Study of turbulent flow over a rough bed is highly important due to its numerous applications in the areas of sediment transport and pollutant discharge in streams, rivers and channels. Over the past few decades, many experimental studies have been conducted in this respect to understand the underlying phenomenon. However, there is a scarcity in the number of computational studies conducted on this topic. Therefore, a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of turbulent flow over a rough channel bed was conducted to contribute further understanding of the influence of bed roughness on turbulent flow properties. For this purpose, an efficient, second order accurate 'immersed boundary method' was implemented into the LES code Hydro3d-GT, and validated for flow past bluff bodies. LES results from the present study showed excellent agreement with previous experimental studies on flow over rough beds. An in-depth analysis of time varying turbulent quantities (like the velocity fluctuations) revealed the presence of coherent structures in the flow. Also, a three dimensional visualization of the turbulent structures provided a good picture of the flow, especially in the near bed region, which is quite difficult to accomplish using experimental studies.

The flow structure and convective heat transfer behavior of a free liquid jet ejecting from a round nozzle impinging vertically on a hemispherical solid plate and a slot nozzle impinging vertically on a cylindrical curved plate have been studied using a numerical analysis approach. The simulation model incorporated the entire fluid region and the solid hemisphere or curved plate. Solution was done for both isothermal and constant heat flux boundary conditions at the inner surface of the hemispherical plate and the constant heat flux boundary condition at the inner surface of the cylindrical shaped plate. Computations for the round nozzle impinging jet on the hemispherical plate and cylindrical plate were done for jet Reynolds number (ReJ) ranging from 500 to 2000, dimensionless nozzle to target spacing ratio (β) from 0.75 to 3, and for various dimensionless plate thicknesses to diameter nozzle ratio (b/dn) from 0.083-1.5. Also, computations for the slot nozzle impinging jet on the cylindrical plate were done for inner plate radius of curvature to nozzle diameter ratio (Ri/dn) of 4.16-16.66, plate thickness to nozzle diameter ratio (b/dn) of 0.08-1.0, and different nozzle diameters (dn), Results are presented for dimensionless solid-fluid interface temperature, dimensionless maximum temperature in the solid, local and average Nusselt numbers using the following fluids: water (H2O), flouroinert (FC-77), and oil (MIL-7808) and the following solid materials: aluminum, copper, Constantan, silver, and silicon. Materials with higher thermal conductivity maintained a more uniform temperature distribution at the solid-fluid interface. A higher Reynolds number increased the Nusselt number over the entire solid-fluid interface. Local and average Nusselt number and heat transfer coefficient distributions showed a strong dependence on the impingement velocity or Reynolds number. As the velocity increases, the local Nusselt number increases over the entire solid-fluid interface. Decreasing the nozzle to target spacing favors the increasing of the Nusselt number. Increasing the nozzle diameter decreases the temperature at the curved plate outer surface and increases the local Nusselt number. Similarly, local and average Nusselt number was enhanced by decreasing plate thickness. Numerical simulation results are validated by comparing with experimental measurements and related correlations.

No description available.

To improve the performance of solar energy converters and its implementation as a more sustainable electricity source worldwide, researchers have been trying to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic devices while lowering their costs. Conversion efficiency of solar cells can be enhanced through light trapping structures and concentration of incoming light. Light trapping is usually realized by texturization of the solar cell’s surfaces, while concentration is achieved by addition of external apparatus, such as reflectors. A novel design for silicon solar cells is proposed in this thesis, which contains hemispherical dish microconcentrators for light trapping purposes. Through a process flow that includes maskless photolithography, thermal reflow, and metallization via sputtering, the microconcentrators were fabricated and demonstrated to have good concentration properties. Further studies need to be done for optimization of the hemispherical structures, as well as successfully perform the proposed upconverting photolithography for auto-aligned exposure of the photoresist at the microconcentrator’s focus, thus allowing a complete solar cell to be created based on this design. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Consequences of human activity in natural environments can be observed in urban phenomena. Urban Heat Island is one of those consequences, it is characterized by higher temperature levels in surface-cover and air in urban centers compared with its surrounding rural areas. UHIs are present in cities of arid ecosystems such as Phoenix and Tucson. Existing urban development trends contribute to UHI episodes. Urban Agriculture (UA) is an emerging environmental strategy and, contrary to traditional and industrial agricultural methods, UA systems provide the option of not using soil, its geometrical arrangement lets grow crops disregarding of extensive surface of land to be consumed. UA systems can be implemented as building fabric components. Urban Agriculture provides access to healthier and economic food, it is more energy efficient and promotes a more vegetarian diet which can eventually contribute diminishing health problems such as obesity and toxicity. A response for achieving a decrease in temperature levels in an urban arid region scenario can be established by demonstrating the following premise: "Urban Heat Island effect in arid regions can be mitigated if vegetated surface in the form of agriculture is properly integrated in the built environment". Research procedures were applied at building scale. Results involved physical objective data acquisition. Research methods required the use of software and thermodynamic tools to measure thermal behavior of samples. The impact of vegetated cover in temperature levels and thermal comfort in an outdoor scenario was digitally simulated. The selected research case contributed as a source of data for comparison and baseline benchmarking of thermodynamic circumstances. Employment of green infrastructure in cities can contribute to the improvement of energy efficiency in buildings and developing self-sufficient communities. Urban agriculture comprises implications and side beneficial environmental consequences in arid habitats beyond decreasing temperature levels in cities, such effects are energy conservation, reducing air pollution, diminishing food security concerns, improving soil quality and runoff wastewater as well as cutting down fossil fuel use in transportation of food. In that sense, future research fields include water quality and availability, innovative emerging materials, climate analysis, societal and cultural value, Net zero development and energy efficiency as well as solid waste management.

This dissertation investigates dissipation in microelectromechanical (MEMS) resonators via detailed analysis and modeling of the energy loss mechanisms and provides a framework toward creating resonant devices with ultra-low dissipation. Fundamental mechanisms underlying acoustic energy loss are explored, the results of which are applied to understanding the losses in resonant MEMS devices. Losses in the materials, which set the ultimate limits of the achievable quality factor of the devices, are examined. Other sources of loss, which are determined by the design of the resonator, are investigated and applied to example resonant MEMS structures. The most critical of these designable loss mechanisms are thermoelastic dissipation (TED) and support (or anchor) loss of acoustic energy through the attachment of the MEMS device to its external environment. The dissipation estimation framework enables prediction of the quality factor of a MEMS resonator, which were accurate within a factor of close to 2 for high-frequency bulk acoustic wave MEMS resonators, and represents a signficant step forward by closing one of the largest outstanding problems in MEMS devices: how to predict the quality factor for a given device. Dissipation mitigation approaches developed herein address the most critical dominant loss mechanisms identified using the framework outlined above. These approaches include design of 1D phononic crystals (PCs) and novel 3D MEMS structures to trap and isolate vibration energy away from the resonator anchors, optimization of resonator geometry to suppress thermoelastic dissipation, and analysis of required levels of surface polish to reduce surface dissipation. Phononic crystals can be used to manipulate the properties of materials. In the case of the 1D PC linear acoustic bandgap (LAB) structures developed here, this manipulation arises from the formation of frequency stop bands, or bandgapwhich convert silicon from a material capable of supporting acoustic waves to a material which rejects acoustic propagation at frequencies in the bandgap. The careful design of these LAB structures is demonstrated to be able to enhance the quality factor and insertion loss of MEMS resonators without significant detrimental effects on the overall device performance.

L’exploitation de l’énergie solaire soulève des défis liés à la nature variable de la res- source concernée : le rayonnement solaire. Son comportement intermittent est un problème pour la gestion des centrales photovoltaïques et du réseau électrique. L'une des solutions largement envisagées est la prévision de la production photovoltaïque à différents horizons.L'objectif de cette thèse est d'explorer de nouvelles voies pour améliorer les prévisions existantes du rayonnement solaire, pour des horizons allant de quelques minutes à quelques heures, en exploitant les synergies possibles entre les mesures pyranométriques, les images hémisphériques du ciel prises depuis le sol et les images acquises par les satellites météorologiques géostationnaires. Ces deux types d’images ont des couvertures spatiales, des résolutions spatio-temporelles et des points de vue très différents.L’approche proposée dans cette thèse exploite cette différence de points de vue afin d’affiner la géolocalisation des nuages en 3D par stéréoscopie, dont l’évolution des ombres peut alors être estimée et prévue. Un simulateur géométrique de la méthode a été développé et permet d’en identifier certains avantages et limitations. La géolocalisation des nuages appliquée à des données réelles a permis d’élaborer des schémas d’estimations et de prévisions prometteurs du rayonnement solaire incident. Enfin, pour compléter l’analyse usuelle de ces performances de prévision, deux nouvelles métriques ont été proposées dans l’optique de quantifier deux notions essentielles : le respect du suivi des rampes et l’alignement temporel de la prévision par rapport à la mesure. / The exploitation of solar energy raises challenges related to the variable nature of the resources involved: the incident solar irradiance. Its intermittent behavior is an is- sue for photovoltaic power plants and grid management. One of the solutions that have been widely considered is the forecast of photovoltaic production at different time horizon.The aim of this thesis is to explore new ways for improving the existing solar irradiance forecasts, for horizons ranging from the present moment to few hours, by exploiting possible synergies between pyranometric measurements, hemispherical images of the sky taken from the ground and images acquired by geostationary meteorological satellites. These two types of images have completely different spatial coverage, spatio-temporal resolutions and are taken from two different locations.The proposed approach in this thesis exploits this difference in points of view in order to geolocate the clouds in 3D by stereoscopy, which shadows’ location and motion can then be estimated and forecasted. A geometric simulator of the method has been developed to identify some of the advantages and limitations of this approach. The geolocation of clouds applied to real data made it possible to develop promising estimates and forecasts of incident solar irradiance. Finally, to complete the usual analysis of forecasting performances, two new metrics have been proposed in order to quantify two essential notions: the ability to monitor the ramps and the temporal alignment of the forecast with the measurements.

In remote sensing, the application determines the type of platform and scale used during air or space –borne data collection as the pixel size of the collected data varies depending on the sensor or platform used. Applications involving some cryospheric environments require the use of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum, with snow water equivalent (SWE) studies making use of passively emitted microwave radiation. A key issue in the use of passive microwave remotely sensed data is its spatial resolution, which ranges from 10 to 25 kilometres. The Climate Research Branch division of the Meteorological Service Canada is using passive microwave remote sensing as a means to monitor and obtain SWE values for Canada’s varying land-cover regions for use in climate change studies. Canada’s diverse landscape necessitated the creation of a snow water equivalent retrieval algorithm suite comprised of four different algorithms; all reflecting different vegetative covers. The spatial resolution of small scale remotely sensed data does provide a means for monitoring Canada’s large landmass, but it does, however, result in generalizations of land-cover, and in particular, vegetative structure, which is shown to influence both snow cover and algorithm performance. The Climate Research Branch is currently developing its SWE algorithm for Canada’s boreal forest region. This thesis presents a means of successfully and easily collecting in situ remotely sensed data in the form of hemispherical photographs for gathering vegetative structure data to ground-truth remotely sensed data. This thesis also demonstrates that the Gap Light Analyzer software suite used for analyzing hemispherical photographs of mainly deciduous environments during the spring-fall months can be successfully applied towards cryospheric studies of predominantly coniferous environments.

In remote sensing, the application determines the type of platform and scale used during air or space –borne data collection as the pixel size of the collected data varies depending on the sensor or platform used. Applications involving some cryospheric environments require the use of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum, with snow water equivalent (SWE) studies making use of passively emitted microwave radiation. A key issue in the use of passive microwave remotely sensed data is its spatial resolution, which ranges from 10 to 25 kilometres. The Climate Research Branch division of the Meteorological Service Canada is using passive microwave remote sensing as a means to monitor and obtain SWE values for Canada’s varying land-cover regions for use in climate change studies. Canada’s diverse landscape necessitated the creation of a snow water equivalent retrieval algorithm suite comprised of four different algorithms; all reflecting different vegetative covers. The spatial resolution of small scale remotely sensed data does provide a means for monitoring Canada’s large landmass, but it does, however, result in generalizations of land-cover, and in particular, vegetative structure, which is shown to influence both snow cover and algorithm performance. The Climate Research Branch is currently developing its SWE algorithm for Canada’s boreal forest region. This thesis presents a means of successfully and easily collecting in situ remotely sensed data in the form of hemispherical photographs for gathering vegetative structure data to ground-truth remotely sensed data. This thesis also demonstrates that the Gap Light Analyzer software suite used for analyzing hemispherical photographs of mainly deciduous environments during the spring-fall months can be successfully applied towards cryospheric studies of predominantly coniferous environments.

No description available.