L'émergence de mouvements cohérents à grande échelle a été abondamment observée dans les populations animales (nuées d'oiseaux, bancs de poissons, essaims de bactéries...) et plus récemment au sein de systèmes artificiels. De tels ensembles d'individus auto-propulsés, susceptibles d'aligner leurs vitesses, présentent des propriétés physiques singulières. Cette thèse théorique étudie divers aspects de ces systèmes actifs polaires.Dans un premier temps, nous avons modélisé une population de colloïdes auto-propulsés. En étroite association avec les travaux expérimentaux, nous avons décrit la dynamique du niveau individuel à l'échelle macroscopique. Les résultats théoriques expliquent l'émergence et la structure de motifs cohérents : (i) transition vers le mouvement collectif, (ii) propagation de structures spatiales polarisées, (iii) amortissement des fluctuations de densité dans un liquide polaire, (iv) vortex hétérogène dans des géométries confinées.D'un point de vue plus fondamental, nous avons ensuite étudié les excitations non linéaires qui se propagent dans les systèmes actifs polaires. L'analyse des théories hydrodynamiques de la matière active, à l'aide d'outils issus des systèmes dynamiques, a permis de rationaliser les observations expérimentales et numériques reportées jusqu'ici.Enfin, nous avons proposé une approche complémentaire pour caractériser les populations actives. Associant étude numérique et résultats analytiques, nous avons étudié les propriétés géométriques des trajectoires individuelles, ainsi que leur enchevêtrement au sein de groupes tridimensionnels. Ces observables pourraient permettre de sonder efficacement la dynamique de populations animales. / The emergence of coherent motion at large scale has been widely observed in animal populations (bird flocks, fish schools, bacterial swarms...) and more recently in artificial systems. Such ensembles of self-propelled individuals, capable of aligning their velocities, are commonly referred to as polar active materials. They display unique physical properties, which we investigate in this theoretical thesis.We first describe a population of self-propelled colloids. In strong connection with the experiments, we model the dynamics from the individual level to the macroscopic scale. The theoretical results account for the emergence and the structure of coherent patterns: (i)~transition to collective motion, (ii)~propagation of polar spatial structures, (iii)~damping of density fluctuations in a polar liquid, (iv)~heterogeneous vortex in confined geometries.We then follow a more formal perspective, and study the non-linear excitations which propagate in polar active systems. We analyze the hydrodynamic theories of active matter using a dynamical-system framework. This approach makes it possible to rationalize the experimental and numerical observations reported so far.Finally, we propose a complementary approach to characterize active populations. Combining numerical and analytical results, we study the geometric properties of the individual trajectories and their entanglement within three-dimensional flocks. We suggest that these observables should provide powerful tools to describe animal flocks in the wild.

This is a master’s thesis performed at the Department of Shipping and Marine Technology research group in Hydrodynamics at Chalmers University of Technology and is written for the Center for Naval Architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH.In order to meet increased requirements on efficient ship propulsions with low noise level, it is important to consider the complete system with both the hull and the propeller in the simulation.OpenFOAM (Open Field Operation and Manipulation) provides different techniques to simulate a rotating propeller with different physical and computational properties. MRF (The Multiple Reference Frame Model) is, perhaps, the easiest way but is a computationally efficient technique to model a rotating frame of reference. The sliding grid techniques provide the more complex way to simulate the propeller and its surrounding region, rotating and interpolate on interface for transient effects. AMI, Arbitrary Mesh Interface, is a sliding grid implementation which is available in the recent versions of OpenFOAM, introduced in the official releases after v2.1.0.In this study, the main objective is to compare these two techniques, MRF and AMI, to perform the open water characteristics of the propeller with the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equation computations (RANS) and study the accuracy in parallel performance and the benefits of each approach.More specifically, a self-propelled ship is simulated to study the interaction between the hull and propeller. In order to simplify and decrease the computational complexity the free surface is not considered. The ship under investigation is a 7000 DWT chemical tanker which is subject of a collaborative R&D project called STREAMLINE, strategic research for innovative marine propulsion concepts. In self-propelled condition, the transient forces on the propeller shall be evaluated. This study investigates the results of the experimental work with advanced CFD for accurate analysis and design of the propulsion. In this thesis, all simulations are conducted by using parallel computing. Therefore, a scalability analysis is studied to find out how to affect the average computational time by using different number of nodes.

The versatility of the fish to adapt to diverse swimming requirements has attracted the attention of researchers in studying bioinspired propulsion for developing efficient underwater robotics. The tail/caudal fin is a major source of thrust generation and is believed that the fish modulates its fin stiffness to optimize the propulsive performance. Inspired by the stiffness modulation of fish fins, the objective of this research is to predict and evaluate the effect of flexibility on propulsive performance of flapping fins. The stiffness of the fins vary along their length and optimization studies have been performed to predict the stiffness profiles that maximize performance. Experiments performed on the real fish caudal fins to measure the stiffness variation along their length validate the theoretical optimal stiffness profiles and provide an insight about the evolution of fish fins for optimal performance. Along with the fin stiffness, the stiffness of the joint (caudal peduncle) connecting the fish body to the tail plays a major role in the generation of thrust. The numerical and experimental investigation has shown that there exists an optimal combination of fin and joint stiffness for each operating condition, thus providing the motivation for active stiffness control during locomotion to optimize efficiency. Inspired by nature's ability to modulate stiffness and shape for different operating conditions, an investigation has been carried out on active control of flapping foils for thrust tailoring using Macro Fiber Composites (MFCs). It has been observed that the performance can be enhanced by controlling the deformation, and distributed actuation along fin produces maximum performance through proper selection of the phase difference between heaving and voltage. Flapping fins produce forces which are oscillatory in nature causing center of mass (COM) oscillations of the attached bodies posing problems of control and maneuverability. Optimization studies have revealed that flexibility of the fin plays a major role in reducing the COM oscillations along with the other operating parameters. Based on these studies, the design principles and guidelines that control the performance have been proposed which aid in the development of aerial and underwater robotic vehicles. Additionally, these studies provide some insight in to how fish might modulate its stiffness based on the requirements. / Ph. D.

La première partie de ma thèse est consacrée à l’étude de l’auto-organisation de souches génétiquement modifiées de bactéries Escherichia coli. Ce projet, réalisé en collaboration avec des biologistes synthétiques de l’Université de Hong Kong, a pour objectif l’exploration et le décryptage d’un nouveau mécanisme d’auto-organisation dans des colonies bactériennes multi-espèces. Cela a été inspiré par la question fascinante de comment les écosystèmes bactériens comprenant plusieurs espèces de bactéries peuvent s’auto-organiser dans l’espace. En considérant des systèmes dans lesquels deux souches de bactéries régulent mutuellement leurs motilités, j’ai pu montrer que le contrôle de densité réciproque est une voie générique de formation de motifs: si deux souches tendent à faire augmenter mutuellement leur motilité (la souche A se déplace plus vite quand la souche B est présent, et vice versa), ils subissent un processus de formation de motifs conduisant à la démixtion entre les deux souches. Inversement, l’inhibition mutuelle de la motilité conduit à la formation de motifs avec colocalisation. Ces résultats ont étévalidés expérimentalement par nos collaborateurs biologistes. Par la suite, j’ai étendu mon étude à des systèmes composés de plus de deux espèces en interaction, trouvant des règles simples permettant de prédire l’auto-organisation spatiale d’un nombre arbitraire d’espèces dont la motilité est sous contrôle mutuel. Cette partie de ma thèse ouvre une nouvelle voie pour comprendre l’auto-organisation des colonies bactériennes avec des souches concurrentes, ce qui est une question importante pour comprendre la dynamique des biofilms ou des écosystèmes bactériens dans les sols. Le deuxième problème traité dans ma thèse est inspiré par le comportement collectif des moteurs moléculaires se déplaçant le long des microtubules dans le cytoplasme des cellules eucaryotes. Un modèle pertinent pour le mouvement des moteurs moléculaires est donné par un système paradigmatique de non-équilibre appelé Processus Asymmetrique d’Exclusion Simple, en anglais Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process (ASEP). Dans ce modèle sur réseau unidimensionnel, les particules se déplacent dans les sites voisins vides à des taux constants, avec un biais gauche-droite qui déséquilibre le système.Lorsqu’il est connecté à ses extrémités à des réservoirs de particules, l’ASEP est un exemple prototypique de transitions de phase unidimensionnelles guidées par les conditions aux limites. Les exemples réalistes, cependant, impliquent rarement une seule voie:les microtubules sont constitués de plusieurs pistes de tubuline auxquelles les moteurs peuvent s’attacher. Dans ma thèse, j’explique comment on peut théoriquement prédire le comportement de phase de systèmes à plusieurs voies complexes, dans lesquels les particules peuvent également sauter entre des voies parallèles. En particulier, je montre que la transition de phase unidimensionnelle vue dans l’ASEP survit cette complexité supplémentaire mais implique de nouvelles caractéristiques telles que des courants transversaux stables non-nulles et une localisation de cisaillement. / The first part of my thesis is devoted to studying the self-organization of engineered strains of run-and-tumble bacteria Escherichia coli. This project, carried out in collaboration with synthetic biologists at Hong Kong University, has as its objective the exploration and decipherment of a novel self-organization mechanism in multi-species bacterial colonies. This was inspired by the fascinating question of how bacterial ecosystems comprising several species of bacteria can self-organize in space. By considering systems in which two strains of bacteria mutually regulate their motilities, I was able to show that reciprocal density control is a generic pattern-formation pathway: if two strains tend tomutually enhance their motility (strain A moves faster when strain B is present, and conversely),they undergo a pattern formation process leading to demixing between the two strains. Conversely, mutual inhibition of motility leads to pattern formation with colocalization. These results were validated experimentally by our biologist collaborators. Subsequently, I extended my study to systems composed of more than two interacting species, finding simple rules that can predict the spatial self-organization of an arbitrary number of species whose motility is under mutual control. This part of my thesis opens up a new route to understand the self-organization of bacterial colonies with competing strains, which is an important question to understand the dynamics of biofilms or bacterial ecosystems in soils.The second problem treated in my thesis is inspired by the collective behaviour ofmolecular motorsmoving along microtubules in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. A relevant model for the molecularmotors’ motion is given by a paradigmatic non-equilibrium system called Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process (ASEP). In this one-dimensional lattice- based model, particles hop on empty neighboring sites at constant rates, with a leftright bias that drives the systemout of equilibrium. When connected at its ends to particle reservoirs, the ASEP is a prototypical example of one-dimensional boundary driven phase transitions. Realistic examples, however, seldom involve only one lane: microtubules are made of several tubulin tracks to which the motors can attach. In my thesis, I explained how one can theoretically predict the phase behaviour of complex multilane systems, in which particles can also hop between parallel lanes. In particular, I showed that the onedimensional phase transition seen in the ASEP survives this additional complexity but involves new features such as non-zero steady transverse currents and shear localization.

The diploma thesis deals with the design of the structural optimalization of the chassis stabilization of the self-propelled agricultural spraying machine and the causes of instability. The introductory part describes the normative conditions for plant care by spraying. The history of the spraying technician and the use of this self-propelled machinery are also detailed. A substantial part of the work is devoted to the construction parts of the self-propelled spraying machine and their proper function. Important emphasis is placed on the chassis parts, whose features are key to rocking the machine. Part of the thesis is the design of construction solutions aimed at increasing the stability of the machine chassis, including the evaluation of the optimal variant. The conclusion of the thesis contains a balance sheet on the applicability of the proposed design solution, in terms of improved stability of the road and thus also the functionality of the whole sprayer.

The aim of this thesis is to design a conceptual self-propelled forestry winch for removing and skidding in thinning steep terrain. The thesis contains patent search of design solutions the machines using in the field, conceptual design of structural layout, assembly drawing overall concept of the equipment and drawing concept chassis design.

The main subject of this thesis is to examine thermo-osmotic flows, which occur on interfaces of non-uniform temperature. Such thermo-osmotic flows are purely non-thermal equilibrium phenomena. Along the non-isothermal interface, specific interaction of a liquid and its solutes with a boundary vary in strength across the interface, according to the local temperature. This boundary can be a solid, a membrane or a phase boundary. The flow is thereby continuously pumping fluid across the interface in direction of the local temperature gradient, resulting in an extended flow pattern in the bulk due to mass conservation. In a system containing particles and heat sources in a liquid under spatial confinement, the thermo-osmotic flow may drive particles in a directed manner, or can lead to collective phenomena. To approach this broad topic of (self-)thermophoresis and collective motion of active particles and quantify the role of the thermo-osmotic flow upon the latter effects, different experiments have been performed: The first experiments aim to quantify the thermo-osmotic flow at a non-isothermal liquid/solid interface for two fundamentally different substrate properties. Further, the bulk flow was investigated for two different systems. The form and spatial extension of this bulk flow pattern depends sensitively on the form of the container and the interface, as well as on the thermo-osmotic flow. The first system is a liquid film confined between two planar glass cover slips. The second case is a Janus particle immobilized on one of the glass slips. In the first case, the non-uniform temperature profile is generated by optical heating of a nanometer sized gold colloid, and in the second case, the heat source is the Janus particle. The bulk flow pattern consists, for the second case, of the flow pattern created by the glass cover slips and the one created by the Janus particle. The following experiments are focusing on the dynamics of mobile self-thermophoretic Janus particles. In particular, their dynamics and the contributions of the thermo-osmotic flow to the interaction of multiple active particles are investigated. To investigate those particles under controlled conditions and examine their interactions at low concentrations for an effectively unlimited amount of time, a real-time feedback algorithm was co-developed to gain control of the motion of multiple active particles simultaneously, called ”photon nudging”. With the help of this method, first experiments have been performed to quantify the dynamics of a Janus particle located close to a heat source.

Le déplacement cohérent dirigé au sein de troupeaux, d’essaims, de nuées, prend place à toutes les échelles du vivant. En cherchant à rationaliser l’émergence de tels mouvements collectifs, les physiciens ont décrit ces assemblées comme des matériaux actifs. Ces matériaux sont formés de constituants auto-propulsés qui se déplacent spontanément dans une direction commune. Cette thèse expérimentale s’appuie sur la réalisation de troupeaux synthétiques pour explorer les propriétés de la matière active polaire dans des situations défavorables à son auto-organisation : leur dynamique en milieux désordonnés et leur réponse à des perturbations externes. Des rouleurs colloïdaux aux interactions d’alignement sont confinés au sein de dispositifs microfluidiques. Au-delà d’une densité seuil, ils forment un troupeau caractérisé par l’émergence d’un ordre en orientation de longue portée. Ces troupeaux colloïdaux font office de prototypes de la matière active polaire. Nous avons étudié la réponse d’un liquide actif polaire assemblé à partir de rouleurs colloïdaux. Nous avons montré que face à une perturbation longitudinale leur réponse est hystérétique. Nous avons expliqué théoriquement ce comportement non-linéaire et l’avons exploité pour réaliser des oscillateurs microfluidiques autonomes. Nous avons également étudié la dynamique de troupeaux colloïdaux qui se propagent dans des environnements hétérogènes. La présence d’obstacles distribués aléatoirement focalise les troupeaux le long de chemins privilégiés qui forment un réseau épars et tortueux. Augmenter le désordre conduit à la destruction du troupeau. Nous avons démontré que la suppression du mouvement collectif consiste en une transition discontinue, générique à tous les matériaux actifs polaires. / Directed collected motion within herds, swarms and flocks, is a phenomenon that takes place at all scales in living systems. Physicists have rationalized the emergence of such collective behavior. They have described these systems as active materials. These materials are assembled from self-propelled units that spontaneously move in the same direction. By experimentally studying synthetic flocks, this work uncovers some properties of polar active materials in situations that disfavor their self-organization: their dynamics in disordered environments and their response to external perturbations. Colloidal rollers with alignment interactions are confined within microfluidic devices. At high density, they spontaneously form a flock which is characterized by the emergence of orientational long-ranged order. These colloidal flocks are prototypical realizations of polar active matter. We have studied the response of a polar active liquid assembled from colloidal rollers. We have shown that they display a hysteretic response to longitudinal perturbations. We have theoretically accounted for this non-linear behavior. We have used this behavior to realize autonomous microfluidic oscillators. We have also studied the dynamics of colloidal flocks that propagate through heterogeneous environments. Randomly positioned obstacles focalize flocks along favored channels that form a sparse and tortuous network. Increasing disorder leads to the destruction of flocks. We have demonstrated that the suppression of collective motion is a discontinuous transition generic to all polar active materials.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:14:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 parte1.pdf: 2310445 bytes, checksum: 3cfca25ce861a7301fea8d5aa8526310 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In this work, we study the collective behaviour of living systems whose aggregates form organized groups such as flocks of birds, herds of mamals and schools of fishes. Through numerical simulations, we model the collective movement of a school of fishes using behavioural rules similar to the ones proposed by Couzin et al. [23], that investigates the spatial dynamics of animals groups. The model presents three interaction zones: repulsion, orientation and attraction. Our results for the distributions of nearest neighbour distance, the diference of orientation between the velocities of neighbour fishes and the cooperativeness of the school are in good agreement with experimental measurements. A simpler way to describe the collective motion of several groups of organisms was introduced by Vicsek et al. [10]. This model presents only one interaction region, called orientation zone and considers point particles moving off lattice at constant speed adjusting their direction of motion to that of the average velocity of their neighbors, being subject to some noisy term. A second-order transition between an ordered state and a disordered regime was found. However, Gregoire and Chate [12] contest the nature of such phase transition as being of first order. Indeed, this transition is related to the way of introducing the noise into the system. In this sense, we present a comparative study on noise in two system of self-propelled particle (Vicsek model and Gregoire model) with the aim of understanding the role of the noise on some observables such as polarization, distributions of the nearest neighbour distances, difference of orientations between neighbour particles, the order parameter and the Binder cumulant. / Neste trabalho, estudamos o comportamento coletivo de sistemas vivos cujos agregados formam grupos organizados tais como bandos de pássaros, rebanhos de mamíferos e cardumes de peixes. Através de simulações numéricas, modelamos o movimento coletivo de cardumes de peixes usando regras comportamentais similares áquelas propostas por Cousin et al.[23], que investigam a dinâmica espacial de grupos de animais. O modelo apresenta três zonas de interação: repulsão, orientação e atração. Nossos resultados para as distribuições das distâncias entre vizinhos mais próximos, a diferença de orientação entre as velocidades de peixes vizinhos e a cooperatividade do cardume estão de bom acordo com medidas experimentais. Uma maneira mais simples para descrever o movimento coletivo de vários grupos de organismos foi introduzido por Vicsek et al. [10]. Este modelo apresenta somente uma região de interação, chamada zona de orientação e considera partículas pontuais movendo na rede com uma velocidade constante ajustando sua direção de movimento à velocidade média de seus vizinhos, estando sujeita a algum termo ruidoso. Uma transição de segunda ordem entre um estado ordenado e um regime desordenado foi encontrado. Porém, Gregoire e Chaté [12] contestam a natureza da transição de fase como sendo de primeira ordem. Na verdade, está transição está relacionada à forma de introduzir o ruído no sistema. Neste sentido, apresentamos um estudo comparativo sobre o ruído em dois sistemas de partículas auto-propelidas (modelo de Vicsek e modelo de Gregoire) com o objetivo de compreender o papel do ruído em alguns observáveis tais como a polarização, distribuições das distâncias entre vizinhos mais próximos, diferença de orientação entre partículas vizinhas, o parâmetro de ordem e o cumulante de Binder.

Studien kopplar införandet av ett nytt självgående förbandsknutet bataljonsartilleri vid namn Granatkastarpansarbandvagn 90, GRKPBV 90 till teknisk tjänst. Studien tar en militärteknisk ansats då teknisk tjänst historiskt sett ofta blir förbisett i militära sammanhang. GRKPBV 90 bygger på en idé om ett självgående bataljonsbatteri som var på tal redan under 1990-talet vid namn Granatkastarpansarbandvagn 90120, men som ej förverkligades. Tidigare studier har visat att det kan finnas viss problematik vid införande av tekniska system med avseende på exempelvis teknisk tjänst. Det nya tekniska systemet GRKPBV 90 som ska införas i försvarsmakten kan bli komplext och kan ge en påverkan på militär verksamhet och i synnerhet teknisk tjänst. Studien kopplar den militära nyttan som är central i militär verksamhet till ett införande av ett nytt militärt tekniskt system och den tekniska tjänsten. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att utforska hur införandet av ett nytt tekniskt system, i detta fall GRKPBV 90, kan påverkar den tekniska tjänsten hos ett mekaniserat förband samt hur det kan påverka tillgängligheten av indirekt eldförmåga. Frågeställning: Hur påverkar införandet av GRKPBV 90 den tekniska tjänsten vid ett svensk mekaniserat förband? Metod: För att svara på den frågeställning som ställs nyttjar studien en kvalitativ metod i form av en fallstudie med innehållande litteraturstudie samt intervjuer. Resultat: Studien pekar på att införandets påverkan på den tekniska tjänsten för de mekaniserade förbanden kan komma att vara liten med avseende på struktur och utbildning. Anledningen till detta är GRKPBV 90 militära lämplighet, det vill säga systemets militära nytta. Den tekniska tjänsten kan dock blir mer belastad med avseende av att fler vagnar kan innebära fler mekaniker, verktygssatser och reservdelar. Sammantaget kan detta påverka den tekniska tillgängligheten på GRKPBV 90 och i sin tur tillgängligheten av indirekt eldförmåga. / The study deals with the introduction of a new self-propelled artillery called Granatkastarpansarbandvagn 90, GRKPBV 90, linked to technical service. The study takes a military technical approach, as historically, technical service is more than rarely overlooked in military contexts. GRKPBV 90 is based on an idea of a self-propelled battalion battery that was already under development in the 1990s, called Granatkastarpansarbandvagn 90120, but not realized. Previous studies have shown that there may occur problem when introducing technical systems with regard to, for example, technical service. The new technical system GRKPBV 90 that will be introduced into the Armed Forces can be complex and may affect military activity and, in particular, technical service. The military benefit that is central to military activity should be linked to the introduction of a new military technical system and the technical service. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore how the introduction of a new technical system, in this case GRKPBV 90, may affect the technical service of a mechanized unit and how it can affect the availability of indirect fire capability. Research question: How does the introduction of GRKPBV 90 affect the technical service of a Swedish mechanized connection? Method: To answer the question posed, the study uses a qualitative method in the form of a case study containing a literature study and interviews. Result: The study shows that the answer to the research question is that the impact of the introduction on the technical service of the mechanized links may be small in terms of structure and education. The reason for this is GRKPBV 90 military suitability, that is, the military utility of the system. However, the technical service may be strained with the fact that more vehicles can involve more mechanics, tool kits and spare parts. All in all, this may affect the technical availability of the GRKPBV 90 and, in turn, the availability of indirect fire capability.