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El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / his paper proposes a Lean Green model for increasing profitability in small and medium-sized businesses operating within the plastics sector. This model will use the 5S methodology, KanBan for inventory control and TPM to standardize new corrective and preventive maintenance processes. As an added contribution, a Circular Economy process will be included to reuse products, thus reducing consumption and generating less solid waste. In this way, companies will not only prevent damaging the environment but will also guarantee their compliance with regulatory standards. As a result, an 11% reduction was observed in the acquisition of supplies and spare parts for machine maintenance along with a 4% reduction in the number of machine breakdowns.

A new visco-plastic damper for seismic protection is introduced. This device combines and enhances many of the proven characteristics of both displacement-dependent and velocity-dependent devices. The device consists of a block of a high-damping viscoelastic material sandwiched between two steel shapes (plates or channels) bent in a certain configuration to amplify the deformations in the device in order to obtain large tensile and compressive strains in the viscoelastic material. Under low levels of vibrations, the device dissipates energy through amplified strains in the viscoelastic material only; however, under moderate to strong levels of vibrations, a new source of energy dissipation is added through the yielding of the steel elements. The inelastic behavior of the steel elements is controlled by the rigidity of the viscoelastic material. In addition to the energy dissipation, the device provides stiffness through the steel elements as well as the viscoelastic material. Moreover, one of the main advantages of the device is that its behavior is fully controlled through different parameters. First, a nonlinear time history analysis was conducted on structures with a preliminary model of the device using SAP2000 program to check the effectiveness of the device on the response of different structures under ground excitations. The device resulted in better improvement in the structural response compared to the existing viscoelastic dampers. A three-dimensional finite element model was developed for the device using the finite element package, ABAQUS. The hyperelastic and viscoelastic behavior of the block of the viscoelastic material were considered. The inelastic behavior of the steel elements was considered as well using the Von Mises yielding criterion. The device was analyzed under different dynamic loadings with different frequencies. Three simplified models were developed using SAP2000 program in order to facilitate the modeling of the device for structural engineers. These models were compared to the detailed finite element model to check their accuracy. The best model was used in the analysis of a multi-story steel frame with the visco-plastic devices under different ground excitations. Two different arrangements of the device were considered. The devices caused significant reduction in the story displacements, base shear and bending moment at column bases. / Ph. D.

The usefulness of supplementary energy dissipation devices is now quite well-known in the earthquake structural engineering community for reducing the earthquake-induced response of structural systems. However, systematic design procedures for optimal sizing and placement of these protective systems in structural systems are needed and are not yet available. The main objective of this study is, therefore, to formulate a general framework for the optimal design of passive energy dissipation systems for seismic structural applications. The following four types passive energy dissipation systems have been examined in the study: (1) viscous fluid dampers, (2) viscoelastic dampers, (3) yielding metallic dampers and, (4) friction dampers. For each type of energy dissipation system, the study presents the (a) formulation of the optimal design problem, (b) consideration of several meaningful performance indices, (c) analytical and numerical procedures for seismic response and performance indices calculations, (d) procedures for obtaining the optimal design by an appropriate optimization scheme and, (e) numerical results demonstrating the effectiveness of the procedures and the optimization-based design approach. For building structures incorporating linear damping devices, such as fluid and solid viscoelastic dampers, the seismic response and performance evaluations are done by a random vibration approach for a stochastic characterization of the earthquake induced ground motion. Both the gradient projection technique and genetic algorithm approach can be conveniently employed to determine the required amount of damping material and its optimal distribution within a building structure to achieve a desired performance criterion. An approach to evaluate the sensitivity of the optimum solution and the performance function with respect to the problem parameters is also described. Several sets of numerical results for different structural configurations and for different performance indices are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the approach. For buildings installed with nonlinear hysteretic devices, such as yielding metallic elements or friction dampers, the computation of the seismic structural response and performance must be performed by time history analysis. For such energy dissipation devices, the genetic algorithm is more convenient to solve the optimal design problem. It avoids the convergence to a local optimal solution. To formulate the optimization problem within the framework of the genetic algorithm, the study presents the discretization procedures for various parameters of these nonlinear energy dissipation devices. To include the uncertainty about the seismic input motion in the search for optimal design, an ensemble of artificially generated earthquake excitations are considered. The similarities of the optimal design procedure with yielding metallic devices and friction devices are clearly established. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the applicability of the proposed optimization-based approach for different forms of performance indices and types of building structures. / Ph. D.

A new active-passive approach for the control of noise radiated from a small axial fan was investigated. The approach involved the installation of an axial fan into a short duct with both passive and active noise control functions. First, a systematic methodology for the analytical modeling of finite-length ducts with multiple discontinuities was formulated. The procedure involved the modeling of a duct as a collection of simple duct sections, which were interconnected at multiple junctions. Analytical studies have shown that a short lined duct provides passive noise reduction effects through the mass-loading effect of the duct air volume at low frequencies and the sound absorption by a passive liner at high frequencies. It was also shown that active control can provide further noise attenuations at low-to-mid frequencies, thereby enhancing the overall noise control performance. Two alternate designs of active-passive noise control fan duct were considered. One was a simple non- segmented duct with a 2x2 active control and the other was an internally segmented duct with an 8x8 active control. It was indicated that the latter design possesses a significantly higher global noise control potential than the former with respect to both bandwidth and attenuation level. This was attributed to the reduction of the unwanted pressure contributions from the duct cross modes through the high frequency shifting of the associated cut-on frequencies. The experimental validation of the noise control approach was also carried out. An active-passive noise control fan duct incorporating the segmented duct design with 8x8 active control was constructed in conjunction with a hybrid feedforward-feedback control system. Experimental results have shown significant reductions in the total fan noise power associated with the first four BPF tones by the feedforward control and the broadband fan noise power by the feedback control. The overall active-passive noise control characteristics were observed to be in accordance with the analytical results. / Ph. D.

The utilization of lean premixed combustors has become attractive to designers of industrial gas turbines as a means of meeting strict emissions standards without compromising efficiency.  Mixing the fuel and air prior to combustion allows for lower temperature flame zones, creating the potential for drastically reduced nitrous oxide emissions.  While effective, these systems are commonly plagued by combustion driven instabilities.  These instabilities produce large pressure and heat release rate fluctuations due to a resonant interaction between the combustor acoustics and the flame.  A primary feedback mechanism responsible for driving these systems is the propagation of Fuel/Air Ratio (FAR) fluctuations into the flame zone.  These fluctuations are formed inside of the premixing chamber when fuel is injected into and mixed with an oscillating air flow. The research presented here aimed to develop new technology for premixer designs, along with an application strategy, to avoid resonant thermo-acoustic events driven by FAR fluctuations.  A passive fuel control technique was selected for investigation and implementation. The selected technique utilized fuel injections at multiple, strategically placed axial locations to target and inhibit FAR fluctuations at the dominant resonant mode of the combustor.  The goal of this research was to provide an understanding of the mixing response inside a realistic premixer geometry and investigate the effectiveness of the proposed suppression technique. The mixing response was investigated under non-reacting flow conditions using a unique modular premixer.  The premixer incorporated variable axial fuel injection locations, as well as interchangeable mixing chamber geometries.  Two different chamber designs were tested: a simple annular chamber and one incorporating an axial swirler.  The mixing response of the simple annular geometry was well characterized, and it was found that multiple injections could be effectively configured to suppress the onset of an unstable event at very lean conditions. Energy dense flame zones produced at higher equivalence ratios, however, were found to be uncontrollable using this technique. Additionally, the mixing response of the swirl geometry was difficult to predict. This was found to be the result of large spatial gradients formed in the dynamic velocity field as acoustic waves passed through the swirl vanes. / Ph. D.

Following successful implementation of inerters for passive mechanical control in racing cars, this research studies potential innovative solutions for railway vehicle suspensions by bringing the inerter concept to the design of mechatronic systems. The inerter is a kinetic energy storage device which reacts to relative accelerations; together with springs and dampers, it can implement a range of mechanical networks distinguished by their frequency characteristics. This thesis investigates advantages of inerter-based novel devices to simplify the design of active solutions. Most of the research work is devoted to the enhancement of vertical ride quality; integrated active-plus-novel-passive solutions are proposed for the secondary suspensions. These are defined by different active control strategies and passive configurations including inerters. By optimisation of the suspension parameters, a synergy between passive and active configurations is demonstrated for a range of ride quality conditions. The evidence of cooperative work is found in the reduction of the required active forces and suspension travelling. This reveals a potential for reducing the actuator size. Benefits on power requirements and actuator dynamic compensation were also identified. One of the strategies features a nonlinear control law proposed here to compensate for 'sky-hook' damping effects on suspension deflection; this, together with inerter-based devices attains up to 50% in active force reduction for a setting providing 30% of ride quality enhancement. The study is developed from both, an analytical and an engineering perspective. Validation of the results with a more sophisticated model is performed. The lateral stability problem was briefly considered towards the end of the investigation. A potential use of inerter-based devices to replace the static yaw stiffness by dynamic characteristics was identified. This leads to a synergy with 'absolute stiffness', an active stability solution for controlling the wheelset 'hunting' problem, for reducing the creep forces developed during curve negotiation.

Les contraintes économiques, environnementales et sociétales de ces vingt dernières années notamment dans les domaines de l’énergie et des transports ont débouché sur le développement de nouvelles technologies faisant intervenir la combustion pauvre et prémélangée. Ce mode de combustion à partir d'un mélange homogène conduit à des températures de flamme plus faibles qui permettent de réduire les émissions d'oxydes d'azote tout en limitant la production d'oxydes de carbone. Pour autant, la combustion pauvre prémélangée présente le désavantage d’être sensible à toute forme de couplage notamment acoustique, menant à des instabilités de combustion. Ces instabilités sont largement étudiées, mais restent très difficiles à prévoir car elles font intervenir de nombreux phénomènes physiques multi-échelles. Dans la plupart des cas les oscillations résultent d’un couplage résonant entre la dynamique de la combustion et l’acoustique du système. Les conditions aux limites acoustiques du système déterminent la structure du champ de pression dans l’installation, ainsi que les flux acoustiques entrants et sortants. Malgré son importance, l’influence des conditions aux limites n’est pas toujours bien comprise et prise en compte et elle ne fait pas l’objet d’études systématiques. Les conditions aux limites acoustiques ne sont pas faciles à déterminer expérimentalement sur des configurations pratiques et leur contrôle est rarement envisagé. L’objectif de ce travail est donc de répondre à ce manque d’information, en étudiant sur un banc de combustion turbulente (CTRL-Z) l’influence de la condition acoustique d’entrée sur les oscillations de combustion auto-entretenues qui apparaissent dans la chambre de combustion. Un système de contrôle a été développé pour piloter l’impédance du système de prémélange de façon passive, sans modification des conditions de fonctionnement ou de la géométrie du brûleur. Ce système de contrôle d’impédance (ICS, « Impedance Control System ») s’appuie sur une utilisation de plaques perforées faiblement poreuses, au travers desquelles circule un écoulement. Un piston mobile permet de piloter la profondeur de la cavité résonante formée en amont des plaques, et ainsi de piloter leurs impédances. L’impédance de ces plaques perforées a été étudiée pour de faibles et de forts niveaux d’excitation acoustique, et un critère de transition entre les régimes linéaire et non-linéaire a été déterminé. L’ICS a été optimisé pour permettre un contrôle du module du coefficient de réflexion de 0 à 1 sur une large plage de fréquences (100 à 1000 Hz) et de niveaux d’amplitude de perturbations (100 à 150 dB) couvrant ainsi la gamme des instabilités thermoacoustiques classiques. L’ICS est utilisé pour contrôler l’impédance d’entrée du système de prémélange du banc CTRL-Z, en regard de la zone de combustion. L’analyse spectrale des fluctuations de pression et de dégagement de chaleur en fonction de l’impédance d’entrée démontre qu’il est possible d’obtenir un amortissement de l’instabilité principale pouvant atteindre 20 dB. Ces résultats sont confirmés par une estimation au premier ordre d’un bilan d’énergie acoustique prenant en compte le terme source dû à la combustion ainsi que les flux acoustiques en amont et aval de la zone de flamme. Ce bilan démontre par ailleurs l’importance du flux d’énergie transmis vers l’amont, du même ordre de grandeur que le terme source, et souligne la nécessité de prendre en compte ces flux pour déterminer correctement le taux de croissance de l’énergie. Finalement, une analyse acoustique de l'installation a été menée pour déterminer la nature des modes d'instabilités observés et pour examiner les conditions nécessaires au bon fonctionnement de l'ICS. / Combustion instabilities induced by a resonant flame-acoustic coupling are commonly observed in most applications of combustion from gas turbines to domestic or industrial boilers. These oscillations are detrimental by nature, and are still very difficult to predict at the design stage of a combustor. They imply numerous physical phenomena at multiple scales. They mainly result from a resonant coupling between the unsteady combustion and the acoustics of the system. The basic driving and coupling mechanisms have been extensively studied: acoustics in complex geometries and combustion dynamics of turbulent swirled flames are now reasonably well understood. However the effects of the acoustic boundary conditions on the system stability are less well documented, as they are not easy to access or to control in practical systems. They are however of prime importance as they determine the acoustic fluxes at the inlets and outlets of the combustor, as well as the preferential eigenfrequencies of the system. The main objective of this study is to investigate experimentally the influence of the inlet boundary condition of a generic turbulent burner on the observed self-sustained thermoacoustic oscillations. To carry out this investigation, a passive control solution has been developed. An innovative use of perforated panels with bias flow backed by tunable cavities allows to control the acoustic impedance at the inlet of a lean swirled-stabilized staged combustor (CTRL-Z facility). This impedance control system (ICS) has been initially designed and tested in a high load impedance tube. This facility also allowed to develop a robust impedance measurement technique, along with experimental protocols to measure acoustic velocities and fluxes. The acoustic response of perforates in both linear and nonlinear regimes was investigated as function of the plate porosity, bias flow velocity, back-cavity depth and incident pressure wave amplitude and frequency. The transition between the linear regime and the detrimental nonlinear regime has been linked to the perforates geometrical and operational parameters. As a result the ICS enables control of its acoustic reflection coefficient from 1 to 0 in a wide frequency range, 100 to 1000 Hz, for low and large incident pressure amplitudes (from 100 to 150 dB). The ICS, once implemented on the CTRL-Z facility, allowed to passively control the inlet boundary condition of the combustion rig. The impedance measurement technique was successfully used in harsh combustion situations, with high noise levels, to obtain in-situ measurements of the ICS impedance. Spectral analysis of the pressure and heat-release rate fluctuations demonstrated damping of the main self-sustained oscillation by up to 20 dB. A quantitative estimation of the acoustic energy balance was then obtained, highlighting the importance of the inlet acoustic flux. In this configuration, this term is of the same order of magnitude as the driving Rayleigh source term. Finally, an acoustic analysis of the combustion rig was led to determine the nature of the observed combustion instabilities modes and examine conditions required for an effective use of the ICS.

O chatter é o principal problema de instabilidade nos processos de usinagem, e é causado pelas ondulações deixadas na superfície durante cortes sucessivos, ou chamado processo de regeneração, e é caracterizado pelo ruído e qualidade superficial ruim nas superfícies usinadas. Portanto, a comunidade científica tem se preocupado em desenvolver ações, tanto para a predição do fenômeno, como para desenvolver estratégias para sua redução. Neste trabalho avalia-se numérica e experimentalmente, a utilização de pastilhas piezelétricas acopladas no suporte da ferramenta, e aplicando estratégias de controle passivo e ativo, procurando a redução do chatter em processos de torneamento. A solução passiva consiste em conectar os terminais das pastilhas piezelétricas a um circuito elétrico dissipador de energia. A solução ativa propõe usar uma das pastilhas como sensor e a outra como atuador para aplicar leis de controle de realimentação. Na avaliação numérica foi considerado um modelo eletromecânico de parâmetros distribuídos usando a teoria de viga engastada de Euler-Bernoulli, e as equações constitutivas elétricas e mecânicas do material piezelétrico. A comparação das funções de resposta em frequência (FRFs) do sistema, obtidas numericamente, mostra uma adição de amortecimento ao sistema quando é usado um circuito de dissipação com uma resistência e uma indutância como solução passiva. A avaliação numérica da solução ativa indica que o controle de realimentação de velocidade adiciona amortecimento do sistema. A melhora da estabilidade no processo de torneamento destas duas estratégias é comprovada num diagrama de lóbulos de estabilidade. Na parte experimental foram obtidas as funções de resposta em frequência do sistema suporte da ferramenta, usando um sistema de aquisição de dados, com o fim de comparar as magnitudes da resposta, e foram feitos testes de torneamento com o fim de comparar qualitativamente as qualidades superficiais obtidas nas peças usinadas. A medição das FRFs com circuitos de dissipação indicou uma atenuação da resposta para um sistema com circuito em série, estratégia que foi avaliada em testes de torneamento, e mostrando uma melhora no acabamento superficial. / Chatter is the main problem of instability in machining processes, caused by the modulations left on the surface during the successive cuts, called regeneration process, and is characterized by violent vibrations, noise and poor surface quality on machined surfaces. Thus, the scientific community has been concerned with developing actions for both the phenomenom prediction, and developing strategies to reduce them. This work evaluates numerically and experimentally the use of piezoelectric layers embedded to the tool-holder, and applying active and passive strategies trying to reduce the chatter in turning processes. For the passive case, the conductive electrode pairs of the piezoelectric layers are connected to a shunt circuit which modifies the system dynamics. The active solution proposes to use one of the piezoelectric layers as sensor an the other one as actuator, in order to apply feedback control laws. A numerical evaluation considers an electromechanical distributed parameter model based on Euler- Bernoulli cantilever beam theory, and the electrical and mechanical constitutive equations of the piezoelectric material. A comparison of the system frequency response functions (FRFs), numerically obtained, shows an increase of system damping when a resistive-inductive shunt circuit is used as a passive solution. The numerical evaluation of the active solution shows that the velocity feedback control increases the system damping. The turning process stability improvement using both strategies, is shown in a stability lobe diagram. Frequency response functions of the tool-holder system were obtained experimentally using a data acquisition system, in order to compare the response amplitudes. Turning tests were performed in order to compare surface qualities obtained of machined parts. Measurement of FRFs using series resistive-inductive shunt circuits shows a system response attenuation, later this strategy was evaluated in turning tests, showing an improvement in surface finish.

Apresentam-se modelos matemáticos de poucos graus de liberdade para o estudo de vibrações estruturais não lineares excitadas por fonte não-ideal de energia, amortecidas por impacto, para duas aplicações: um pórtico que serve de apoio para um motor elétrico e uma torre de suporte a uma turbina eólica. Considera-se a existência de interação entre o fornecimento de energia e o movimento da estrutura de suporte. Se a potência fornecida pela fonte de energia não é suficiente, a rotação do rotor pode ficar estagnada à freqüência de ressonância da estrutura, impossibilitando o mesmo de alcançar regimes de rotação mais altos. Isso é uma manifestação do chamado Efeito Sommerfeld. No primeiro modelo, somente dois graus de liberdade são considerados: o movimento horizontal da estrutura, na direção perpendicular ao eixo do rotor, e a rotação do rotor. Depois, adiciona-se outro grau de liberdade, representando o movimento de uma pequena massa que se desloca livremente dentro de uma câmara (amortecedor por impacto). As equações de movimento desses modelos são obtidas via formulação Lagrangiana. Por intermédio de simulações numéricas, procurou-se estudar os parâmetros do amortecedor por impacto que produzem a melhor eficiência do dispositivo. Nota-se que o impacto da massa com as paredes do recipiente fornece controle da amplitude de vibração da estrutura e da largura da banda de freqüências em que o Efeito Sommerfeld ocorre. / We present mathematical models with few degrees of freedom for the study of nonlinear structural vibrations excited by a non ideal energy source, with impact damping, for two applications: a portal frame that supports an electric motor and a tower structure supporting an aeolian turbine. We consider that there is interaction between the energy supply and the motion of the supporting structure. If the power supplied by the energy source is not enough, the rotation of the engine may get stuck at a resonance frequency of the structure, disabling the engine to reach higher regimes of rotation. This is a manifestation of the so-called Sommerfeld Effect. In the first model, only two degrees of freedom are considered: the horizontal motion of the structure, in the transverse direction to the axis of the rotor, and the rotation of the rotor. Next, another degree of freedom is added to the model, representing the motion of a rolling small mass, free to bounce back and forth inside a chamber (impact damper). The equations of motion of these models are obtained via a Lagrangian approach. The parameters that produce the greatest effectiveness of the impact damper were studied through numerical simulations. One notices that the impact of the mass with the walls of the container supplies control of the vibration amplitude of the structure and the width of the band of frequencies where the Sommerfeld Effect occurs.