A structural health monitoring system is desired to monitor the integrity of cylindrical, multi-layer carbon over-wrapped pressure vessels intended to house hydrogen at high pressures. In order to develop the system based on ultrasonic guided wave technology, the interaction between ultrasonic guided waves and defect types of interest must be understood. Finite element models in two and three dimensions are developed to predict guided wave motion in the reservoirs. Key parameters are optimized including frequency range, excited modes, detected modes, and transducer dimensions. A novel baseline subtraction technique in the frequency wavenumber domain is presented to increase lower level detection limits. Some experiments are carried out to corroborate the findings in the finite element environment.

Les travaux de recherche présentés dans ce manuscrit ont pour but de concevoir, simuler, fabriquer et caractériser un convertisseur modal à base de canne microstructurée air-silice (CMAS). Cette fonction représente un élément clé pour les multiplexeurs modaux et les compensateurs de dispersion chromatique. Le composant proposé est basé sur une CMAS effilée dite « taper » qui constitue une transition entre les deux fibres différentes. La conversion se fait à travers l’excitation d’un mode particulier dans une fibre multimode à partir d’une fibre standard. Dans les structures à diamètre évolutif, la compréhension des différentes théories régissant le couplage entre les différents modes est nécessaire. Une étude approfondie est réalisée pour analyser le phénomène de couplage et étudier le critère d’adiabaticité. Ce composant est élaboré autour d’une technologie de fabrication existante à XLIM qui se base sur la technique fusion-étirage. Enfin, nous validons numériquement et expérimentalement ce principe. Nous réussissons à exciter le mode fondamental et d’autres modes d’ordre supérieur dans une fibre multimode. / These research works presented in this manuscript aim at designing, simulate, manufacture and characterizing the modal converter based microstructured air-silica cane. This function represents a key element for modal multiplexers and chromatic dispersion compensators. The proposed component is based on a tapered microstructured air-silica cane « taper » which constitutes a transition between the two different fibers. The conversion is done through the excitation of a particular mode in a multimode or few mode fibers from a standard fiber. In the tapered structures, the understanding of the different theories involving the coupling between the different modes was yet necessary. A thorough study is carried to analyze the phenomenon of coupling and study the adiabatic criterion. This component is developed around an existing manufacturing technology at XLIM which based in the technique « stack and draw». Finally, we validate numerically and experimentally that principle. We succeed to excite the fundamental mode and higher order modes in a multimode fiber.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:37:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jorge Enrifque Samanes Cardenas.pdf: 3561395 bytes, checksum: ba28ce6fbd3bd0e1573255ccacb30d17 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-17 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / Deep amplitude minima are observed in the daily records of Very Low Frequency (VLF, between 3 - 30 kHz) wave amplitudes. Amplitude minima are attributed to modal interference and modal conversion of waves propagating in the Earth - Ionosphere waveguide. The time of amplitude minima is related with the localization of the Terminator line and, therefore, is denominated of Terminator Time or TT time. In this work, we developed a methodology based on the monitoring of TT time to infer the distance of modal interference D and its temporal variation in relation to atmospheric and natural phenomena. For this purpose, we used data provided by the South America VLF Network (SAVNET) to the period 2007 - 2011. The results showed that the methodology is a promising tool to study the dynamics of the lower ionosphere, by means of the daily values of the undisturbed nighttime ionospheric height(hN). We identified short-term and long-term time variations of hN, where the long-term variation is possibly related with the solar activity cycle. We propose the use of this method to search for seismic- electromagnetic effects, and that it should be applied to medium and short propagation paths. Using the Long Wave Propagation Capability (LWPC) code, we simulated TT times and the results show good agreement with the observations, so a value for nighttime height hN = 88 km is suggested. This work will contribute to a greater viability of the use of the VLF technique for the study of the lower ionosphere and the forcings acting on this region of the atmosphere. / Pronunciados mínimos de amplitude são observados nos registros diários de sinais de muito baixa frequência ou VLF (do inglês Very Low Frequency, entre 3 - 30 kHz). A presença destes mínimos é atribuída a interferência e conversão modal de ondas se propagando no guia de onda Terra - Ionosfera. Os tempos de ocorrência destes mínimos são relacionados com a localização do Terminadouro e, por isso, são denominados de tempos de Terminadouro ou Tempos TT. Neste trabalho, desenvolvemos uma metodologia baseada no monitoramento dos tempos TT para inferir a distância de interferência modal D, e sua variabilidade temporal em relação a fenômenos atmosféricos e naturais. Para isso, utilizamos dados fornecidos pela rede SAVNET (South America VLF Network) durante o período 2007 - 2011. Os resultados mostraram que a metodologia é relevante para estudar a dinâmica da baixa ionosfera, através da obtenção de valores diários da altura noturna hN. Identificamos variabilidades de curto e longo período para hN, sendo estas últimas relacionadas ao ciclo de atividade solar. O método deverá ser aplicado à procura de efeitos sismo-eletromagnéticos utilizando caminhos com comprimento médios ou curtos. Foram realizadas simulações dos tempos TT, utilizando o código Long Wave Propagation Capability (LWPC), que mostraram boa concordância com as observações, sugerindo um valor de hN = 88 km para a altura noturna da baixa ionosfera. Os resultados apresentados neste trabalho contribuem para uma maior viabilização do uso da técnica de VLF, para o estudo da baixa ionosfera e os forçantes que agem sobre esta região da atmosfera terrestre.