L'objectif de cette thèse était de caractériser, de modéliser et de hiérarchiser les mécanismes acteurs de la croissance de bulles dans un fromage à pâte pressée non-cuite à l'échelle de la bulle. Pour cela, trois étapes majeures ont été envisagées. Une première étape de mise au point d’une méthode de détermination des paramètres du modèle mécanique (modèle de Maxwell généralisé) par ajustement de courbes expérimentales de compression-relaxation a été effectuée. Une deuxième étape de validation a consisté en la réalisation d'un dispositif expérimental permettant de soumettre une bulle isolée dans un cylindre de fromage à diverses sollicitations mécaniques, à suivre l'évolution du dispositif en temps réel et de façon non invasive par IRM, et à confronter ces résultats à des simulations reproduisant les conditions d'acquisition. Une dernière étape a consisté à rajouter la prise en compte du transport de matière (CO2) au sein du fromage dans la modélisation. Les résultats de simulation ont dans un premier temps été confrontés au comportement moyen des bulles au sein d'un bloc de fromage, et dans un deuxième temps un dispositif expérimental de validation similaire à celui de l'étape précédente a été développé. La caractérisation mécanique du fromage a montré que les propriétés rhéologiques n'évoluent pas au cours de l'affinage, mais qu'elles sont soumises à un fort gradient spatial. Le modèle de Maxwell a été validé expérimentalement dans des conditions de sollicitations mécaniques uniquement et une étude de sensibilité a permis de montrer la forte influence des temps de relaxation les plus longs (plusieurs heures) et de la position de la bulle sur la croissance. L'étude du couplage entre transport de quantité de mouvement et transport de matière dans un contexte de croissance d'une seule bulle a permis de montrer la grande influence des paramètres de transport de matière sur la croissance de bulle, en particulier pour le coefficient de diffusion et le taux de production de CO2. Dans un contexte où deux cavités gazeuses sont mobilisées, les paramètres géométriques (position, dimensions, forme des cavités) se sont montrés aussi importants que les paramètres de transport de matière. / The objective of this PhD thesis was to characterise, model and rank the mechanisms involved in the growth of bubbles in semi-hard cheeses, at the bubble scale. Three steps were considered. First, a mechanical characterisation of the material enabled to define a rheological model to describe the behaviour of the material (generalised Maxwell model), and to set-up a method to determine the model parameters by fitting of compression-relaxation data. Secondly, the Maxwell model consisted in setting up an experimental validation procedure allowing studying different loads on a single bubble surrounded by a cheese cylinder. Experiments were monitored in real-time in a non-invasive manner by MRI imaging and were compared to simulations reproducing the experimental conditions. Finally, mass transport (CO2) was also taken into account in the model. Simulation results were first compared to the average bubble growth in cheese blocks, and then a dedicated experimental set-up similar to that used previously was used. Mechanical characterisation of semi-hard cheese showed the rheological properties did not evolve during ripening, but presented a steep spatial gradient. Despite its simplicity, the Maxwell model showed good agreement with the experimental results. A sensitivity study demonstrated that the highest relaxation time (about several hours) and the bubble position were the most influent parameters over bubble growth, when only the mechanical model was involved. Coupling between mass and momentum transport in a single bubble case demonstrated the great influence of the mass transport parameters on bubble growth, especially diffusivity and CO2 production rate. In the case where two gaseous cavities are involved, geometric parameters (cavities positions, dimensions and shape) proved to be as important as the mass transport parameters on the bubble growth.

Entwickelt wurde eine Konzeption zur Erstellung und Pilotanwendung eines gekoppelten Modellsystems für Sicker- und Grundwasser (ReArMo), das die prognostische Abschätzung künftiger Entwicklungen des Grundwassers nach Menge und Beschaffenheit unter geänderten Randbedingungen (Klima, Landnutzung, Bewirtschaftung) zum Ziel hat. Ein weiteres Ziel dieser Modellkopplung besteht in der Optimierung der Stickstoffdüngung bei relevanten landwirtschaftlichen Betrieben. Die zu betrachtenden Prozesse in der wechselfeuchten Bodenzone und im Grundwasser werden gemäß dem aktuellen Stand der Technik physikalisch fundiert erfasst.

In the chlorate process, natural convection arises thanks to the hydrogen evolving cathode. This increases the mass transport of the different species in the chlorate electrolyte. There is a strong connection between mass transport and the kinetics of the electrode reactions. A better knowledge about these phenomena and their interactions is desirable in order to understand e.g. the reasons for deactivation of anode coatings and what process conditions give the longest lifetime and the highest efficiency. One of the aims of his work was to understand how the chlorate process has to be run to avoid exceeding the critical anode potential (Ecr) in order to keep the potential losses low and to achieve a long lifetime of the DSAs. At Ecr anodic polarisation curves in chlorate electrolyte bend to higher Tafel slopes, causing increasing potential losses and accelerated ageing of the anode. Therefore the impact on the anode potential and on Ecr of different electrolyte parameters and electrolyte impurities was investigated. Additionally, the work aimed to investigate the impact of an addition of chromate on oxygen evolution and concentration profiles under conditions reminiscent of those in the chlorate process (high ionic strength, 70 °C, ruthenium based DSA, neutral pH), but without chloride in order to avoid hypochlorite formation. For this purpose a model, taking into account mass transport as well as potential- and concentration-dependent electrode reactions and homogeneous reactions was developed. Water oxidation is one of the side reactions considered to decrease the current efficiency in chlorate production. The results from the study increase the understanding of how a buffer/weak base affects a pH dependent electrode reaction in a pH neutral electrolyte in general. This could also throw light on the link between electrode reactions and homogeneous reactions in the chlorate process. It was found that the mechanism for chloride oxidation is likely to be the same for potentials below Ecr as well as for potentials above Ecr. This was based on the fact that the apparent reaction order as well as αa seem to be of the same values even if the anode potential exceeds Ecr. The reason for the higher slope of the polarisation curve above Ecr could then be a potential dependent deactivation of the active sites. Deactivation of active ruthenium sites could occur if ruthenium in a higher oxidation state were inactive for chloride oxidation. Concentration gradients of H+, OH-, CrO4 2- and HCrO4 - during oxygen evolution on a rotating disk electrode (RDE) were predicted by simulations. The pH dependent currents at varying potentials calculated by the model were verified in experiments. It was found that an important part of the chromate buffering effect at high current densities occurs in a thin (in the order of nanometers) reaction layer at the anode. From comparisons between the model and experiments a reaction for the chromate buffering has been proposed. Under conditions with bulk pH and chromate concentration similar to those in the chlorate process, the simulations show that the current density for oxygen evolution from OH- would be approximately 0.1 kA m-2, which corresponds to about 3% of the total current in chlorate production. / QC 20101122

Copulas as a description of joint probability distributions is today common when modeling financial risk. The optimal mass transport problem also describes dependence structures, although it is not well explored. This thesis explores the dependence structures of the entropy regularized optimal mass transport problem. The basic copula properties are replicated for the optimal mass transport problem. The estimation of the parameters of the optimal mass transport problem is attempted using a maximum likelihood analogy, but only successful when observing the general tendencies on a grid of the parameters. / Copulas som en beskrivning av simultanfördelning är idag en vanlig modell för finansiell risk. Optimala masstransport problemet beskriver också simultant beroende mellan fördelningar, även om det är mindre undersökt. Denna uppsats undersöker beroendestrukturer av det entropiregulariserade optimala masstransport problemet. De basala egenskaperna hos copulas är replikerade för det optimala masstransport problemet. Ett försök att skatta parametrarna i det optimala masstransport problemet görs med en maximum-likelihood liknande metod, men är endast framgångsrik i att uppsakata de generella tendenserna på en grid av parametrarna.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第24644号 / 工博第5150号 / 新制||工||1983(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科化学工学専攻 / (主査)教授 河瀬 元明, 准教授 中川 浩行, 教授 外輪 健一郎 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

Knowledge of the detailed flow dynamics at the interior of branching corals is critical for a full understanding of nutrient uptake, mass transport, wave dissipation, and other essential processes. These physiological processes depend on the local velocity field, local concentration gradients of nutrients and waste, and the turbulent stresses developed on and above the coral surface. Though the large-scale hydrodynamics over coral reefs are well studied, the interior hydrodynamics, between the branches, remains uncharacterized due to limited optical and acoustic access to the interior. In the current thesis, a three-dimensional immersed boundary method in the large eddy simulation framework was used to compute the flow inside several branching coral colony geometries in order to study the effects of branch density and surface structure on the flow fields in the coral interiors. Two different Pocillopora colony species were studied at different Reynolds numbers. A ray-tracing algorithm was used for capturing the arbitrary branches of these complex geometries to obtain the three-dimensional flow fields within these colonies for the first time. The analysis showed the formation of vortices at the colony interior that stir the water column and thus passively enhance mass transport, compensating for the reduced mean velocity magnitude compared to the free stream value, within the densely branched Pocillopora meandrina colony. Further analysis showed that the mean streamwise velocity profile changes shape along the streamwise direction inside P. meandrina, whereas the mean velocity profile did not change shape from the front to the back for the loosely branched Pocillopora colony, Pocillopora eydouxi. Moreover, turbulent flow field quantities were computed for both these structures, and for two almost identical Montipora capitata colony geometries, one with, and one without roughness elements called verrucae. The analyses demonstrated significant differences in the mean velocity profiles, Reynolds stress, and other flow quantities with changes in colony branch density and surface structure. / Doctor of Philosophy / Coral reefs are the largest marine ecosystem, and play a critical role in protecting coastal areas against flooding and erosion. The majority of the world's corals are currently under threat from rising ocean temperatures, which disrupt the symbiotic relationship between the coral polyp and its symbiont algae causing coral bleaching. Bleaching involves processes mediated by the flow at the coral surface, but relatively little is known regarding the local flow dynamics between the branches of coral reefs. The current research seeks to characterize internal coral hydrodynamics, leading to insights about many critical physiological and other processes in corals, like drag formation, mixing, and mass or nutrient transport to and from the coral. In the current study, the influence of the coral branch density and surface structure on the resulting interbranch flow field were investigated by simulating the flow resulting from uniform oncoming ocean flow conditions using three-dimensional immersed boundary large eddy simulations. The detailed velocity and pressure fields were found throughout the interior of the colonies studied. A distinct mass transport mechanism was found inside one densely branched colony studied. For this coral, Pocillopora meandrina, the flow speed reduces substantially inside the coral because of the high branch density. But corals depend on the ocean flow to bring nutrients to the polyps on their surface. We found that P. meandrina sheds hundreds of small vortices from its branches, which stir the overlying water column, increasing the mass transport rate, and compensating almost exactly for the reduced flow in the interior. The study also included computing the flow through three other coral colony geometries, and comparisons of their mean velocity profiles and turbulent flow statistics in order to examine the impact of the colony branch density and surface structures on the resulting hydrodynamic flow field. The current investigation of coral hydrodynamics may lead to an increased understanding of coral health and physiological activity, and may help in designing effective interventions for the challenges facing corals, which could have impacts in the fields of coral restoration, coastal protection, and public policy in the United States and abroad.

No description available.

The purpose of this manuscript is to establish a unified theory of porohyperelasticity with transport and growth and to demonstrate the capability of this theory using a finite element model developed in MATLAB. We combine the theories of volumetric growth and mixed porohyperelasticity with transport and swelling (MPHETS) to derive a new method that models growth of biological soft tissues. The conservation equations and constitutive equations are developed for both solid-only growth and solid/fluid growth. An axisymmetric finite element framework is introduced for the new theory of growing MPHETS (GMPHETS). To illustrate the capabilities of this model, several example finite element test problems are considered using model geometry and material parameters based on experimental data from a porcine coronary artery. Multiple growth laws are considered, including time-driven, concentrationdriven, and stress-driven growth. Time-driven growth is compared against an exact analytical solution to validate the model. For concentration-dependent growth, changing the diffusivity (representing a change in drug) fundamentally changes growth behavior. We further demonstrate that for stress-dependent, solid-only growth of an artery, growth of an MPHETS model results in a more uniform hoop stress than growth in a hyperelastic model for the same amount of growth time using the same growth law. This may have implications in the context of developing residual stresses in soft tissues under intraluminal pressure. To our knowledge, this manuscript provides the first full description of an MPHETS model with growth. The developed computational framework can be used in concert with novel in-vitro and in-vivo experimental approaches to identify the governing growth laws for various soft tissues.

An estimated 85% of haemorrhagic strokes are secondary to the rupture of an intracranial aneurysm (IA), a localised, blood-filled dilation of the artery wall. The clinically observed rupture of occluded IAs has led to hypothesise that the presence of thrombus may restrict the transport of nutrients, most notably oxygen, to the aneurysmal wall, thus heightening the risk of rupture through the deleterious effects of hypoxia on cellular functionality. The limited research into O2 transport within IAs demonstrate the need for further exploration into the possible detrimental hypoxic conditions as a result of intrasaccular haemodynamics and thrombusformation in untreated, treated and evolving IAs, with the ultimate goal of further understanding disease evolution and developing prognostic decision support models for clinical intervention. Preliminary computational fluid dynamic simulations conducted on a 2Daxisymmetric model of a thrombosed artery highlighted the relative importance of wall-side versus the fluid-side mass transport of oxygen. A sensitivity analysis demonstrated that variations in thrombus thickness, and arterial wall cellular respiration rates have the greatest influence on the oxygen distribution to the portion of wall in direct contact with the thrombus. The results of the coupled flow-mass transport computational fluid dynamic simulations within patient-specific IA show that a reduction in intrasaccular flow as a consequence of stent deployment affects the rate at which oxygenated blood reaches the entirety of the dome. Nonetheless, the distribution ofO2 to the aneurysmal wall itself does not differ from the observed oxygen distribution across the wall when the same IA is left untreated. Conversely, the low velocity recirculations observed in an IA presenting with a very high aspect ratio (i.e a narrow neck and high sack height) limited the transport of oxygen to such an extent as to completely deprive the delivery of oxygen to the fundus. The presence of thrombus within the IA dome results in a dramatic reduction in oxygen delivery to the wall, the extent of which is dependent on the local thrombus thickness. Finally, a novel fluid-solid-growth-mass transport (FSGT) mathematical model is conceived to explore the biochemical role of thrombus on the evolution of an IA. The shear-regulate propagation of a thrombus layer during membrane expansion leads to the gradual decrease in oxygen tension within the wall. Moreover, as a consequence of coupling this oxygen deficiency to fibroblast functionality, the collagen fibre mass density was shown to increase at an insufficient rate to compensate for the transfer in load from the degrading elastinous consitituents to the collagenous constituents, thus resulting in the increased stretch of collagen fibres in order to maintain mechanical equilibrium. Moreover this over-expansion results in the gradual unstable evolution of the IA. The observed obstruction to oxygen delivery as a result of intrasaccular haemodynamics and thrombosis compounds the need for further development of more comprehensive chemo-mechano-biological models of IAs so as to better ascertain the level of rupture risk posed by a hypoxic environment. Refinement to the models proposed within this work would prove invaluable to creating a fully integrated multi-physics, multi-scale in silico framework in aid to patient diagnostics and individual treatment planning of IAs.

Les biofilms bactériens se développent sur toute interface liquide-solide dès que les conditions sont favorables. Ils correspondent à des assemblages de microcolonies qui baignent dans une matrice extracellulaire polymérique. Parmi les facteurs contrôlant le développement des biofilms, l’hydrodynamique est un paramètre clé qui affecte la morphologie et la composition du biofilm. Nous nous intéressons plus particulièrement dans cette thèse à l'influence du gradient de vitesse pariétal sur la formation du biofilm. Pour cela, nous utilisons un réacteur Couette-Poiseuille qui permet de travailler sous écoulement laminaire stable dans différentes conditions d'écoulement. Les biofilms obtenus après circulation d'eaux usées, sont prélevés sur des coupons et visualisés par microscopie confocale à balayage laser. Différents paramètres caractérisant la morphologie du biofilm sont déterminés après reconstruction 3D de leur structure à l'aide du modeleur GOCAD. Nous montrons que le transport convectif constitue une étape essentielle dans la formation initiale du biofilm, et qu'un gradient pariétal nul permet d'inhiber le développement de celui-ci / Bacterial biofilms develop on any solid-liquid interface whenever conditions are appropriate. They correspond to microcolony assemblages embedded in an extracellular matrix. Among the factors controlling biofilm growth, hydrodynamics is a key parameter affecting both biofilm morphology and composition. In this thesis we investigate the influence of hydrodynamics, and more precisely the wall shear rate effect on biofilm development. For this purpose, a Couette-Poiseuille reactor, allowing to work under stable laminar flow with different flow velocities, was used. Biofilms grown from urban wastewater on coupon surfaces were observed with confocal scanning microscopy. A 3D modeling using GOCAD software was established, thus allowing the determination of various biofilms structural characteristics. The results show the essential role of convective mass transport in biofilm formation, actually a zero wall shear rate inhibited bacterial deposition, and hence biofilm growth