Ce mémoire traite de nouveaux principes de conception qui sont inspirés par le couplage de deux unités représentant les différentes structures mécaniques. Les critères de conception optimale et les types d'unités combinées sont différents. Cependant, toutes les tâches sont considérées dans le couplage de ces unités. L'examen critique présenté dans le premier chapitre est divisé en trois sections en raison de la nature des problèmes traités: les robots marcheurs, les compensateurs de gravité et les robots collaboratifs. Le deuxième chapitre traite du développement de robots marcheurs à actionneur unique, conçus par couplage de deux mécanismes ayant les fonctionnants de jambe. Basée sur l'algorithme génétique, la synthèse proposée permet d'assurer la reproduction de la trajectoire obtenue à partir de la marche humaine. Par l'ajustement des paramètres géométriques des unités conçues, il devient possible non seulement d'assurer une marche du robot à des pas variables, mais également de monter les escaliers. Ensuite la conception et la synthèse des équilibreurs pour les robots sont considérés. Un costume robotisé type exosquelette permettant d'aider aux personnes transportant des charges lourdes est examiné dans le chapitre suivant La conception proposée présente une symbiose d'un support rigide et léger et d'un système de câbles monté sur ce support. L'étude et l'optimisation statique et dynamique ont conduit aux tests sur un mannequin. Le dernier chapitre propose l'étude et 'optimisation d'un système couplé, comprenant un manipulateur équilibré à commande manuelle et un robot collaboratif. Le but d'une telle coopération est de manipuler de lourdes charges avec un cobot. / This thesis deals with the design principles, which arc based on the coupling of two mechanical structures. The criteria for optimal design and the types of combined units are different. However, all the tasks are considered in coupling of given mechanical units. The critical review given in the first chapter is divided into three sections due to the nature of the examined problems: legged walking robots, gravity compensators used in robots and collaborative robots. Chapter two deals with the development of single actuator walking robots designed by coupling of two mechanisms. Based on the Genetic Algorithm, the synthesis allows one to ensure the reproduction of prescribed points of the given trajectory obtained from the walking gait. By adjusting the geometric parameters of the designed units, it becomes possible not only to operate the robot at variable steps, but also to climb the stairs. The next chapter deals with the design and synthesis of gravity balancers. A robotic exosuit that can help people carrying heavy load is the subject of chapter four. The proposed exosuit presents a symbiosis of two systems: rigid lightweight support and cable system. Static and dynamic studies and optimization are considered. Experiments are also carried out on a mannequin test bench. The last chapter presents a coupled system including a hand-operated balanced manipulator and a collaborative robot. The aim of such a cooperation is to manipulate heavy payloads with less powerful robots. Dynamic analysis of the coupled system is perfonned and methods for reducing the oscillation of the HOBM at the final phase of the prescribed trajectories are proposed.

Beams are among the most commonly used structural members that are encountered in virtually all systems of structural design at various scales. Mathematical models used to determine the response of beams under external loads are deduced from the three-dimensional elasticity theory through a series of assumptions concerning the kinematics of deformation and constitutive behavior. The kinematic assumptions exploit the fact that such structures do not experience significant trans- verse normal and shear strains and stresses. For example, the solution of the three- dimensional elasticity problem associated with a straight beam is reformulated as a one-dimensional problem in terms of displacements whose form is presumed on the basis of an educated guess concerning the nature of the deformation. In many cases beam structures are subjected to compressive in-plane loads that may cause out-of-plane buckling of the beam. Typically, before buckling and during compression, the beam develops internal axial force that makes the beam stiffer. In the linear buckling analysis of beams, this internal force is not considered. As a result the buckling loads predicted by the linear analysis are not accurate. The present study is motivated by lack of suitable theory and analysis that considers the nonlinear effects on the buckling response of beams. This thesis contains three new developments: (1) the conventional beam theories are generalized by accounting for nonlinear terms arising from εzz and εxz that are of the same magnitude as the von K´arm´an nonlinear strains appearing in εxx. The equations of motion associated with the generalized Euler–Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories with the von K´arm´an type geometric nonlinear strains are derived using Hamilton’s principle. These equations form the basis of investigations to determine certain microstructural length scales on the bending, vibration and buckling response of beams used in micro- and nano-devices. (2) Analytical solutions of the conventional Timoshenko beam theory with the von K´arm´an nonlinearity are de- veloped for the case where the inplane inertia is negligible when compared to other terms in the equations of motion. Numerical results are presented to bring out the effect of transverse shear deformation on the buckling response. (3) The development of a nonlinear finite element model for post-buckling behavior of beams.

No description available.

The objective of this thesis is to develop a novel methodology of fractional stochastic dynamics to study stochastic stability of viscoelastic systems under stochastic loadings. Numerous structures in civil engineering are driven by dynamic forces, such as seismic and wind loads, which can be described satisfactorily only by using probabilistic models, such as white noise processes, real noise processes, or bounded noise processes. Viscoelastic materials exhibit time-dependent stress relaxation and creep; it has been shown that fractional calculus provide a unique and powerful mathematical tool to model such a hereditary property. Investigation of stochastic stability of viscoelastic systems with fractional calculus frequently leads to a parametrized family of fractional stochastic differential equations of motion. Parametric excitation may cause parametric resonance or instability, which is more dangerous than ordinary resonance as it is characterized by exponential growth of the response amplitudes even in the presence of damping. The Lyapunov exponents and moment Lyapunov exponents provide not only the information about stability or instability of stochastic systems, but also how rapidly the response grows or diminishes with time. Lyapunov exponents characterizes sample stability or instability. However, this sample stability cannot assure the moment stability. Hence, to obtain a complete picture of the dynamic stability, it is important to study both the top Lyapunov exponent and the moment Lyapunov exponent. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to obtain the accurate values of theses two exponents. One has to resort to numerical and approximate approaches. The main contributions of this thesis are: (1) A new numerical simulation method is proposed to determine moment Lyapunov exponents of fractional stochastic systems, in which three steps are involved: discretization of fractional derivatives, numerical solution of the fractional equation, and an algorithm for calculating Lyapunov exponents from small data sets. (2) Higher-order stochastic averaging method is developed and applied to investigate stochastic stability of fractional viscoelastic single-degree-of-freedom structures under white noise, real noise, or bounded noise excitation. (3) For two-degree-of-freedom coupled non-gyroscopic and gyroscopic viscoelastic systems under random excitation, the Stratonovich equations of motion are set up, and then decoupled into four-dimensional Ito stochastic differential equations, by making use of the method of stochastic averaging for the non-viscoelastic terms and the method of Larionov for viscoelastic terms. An elegant scheme for formulating the eigenvalue problems is presented by using Khasminskii and Wedig’s mathematical transformations from the decoupled Ito equations. Moment Lyapunov exponents are approximately determined by solving the eigenvalue problems through Fourier series expansion. Stability boundaries, critical excitations, and stability index are obtained. The effects of various parameters on the stochastic stability of the system are discussed. Parametric resonances are studied in detail. Approximate analytical results are confirmed by numerical simulations.

No description available.

<p>Coupled Composite Plate Shear Walls / Concrete Filled (CC-PSW/CFs) are being employed as a seismic lateral force resisting system for the design and construction of mid- to high-rise buildings around the world. The coupled system consists of two or more Composite Plate Shear Walls – Concrete Filled (C-PSW/CFs) connected to each other using composite coupling beams located at the story heights. The CC-PSW/CF system can provide higher overturning moment capacity, lateral stiffness, and ductility than uncoupled walls. Concrete-filled steel box sections are typically used for the composite coupling beams, which are designed to be flexure critical members. When the CC-PSW/CF system is subjected to lateral seismic forces, plastic hinge formation and inelastic deformations (energy dissipation) occur near the ends of most of coupling beams along the structure's height, followed by flexural hinging of the C-PSW/CFs, typically at the base. </p> <p>This work presents the details and design of four composite coupling beam-to-C-PSW/CF connection configurations. Six connection specimens, representing the four connection configurations, with beam clear span-to-section depth, <em>Lb</em>/<em>d</em>, ratios of 3.5 and 5.1, were designed, fabricated, and tested. The experimental program focused on the force-displacement and moment-rotation responses, behavioral observations, limit states, and flexural capacities of the tested specimens. Major limit states and events included yielding of the steel plates comprising the coupling beam, followed by local inelastic buckling, fracture initiation in the base metal (near the weld toes) in the connection region, and fracture propagation through the beam flange and web plates leading to loss of flexural strength and failure. All specimens developed and exceeded the capacity and chord rotation requirements, in accordance with ANSI/AISC 341-22 guidelines.</p> <p>Detailed nonlinear 3D finite element models of the tested specimens were developed and verified using experimental results. The 3D finite element models accurately simulate the stiffness, flexural capacities, and monotonic responses of tested specimens. Nonlinear fiber-based models of the tested coupling beam-to-C-PSW/CF specimens were developed and verified using experimental results. The nonlinear fiber-based models can accurately simulate the stiffness, flexural capacities, and cyclic responses of tested specimens. The benchmarked fiber models were used to estimate the moment-rotation response of full-scale archetype connections. </p>

No description available.

A produção de petróleo e gás em campos brasileiros é cada vez mais proveniente de regiões com águas profundas e situadas longe da costa, chegando a distâncias de mais de 100 km, como, por exemplo, na Bacia de Campos ou de Santos. Devido à falta de infra-estrutura e às características do petróleo desses campos, a cadeia de abastecimento e o sistema de exportação da produção possuem grande importância para a indústria offshore. Uma maneira usual para a exportação da produção é através de dutos submarinos, onde o óleo e/ou a gás flui das plataformas diretamente para o continente. Com esta infra-estrutura é possível a utilização de sistemas de produção sem capacidade de armazenamento e, conseqüentemente, torna-se desnecessário o uso de navios para o alívio da produção. No entanto, devido à qualidade do óleo e às distâncias entre os poços e a costa em alguns campos brasileiros, a utilização dos oleodutos mostra-se uma solução pouco viável. Por este motivo, é bastante comum o uso de FPSOs ou semi-submersíveis conectadas a sistemas auxiliares, como o FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading). Nas plataformas, outra característica importante e desejada é tornar viável o uso de um sistema de completação seca (árvore de Natal acima da linha dágua) com o objetivo de diminuir, significativamente, os custos operacionais envolvidos. Esse tipo de completação é utilizado, com excelência, por unidade do tipo TLWP ou Spar, devido ao baixo nível dos movimentos e acelerações observadas nestas plataformas. Entretanto, as condições ambientais severas amplificam as dificuldades para encontrar um sistema com grande capacidade de armazenamento e que permita o uso de completação seca. Neste contexto, pesquisadores e engenheiros estão sendo obrigados a desenvolver novos conceitos capazes de atender a essa demanda. Desta forma, uma nova solução, considerando um FPSO e uma TLWP operando a uma curta distância e trabalhando de forma acoplada com a conexão garantida por cabos sintéticos vem sendo estudada. Essencialmente, o grande atrativo deste conceito é o fato de que toda a produção e o armazenamento são concentrados no FPSO e a TLWP é responsável pela perfuração e extração dos hidrocarbonetos através de risers verticais. Assim o sistema trabalhando de forma conjunta possui capacidade de armazenamento e permite o uso da completação seca. Nesta dissertação, foi realizado um estudo sobre a evolução deste novo conceito, dividido em três fases. A primeira focada no dimensionamento do sistema de conexão e ancoragem das unidades e em uma investigação da interação hidrodinâmica entre as unidades de forma a mostrar a viabilidade do sistema. A segunda fase, focada na validação dos resultados por meio da comparação com os testes realizados no modelo em escala do NMRI (National Maritime Research Institute - Japão). Finalmente, a terceira fase, com foco no redimensionamento do sistema de amarração e no sistema de conexão, com base nos resultados obtidos na segunda fase. / The oil and gas production in Brazilian fields are commonly found in deep water and situated far away from the coast, reaching distances of more than 100 km as, for example, in the Campos Basin or Santos Basin. Due to the heavy oil and lack of pipeline infrastructure found in these fields, not only subsea equipments that must support high pressure but also logistics problems such as supply chain and production exportation system play an important role for the offshore industry. A usual way to export the production is to concentrate it in hubs of submarine pipelines which flows the oil or gas from the platforms to the continent. This infrastructure makes possible the use of no storage production systems and, consequently, releases the use of the shuttle tanks employment. However, due to the quality of the oil and the distances between the wells and the coast, some Brazilian fields do not allow the use of the pipelines to export their production. For this reason, is quite common to use FPSO and semi-submersible aided by auxiliary systems such as the FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading) units. Another important and desired characteristic of production platforms is to make it feasible to install a dry Christmas tree system aiming to decrease, significantly, operational costs involved. This feature is performed, with excellence, by TLWP and Spar units due to the low level of motions and accelerations observed in these platforms. Harsh environmental conditions can bring difficulties to find a solution of a system with both storage and dry tree system capability. In this context, researchers and engineers are being forced to develop new technological systems capable to support this demand. In this way, a new solution considering a FPSO and a TLWP coupled in a short distance by synthetic ropes has being studied. Essentially, the attractive feature of this concept is the fact that the production is performed by the FPSO whereas the TLWP is responsible to support the risers and drilling facilities turning the system coupled, equipped with a dry Christmas tree and with the possibility to storage the production. By now, the concept evolution has been divided in three phases. The first phase concerned about an advanced research focusing on the connection and mooring system development and the hydrodynamic interaction between the units and having in mind the verification of the concept feasibility. The second phase, concerned about the results validation by a comparison with scale model tests performed in the NMRI (National Maritime Research Institute Japan). Finally, the third phase, has the focus in the mooring and connection system resizing based on the results obtained on second phase.

A produção de petróleo e gás em campos brasileiros é cada vez mais proveniente de regiões com águas profundas e situadas longe da costa, chegando a distâncias de mais de 100 km, como, por exemplo, na Bacia de Campos ou de Santos. Devido à falta de infra-estrutura e às características do petróleo desses campos, a cadeia de abastecimento e o sistema de exportação da produção possuem grande importância para a indústria offshore. Uma maneira usual para a exportação da produção é através de dutos submarinos, onde o óleo e/ou a gás flui das plataformas diretamente para o continente. Com esta infra-estrutura é possível a utilização de sistemas de produção sem capacidade de armazenamento e, conseqüentemente, torna-se desnecessário o uso de navios para o alívio da produção. No entanto, devido à qualidade do óleo e às distâncias entre os poços e a costa em alguns campos brasileiros, a utilização dos oleodutos mostra-se uma solução pouco viável. Por este motivo, é bastante comum o uso de FPSOs ou semi-submersíveis conectadas a sistemas auxiliares, como o FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading). Nas plataformas, outra característica importante e desejada é tornar viável o uso de um sistema de completação seca (árvore de Natal acima da linha dágua) com o objetivo de diminuir, significativamente, os custos operacionais envolvidos. Esse tipo de completação é utilizado, com excelência, por unidade do tipo TLWP ou Spar, devido ao baixo nível dos movimentos e acelerações observadas nestas plataformas. Entretanto, as condições ambientais severas amplificam as dificuldades para encontrar um sistema com grande capacidade de armazenamento e que permita o uso de completação seca. Neste contexto, pesquisadores e engenheiros estão sendo obrigados a desenvolver novos conceitos capazes de atender a essa demanda. Desta forma, uma nova solução, considerando um FPSO e uma TLWP operando a uma curta distância e trabalhando de forma acoplada com a conexão garantida por cabos sintéticos vem sendo estudada. Essencialmente, o grande atrativo deste conceito é o fato de que toda a produção e o armazenamento são concentrados no FPSO e a TLWP é responsável pela perfuração e extração dos hidrocarbonetos através de risers verticais. Assim o sistema trabalhando de forma conjunta possui capacidade de armazenamento e permite o uso da completação seca. Nesta dissertação, foi realizado um estudo sobre a evolução deste novo conceito, dividido em três fases. A primeira focada no dimensionamento do sistema de conexão e ancoragem das unidades e em uma investigação da interação hidrodinâmica entre as unidades de forma a mostrar a viabilidade do sistema. A segunda fase, focada na validação dos resultados por meio da comparação com os testes realizados no modelo em escala do NMRI (National Maritime Research Institute - Japão). Finalmente, a terceira fase, com foco no redimensionamento do sistema de amarração e no sistema de conexão, com base nos resultados obtidos na segunda fase. / The oil and gas production in Brazilian fields are commonly found in deep water and situated far away from the coast, reaching distances of more than 100 km as, for example, in the Campos Basin or Santos Basin. Due to the heavy oil and lack of pipeline infrastructure found in these fields, not only subsea equipments that must support high pressure but also logistics problems such as supply chain and production exportation system play an important role for the offshore industry. A usual way to export the production is to concentrate it in hubs of submarine pipelines which flows the oil or gas from the platforms to the continent. This infrastructure makes possible the use of no storage production systems and, consequently, releases the use of the shuttle tanks employment. However, due to the quality of the oil and the distances between the wells and the coast, some Brazilian fields do not allow the use of the pipelines to export their production. For this reason, is quite common to use FPSO and semi-submersible aided by auxiliary systems such as the FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading) units. Another important and desired characteristic of production platforms is to make it feasible to install a dry Christmas tree system aiming to decrease, significantly, operational costs involved. This feature is performed, with excellence, by TLWP and Spar units due to the low level of motions and accelerations observed in these platforms. Harsh environmental conditions can bring difficulties to find a solution of a system with both storage and dry tree system capability. In this context, researchers and engineers are being forced to develop new technological systems capable to support this demand. In this way, a new solution considering a FPSO and a TLWP coupled in a short distance by synthetic ropes has being studied. Essentially, the attractive feature of this concept is the fact that the production is performed by the FPSO whereas the TLWP is responsible to support the risers and drilling facilities turning the system coupled, equipped with a dry Christmas tree and with the possibility to storage the production. By now, the concept evolution has been divided in three phases. The first phase concerned about an advanced research focusing on the connection and mooring system development and the hydrodynamic interaction between the units and having in mind the verification of the concept feasibility. The second phase, concerned about the results validation by a comparison with scale model tests performed in the NMRI (National Maritime Research Institute Japan). Finally, the third phase, has the focus in the mooring and connection system resizing based on the results obtained on second phase.

Le thème de cette thèse est l'analyse mathématique de modèles décrivant l'intrusion saline dans les aquifères côtiers. On a choisi d'adopter la simplicité de l'approche avec interface nette : il n'y a pas de transfert de masse entre l'eau douce et l'eau salée (resp. entre la zone saturée et la zone sèche). On compense la difficulté mathématique liée à l'analyse des interfaces libres par un processus de moyennisation verticale nous permettant de réduire le problème initialement 3D à un système d'edps définies sur un domaine, Ω, 2D. Un second modèle est obtenu en combinant l'approche 'interface nette' à celle avec interface diffuse ; cette approche est déduite de la théorie introduite par Allen-Cahn, utilisant des fonctions de phase pour décrire les phénomènes de transition entre les milieux d'eau douce et d'eau salée (respectivement les milieux saturé et insaturé). Le problème d'origine 3D est alors réduit à un système fortement couplé d'edps quasi-linéaires de type parabolique dans le cas des aquifères libres décrivant l'évolution des profondeurs des 2 surfaces libres et de type elliptique-parabolique dans le cas des aquifères confinés, les inconnues étant alors la profondeur de l'interface eau salée par rapport à eau douce et la charge hydraulique de l'eau douce. Dans la première partie de la thèse, des résultats d'existence globale en temps sont démontrés montrant que l'approche couplée interface nette-interface diffuse est plus pertinente puisqu'elle permet d'établir un principe du maximum plus physique (plus précisèment une hiérarchie entre les 2 surfaces libres). En revanche, dans le cas de l'aquifère confiné, nous montrons que les deux approches conduisent à des résultats similaires. Dans la seconde partie de la thèse, nous prouvons l'unicité de la solution dans le cas non dégénéré, la preuve reposant sur un résultat de régularité du gradient de la solution dans l'espace Lr (ΩT), r > 2, (ΩT = (0,T) x Ω). Puis nous nous intéressons à un problème d'identification des conductivités hydrauliques dans le cas instationnaire. Ce problème est formulé par un problème d'optimisation dont la fonction coût mesure l'écart quadratique entre les charges hydrauliques expérimentales et celles données par le modèle. / The theme of this thesis is the analysis of mathematical models describing saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers. The simplicity of sharp interface approach is chosen : there is no mass transfer between fresh water and salt water (respectively between the saturated zone and the area dry). We compensate the mathematical difficulty of the analysis of free interfaces by a vertical averaging process allowing us to reduce the 3D problem to system of pde's defined on a 2D domain Ω. A second model is obtained by combining the approach of 'sharp interface' in that with 'diffuse interface' ; this approach is derived from the theory introduced by Allen-Cahn, using phase functions to describe the phenomena of transition between fresh water and salt water (respectively the saturated and unsaturated areas). The 3D problem is then reduced to a strongly coupled system of quasi-linear parabolic equations in the unconfined case describing the evolution of the DEPTHS of two free surfaces and elliptical-parabolic equations in the case of confined aquifer, the unknowns being the depth of salt water/fresh water interface and the fresh water hydraulic head. In the first part of the thesis, the results of global in time existence are demonstrated showing that the sharp-diffuse interface approach is more relevant since it allows to establish a mor physical maximum principle (more precisely a hierarchy between the two free surfaces). In contrast, in the case of confined aquifer, we show that both approach leads to similar results. In the second part of the thesis, we prove the uniqueness of the solution in the non-degenerate case. The proof is based on a regularity result of the gradient of the solution in the space Lr (ΩT), r > 2, (ΩT = (0,T) x Ω). Then we are interest in a problem of identification of hydraulic conductivities in the unsteady case. This problem is formulated by an optimization problem whose cost function measures the squared difference between experimental hydraulic heads and those given by the model.