Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Florida, 2004. / Typescript. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 142 pages. Includes Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Dans cette Thèse, la conception robuste avec un modèle incertain d'un système électromécanique avec vibro-impact est fait. Le système électromécanique est constitué d'un chariot, dont le mouvement est excité par un moteur à courant continu et un marteau embarqué dans ce chariot. Le marteau est relié au chariot par un ressort non linéaire et par un amortisseur linéaire, de façon qu'un mouvement relatif existe entre eux. Une barrière flexible linéaire, placé à l'extérieur du chariot limite les mouvements de marteau. En raison du mouvement relatif entre le marteau et la barrière, impacts peuvent se produire entre ces deux éléments. Le modèle du système développé prend en compte l'influence du courant continu moteur dans le comportement dynamique du système. Certains paramètres du système sont incertains, tels comme les coefficients de rigidité et d'amortissement de la barrière flexible. L'objectif de la Thèse est de réaliser une optimisation de ce système électromécanique par rapport aux paramètres de conception afin de maximiser l'impact puissance sous la contrainte que la puissance électrique consommée par le moteur à courant continu est inférieure à une valeur maximale. Pour choisir les paramètres de conception dans le problème d'optimisation, une analyse de sensibilité a été réalisée afin de définir les paramètres du système les plus sensibles. L'optimisation est formulée dans le cadre de la conception robuste en raison de la présence d'incertitudes dans le modèle. Les lois de probabilités liées aux variables aléatoires du problème sont construites en utilisant le Principe du Maximum l'Entropie et les statistiques de la réponse stochastique du système sont calculées en utilisant la méthode de Monte Carlo. L'ensemble d'équations non linéaires sont présentés, et un solveur temporel adapté est développé. Le problème d'optimisation non linéaire stochastique est résolu pour différents niveaux d'incertitudes, et aussi pour le cas déterministe. Les résultats sont différents, ce qui montre l'importance de la modélisation stochastique / In this Thesis, the robust design with an uncertain model of a vibro-impact electromechanical system is done. The electromechanical system is composed of a cart, whose motion is excited by a DC motor (motor with continuous current), and an embarked hammer into this cart. The hammer is connected to the cart by a nonlinear spring component and by a linear damper, so that a relative motion exists between them. A linear flexible barrier, placed outside of the cart, constrains the hammer movements. Due to the relative movement between the hammer and the barrier, impacts can occur between these two elements. The developed model of the system takes into account the influence of the DC motor in the dynamic behavior of the system. Some system parameters are uncertain, such as the stiffness and the damping coefficients of the flexible barrier. The objective of the Thesis is to perform an optimization of this electromechanical system with respect to design parameters in order to maximize the impact power under the constraint that the electric power consumed by the DC motor is lower than a maximum value. To chose the design parameters in the optimization problem, an sensitivity analysis was performed in order to define the most sensitive system parameters. The optimization is formulated in the framework of robust design due to the presence of uncertainties in the model. The probability distributions of random variables are constructed using the Maximum Entropy Principle and statistics of the stochastic response of the system are computed using the Monte Carlo method. The set of nonlinear equations are presented, and an adapted time domain solver is developed. The stochastic nonlinear constrained design optimization problem is solved for different levels of uncertainties, and also for the deterministic case. The results are different and this show the importance of the stochastic modeling

Submitted by Johnny Rodrigues (johnnyrodrigues@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-03-16T18:20:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ANGELA LUCÍNIA URTIGA VASCONCELOS - TESE PPGEQ 2015..pdf: 3505212 bytes, checksum: 24fcdf4a2acef884f73f1502723a100d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-16T18:20:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ANGELA LUCÍNIA URTIGA VASCONCELOS - TESE PPGEQ 2015..pdf: 3505212 bytes, checksum: 24fcdf4a2acef884f73f1502723a100d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08 / Capes / As operações de processos químicos periodicamente são interrompidas para realização de procedimentos de manutenção preventiva e/ou corretiva nos equipamentos que fazem parte do processo. Após a parada e as etapas do comissionamento dos equipamentos, dá-se início a operação de partida. A operação de partida dos processos químicos, em especial das colunas de destilação, é uma das etapas mais complexas observadas na prática industrial. O procedimento de partida de uma coluna de destilação pode levar desde algumas horas até dias para atingir o estado estacionário. Quanto maior o tempo necessário para que a operação da coluna alcance o regime estacionário, maior será a quantidade de produtos fora de especificação e maior será o consumo de energia, o que eleva os custos da operação. Embora a operação de partida seja uma etapa de extrema importância nas plantas químicas, ainda é pouco o número de pesquisas realizadas com relação a esse tema. Além disso, não foi encontrado na literatura consultada nenhum trabalho sobre a operação de partida dos sistemas de colunas de destilação termicamente acopladas. O sistema estudado consiste de duas colunas de destilação interconectadas por duas correntes, uma corrente no estado vapor e outra no estado líquido, onde uma das colunas é do tipo extrativa, utilizada para a separação da mistura azeotrópica etanol-água, e a outra é uma coluna de recuperação do solvente etilenoglicol. O presente trabalho teve por objetivo o desenvolvimento de procedimento de partida para o sistema de destilação extrativa termicamente acoplado estudado. Foi avaliado o comportamento dinâmico do sistema durante a operação de partida, bem como o efeito da variação do perfil da vazão do vapor de aquecimento no refervedor sobre o tempo total da partida, do efeito da composição da corrente de alimentação da coluna de recuperação sobre o tempo total da partida e do efeito do instante de alimentação do solvente na coluna extrativa sobre o tempo total da partida. A partir dos resultados e das análises realizadas, foi observado que a coluna de recuperação é quem demanda mais tempo para que a operação de partida do sistema seja concluída, logo quanto menor a quantidade de etanol que é alimentada na coluna de recuperação, menor o tempo total da partida do sistema. Foi observado também, que o solvente deve ser alimentado desde o início da operação de partida, pois quanto mais tardia a alimentação do solvente na coluna extrativa, maior é o tempo total da partida. / Preventive and/or corrective maintenance procedures in equipment’s process operations provoke periodically shut down in the plants. After the maintenance and commissioning step conclusions, initiate the equipment’s startup operation. The start-up operation of chemical processes, in particular distillation columns, is one of the most complex operations in industrial practice. The start-up procedure of a distillation column occurs in few hours or can to wait days to reach steady state. The longer the time required for the operation of the column reaches the steady state, the greater the amount of off-spec product and greater energy consumption. Therefore, the starting operation has a significant impact on operating costs. Although the startup operation is a step of great importance in chemical plants, still is little the number of researches performed with respect to this subject. Moreover, the literature focuses on startup conventional distillation columns. To fill this gap, this work focused startup distillation column thermally coupled. The system studied consists of two distillation columns. One of the columns is extractive distillation type used for separating the azeotropic mixture ethanol-water. The other is a solvent recovery column. The two column is interconnected by two streams. A stream is in vapor phase, and the another stream is in liquid phase. The dynamic behavior of the system was evaluated during the startup operation in a reference configuration. Then was studied the effect of varying the heating steam flow profile in the reboiler, the effect of the feed stream composition of the recovery column and the effect of the start solvent feed extraction column in the total startup time. From the results obtained, it was observed that the recovery column is responsible for most of the time required for completion of the starting. The smaller the amount of ethanol fed to the recovery column, the lower the total time of system startup. It was also observed that the solvent should be fed since the beginning of the start-up operation, because the later the feed of the solvent in the extractive column, the greater the total start-up time.

Lors du dimensionnement des ouvrages en terre : remblais, digues, on observe que la plupart des matériaux sont compactés à l’optimum Proctor ou coté humide. En général, ce compactage implique que le sol se trouve dans un état où le degré de saturation est très élevé. Cruz et al (1985) ont montré qu'à un degré de saturation élevé (supérieur à 85%, voire 90% dans le cas de certains sols), la phase liquide est continue alors que l’air présent sous forme de bulles est occlus ; ce qui rend le comportement du sol complexe. L’élaboration d’un modèle de comportement pour ce type de sols nécessite une compréhension approfondie des phénomènes physico-mécaniques intervenant au sein de l’air occlus, de l'eau liquide contenant de l'air dissous et du squelette solide. Dans ce sens, un nouveau modèle hydromécanique a été développé. Ce modèle prend en compte le comportement physico-mécanique et la cinématique propre de chacun des constituants du milieu polyphasé (eau liquide, air dissous, air sous forme gazeuse et matrice solide). En particulier, dans ce modèle, nous tenons compte de la tension de surface, de la migration des phases gazeuse et liquide qui ont des impacts importants sur le comportement mécanique des sols. Le développement du modèle conduit à un système d’équations aux dérivées partielles fortement non linéaire qui peut être résolu numériquement en utilisant la méthode des éléments finis. Ce nouveau modèle a été implémenté dans un code de calcul écrit en C++ « Hydromech », développé à l'origine par Pereira (2005), qui permet de simuler les essais oedométriques suivant différents trajets de chargement hydromécanique. En particulier, ce code de calcul permet de simuler de façon cohérente la transition entre différents régimes de saturation, aussi bien dans l'espace (translation progressive d'une frontière entre deux régimes voisins) que dans le temps (passage d'un régime à l'autre en un point donné) ; ce qui constitue un problème de modélisation difficile. Les études numériques réalisées montrent que ce modèle donne des résultats cohérents et mettent en évidence sa capacité à simuler avec précision le comportement hydromécanique des sols quasi-saturés comportant de l'air occlus. / The behaviour of quasi-saturated materials is an important factor to be considered when designing cuttings and embankments in which earthwork materials are compacted to the optimum proctor density. Typically, soil compaction is performed at the optimum Proctor or on the wet side of the optimum, which means that the soil is in a highly saturated state. Cruz et al (1985) have shown that at a high degree of saturation (greater than 85% or even 90% in the case of certain soils), the liquid phase is continuous whereas the gas phase in the form of entrapped air bubbles is discontinuous. It is the presence of the entrapped air bubbles which makes the soil behaviour complex. The construction of a theoretical model for this type of soils requires the consideration of various physical-mechanical phenomena and their couplings occurring within the tri-phasic medium consisting of the solid grains, liquid water containing dissolved air and the entrapped air bubbles. In this sense, a new hydromechanical model has been developed that takes into account the physical-mechanical interactions between different phases as well as the kinematics of each constituent (liquid water, dissolved air, gaseous air and solid grains). In particular, the model accounts for the interfacial tension, migration of gaseous and liquid phases, which have important impacts on the mechanical behaviour. The development leads to a system of highly non-linear partial differential equations which can be solved numerically using the finite element method. This new model has been implemented in a numerical code “Hydromech” written in C++, developed originally by Pereira (2005) that has been used to simulate oedometer tests with different hydromechanical loading paths. In particular, this code allows to simulate consistently the transition across different regimes of saturation, both with respect to space (progressive translation of a boundary between two neighbouring regimes) and to time (transition of one regime to another at a fixed material point); which constituted a difficult modelling problem at the start. Numerical studies carried out show that this model gives consistent results providing a clear demonstration of its ability to simulate with precision the hydro-mechanical behaviour of quasi-saturated soils containing entrapped air.

The mechanisms that regulate the differentiation of stem cells (SCs) into cardiomyocytes are still unclear and the role of endogenous molecules on this process remains unexplored. One such molecule is the bioactive phospholipid lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) which accumulates in the myocardium following acute infarction and exerts multiple biological functions, including the regulation of cell growth and differentiation as well as cell survival (Tigyi et al., 2003; Sengupta, et al., 2004). Experiments were therefore carried out in this thesis to reveal whether LPA can induce the differentiation of stem cells into cardiomyocytes and to identify the signalling mechanisms that mediate this effect. All experiments were carried out in the mouse P19 carcinoma stem cell line. Treatments with LPA in the absence and presence of various pharmacological compounds were conducted in embryoid bodies (EBs) formed from the P19 cells in sterile Petri dishes over 4 days. The EBs were subsequently transferred into 6-well cell culture plates and cultured for specific time points. Lysates were generated and subjected to western blotting for expression of cardiac- specific myosin light chain -1v (MLC-1v). To look at the expression of LPA receptors (LPAR1-LPAR5) experiments were carried out by RT-PCR using specific primers for each LPA receptor and the role of the latter in mediated responses to LPA were examined in the presence of the LPAR 1/3 antagonist, Ki16425, or the LPAR 4 receptor blocker suramin. In addition, experiments were carried out investigating the role of Gαi and specific signalling pathways that may be involved in the differentiation of P19 cells. These were carried out using potent inhibitors/antagonists of Gαi inhibitor (Pertussis toxin), PI3K inhibitor (LY294002), Akt inhibitor (Akt inhibitor XIII), PKC inhibitor (Bisindolylmaleimide I BIM-I), ROCK inhibitor (Y-27632), p38-MAPK inhibitor (SB203580) and ERK1/2 inhibitor (PD98059). Further experiments were carried out to establish whether the presence of LPA results in the phosphorylation of the targeted kinases. These studies were however limited to Akt, p38 MAPK and ERK1/2. Incubation of cells with LPA resulted in the differentiation of P19 cells into cardiomyocytes as reflected by the induction of MLC-1v. The latter increased significantly above basal in a time-dependent manner, reaching a maximum 10 days after plating EBs in 6-well plates. The induction of MLC-1v was more pronounced in cells incubated with 5 μM LPA at 6 days but showed little concentration differences at day 12. RT-PCR analysis confirmed the expression of LPA receptors 1 to 4 but not 5. Pre-incubating cells with suramin and Ki16425 concentration-dependently inhibited MLC-1v expression with 0.05 mg/ml and 10 μM respectively, virtually abolishing the expression of MLC-1v. Additionally, inhibitors of LPAR1/3 and LPAR4 receptors and all the signalling inhibitors except SB203580 abolished the phosphorylation of ERK1/2. Similarly, p38 MAPK activation was completely abolished by LPAR1/3 and LPAR4 receptor antagonists, Interestingly, only LY294002 (5 μM) and Y27632 (10 μM) abolished the LPA induced activation of p38 MAPK while SB203580, BIM-I, Akt inhibitor XIII and PD95080 caused no significant changes to the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK. In conclusion, the studies carried out in this thesis have shown that LPA can induce P19 stem cells to differentiate into cardiomyocytes and they are linked to the well characterised LPA receptors (LPAR1/3 and 4). These receptors are coupled to downstream signalling pathways of which those involving the ROCK, PI3K, PKC and/or Akt may be critical, and may converge on ERK1/2. Inhibition of any of these pathways has the potential to suppress differentiation. In contrast, signalling leading to p38 activation may potentially suppress differentiation but this needs further clarification.

Sepsis and septic shock remain major cause of mortality in non-coronary intenisve care units. Prognosis of septic patiens worsens further in case of concomitant acute kidney injury. Pathophysiological pathways leading to renal dysfunction in sepsis remain unclear despite of enormous experimental and clinical research. Similarly, the role of extracorporeal blood purification techniques as an adjunctive treatment in sepsis is highly controversial. The aim of our study was to dynamically assess renal haemodynamic, microvascular and metabolic responses in a porcine clinically relevant model of septic shock. The same experimental model was used in experiments elucidating potential benefit effects of two distinct haemopurification methods on different biological responses to infectious insult.

Les écoulements chargés en particules sont présents dans de nombreuses applications industrielles telles que le transport de boues ou l’industrie chimique en général. Dans des mélanges constitués de particules solides immergées dans un fluide visqueux, les interactions entre particules jouent un rôle essentiel dans la viscosité globale du mélange.Le phénomène de suspension est causé par des interactions hydrodynamiques à courte distance, connues sous le nom de lubrification. Les forces de lubrification sont généralement sous-estimées en raison de leur nature et de la discrétisation spatiale du problème.Dans cette thèse, nous proposons un modèle de lubrification qui estime les forces et couples hydrodynamiques non résolues par un solveur couplant la résolution des équations de Navier-Stokes incompressible par une méthode de volumes pénalisés, à la résolution de la dynamique des particules par une méthode aux éléments discrets. Les corrections des contraintes hydrodynamiques sont faites localement sur la surface des particules en interaction sans aucune hypothèse sur la forme générale des particules. La version finale du modèle de lubrification proposée peut être utilisée pour des suspensions de particules convexes sans aucune tabulation. La méthode numérique a été validée avec des particules sphériques et des ellipsoïdes, en comparant des simulations à des données expérimentales.Dans le cas de particules sphériques, le modèle de lubrification est aussi précis que les modèles de lubrification existants qui sont limités à ce type de géométrie. La compatibilité du modèle avec des particules convexes a été validée en comparant des simulations,utilisant des ellipsoïdes, à des mesures expérimentales que nous avons réalisées. / Particle-laden flows can be found in many industrial applications such as slurry transport or the chemical industry in general. In mixtures made of solid particles emerged in a viscous fluid, particle interactions play an essential role in the overall mixture viscosity. The suspension phenomenon is caused by short-range hydrodynamic interactions, known as lubrication. Lubrication forces are usually underestimated due to their singularities and the spatial discretization of the numerical schemes. In this thesis, we propose a lubrication model for a coupled volume penalization method and discrete element method solver that estimates the unresolved hydrodynamic forces and torques in incompressible Navier-Stokes flows. Corrections are made locally on the surfaces of the interacting particles without any assumption on the global particle shapes. The final version of the local lubrication model can be used for suspension of convex particles without any tabulations. The numerical method has been validated against experimental data with spherical and ellipsoidal particles. With spherical particles, the lubrication model performs as well as existing numerical models that are limited to this specific particle shape. The model compatibility with convex particles has been validated by comparing simulations using ellipsoids to experimental measurements we made.

This research studies the performance of a salinity gradient solar pond driving an absorption cooling system, as an alternative to a conventional electrically powered cooling system, to provide cool air for a modern single family house in the hot dry climate of Baghdad, Iraq. The system comprises a salinity gradient solar pond, a hot-water-fired absorption water chiller, a chilled-water cooling coil which cools the air in the house, and a cooling tower which rejects heat to the ambient air. Hot brine from the pond circulates through a heat exchanger, where it heats water that is then pumped to the chiller. This arrangement protects the chiller from the corrosive brine. The system is controlled on-off by a room thermostat in the house. The system performance is modelled by dynamic thermal simulation using TMY2 hourly typical weather data. TRNSYS software is used for the main simulation, coupled to a MATLAB model of heat and mass transfer in the pond and the ground beneath it. The model of the pond and the ground is one-dimensional (only vertical transfers are considered). Radiation, convection, conduction, evaporation and diffusion are considered; the ground water at some depth below the pond is treated as being at a fixed temperature. All input data and parameter values in the simulation are based on published, standard or manufacturer's data. Temperature profiles in the pond were calculated and found to be in good agreement with published experimental results. It was found that a pond area of approximately 400 m2 was required to provide satisfactory cooling for a non-insulated house of approximately 125 m2 floor area. It was found that varying the pond area, ground conditions and pond layer thicknesses affected the system performance. The optimum site is one that has soil with low thermal conductivity, low moisture content and a deep water table. It is concluded that Iraq's climate has a potential for solar-pond-powered thermal cooling systems. It is feasible to use a solar-pond-powered cooling system to meet the space cooling load for a single family house in the summer season. Improving the thermal performance of the house by insulation could reduce the required solar pond area.

Thailand has been often affected by severe flood events over the past century. The 2011’s Thailand Flood Catastrophe was the costliest in country’s history, and it was ranked to be the second most damaging natural hazard in the world in terms of economic losses. The Chao Phraya River Basin was noted to be the most vulnerable area prone to flooding in Thailand. The dynamics of flood risk in the river basin have changed drastically over the past fifty years. In particular, flood exposure increased due to rapid urbanization and population growth. Since 2012, integrated flood risk management has been addressed to be the major framework of water-related disasters with the goal of losses and damage reductions. However, there is currently little research in Thailand on how to quantify flood risks and mitigate flood inundation damage on the relation between the occurrence of flood events and their consequential socio-economic implications. In this study, a tradition method in flood risk assessment is implemented by integrating 2D hydrodynamic modelling and the assessment of socio-economic impact of floods into the Chao Phraya River Basin. More specifically, the fully 2D version of the LISFLOOD-FP model code was used to model flood inundation processes. The output of the model was then used to map inundation depth and assess the levels of physical/environmental risk associated to flood hazards on multiple receptors/elements at risk. The European Flood Directive and the KULTURisk methodology were applied to quantify flood risks in monetary terms for residential, industrial, and agricultural sectors. The 2011 flood event was used for model calibration, while a hypothetical flood event with a return period of 100 years was simulated to identify the potential flood losses. Depth-damage functions comprising of JRC-ASIA, the Flemish, and JICA models were used to estimate potential damage for residential and industrial structures. The results showed that LISFLOOD-FP could satisfactorily reproduce the flood inundation extent obtained from satellite imagery in 2011. The model performance (Critical Success Index or F1) was of 56%, with a Bias of 112%. The latter meant the total inundated area was 12% larger than flood extent’s observation. Moreover, the model could simulate flood levels with overall Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 2.03 m a.s.l. and 1.78 m a.s.l., respectively. For the estimation of flood damage and losses, the Flemish model showed the strongest agreement with the reported flood damage in the residential sector, while JICA-ASIA model underestimated flood damage for industrial sector by just 1%. The KULTURisk methodology also well-estimated crop losses in the 2011 event which an overestimation about 21% from the reported value. Apart from that, fully 2D numerical method could not perfectly represent 1-in-100 year flood inundation due to non-consideration of important features such as the precise river channel topography, hydraulic infrastructures, and flood protection schemes in the river basin. Lack of such features results in an overestimation of flood damage and losses for 1-in-100 year flood comparing to the national flood hazard map and damage assessment which are simulated and estimated by JICA’s study. Such features can be better handled by using a coupled 1D/2D numerical method in order to simulate flood inundation extent more realistically and estimate flood losses. This could help the Thai government to better prepare a budget for flood risk prevention. In addition, even if the Flemish model indicates a good representation of relative flood damage to housing structures, the government should establish depth-damage curves specific for Thailand.

No description available.