Le Cycle Organique de Rankine (abrégé ORC de l’anglais Organic Rankine Cycle) est une technologie permettant la conversion de chaleur basse température en électricité. L’ORC transcritique a été identifié comme une solution prometteuse pour la valorisation de la chaleur fatale. Cependant, peu d’installations expérimentales ont permis de confirmer ces performances. Ce travail de thèse présente le fonctionnement et l’optimisation d’ORC sous-critique et transcritique pour la conversion de chaleur basse température en électricité à partir de différentes sources. Premièrement, les contextes thermodynamique et technologique de l’ORC sont présentés. Des critères de performance énergétiques et exergétiques sont définis et appliqués à une base de données d’installations expérimentales afin d’exposer l’état de l’art actuel des ORC. Deuxièmement, les outils numériques et expérimentaux, spécifiquement développés ou utilisé pour ces travaux, sont présentés. Trois installations expérimentales d’ORC transcritique complet ou incomplet fournissent les données expérimentales. Différents modèles numériques sont utilisés : sous l’environnement Matlab pour la modélisation en permanent, l’analyse des données expérimentales et l’analyse énergétique/exergétique ; L’environnement Modelica/Dymola pour l’analyse des transitoires et de la dynamique du système. Dans un troisième temps, ces différents outils sont utilisés pour étudier quatre différentes problématiques : - Le fonctionnement de la pompe de circulation est étudié, d’un point de vue énergétique et volumétrique. Des modèles semi-empiriques et des corrélations de performance sont présentés. - Les transferts thermiques en supercritique sont examinés, en local et en global. Les coefficients de transfert thermique sont comparés avec différentes corrélations de la littérature. - L’influence de la charge de réfrigérant sur les performances et le comportement de l’ORC est analysée. La charge optimale est estimée pour différentes conditions de fonctionnement et des mécanismes de régulation de la charge sont présentés. - Les performances énergétiques et exergétiques de l’ORC sont comparées avec la base de données. Une analyse exergétique du procédé a permis d’identifier des voies d’amélioration. / The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is a technology used for low-grade thermal energy conversion into electricity. Transcritical ORC has been identified as a solution for efficient waste heat recovery. However, few experimental tests have been conducted to confirm the interest of transcritical ORC and investigate its operational behaviors. The work presented focuses on the operation and the optimization of subcritical and transcritical Organic Rankine Cycles for low-grade heat conversion into electricity from various heat sources (solar, industrial waste heat). First, the thermodynamic framework of ORC technology is presented. Energetic and exergetic performance criteria, appropriate to each type of input source, are introduced and selected. The criteria are later applied to a database of ORC prototypes, in order to objectively analyze the state-of-the-art. In a second step, the experimental and numerical tools, specifically developed or used in the present thesis, are presented. Three subcritical and transcritical ORC test benches (hosted by CEA and AUA) provided experimental data. Numerical models were developed under different environments: Matlab for steady-state modeling, data processing and energy/exergy analysis. The Modelica/Dymola environment for system dynamics and transient operations. Lastly, the different tools are exploited to investigate four different topics: - The ORC pump operation is investigated, both under an energetic and volumetric standpoint, while semi-empirical models and correlations are exposed. - Supercritical heat transfers are explored. Global and local heat transfer coefficients are estimated and analyzed under supercritical conditions, while literature correlations are introduced for comparison. - Working fluid charge influence over the ORC performance and behavior is investigated. Optimal fluid charge is estimated under various operating conditions and mechanisms for charge active regulation are exposed. - ORC system performances and behavior are discussed. Through both an energetic and exergetic standpoint, performances are compared with the state-of-the-art, while optimization opportunities are identified through an exergetic analysis.

The numerics of hyperbolic conservation laws, e.g., the Euler equations of gas dynamics, shallow water equations and MHD equations, is non-trivial due to the convective terms being highly non-linear and equations being coupled. Many numerical methods have been developed to solve these equations, out of which central schemes and upwind schemes (such as Flux Vector Splitting methods, Riemann solvers, Kinetic Theory based Schemes, Relaxation Schemes etc.) are well known. The majority of the above mentioned schemes give rise to very dissipative solutions. In this thesis, we propose novel low dissipative numerical algorithms for some hyperbolic conservation laws representing fluid flows. Four different and independent numerical methods which give low diffusive solutions are developed and demonstrated. The first idea is to regulate the numerical diffusion in the existing dissipative schemes so that the smearing of solution is reduced. A diffusion regulator model is developed and used along with the existing methods, resulting in crisper shock solutions at almost no added computational cost. The diffusion regulator is a function of jump in Mach number across the interface of the finite volume and the average Mach number across the surface. The introduction of the diffusion regulator makes the diffusive parent schemes to be very accurate and the steady contact discontinuities are captured exactly. The model is demonstrated in improving the diffusive Local Lax-Friedrichs (LLF) (or Rusanov) method and a Kinetic Scheme. Even when employed together with accurate methods of Roe and Osher, improvement in solutions is demonstrated for multidimensional problems. The second method, a Central Upwind-Biased Scheme (CUBS), attempts to reorganize a central scheme such that information from irrelevant directions is largely reduced and the upwind biased information is retained. The diffusion co-efficient follows a new format unlike the use of maximum characteristic speed in the Local Lax-Friedrichs method and the scheme results in improved solutions of the flow features. The grid-aligned steady contacts are captured exactly with the reorganized format of diffusion co-efficient. The stability and positivity of the scheme are discussed and the procedure is demonstrated for its ability to capture all the features of solution for different flow problems. Another method proposed in this thesis, a Central Rankine-Hugoniot Solver, attempts to integrate more physics into the discretization procedure by enforcing a simplified Rankine-Hugoniot condition which describes the jumps and hence resolves steady discontinuities very accurately. Three different variants of the scheme, termed as the Method of Optimal Viscosity for Enhanced Resolution of Shocks (MOVERS), based on a single wave (MOVERS-1), multiple waves (MOVERS-n) and limiter based diffusion (MOVERS-L) are presented. The scheme is demonstrated for scalar Burgers equation and systems of conservation laws like Euler equations, ideal Magneto-hydrodynamics equations and shallow water equations. The new scheme uniformly improves the solutions of the Local Lax-Friedrichs scheme on which it is based and captures steady discontinuities either exactly or very accurately. A Grid-Free Central Solver, which does not require a grid structure but operates on any random distribution of points, is presented. The grid-free scheme is generic in discretization of spatial derivatives with the location of the mid-point between a point and its neighbor being used to define a relevant coefficient of numerical dissipation. A new central scheme based on convective-pressure splitting to solve for mid-point flux is proposed and many test problems are solved effectively. The Rankine-Hugoniot Solver, which is developed in this thesis, is also implemented in the grid-free framework and its utility is demonstrated. The numerical methods presented are solved in a finite volume framework, except for the Grid-Free Central Solver which is a generalized finite difference method. The algorithms developed are tested on problems represented by different systems of equations and for a wide variety of flow features. The methods presented in this thesis do not need any eigen-structure and complicated flux splittings, but can still capture discontinuities very accurately (sometimes exactly, when aligned with the grid lines), yielding low dissipative solutions. The thesis ends with a highlight on the importance of developing genuinely multidimensional schemes to obtain accurate solutions for multidimensional flows. The requirement of simpler discretization framework for such schemes is emphasized in order to match the efficacy of the popular dimensional splitting schemes.

Les travaux de recherche présentés visent, de manière générale, à répondre aux enjeux majeurs de gestion rationnelle et de maîtrise de l'énergie (transport et stockage de l'énergie thermique), à développer des solutions pertinentes et proposer des outils d'analyse thermodynamique pour la minimisation des impacts environnementaux induits par la transformation ou la conversion de l'énergie thermique. Les différentes thématiques développées s'articulent selon trois axes. Le premier volet concerne le développement d'outils d'analyse thermodynamique pour l'évaluation, la conception et l'optimisation de la qualité thermodynamique des procédés de transformation/conversion de l'énergie thermique. Le second volet est lié aux problématiques spécifiques des transformateurs thermochimiques, basés sur la gestion de la thermicité de réactions solide/gaz, en tenant compte des interactions existantes aux diverses échelles du procédé en fonction d'objectifs applicatifs fixés : choix et mise en œuvre du solide réactif, configuration optimale du réacteur S/G et sa gestion dynamique au cours du cycle. Cette approche est illustrée à travers diverses applications de finalité énergétique différente : la production pseudo-continue de chaleur et/ou de froid, la production de chaleur ou de froid de forte puissance instantanée, le rafraîchissement solaire pour l'habitat, la congélation solaire, le stockage de chaleur solaire de forte densité énergétique et de longue durée, le transport de chaleur ou de froid à longue distance. Le dernier volet de ces travaux concerne le développement de nouveaux procédés thermo-hydrauliques plus spécifiquement adaptés à la conversion énergie thermique/travail et dont le potentiel semble prometteur pour des applications de production d'électricité à partir d'énergie solaire ou de l'énergie thermique des mers, ou la production performante de froid/chaleur dans les véhicules automobiles.

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