Pyrolytic oils produced from poultry litter differ in physico-chemical properties and the chemical composition. The litter is composed of manure and bedding material with traces of spilled feed and feathers. The type and amount of bedding material was varied to investigate its influence on the pyrolysis of layer manure. 400g of each feedstock: manure, wood (pine and oak), and mixtures of manure and wood in proportions (75:25 50:50, and 25:75 w/w %) respectively were subjected to fast pyrolysis at 450oC in a fluidized bed reactor. The total pyrolytic oil yield ranged from 43.3% to 64.5 wt%. The highest bio oil yield and the lowest char yield were obtained from oak wood. The manure oil had the highest HHV of 29.7 MJ/kg, the highest pH (5.89), the lowest density (1.14 g/cm3) and a relatively low viscosity of 130cSt. The oils had relatively high nitrogen content ranging from 5.88wt% to 1.36 wt%; low ash content (approximately <0.07wt %) and low sulfur content (<0.28wt %). FT-IR, 13CNMR, and 1HNMR analysis showed that manure oil was rich in aliphatic hydrocarbon and primary and secondary amides and the addition of wood introduced oxygenated compounds like aliphatic alcohols, phenols, aromatic ethers, and carbonyl/carboxylic groups into the oil. TG/DTG analysis also showed that the thermal decomposition of the oils were different depending on the amount and the type of wood in the manure/wood mixture. The parametric variables used for the mixture of 50% manure and 50% pine wood shavings study were; temperature (400-550°C), nitrogen gas flow rate (12-24 L/min), and feed rate (160-480 g/h). The results showed that the pyrolysis product yields, physical properties and the chemical composition of the oil were influenced by all parameters. Temperature was the most influential factor and its effect on the liquid, char and gas yields were significant. It was evident that depending on the gas flow rate and the feed rate, a maximum oil yield (51.1wt.%) can be achieved between 400-500 oC. Also an increase in temperature significantly increased the oil viscosity and decreased the carbonyl/carboxylic and the primary aliphatic alcohol functional groups in the oil. The study on the influence of wood on the stability of the oils when stored at ambient conditions for 8 months in a 30ml glass bottle showed that the viscosity of the oils increases when stored, however the manure oil was relatively more stable and the oil from the 50/50 mixture for both pine and oak was the least stable. It was found that the stability of the oils from the manure and wood mixtures were dependent on the amount and the type of wood (pine or oak) added to the manure. Also the addition of 10% solvent (methanol/ethanol) to the oil from 50% manure and 50% pine reduced the initial viscosity of the oil and was also beneficial in slowing down the increase in viscosity during storage. / Master of Science

En France, un tiers des personnes tuées sur la route le sont lors d’un accident sur un obstaclefixe. Dans 90% des cas, ces accidents surviennent après une perte de contrôle du véhicule.Les dispositifs de retenue de véhicule ont pour but de maintenir les véhicules en perdition surla chaussée en limitant la sévérité de l’impact.Ces dispositifs doivent subir des essais de chocs normatifs afin de pouvoir être installés sur lebord des routes européennes et d’évaluer leurs performances en termes de sévérité et dedéflexion.Les tolérances existantes sur les paramètres d’essai (véhicule, masse du véhicule, vitesse,angle et point d’impact …) et les incertitudes sur les caractéristiques mécaniques desmatériaux constituant le dispositif ont un effet sur les performances de ce dispositifs etdoivent être prises en compte lors des calculsLes dispositifs mixtes (acier-bois) présentent une difficulté supplémentaire en raison del’hétérogénéité du matériau et de sa sensibilité aux variables d’environnement telles que latempérature et l’humidité.Afin de prendre en compte cette variabilité et d’évaluer son impact sur les performances d’undispositif, des essais dynamiques sur des échantillons de structure ont été réalisés et modélisésnumériquement.Enfin, un modèle complet d’un dispositif de retenue de véhicule a été effectué et corrélé surun essai de choc réel à l’aide d’une méthode prenant en compte la variation de paramètresphysiques liés à l’apparition des modes de ruine de la structure. Une fois corrélé, le modèle aété utilisé afin d’évaluer l’incidence de la modification des caractéristiques mécaniques dubois liée aux variations des conditions environnementales. / In France, one third of the people dying on the roads are killed after impacting against ahazard. In 90% of the reported cases, these accidents result from loss of control. VehicleRestraint Systems (VRS) are specially designed to restrain an errant vehicle and to limitimpact severity.Before being installed on the roadsides, these devices have to be crash-tested according tostandards in order to evaluate their safety and deflexion performances.Tolerances exist on impact parameters (vehicle, vehicle mass, impact speed, impact angle,impact point …) and material’s mechanical characteristic uncertainties have an effect towardsdevice performances and have to be taken into account during numerical simulations.Steel-wood structures present an additional numerical challenge due to wood heterogeneityand its sensibility to environment variables such as temperature and moisture content.In order to assess the effect of this variability toward safety performances, three point bendingdynamic experiments on structural samples are performed and modelled.Finally, a complete model of a vehicle restraint system is built and validated according to realcrash test results thanks to a parametric method. This method takes into account the variabilityof the parameters associated to the failure modes of the structure. Once validated the model isused to assess the effect of wood mechanical properties modifications due to environmentvariable variations.

Les instabilités de versants sont en partie responsables de l'apparition de désordres ou de la réactivation de désordres antérieurs dans les structures de tunnels anciens de faible profondeur. Il est cependant nécessaire de bien comprendre ce qui résulte de ces contextes d'interaction et ce qui peut être dû au seul vieillissement rhéologique de ces structures anciennes. Les rétro-analyses réalisées ont conduit ainsi à considérer différentes situations de tunnels entrant dans un versant : tunnel entrant perpendiculairement dans le versant (tête de tunnel), tunnel oblique par rapport au versant, ou tunnel longeant le versant sous une faible couverture. Les pathologies identifiées dans la structure de ces ouvrages varient en fonction de ces situations. Dans cette thèse, différents mécanismes d'instabilités responsables de dommages récurrents ont été étudiés dans le cas d'un tunnel longeant un versant. Pour cela, une partie de la recherche s'est intéressée aux facteurs d'influence à travers une série d'approches numériques paramétriques. Certaines sont relatives à l'altitude du tunnel dans le versant et à sa distance par rapport à la surface libre du versant. Puis sont mis en évidence des facteurs d'influence relatifs aux caractéristiques géomorphologiques du versant et à son évolution naturelle ainsi que des facteurs relatifs à la méthode de construction de l'ouvrage. Dans une seconde partie, des rétro-analyses d'étude de cas ont permis de caractériser différents contextes d'interactions et les pathologies des tunnels anciens concernés. Des simulations numériques ont été réalisées afin d'illustrer le comportement de ces ouvrages et d'expliquer les pathologies identifiées. Enfin dans une troisième partie, une méthodologie d'analyse des différents contextes d'interaction entre tunnels anciens et versants instables a été établie, conduisant à redéfinir le concept de zone d'influence géotechnique dans ce type de situation. / Tunnels and unstable slopesABSTRACT: The slope instabilities are partly responsible for the appearance of disorders or reactivation of previous disorders in old shallow tunnel structures. However, it is necessary to understand what results from these interaction contexts and what is due solely to rheological aging of these old structures. Retro-analyzes have led to the consideration of different situations of tunnels entering a hillslope: tunnel entering a slope (tunnel head), tunnel oblique to the slope or shallow tunnel parallel to the slope. Identified pathologies of structures vary depending on these situations. In this thesis, different mechanisms responsible for damage to structures were studied in the case of a shallow tunnel parallel to a slope. For this, a part of the research has focused on the influence factors through a series of parametric numerical approaches. Some are related to the elevation of the tunnel in the slope and its distance from the free surface of the slope. Then are highlighted influencing factors related to geomorphological characteristics of the hillslope and its natural evolution as well as factors related to the construction method of the tunnel. In the second part, case study back-analyzes have characterized different contexts of interaction and pathologies of old tunnels concerned. Numerical simulations were performed to illustrate the behaviour of these structures and explain tunnel lining damages. Finally in the third part, a methodology for analyzing different contexts of interaction between old tunnels and unstable slopes has been established, leading to redefine the concept of geotechnical influenced zone in this situation.

No description available.

The influence of the recommended LRFD Guidelines for the seismic design of highway bridges in Virginia was investigated by analyzing two existing bridges. The first bridge has prestressed concrete girders and is located in the Richmond area. The second bridge has steel girders and is located in the Bristol area. The analysis procedure for both bridges is similar. First the material and section properties were calculated. Then the bridge was modeled in RISA 3D. Live and dead load were imposed on the bridge to calculate the cracked section properties of the bridge. The period of vibration of the bridge was also calculated. After the soil class of the bridge was determined, the design response spectrum curve of the bridge was drawn. The spectral acceleration obtained from the design spectrum curve was used to calculate the equivalent earthquake loads, which were applied to the superstructure of the bridge to obtain the earthquake load effects. Live and dead loads were also applied to get the live and dead load effects. The combined effects of the dead, live and earthquake loads were compared to the interaction diagram of the columns and moment strength of the columns. The details of the bridge design were also checked with the corresponding seismic design requirement.A parametric study was performed to explore the effects of different column heights and superstructure heights in different parts of Virginia. The column longitudinal reinforcing was increased to satisfy the bridge axial loads and moments that are not within the column interaction diagram. / Master of Science