Biofuel production from microalgal biomass offers a clean and sustainable liquid fuel alternative to fossil fuels. In addition, algae cultivation is advantageous over traditional biofuel feedstocks as (i) it does not compete with food production, (ii) it potentially has a much greater areal productivity, (iii) it does not require arable land, and (iv) it can use marginal sources of water not suitable for irrigation or drinking. However, current algae cultivation technologies suffer from (i) low solar energy conversion effiencies, (ii) large thermal fluctuations which negatively affect the productivity, and (iii) large evaporative losses which make the process highly water intensive. This thesis reports a numerical study that address these key issues of planktonic as well as benthic algal photobioreactor technologies. First, radiant energy transfer in planktonic algal photobioreactors containing cells with different levels of pigmentation was studied. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and its truncated chlorophyll antenna transformant tla1 were used as model organisms. Based on these simulations guidelines are derived for scaling the size and microorganism concentration of photobioreactors cultivating cells with different levels of pigmentation to achieve maximum photosynthetic productivity. To achieve this, the local irradiance obtained from the solution of the radiative transport equation (RTE) was coupled with the specific photosynthetic rates of the microorganisms to predict both the local and total photosynthetic rates in a photobioreactor. For irradiances less than 50 W/m2, the use of genetically modified strains with reduced pigmentation was shown to have negligible effect on increasing photobioreactor productivity. However, at irradiances up to 1000 W/m2, improvements of up to 30% were possible with cells having 63% less pigment concentration. It was determined that the ability of tla1 to transmit light deeper into the photobioreactor was the primary mechanism by which a photobioreactor using the modified strain can achieve greater productivity. Furthermore, it was determined photobioreactors using each strain have dead zones in which the local photosynthetic rate is negligible due to nearly complete light attenuation. These dead zones occur at local optical thicknesses greater than 169 and 275 in photobioreactors using the wild strain and the genetically modified strain, respectively. In addition, a thermal model of an algae biofilm photobioreactor was developed to assess the thermal fluctuations and evaporative loss rate of these novel photobioreactors under varying outdoor conditions. The model took into account air temperature, irradiance, relative humidity, and wind speed as inputs and computed the temperature and evaporative loss rate as a function of time and location in the photobioreactor. The model was run for a week-long period in each season using weather data from Memphis, TN. The range of the daily algae temperature variation was observed to be 13.2C, 12.4C, 12.8C, and 9.4C in the spring, summer, winter, and fall, respectively. Furthermore, without active cooling, the characteristic evaporative water loss from the system is approximately 6.3 L/m2-day, 7.0 L/m2-day, 4.9 L/m2-day, and 1.5 L/m2-day in the spring, summer, fall, and winter, respectively. / text

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Herein we present the development of a fluorescence-enhanced, frequency-domain radiative transport reconstruction system designed for small animal optical tomography. The system includes a time-dependent data acquisition instrument, a radiative transport based forward model for prediction of time-dependent propagation of photons in small, non-diffuse volumes, and an algorithm which utilizes the forward model to reconstruct fluorescent yields from air/tissue boundary measurements. The major components of the instrumentation include a charge coupled device camera, an image intensifier, signal generators, and an optical switch. Time-dependent data were obtained in the frequency-domain using homodyne techniques on phantoms with 0.2% to 3% intralipid solutions. Through collaboration with Transpire, Inc., a fluorescence-enhanced, frequency-domain, radiative transport equation (RTE) solver was developed. This solver incorporates the discrete ordinates, source iteration with diffusion synthetic acceleration, and linear discontinuous finite element differencing schemes, to predict accurately the fluence of excitation and emission photons in diffuse and transport limited systems. Additional techniques such as the first scattered distributed source method and integral transport theory are used to model the numerical apertures of fiber optic sources and detectors. The accuracy of the RTE solver was validated against diffusion and Monte Carlo predictions and experimental data. The comparisons were favorable in both the diffusion and transport limits, with average errors of the RTE predictions, as compared to experimental data, typically being less than 8% in amplitude and 7% in phase. These average errors are similar to those of the Monte Carlo and diffusion predictions. Synthetic data from a virtual mouse were used to demonstrate the feasibility of using the RTE solver for reconstructing fluorescent heterogeneities in small, non-diffuse volumes. The current version of the RTE solver limits the reconstruction to one iteration and the reconstruction of marginally diffuse, frequency-domain experimental data using RTE was not successful. Multiple iterations using a diffusion solver successfully reconstructed the fluorescent heterogeneities, indicating that, when available, multiple iterations of the RTE based solver should also reconstruct the heterogeneities.

Herein we present the development of a fluorescence-enhanced, frequency-domain radiative transport reconstruction system designed for small animal optical tomography. The system includes a time-dependent data acquisition instrument, a radiative transport based forward model for prediction of time-dependent propagation of photons in small, non-diffuse volumes, and an algorithm which utilizes the forward model to reconstruct fluorescent yields from air/tissue boundary measurements. The major components of the instrumentation include a charge coupled device camera, an image intensifier, signal generators, and an optical switch. Time-dependent data were obtained in the frequency-domain using homodyne techniques on phantoms with 0.2% to 3% intralipid solutions. Through collaboration with Transpire, Inc., a fluorescence-enhanced, frequency-domain, radiative transport equation (RTE) solver was developed. This solver incorporates the discrete ordinates, source iteration with diffusion synthetic acceleration, and linear discontinuous finite element differencing schemes, to predict accurately the fluence of excitation and emission photons in diffuse and transport limited systems. Additional techniques such as the first scattered distributed source method and integral transport theory are used to model the numerical apertures of fiber optic sources and detectors. The accuracy of the RTE solver was validated against diffusion and Monte Carlo predictions and experimental data. The comparisons were favorable in both the diffusion and transport limits, with average errors of the RTE predictions, as compared to experimental data, typically being less than 8% in amplitude and 7% in phase. These average errors are similar to those of the Monte Carlo and diffusion predictions. Synthetic data from a virtual mouse were used to demonstrate the feasibility of using the RTE solver for reconstructing fluorescent heterogeneities in small, non-diffuse volumes. The current version of the RTE solver limits the reconstruction to one iteration and the reconstruction of marginally diffuse, frequency-domain experimental data using RTE was not successful. Multiple iterations using a diffusion solver successfully reconstructed the fluorescent heterogeneities, indicating that, when available, multiple iterations of the RTE based solver should also reconstruct the heterogeneities.

De nombreuses études, aussi bien expérimentales que théoriques, ont été menées pour l'industrie électrique afin de comprendre et d'être capable de prédire les mécanismes intervenant lors d'une coupure électrique par arc. Ces études ont montré la grande diversité et complexité des phénomènes physiques et chimiques mis en œuvre. L'arc électrique créé juste après la séparation des contacts est poussé par les forces électromagnétiques vers une zone d'extinction. Durant son développement et sa propagation, l'énergie lui est fournie par effet Joule et est dissipée par différents modes de transfert thermique. Son expansion rapide induit des effets de compressibilité avec la propagation d'ondes de pression. Le rayonnement intense du plasma créé, ainsi que les phénomènes aux pieds des électrodes, induisent une ablation des parois qui change la composition chimique du milieu et rend plus complexe la modélisation de l'ensemble des phénomènes couplés par hydrodynamique, électromagnétisme, transferts thermiques et diffusion d'espèces chimiques en régime fortement instationnaire. Le rôle du transfert radiatif est primordial dans la mesure où, d'une part, il conditionne le champ de température et donc les propriétés de transport, notamment électriques, et, d'autre part, participe pour une grande part à la thermo-dégradation des parois.La modélisation de l'ensemble des phénomènes physico-chimiques a beaucoup progressé durant les vingt dernières années mais le calcul du transfert radiatif demeure un point bloquant dans l'avancement des méthodes de modélisation.En effet, le champ de rayonnement est caractérisé par une luminance qui dépend de la longueur d'onde, de la position spatiale, de la direction de propagation, ainsi que du temps au travers ici des variations des champs de température et de la composition chimique.La prise en compte rigoureuse de toutes ces dépendances demeure inaccessible à l'heure actuelle pour des simulations complètes d'extinction d'arc, en particulier à cause de la complexité des spectres d'émission et d'absorption des milieux plasmas. Le recours à des modèles approchés pour le traitement spectral et/ou pour les dépendances géométriques et directionnelles est nécessaire.Ce travail a été mené en collaboration entre le Laboratoire EM2C et la société Schneider Electric. Il fait suite à des travaux de collaboration antérieurs dont l'objectif était la détermination des propriétés radiatives fondamentales des plasmas d'arc (Thèse S. Chauveau).Le but principal du présent travail est de développer des modèles approchés mais précis, ainsi que des outils de simulation numérique avec différents degrés de finesse, pour le calcul du champ de puissance radiative et des flux pariétaux dans des chambres de coupure électrique basse tension. Les modèles et outils développés doivent être implémentés dans des codes de simulation hydrodynamique dédiés soit à des géométries bidimensionnelles simplifiées, soit à des géométries industrielles complexes et tridimensionnelles. Ces outils doivent Les études expérimentales menées sur des maquettes représentatives des dispositifs industriels montrent la présence de vapeurs plastiques et métalliques dues à l'ablation et à l'érosion des parois. La composition chimique change par ailleurs fortement avec le temps entre la naissance et l'extinction de l'arc électrique. Bien que les modèles développés ici puissent être adaptés à cette composition chimique complexe, nous supposerons tout le long de ce travail que le milieu gazeux est un plasma d'air à l'équilibre thermique et chimique local. / Non fourni.

Les techniques d'imagerie optique, dans la gamme de longueurs d'onde visible et proche infrarouge, permettent d'examiner très facilement les tissus biologiques de manière non invasive. Toutefois la forte diffusion des tissus biologiques limite fortement leur examen en profondeur. Examinés en rétrodiffusion (examen de la peau ou du col de l'uterus par exemple), non seulement les mesures sont polluées par la réflexion spéculaire, mais l'information sur la source volumique du signal est également perdue du fait de la forte diffusion. La prise en compte de la diffusion dans le modèle de propagation de la lumière permet d'évaluer cette distribution volumique du signal lumineux en fonction des propriétés optiques du milieu. Pour sophistiquer l'approche, nous introduisons un filtrage polarimétrique, basé sur l'utilisation de la lumière polarisée elliptiquement, particulièrement approprié à la géométrie de rétrodiffusion, permettant avant tout un sondage sélectif en profondeur tout en s'affranchissant de la réflexion spéculaire. Cette technique permet ainsi d'examiner les tissus à l'échelle mésoscopique (jusqu'à l'échelle du millimètre). / Optical imaging techniques using the visible and near-infrared wavelengths allow an easy and non-invasive way of analysing biological tissues. However, the high scattering of biological tissues significantly limits the depth of examination. Backscattering examination (of skin or of the cervix for example) shows not only that the measurements are polluted by mirror reflection, but also that information about the source of the signal is lost as a result of the high scattering. Including scattering in the light propagation model allows the evaluation of the volume distribution of the light signal as a function of the optical properties of the medium. In order to make the approach more sophisticated, we introduced a polarimetric filtering that uses elliptically polarised light. This is not only particularly appropriate for backscattering geometry, but also allows firstly to probe at selected depths and secondly to eliminate mirror reflection. Thus, this technique allows the examination of tissues at a mesoscopic scale (up to the milimeter scale).