The concept for a novel new antenna design is presented and investigated for application to ground penetrating radar (GPR). The proposed new antenna design is called the shielded magnetic bowtie antenna (MBA). As the name suggests, it is predominately constructed from a bowtie-shaped volume of magnetic material that is fed from the centre of the structure by a small magnetic loop antenna. This thesis develops the magnetic antenna concept and investigates its potential for GPR predominately through numerical modelling. However, a significant part of the investigation concentrates on validating the numerical modelling technique developed to study the shielded MBA by comparing the results with measurements obtained from a scale model constructed to operate in the watertank antenna test facility, a controlled environment for GPR antenna research. The broadband properties required for GPR antennas are achieved uniquely with the shielded MBA design by a combination of the antenna shape being defined in terms of angles and an inherent magnetic loss mechanism within the antenna material structure. The design also affords an intrinsically placed antenna shield that has the potential for mitigating problems typically experienced with shielding electric dipole antennas. Antenna shielding is an important consideration for GPR antenna designers, especially given the recent US government (FCC) changes that restrict radiated energy emissions within the regulated spectrum used by GPR systems. In addition to providing the intended directional radiation properties, the magnetic antenna shield also provides an elegant solution for a low-loss wideband balun, allowing the antenna to be effectively fed from an unbalanced coaxial transmission line. Other important aspects of the proposed design are discussed in relation to the requirements for GPR antennas. Numerical models of the magnetic antenna concept show encouraging bandwidth results. For example, from a simple comparison with an equivalent sized electric bowtie antenna model, the effective gain bandwidth of the magnetic antenna is found to be at least 3-octaves compared to approximately 2-octaves for the electric bowtie. The shielded magnetic antenna achieves a gain of approximately 2 dB, compared to 5 dB for the unshielded electric bowtie antenna. However, it is noted that the magnetic antenna models contain significantly more loss compared to the electric bowtie model. The shielded MBA design emerged from a theoretical investigation of electrically small GPR antennas, given that the initial thesis objective was to investigate ways of improving low frequency GPR antennas. In general, GPR systems are operated with electric dipole antennas, such as the electric bowtie. Interestingly, the electrically small antenna investigation revealed that only the small magnetic loop (i.e., magnetic dipole) antenna can be constructed to approach, arbitrarily closely, the fundamental bandwidth limit for small antennas. This surprising and counter intuitive result is shown to be theoretically achievable with the use of magnetic materials. For the small loop antenna, energy stored within the antenna structure can be avoided by filling the antenna sphere with a perfect magnetic material. This theoretical argument is discussed and supported by numerically modelled results. The electrically small antenna investigation presented in this thesis extends to include the influence that proximity to a lossy dielectric half-space has, on improving the antenna impedance bandwidth. This investigation is of general interest for GPR; it is performed numerically and supported by measurements conducted on an experimental loop antenna situated at various heights above the ground. These results provide support for the hypothesis that a magnetic antenna may experience less influence from near-field changes in the dielectric properties of the ground compared to the equivalent sized electric field antenna.

Le but de cette thèse est de développer des capteurs sur la base des tags RFID, des technologies et matériaux disponibles au Vietnam afin de contribuer à résoudre la problématique du contrôle de la qualité des produits alimentaires. En effet la technologie RFID s’est affirmée en importance pour ses applications dans de nombreux domaines. Dans ce contexte, l’identification des produits alimentaires expirés, sans les endommager, est une orientation de recherche très prometteuse. Un tag RFID UHF passif peut aussi être composé de plusieurs puces et plusieurs antennes, chaque couple puce/antenne conçu pour travailler sur un intervalle déterminé de valeur de permittivité. Donc, à partir de l’ensemble des permittivités définies pour chaque couple puce/antenne et les signaux réfléchis vers le lecteur, nous pourrons «mesurer» la permittivité de l’objet tracé. Ainsi la connaissance de la permittivité des aliments et la conception spécifique de l’antenne, nous développerons un tag capteur de type "multi puce/antenne" qui sera utilisé comme un capteur sans fil pour la détection de la qualité des aliments / In recent years, RFID technology has established itself in importance, particularly for applications in the civil sector. In this context, identification of expired products without damage is a very promising direction of research. However, the price of these sensors is still too high especially compared to living in Vietnam. A passive UHF RFID tag chip can include many antennae and many chips on a same substrate in which each pair of chip/antenna is designed to be activated on a determined interval value of permittivity. So from designed permittivities for each pair of chip/antenna and the reflected signals to the reader, we can define the value of permittivity of the object that is labelled with RFID tag. From the characterization of food permittivity and the background of antenna design, we developped a sensor tag "multi chip/antenna" to be used as a wireless sensor for the detection of food quality. The aim of this thesis intends to develop a new family of wireless sensors based on RFID technology and available technology of fabrication in Vietnam to solve this problem.

Avec l'explosion économique et démographique, le besoin en matériaux poreux tels que la nourriture, le bois ou la brique connait une croissance telle que leur commerce est très actif dans le monde entier. La déshydratation des milieux poreux étant l'une des plus importantes et stables méthodes pour leur préservation, il est parfois nécessaire d'utiliser cette méthode pour stocker, transporter et mieux utiliser ces matériaux. Depuis la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, il existe des méthodes de chauffage RF dans bien des domaines. Bien que beaucoup de nouvelles technologies de chauffage sont devenues extrêmement importantes du point de vue commercial et très largement utilisées, le chauffage RF est préféré aux autres moyens de chauffage pour plusieurs raisons: 1) le résultat est plus rapide, nécessitant un moindre temps pour atteindre la température désirée; 2) le chauffage radiofréquence peut être spatialement plus uniforme que les méthodes conventionnelles de chauffage; 3) le chauffage par radiofréquences peut être allumé ou éteint instantanément; 4) il est plus efficace pour un grand volume de nourriture; 5) l'investissement nécessaire est moindre, etc. Cependant on trouve très peu d'information sur le chauffage radiofréquence pour la déshydratation des matériaux poreux dans la littérature. Par conséquent, il est intéressant d'étudier les interactions entre les radiofréquences et les milieux poreux. Afin d'améliorer le taux d'énergie radiofréquence utilisé, cette thèse propose une cavité coaxiale pour étudier le cycle de chauffage radiofréquence d'une pomme de terre dans différents états : solide, liquide et gazeux. Dans un premier temps nous avons étudié les mécanismes de transport de masse et de chaleur dans le milieu poreux sans radiofréquence sur le modèle d'une brique 1D à l'aide d'un code Matlab. Les résultats de simulation ont été comparés qualitativement avec ceux du papier de référence. A partir de ce modèle, nous avons construit et simulé un modèle 2D axisymétrique avec le chauffage radiofréquence périodique d'une pomme de terre. L’équation de Landau et Lifshitz, Looyenga a été utilisées pour prédire le changement de permittivité effective dans la simulation car il est difficile d'obtenir une donnée précise pour un milieu poreux. La salinité de l'échantillon chauffé (qui est une caractéristique très importante) a été estimée. Les effets de différentes périodes, hauteurs de l'échantillon et puissances de la distribution en température ont été étudiés et analysés. Nous avons également mené des expériences similaires pour mesurer les changements de température durant le processus de chauffage. Tous les résultats de simulations sont comparés qualitativement avec les résultats mesurés. De même nous avons effectué des analyses de sensibilité et en avons conclu quelques suggestions concernant l'amélioration des effets du chauffage. A partir de ces suggestions, nous avons proposé un nouveau modèle de chauffage radiofréquence afin de s'affranchir des défauts du modèle précédent. / With the rapid growth of economic and population explosion, the demands for porous media such as foods, woods and bricks enlarge so wildly that their trades are busy around the world. To be stored, transported and utilized better, dehydration of porous media is necessary since drying is one of the most important and stable methods for preserving materials. After World War two, possible RF heating in many domains was suggested. Even though a lot of novel heating technologies have become extremely commercially important and been widely used, RF heating is preferred to the other heating means for several significant reasons: 1) it is rapid and requires less time to come up to the desired process temperature; 2) radio frequency heating may be relatively spatially more uniform than conventional heating; 3) radio frequency heating systems can be turned on or off instantly; 4) it is better for large, thick food; 5) it requires lower investment costs, and so on. However, little information on radio frequency heating for commercial drying of porous media is available in the published literature. Therefore, it will be interesting to research the interaction between RF and porous media. This thesis, to improve the use ratio of RF energy further, proposed a coaxial cell to research RF cycling heating potato with different phases: solid, liquid and gas. The mechanism of mass and heat transport in the porous media without RF energy was studied first by solving the governing equations of 1D brick model with Matlab codes. The calculated results compared qualitatively with those in the reference paper. Based on that model, an axisymmetric 2D model with periodically RF heating potato was built and simulated. Landau and Lifshitz, Looyenga equation was employed to predict the effective permittivity change in the simulation since it is difficult to get the accurate measurement data of porous media. The salinity of heated sample- a very important parameter of the mixing rule-was estimated. The effects of different process period, variation of height of sample and power on the temperature distributions were studied and analyzed. Corresponding experiments were also conducted to measure the temperature change during the heating process. All the simulated results compared qualitatively with the measured ones. Sensitivity analysis was also done and some suggestions on the improvement of heating effect were concluded. Based on the suggestions, a new RF heating model was proposed to overcome the drawbacks of our previous model.

Two-phase flow in porous media is an important subsurface process that has significant impacts on the global economy and environments. To study two-phase system in porous media, capillary pressure (Pc ), relative permeability (Kr), bulk electrical conductivity (σb) and bulk relative permittivity (εb) are often employed as characterization parameters. Interestingly, all of these parameters are functions of water saturation (S). However, the non-uniqueness in the Pc -S, Kr-S,σb-S and εb-S relationships pose considerable challenges in employing them for effective monitoring and control of the two-phase flow processes. In this work, laboratory scale experiments and numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the factors and conditions contributing to the non-uniqueness in the above relationships for silicone oil-water and supercritical CO2-water flow in porous media, with a special emphasis on geological carbon sequestration. Specifically, the dynamic capillary pressure effect, which indicates the dependence of the Pc - S relationship on the rate of change of saturation (αS/αt) during two-phase flow in porous media was investigated. Using a silicone oil-water system, the dynamic capillary pressure effect was quantified in term of the parameter named the dynamic coefficient, τ , and it was found to be dependent on the domain scale and the viscosity ratio of the two fluids. It was found that τ increases with the domain scale and the viscosity ratio. It is inversely affected by αS αt , which is related to the degree of resistance to the fluid motion, namely, viscosity. In almost all cases, τ was found to decrease monotonically with an increase in water saturation, S. An order increase in magnitude of τ was observed as the domain scale increases from 4cm scale to 8cm in height. A similar order of increase in τ was observed in the 12cm high domain scale. There is an order increase in the value of τ for the silicone oilwater system as the viscosity ratio increases from 200 to 500. For the supercritical CO2 (scCO2) and water system in porous media, the experiments and numerical simulations showed that τ increases with rising system temperature and decreasing porous media permeability. Dimensionless analysis of the silicone oil-water experimental results showed that by constructing non-dimensional groups of quantities expressing a relationship among different variables on which τ depends, it is possible to summarise the experimental results and determine their functional relationship. A generalised scaling relationship for τ was derived from the dimensionless analysis which was then validated against independent literature data. The exercise showed that the τ-S relationship obtained from the literature and the ii scaling relationship match reasonably well. This work also demonstrated the applicability of an artificial neural network (ANN) as an alternative computational platform for the prediction of the domain scale dependence of τ . The dependence of the Kr-S relationship on αS/αt was also investigated. The results showed that the Kr-S curve under dynamic flow condition is different from that under the quasi-static condition. Kr for water (Krw) increases with increasing water saturation and decreases with the increase in viscosity ratio while Kr for silicone oil (Krnw) increases with decreasing water saturation as well as with the increase in viscosity ratio. Also, Krw decreases while Krnw increases with the increasing boundary pressure. However, the εb-S and σb-S relationships were found to be independent of αS/αt for the scCO2-water system in carbonate and silicate porous media. Nevertheless, the εb and σb values decrease as the water saturation decreases in the two porous media samples. While εb decreases with increase in temperature in silica sand, the trend in the limestone showed a slight increase with temperature, especially at high water saturation. Also, the εb-S relationship is shown to be affected by pressure in silica sand increasing with the pressure of the domain. On the contrary, the σb-S relationship increases as the temperature increases with more significance at higher water saturation in the silica sand sample. This work further demonstrated the application of a membrane in the monitoring of the CO2 in geological sites used for carbon sequestration. Commercial silicone rubber coupled with a pressure transducer showed potential in the detection of CO2 leakage from geological sites. The response of the device in terms of the mass of permeated gas, permeability and gas flux were investigated for both CO2 and N2. In addition, the monitoring of potable water contamination in a shallow aquifer by the migrating or leaking of CO2 is demonstrated with the combination of the pH analysis, geoelectrical measurement techniques and the membrane-sensor system. Overall, the work in this PhD research demonstrated robust applications of two-phase systems'characterization parameters under different scenarios in the porous media. Implications of the findings in this work to the monitoring and control of two-phase systems in porous media are expatiated.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:54:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DaviBB_DISSERT_1-70.pdf: 4567680 bytes, checksum: 150ff5afc1806ca374278b4c00a1f5a3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-06 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Metamaterials exhibiting negative refraction have attracted a great amount of attention in recent years mostly due to their exquisite electromagnetic properties. These materials are artificial structures that exhibit characteristics not found in nature. It is possible to obtain a metamaterial by combining artificial structures periodically. We investigated the unique properties of Split Ring Resonators, High impedance Surfaces and Frequency Selective Surfaces and composite metamaterials. We have successfully demonstrated the practical use of these structures in antennas and circuits. We experimentally confirmed that composite metamaterial can improve the performance of the structures considered in this thesis, at the frequencies where electromagnetic band gap transmission takes place

Submitted by Marco Antonio Oliveira da Silva (maosilva@ipen.br) on 2016-12-21T16:28:43Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-21T16:28:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / O titanato de estrôncio (SrTiO3) possui estrutura cristalina do tipo perovsquita. Materiais com este tipo de estrutura são utilizados para diversas aplicações, tais como, sensores, atuadores, em células a combustível de óxido sólido, entre outros. Devido as suas interessantes propriedades físicas, o SrTiO3 vem sendo intensamente estudado, em especial com a introdução de dopantes. Portanto, neste trabalho foi investigada a influência de diferentes teores de Ca (1; 2,5 e 5% mol) e Pr (0,025; 0,050; 0,075 e 1% mol) na microestrutura e propriedades elétricas e dielétricas do SrTiO3, assim como o material sem aditivos (puro). Os resultados mostram que após a sinterização do SrTiO3 puro, a microestrutura consiste de grãos poligonais com tamanho médio micrométrico, além de texturas lisas e rugosas. A condutividade elétrica das amostras sintetizadas sinterizadas a 1450 e 1500ºC é máxima para 2 horas de patamar. Apenas as amostras de SrTiO3 contendo 1% em mol de Ca apresentam fase única. O tamanho médio de grãos das amostras contendo 1% em mol de Ca é 10,65 ± 0,28 µm e para teores acima deste valor ocorre crescimento significativo dos grãos. As medidas de condutividade elétrica mostraram que as amostras contendo a adição de 1% em mol de Ca possuem maior condutividade dos grãos em relação ao material puro. Para as amostras contendo teores de até 0,075% mol de Pr, pode-se observar alguns grãos lisos e outros rugosos e não há variação considerável do tamanho médio de grãos. As amostras contendo menor teor de Pr (0,025% mol) apresentam maior condutividade dos grãos e contornos de grãos. As amostras de SrTiO3 sintetizado sinterizadas a 1450ºC/10 h apresentaram permissividade elétrica colossal em temperatura ambiente em altas frequências. / Dissertação (Mestrado em Tecnologia Nuclear) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Les matériaux absorbants des ondes électromagnétiques sont des éléments importants pour l'évaluation de nombreux systèmes électroniques militaires mais également civils. Ces matériaux sont utilisés, par exemple, pour la réduction des interférences électromagnétiques (EMI) dans divers composants sans fils, la réduction de la surface équivalente radar (SER) ou comme absorbants à l'intérieur des chambres de mesures. C’est cette dernière application qui est visée par les travaux de cette thèse. L’objectif de mes travaux de thèse est d’optimiser des matériaux absorbants utilisés dans les chambres anéchoïques. La géométrie et la composition du matériau absorbant sont les deux paramètres qui influencent la capacité d’absorption de l’onde électromagnétique par un matériau. Ce seront donc les deux pistes d’optimisation explorés durant cette thèse. Notre but est d’obtenir les absorbants présentant les plus faibles coefficients de réflexion et de transmission, soit une absorption élevée, ceci dans une large bande de fréquence. / The electromagnetic absorber materials are important elements for evaluating various electronic and civil systems. These materials are used, for example, for minimizing electromagnetic interferences (EMI) in different wireless components, for minimizing the radar cross section (RCS) or for usage in anechoic chambers. The latter application is the targeted work in this thesis. The objective of this work is to optimize the absorber materials used in anechoic chambers. The geometry and the material composition are the two parameters that influence the absorption of the electromagnetic wave inside the material itself. This are the two topics of optimization explored in this thesis. Our objective is to obtain material absorbers that have low reflection and transmission coefficients and high absorption in a large frequency band.

Presented master's thesis is focused on studying electroinsulating epoxy resin-based sealings. It describes the chemical composition, production, properties and measuring methods of basic electric quantities of these materials. The aim of the thesis is to compare several sets of samples of composite epoxy resins with different kinds of micro-ground siliceous sand as a filling. The temperature and frequency dependence of relative permittivity, dissipation factor and inner resistivity are measured for given samples.

Polymer nanofibers used for the construction of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) are new and promising technologies for energy recovery. Thanks to the generation of electrical energy based on mechanical movement (deformation), these fibers can find application in the field of self-powered electronic devices. In this work, three nanofibrous structures of materials were prepared by electrostatic spinning: pure polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), pure polyamide-6 (PA6) and their mixed combination PVDF / PA6. Non-destructive analyzes such as Raman spectroscopy, FTIR, XPS and electron microscopy were used to study the properties of nanofibers. Analyzes confirmed the positive effect of electrostatic spinning of polymers on the support of the formation of highly polar crystalline -phase in PVDF and , -phase in PA6. The structure arrangement of the nanofibrous material and their defects were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, the contact angle of the wettability of the liquid on the surface was measured for the materials, and the permittivity was measured to monitor the dielectric properties. The described results make the mixed material PVDF / PA6 very promising for further research in the field of nanogenerators and functional textiles.

The presented diploma thesis deals with the preparation of perovskite single crystals by inverse thermal crystallization and subsequent study of the basic properties of these hybrid organic-inorganic materials that can be used in various optoelectronic (photodetectors, transistors, lasers, LEDs) or photovoltaic applications. Their behavior in the electric field was studied by impedance spectroscopy. Impedance and capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics (frequency dependences) were measured in the dark and in the light. From the impedance dependences for measurements at 0 V voltage in the dark, the equivalent circuit was modeled and its parameters and dielectric constant were determined. From the C-V dependence, Mott-Schottky analysis determined the parameters – "flat-band" potential U_"fb" and charge carrier density N_"C-V" , the parameter – the so-called Warburg coefficient was found, which together with the parameter N_"C-V" was used to calculate the diffusion coefficient D.