[pt] Nos últimos anos, o considerável crescimento da demanda por outras fontes de energia justifica os investimentos realizados na construção de parques eólicos, pois a energia eólica tem se mostrado como a que traz o menor impacto ao meio ambiente. A energia eólica é gerada a partir da ação do vento, uma fonte de energia renovável, totalmente limpa e inesgotável. As torres eólicas são construídas em grandes parques com uma distância definida entre elas. Quanto mais altas são as torres eólicas, melhor é o desempenho delas, visto que temos o aproveitamento máximo do vento, sendo mais forte e menos turbulento em grandes alturas. Os materiais utilizados na fabricação das torres eólicas são basicamente o aço, o concreto armado e o concreto protendido. As torres na maioria dos casos, têm seção circular ou anular. No entanto, devemos atentar de maneira especial para a fundação da torre eólica, que deverá ser dimensionada e detalhada a fim de garantir a integridade da estrutura como um todo. Neste contexto, este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar os cálculos necessários para projetos preliminares e a verificação do dimensionamento da estrutura de fundação de geradores eólicos. Anteprojetos e projetos estruturais foram revisados e avaliados para a obtenção de um maior conhecimento sobre o funcionamento de tais elementos estruturais. Uma planilha foi criada a partir do programa Excel, na qual se efetuam os cálculos da respectiva fundação por meio de soluções analíticas. Para efeitos de comprovação da veracidade da planilha, alguns exemplos serão apresentados e calculados a partir da planilha criada, assim como verificados e comparados com a mesma através da modelagem da fundação em questão em programa de análise em elementos finitos. Aspectos de estabilidade e dinâmica de placas circulares também são discutidos. / [en] In recent years, considerable growth in demand for alternative energy sources justifies the investments made in the construction of wind farms, since wind energy appears to bring the least impact on the environment. Wind energy is generated from wind action, a source of renewable energy, totally clean and inexhaustible. Wind towers are built in huge parks with a defined distance between them. The higher the wind towers are, the better their performance, since we have the maximum use of the wind which is stronger and less turbulent at great heights. The materials used in the manufacture of wind towers are basically steel, reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete. The towers are usuallyin most cases, with circular or annular section. However, we should pay attention in a special way on the foundation of the wind tower, which should be designed and detailed to ensure the integrity of the structure as a whole. In this context, this dissertation aims to present the calculations required for the preliminary design or design verification of the foundation of wind turbines. Preliminary design and design evaluations were reviewed and evaluated to obtain a better understanding of the functioning of such structural elements. A spreadsheet was created using the Excel program, which performs the calculations of its foundation through analytical solutions. For the purpose of proving the accuracy of the worksheet results, some examples are presented and calculated from the created spreadsheet, and checked and compared to results obtained from an independent finite element analysis program. Stability and dynamics aspects of circular plates are also discussed.

We present a unified and self-contained treatment of rational Krylov methods for approximating the product of a function of a linear operator with a vector. With the help of general rational Krylov decompositions we reveal the connections between seemingly different approximation methods, such as the Rayleigh–Ritz or shift-and-invert method, and derive new methods, for example a restarted rational Krylov method and a related method based on rational interpolation in prescribed nodes. Various theorems known for polynomial Krylov spaces are generalized to the rational Krylov case. Computational issues, such as the computation of so-called matrix Rayleigh quotients or parallel variants of rational Arnoldi algorithms, are discussed. We also present novel estimates for the error arising from inexact linear system solves and the approximation error of the Rayleigh–Ritz method. Rational Krylov methods involve several parameters and we discuss their optimal choice by considering the underlying rational approximation problems. In particular, we present different classes of optimal parameters and collect formulas for the associated convergence rates. Often the parameters leading to best convergence rates are not optimal in terms of computation time required by the resulting rational Krylov method. We explain this observation and present new approaches for computing parameters that are preferable for computations. We give a heuristic explanation of superlinear convergence effects observed with the Rayleigh–Ritz method, utilizing a new theory of the convergence of rational Ritz values. All theoretical results are tested and illustrated by numerical examples. Numerous links to the historical and recent literature are included.

Les dispositifs DBD se répandent dans un grand nombre d’applications industrielles. Utilisés depuis plus de 150 ans pour la production d’ozone afin de décontaminer l’eau à grande échelle, ils ont depuis la fin du XXème siècle investi les domaines du traitement de surface polymère, du dépôt de couche mince sur substrat et de l’émission lumineuse pour la décontamination ainsi que la médecine. Ces dispositifs sont mis en oeuvre avec un générateur électrique dont les caractéristiques impactent fortement la qualité de la décharge. Ce travail s’inscrit en partie dans le cadre du développement d’une application de traitement de surface à pression atmosphérique. Il aborde la problématique de l’augmentation de la vitesse de dépôt de couche mince au travers des paramètres de l’alimentation électrique. Plus précisément, ce travail s’intéresse aux apports d’une alimentation en courant rectangulaire et aborde également les problématiques liées à la conception et à la fabrication de ce convertisseur. En particulier, une grande attention est portée sur l’étude du transformateur élévateur, car au travers de ses éléments parasites capacitifs, ce dernier peut limiter le transfert de puissance entre la source électrique et le dispositif DBD. Un deuxième aspect de cette étude consiste à entrevoir l’intérêt que revêtent deux convertisseurs statiques dédiés à l’alimentation de dispositifs DBD. Le premier consiste en une alimentation résonante en régime de conduction discontinue dont la particularité est de posséder trois degrés de liberté (fréquence, tension d’entrée et largeur d’impulsion), ce qui lui confère un intérêt exploratoire. Le second convertisseur consiste en une alimentation résonante haute tension et haute fréquence permettant l’éviction du transformateur élévateur, et mettant en oeuvre des interrupteurs au nitrure de gallium (GaN) afin d’atteindre une fréquence de fonctionnement supérieure au mega-Hertz avec un faible niveau de pertes. / DBD devices are widely used in industrial applications. 150 years ago, they were only employed in ozoners for water decontamination. In recent decades, the progress of knowledge and technology allowed to use them in many other applications like surface treatment, medical applications and light emission. Actually, these devices are supplied with an electrical source which parameters can strongly impact the discharge behaviour. An important part of this work comes within the framework of the development of an atmospheric pressure surface treatment involving DBDs. The issue of the influence of the generator's electrical parameters on the treatment speed is discussed. In particular, this work focuses on the merits of a rectangular shaped current source concerning the behavior of an atmospheric pressure discharge in nitrogen ; the problems related to the design and the fabrication of such a converter are highlighted. The design of the high voltage transformer is then described in detail since its lumped elements play an important role as they can strongly limit the power transfer between the electrical source and the DBD device. A second aspect of this work is to establish the interests of two particular power converters. The first one is a resonant converter operating in a discontinuous conduction mode ; its merits is to exhibit three degrees of freedom (input voltage, frequency, current pulse width) instead of two, which is a tremendous asset for exploring purposes. The second one is a high-frequency resonant converter where a resonant inductance and the DBD device structural capacitances are used instead of a high voltage transformer to perform the voltage amplification, which circumvents the issue related to the transformer parasitic elements. This converter is based on GaN HEMT switches in order to reach a low semiconductor losses level and a fairly high operating frequency (above the mega-Hertz).

No description available.

Magnetic fields influence the rate and/or yield of chemical reactions that proceed via spin correlated radical pair intermediates. The field of spin chemistry centres around the study of such magnetic field effects (MFEs). This thesis is particularly concerned with the effects of the weak magnetic fields B₀ ~ 1mT relevant in the ongoing debates on the mechanism by which animals sense the geomagnetic field and on the putative health effects of environmental electromagnetic fields. Relatively few previous studies have dealt with such weak magnetic fields. This thesis presents several new theoretical tools and applies them to interpret experimental measurements. Chapter 1 surveys the development and theory of spin chemistry. Chapter 2 introduces the use of Tikhonov and Maximum Entropy Regularisation methods as a new means of analysing MARY field effect data. These are applied to recover details of the diffusive motion of reacting pyrene and N,N-dimethylaniline radicals. Chapter 3 gives a fresh derivation and appraisal of an approximate, semiclassical approach to MFEs. Monte Carlo calculations allow the elucidation of several "rules of thumb" for interpreting MFE data. Chapter 4 discusses recent optically-detected zero-field EPR measurements, adapting the gamma-COMPUTE algorithm from solid state NMR for their interpretation. Chapter 5 explores the role of RF polarisation in producing MFEs. The breakdown in weak fields of the familiar rotating frame approximation is analysed. Chapter 6 reviews current knowledge and landmark experiments in the area of animal magnetoreception. The origins of the sensitivity of European robins Erithacus rubecula to the Earth’s magnetic field are given particular attention. In Chapter 7, Schulten and Ritz’s hypothesis that avian magnetoreception is founded on a radical pair mechanism (RPM) reaction is appraised through calculations in model systems. Chapter 8 introduces quantitative methods of analysing anisotropic magnetic field effects using spherical harmonics. Chapter 9 considers recent observations that European robins may sometimes be disoriented by minuscule RF fields. These are shown to be consistent with magnetoreception via a radical pair with no (effective) magnetic nuclei in one of the radicals.

No description available.

No description available.