Ce travail de thèse de doctorat vise à l’élaboration de surfaces poreuses hiérarchiquement structurées à partir de copolymères aux structures bien définies ainsi qu’à l’étude de leurs propriétés. La chimie des polymères, en constante évolution, a permis dans ce travail de thèse la synthèse de copolymères diblocs de natures diverses par des techniques de polymérisation radicalaire contrôlée tout aussi variées. En effet, la polymérisation radicalaire contrôlée par les nitroxydes (NMP), par transfert d’atome (ATRP), par transfert réversible d’addition/fragmentation (RAFT) et par le Cu(0) ont été utilisées pour la synthèse de copolymères diblocs associant un bloc de poly(styrène) à divers blocs d’acrylates ou de 4-vinylpyridine. Intimement associée à un procédé d’élaboration basé sur l’évaporation de solvant, nommé figure de souffle (trad. Breath Figure), la synthèse de ces copolymères a permis l’élaboration de surfaces poreuses hiérarchiquement structurées aux échelles du micro et nanomètre. Les différentes phases ont conféré à ces matériaux des propriétés particulières d’adhésion, de mouillabilité ou encore de bioactivité. Ces recherches doctorales ont bénéficié de la double compétence du laboratoire en chimie et en physico-chimie des polymères. En effet, des techniques de microscopie (optique, à force atomique ou électronique), de diffusion de rayonnement (neutrons et rayon-X aux petits angles) ainsi que des tests de pégosité et de mouillabilité ont permis l’étude de la structuration des films ainsi que l’étude de leurs propriétés de surface. / The present studies aim at designing hierarchically structured porous surface from copolymers with well defined structures. As a science in constant evolution, polymer chemistry, enable the synthesis of diblock copolymers with different natures by the mean of various radical controlled polymerization techniques. Indeed, radical controlled polymerization with nitroxyde (NMP), by atom transfer (ATRP), by reversible addition/fragmentation transfer (RAFT) or by Cu(0) were used for the synthesis of diblock copolymers based on polystyrene and different acrylates or 4-vinylpyridine blocks. The intimately association between a fast solvent evaporation process named the Breath Figure and the synthesis of the copolymers enable the production of hierarchically structured materials from micro to nanoscale. The nature of the different blocks confers adhesion, wettability or bioactivity properties to these materials. These researches benefit from the chemistry and physico-chemistry laboratory competences. Indeed, microscopy techniques (optical, atomic force and electronic), scattering (small angle neutron or X-ray) as well as tack or wettability measurements enable the complete characterization of films structuration and point up their properties.

Dans le domaine des polymères, l'auto-organisation de la matière a été largement étudiée dans les dernières années et beaucoup de progrès dans le domaine des films ordonnés, générés par l'auto-assemblage de copolymères à blocs, ont été réalisés. Ce progrès est motivé par le fait que les films auto-assemblés possèdent des applications en biologie, photonique, adhésion. Le sujet initial de thèse est la fabrication des films structurés en nid d’abeilles formés par un bloc de copolymère contenant une partie hydrophobe ( à peu près 90%) et une partie hydrophile (10%) qui peuvent s’auto-organiser en nid d’abeilles. Les films de polymères préparés seront ultérieurement à la base d’une étude de complexation avec des métaux. Ceci sert à décontaminer les eaux usées des métaux ou pesticides. Durant ces années de thèse, une méthodologie d’analyse de surface est détaillée pour comprendre la topographie de ces films ainsi que la chimie de surface de ces derniers. Pour cette raison, divers techniques d’analyses sont utilisées pour décrire vigoureusement la surface de ces films afin d’optimiser ces films pour complexer les contaminants à origine industrielle.Une des techniques d’analyse de surface, i.e. TOF-SIMS (Time Of Flight-Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy), a prouvé être un outil efficace pour caractériser chimiquement la composition élémentaire et moléculaire de l’extrême surface et en profondeur. Cette technique était la technique de base de ces études. Elle la permis de décrire les empreintes spectrales ainsi que la distribution en surface et en profondeur de chaque polymère dans les films élaborés en nid d’abeilles. / Since its introduction in 1994, the preparation of ordered porous polymer films by the breath figure “BF” method has received a considerable interest. Self-organized porous polymer films, with pores ordered into a hexagonal pattern, can be elaborated by a fast solvent evaporation method under a humid atmosphere, also called “Breath Figure” approach. The honeycomb films have found a panel of perspective applications ranging from materials with optical properties, biomaterial sensors, and scaffold for tissue engineering or highly hydrophobic surfaces. The main objective of this PhD thesis project is the fabrication of sensitive hierarchically self-organized bio inspired films based on organic compound trapping block copolymers. It is worth noting that one of the advantages of using block copolymer structure is that the first block confers the hydrophobic character, required for the elaboration and stability of HC structure, and the second block could provide an additional functionality such as hydrophilicity, stimuli-responsive character or trapping of targeted molecules (especially metals).During this thesis, a methodology of surface analysis is performed in order to understand the topography of these films as well as its surface chemistry. For this reason, various analytical techniques are used to describe the surface of these films vigorously in order to optimize these films to complex industrial contaminants.One of the techniques of surface analysis, i.e. TOF-SIMS (Time of Flight-Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy), has proved to be an effective tool for chemical characterization of the surface and in depth. This technique was the basic technique of our studies. It allowed the description of spectral finger prints as well as the distribution on the surface and in depth of each polymer in the structured films.

Förfrågan efter nya och mer avancerade applikationer är en pågående process vilket leder till en konstant utveckling av nya material. För att förstå relationen mellan en applikations egenskaper och dess sammansättning krävs full förståelse och kontroll över materialets uppbyggnad. En sådan kontroll över uppbyggnaden hos material hittas i en undergrupp till dendritiska polymerer som kallas dendrimerer. I den här doktorsavhandlingen belyses nya metoder för att framställa dendrimer med hjälp av selektiva kemiska reaktioner. Sådana selektiva reaktioner kan hittas inom konceptet klickkemi och har i detta arbete kombinerats med traditionell anhydrid- och karbodiimidmedierad kemi. Denna avhandling diskuterar en accelererad tillväxtmetod, dendrimerer med inre och yttre reaktiva grupper, simultana reaktioner och applikationer baserade på dessa dendritiska material. En accelererad tillväxtmetod har utvecklats baserad på AB2- och CD2-monomerer. Dessa monomerer tillåter tillväxt av dendrimerer utan att använda sig av skyddsgruppkemi eller aktivering av ändgrupper. Detta gjordes genom att kombinera kemoselektiviteten hos klickkemi tillsammans med traditionell syraklorid kopplingar. Dendrimerer med inre alkyn- eller azidfunktionalitet syntetiserades genom att använda AB2C-monomerer. Den dendritiska tillväxten skedde med hjälp av karbodiimidmedierad kemi. Monomererna som användes bär på en C-funktionalitet, alkyn eller azid, och på så sätt byggs får interiören i de syntetiserade dendrimeren en inneburen aktiv funktionell grupp. Ortogonaliteten hos klickkemi användes för att sammanfoga monomerer till en dendritisk struktur. Traditionell anhydridkemi- och klickemireaktioner utfördes samtidigt och på så sätt kunde dendritiska strukturer erhållas med färre antal uppreningssteg. En ljusemitterande dendrimer syntetiserades genom att koppla azidfunktionella dendroner till en alkynfunktionell cyclenkärna. Europiumjoner inkorporerades i kärnan varpå dendrimerens fotofysiska egenskaper analyserades. Mätningarna visade att den bildade triazolen hade en sensibiliserande effekt på europiumjonen. Termiska studier på några av de syntetiserade dendrimerer utfördes för att se om några av dem kunde fungera som templat vid framställning av isoporösa filmer. / The need for new improved materials in cutting edge applications is constantly inspiring researchers to developing novel advanced macromolecular structures. A research area within advanced and complex macromolecular structures is dendrimers and their synthesis. Dendrimers consist of highly dense and branched structures that have promising properties suitable for biomedical and electrical applications and as templating materials. Dendrimers provide full control over the structure and property relationship since they are synthesized with unprecedented control over each reaction step. In this doctoral thesis, new methodologies for dendrimer synthesis are based on the concept of click chemistry in combination with traditional chemical reactions for dendrimer synthesis. This thesis discusses an accelerated growth approach, dendrimers with internal functionality, concurrent reactions and their applications. An accelerated growth approach for dendrimers was developed based on AB2- and CD2-monomers. These allow dendritic growth without the use of activation or deprotection of the peripheral end-groups. This was achieved by combining the chemoselective nature of click chemistry and traditional acid chloride reactions. Dendrimers with internal azide/alkyne functionality were prepared by adding AB2C monomers to a multifunctional core. Dendritic growth was obtained by employing carbodiimide mediated chemistry. The monomers carry a pendant C-functionality (alkyne or azide) that remains available in the dendritic interior resulting in dendrimers with internal and peripheral functionalities. The orthogonal nature of click chemistry was utilized for the simultaneous assembly of monomers into dendritic structures. Traditional anhydride chemistry and click chemistry were carried out concurrently to obtain dendritic structures. This procedure allows synthesis of dendritic structures using fewer purification steps. Thermal analyses on selected dendrimers were carried out to verify their use as templates for the formation of honeycomb membranes. Additionally, a light emitting dendrimer was prepared by coupling of azide functional dendrons to an alkyne functional cyclen core. A Europium ion was incorporated into the dendrimer core, and photophysical measurements on the metal containing dendrimer revealed that the formed triazole linkage possesses a sensitizing effect. / QC 20100629

Oxygen-diluted Combustion (OdC) technology has evolved from the concept of Excess Enthalpy Combustion and is characterized by reactants of low oxygen concentration and high temperature. Recent advances in this technology have demonstrated significant energy savings, high and uniform thermal field, low pollution, and the possibility for downsizing the equipment for a range of furnace applications. Moreover, the technology has shown promise for wider applications in various processes and power industries. The objectives of this thesis are to analyze the thermodynamic aspects of this novel combustion technology and to quantify the enhancement in efficiency and heat transfer inside a furnace in order to explore the potentials for reduced thermodynamic irreversibility of a combustion process and reduced energy consumption in an industrial furnace. Therefore, theoretical and experimental investigations were carried out. The 2nd law of thermodynamics analyses of OdC systems have been carried out for cases in which the oxidizer is either oxygen (Flameless-oxy-fuel) or air (High Temperature Air Combustion, HiTAC). The analyses demonstrate the possibilities of reducing thermodynamic irreversibility of combustion by considering an oxygen-diluted combustion process that utilizes both gas- and/or heat-recirculation. Furthermore, the results showed that an oxygen-diluted combustion system that utilizes oxygen as an oxidizer, in place of air, results in higher 1st and 2nd law efficiencies. Mathematical models for heat regenerators were developed to be designing tools for maximized heat recovery. These models were verified by heat performance experiments carried out on various heat regenerators. Furthermore, experiments were performed in a semi-industrial test furnace. It was equipped with various regenerative burning systems to establish combustion and heat transfer conditions prevailing in an industrial furnace operating based on HiTAC. The tests were carried out at seven firing configurations, two conventional and five HiTAC configurations, for direct and indirect heating systems. Measurements of energy balance were performed on the test furnace at various configurations in order to obtain the 1st law efficiency. Moreover, local measurements of temperature, gas composition, and heat fluxes in the semi-industrial test furnace were performed to find out the main characteristics of HiTAC flame and the effects of these characteristics on the heating potential, i.e., useful heating in the furnace. In the case of HiTAC, these measurements showed uniformities of chemistry, temperature, temperature fluctuation, and heat fluxes profiles. The values of fluctuations in temperature were small. The high speed jets of the fuel and air penetrated deep into the furnace. The fuel gradually disappeared while intermediate species gradually appeared in relatively high concentrations and at broader regions inside the furnace. These findings indicate: a large reaction zone, low specific combustion intensity in the flame, low specific fuel energy release, and high heat release from this large flame. In addition to the thermodynamic limitations to the maximum temperature of the Oxygen-diluted Combustion, the low specific energy release of the fuel and the high heat release from the flame to its surroundings cause this uniform and relatively moderate temperature profile in a HiTAC flame, consequently suppressing thermal-NO formation. Heat flux and energy balance measurements showed that heating potential is significantly increased in the case of HiTAC compared to that in the conventional case, implying much more energy savings than the apparent heat recovery from the heat regenerators, and consequently much less pollutants emissions. Therefore, it is certain that this large HiTAC flame emits more thermal radiation to its surroundings than the conventional flame does, in spite of the moderate-uniform temperature profile of the flame. This intense heat flux was more uniform in all HiTAC configurations, including the indirect heating configuration, than that of the conventional-air combustion configuration. / QC 20101011

<p>Oxygen-diluted Combustion (OdC) technology has evolved from the concept of Excess Enthalpy Combustion and is characterized by reactants of low oxygen concentration and high temperature. Recent advances in this technology have demonstrated significant energy savings, high and uniform thermal field, low pollution, and the possibility for downsizing the equipment for a range of furnace applications. Moreover, the technology has shown promise for wider applications in various processes and power industries.</p><p>The objectives of this thesis are to analyze the thermodynamic aspects of this novel combustion technology and to quantify the enhancement in efficiency and heat transfer inside a furnace in order to explore the potentials for reduced thermodynamic irreversibility of a combustion process and reduced energy consumption in an industrial furnace. Therefore, theoretical and experimental investigations were carried out.</p><p>The 2nd law of thermodynamics analyses of OdC systems have been carried out for cases in which the oxidizer is either oxygen (Flameless-oxy-fuel) or air (High Temperature Air Combustion, HiTAC). The analyses demonstrate the possibilities of reducing thermodynamic irreversibility of combustion by considering an oxygen-diluted combustion process that utilizes both gas- and/or heat-recirculation. Furthermore, the results showed that an oxygen-diluted combustion system that utilizes oxygen as an oxidizer, in place of air, results in higher 1st and 2nd law efficiencies.</p><p>Mathematical models for heat regenerators were developed to be designing tools for maximized heat recovery. These models were verified by heat performance experiments carried out on various heat regenerators.</p><p>Furthermore, experiments were performed in a semi-industrial test furnace. It was equipped with various regenerative burning systems to establish combustion and heat transfer conditions prevailing in an industrial furnace operating based on HiTAC. The tests were carried out at seven firing configurations, two conventional and five HiTAC configurations, for direct and indirect heating systems.</p><p>Measurements of energy balance were performed on the test furnace at various configurations in order to obtain the 1st law efficiency. Moreover, local measurements of temperature, gas composition, and heat fluxes in the semi-industrial test furnace were performed to find out the main characteristics of HiTAC flame and the effects of these characteristics on the heating potential, i.e., useful heating in the furnace. In the case of HiTAC, these measurements showed uniformities of chemistry, temperature, temperature fluctuation, and heat fluxes profiles. The values of fluctuations in temperature were small. The high speed jets of the fuel and air penetrated deep into the furnace. The fuel gradually disappeared while intermediate species gradually appeared in relatively high concentrations and at broader regions inside the furnace. These findings indicate: a large reaction zone, low specific combustion intensity in the flame, low specific fuel energy release, and high heat release from this large flame. In addition to the thermodynamic limitations to the maximum temperature of the Oxygen-diluted Combustion, the low specific energy release of the fuel and the high heat release from the flame to its surroundings cause this uniform and relatively moderate temperature profile in a HiTAC flame, consequently suppressing thermal-NO formation.</p><p>Heat flux and energy balance measurements showed that heating potential is significantly increased in the case of HiTAC compared to that in the conventional case, implying much more energy savings than the apparent heat recovery from the heat regenerators, and consequently much less pollutants emissions. Therefore, it is certain that this large HiTAC flame emits more thermal radiation to its surroundings than the conventional flame does, in spite of the moderate-uniform temperature profile of the flame. This intense heat flux was more uniform in all HiTAC configurations, including the indirect heating configuration, than that of the conventional-air combustion configuration.</p>

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing process which enables the creation of intricate components from high performance alloys. This facilitates the design and fabrication of new cellular materials for blast and impact mitigation, where the performance is heavily influenced by geometric and material sensitivities. Design of such materials requires an understanding of the relationship between the additive manufacturing process and material properties at different length scales: from the microstructure, to geometric feature rendition, to overall dynamic performance. To date, there remain significant uncertainties about both the potential benefits and pitfalls of using additive manufacturing processes to design and optimise cellular materials for dynamic energy absorbing applications. This investigation focuses on the out-of-plane compression of stainless steel cellular materials fabricated using SLM, and makes two specific contributions. First, it demonstrates how the SLM process itself influences the characteristics of these cellular materials across a range of length scales, and in turn, how this influences the dynamic deformation. Secondly, it demonstrates how an additive manufacturing route can be used to add geometric complexity to the cell architecture, creating a versatile basis for geometry optimisation. Two design spaces are explored in this work: a conventional square honeycomb hybridised with lattice walls, and an auxetic stacked-origami geometry, manufactured and tested experimentally here for the first time. It is shown that the hybrid lattice-honeycomb geometry outperformed the benchmark metallic square honeycomb in terms of energy absorption efficiency in the intermediate impact velocity regime (approximately 100 m/s). In this regime, the collapse is dominated by dynamic buckling effects, but wave propagation effects have yet to become pronounced. By tailoring the fold angles of the stacked origami material, numerical simulations illustrated how it can be optimised for specific impact velocity regimes between 10-150 m/s. Practical design tools were then developed based on these results.

La modélisation du comportement vibroacoustique en flexion des structures sandwich est devenue aujourd’hui de plus en plus d’un grand intérêt dans les différents secteurs industriels. Cette tendance est principalement due aux propriétés mécaniques avantageuses des structures sandwich. L’un des principaux avantages de ce type de structures réside principalement dans le rapport rigidité-poids élevé. En revanche, acoustiquement la diminution de la masse du panneau avec une rigidité élevée conduit à un confort acoustique insatisfait. Pour cette raison, il y a une demande croissante pour des approches de modélisation du comportement vibroacoustique des structures sandwich avec une précision maximale. La présente thèse propose une approche méso-macro basée sur une méthode numérique pour la prédiction des caractéristiques dynamiques des structures sandwich. La méthode est principalement utilisée pour résoudre le problème de transparence acoustique considéré dans ce projet de thèse. Le travail présenté porte principalement sur la topologie du coeur du sandwich pour traiter le problème abordé. Le principal avantage du modèle proposé réside dans les effets du cœur prises en compte telle que l’effet du cisaillement et celle de l’orthotropie du panneau sandwich. L’approche de modélisation proposée est basée sur la méthode des éléments finis ondulatoire, qui combine la méthode des éléments finis classique et la théorie des structures périodiques. La structure sandwich a été modélisée comme un guide des ondes tridimensionnelles qui garde absolument les informations à l’échelle mésoscopique du panneau modélisé. La fréquence de transition définie la fréquence à laquelle le cisaillement du coeur devient important. Cette fréquence spéciale a été identifié via deux méthodes numériques. Une expression de transmission acoustique à travers un panneau sandwich a également été dérivée. Ensuite, une étude paramétrique a été menée dans le but de révéler l’effet des différents paramètres géométriques sur les indicateurs vibroacoustiques. / Prediction of the flexural vibroacoustic behavior of honeycomb sandwich structures in the low-mid frequency is nowadays becoming of high interest in different industrial sectors. This trend is mainly owing to the advantageous mechanical properties of the sandwich structures. One of the main advantages of this kind of structures lies principally in the high stiffness-to-weight ratio. Even though, acoustically the decrease of the panel mass with a high stiffness leads to an unsuitable acoustic comfort. For this reason, there is an increasing demand for approaches modeling the vibroacoustic behavior of the sandwich structures with a maximum accuracy. The present thesis deals with a meso-macro approach based on a numerical method for modeling the vibroacoustic behavior of sandwich structures. The modeling description is mainly used to address the acoustic insulation problem considered in the thesis. The presented work focuses on the topology of the sandwich core to treat the addressed problem. The main advantage of the proposed model is that it takes into account the core shear and panel orthotropic effects. The modeling approach suggested here is based on the wave finite element method (WFE method), which combines the standard finite element method and the periodic structure theory. The sandwich structure has been modeled as a tridimensional waveguide which holds absolutely the meso-scale information of the modeled panel. The transition frequency, which indicates the frequency at which the core shear becomes important, was identified via two different numerical methods. An expression of the acoustic transmission for an equivalent isotropic sandwich panel was also derived. A parametric study was then conducted with a goal of revealing the effect of the geometric parameters of the sandwich core on the vibroacoustic indicators.

This thesis presents the work of an experimental investigation into the impact damage resistance and damage tolerance for symmetrical and unsymmetrical composite honeycomb sandwich panels through in-plane compression. The primary aim of this research is to examine the impact damage resistance of various types of primarily carbon/epoxy skinned sandwich panels with varying skin thickness, skin lay-up, skin material, sandwich asymmetry and core density and investigate the residual in-plane compressive strengths of these panels with a specific focus on how the core of the sandwich contributes to the in-plane compressive behaviour. This aim is supported by four specifically constructed preconditions introduced into panels to provide an additional physical insight into the loading-bearing compression mechanisms. Impact damage was introduced into the panels over a range of IKEs via an instrumented drop-weight impact test rig with a hemi-spherical nosed impactor. The damage resistance in terms of the onset and propagation of various dominant damage mechanisms was characterised using damage extent in both impacted skin and core, absorbed energy and dent depth. Primary damage mechanisms were found to be impacted skin delamination and core crushing, regardless of skin and core combinations and at high energies, the impacted skin was fractured. In rare cases, interfacial skin/core debonding was found to occur. Significant increases in damage resistance were observed when skin thickness and core density were increased. The reduction trends of the residual in-plane compressive strengths of all the panels were evaluated using IKE, delamination and crushed core extents and dent depth. The majority of impact damaged panels were found to fail in the mid-section and suffered an initial decline in their residual compressive strengths. Thicker skinned and higher density core panels maintained their residual strength over a larger impact energy range. Final CAI strength reductions were observed in all panels when fibre fracture in the impacted skin was present after impact. Thinner skinned panels had a greater compressive strength over the thicker skinned panels, and panel asymmetry in thin symmetrical panels appeared to result in an improving damage tolerance trend as IKE was increased due to that the impact damage balanced the in-plane compressive resistance in the skins with respect to the pre-existing neutral plane shift due to the uneven skin thickness.

In aerospace applications, use of laminates made of composite materials as face sheets in sandwich panels are on the rise. These composite laminates have low transverse shear and transverse normal moduli compared to the in-plane moduli. It is also seen that the corresponding transverse strength values are very low compared to the in-plane strength leading to delaminations. Further, in sandwich structures, the core is subjected to significant transverse shear stresses. Therefore the interlaminar stresses (i.e., transverse shear and normal) can govern the design of sandwich structures. As a consequence, the first step in achieving efficient designs is to develop the ability to reliably estimate interlaminar stresses. Stress analysis of the composite sandwich structures can be carried out using 3-D finite elements for each layer. Owing to the enormous computational time and resource requirements for such a model, this process of analysis is rendered inefficient. On the other hand, existing plate/shell finite elements, when appropriately chosen, can help quickly predict the 2-D displacements with reasonable accuracy. However, their ability to calculate the thickness-wise distributions of interlaminar shear and normal stresses and 3-D displacements remains as a research goal. Frequently, incremental refinements are offered over existing solutions. In this scenario, an asymptotically correct dimensional reduction from 3-D to 2-D, if possible, would serve to benchmark any ongoing research. The employment of a mathematical technique called the Variational Asymptotic Method (VAM) ensures the asymptotical correctness for this purpose. In plates and sandwich structures, it is typically possible to identify (purely from the defined material distributions and geometry) certain parameters as small compared to others. These characteristics are invoked by VAM to derive an asymptotically correct theory. Hence, the 3-D problem of plates is automatically decomposed into two separate problems (namely 1-D+2-D), which then exchange relevant information between each other in both ways. The through-the-thickness analysis of the plate, which is a 1-D analysis, provides asymptotic closed form solutions for the 2-D stiffness as well as the recovery relations (3-D warping field and displacements in terms of standard plate variables). This is followed by a 2-D plate analysis using the results of the 1-D analysis. Finally, the recovery relations regenerate all the required 3-D results. Thus, this method of developing reduced models involves neither ad hoc kinematic assumptions nor any need for shear correction factors as post-processing or curve-fitting measures. The results are most general and can be made as accurate as desired, while the procedure is computationally efficient. In the present work, an asymptotically correct plate theory is formulated for composite sandwich structures. In developing this theory, in addition to the small parameters (such as small strains, small thickness-to-wavelength ratios etc.,) pertaining to the general plate theory, additional small parameters characterizing (and specific to) sandwich structures (viz., smallness of the thickness of facial layers com-pared to that of the core and smallness of elastic material stiffness of the core in relation to that of the facesheets) are used in the formulation. The present approach also satisfies the interlaminar displacement continuity and transverse equilibrium requirements as demanded by the exact 3-D formulation. Based on the derived theory, numerical codes are developed in-house. The results are obtained for a typical sandwich panel subjected to mechanical loading. The 3-D displacements, inter-laminar normal and shear stress distributions are obtained. The results are compared with 3-D elasticity solutions as well as with the results obtained using 3-D finite elements in MSC NASTRAN®. The results show good agreement in spite of the major reduction in computational effort. The formulation is then extended for thermo-elastic deformations of a sandwich panel. This thesis is organized chronologically in terms of the objectives accomplished during the current research. The thesis is organized into six chapters. A brief organization of the thesis is presented below. Chapter-1 briefly reviews the motivation for the stress analysis of sandwich structures with composite facesheets. It provides a literature survey on the stress analysis of composite laminates and sandwich plate structures. The drawbacks of the existing anlaytical approaches as opposed to that of the VAM are brought out. Finally, it concludes by listing the main contributions of this research. Chapter-2 is dedicated to an overview of the 3-D elasticity formulation of composite sandwich structures. It starts with the 3-D description of a material point on a structural plate in the undeformed and deformed configurations. Further, the development of the associated 3-D strain field is also described. It ends with the formulation of the potential energy of the sandwich plate structure. Chapter-3 develops the asymptotically correct theory for composite sandwich plate structure. The mathematical description of VAM and the procedure involved in developing the dimensionally reduciable structural models from 3-D elasticity functional is first described. The 1-D through-the-thickness analysis procedure followed in developing the 2-D plate model of the composite sandwich structure is then presented. Finally, the recovery relations (which are one of the important results from 1-D through-the-thickness analysis) to extract 3-D responses of the structure are obtained. The developed formulation is applied to various problems listed in chapter 4. The first section of this chapter presents the validation study of the present formulation with available 3-D elasticity solutions. Here, composite sandwich plates for various length to depth ratios are correlated with available 3-D elasticity solutions as given in [23]. Lastly, the distributions of 3-D strains, stresses and displacements along the thickness for various loadings of a typical sandwich plate structure are correlated with corresponding solutions using well established 3-D finite elements of MSC NASTRAN® commerical FE software. The developed and validated formulation of composite sandwich structure for mechanical loading is extended for thermo-elastic deformations. The first sections of this chapter describes the seamless inclusion of thermo-elastic strains into the 3-D elasticity formulation. This is followed by the 1-D through-the-thickness analysis in developing the 2-D plate model. Finally, it concludes with the validation of the present formulation for a very general thermal loading (having variation in all the three co-ordinate axes) by correlating the results from the present theory with that of the corresponding solutions of 3-D finite elements of MSC NASTRAN® FE commercial software. Chapter-6 summarises the conclusions of this thesis and recommendations for future work.

O número de swirl de um cabeçote de motor de combustão interna pode ser medido pelo método de vazão em regime permanente. Nesse método o ar é forçado através do cabeçote para diferentes aberturas de válvula. O sensor comumente utilizado nas plataformas para a medição do swirl é o do tipo ISM (impulse swirl meter) que utiliza um retificador de fluxo como o componente principal para capturar o momento angular de rotação do fluxo de ar. Esse trabalho visa encontrar as dimensões geométricas para o retificador de fluxo utilizado em sensor tipo ISM, de tal forma que esse retificador possibilite a realização das medições com a menor interferência possível no resultado final. Dezesseis retificadores de diferentes dimensões foram construídos a partir do processo conhecido como prototipagem rápida. Vários ensaios foram realizados em uma plataforma que utiliza o método de vazão em regime permanente para a medição de swirl em cabeçotes. Para todos os ensaios foi utilizando um mesmo cabeçote de motor diesel como gerador de swirl. No capítulo conclusões são apresentadas as dimensões geométricas que resultaram em menor interferência no fluxo e uma maior eficiência do sensor, bem como sugestões para trabalhos futuros. / The swirl number of a cylinder head can be measured by a steady state flow method in which air is forced through the cylinder head for different valve openings. The sensors commonly used on the swirl measurement platform are of the ISM type (impulse swirl meter) that use a flow straightener as the main component to capture the rotational angular momentum of the air flow. This study objective is to determine the geometric dimensions for the flow straightener used in the ISM sensor, which still allows the measurement but causes the least interference on the measurement result. Sixteen different flow straighteners were constructed by rapid prototyping process. Several tests were performed on a platform that uses the steady state flow method to measure the swirl number of cylinder heads. For all tests the same cylinder head was used as swirl generator. The conclusion chapter presents the geometric dimensions that caused the least interference in the flow and resulted in a greater sensor efficiency, as well as suggestions for future studies.