À partir des noeuds technologiques 45nm, les lignes métalliques des interconnexions des composants microélectroniques sont isolées entre elles par des matériaux diélectriques à faible permittivité (SiOCH poreux). Ces matériaux poreux sont sensibles aux procédés de fabrication et leur dégradation doit être minimisée afin de conserver de bonnes performances électriques et mécaniques. De plus, la réduction des dimensions des lignes métalliques se traduit par une augmentation de la résistivité du cuivre. Pour limiter cette dernière, des travaux sont menés sur la métallurgie et le contrôle de la rugosité des lignes de cuivre. Ce travail se focalise sur deux limites rencontrées lors de la fabrication de structures d'interconnexions : d'une part lors du transfert par gravure plasma de motifs à partir d'un masque métallique ou organique dans les matériaux SiOCH poreux, et d'autre part lors de l'intégration d'un matériau SiOCH hybride, rendu poreux soit après l'étape de gravure ou de métallisation des tranchées. En particulier, il est mis en évidence que les masques de gravure peuvent entraîner une déformation des profils au cours des procédés de gravure plasma des structures sous l'effet de la relaxation de contraintes mécaniques pour les masques métalliques ou de la modification de leur composition pour les masques organiques. Une étude préliminaire, sur le transfert de la rugosité de bord de ligne (LWR) pendant l'étape de gravure, menée à l'aide d'un CD-AFM, est présentée. L'intérêt de l'intégration du matériau SiOCH sous sa forme hybride pour répondre à la problématique de la dégradation des SiOCH poreux par les procédés impliqués lors de la fabrication des niveaux d'interconnexions est démontré.

Le travail de thèse présenté dans le manuscrit s’articule autours de plusieurs éléments d’études concernant les modèles macroscopiques de flux de trafic routier à savoir la modélisation, la simulation et la commande. L’objectif de l’étude consiste à atteindre ou à maintenir une circulation automobile fluide sur des voies rapides. Il s’agit donc de s’assurer que le processus de flux de trafic routier reste dans des limites de stabilité et tout en offrant les meilleures performances et qualités de service aux usagers. L’étude repose sur l’analyse de la solution analytique d’une équation dynamique d’évolution du processus afin d’obtenir une fonction de transfert (TF). Le modèle retenu est un modèle macroscopique de flux de trafic du premier ordre du type LWR. L’objectif est d’obtenir une modélisation analytique conforme au modèle du réseau routier, qui dans le cas applicatif retenu est constitué d’un segment en aval d’un péage routier. Une commande du flux de trafic reposant sur le choix d’une stratégie qui satisfait les besoins des usagers sur les autoroutes au niveau des péages a été étudiée. Mettre en place une gestion des axes routier est une nécessité due à la croissance des flux qui ont pour conséquence de provoquer une saturation des voies de circulation. Les congestions apparaissent généralement aux heures de pointe, lors de travaux ou d’incidents. Elles provoquent des retards dans les déplacements des usagers et ont donc des répercutions socio-économiques et sur l’environnement. Il est donc nécessaire de garantir la fluidité du trafic routier par la conception et l’implémentation de stratégies de commande efficaces permettant d’annuler, de réduire, ou de retarder l’apparition des congestions. Une boucle de correction robuste de type CRONE est introduite dans le système de flux de trafic afin de satisfaire les objectifs de qualité requises du réseau routier face aux aléas de circulation et en assurant une circulation fluide, par le contrôle des barrières de péage.La variable de commande proposée est la densité du tronçon en amont du péage. Le résultat obtenu représente un retard pur pour le modèle de trafic comme un système à paramètres distribués. La commande étudiée est une commande robuste d’ordre non-entier associée à un prédicteur de Smith et une compensation du retard. Toutes les études ont été menées en simulation sous Matlab/Simulink. L’étude des réponses temporelles et harmoniques du système de flux de trafic a été réalisée. La stabilité du système et de ses performances ont pu ainsi être abordées. De même l’étude harmonique permet d’assurer que le système présente une marge de stabilité suffisante dans le domaine de variation des paramètres. / This thesis presents research carried out to several elements of the macroscopic traffic flow as the model, the control and the simulation of his control system. The main aims of the realized studies consist to keep the circulation on the high-ways fluid. That means that we must to assure some quality of the process regarding the stability of this process. More over to offer best performances and quality of the traffic services for the users on the ways networks.In our study we use the analytical solution method of the dynamic equation presenting the LWR traffic flow model process, for which we look to obtain transfer function. Our objective is to obtain a conform result to a toll plaza. Furthermore we look to make a choice of appropriate control algorithm to satisfy the traffic network and users’ needs. The traffic flow management needs results from the increasingly of the flows. As consequence of this we can obtain saturation in some places in the road network wildly known as a traffic jam usually in the rush hours, by reason of accident or repairs works. All this provoke a delay of the transportation flow and important environmental after-effect. Therefore it’s very important to assure the fluidity of the traffic using control strategies which will cancel, reduce or delay the traffic jam appearances. Because of all the reasons above, we have proposed a system with non-integer order control algorithm for maintain the traffic fluid by the control of the pikes in the toll plaza. The control variable is the upstream density which will influence on the downstream one. After the analytical solution of the toll plaza model we obtain a delay function which presents the plant in our distributed parameter system. For this system we apply a Smith prediction non-integer control algorithm and moreover we ameliorate this system with a Dead time non-integer order compensator.

The purpose of this research is to develop a methodology for a thorium fuel recycling analysis that provides results for isotopics and radio-toxicity evaluation and analysis. This research is motivated by the need to reduce the long term radiological hazard in spent nuclear fuel, which mitigates the mixing hazard (radiotoxicity and chemical toxicity) and decay heat load on the repository. The first part of the thesis presents comparison of several once-through cases with uranium and thorium fuels to show how transuranics build up as fuel is depleted. The once-through analysis is performed for the following pairs of comparison cases: low enriched uranium dioxide (UOX) vs. thorium dioxide with 233UOX (233U-ThOX), natural uranium dioxide mixed with transuranic oxides (U-TRUOX) vs. thorium dioxide mixed with transuranic oxides (Th-TRUOX), natural uranium dioxide mixed with weapons grade plutonium dioxide (U-WGPuOX) vs. thorium dioxide mixed with weapons grade plutonium dioxide (Th-WGPuOX), natural uranium dioxide mixed with reactor grade plutonium dioxide (U-RGPuOX) vs. thorium mixed with reactor grade plutonium dioxide (Th-RGPuOX). The second part of the research evaluates the thorium fuel equilibrium cycle in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) and compares several recycling cases with different partitioning schemes. Radio-toxicity results of the once-through cycle and multi-recycle calculations demonstrate advantages for thorium fuel and reprocessing with respect to long term nuclear waste management.

One of the proposed solutions to the issue of nuclear waste volume is to transition from once through nuclear fuel cycle to advanced fuel cycles with used fuel recycling option. In any advanced fuel cycles with recycling options, the type and amount of separation technology deployed play a crucial role in the overall performance of the fuel cycle. In this work, a scenario study involving two advanced fuel cycles in addition to the once through fuel cycle were evaluated using VISION nuclear fuel cycle simulation code. The advanced fuel cycles were setup to transition completely to full recycling without any light water reactor by assuming all LWR currently in operation will have 20 years of operating life extension and no new LWR will be constructed thereafter. Several different separation capacities (1kT/yr, 2kT/yr and 4 kT/yr) were deployed and the overall impact of these capacities was analyzed in terms of resources utilization, used fuel and waste material generated and the amount of storage space required. Economic parameter (LCOE, LFCC, etc) analysis was also performed using VISION.ECON. Results presented in this work suggest that the need for LWR-UNF storage can be minimized if sufficient separation capacity is deployed early in the fuel cycle. It can also be concluded that a FuRe system without LEU will not be feasible, thus SFRs must be designed for optional use of LEU fuel. Otherwise LWRs must continue to be part of the mix to keep the near term cost of generating electricity competitive. It was observed that the higher amount of separation capacity deployed in the advanced fuel cycles led to higher LFCC and LCOE, but also translates into less environmental impact on both front and back end of the fuel cycle.

The use of robotics has recently seen significant growth in various domains such as unmanned ground/underwater/aerial vehicles, smart manufacturing, and humanoid robots. However, one of the most important and essential capabilities required for long term autonomy, which is the ability to operate robustly and safely in real-world environments, in contrast to industrial and laboratory setup is largely missing. Designing robots that can operate reliably and efficiently in cluttered and changing environments is non-trivial, especially for high degree-of-freedom (DoF) systems, i.e. robots with multiple actuators. On one hand, the dexterity offered by the kinematic redundancy allows the robot to perform dexterous manipulation tasks in complex environments, whereas on the other hand, such complex system also makes controlling and planning very challenging. To address such two interrelated problems, we exploit robot motion synthesis from three perspectives that feed into each other: end-pose planning, motion planning and motion adaptation. We propose several novel ideas in each of the three phases, using which we can efficiently synthesise dexterous manipulation motion for fixed-base robotic arms, mobile manipulators, as well as humanoid robots in cluttered and potentially changing environments. Collision-free inverse kinematics (IK), or so-called end-pose planning, a key prerequisite for other modules such as motion planning, is an important and yet unsolved problem in robotics. Such information is often assumed given, or manually provided in practice, which significantly limiting high-level autonomy. In our research, by using novel data pre-processing and encoding techniques, we are able to efficiently search for collision-free end-poses in challenging scenarios in the presence of uneven terrains. After having found the end-poses, the motion planning module can proceed. Although motion planning has been claimed as well studied, we find that existing algorithms are still unreliable for robust and safe operations in real-world applications, especially when the environment is cluttered and changing. We propose a novel resolution complete motion planning algorithm, namely the Hierarchical Dynamic Roadmap, that is able to generate collision-free motion trajectories for redundant robotic arms in extremely complicated environments where other methods would fail. While planning for fixed-base robotic arms is relatively less challenging, we also investigate into efficient motion planning algorithms for high DoF (30 - 40) humanoid robots, where an extra balance constraint needs to be taken into account. The result shows that our method is able to efficiently generate collision-free whole-body trajectories for different humanoid robots in complex environments, where other methods would require a much longer planning time. Both end-pose and motion planning algorithms compute solutions in static environments, and assume the environments stay static during execution. While human and most animals are incredibly good at handling environmental changes, the state-of-the-art robotics technology is far from being able to achieve such an ability. To address this issue, we propose a novel state space representation, the Distance Mesh space, in which the robot is able to remap the pre-planned motion in real-time and adapt to environmental changes during execution. By utilizing the proposed end-pose planning, motion planning and motion adaptation techniques, we obtain a robotic framework that significantly improves the level of autonomy. The proposed methods have been validated on various state-of-the-art robot platforms, such as UR5 (6-DoF fixed-base robotic arm), KUKA LWR (7-DoF fixed-base robotic arm), Baxter (14-DoF fixed-base bi-manual manipulator), Husky with Dual UR5 (15-DoF mobile bi-manual manipulator), PR2 (20-DoF mobile bi-manual manipulator), NASA Valkyrie (38-DoF humanoid) and many others, showing that our methods are truly applicable to solve high dimensional motion planning for practical problems.

No description available.

Fundamental understanding of the behaviour of nuclear fuel has been of great importance. Enhancing this knowledge not only by means of experimental observations, but also via multi-scale modelling is of current interest. The overall goal of this thesis is to understand the impact of atomic interactions on the nuclear fuel material properties. Two major topics are tackled in this thesis. The first topic deals with non-stoichiometry in uranium dioxide (UO2) to be addressed by empirical potential (EP) studies. The second fundamental question to be answered is the effect of the atomic fraction of americium (Am), neptunium (Np) containing uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) mixed oxide (MOX) on the material properties.UO2 has been the reference fuel for the current fleet of nuclear reactors (Gen-II and Gen-III); it is also considered today by the Gen-IV International Forum for the first cores of the future generation of nuclear reactors on the roadmap towards minor actinide (MA) based fuel technology. The physical properties of UO2 highly depend on material stoichiometry. In particular, oxidation towards hyper stoichiometric UO2 – UO2+x – might be encountered at various stages of the nuclear fuel cycle if oxidative conditions are met; the impact of physical property changes upon stoichiometry should therefore be properly assessed to ensure safe and reliable operations. These physical properties are intimately linked to the arrangement of atomic defects in the crystalline structure. The first paper evaluates the evolution of defect concentration with environment parameters – oxygen partial pressure and temperature by means of a point defect model, with reaction energies being derived from EP based atomic scale simulations. Ultimately, results from the point defect model are discussed, and compared to experimental measurements of stoichiometry dependence on oxygen partial pressure and temperature. Such investigations will allow for future discussions about the solubility of different fission products and dopants in the UO2 matrix at EP level.While the first paper answers the central question regarding the dominating defects in non-stoichiometry in UO2, the focus of the second paper was on the EP prediction of the material properties, notably the lattice parameter of Am, Np containing U and Pu MOX as a function of atomic fractions.The configurational space of a complex U1-y-y’-y’’PuyAmy’Npy’’O2 system, was assessed via Metropolis-Monte Carlo techniques. From the predicted configuration, the relaxed lattice parameter of Am, Np bearing MOX fuel was investigated and compared with available literature data. As a result, a linear behaviour of the lattice parameter as a function of Am, Np content was observed, as expected for an ideal solid solution. These results will allow to support and increase current knowledge on Gen-IV fuel properties, such as melting temperature, for which preliminary results are presented in this thesis, and possibly thermal conductivity in the future. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

[ES] La tecnología nuclear para el uso civil genera más preocupación por la seguridad que muchas otras tecnologías que se usan a diario. La Autoridad Nuclear define las bases de cómo debe realizarse la operación segura de una Central Nuclear. De acuerdo a las directrices establecidas por la Autoridad Nuclear, una Central Nuclear debe analizar una envolvente de escenarios hipotéticos y comprobar de manera determinista que los criterios de aceptación para dicho evento se cumplen. El Análisis Determinista de Seguridad utiliza herramientas de simulación que aplican la física conocida sobre el comportamiento de la Central Nuclear para evaluar la evolución de una variable de seguridad y asegurar que los límites no se sobrepasan. El desarrollo de la tecnología informática, de los métodos matemáticos y de la física que envuelve el comportamiento de una Central Nuclear han proporcionado herra-mientas de simulación potentes que son capaces de predecir el comportamiento de las variables de seguridad con una importante precisión. Esto permite analizar escenarios de manera más realista evitando asumir condiciones conservadoras que hasta la fecha compensaban la falta de conocimiento modelado en las herramientas de simulación. Las herramientas conocidas como De Mejor Estimación son capaces de analizar even-tos transitorios en diferentes escalas. Además, emplean modelos analíticos de las dife-rentes físicas más detallados, así como correlaciones experimentales más realistas y actuales. Un paso adelante en el Análisis Determinista de Seguridad pretende combinar las diferentes herramientas de Mejor Estimación que se emplean para analizar las dis-tintas físicas de una Central Nuclear, considerando incluso la interacción entre ellas y el análisis progresivo a diferentes escalas, llegando a analizar fenómenos más locales si es necesario. Para este fin, esta tesis presenta una metodología de análisis multi-físico y multi-escala que emplea diferentes códigos de simulación analizando el escenario propuesto a dife-rentes escalas, es decir, desde un nivel de planta que incluye los distintos componentes, hasta el volumen de control que supone el refrigerante pasando entre las varillas de combustible. Esta metodología permite un flujo de información que va desde el análi-sis a mayor escala hasta el de menor escala. El desarrollo de esta metodología ha sido validado con datos de planta para poder evaluar el alcance de esta metodología y pro-porcionar nuevas líneas de trabajo futuro. Además, se han añadido los resultados de los distintos procesos de validación y verificación que han surgido a lo largo de este trabajo. / [CA] La tecnologia nuclear per a l'ús civil genera més preocupació per la seguretat que moltes altres tecnologies d'ús quotidià. L'Autoritat Nuclear defineix les bases de com ha de realitzar-se l'operació segura d'una Central Nuclear. D'acord amb les directrius establertes per l'Autoritat Nuclear, una Central Nuclear ha d'analitzar una envoltant d'escenaris hipotètics I comprovar de manera determinista que els criteris d'acceptació per a l'esdeveniment seleccionat es compleixen. L'Anàlisi Determinista de Seguretat utilitza eines de simulació que apliquen la física coneguda sobre el comportament de la Central Nuclear per avaluar l'evolució d'una variable de seguretat i assegurar que els límits no es traspassen. El desenvolupament de la tecnologia informàtica, els mètodes matemàtics i de la física que envolta el comportament d'una Central Nuclear han proporcionat eines de simulació potents amb capacitat de predir el comportament de les variables de seguretat amb una precisió significativa. Això permet analitzar escenaris de manera realista evitant assumir condicions conservadores que fins al moment compensaven la mancança de coneixement. Les eines de simulació conegudes com De Millor Estimació son capaces d'analitzar esdeveniment transitoris a diferent escales. A més, utilitzen models analítics per a les diferents físiques amb més detall així com correlacions experimentals més actualitzades i realistes. Un pas més endavant en l'Anàlisi Determinista de Seguretat pretén combinar les diferents eines de Millor Estimació que se utilitzen per analitzar les distintes físiques d'una Central Nuclear, considerant inclús la interacció entre ells i l'anàlisi progressiu a diferents escales, amb la finalitat de poder analitzar fenòmens locals. Per a aquest fi, esta tesi presenta una metodologia d'anàlisi multi-física i multi-escala que utilitza diferents codis de simulació analitzant l'escenari proposat a diferents escales, és a dir, des d'un nivell de planta que inclou els distints components, fins al volum de control que suposa el refrigerant passant entre les varetes de combustible. Esta metodologia permet un flux de informació que va des de l'anàlisi d'una escala major a una menor. El desenvolupament d'aquesta metodologia ha sigut validada i verificada amb dades de planta i els resultats han sigut analitzats a fi d'avaluar la capacitat de la metodologia i les possibles línies de treball futur. A més s'han afegit els principals resultats de verificació i validació que han sorgit en les distintes etapes d'aquest treball. / [EN] The nuclear technology for civil use has generated more concerns for the safety than several other technologies applied to the daily life. The Nuclear Regulators define the basis of how the Safety Operation of Nuclear Power Plants is to be done. According to these guidelines, a Nuclear Power Plant must analyze an envelope of hypothetical events and deterministically define if the acceptance criteria for these events is met. The Deterministic Safety Analysis uses simulation tools that apply the physics known in the behavior of the Nuclear Power Plant to evaluate the evolution of a safety varia-ble and assure that the safety limits will not be exceeded. The development of the computer science, the numerical methods and the physics involved in the behavior of a Nuclear Power Plant have yield powerful simulation tools that are capable to predict the evolution of safety variables which significant accuracy. This allows to consider more realistic simulation scenarios instead of con-servative approaches in order to compensate the lack of knowledge in the applied prediction methods. The so called Best Estimate simulation tools are capable to analyze the transient events in different scales. Furthermore, they account more detailed analytical models and experimental correlations. A step forward in the Deterministic Safety Analysis intends to combine the Best Estimate simulation tools of the different physics considering the interaction among them and analyzing the different scales, considering more local approaches if necessary. For this purpose, this thesis work presents a multi-scale and multi-physics methodology that uses different physics codes and has the aim of modeling postulated scenarios in different scales, i.e. from system models representing the components of the plants to the subchannel models that analyze the behavior of the coolant between the fuel rods. This methodology allows a flow of information where the output of one scale is used as input in a more detailed scale to predict a more local analysis of parameters, such as the Critical Power Ratio, which are of great importance for the estimation of safety margins. The development of this methodology has been validated against plant data with the aim of evaluating the scope of this methodology and in order to provide future lines of development. In addition, different results of the validation and verifi-cation yielded in the development of the parts of this methodology are presented. / Hidalga García-Bermejo, P. (2020). Development and validation of a multi-scale and multi-physics methodology for the safety analysis of fast transients in Light Water Reactors [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/160135

Rail is a very expensive component of the railway track. Therefore, research methods extending rail life have great economic importance. During the past thirty years and, particularly during the past ten years there has been an increasing awareness throughout most rail networks in the world of the need to introduce improved design criteria, better construction techniques and higher standard track generally. This implies that quality control at all levels is mandatory if these objectives are to be achieved. With the improved understanding of degradation of track, a more complete comprehension of the costs associated with different operating and infrastructure conditions should also be developed, aiding in the determination of efficient maintenance costs and their contribution to access charges. Track and structures together account for 60% of maintenance costs, with 50% of the total being track. The UIC has done a lot of work on comparative performance indicators, and these show what potential savings much be out there for the taking, just by adopting current best practice. The old wisdom is that it's not enough o do things rights; we have to make sure that we do the right things. These developments have largely resulted from the demand for higher speeds particularly in passenger services and the demand to accept heavier axle loads of freight traffic. Whilst the conventional railway track structure is not likely to change significantly over the next ten years there will be a requirement over that period for better quality track infrastructure. This means less rail surface defects, less internal defects and less wheels irregularities. The presence of rail surface defects generally increases the roughness of the track leading to a poor passenger ride and increased safety risk with freight traffic. In addition, rail surface defects will generally increase the degradation rate of other track components; however, not all defects will produce visible track deterioration. Dynamic impacts produced by the rollingstock running over rail surface defects, such as poor welds, will, over time, create continuous rail defects, loosening of fastenings, abrasion and skewing of sleepers, crushing of ballast and loss of formation geometry. It is only in the recent years that the importance of poor welds in track has been identified. Dips and peaks must be recognised as a severe track irregularity that needs to be addressed and removed. Current maintenance activities have little effect on removing misaligned welds in track and the improvement obtained after the maintenance works is generally short lived. On the other hand, straightening operations have proven to solve the problem and maintain the results following 7 months of traffic. As part of this project, a six kilometre test section was selected on the Mt Isa Line and all welds located in this region were monitored for over 9 months to increase the understanding of the effect of individual maintenance activities on the track roughness. Three 2km Divisions were established; each Division had different maintenance activities and levels of intervention completed over the duration of the project. Over 15,000 readings were recorded and analysed. The following conclusions were drawn. The effect of cycle tamping was clearly identified when comparing the means of weld located in Division 1, 2 to the mean of welds in Division 3. Cycle tamping showed to have a significant positive effect on the dipped welds geometry and an increase in severity of peaked welds prior to their correction. Straightening operations completed in Division 1 and 2 reduced the overall mean of weld misalignments. These Divisions were subjected to different levels of straightening intervention however they produced similar results. Division 1 all dips were straightened and Division 2 only dips &gt0.3mm were straightened. This means that no additional benefit, in terms of overall misalignment of welds, can be gained when straightening operations target dips with a misalignment smaller than 0.3mm. Cycle grinding proved to have little effect on the removal of both dips and peaks. In fact, due to the configuration of the grinding machine, grinding operation produced a slight worsening of the dips misalignments and only a minor improvement of peaks. Although long term monitoring of the site may show minor variations in weld geometry performance, after approximately 3.9 Mgt of traffic the mean of dipped welds in Division 1 and 2 appeared to remain unaltered, as Division 3 showed a minor worsening. Furthermore, the mean of peaked welds in Division 1 and 2 appeared to remain unaltered, as Division 3 showed a minor worsening.