Cette thèse porte sur l’optimisation en termes de microstructure et de composition des propriétés électrochimiques du composé Ca3Co4O9+δ pour une application comme cathode pour Pile à Combustible à Oxyde. En utilisant la sérigraphie comme technique de dépôt, la Résistance Surfacique Spécifique a été diminuée jusqu’à 0.5 Ωcm² à 700°C pour un matériau composé de 50% en masse d’oxyde de cérium dopé au gadolinium et Ca3Co4O9+δ. Par ailleurs, des techniques telles que le spin-coating et l’électro-spray apparaissent comme prometteuse pour l’amélioration des performances. Nous avons tenté d’étudié l’impact de la substitution partielle sur le site calcium sur les performances électrochimiques pour différents dopants (Sr, Pb, Bi, La). Du fait que les performances électrochimiques dépendent fortement de la préparation et de la faible concentration en dopant contrainte par la faible solubilité du plomb en site calcium, il n’a pas été possible de tirer des conclusions claires sur l’impact d’un tel dopage, de même pour les propriétés de transport de l’oxygène. Par contre, l’analyse par échange Isotopique Pulsé de la composition (Ca0.90Sr0.10)3Co4O9+δ a permis de confirmer les très bonnes cinétiques d’échange de l’oxygène pour les composés partiellement substitués par du strontium, montrant par ailleurs que ni l’adsorption en surface de l’oxygène ni son incorporation dans le solide sont des étapes limitantes dans le mécanisme d’échange en surface. / In this PhD thesis, the electrochemical performances of the misfit layered oxide Ca3Co4O9+δ used as a cathode for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell were tentatively optimised by optimisation of the electrode microstructure and composition. Using screen printing as a deposition technique, the Area Specific Resistance was decreased to 0.5 Ωcm2 at 700°C for a composite made of 50% in weight of cerium gadolinium doped oxide and Ca3Co4O9+δ. Spin coating and electro-spray deposition were also tested as promising technique to improve the performances. The impact of partial substitution of the calcium site on the electrochemical performances was tentatively studied with a wide range of dopant (Sr, Pb, Bi, La). It was difficult to draw conclusions since their performances depend strongly on the sample preparation. Moreover, due to the low amount of the dopant, imposed by the low solubility of lead in the calcium site, it was not possible to derive a clear tendency of the substituent’s impact on the oxygen transport properties. However, by pulse isotopic exchange, high surface exchange kinetics were confirmed for the (Ca0.90Sr0.10)3Co4O9+δ composition and it was shown that neither the oxygen adsorption of the surface nor the oxygen incorporation in the solid were the limiting step in the oxygen transfer.

<p> The base and shaft resistance of steel pipe piles installed in silica sand is affected by several factors; these include but are not limited to: shaft resistance degradation, shaft surface roughness, installation method, pile geometry, soil density and particle size, and setup.  This thesis focuses on the first four factors, while also considering the effect of soil density within each factor. Several of the pile design formulas available do not consider the effects of shaft resistance degradation due to load cycles during installation of jacked and driven closed-ended pipe piles, plug formation and evolution during driving of open-ended pipe piles, the degree of corrosion or pitting corrosion on the shaft surface of a pile and its potential impact on setup, and the geometry of the tip of the pile. To assess the impact on pile capacity of some of these factors, a series of static compression load tests were performed in a controlled environment in a calibration chamber with a scaled down instrumented model pile. The air-pluviation technique with different combination of sieves assembled in a large-scale pluviator was used to prepare F-55 sand samples of different density in the calibration chamber. Slight changes were made to the experimental setup to study each factor: sand sample density, driving energy, mode of installation, and geometry and shaft roughness of the model pile.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The results from the experiments confirmed that each of these factors affects the pile resistance. Some of the important conclusions were:</p> <p><br></p> <p>i. The shaft resistance of the model pile is about 2.4 times greater for jacked piles than for driven piles in dense sand, due to the greater shaft resistance degradation in driven piles. </p> <p>ii. Despite the effect of degradation, the shaft resistance of the non-displacement model pile which had no loading cycles was a ratio of 0.37 to that of the driven model pile in medium dense sand and 0.60 in dense sand, due to the absence of displacement.</p> <p>iii. An increase in the surface roughness of the jacked model piles from smooth to medium-rough resulted in an increase of the shaft resistance, which had a ratio of 7.75 to the smooth pile in dense sand and 3.05 in medium dense sand. An increase from smooth to rough resulted in an increase of the shaft resistance, which had a ratio of 8.00 to the smooth pile in dense sand and 4.26 in medium dense sand.</p> <p>iv. Although rougher interfaces produce greater interface friction angles than smooth interfaces with sand, once a limiting value of surface roughness is reached, shearing occurs in a narrow band in the sand in the immediate vicinity of the model pile, with the shaft resistance depending on the critical-state friction angle of the sand. This means the shaft resistance will not increase further with changes in pile surface roughness, due to the fact that the internal critical-state friction angle of the sand has been reached in the shear band during loading.  </p> <p>v. During installation, the conical-based pile had a higher penetration per blow compared to the flat based pile from 0 to 25.6<em>B</em> in medium dense sand and 0 to 20<em>B</em> in dense sand (<em>B</em> = base diameter). After the pile was installed beyond 25.6<em>B</em> in medium dense and 20<em>B</em> in dense sand, the penetration per blow was identical. </p> <p>vi. The base resistance of a conical-based model pile was about 0.76 times that of a flat-based model pile in dense sand and 0.56 in medium dense sand. </p> <p>vii. Jacked piles had similar base resistance ratio of about 0.93 to 0.95 of driven piles in dense sand and 0.98 to 1.05 in medium dense sand. However, they had a much higher shaft resistance ratio of about 1.67 to 2.07 in dense sand and 1.44 to 1.50 in medium dense sand. </p>

There is presently considerable uncertainty regarding appropriate connection details between driven piles and pile caps. Prior research on the subject suggests that given a proper embedment length, a specialized reinforced connection may not be necessary. Eliminating these costly connection details could save thousands of dollars on both labor and materials. This research study focuses on the importance of the pile-to-cap connection detail with respect to the reinforcement connection and pile embedment length. Four pile caps were constructed, each with two 40 foot-long steel pipe piles, and were tested with different connection details. Two caps included a reinforced connection detail while the other two relied on their respective embedment lengths. A hydraulic ram was used to apply a cyclic lateral force to each of these pile caps until failure occurred. Load-displacement curves were developed for each pile cap and strain gauge measurements were used to evaluate tension and bending moments in the pile caps. Comparisons are presented regarding the effect of the connection on pile cap response. An analysis has been conducted to best understand possible failure modes; two computer modeling programs were used and their respective results have been presented and compared to the observed readings. This thesis provides test data supporting the theory that a proper embedment length acts as an adequate connection in place of a specialized reinforced detail. A pile cap with piles embedded two diameters into the cap performed successfully. In contrast, a cap with piles embedded only one diameter failed after developing a large crack through the entire cap. For the two pile caps with a reinforcing cage connection; the performance was essentially the same for the piles embedded either six inches (.5 diameter) or twelve inches (one diameter) into the cap. The data produced was found to be very similar to what was estimated by the two programs used for analysis (GROUP 4.0 and LPILE 4.0).

A geotechnical composite foundation system that has become increasingly popular over the years is a column-supported, geosynthetic-reinforced embankment. This system consists of strong columns or piles placed in soft clay, a bridging layer of sand or sand and gravel, and one or more layers of geosynthetic reinforcement. It is often used in soft ground situations where there is a need for faster construction and/or where there are adjacent structures that would be affected by settlement caused by the new embankment. The geosynthetic reinforcement is placed in the bridging layer to help transfer the load to the columns and decrease the total and differential settlements. Current methods of analysis for this material are extremely simplified, and do not thoroughly model the behavior of the system. Therefore, a more comprehensive analysis needs to be conducted that will better predict the true effect of the geosynthetic layer or layers. In this thesis, one geosynthetic layer was considered. Models were developed using two different computer programs: Mathematica and ABAQUS. In Mathematica, the Rayleigh-Ritz method was used to approximate the deflections and tensile forces in the membrane. This method considered the geosynthetic reinforcement as a plate and minimized the total energy of the system. In ABAQUS, a finite element modeling program, the membrane was analyzed as a shell, and results were compared with some results from Mathematica. A parametric study was completed in Mathematica to determine the effects of different parameters. The parameters varied involved the geogrid properties (Poisson's ratio, modulus of elasticity, and thickness), the vertical load, the soil stiffness above the piles, the soil stiffness between the piles, the size of the piles, and the distance between the piles. / Master of Science

Les systèmes bioélectrochimiques (BES) combinent la biologie et l'électrochimie pour produire de l'électricité ou synthétiser des produits chimiques. Les piles à combustible microbiennes (MFC), un type clé de BES, oxydent la matière organique des eaux usées pour générer de l'électricité, en utilisant des bactéries électrogènes comme biocatalyseurs pour le transfert d'électrons vers des électrodes solides. Leurs principales applications incluent le traitement des eaux usées et la production d'électricité. Cette thèse présente plusieurs MFC nouvellement conçues, en mettant l'accent sur leur rendement énergétique élevé et leur efficacité de conversion des substrats. Le chapitre 1 aborde les besoins énergétiques mondiaux, les BES et les principales techniques utilisées dans la recherche sur les BES, notamment les méthodes électrochimiques, la microfluidique, la spectroélectrochimie et la microscopie électronique à balayage (SEM). Le chapitre 2 détaille la fabrication de dispositifs microfluidiques, incluant des microcanaux en PDMS et des électrodes, ainsi que les protocoles biologiques, les méthodes spectroscopiques, les configurations électrochimiques et les mesures SEM utilisées dans nos projets. Les chapitres 3 à 6 couvrent quatre projets majeurs réalisés durant mon doctorat. Le chapitre 3 utilise la spectroélectrochimie (SEC) pour étudier un dispositif microfluidique à flux laminaire transportant une solution réactive depuis des électrodes en amont jusqu'à une zone de détection spectrale en aval. Cette technique permet de suivre avec succès l'oxydation de l'acide ascorbique (vitamine C) en présence d'interférences biomoléculaires d'une molécule présentant un potentiel redox similaire. Le chapitre 4 explore des expériences à long terme avec un design innovant de MFC à quatre électrodes empilées verticalement, permettant la culture de biofilms de *Geobacter sulfurreducens* sur des électrodes orientées vers le haut et vers le bas. À notre connaissance, il s'agit de la première étude comparant la croissance de biofilms électroactifs (EAB) sous l'influence de champs gravitationnels opposés, démontrant que la production d'énergie et la consommation d'acétate doublent lorsque les quatre électrodes fonctionnent en parallèle. Le chapitre 5 décrit la fabrication de MFC à microcanaux électrodes à l'aide d'une fraiseuse CNC, atteignant une production énergétique élevée et une grande efficacité de conversion d'acétate, notamment dans une MFC à micro-piliers. Le chapitre 6 présente trois MFC à micro-piliers empilées en configurations parallèle et série, fournissant une puissance élevée. L'empilement en série alimente un multisenseur environnemental (température, humidité) ainsi qu'une montre analogique. La thèse se conclut par un résumé des projets et propose des perspectives pour les travaux futurs. / Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) integrate biology and electrochemistry to generate electricity or synthesize chemicals. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs), a key type of BES, oxidize organic matter in wastewater to produce electricity, with electrogenic bacteria acting as biocatalysts for electron transfer to solid electrodes. Their primary applications are wastewater treatment and electricity production. This thesis presents several newly designed MFCs, focusing on their high-power output and substrate conversion efficiency. Chapter 1 discusses global energy needs, BESs, and the key techniques used in BES research, including electrochemical methods, microfluidics, spectroelectrochemistry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Chapter 2 details the fabrication of microfluidic devices, including PDMS and electrode-based microchannels, as well as biological protocols, spectroscopy, electrochemical setups, and SEM measurements used in our projects. Chapters 3 to 6 cover four major projects conducted during my PhD. Chapter 3 uses spectroelectrochemistry (SEC) to study a laminar flow microfluidic device that transports a reacted solution from upstream electrodes to a downstream spectral detection region. This technique successfully monitors the oxidation of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in the presence of biomolecular interference from a molecule with overlapping redox potential. Chapter 4 explores long-term experiments with a vertically stacked, four-electrode microfluidic MFC design, which cultivates *Geobacter sulfurreducens* biofilms on upward- and downward-facing electrodes. To our knowledge, this is the first study comparing electroactive biofilm (EAB) growth under opposing gravitational fields, demonstrating that power output and acetate consumption double when four electrodes operate in parallel. Chapter 5 describes the fabrication of electrode-based microchannel MFCs using a CNC milling machine, achieving high-power output and acetate conversion efficiency, particularly in a micro-pillar MFC. Chapter 6 presents three micro-pillar MFCs stacked in parallel and series configurations to provide high-power output. The series stack powers an environmental multisensor (temperature, humidity) and an analog watch. The thesis concludes by summarizing the projects and offering perspectives on future work.

Tableau d'honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2024 / Les systèmes bioénergétiques émergents offrent des voies innovantes pour passer des produits pétroliers à des alternatives plus durables. La branche de la bioélectrochimie axée sur l'énergie a un potentiel significatif pour influencer les secteurs de l'énergie verte et de la bioénergie. Les systèmes bioélectrochimiques (BES), utilisant des composants biologiques tels que les bactéries comme biocatalyseurs, sont en cours de développement et de miniaturisation pour de nouvelles biotechnologies. Le domaine des BES évolue rapidement avec de nouvelles applications, architectures de dispositifs et méthodologies de recherche. Cette thèse présente une enquête approfondie sur les propriétés hydrodynamiques et cinétiques des BES, en se concentrant particulièrement sur les performances et le comportement des biofilms électroactifs (EAB) sous différents débits et concentrations de nutriments. Des BES microfluidiques avancés ont été utilisés pour isoler et identifier les limitations cinétiques à différents stades de croissance des biofilms, fournissant une analyse approfondie de la cinétique des enzymes dans des conditions de flux. En outre, la thèse discute du développement et de l'optimisation des piles à combustible microbiennes sans membrane microfluidique (MFC), qui ont atteint des densités de puissance record. Cette étude améliore la compréhension de l'interaction entre l'hydrodynamique, la croissance des biofilms et la cinétique électrochimique, ouvrant la voie à de futures avancées dans la conception et l'application des technologies BES. / Emerging bioenergy systems offer innovative pathways to transition from petroleum products to more sustainable alternatives. The energy-focused branch of bioelectrochemistry holds significant potential to influence green energy and bioenergy sectors. Bioelectrochemical systems (BES), utilizing biological components such as bacteria as biocatalysts, are being developed and miniaturized for new biotechnologies. The BES field is rapidly evolving with new applications, device architectures, and research methodologies. This thesis presents a comprehensive investigation into the hydrodynamic and kinetic properties of BES, with a particular focus on the performance and behavior of electroactive biofilms (EABs) under varying flow rates and nutrient concentrations. Advanced microfluidic BES were employed to isolate and identify kinetic limitations at different stages of biofilm growth, providing an in-depth analysis of enzyme kinetics under flow conditions. Additionally, the thesis discusses the development and optimization of microfluidic membraneless microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which achieved record power densities. This study enhances the understanding of the interplay between hydrodynamics, biofilm growth, and electrochemical kinetics, paving the way for future advancements in the design and application of BES technologies.

This degree project compares piling methods with respect to technical and economic aspects, all affecting factors are measured as realistic as possible. The aim was to get a better understanding for piling methods used in Sweden and to work as an information tool for structural engineers. In order to get the technical aspects on piling methods literature study and interviews with structural engineers from Kadesjös Ingenjörsbyrå AB have been conducted. The case study on a residential building in Västerås was also performed. In this case study calculations for a quantity of piling methods have been made and sent for RFQs for various entrepreneurs. Subsequently piling methods have been analyzed and compared with respect to their prices. By calculating the costs of various piling methods it has been analyzed why some piling methods are more expensive than others. In a layer from soil that is free from rocks and other obstacles the concrete pile is the economically effective piling method for a residential building for both five and thirty meters. The magnificent steel pile is only 5% more expensive than the concrete pile. Note that this degree project is not a cheat sheet for the most economical pile.

Thèse doctorat : Energétique et Thermique : Nancy 1 : 2006. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre.

Pile foundations are extensively used to support various structures that are constructed in soft/loose soils, where shallow foundations would be considered ineffective due to low bearing capacities and large settlements. The design of these structures to accommodate lateral applied loads in particular, usually imposed by winds, water and earth pressures, has gained popularity over the past few decades. The behaviour of horizontally loaded piled foundations is a complex soil-structure interaction problem and is usually concerned with the relative stiffness between the pile and the surrounding soil, where the relative stiffness is a function of both the stiffness and properties of the pile and the stiffness of the soil. Many design assumptions and methods used for pile foundations are based on the principles observed from metal piles. This raises the question of the validity and accuracy of assumptions and methods for the use of analysing and designing reinforced concrete piles, that exhibits highly non-linear material behaviour and changing pile properties after cracking. Due to the elastic behaviour of metal sections, these methods typically only focus on the soil component of the soil-structure interaction problem, only allowing changes and non-linear behaviour of the soil surrounding the pile to take place upon load application, mostly disregarding the behaviour and response of the pile itself. The main purpose and objective of the study was to determine whether aluminium sections in a centrifuge could be used to realistically and sufficiently accurately model the monotonic and cyclic response of reinforced concrete piles subjected to lateral loading. This was observed though a number of tests conducted in a geotechnical centrifuge on scaled aluminium and reinforced concrete piles, subjected to both monotonic and cyclic loading. After conducting the tests on both the scaled aluminium and reinforced concrete piles in the centrifuge it was concluded that aluminium sections cannot be used to accurately model and predict the lateral behaviour of reinforced concrete piles. Both the scaled aluminium and reinforced concrete piles proved to model the concept of laterally loaded piles quite well regarding bending at low loads. However, even at low lateral loads, the observed response of the scaled reinforced concrete was significantly different than that observed from the scaled aluminium pile. Furthermore, as the magnitude of the applied load and bending increased, the scaled reinforced concrete pile cracked, resulting in non-linear behaviour of the section under loading, which was not the case for the scaled aluminium pile that remained uncracked. This contributed to the difference in behaviour between the piles studied, therefore, the true material behaviour and failure mechanisms involved with reinforced concrete piles were not replicated by using a scaled aluminium pile section. The non-linear behaviour of the scaled reinforced concrete pile after cracking affected both the behaviour of the pile, as well as the response of the soil surrounding the pile, in contrast with the behaviour observed from the scaled aluminium pile. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / The Concrete Institute / Concrete Society of Southern Africa / WindAfrica project / Civil Engineering / MEng (Structural Engineering) / Unrestricted

A team from Brigham Young University and I performed full-scale lateral load tests on individual and grouped 12.75x0.375 inch pipe piles spaced at varying distances behind an MSE wall. The individually loaded pile which acted as a control was spaced at 4.0 pile diameters from the wall face, and the three grouped piles which were loaded in unison were spaced at 3.0, 2.8, and 1.8 pile diameters from the wall face and transversely spaced at 4.7 pile diameters center-to-center. The purpose of these tests was to determine the extent of group effects on lateral pile resistance, induced loads in soil reinforcements, and MSE wall panel deflections compared to those previously observed in individually laterally loaded piles behind MSE walls. The computer model LPILE was used in my analysis of the measured test data. The p-multipliers back-calculated with LPILE for the grouped piles were 0.25, 0.60, and 0.25 for the grouped piles spaced at 3.0, 2.8, and 1.8 pile diameters from the wall, respectively. These values are lower than that predicted for piles at the same pile-to-wall spacings using the most recent equation for computing p-multipliers. I propose the use of an additional p-multiplier for grouped piles near an MSE wall, a group-effect p-multiplier, to account for discrepancies between individual and grouped pile behaviors. The group effect p-multipliers were 0.35, 0.91, and 0.74 for the grouped piles spaced at 3.0, 2.8, and 1.8 pile diameters from the wall, respectively. The average group-effect p-multiplier was 0.66. Additionally, I used LPILE to analyze test data from Pierson et al. (2009), who had previously performed full-scale lateral load tests of individual and grouped shafts. In said analysis, the group of three 3-foot diameter concrete shafts spaced at 2.0 shaft diameters from the wall face and transversely spaced at 5.0 shaft diameters center-to-center had an average group effect p-multiplier of 0.78. As in previous studies, the induced forces in soil reinforcements in this study were greatest either near the locations of the test piles or at the MSE wall face. The most recent equation for calculating the maximum induced force in a soil reinforcement strip was reasonably effective in predicting the measured maximum loads when superimposed between the test piles, with 65% and 85% of the data points falling within the one and two standard deviation boundaries, respectively, of the original data used to develop the equation. Deflection of the MSE wall panels was greater during the grouped pile test than was previously observed for individually loaded piles under similar pile head deflections--with a maximum wall deflection of 0.31 inch compared to the previous average of 0.10 inch for pile head deflections of about 1.25 inches.