Ever since the first plate-tectonic model for the Appalachians was proposed, the Laurentian margin has been interpreted as having experienced a collision-related dynamo-thermal event during the Middle Ordovician Taconic orogeny. In the western Newfoundland Appalachians, evidence for this collision is well-preserved in the Dashwoods subzone. Nevertheless, rocks of the neighbouring Corner Brook Lake block (CBLB), which is located in the heart of the Laurentian realm, did not show evidence for such an event. Instead, it was affected by Early Silurian Salinic deformation and associated peak metamorphism. Even though this difference in Early Palaeozoic tectonic history between the Dashwoods and the CBLB is widely known, it has not been satisfactorily explained. To better understand the Early Palaeozoic history of the region, in particular to test and better explain the lack of a Taconic dynamo-thermal event in the CBLB, field mapping, microscopic work, and U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar geochronological studies were undertaken in the western and northern part of the Dashwoods subzone, and in the southern part of the CBLB. In addition, the kinematic history of the Baie Verte-Brompton Line - Cabot Fault Zone (BCZ), the tectonic zone that separates the two unique tectonic fragments, was studied. The western and northern parts of the Dashwoods subzone contain variably foliated igneous units of Middle Ordovician age (ca. 460 Ma) that are associated with the regionally voluminous Notre Dame continental arc. A ca. 455 Ma conjugate set of late syn-tectonic pegmatite dykes in the BCZ demonstrates a dextral sense of shear along the BCZ (DBCZ-1) during the Late Ordovician to earliest Silurian, and constrains the minimum age of the main phase of ductile deformation in the Dashwoods subzone. The fault-bounded CBLB has been affected by a single west-vergent deformational event, constrained between ca. 434 and ca. 427 Ma. More importantly, no evidence – neither petrographic nor geochronological – is present that would indicate that the CBLB was affected by a significant Taconic dynamo-thermal event. Hence, the CBLB and Dashwoods could not have been juxtaposed until after the late Early Silurian. Furthermore, the basement to the CBLB is devoid of any Grenville (sensu lato; ca. 1.0-1.3 Ga) U-Pb ages, which is in sharp contrast with crystalline basement elsewhere in the region, such as the Long Range Inlier. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the CBLB represents the para-autochthonous leading edge of the Laurentian craton in the Newfoundland Appalachians, as commonly accepted. The CBLB is interpreted as a suspect terrane that has moved over 500 km parallel to the strike of the orogen. Docking to the external Humber Zone is likely to have occurred during the Early Silurian. Final juxtaposition with the Dashwoods took place after the late Early Silurian (post-Salinic) as a result of protracted dextral movement along the BCZ (DBCZ-2 and DBCZ-5). Current tectonic models for the Newfoundland Appalachians mainly focus on well-documented Early Palaeozoic orthogonal convergence of various terranes with the Laurentian margin, but large-scale orogen-parallel movements have rarely been considered. The possibility of large-scale strike-slip tectonics documented here, in addition to the convergent motions, may have significant implications for the tectonic interpretation of the Early Palaeozoic evolution of the Newfoundland Appalachians.

Active vehicle safety systems for road vehicles play an important role in accident prevention. In recent years, rapid developments have been observed in this area with advancing technology and electronic control systems. Active yaw control is one of these subjects, which aims to control the vehicle in case of any impending spinning or plowing during rapid and/or sharp maneuver. In addition to the development of these systems, integration and cooperation of these independent control mechanisms constitutes the current trend in active vehicle safety systems design. In this thesis, design methodology and simulation results of an active yaw control system for two axle road vehicles have been presented. Main objective of the yaw control system is to estimate the desired yaw behavior of the vehicle according to the demand of the driver and track this desired behavior accurately. The design procedure follows a progressive method, which first aims to design the yaw control scheme without regarding any other stability parameters, followed by the development of the designed control scheme via taking other stability parameters such vehicle sideslip angle into consideration. A two degree of freedom vehicle model (commonly known as &ldquo / Bicycle Model&rdquo / ) is employed to model the desired vehicle behavior. The design of the controller is based on Fuzzy Logic Control, which has proved itself useful for complex nonlinear design problems. Afterwards, the proposed yaw controller has been modified in order to limit the vehicle sideslip angle as well. Integration of the designed active yaw control system with other safety systems such as Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) and Traction Control System (TCS) is another subject of this study. A fuzzy logic based wheel slip controller has also been included in the study in order to integrate two different independent active systems to each other, which, in fact, is a general design approach for real life applications. This integration actually aims to initiate and develop the integration procedure of the active yaw control system with the (ABS). An eight degree of freedom detailed vehicle model with nonlinear tire model is utilized to represent the real vehicle in order to ensure the validity of the results. The simulation is held in MATLAB/Simulink environment, which has provided versatile design and simulation capabilities for this study. Wide-ranging simulations include various maneuvers with different road conditions have been performed in order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed controller.

Pronking is a legged locomotory gait in which all legs are used in synchrony, usually resulting in slow speeds but long flight phases and large jumping heights that may potentially be useful for mobile robots locomoting in cluttered natural environments. Instantiations of this gait for robotic systems suffer from severe pitch instability either due to underactuated leg designs, or the open-loop nature of proposed controllers. Nevertheless, both the kinematic simplicity of this gait and its dynamic nature suggest that the Spring-Loaded Inverted Pendulum Model (SLIP), a very successful predictive model for both natural and robotic runners, would be a good basis for more robust and maneuverable robotic pronking. In the scope of thesis, we describe a novel controller to achieve stable and controllable pronking for a planar, underactuated hexapod model, based on the idea of &ldquo / template-based control&rdquo / , a controller structure based on the embedding of a simple dynamical template within a more complex anchor system. In this context, high-level control of the gait is regulated through speed and height commands to the SLIP template, while the embedding controller based on approximate inverse-dynamics and carefully designed passive robot morphology ensures the stability of the remaining degrees of freedom. We show through extensive simulation experiments that unlike existing open-loop alternatives, the resulting control structure provides stability, explicit maneuverability and significant robustness against sensor noise.

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the seismic hazard in the Eastern Marmara Region using improved seismic source models and enhanced ground motion prediction models by probabilistic approach. Geometry of the fault zones (length, width, dip angle, segmentation points etc.) is determined by the help of available fault maps and traced source lines on the satellite images. State of the art rupture model proposed by USGS Working Group in 2002 is applied to the source system. Composite reoccurrence model is used for all seismic sources in the region to represent the characteristic behavior of North Anatolian Fault. New and improved global ground motion models (NGA models) are used to model the ground motion variability for this study. Previous studies, in general, used regional models or older ground motion prediction models which were updated by their developers during the NGA project. New NGA models were improved in terms of additional prediction parameters (such as depth of the source, basin effects, site dependent standard deviations, etc.), statistical approach, and very well constrained global database. The use of NGA models reduced the epistemic uncertainty in the total hazard incorporated by regional or older models using smaller datasets. The results of the study is presented in terms of hazard curves, deaggregation of the hazard and uniform hazard spectrum for six main locations in the region (Adapazari, Duzce, Golcuk, Izmit, Iznik, and Sapanca City Centers) to provide basis for seismic design of special structures in the area. Hazard maps of the region for rock site conditions at the accepted levels of risk by Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC-2007) are provided to allow the user perform site-specific hazard assessment for local site conditions and develop site-specific design spectrum. Comparison of TEC-2007 design spectrum with the uniform hazard spectrum developed for selected locations is also presented for future reference.

The spatial patterns of bimaterial interfaces along the Parkfield section of the San Andreas Fault (SAF) and central section of the Calaveras Fault are systematically investigated with large data sets of near-fault waveforms. Different from the usage of direct P and S waves in traditional tomographic studies, a particular seismic phase named fault zone head wave (FZHW) is used to image the bimaterial fault interfaces. The results show clear variations of seismic velocities contrast both along-strike and along-depth directions in both regions, which is in general consistent with local geological setting at surface and existing 3D tomography results. In the Parkfield section of SAF, the result of velocity contrast is used to test the relationship between preferred rupture directions of M6 Parkfield earthquakes and bimaterial interface. Strong velocity contrast (~5-10%) near Middle Mountain (MM) could control the rupture directions of nearby earthquakes to SE, such as the case for 1966 M6 Parkfield earthquake. In comparison, weak velocity contrast (~0-2%) near the epicenter of the 2004 Parkfield M6 earthquake (i.e., Gold Hill) probably has no influence on controlling its rupture direction, which is consistent with the bilateral rupture of the 2004 Parkfield earthquake. In the central Calaveras Fault, a detailed analysis of the moveout between FZHWs and direct P waves revealed the existence of a complicated fault structure with velocity contrast increasing from NW to SE of station CCO. The high velocity contrast SE of station CCO could be caused by a low-velocity zone SE of station CCO. The spatio-temporal variations of seismic velocity around the central Calaveras Fault and its nearby region are investigated based on the waveform analysis of 333 repeating clusters following the 1984 ML6.2 Morgan Hill earthquake. Clear reduction of seismic velocity is shown for all repeating clusters immediately after the mainshock, followed by a logarithmic recovery. The coseismic change mostly occurs at shallow layers (top few hundred meters) for the region away from the rupture area of the mainshock, but extends much deeper around the rupture zone of the Morgan Hill earthquake. The estimated depth of the damage zone is up to 6 km in the fault based on the repeating clusters directly beneath station CCO. Finally, temporal changes around the Parkfield section of SAF are studied using recently developed ambient noise cross-correlation technique. The extracted daily empirical Green functions (EGFs) from 0.4-1.3 Hz noise records are used to estimate subtle temporal changes associated with large earthquakes from local to teleseismic distances. The results show clear coseismic reduction of seismic velocities after the 2004 M6 Parkfield earthquake, similar to the previous observation based on repeating earthquakes. However, no systematic changes have been detected for other four regional/teleseismic events that have triggered clear tremor activity in the same region. These results suggest that temporal changes associated with distance sources are very subtle or localized so that they could not be detected within the resolution of the current technique (~0.2%).

Peristalsis is a mechanism of pumping fluids in ducts when a progressive wave of area contraction or expansion propagates along the length of a distensible tube containing fluid. It induces in general propulsive and mixing movements and pumps the fluids against pressure rise. Physiologically, peristaltic action is an inherent property of smooth muscle contraction. It is an automatic and vital process that drives the urine from the kidney to the bladder, food through the digestive tract, bile from the gall-bladder into the duodenum, movement of ovum in the fallopian tube and many other situations. A major industrial application of this principle is in the design of roller pumps, which are used in pumping fluids without being contaminated due to the contact with the pumping machinery. Even though peristalsis is a well-known mechanism in biological system, the first theoretical and experimental analysis of its fluid dynamics aspects were given four decades ago. In reality, the peristaltic flow problems are unsteady moving free boundary value problems where the shape of the wave on flexible tube wall is not known apriori. But the mathematical models on peristaltic transport considered in the literature deal with a prescribed train of waves moving with constant speed on the flexible boundaries and they are studied in either a fixed frame or a wave frame moving with constant velocity of the wave. In a wave frame the moving walls become stationary wavy walls. Further the motion could be treated steady under the assumptions that the peristaltic wave train is periodic, the pressure difference across the length of the tube is constant and the tube length is an integral multiple of the wavelength. Some mathematical models of peristaltic flows representing some physiological situations are studied using a wave frame of reference in this thesis. The important characteristics of these flows namely pumping (variation of time averaged flux with difference in pressures across one wavelength), trapping (splitting of streamlines enclosing a bolus which moves as a whole along with the wave), reflux phenomena (the presence of some fluid particles whose mean motion over one cycle is against the net pumping direction) are discussed in detail. A brief general introduction to the peristaltic transport and their application in physiological fluid dynamics is presented in chapter one. In the second chapter, the peristaltic transport of an incompressible viscous Newtonian fluid in an asymmetric channel is studied under long wavelength and low-Reynolds number assumptions. Choosing the peristaltic wave train on the walls to have different amplitudes and phase produces the channel asymmetry. This study is motivated by the intra-uterine fluid flow induced by uterine wall contractions which represent a peristaltic flow in an asymmetric channel and this flow is responsible for embryo transport to a successful implantation site. The solution for the stream function is obtained by neglecting inertia and curvature effects. The streamlines are plotted in both fixed and wave frames. The effects of different geometric parameters causing asymmetry like phase difference; varying channel width and wave amplitudes are investigated on the pumping characteristics, streamline pat-tern, trapping and reflux phenomena. It is observed that the pumping against pressure rise, trapping and reflux layer exists only when cross-section of the channel varies along the axis. The limits on the time averaged flux for trapping and reflux are obtained. The peristaltic waves on the walls with same amplitudes propagating in phase produce zero flux rate as the channel cross-section remains the same through out. The trapping and reflux regions reduce for asymmetric channels compared to symmetric channels. The flow of an incompressible viscous fluid driven by the traveling waves along the boundaries of an asymmetric channel is studied in the chapter three, when inertia and streamline curvature effects are not negligible. It was well documented that the inertial forces cannot be ignored in the pharyngeal phase of bolus transport. Choosing the wave train on the walls to have different amplitudes and phases produces the channel asymmetry here. An asymptotic solution is obtained in powers of a geometric parameter £, the ratio of the channel width to the wavelength, giving curvature and inertia effects. A domain transformation is used to transform the channel of variable cross section to a uniform cross section, and this facilitates in easy way of finding closed form solutions at higher orders. The solutions are presented upto second order in 6. It has been found that, the relation connecting the pressure gradient and time average flux rate is a cubic leading to a non-unique of flux for a given pressure gradient. A uniqueness criterion is derived which restricts the parameters to get a unique flux for a prescribed pressure difference. The effects of inertia and curvature on peristaltic pumping, trapping and shear stress are discussed for various parameters governing the flow for symmetric and asymmetric channels and compared with the existing results in the literature. Even under a favourable pressure gradient the possibility of fluid flow in a direction opposite to the direction of the waves propagating on the walls is detected as in the case of some non-Newtonian fluids. It is noticed that the Reynolds number and asymmetry of the wall geometry may play an important role in producing mixing. The appearance of a second trapped bolus near the down streamside of the channel for some Reynolds number is a new feature. Further, the non-zero curvature produces three trapped boluses for high Reynolds number in symmetric channel as well as for inertia free flow in an asymmetric channel. Another interesting phenomena is that the shear stress distribution on the walls vanishes at some points but it does not indicate any flow separation as the MRS criteria is not satisfied. The gastrointestinal tract is surrounded by a number of muscle layers having smooth muscle. The most important smooth muscle layers in gastrointestinal tract are submucosa and a layer of epithelial cells and these- are responsible for the absorption of nutrients and water in the intestine. These layers consist of many folds and there are pores through out the tight junctions of them. Thus a study of peristaltic transport with porous peripheral layer and porous boundaries of a duct are important. Motivated by this the flow in gastrointestinal tract is mathematically modeled by a peristaltic flow of two fluid system in a two-dimensional channel with a porous peripheral layer and a Newtonian fluid core layer, in chapter four. The fluid flow is investigated under the assumptions of long wavelength and low Reynolds number in a wave frame of reference. Brinkman extended Darcy equation is utilized to model the flow in the porous peripheral layer. A shear stress jump boundary condition of Ochoa-Tapia and Whitaker is used at the interface between porous and fluid regions together with continuity of velocity and normal stress conditions. Here one needs an extra assumption that the fluid interface and the peristaltic wave on the boundary have the same period in addition to the constant pressure difference at the ends of channel and the length of the channel to be an integral multiple of the wavelength, to consider the flow to be steady. The interface is determined as a part of the solution using the conservation of mass in both the porous and fluid regions independently. Matlab packages are used to solve the transcendental equation governing it. An interval of critical time averaged flux Q is obtained for the existence of a unique solution for the interphase. The physical quantities of importance in peristaltic transport namely, pumping, trapping and reflux are discussed for various parameters of interest governing the flow like Darcy number Da, porosity 6, shear-stress jump constant /3, viscosity ratio /i. It is observed that the peristalsis works as a pump against greater pressure rise with a porous medium in the peripheral layer than a viscous fluid. The limits on the time averaged flux Q for trapping in the core layer are obtained. The existence of reflux near the axis is observed for small values of Darcy number and large values of /?. Chapter five deals with the peristaltic transport in a tube with a poroflexible wall and having a porous material layer in the peripheral region and a Newtonian fluid in the core region. Flow in tube may be more realistic to model a flow in gastrointestinal system. At the poroflexible wall, a slip boundary condition of Saffman.type is used. The fluid flow is studied in a wave frame of reference under lubrication approach. Brinkman extended Darcy equation in cylindrical polar coordinates is considered for the porous medium with a shear-stress jump boundary condition of Ochoa-Tapia and Whitaker at the interface of porous and fluid regions together with the continuity of velocity and normal stress. The interface is found as a part of the solutions using the conservation of mass in both the regions of deformable porous medium and fluid medium independently. The interface equation turns out to be a transcendental equation involving modified Bessel functions and it is solved by using Matlab packages. The uniqueness criterion of the solutions for the interface equation in the flow region is determined for certain values of time averaged flux Q. Pumping characteristics, trapping and reflux phenomena are discussed for various parameters of interest governing the flow like, wall slip constant fc, Darcy number Da, viscosity ratio /x. shear stress jump constant f) and peripheral layer thickness 7. The slip condition at the boundary, arising due to the poroflexible nature of the wall, enhances pumping. The trapped bolus volume in the core layer is observed to decrease with a decrease in Da, /i and k and an increase in /?. The reflux phenomena is discussed in detail. The trapping limits on the flux rate Q in the core region are obtained. As the behaviour of most of the physiological fluids is known to be non-Newtonian, the peristaltic flows of power-law and micro polar fluids are investigated in the next two chapters. In chapter six, the peristaltic transport of a power-law fluid in an axisymmetric tube having poroflexible wall is studied. The power-law model of Ostwald-de Waele type is considered, which accommodates the study of both shear thinning and shear thickening fluids. The flow characteristics are studied in wave frame analysis under lubrication approach. The slip boundary conditions of Beavers-Joseph and Saffman type are considered at the wall in obtaining solutions for the flow and resulting pumping characteristics are investigated with a straight section dominated (SSD) wave form other than the sinusoidal one. It is observed that the time mean flow becomes negative in free pumping for a shear thickening fluid with a SSD expansion wave and the same is observed for a SSD contraction wave in the case of shear thinning fluid. The pressure rise increases with increasing of Darcy number Da against which the peristalsis works as a pump and decreases for an increase in Beaver-Joseph constant a. Peristalsis works as a pump against a greater pressure rise for a shear thickening fluid and the opposite happens for a shear thinning fluid compared with Newtonian fluid. Trapping and reflux phenomena are discussed for various parameters of interest governing the flow like Da, a and the fluid behaviour index n. The trapping limits on Q are derived. The trapped bolus volume for sinusoidal wave is observed to decrease as the fluid behaviour index decreases, i.e as the fluid behaviour changes from shear thickening to shear thinning, where as it increases with an increase in Darcy number. The rheological properties of fluid, wave shape and porous nature of the wall play an important role in the peristaltic transport and may be useful in understanding the transport of chyme in small intestine. The chapter seven contains the study of peristaltic transport of a micropolar fluid in an axisymmetric tube. Micropolar fluids exhibit some microscopic effects arising from the local structure and micro motion of the fluid elements. Further, they can sustain couple stresses. It is speculated that, in microcirculation, peristalsis may be involved as well in the vasomotion of small blood vessels which change their diameters periodically. Therefore, modelling blood by a micropolar fluid may be more appropriate. The closed form solutions are obtained for velocity, microrotation components, as well as the stream function under the assumption of long wavelength and low Reynolds number. The solution contains new additional parameters namely, N the coupling number and m the microploar parameter. In the case of free pumping (pressure difference Ap = 0) the difference in pumping flux is observed to be very small for Newtonian and micropolar fluids but in the case of pumping (Ap > 0) the characteristics are significantly altered for different N and m. It is observed that the peristalsis in micropolar fluids works as a pump against a greater pressure rise compared with a Newtonian fluid. Streamline patterns which depict trapping phenomena aie presented for different parameter ranges. The limit on the trapping of the center streamline is obtained. The effects of N and m on friction force for different Ap are discussed. The nomenclature of symbols in each chapter is independent of the other. Each of the chapter has its own appendix and they are numbered with the corresponding roman number of the chapters. The purpose of the study here is not to represent exactly the functioning of various physiological applications, but rather to understand the fluid-mechanical aspects inherent in the problems of peristaltic transport.

Electric power has become a basic necessity of human life. The major share of electric power comes from fossil fuel which results in global warming and pollution. A share of generated power comes from nuclear power which is equally dangerous. Big hydro projects take away lots of fertile land. The continuous usage of fossil fuel also poses a threat of petroleum and coal getting over in the near future. The only way out of this energy scarcity is to depend more and more on renewable sources like solar, wind and micro-hydro. At present, instead of having preference over any particular source of renewable energy, effort should be made to extract power from every possible energy source available in whatever form it is and use it in an optimal way. Like any renewable energy sources, the wind power contains large potential for harnessing energy that has been well understood hundreds of years ago. The importance of wind power generation has come to focus recently both at installation and research level and lot of activities are being carried out for efficient use of wind energy. There are different types of wind turbine designs available in the literature. But the most commercially used model is the two or three blade horizontal axis propeller type wind turbine. Research has shown that variable speed operation of this type of turbine is advantageous over fixed speed operation in terms of total energy synthesis. The most commonly used machines for wind power conversion are synchronous machine, squirrel cage induction machine and slip ring induction machine (SRIM). Variable speed operation using synchronous machine or squirrel cage induction machine requires large ratings of the power converters. However, SRIM based variable speed wind generator is advantageous over other schemes due to its inherent advantages like lower power rating for the converters, higher energy capture and the flexibility of sharing reactive power between the stator and the rotor. SRIM is used for both grid connected and stand alone applications and have been reported in the literature. The grid connected applications have received major attention in the literature whereas there are only a very few instances of its stand alone counterparts. There are many places both within and outside India where utility grid has not yet reached or the available grid is very weak. Moreover, in many of the places, the transmission line is so long that the losses in the system are extremely high. Isolated wind power generation can be of great advantage in such places where the available wind power is harnessed and utilized locally. This has been the motivation to go for proposing an isolated wind power generation scheme in this thesis. The proposed scheme is designed to supply power to the load even when very low or no wind power is available. Therefore, a battery bank is also a part of the system. The power converter assembly of the proposed scheme has three major components. One is the rotor side converter which is connected to the rotor terminals of the SRIM. The second one is the stator side converter with output LC filter which is connected to the stator side. These two converters share a common DC link which is interfaced to the battery bank through a multi phase bi-directional fly-back DC-DC converter. Fig. 1. Overall block diagram of the proposed stand alone wind power generator Functionally, this thesis proposes a system as shown in Fig. 1, which has primarily two components with multiple energy ports viz. (i) the SRIM is one triple energy port component and (ii) the proposed power conditioner is another triple energy port component. The SRIM device consists of (i) a mechanical energy port that is interfaced with the windmill shaft (ii) an AC port through the stator windings that is interfaced with the micro-grid/load and (iii) a third port which is also an AC port through the rotor windings of the SRIM that interfaces with an AC port of the proposed power conditioner. The proposed power conditioner is another triple energy port device which consists of (i) a DC energy port that interfaces with a battery/accumulator, (ii) an AC port that interfaces with the rotor windings of the SRIM and (iii) another AC port that generates the micro-grid that is connected to the load and the stator port of the SRIM. The proposed power conditioner provides the frame work for managing the energy flow from the mechanical port of the SRIM to the rotor and accumulator as well as from the mechanical port to the stator/load and accumulator. Further, energy interaction can also take place between the stator and the rotor externally through the power conditioner. The power interfaces on all three energy ports of the proposed power conditioner poses several challenges that have been discussed in this thesis. This thesis focuses on developing schemes to solve these challenges as explained below. Speed sensorless control is a natural choice for slip ring induction machine because of the flexibility of sensing both stator and rotor currents. There are different methods proposed in the literature which deal with the speed sensorless control of slip ring induction machine. However, the elimination of the measurement noise in the flux position estimation is not sufficiently addressed. It is important to address this issue as this would lead to deterioration in rotor side control of SRIM if the measurement noise is not eliminated. Primarily, the schemes which use algebraic relation between the estimated rotor current in stator reference frame and the sensed rotor current, are prone to measurement noise. On the other hand, the schemes, which use rotor back-emf integration, are affected by DC drift problems, though they are not much affected by measurement noise. The proposed stator flux position estimation scheme incorporates the benefits obtained from both the above schemes while eliminating the disadvantages inherent to them. The rotor flux position is estimated by integrating the rotor back-electromotive force. The stator flux is then obtained from the rotor flux estimate. This integration mechanism leads to several problems like dc drift and lack of error decaying mechanism. This estimation scheme solves the above problems including reduction in the propagation of noise in the sensed current to the estimated rotor side unit vectors. On the implementation front, this scheme also eliminates the need for differentiating the unit vectors for estimating slip frequency. This makes the proposed flux estimator very robust. The proposed scheme is simulated and experimentally verified. There is an internal DC bus within the proposed power conditioner that manages the energy flow through the three energy ports. The internal DC bus is interfaced to an external accumulator or battery through a power interface called the multi phase bi-directional dc-dc converter. It is generally advantageous to have the motor rated for higher voltages in order to achieve better efficiencies for a given power rating as compared to low voltage motors. This implies higher DC bus voltage. On the other hand, it is advantageous to have the battery bank rated for low voltage in order to improve the volumetric efficiency which is better at lower battery bank voltages. Both these are contradictory requirements. The above problem is solved in this thesis by proposing a multi power port topology using a bidirectional fly-back converter that is capable of handling multiple power sources and still maintain simplicity and features like high gain, wide load variations and lower output current ripple. As a spin-off, the scheme can handle parallel energy transfer from even a eutectic combination of batteries without any additional control circuitry for parallel operation. Further, the scheme also incorporates a novel transformer winding technique which significantly reduces the leakage inductance of the coupled inductor. The proposed multi-port bidirectional converter is analyzed by including non-idealities like leakage inductance. The DC bus voltage regulation requirement is not very stringent because it is not directly fed to any load. Therefore, hysteresis voltage regulation with small proportional correction is used for DC bus voltage control. The proposed converter is built and experimentally verified in the proposed system as well as in a hybrid-electric vehicle prototype. The third port of the proposed power conditioner interfaces with the stator of the SRIM and the load. The stator/load needs to be connected to a stiff micro-grid. The control requirement of the micro-grid is very stringent because, even for a sudden variation in the wind speed or the load, the grid voltage magnitude and frequency should not change. The dynamic response of the grid voltage controller has to be very fast. Moreover, the grid voltage must be balanced in presence of unbalanced loading. This thesis proposes a converter called the stator side converter along with three phase L-C filter at its output to form the micro-grid. A generalized control scheme is proposed wherein the negative sequence components and the harmonics can be eliminated at the micro-grid by means of feed-forward compensators included in the fundamental positive synchronous reference frame alone. The theoretical foundation for this scheme is developed and discussed in the thesis. In isolated locations linear loads constitute a significant percentage of the total load. Therefore, on the implementation front, only the compensation of fundamental negative sequence is demonstrated. One more necessity for compensating the fundamental negative sequence is that, the SRIM offers only leakage impedance to the fundamental negative sequence components resulting in high fundamental negative sequence current even for a small fundamental negative sequence voltage present at the micro-grid. The proposed scheme ensures balanced three phase currents at the SRIM windings and the full unbalanced current is provided from the stator side converter. This scheme is validated both by simulation and experimentation. The proposed power conditioner is integrated and used in the implementation of the entire wind power generation scheme that is proposed in the thesis. The maximum power point tracking of the wind power unit is also incorporated in the proposed system. The simulation and experimental results are also presented. Finally, the engineering issues involved in the implementation of the proposed scheme are discussed in detail highlighting the hardware configuration and the equipments used. The wind turbine is emulated using a chopper controlled DC motor. The shaft torque of the DC motor is controlled to give the Cp−λ characteristic of a typical windmill. The control issues of the DC machine to behave as a wind turbine are also explained. Finally the thesis is concluded by a statement of potentials and possibilities for future work in this research area.

The condition of no relative velocity of fluid past solid is termed as ‘no-slip boundary condition’. This condition is a general observation in fluid mechanics. However, several research groups have recently reported slip of water for surfaces with water repelling chemistry (referred to as hydrophobic surfaces). The effect has been attributed to disruption of H-bonding network of water molecules at such surfaces and resulting nucleation of dissolved gases and even reduced water density locally in absence of dissolved air. Slip of water on hydrophobic surfaces has been demonstrated to get amplified by high degree of roughness and patterning. Trapping of air in the surface asperities has been cited as the possible reason. The present work focuses on the study of effect of surface chemistry and roughness on flow behavior close to solid surfaces. Superhydrophobic surfaces have been generated by novel methods and wet-etching has been used to generate well-defined patterns on silicon surfaces. For flow characterisation, a micrometre resolution Particle Image Velocimetry (micro-PIV) facility has been developed and flow measurements have been carried out with a spatial resolution of less than 4 µm. It has been found from the experiments that flow of water on smooth surfaces, with or without chemical modification, conforms to the no-slip within the resolution limits of experiments. Deviation is observed in case of rough and patterned hydrophobic surfaces, possibly because of trapped air in asperities. Total Internal Reflection experiments, used to visualise the air pockets, confirmed the trapping of air at asperities. Diffusion of air out of the crevices seems to be the limiting factor for the utility of these surfaces in under-water applications.

The southern Patagonian Andes record the Late Cretaceous closure and inversion of the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous Rocas Verdes marginal basin, subsequent development of the Patagonian retroarc fold-thrust belt and the Neogene to present tectonic superposition of a left-lateral strike-slip plate margin defined by the Magallanes- Fagnano fault zone. In this dissertation, I present new geologic maps, cross sections and detailed macro- and microscopic structural analyses that describe the geometry and kinematic evolution of the fold-thrust belt and superposed strike-slip deformation over ~200 km along-strike between 53° and 55° S latitude. Results are discussed in the context of the regional tectonic development of the southernmost Andes and are relevant to the understanding of important tectonic processes including the development of a retroarc fold-thrust belt, the formation of a basal décollement below and toward the hinterland of a fold-thrust belt and the spatial distribution of deformation along a strike-slip plate margin. New maps and balanced cross-sections of the Patagonian fold-thrust belt show that it developed during two main phases of Late Cretaceous to Paleogene shortening that were partly controlled by the antecedent geology and mechanical stratigraphy of the Rocas Verdes basin. During the Late Cretaceous, a thin-skinned thrust belt developed above a décollement that formed first in relatively weak shale deposits of the Rocas Verdes basin and later deepened to <1 km below the basement-cover contact. Ramps that cut mechanically rigid volcanic rocks of the marginal basin link the two décollements. Basement-involved reverse faults that cut the early décollements and probably reactivate Jurassic normal faults reflect Paleogene shortening. Shortening estimates increase northwest to southeast from 26 to 37% over 100 km along-strike and are consistent with regional models of the fold-thrust belt. Structural data, kinematic analyses, and microstructural observations from the lower décollement show that it is defined by transposition of several generations of northeast-vergent noncylindrical folds, shear bands, and a quartz stretching lineation that are kinematically compatible with first-generation structures of the fold-thrust belt. Quartz microstructural data from the décollement are consistent with deformation temperatures that decrease from ~500-650° C to ~400-550° C over ~75 km in the transport direction, indicating that the décollement dipped shallowly (~6°) toward the hinterland. The décollement decoupled the underthrust continental margin from the fold- thrust belt and exemplifies the kinematic relationship between shortening that occurs coevally in a retroarc fold thrust-belt and its polydeformed metamorphic ‘basement’. Fault kinematic data and crosscutting relationships show kinematic and temporal relationships between populations of thrust, strike-slip and normal faults that occur in the study area. Thrust faults form an internally compatible population that shows subhorizontal northeast-trending shortening of the fold-thrust belt and is kinematically distinct from populations of normal and strike-slip faults. Both strike-slip and normal faults crosscut the fold-thrust belt, are localized near segments of the Magallanes- Fagnano fault zone, have mutually compatible kinematic axes and are interpreted to be coeval. Strike-slip faults form Riedel and P-shear geometries that are compatible with left-lateral slip on the Magallanes-Fagnano fault-zone. Strike-slip and normal faults occur in a releasing step-over between two overlapping left-lateral, left-stepping segments of the Magallanes fault zone and record a tectonic event defined by sinistral transtension that probably reflects changing plate dynamics associated with the opening of the Drake Passage during the Early Miocene. / text

The Valle de Catacamas forms a major basin along the central portion of the Guayape fault, the most prominent tectonic element of the Chortís block. The Guayape fault extends 290 km southwest from the Caribbean coast to the region of El Paraíso, Honduras, and may continue to the Pacific coast along a related prominent topographic feature, the Choluteca linear. Basins presently forming along the Guayape fault indicate that the fault is currently experiencing right-slip. The active features of the Valle de Catacamas displace older folds and reverse faults which apparently formed during an earlier period of sinistral shear. Thus, the Guayape fault has undergone at least two phases of movement, post-Cenomanian left-slip followed by the present right-slip. The geology of the valley suggests multiple stages of evolution. These include at least one period of thrust and reverse faulting, possibly associated with sinistral shear along the Guayape fault, and a recent episode of normal faulting associated with dextral shear on the Guayape fault. Thrusting of basement rocks over Jurassic strata on the south side of the valley was the earliest deformation to affect Mesozoic or Cenozoic rocks. The event can only be dated as post-Jurassic in age. The Cretaceous rocks of the Sierra de Agalta on the north side of the Valle de Catacamas are much more strongly deformed than similar rocks in central Honduras. In this range, the Aptian-Albian Atima Limestone commonly has a pervasive pressure solution cleavage which has not been reported from other locations on the Chortís block. The cleavage is apparently axial planar to the folds. The age of this deformation is constrained only as post-Cenomanian. SIR data indicate that these folds are deflected in sinistral shear near the Guayape fault. In addition, a major structural contact has a large left-lateral separation. The folds in the Sierra de Agalta are cut by the range-bounding normal fault of the Sierra de Agalta. Younger rocks are placed on older rocks by this normal fault, and fault slip data from small fault planes in the footwall block indicate normal faulting. The N 65° E strike of this normal fault, the N 35° E strike of the Guayape fault, and stress orientations inferred from fault slip data indicate that the present movement on the Guayape fault is right-slip. Fault slip data from the Guayape fault zone is heterogeneous as would be expected if two stage slip has occurred. / text