Covariant density functional theory (CDFT) is one of the modern theoretical tools for the description of finite nuclei and neutron stars. Its performance is defined by underlying covariant energy density functionals (CEDFs) which depend on a number of parameters. Several investigations within the CDFT framework using the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (RHB) approach are discussed in this dissertation. Statistical errors in ground state observables and single-particle properties of spherical even-even nuclei and their propagation to the limits of nuclear landscape have been investigated in the covariant energy density functionals with nonlinear density dependency. The parametric correlations are studied in different classes of CEDFs; the elimination of these correlations reduces the number of independent parameters to five or six without affecting the performance of CEDFs on a global scale. Moreover, this study reveals the need to include information on deformed nuclei for the improvement of fitting protocols. A new technique for incorporating deformed nuclei data into the fitting protocol is described. Different CEDFs are optimized using this approach, resulting in a significant improvement in the nuclear mass description. A systematic investigation of the ground state and fission properties of even-even actinides and superheavy nuclei with proton numbers Z = 90 - 120 located between the two-proton and two-neutron drip lines has been performed. These results provide a necessary theoretical input for the modeling of the nuclear astrophysical rapid neutron capture process (r-process) taking place in the mergers of neutron stars. The state-of-the-art CEDFs, namely, DD-PC1, DD-ME2, NL3*, and PC-PK1, are employed in this study. Theoretical systematic uncertainties in the physical observables and their evolution as a function of proton and neutron numbers have been quantified and their major sources have been identified. The extension of the nuclear landscape to hyperheavy nuclei is investigated. The transition from ellipsoidal-like nuclear shapes to toroidal shapes is crucial for the potential expansion of the nuclear landscape to hyperheavy nuclei. The physical reasons for the stability of toroidal nuclei in the Z ~ 134 region are discussed.

Covariant density functional theory (CDFT) is a modern theoretical tool for the description of nuclear structure phenomena. Different physical observables of the ground and excited states in even-even nuclei have been studied within the CDFT framework employing three major classes of the state-of-the-art covariant energy density functionals. The global assessment of the accuracy of the description of the ground state properties and systematic theoretical uncertainties of atomic nuclei have been investigated. Large-scale axial relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (RHB) calculations are performed for all Z < 106 even-even nuclei between the two-proton and two-neutron drip lines. The sources of theoretical uncertainties in the prediction of the two-neutron drip line are analyzed in the framework of CDFT. We concentrate on single-particle and pairing properties as potential sources of these uncertainties. The major source of these uncertainties can be traced back to the differences in the underlying single-particle structure of the various CEDFs. A systematic search for axial octupole deformation in the actinides and superheavy nuclei with proton numbers Z = 88 - 126 and neutron numbers from two-proton drip line up to N = 210 has been performed in CDFT. The nuclei in the Z ~ 96, N ~ 196 region of octupole deformation have been investigated in detail and their systematic uncertainties have been quantified. The structure of superheavy nuclei has been reanalyzed with inclusion of quadrupole deformation. Theoretical uncertainties in the predictions of inner fission barrier heights in superheavy elements have been investigated in a systematic way. The correlations between global description of the ground state properties and nuclear matter properties have been studied. It was concluded that the strict enforcement of the constraints on the nuclear matter properties (NMP) defined in Ref. [1] will not necessary lead to the functionals with good description of ground state properties. The different aspects of the existence and stability of hyperheavy nuclei have been investigated. For the first time, we demonstrate the existence of three regions of spherical hyperheavy nuclei centered around (Z ~ 138, N ~ 230), (Z ~ 156, N ~ 310) and (Z ~ 174, N ~ 410) which are expected to be reasonably stable against spontaneous fission.

Ce travail vise à améliorer la compréhension et la modélisation de la rupture des matériaux métalliques à gradient de propriétés. L'application se fait sur des pignons en acier 20MnB5 carbonitrurés insérés dans un "recliner", mécanisme de sécurité des siègesautomobiles. Le traitement de carbonitruration consisteà enrichir en carbone et azote une couche externe despièces en les chauffant dans le domaine austénitiquedans une atmosphère riche en ces deux éléments. Puisles pièces sont trempées afin de déclencher unetransformation martensitique. On obtient ainsi unmatériau à gradient de propriétés, intéressant pour despièces de transmission de puissance comme lesengrenages. Ce projet a commencé par l’analyse de larupture de mécanismes de sièges en test industriel. Celaa confirmé le double comportement à rupture binaire dumatériau : fragile sur une couche externe, ductile àl’intérieur. Un banc d’essai, spécialement conçu pour ceprojet, soumet une dent à un effort latéral jusqu’àrupture complète. Des observations in situ sonteffectuées et la courbe force-déplacement estenregistrée, montrant la diversité de comportement enfonction de la profondeur d'engagement des dents et dela présence ou non de la couche carbonitrurée. Desessais de traction, de flexion 4 points et de cisaillementsur éprouvettes papillons sont utilisés pour mesurer lespropriétés plastiques et calibrer les critères de rupturede la couche carbonitrurée comme de l'acier de base. Laplasticité de Von Mises avec une loi d'écrouissagesimple rend très bien compte de tous ces essaismécaniques. Différents critères de rupture ductile issusde la littérature sont calibrés; ils ne parviennent pas àreprésenter correctement tous les essais réalisés.Un critère plus adapté est donc proposé enconclusion de cette campagne expérimentale. Lasimulation de la rupture dans LS-Dyna est réaliséeavec une technique d'érosion d'éléments dont leslimitations sont discutées. La comparaison avec larupture de dent expérimentale permet d'évaluer lescritères numériques identifiés et d'analyser leslimites actuelles de la simulation, en particulier lanécessité de prendre en compte plus finement àl'avenir le gradient de propriétés mécaniques ainsique les contraintes résiduelles de compression dela couche carbonitrurée. / This work aims at a better understanding and modeling of the failure of gradient metallic materials. It is applied to carbonitrided pinions made out of 20MnB5 steel, inserted in a "recliner", a safety mechanism of automotive seats. Carbonitriding induces high surface hardness while preserving significant core ductility. The experimental analysis of the fracture behavior of seat recliners in an industrial test confirmed the dual failure behavior of the component : brittle external layer, ductile core material. A test bench has been specifically designed for the project: one tooth is submitted to a lateral force until complete failure. In situ observations are performed and the load-displacement curve recorded, showing a variety of behaviors as a function of the teeth engagement depth and of the presence or not of the carbonitrided layer. Experimental tests with various tress states were conducted to measure plastic properties as well as to calibrate fracture criteria, for the carbonitrided layer and for the core steel. Von Mises plasticity and a simple strain hardening curve fit very well all these experiments. As fracture criteria from the literature were unable to predict failure correctly for all the mechanical tests, an adapted criterion has therefore been proposed as an outcome of this extensive mechanical testing campaign. Fracture simulation in LS Dyna has been performed using the element erosion technique, the limitations of which are discussed. Comparison with the experimental tooth fracture measurements allows evaluation of the proposed failure criteria, and enables to stress out and discuss the present limits of the simulation, concluding that it will be necessary in future work to account more finely for the mechanical property gradient together with the compressive residual stresses in the carbonitrided layer.

The industrial application of high strength steels in structural components has increased the demand on understanding the ductile failure behavior of this type of materials. In practical situations the loading experienced on components made out of these materials can be very complex, which may affect the failure behavior. The objective of this work is to study the effect of stress state on ductile failure and the mechanisms leading to rupture in high strength steels. The stress state is characterized by the stress triaxiality T and the Lode parameter L, which is a deviatoric stress state parameter that discriminates between axisymmetric or shear dominated stress states. For this purpose experiments on two different specimen configurations are performed; a double notched tube (DNT) specimen tested in combined tension and shear and a round notched bar (RNB) specimen tested in uniaxial tension. The two specimens give rise to different stress states at failure in terms of T and L. The failure loci for the DNT specimen show an abrupt change in ductility, indicating a transition between the rupture mechanisms necking of intervoid ligaments and shearing of intervoid ligaments. A clear difference in ductility between the two specimen configurations is also observed, which is closely associated with the difference in stress state at failure. A micromechanical model is developed, which assumes that ductile material failure occurs when the deformation becomes highly non-linear and localizes into a band. The model, which is applied to analyze the experiments, consists of a band with a square array of equally sized cells, with a spherical void located in the center of each cell. The model, extended with a shear criterion, captures the experimental trend rather well. The model also shows that the effect of the deviatoric stress state (L) on void growth, void shape evolution and coalescence is significant, especially at low levels of T and shear dominated stress state. / QC 20100621

The design techniques of the components on the macro level are established in the scientific community, however are far behind from the real material performance limits. To obtain those limits, the deeper understanding of the material structure is required. The methods of a new comonents production through standard alloying are the basis of the modern material science manufacturing. The design of the materials with expected required performance limits is the next conceptual step for the materials scientist. As results, to make this step, the problem of a precise material structure analyses on the microstructural level is one os the major importance for the next generation materials design. The complexity of the material structure across the scales(macro-micro) requires a new non deterministic methods for better understanding of the connectivity betwen a materials performance and material microstructure features. This work presents a various new research methodologies and techniques of the material microstructure characterization and numerical design with future applications to the anlyses of the material behavior. The focus of the particular research was to analyse a new cross correlation function of the material structure on the micro length scale and develop a novel framework which allows a better understanding of various important material phenomenas such as failure initiation and recrystallization.

Ces travaux portent sur l'étude expérimentale et numérique de la rupture de structures soudées soumises à des sollicitations pyrotechniques telles que celles subies par les véhicules militaires sur le champ de bataille. Ce travail de thèse présente le développement de modèles éléments finis détaillés (à l’échelle mésoscopique) permettant de reproduire le comportement de ces assemblages lorsqu’ils sont sollicités par ces sollicitations dynamiques. Ils prennent en compte la géométrie locale des cordons de soudure et les différents matériaux. Pour paramétrer ces modèles, il est nécessaire de caractériser la soudure à l’échelle des matériaux constitutifs de l’assemblage. Ainsi des essais de caractérisation de leur comportement mécanique sont menés en se basant sur les vitesses de déformation relevées sur des modèles éléments finis de véhicule : quasi-statique jusqu’à 1000s-1. Pour l’analyse de la rupture, une large plage de triaxialité des contraintes est couverte au travers d’essais dédiés. Pour chaque matériau, une loi de comportement et un critère de rupture ont été déterminés par analyse inverse et validés sur des grandeurs globales et locales. Afin d’étudier la pertinence des modèles mésoscopiques, des essais au canon à gaz sont réalisés sur des assemblages soudés élémentaires en L et en T. Ils permettent de reproduire les principaux modes de rupture observés sur les pièces réelles. In fine, les simulations corrèlent les essais en termes de mode et de seuil d’apparition de la rupture. Ceci valide les lois de comportement identifiées et la modélisation mésoscopique proposée. / Finite element modeling is commonly used to design armored vehicles and to evaluate the strength of the structure against mine explosion. This study investigates experimental and numerical failure of welded structures submitted to such dynamic loadings. The goal is to develop detailed finite element models at meso-scale that allow to predict the behavior and failure of welded joints at intermediate strain rates. These models must take into account the local properties of the welded joint as the geometries as the mechanical behavior of the constitutive materials. Experimental characterizations of the material behavior are led on tensile specimens from quasi-static loading up to 1000s-1. This strain rates range results from analysis on vehicle finite element models. Dedicated tests are also conducted to study the material failure on a large range of stress triaxiality values. For each constitutive material, the hardening and failure parameters are identified through a reverse engineering approach. To validate the meso-scale models, gas gun tests are led on basic L and T welded assemblies. Modes and thresholds of failure are correctly replicated thanks to these finite element models. This validates the identified material behavior laws and the proposed meso-scale modeling.

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Ce travail de thèse a été consacré à l'étude des noyaux avec quelques trous dans la fermeture de couche N = 82, qui présente une très riche variété d'excitations à hauts spins. La particularité de ces noyaux est la présence de coexistence de forme (sphérique et/ou triaxiale) à des spins très élevés. Durant ma thèse, j’ai analysé une expérience effectuée avec le multidétecteur Euroball à l’IPHC (Strasbourg) pour l'étude des états de haut spin dans le noyau ¹⁴¹Nd, peuplé en utilisant la réaction de fusion-évaporation : ⁹⁶Zr (⁴⁸Ca, 3n). Nous avons identifié plusieurs bandes à spin élevé et développé le schéma de niveaux jusqu'à une énergie d'excitation et spin de l’ordre de 19 MeV et 81/2⁻ respectivement, qui sont bien plus élevés par rapport à celui publié précédemment (9.4 MeV et 49/2h). Trois nouvelles bandes dipôlaires et trois nouvelles bandes rotationnelles quadrupolaires ont été identifiées. La séquence principale yrast a aussi été étendue jusqu’au spin 61/2⁻.Nous avons réalisé des calculs théoriques détaillés des bandes observées, en intégrant, pour la première fois, les résultats qu’on a obtenus par les modèles Cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky (CNS) et Tilted Axis Cranking (TAC). Une interprétation cohérente de la plupart des bandes observées a été réalisée, qui semblent être basées sur des minimas d’énergies presque sphérique pour les séquences principales, légèrement déformée pour les bandes dipoalires et triaxiale déformée pour les bandes quadrupolaires. La structure de niveau observée dans le noyau ¹⁴¹Nd révèle la capacité des noyaux avec quelques trous dans la fermeture de couche N = 82 à acquérir des formes différentes de tourner autour d'un axe principal ou d'un axe incliné par rapport au système de référence intrinsèque, comme dans le cas des noyaux ¹³⁸Nd et ¹⁴⁰Nd récemment étudiés par notre groupe. Tous ces résultats représentent donc un fort soutien à l'existence de la forme nucléaire triaxiale stable à hauts spins dans cette région de masse. / This PhD work was devoted to the study of exotic nuclear rotation and stable triaxiality at very high spin. In, nuclei with a few holes in the N = 82 shell closure, which exhibit a large variety of excitations at medium and high spins. The peculiar feature of these nuclei is the existence of coexisting shapes, spherical and triaxial, up to very high spins.During my PhD I analyzed an experiment performed with the Euroball multidetector at IPHC (Strasbourg) for the study of high-spin states in ¹⁴¹Nd populated using the ⁹⁶Zr (⁴⁸Ca, 3n) fusion-evaporation reaction. We have identified several high-spin bands and developed the level scheme up to an excitation energy and spin of 19 MeV and 81/2⁻ , respectively, which are much higher than previously published (9.4 MeV and 49⁄2 ℏ). Three new dipole bands and three new ΔI = 2 rotational bands have been identified. The main yrast sequence was extended up to spin 61/2⁻.A detailed interpretation of the observed bands was performed, for the first time, using theoretical calculations with Cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky (CNS) and the Tilted Axis Cranking (TAC) models. A consistent interpretation of most of the observed bands was realized. They appear to be based on nearly spherical for the main sequence, slightly deformed for the dipole bands and triaxially deformed minima for the ΔI = 2 bands. The observed level structure of ¹⁴¹Nd reveals the capability of the nuclei with a few holes in the N = 82 shell closure to acquire different shapes and to rotate around a principal or a tilted axis relative to the intrinsic reference system, as in the case of the ¹³⁸Nd and ¹⁴⁰Nd nuclei recently studied by our group.