back to the normal glow mode. The operation modes, namely the a mode and the y mode, in radio-frequency atmospheric glow discharges are investigated with a one-dimensional, self-consistent continuum model. This model is evaluated by comparing our numerical results with experimental data and other simulation results in literature. It is shown that gas ionization is volumetric in the a mode and localized in the boundary region between the sheath and the bulk plasma in the y mode. The stable operation regime in the a mode is found to have a positive differential conductivity, and can be expanded to higher discharge current density without compensating plasma reactivity by increasing the excitation frequency. Furthermore this plasma stability-reactivity balance is also studied for radio-frequency atmospheric glow microdischarges.

Main steam temperatures play a significant role in large coal fired power plant operation. Ideally, main steam temperatures should be accurately controlled to protect the thick wall components against long term overheating and thermal stress while meeting the design conditions at the steam turbine inlet. Although high steam temperatures are beneficial for thermal efficiency, it accelerates creep damage in high temperature components which is detrimental to the life of components. Alternatively, low steam temperatures increase the moisture content at the last stage blades of the turbine, causing the blades to deteriorate and fail. Control of the outlet steam temperature according to design conditions at variable loads is maintained via a balance between heat input (flue gas temperature and mass flow rate), evaporator outlet steam mass flow and spray water. The present control philosophy accuracy of main steam temperatures at an Eskom coal fired power plant was evaluated and compared to the latest technology and control strategies. Improving and optimizing steam temperature controls ensures design efficiency while maintaining long term plant health. The level of spatial discretization applied in simplifying the real boiler for modelling purposes was approached at a relatively high level. The intention was to model normal operating conditions and certain transients such as variable heat input and load changes to see its effect on steam temperatures and to be able to evaluate the performance of different temperature control techniques. The main outcome of this project was to design a robust control system for a dynamic model of the boiler using sets of low order linear models to account for uncertainty. The main concepts, models and theories used in the development of this dissertation include: 1) A detailed thermo-fluid model developed using Flownex to have high fidelity models of the process under varying operating conditions. This model was used to test and evaluate the robust controller design. 2) System Identification in Matlab to construct mathematical models of dynamic systems from measured inputoutput data and identify linear continuous time transfer functions under all operating conditions [1]. 3) Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT) to design controllers for an attemperator control system at various onload operating conditions. This design was used understand the engineering requirements and seeks to design fixed gain controllers that will give desired performance under all operating conditions. 4) The design of a valve position controller to increase the heat uptake in a convective pass, thereby improving efficiency: Excessive attemperation in the superheater passes is generally associated with high flue gas temperatures which decrease thermal efficiency. Therefore, robust control of the attemperation system leads to an increase in heat uptake between the flue gas and steam in the boiler, resulting in a reduction in the flue gas temperature leaving the boiler, thus improving efficiency. The robust QFT controllers were set up using the valve position control technique and were used to confirm the improvement of control performance. The theories mentioned above were used to understand the control performance under varying plant conditions using a standard cascaded arrangement. It incorporated robust control design and engineering requirements such as bandwidth, plant life, spray water and thermodynamic efficiency. The control effort allocated to each superheaterattemperator subsystem in the convective pass was designed as a multi-loop problem.

We develop a two-fluid model (TFM) for heat transfer in dense non-Brownian suspensions. Specifically, we propose closure relations for the inter-phase heat transfer coefficient and the thermal diffusivity of the particle phase based on calibration against experimental data. The model is then employed to simulate non-isothermal flow in an annular Couette cell. We find that, when the shear rate is controlled by the rotation of the inner cylinder, both the shear and thermal gradients are responsible for particle migration. Within the TFM framework, we identify the origin and functional form of a "thermo-rheological" migration force that rationalizes our observations. Furthermore, we apply our model to flow in eccentric Couette cells. Our simulations reveal that the system's heat transfer coefficient is affected by both the classic shear-induced migration of particles and the newly identified thermo-rheological migration effect. Finally, we employed the proposed computational TFM framework to analyze electronics cooling by forced convection for microchannel cooling. We used a suspensions of high thermal conductivity (Boron Nitride) particles in a 3M Fluorinert FC-43 cooling fluid. Three-dimensional simulations were run to quantify the temperature distributions under uniform heating (5 W) and under hot-spot heating (2 W/cm^2) conditions. A 100 K junction level temperature improvement (enhanced thermal spreading) was seen for hot-spot heating and 15 K was observed for uniform heating, demonstrating the enhanced cooling capabilities of dense particulate suspensions of high-conductivity particles, over a clear FC-43 fluid.

This doctoral thesis deals with the study of electro-hydrodynamics in the area of numerical modelling of biomechanical systems, concretely in the method of bioimpedance plethysmography. Solving tasks of pulsatile blood flow in the elastic vessel wall is currently one of the most complicated problem in mechanics and biomechanics due to the interaction of two continua on the common boundary. The whole system is additionally loaded by diagnostic electric current. This doctoral thesis was created in cooperation with the Institute of Scientific Instruments of the CAS, v. v. i. Brno with the team engaged in medical signals (the leader Ing. Pavel Jurák, CSc.). Experimental measurements were made independently in the St. Anne's University Hospital Brno in the International Clinical Research Center ICRC and in the Mayo Clinic USA.