The research detailed in this thesis was focused on developing an experimental testing system to characterize the non-dimensional performance coefficients of horizontal axis kinetic turbines, including both wind turbines and tidal turbines. The testing rig was designed for use in a water tunnel with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) wake survey equipment to quantify the wake structures. Precision rotor torque measurement and speed control was included, along with the ability to yaw the rotor. The scale of the rotors were purposefully small, to enable rapid-prototyping techniques to be used to produce many different test rotors at low cost to furnish a large experimental dataset. The first part of this work introduces the mechanical design of the testing rig developed for measuring the output power of the scaled rotor models with consideration for the requirements imposed by the PIV wake measurements. The task was to design a rig to fit into an existing water tunnel facility with a cross sectional area of 45 by 45 cm, with a rotor support structure to minimize the flow disturbance while allowing for yawed inflow conditions. A rig with a nominal rotor diameter of 15 cm was designed and built. The size of the rotor was determined by studying the fluid similarities between wind and tidal turbines, and choosing the tip speed ratio as a scaling parameter. In order to maximize the local blade Reynolds number, and to obtain different tip speed ratios, the rig allows a rotational speed in the range of 500 to 1500 RPM with accurate rotor angular position measurements. Rotor torque measurements enable rotor mechanical power to be calculated from simulation results. Additionally, it is included in this section a description of the instrumentation for measurement and the data acquisition system. It was known from the outset that measurements obtained in the experiments would be subject to error due to blockage effects inherent to bounded testing facilities. Thus, the second part of this work was dedicated to developing a novel Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methodology to post-process the experimental data acquired. This approach utilizes the velocity field data at the rotor plane obtained from the water tunnel PIV test data, and CFD simulations based on the actuator disk concept to account for blockage without the requirement for thrust data which would have been unreliable at the low forces encountered in the tests. Finally, the third part of this work describes the practical aspects of the laboratory project, including a description of the operational conditions for turbine testing. A set of preliminary measurements and results are presented, followed by conclusions and recommendations for future work. Unfortunately, the water tunnel PIV system was broken and thus unavailable for more than a year, so only mechanical measurements were possible with the rig during the course of this thesis work. / Graduate

This research investigates possible monitoring methods to non-invasively detect blockages in the cyclone of milk powder spray driers to avoid costly production shutdowns. Two possible solutions have been identified. These are guided wave and vibration analysis. This research focuses on vibration analysis method, based on variation in the natural frequencies and/or damping ratios caused by blockages. Experimental simulation studies the performance to assess the viability of the vibration analysis method in identifying blockage in the cyclone. To test this method, a 1.87m long vertical cylindrical steel tube with both ends simply supported was setup as a prototype and flour was used as the powder conveyed by the tube. Analytical, numerical and experimental methods were implemented on the prototype using vibration analysis techniques. Experimental resonant frequencies of the empty shell from the impact hammer excitation were compared with analytical and numerical solutions to analyse the modal shapes. The first bending mode was determined as 79 Hz, which decreased with the amount of added mass and location closer to the middle point. This was validated by the simulated mass experiment, which also matched with the beam-mass theory. Flour induced experiment further validated the variation of the first bending mode. Experimental 270Hz, 380Hz and 398Hz resonant frequencies increased with the amount of added mass, which was validated by the simulated mass and flour induced experiment. Besides the variation of the natural frequencies, the damping ratio was also studied and quantified using the Hilbert transform envelope curve method. Onsite monitoring of the vibration of the cyclone in a spray dryer was done at Fonterra Te Rapa and clear resonant frequencies were obtained. The research results from the prototype demonstrate that vibration analysis as a non-destructive method to detect the milk powder deposition or blockage in the cyclone is possible and promising. However, more work is required before industry application.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / Balasubramaniam Natarajan / Triggered by the popularity of smart devices, wireless traffic volume and device connectivity have been growing exponentially during recent years. The next generation of wireless networks, i.e., 5G, is a promising solution to satisfy the increasing data demand through combination of key enabling technologies such as deployment of a high density of access points (APs), referred to as ultra-densification, and utilization of a large amount of bandwidth in millimeter wave (mmWave) bands. However, due to unfavorable propagation characteristics, this portion of spectrum has been under-utilized. As a solution, large antenna arrays that coherently direct the beams will help overcome the hostile characteristics of mmWave signals. Building networks of directional antennas has given rise to many challenges in wireless communication design. One of the main challenges is how to incorporate 5G technology into current networks and design uniform structures that bring about higher network performance and quality of service. In addition, the other factor that can be severely impacted is interference behavior. This is basically due to the fact that, narrow beams are highly vulnerable to obstacles in the environment. Motivated by these factors, the present dissertation addresses some key challenges associated with the utilization of mmWave signals. As a first step towards this objective, we first propose a framework of how 5G mmWave access points can be integrated into the current wireless structures and offer higher data rates. The related resource sharing problem has been also proposed and solved, within such a framework. Secondly, to better understand and quantify the interference behavior, we propose interference models for mmWave networks with directional beams for both large scale and finite-sized network dimension. The interference model is based on our proposed blockage model which captures the average number of obstacles that cause a complete link blockage, given a specific signal beamwidth. The main insight from our analysis shows that considering the effect of blockages leads to a different interference profile. Furthermore, we investigate how to model interference considering not only physical layer specifications but also upper layers constraints. In fact, upper network layers, such as medium access control (MAC) protocol controls the number of terminals transmitting simultaneously and how resources are shared among them, which in turn impacts the interference power level. An interesting result from this analysis is that, from the receiving terminal standpoint, even in mmWave networks with directional signals and high attenuation effects, we still need to maintain some sort of sensing where all terminals are not allowed to transmit their packets, simultaneously. The level of such sensing depends on the terminal density. Lastly, we provide a framework to detect the network regime and its relation to various key deployment parameters, leveraging the proposed interference and blockage models. Such regime detection is important from a network management and design perspective. Based on our finding, mmWave networks can exhibit either an interference-limited regime or a noise-limited regime, depending on various factors such as access point density, blockage density, signal beamwidth, etc.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo experimental do efeito da razão de bloqueio em um canal aerodinâmico no Número de Strouhal e o fenômeno da biestabilidade. É estudado o escoamento turbulento sobre um cilindro e também sobre dois cilindros dispostos lado a lado, onde fez-se uso de cilindros de vários diâmetros a fim de variar a razão de bloqueio no canal. Dois tipos de espaçamento entre os tubos são estudados. A técnica experimental consiste na medição de flutuações de velocidades em um canal aerodinâmico utilizando a técnica de anemometria de fio quente. Os dados obtidos da medição no canal aerodinâmico são tratados com o uso de ferramentas estatísticas, espectrais e de ondaletas. Para um cilindro, os resultados confirmam o aumento do número de Strouhal com o aumento da razão de bloqueio, na faixa do número de Reynolds utilizada. Razões de bloqueio mais baixas podem acarretar diminuição do número de Strouhal, também em função do número de Reynolds. Os resultados confirmam a existência do fenômeno da biestabilidade no escoamento sobre dois cilindros dispostos lado a lado, assim como a influência da razão de bloqueio sobre o fenômeno, sendo mais predominante em um dos espaçamentos estudados. Para razões de bloqueio altas, o fenômeno da biestabilidade pode não ocorrer ou pouco ocorre. Para razões de bloqueio mais baixas podemos ter também a não ocorrência do fenômeno em função das dimensões dos tubos serem mais reduzidas, fazendo com que a captação do fenômeno também seja reduzida. / This paper presents an experimental study of the effect of blockage ratio in a aerodynamic channel on Strouhal number and the bistability phenomenon. It studied the turbulent flow around a single cylinder and also on two cylinders arranged side-by-side, where use has been made of cylinders of various diameters to vary the blockage ratio of the channel. Two types of pitch to diameter ratio are studied. The experimental technique consists of measuring velocity fluctuations in aerodynamic channel using the technique of hot-wire anemometry. The data obtained from measuring the aerodynamic channel are treated with the use of statistical tools, spectral and wavelet analysis. For a single cylinder, the results confirm the increase of the Strouhal number with increasing blockage ratio in the range of Reynolds number used. Lower blockage ratio can cause a decrease of the Strouhal number, also a function of Reynolds number. The results confirm the existence of the bistability phenomenon in the flow on two cylinders arranged side-by-side, as well as the influence of blockage ratio on the phenomenon, being more predominant in one of the row spacings. For higher blockage ratios, the bistability phenomenon may not occur or occurs shortly. For lower blockage ratio, due to the smaller dimensions of the tubes the phenomenon may not occur on the capture of the phenomenon is also reduced with the present experimental technique.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo experimental do efeito da razão de bloqueio em um canal aerodinâmico no Número de Strouhal e o fenômeno da biestabilidade. É estudado o escoamento turbulento sobre um cilindro e também sobre dois cilindros dispostos lado a lado, onde fez-se uso de cilindros de vários diâmetros a fim de variar a razão de bloqueio no canal. Dois tipos de espaçamento entre os tubos são estudados. A técnica experimental consiste na medição de flutuações de velocidades em um canal aerodinâmico utilizando a técnica de anemometria de fio quente. Os dados obtidos da medição no canal aerodinâmico são tratados com o uso de ferramentas estatísticas, espectrais e de ondaletas. Para um cilindro, os resultados confirmam o aumento do número de Strouhal com o aumento da razão de bloqueio, na faixa do número de Reynolds utilizada. Razões de bloqueio mais baixas podem acarretar diminuição do número de Strouhal, também em função do número de Reynolds. Os resultados confirmam a existência do fenômeno da biestabilidade no escoamento sobre dois cilindros dispostos lado a lado, assim como a influência da razão de bloqueio sobre o fenômeno, sendo mais predominante em um dos espaçamentos estudados. Para razões de bloqueio altas, o fenômeno da biestabilidade pode não ocorrer ou pouco ocorre. Para razões de bloqueio mais baixas podemos ter também a não ocorrência do fenômeno em função das dimensões dos tubos serem mais reduzidas, fazendo com que a captação do fenômeno também seja reduzida. / This paper presents an experimental study of the effect of blockage ratio in a aerodynamic channel on Strouhal number and the bistability phenomenon. It studied the turbulent flow around a single cylinder and also on two cylinders arranged side-by-side, where use has been made of cylinders of various diameters to vary the blockage ratio of the channel. Two types of pitch to diameter ratio are studied. The experimental technique consists of measuring velocity fluctuations in aerodynamic channel using the technique of hot-wire anemometry. The data obtained from measuring the aerodynamic channel are treated with the use of statistical tools, spectral and wavelet analysis. For a single cylinder, the results confirm the increase of the Strouhal number with increasing blockage ratio in the range of Reynolds number used. Lower blockage ratio can cause a decrease of the Strouhal number, also a function of Reynolds number. The results confirm the existence of the bistability phenomenon in the flow on two cylinders arranged side-by-side, as well as the influence of blockage ratio on the phenomenon, being more predominant in one of the row spacings. For higher blockage ratios, the bistability phenomenon may not occur or occurs shortly. For lower blockage ratio, due to the smaller dimensions of the tubes the phenomenon may not occur on the capture of the phenomenon is also reduced with the present experimental technique.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de NÃvel Superior / A constÃncia dos ventos brasileiros, e a necessidade de amenizar a demanda das grandes cidades encontraram na energia eÃlica uma forte parceira. Como uma alternativa na produÃÃo de energia elÃtrica, condomÃnios e prÃdios modernos, alÃm de algumas aplicaÃÃes rurais, tÃm recorrido Ãs turbinas eÃlicas de pequeno porte como uma alternativa para sanar suas necessidades. Contudo, a maioria da tecnologia encontrada no mercado à importada e nÃo foi desenvolvida exclusivamente para aplicaÃÃes no Brasil. A ferramenta mais importante na aerodinÃmica experimental à o tÃnel de vento. Experimentos controlados em escala fornecem um grande nÃmero de dados confiÃveis, alÃm de fornecer seguranÃa a quem o manuseia. Dada a sua importÃncia, este trabalho tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento, a prototipagem, e conhecer o comportamento de um rotor de turbina eÃlica em escala sujeito a testes em tÃnel de vento e comparar os resultados obtidos com os presentes na literatura para um protÃtipo em escala real. Para tanto, faz necessÃrio o uso de tÃcnicas de correÃÃo de efeitos de bloqueio de tÃnel de vento. Foi projetado e fabricado 4 conjuntos de rotores com valores de velocidade especÃfica de ponta de 6 atà 9 (λp=6, 7, 8 e 9). Os testes foram conduzidos em um tÃnel de vento onde foram coletados dados de velocidade de escoamento livre, velocidade de escoamento com a turbina em operaÃÃo, alÃm de medidas de velocidade angular e torque gerado pelas pÃs, com a finalidade de conhecer a curva de potÃncia de cada rotor. Foi observado que em situaÃÃes de escoamento em que as rotaÃÃes nÃo sejam representativas (o suficiente para atingir valores superiores ao intervalo de λ entre 3 e 5,6), indica-se um projeto com λp=6. Jà em situaÃÃes nas quais os valores de λ oscilam entre 4,7 e 7,3, λp=7 mostrou-se mais eficiente. Jà λp=9 mostrou-se nÃo vantajoso em comparaÃÃo aos demais projetos. Ao comparar os dados obtidos neste trabalho com os da literatura e do BEM, pode-se afirmar que o estudo de turbinas eÃlicas em tÃnel de vento à bastante confiÃvel. / The constancy of Brazilian winds and the need to mitigate the demand of large cities have found in wind energy a strong partner. As an alternative for the production of electrical power, modern buildings and condominiums, plus some rural applications, have resorted to small wind turbines as an alternative to solve your needs. However, most of the technology found in the market is imported and has not been developed exclusively for applications in Brazil. The most important tool in experimental aerodynamics is the wind tunnel. Scale controlled experiments provide a large number of reliable data, besides providing security to those who handle. Given its importance, this paper aims at the development, prototyping, and understands the behavior of a wind turbine rotor scale subjected to wind tunnel tests and compares the results with those in the literature for a prototype scale real. Therefore, it required the use of correction techniques blockage effects of the wind tunnel. It was designed and manufactured 4 sets of rotors with values specific tip speed of 6 to 9 (λp=6, 7, 8 e 9). The tests were conducted in a wind tunnel where velocity data free stream, stream velocity with the turbine in operation, and angular speed and torque generated by the blades, was collected in order to know the curve of each rotor. It was observed that in situations where the flow speeds are not representative enough to reach the higher values of λ range between 3 and 5,6, indicates a design with λp=6. Already in situations where the values of λ ranging between 4,7 and 7,3, λp=7 proved to be more efficient. Have λp=9 proved to be no advantage in comparison to other projects. By comparing the data obtained in this work with the literature and the BEM, it can be stated that the study of wind turbines in a wind tunnel is quite reliable.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo experimental do efeito da razão de bloqueio em um canal aerodinâmico no Número de Strouhal e o fenômeno da biestabilidade. É estudado o escoamento turbulento sobre um cilindro e também sobre dois cilindros dispostos lado a lado, onde fez-se uso de cilindros de vários diâmetros a fim de variar a razão de bloqueio no canal. Dois tipos de espaçamento entre os tubos são estudados. A técnica experimental consiste na medição de flutuações de velocidades em um canal aerodinâmico utilizando a técnica de anemometria de fio quente. Os dados obtidos da medição no canal aerodinâmico são tratados com o uso de ferramentas estatísticas, espectrais e de ondaletas. Para um cilindro, os resultados confirmam o aumento do número de Strouhal com o aumento da razão de bloqueio, na faixa do número de Reynolds utilizada. Razões de bloqueio mais baixas podem acarretar diminuição do número de Strouhal, também em função do número de Reynolds. Os resultados confirmam a existência do fenômeno da biestabilidade no escoamento sobre dois cilindros dispostos lado a lado, assim como a influência da razão de bloqueio sobre o fenômeno, sendo mais predominante em um dos espaçamentos estudados. Para razões de bloqueio altas, o fenômeno da biestabilidade pode não ocorrer ou pouco ocorre. Para razões de bloqueio mais baixas podemos ter também a não ocorrência do fenômeno em função das dimensões dos tubos serem mais reduzidas, fazendo com que a captação do fenômeno também seja reduzida. / This paper presents an experimental study of the effect of blockage ratio in a aerodynamic channel on Strouhal number and the bistability phenomenon. It studied the turbulent flow around a single cylinder and also on two cylinders arranged side-by-side, where use has been made of cylinders of various diameters to vary the blockage ratio of the channel. Two types of pitch to diameter ratio are studied. The experimental technique consists of measuring velocity fluctuations in aerodynamic channel using the technique of hot-wire anemometry. The data obtained from measuring the aerodynamic channel are treated with the use of statistical tools, spectral and wavelet analysis. For a single cylinder, the results confirm the increase of the Strouhal number with increasing blockage ratio in the range of Reynolds number used. Lower blockage ratio can cause a decrease of the Strouhal number, also a function of Reynolds number. The results confirm the existence of the bistability phenomenon in the flow on two cylinders arranged side-by-side, as well as the influence of blockage ratio on the phenomenon, being more predominant in one of the row spacings. For higher blockage ratios, the bistability phenomenon may not occur or occurs shortly. For lower blockage ratio, due to the smaller dimensions of the tubes the phenomenon may not occur on the capture of the phenomenon is also reduced with the present experimental technique.

With the increasing demand for labeled data in machine learning for visual perception tasks, the interest in using synthetically generated data has grown. Due to the existence of a domain gap between synthetic and real data, strategies in domain adaptation are necessary to achieve high performance with models trained on synthetic or mixed data. With a dataset of synthetically blocked fish-eye lenses in traffic environments, we explore different strategies to train a neural network. The neural network is a binary classifier for full blockage detection. The different strategies tested are data mixing, fine-tuning, domain adversarial training, and adversarial discriminative domain adaptation. Different ratios between synthetically generated data and real data are also tested. Our experiments showed that fine-tuning had slightly superior results in this test environment. To fully take advantage of the domain adversarial training, training until domain indiscriminate features are learned is necessary and helps the model attain higher performance than using random data mixing.

The peripheral nervous system can be seen as a huge network of neurons that prop-agates signals across the human body. In fact, as seen in [1] , "All the information streaming in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) is transmitted along axons byelectro-chemical signals called action potentials". The ordinary conduction of such nervous signals, or action potentials, can be prevented however due to nerve damage. In this context, the accurate passage of information to an intended destination or partwithin the organism is obstructed. Admittedly, it is understood that physiotherapy can be quite helpful in regaining correct functionality over a damaged part of the peripheral nervous system. Yet, it is still hard to visualize the nervous activity as it is achieved inside the human body. Simulating the nervous system would providea platform to visualize how the system works and how a damaged nerve can affect the PNS. Indeed, the purpose of this study is to simulate a virtual network that im-itates a general topology of the human peripheral nervous system e.g(simulate the nervous structure and behaviour of the human arm) that shows how the signals canbe routed to their correct destination and showcase how can the simulator created simulate biological nerve damage in its system.

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