A utilização de controladores preditivos multivariáveis na indústria de processos cresceu significativamente nos últimos anos principalmente devido à versatilidade e a confiabilidade que essa ferramenta proporciona em termos de controle avançado. No entanto, aspectos relacionados à aplicação prática do que vem sendo desenvolvido no meio acadêmico possui pouca difusão na indústria devido às configurações clássicas adotadas, como sistemas quadrados (com o mesmo número de variáveis controladas e manipuladas), modelos lineares, utilização de setpoint e etc. diferindo daquilo que está disponível e é amplamente utilizado industrialmente: sistemas não-quadrados (geralmente com mais variáveis controladas do que manipuladas), modelos não-lineares e utilização de soft-constraints. Esse trabalho propõe uma metodologia para ajuste dos parâmetros presentes em um controlador preditivo, atento à variedade de algoritmos presentes na indústria de processos. Essa metodologia se baseia na obtenção do melhor desempenho alcançável para cada cenário de um modelo global do processo, atendendo as restrições de Número de Desempenho Robusto relativo (rRPN), Máxima Sensibilidade e restrições nas ações de controle. Baseado em um desempenho que é alcançável, o modelo linear global é escalonado (assim como a planta não-linear) e os pesos que levam o sistema para a melhor condição operacional são estimados. Essa técnica abrange controladores operando em faixas e/ou setpoint e configurações não-quadradas, i.e., com mais variáveis controladas do que manipuladas. A abordagem proposta foi testada em uma planta de quatro tanques esféricos com aquecimento apresentando resultados coerentes, corroborando seu potencial de aplicação industrial. / Due to their versatility and reliability, Model Predictive Controllers (MPCs) are the standard solution for advanced process control in the process industry. However, there is a gap between the academic developments and the actual industrial applications, since the most academic studies focus on systems working with set-points and same number of manipulated and controlled variables, whereas the industrial application cope with non-squared configuration usually with several controlled variables in ranging and a reduced number of manipulated variables. This work proposes a tuning methodology for the countable parameters presents in a typical industrial predictive controller, considering the variety of the algorithms presents commercially in the process industry. This methodology is based on the estimation of the best attainable performance for each scenario of the global model of the process, constrained by the relative Robust Performance Number (rRPN), Maximal Sensitivity and restrictions in the control actions. Based on a performance that is attainable, the linear global model is scaled (and the non-linear) and the weights that lead the system to the best operational condition are estimated. This technique covers controllers operating in zones of control and/or set-point tracking and non-square configurations, i.e., with more controlled variables than manipulated. The proposed approach was tested in a Quadruple-Spherical tanks heating system presenting coherent results indicating its potential for industrial applications.

Les réseaux sont présents dans pratiquement tous les aspects de la vie. Le monde quinous entoure comporte énormément de réseaux. Par exemple, les réseaux de communicationconstitués de téléphones, les réseaux électriques, les réseaux d’ordinateurs, le réseaudes lignes aériennes, ... etc, sont autant de réseaux importants dans la vie de chaque jour.Le cadre mathématique des réseaux est bien approprié pour décrire plusieurs systèmescomposés d’un grand nombre d’entités qui interagissent entre elles. Chaque entité est représentéepar un noeud du réseau et chaque interaction par un lien entre deux noeuds. Ilest donc possible de modéliser ces réseaux par des graphes. Pour la plupart de ces réseaux,la difficulté provient principalement du grand nombre d’entités, ainsi que de la façon dontelles sont interconnectées. Une approche naturelle pour simplifier de tels systèmes consistedonc à réduire leur taille. Cette simplification n’est pas faite aléatoirement, mais de tellefaçon à ce que les noeuds de la même composante aient plus de liens entre eux qu’avec lesautres composantes. Ces groupes de noeuds ou composantes sont appelés communautésd’intérêt. Notre thèse se positionne dans le domaine de l’étude des graphes sociaux. Elle s’intéresseprincipalement à l’étude de la robustesse des structures sociales émergentes dansles réseaux d’interactions. L’aspect de la robustesse des réseaux constitue un challengetrès important pour comprendre leur fonctionnement, le comportement des entités lesconstituant et surtout pour comprendre les interactions qui peuvent se produire entreelles, permettant l’émergence de certains comportements qui n’étaient pas du tout prévisiblesau préalable. Actuellement, les études de la robustesse des réseaux qui existentdans la littérature traitent cet aspect du point de vue purement structurel, i.e. toutes lesperturbations sont appliquées soit sur les noeuds, soit sur les arêtes du graphe. Pour cequi est de notre étude, nous nous sommes intéressés à définir une nouvelle stratégie qui sebase sur des perturbations appliquées sur les paramètres qui permettent l’émergence desgraphes sociaux dans les réseaux d’interaction. Cette façon d’aborder l’aspect robustessedes graphes constitue une nouvelle manière d’évaluer et de quantifier les changements quipeuvent intervenir dans les structures de ces graphes. / Networks are present in virtually all aspects of life. The world surrounding usincludes to many networks. For example, communication networks constituted of phones,electrical networks, computers networks, aerial lines network, ? etc, are such importantnetworks in our daily life. The mathematical framework of networks is well appropriatedto describe different systems composed of many entities interacting with each other. Eachentity is represented by a network node and each interaction by a link between twonodes. Therefore, it is possible to model these networks by graphs. For most of thesenetworks, the difficulty comes mainly from the large number of entities and the way theyare interconnected. A natural approach to simplify such systems is therefore to reducetheir size. This simplification is not made randomly, but in such a way that the nodes ofthe same component would have more connections between themselves than with othercomponents. These groups of nodes or components are called communities of interest.Our thesis is positioned in the field of social graphs study. It is mainly interested instudying the robustness of social structures emerging in interaction networks. The aspectof networks robustness is a very important challenge to understand their functioning,the behavior of the constituting entities and especially to understand the interactionsthat may occur between them, allowing the emergence of certain behaviors that were notpredictable at all in advance. Currently, studies of networks robustness that exist in theliterature treat this aspect from a purely structural point of view, ie, all perturbations areapplied either on nodes or on the edges of the graph. In terms of our study, we focused ondefining a new strategy based on perturbations applied on the parameters that allow theemergence of social graphs in interaction networks. This way to approach the robustnessappearance of the graphs is a new way to assess and quantify the changes that may occurin the structures of these graphs.

A teoria das redes complexas é uma área relativamente nova da Ciência, inspirada por dados empíricos tais como os obtidos de interações biológicas e sociais. Esta área apresenta uma natureza altamente interdisciplinar, de modo que tem unido cientistas de diferentes áreas, tais como matemática, física, biologia, ciência computação, sociologia, epidemiologia e muitas outras. Um dos problemas fundamentais nessa área é entender como a organização de redes complexas influencia em processos dinâmicos, como sincronização, propagação de epidemias e falhas e ataques. Nessa dissertação, é apresentada uma análise da relação entre estrutura e robustez de redes complexas através da remoção de vértices. Para a aplicação deste estudo, foram adquiridas bases de dados de interações de proteínas de quatro espécies, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster e Homo sapiens, como também mapas das malhas de rodovias de sete países, Brasil, Portugal, Polônia, Romênia, Austrália, Índia e África do Sul. Foi estudada a robustez dessas redes através de simulação de falhas e ataques, segundo uma dinâmica de remoção de vértices. Nesse caso, a variação na estrutura das redes devido a essa remoção foi quantificada pelas medidas do tamanho da maior componente conectado, do diâmetro e da média dos comprimentos dos menores caminhos. Ademais, foram utilizadas duas medidas para quantificar a robustez, isto é, a entropia da distribuição das conexões e entropia dinâmica, baseada em cadeias de Markov. Tais medidas foram aplicadas nas redes reais onde se verificou que as espécies mais complexas, como o homem e a mosca, apresentam as redes mais robustas. Com relação aos países, Romênia, Portugal e Brasil apresentam as malhas rodoviárias mais resistentes a perturbações. A correlação entre essas medidas de entropia e as medidas topológicas permitiu identificar que a média do grau dos vizinhos e o coeficiente da lei de potência da distribuição do número de conexões são as medidas que apresentam maior correlação com as medidas de entropia. Tal resultado sugere que a presença de conexões alternativas entre os vizinhos dos vértices removidos favorece a resiliência das redes, pois tendem a minimizar as perturbações causadas pelas remoções. No caso das malhas rodoviárias, foi proposta uma nova medida de acessibilidade e esta se mostrou altamente correlacionada com a entropia dinâmica. Nesse caso, verificou-se que as cidades localizadas no litoral e nas fronteiras dos países são as que menos contribuem para robustez das redes de rodovias. Desse modo, os resultados obtidos sugerem que o planejamento do sistema de transporte de um país deve priorizar o investimento em infra-estrutura rodoviária próximo das cidades com menor acessibilidade, de forma a torná-las mais acessíveis, visando melhorar o transporte de mercadorias e pessoas. Os métodos aqui propostos permitem identificar tais cidades. Ademais, na análise de redes de proteínas, os resultados obtidos podem auxiliar no desenvolvimento de novos modelos de redes, bem como entender os mecanismos evolutivos que priorizam a robustez dos organismos. / The study of complex networks is a relatively new area of science inspired by the empirical studies of real-world networks, such as social and biological networks. This are has a highly multidisciplinary nature, which has brought together researchers from many areas including mathematics, physics, biology, computer science, sociology, epidemiology, statistics and others. One of the main problems in this area is to know how the network organization is related to dynamic process, such as synchronization, epidemic spreading and topological perturbation due to deletion of nodes and edges. In this dissertation, it is presented a study of the relationship between the structure and resilience of complex networks. This investigation was applied to the protein-protein networks of four species, namely Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster and Homo sapiens, as well as the road networks of seven countries, i.e. Brazil, Portugal, Romania, Australia, India, and South Africa. It was studied the resilience of such networks through simulations of random fails and attacks by node deletion. The topological changes due to this simulation were quantified by measures, including the size of the largest component, the diameter and the average shortest path length. In addition, the network robustness was quantified by the entropy of the degree distribution and the dynamic entropy, related to Markov chains. This analysis in real-world networks revealed that more complex species, such as the H. sapiens and D. melanogaster are the most resilient. In addition, Romania, Brazil and Portugal have the most robust road maps. The correlation analysis between topological and dynamic measures revealed that the average neighborhood degree and the coefficient of scaling in the power law of the degree distribution quantify the proprieties that most contribute for the resilience in protein networks. Moreover, with respect to the road networks, it was introduced a new accessibility measure, which revealed to be correlated to the dynamic entropy. In fact, cities localized in the border of networks are the ones with the smallest contribution for the network resilience. Therefore, the obtained results suggest that the traffic planning should mainly connect cities near the frontiers of countries, in order to improve the resilience and accessibility. In addition, the obtained results with respect to protein networks allow improving network modeling and understanding the biological processes that reinforce the resilience of organisms.

O estudo das vibrações é importante para prevenir danos em equipamentos ou mesmo evitar catástrofes de grande natureza. Nesse sentido, aproveitar a energia que seria dissipada na vibração e contribuir no controle do sistema representa um grande avanço tecnológico. O termo Energy Harvesting (Colheita de Energia) está relacionado ao contexto do aproveitamento energético, utilizando sistema de conversão para transformação da energia em eletricidade. Através de um dispositivo com viga engastada e massa inercial na extremidade, é possível realizar o estudo de vibração e coleta de energia, ao se considerar uma estrutura piezelétrica acoplada na viga e conectada a um circuito elétrico com resistor. Estruturas inteligentes que atuam na conversão de energia mecânica em elétrica, ou vice-versa, são fundamentais para esse estudo, o que motiva a inclusão dos sensores piezelétricos no projeto de dispositivos estudados e sujeitos a vibrações. Por outro lado, otimizar parâmetros de projeto é fundamental para aumentar a amplitude de vibração e tornar o processo com maior desempenho, tendo em vista maior captação de energia. Ainda, parâmetros otimizados podem estar sujeitos a incertezas do projeto e variações, devido a flutuações ambientais, como temperatura, pressão, propriedades dos materiais, geometria, etc. Por isso, técnicas robustas que tornem os projetos menos sensíveis a variações são interessantes para serem abordadas. Embora métodos de projetos robustos sejam eficientes, poucas pesquisas têm sido feitas na área da dinâmica de vibrações e alguns processos podem demandar tempo computacional dependendo do estudo ou projeto. Este trabalho tem como propósito abordar um método específico de projeto robusto focado em uma metodologia com matrizes chamadas ortogonais. Além disso, o método determinístico via algoritmo de Programação Sequencial Quadrático (SQP) é utilizado. O trabalho consiste numa abordagem para coleta de energia em um modelo de viga engastada, otimizando parâmetros e inserindo incertezas no sistema para análise de robustez e verificação de comprimentos adequados de vigas para os dispositivos. Os resultados mostram um aumento da energia coletada, analisando funções de resposta em frequências para saída de potência, diante de uma entrada de deslocamento no engaste do dispositivo, projetado via otimização determinística, além de aumento de robustez de acordo com certos critérios considerando circuito elétrico com resistência corretamente selecionada. / The study of vibrations is important to prevent damage to equipment or even prevent major catastrophes. In this sense harvesting the energy that would otherwise be dissipated in vibration and contributing to the control of the system represents a great technological advance. The term Energy Harvesting is related to the context of energy use, using a conversion system to transform energy into electricity. Through a device with clamped beam and inertial mass at the end, it is possible to study the vibration and energy harvesting, considering a piezoelectric structure coupled to the beam and connected to a resistance electric circuit. Smart structures that act in the conversion of mechanical energy to electrical energy, or vice versa, are fundamental for this study, which motivates the inclusion of piezoelectric sensors in the design of studied devices and subject to vibrations. On the other hand, optimizing design parameters is fundamental to increase the amplitude of vibration and increase process performance, in view of greater power uptake. Furthermore, optimized parameters may be subject to design uncertainties and variations due to environmental fluctuations such as temperature, pressure, material properties, geometry, etc. Therefore, robust techniques that make designs less sensitive to variations are interesting to be addressed. Although robust design methods are efficient, few researches have been done in the area of vibration dynamics and some processes may require computational time depending on the study or project. This work aims to address a specific method of robust design focused on a methodology with matrices called orthogonal. In addition, the deterministic method using Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) algorithm is used. The work consists of an approach to harvest energy in a clamped beam model, optimizing parameters and inserting uncertainties in the system for robustness analysis and verification of adequate beam lengths for the devices. The results show an increase in the harvested energy, analyzing frequency response functions for power output, in the face of a displacement input in the device clamp, designed through deterministic optimization,besides increasing robustness according to certain criteria considering electric circuit with correctly selected resistance.

Concretos com baixo consumo de cimento Portland se justificam por motivos técnicos (menor calor de hidratação, retração e fissuração) e de sustentabilidade (menores consumos de energia e matérias-primas, emissão de CO2 e demanda por transporte). A variabilidade nas matérias-primas, nas condições ambientais e no processo de confecção de um concreto resultam em variabilidade de diversas propriedades no estado fresco e endurecido. A viabilidade da aplicação de concretos com baixo consumo de cimento, em escala no campo, depende da sensibilidade que estes apresentam diante das variabilidades presentes. Concretos com robustez adequada, ou seja, suficientemente tolerantes às variações, são desejáveis. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo avaliar a robustez de concretos com baixo consumo de cimento, com foco principal em desvios no proporcionamento e variabilidade granulométrica e morfológica dos agregados. Aplicando conceitos de empacotamento e dispersão de partículas, uso de fílers calcários, escolha adequada dos materiais e aplicação de métodos reológicos para desenvolvimento da composição, desenvolveu-se um concreto com efetivo baixo consumo de ligantes (3,66 kg/m3/MPa). Os resultados obtidos indicam que as mudanças granulométricas são as mais impactantes, em especial devido à variabilidade no teor de pó fino nos agregados britados. Mudanças morfológicas, em especial na fração de tamanho que mais impacta no empacotamento (fração dominante), também são relevantes. O cenário de desvios de pesagem proporcionou o menor impacto dentre os três avaliados. Estas conclusões são específicas do concreto analisado e das particularidades dos cenários de variabilidade considerados. Por este motivo esta pesquisa buscou explicar de modo mais geral a influência das diversas variáveis. A distância que separa as partículas (IPS e MPT), a área específica dos materiais granulares e as concentrações de sólidos são alguns dos parâmetros que se correlacionam com o comportamento reológico nos diversos cenários avaliados. Com base no processo experimental e de análise dos resultados aplicados, propôs-se uma metodologia para avaliação de robustez e um índice numérico para avaliação quantitativa da robustez. Foram ainda propostas algumas ferramentas que visam atribuir mecanismos robustos ao processo de produção de concreto: sistema computacional para previsão de propriedades baseado em caracterização fundamental dos constituintes, uso de reômetro de concreto como instrumento de controle de qualidade e medida no campo da robustez e instrumentação de misturador como mecanismo de detecção de mudanças na etapa de mistura. / The use of concretes with low Portland cement content is justified by technical reasons (lower hydration heat, shrinkage and cracking) and sustainability (lower energy and raw materials consumptions, CO2 emissions and demand for transport). Variability in raw materials, environmental conditions and production process result in variability of various concrete properties in the fresh and hardened states. The feasibility of applying low cement concretes in large production scale depends on the sensitivity that these concretes show, given the existing variability. Concretes with adequate robustness, that is, sufficiently tolerant to variations are desirable. This research evaluated the robustness of concretes with low cement consumption, with focus on deviations in proportioning and particle size and morphological variability of the aggregates. Applying particle packing and dispersion concepts, rheological control, use of limestone fillers and appropriate of material choice a concrete with effective low binder consumption (3.66 kg/m3/MPa) was developed. The obtained results indicate that among the considered scenarios, the particle size changes are the most impactful, especially due to the presence of fine dust in the crushed aggregates. Morphological changes, especially in the size fraction that most impacts the packing (dominant fraction), are also relevant. Weighing deviations provided the smallest impact among the three evaluated scenarios. These findings, however, are specific to the analyzed concrete and the considered variability scenarios. For this reason, this research aimed to explain more generally the influence of several variables. The distance between the particles (IPS and MPT), the specific area of the granular material and the solids concentrations are some of the parameters that explain the rheological behavior. Based on the experimental process and the analysis of the applied results, a methodology was proposed for robustness evaluation and a numerical index for the quantitative evaluation of the robustness. Some additional tools to confer robust mechanisms to the concrete production process were proposed: a computer system for forecasting concrete properties, based on fundamental characterization of the constituents, use of a mobile rheometer as a quality control instrument and mixer instrumentation as change detection mechanism during the mixing process.

During the last decade, there has been an increase in the number of automated programs (bots) that perform tasks such as harvesting information or making posts on social media. CAPTCHA was developed as a defense against bots, but several common CAPTCHAs have usability issues and are difficult for users to solve. This project aims to determine if a non-visible user input-based CAPTCHA can help solve this problem. The CAPTCHA looks for patterns in the user input, that is, signs that the input is controlled by scripted logic. The CAPTCHA is evaluated by looking at how capable it is at identifying patterns, human mouse movements and bot-controlled mouse movements. Additionally, it is investigated if there exists a data sequence size at which the pattern recognition algorithm can most successfully detect patterns and avoid false negatives. The results showed that interval sizes 40-50 provide the best results. Using these sizes, the pattern recognition algorithm was able to fulfill the commonly accepted rates of at least a 99 % success rate and at most a 10 % false negative rate. This shows that the CAPTCHA is robust under the circumstances investigated.

The mobility of people, freight and information is fundamental to economic and social activities such as commuting, manufacturing, distributing consumer goods and supplying energy. There are two major problems that arise as a result of mobility. The first is economic cost and the second is environmental impact which is of increasing concern in sustainable development due to emission levels, particularly as a result of car use. This study focuses on constructing a network of induced emissions (NOIEs) by using three models and checking the robustness of NOIEs under varying parameters and models. The three models are Stead’s model, the NAEI model, and Oguchi’s model. This study uses the Swedish city of Borlänge as the case study. Calculating CO2 emissions by constructing the NOIEs using Stead’s model appears to give an underestimation when compared to results from a NOIEs which applies Oguchi’s model. Results when applying the NAEI model in constructing a NOIEs also give an underestimation compared to a NOIEs applying Oguchi’s model. Applying the NAEI model is, however, more accurate than applying Stead’s model in constructing a NOIEs. The outcomes of this study show that constructing a NOIEs is robust using Oguchi’s model. This model is preferable since it takes into account more important variables such as driving behavior and the length of the road segments which have a significant impact when estimating CO2 emissions.

This paper serves as an introduction to this special issue on the use of multiregional input- output modeling in assessments of natural resource use and resource use efficiency. Due to globalization, growth in trade has outpaced growth in global gross domestic product (GDP). As a consequence, impacts of consumption of a country increasingly take place abroad. Various methods have been developed to perform so-called footprint analyses. We argue that global multiregional input-output (GMRIO) analysis has the largest potential to provide a consistent accounting framework to calculate a variety of different footprint indicators. The state of the art in GMRIO has, however, various shortcomings, such as limited sector and regional detail and incomplete extensions. The work presented in this special issue addresses a number of such problems and how to possibly overcome them, focusing on the construction of a new GMRIO database (EXIOBASE V3). This database includes long time series in both current and constant prices, a high level of product and sector detail, a physical representation of the world economy, and allows analyzing which footprints out of the many possible indicators provide most information for policy making. Various options for empirical analyses are presented in this special issue. Finally, we analyze how GMRIOs can be further standardized and gradually moved from the scientific to the official statistical domain.

This thesis presents the results of a research programme to investigate the behaviour and robustness of reinforced concrete (RC) frames in fire. The research was carried out through numerical simulations using the commercial finite element analysis package TNO DIANA. The main focus of the project is the large deflection behaviour of restrained reinforced concrete beams, in particular the development of catenary action, because this behaviour is the most important factor that influences the frame response under accidental loading. This research includes four main parts as follows: (1) validation of the simulation model; (2) behaviour of axially and rotationally restrained RC beams at elevated temperatures; (3) derivation of an analytical method to estimate the key quantities of restrained RC beam behaviour at elevated temperatures; (4) response and robustness of RC frame structures with different extents of damage at elevated temperatures. The analytical method has been developed to estimate the following three quantities: when the axial compression force in the restrained beam reaches the maximum; when the RC beams reach bending limits (axial force = 0) and when the beams finally fail. To estimate the time to failure, which is initiated by the fracture of reinforcement steel at the catenary action stage, a regression equation is proposed to calculate the maximum deflections of RC beams, based on an analysis of the reinforcement steel strain distributions at failure for a large number of parametric study results. A comparison between the analytical and simulation results indicates that the analytical method gives reasonably good approximations to the numerical simulation results. Based on the frame simulation results, it has been found that if a member is completely removed from the structure, the structure is unlikely to be able to develop an alternative load carrying mechanism to ensure robustness of the structure. This problem is particularly severe when a corner column is removed. However, it is possible for frames with partially damaged columns to achieve the required robustness in fire, provided the columns still have sufficient resistance to allow the beams to develop some catenary action. This may be possible if the columns are designed as simply supported columns, but have some reserves of strength in the frame due to continuity. Merely increasing the reinforcement steel area or ductility (which is difficult to do) would not be sufficient. However, increasing the cover thickness of the reinforcement steel to slow down the temperature increase is necessary.

Ce mémoire s’intéresse à la conception robuste de systèmes complexes dans le cadre de l’ingénierie système et de la méthode First Design. Ces travaux s’appliquent plus particulièrement aux prestations en choc frontal de véhicules de la gamme Renault. L’objectif principal de ces travaux est de proposer une méthode de conception robuste basée sur la modélisation numérique des prestations crash du véhicule. Cette stratégie vise à assurer la robustesse du produit dès la phase de conception, afin d’éviter des modifications de conception tardives et coûteuses, conséquences d’apparition de problèmes durant le cycle de validation ou la vie série du véhicule. Les spécificités du crash sont le coût important des simulations, la forte non linéarité du phénomène, ainsi que les bifurcations de comportement. Ces particularités rendent les méthodes classiques de conception robuste peu efficaces ou très couteuses. Afin de répondre à ce problème, nous développons une méthode originale, baptisée détection de défaillances, permettant d’identifier les problèmes de robustesse en crash, afin de les corriger dès le cycle de conception. Cette méthode est basée sur l’utilisation des techniques d’optimisation par les plans d’expériences. La méthode développée vise aussi à intégrer l’expertise des concepteurs crash afin de localiser rapidement les défaillances, ce qui permet de limiter le nombre de simulations nécessaires. La contrepartie d’une méthode de conception robuste reposant sur la simulation numérique est la nécessité d’avoir un bon niveau de confiance dans les résultats du modèle. On propose donc dans ce mémoire des améliorations des modèles éléments finis des véhicules Renault, afin d’améliorer la qualité de la simulation. Ces travaux vont dans le sens d’un remplacement des prototypes physiques par des prototypes numériques dans l’industrie, enjeu majeur permettant la réduction des coûts et des délais de développement. Cet enjeu est particulièrement important dans un secteur automobile très concurrentiel, où la survie d’un constructeur dépend de ses coûts et de sa réactivité face au marché. / This PhD thesis deals with robust design of complex products, within the framework of system engineering methods, such as First Design. This work focuses on frontal crashworthiness of Renault vehicles. The main goal of this PhD is to develop a robust design method based on crashworthiness numerical simulation. This method aims at ensuring the robustness of a vehicle crashworthiness right from the design stage of the product, in order to avoid costly design modifications, necessary when problems are found during the validation cycle or the life cycle of the product. Characteristics of crashworthiness phenomena are a high cost of numerical simulation, highly non-linear and bifurcative behaviour. Due to this behaviour, classic robust design methods would be unefficient or very expensive to use. In order to face this problem, we develop an original robust design method, based on optimization using design of experiments method. The goal of this method is to identify crash failures as soon as possible in the design stage, in order to correct them. This method also aims at integrating knowledge from the crash engineers, in order to find crash failures quickly, using as few simulations as possible. A challenge we meet when using numerical simulation of the crashworthiness is the need to trust the results of the model. This thesis also deals with improvements in the crash models at Renault. This work is well suited for a very competitive industry such as the automotive, where car manufacturers need to replace physical prototypes with numerical ones, in order to reduce design costs and be more reactive.