The heat dissipation and thermal performance of ventilated brake discs strongly depends on the aerodynamic characteristics of the air flow through the rotor passages. In this thesis, the thermal convection is analyzed using an analytical method, and the velocity distribution, temperature contours and Nusselt number are determined. Then numerical models for different rotors, pillar post rotors and vane rotors are generated and numerical simulations are conducted to determine the desired parameters. To analyze more realistic vane and pillar post rotor models, commercial CFD software packages, Fluent and Gambit, are used to simulate the heat flux rate, air flow rate, velocity distributions, temperature contours, and pressure distributions inside the rotors. Furthermore, sensitivity studies have been performed, to determine the effects of a different number of vanes or pillar posts, inner and outer radii and various angles of vanes. To automate the tedious and repetitive design process of the disc rotor, a design synthesis framework, iSIGHT, is used to integrate the geometrical modeling using GAMBIT and numerical simulations based on FLUENT. Through this integrated design synthesis process, the disc rotor geometrical optimization is performed using design of experiment studies. / UOIT

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Unintentional drop of munitions could be encountered during the storage, transportation, and loading processes. In such an impact, malfunctioning of crucial components of munitions is the worst scenario that may be encountered and level of loads should not reach to critical levels. From two possible methods, experimental one is not frequently applied owing to high cost of money and time. On the contrary, particularly in last couple of years, interest is shifted to numerical simulations such as finite element method. In this thesis, foam materials will be investigated as energy absorbers to reduce the effect of loads during the impact. However, modeling the behavior of foam materials by FE codes is a challenging task. In other words, more than a few material parameters which are not commonly specified in literature are sufficient to represent the behavior of foams in an appropriate way. For this reason, material characteristics of the selected two foam materials, expanded polypropylene and v polyethylene, have been obtained in this study. Characterization of EPP and PE is followed by the selection of the appropriate material models in LS-DYNA which is a nonlinear explicit finite element code. Drop tests of munitions on which initially specified foam materials are integrated were done to identify the load levels. Validation of drop tests which are explained in detail in this thesis has been accomplished by LS-DYNA. Final section of the thesis is related to optimization of the foam geometry which will provide reducing load levels to allowable limits. After optimization studies, three alternative geometries which succeed in to reduce loads to allowable load levels were reached. Finally, one of three alternatives is selected considering cost and manufacturing difficulties.

Le mémoire traite de la machine à réluctance variable en proposant d'une manière simultanée et du point de vue conception des solutions à ses deux inconvénients majeurs à savoir les ondulations de couple et les efforts radiaux. Les premières se propagent le long de la chaine de transmission diminuant ainsi le confort des usagers et les deuxièmes sont à l’origine d’une nuisance sonore. Dans une première partie et en s’intéressant à une structure axiale caractérisée par une faible force radiale, un bilan sur cette structure est donc établi. En effet, une configuration à deux stators et un rotor est la plus adéquate pour éventuellement remplacer la machine radiale de référence. Cette structure axiale est comparée à cette machine de référence après avoir établi des règles de passage d’une structure à une autre. Un premier passage est effectué en gardant le même encombrement et un deuxième passage en dimensionnant la machine axiale pour satisfaire le même cahier des charges que la machine radiale. Dans une deuxième partie, le travail s’oriente vers la modification de la structure radiale de la machine de référence et son optimisation. Plusieurs modifications sont proposées dont une structure avec une cale magnétique qui est la plus performante. Des optimisations géométriques à l’aide de l’algorithme génétique sur un point de fonctionnement sont ensuite effectuées pour remédier aux deux problèmes. A la fin, un récapitulatif de plusieurs structures optimisées est proposé pour servir de référence. Le choix de la machine la plus adéquate pourra donc être effectué en faisant un compromis entre la maximisation du couple, la réduction de ses ondulations et la réduction des efforts radiaux. / This report deals with switched reluctance motor by offering design solutions to the drawbacks of torque ripples and radial forces in the same time. Torque ripples reduce the user comfort and radial forces are the origin of noise. In the first part, an axial structure characterized by low radial force is analysed. Indeed, an axial configuration with two stators and one rotor is the most appropriate to replace the reference radial machine. Ones the rules of passage from one structure to another are established, the axial structure is then compared to the reference one. A first passage is made by keeping the same volume and a second one by sizing the axial machine with the same specifications as the radial one. In the second part, the work concerns the modification of radial structure of the reference machine and its optimization. Several modifications are proposed including a structure with a magnetic wedge which is the most efficient. Geometric optimization using genetic algorithm are then performed on operating points to remedy the both problems. In the end, several optimized structures are proposed. The choice of the most suitable machine can be done by making a compromise between the torque maximization, reducing its ripples and reducing radial forces.