The thesis is devoted to the study of material properties of selected types of polystyrene, especially expression of the coefficient of linear thermal expansion. The work contains two main chapters, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with an overview of the thermal insulation in the Czech Republic, the description of phenomena related to heat transfer mechanisms and an overview of experimental methods for determining thermal insulating properties. The practical part presents results of measurements of samples with foamed polystyrene, which is modified by the addition of selected substances. The thesis describes the machine program, which is used to calculate the temperature in during the construction arrangement under the sunlight load.

This thesis focuses on the comparison of numerical simulation and optical measurement of deformation of the turbinehousing made by Honeywell company. The numerical calculation performed by finite element method to simulate transient thermal load on the measured entity. Numerical result of the strain state of the body caused by temperature gradients. To verify the simulation is used an experimental digital correlation method VIC-3D. The thesis also mentioned the theoretical foundations of digital correlation methods and thermal analysis.

The doctoral thesis discusses the measurement of parameters of piezoelectric (PZT) materials and the influence of temperature on their stability. In the introductory sections, the author briefly explains the piezoelectric effect and its use; simultaneously, methods for the preparation of piezoelectric materials and the measurement of their properties are presented to illustrate the analyzed problem. The experimental part of the thesis describes the procedure of measuring and calculating the complete matrix of material coefficients from samples of PZT ceramics. The applied set of piezoelectric samples complying with relevant European and world standards was made in the form of thin plates, thin discs and cylinders, via gradual modification of the large disc. The NCE51 and/or the older PCM51 ceramics obtained from the company Noliac Ceramics were used in determining the complete matrix and describing the measurement method. Both these types are soft piezoceramics composed from a solid solution of lead zirconate and lead titanate with the general chemical formula of Pb(Zr1-x,Tix)O3. The real crystallographic structure and chemical composition of the samples were confirmed by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. The frequency method was used for the measurement and calculation of all material coefficients. An Agilent 4294A impedance analyzer and a set of measuring tweezers marketed as “Tweezers Contact Test Fixture 16334A” were used in the process. Fast determination of the entire matrix of coefficients without any special requirement for the preparation of the samples to be measured was tested and verified. The charge coefficients of the piezoelectric material were confirmed by direct methods including the laser interferometer technique, the vibrometric method, and the procedure utilizing changes of the force applied to the sample. The advantages and disadvantages of the methods were compared and defined based on measurements and their results. The main part of thesis was focused on the behavior of piezoelectric material at high temperatures near the Curie point. Depolarization performed by means of a high temperature approaching the Curie point constitutes a significant yet hardly measurable material property of PZT ceramics. Commonly available vibrometric methods (d33-meters) do not appear to be suitable for the measurement of temperature dependencies, and for that reason the frequency technique was used. The piezoelectric charge coefficient, whose value can be effectively measured via the above-discussed frequency method, was selected as the indicator showing the depolarization state in the applied piezoelectric ceramics. The accuracy of the procedure was verified via comparison of the vibrometric method in cylinders of the NCE51 ceramics with different sizes, which are designed for the longitudinal length mode. The result is an optimized measurement methodology which facilitates accurate determination of the Curie temperature, namely phase transition to the cubic crystallographic structure. The experiment also proved the applicability of progressive, controlled depolarization of PZT ceramics via high temperature, and it also enabled us to define the temperature limits at which there occur irreversible changes of the piezoelectric properties of piezoceramics. In the measured NCE51 and PCM51 materials, the limit for the irreversible changes was equal to 95% of the Curie temperature.

Thin layers are widely used in many fields of technology and today we can say that they are found in all modern technologies. Thin layers can be created in two ways, namely by chemical or physical means. This work focuses on the latter method, more particularly a technology of thermal evaporation of thin layers in a vacuum. The work focuses on the process principles during and after the evaporation. Much of the work focuses on the development and design of experiments. These experiments illustrate some of the phenomena that take place on thin films produced by the aforementioned technology. Work helps to better understand processes during formation of thin layers and properties that influence the quality and stability of thin films. In conclusion we describe results of experiments and new developments in the field of thin films deposition using evaporation under vakuum are summarized.

Human body detects potentially damaging stimuli by specialized sensory nerve endings in the skin, the nociceptors. Their membranes are equipped with ion channels, molecular sensors, coding the outside stimuli into the trains of action potentials and conducting them to the higher brain centers. The most prominent group of transduction ion channels is the transient receptor potential (TRP) channel family followed by ion channels responsible for generation and conduction of action potentials from the periphery to the brain, the voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs). Understanding the mechanisms how particular stimulus is encoded and processed is of particular importance to find therapeutics for various types of pain conditions. We characterized the properties of VGSC subtypes NaV1.9 and NaV1.8 at high temperatures. We showed that NaV1.9 undergo large increase in current with increasing temperatures and significantly contribute to the action potential generation in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Ciguatoxins (CTXs) are sodium channels activator toxins causing ciguatera fish poisoning, a disease manifested by sensory and neurological disturbances. We elucidated the mechanism of CTX- induced cold allodynia, a pathological phenomenon where normally innocuous cool temperatures are perceived as pain. We...

Concrete has many advantageous properties as regards resistance to fire. It is non-flammable and it has a low thermal conductivity. However, concrete structures, which are not designed for resistance against fire, show significant damage after heating. In particular, the explosive flaking with the consequence of weakening the reinforced concrete cross-section and exposing the steel reinforcement to the temperatures higher than critical temperature of reinforcement. There are only a few possible measures of preventing or mitigating the effects temperature load used. Ways of protection can be divided into two systems: active and passive. Active systems are designed to ensure the greatest possible reduction of temperatures the concrete is exposed to. Passive systems directly resist to high temperatures and fire. Design of composition of concrete with the aim of higher resistance to exposition to high temperatures belongs among the passive systems. A part of the work focuses on summary searches of the problems of concrete and reinforced concrete structures exposed to high temperatures and fire. The goal of the work is defining requirements for cement matrix based composite material and its design ensuring the highest possible resistance to high temperatures or direct fire.

From the climatological aspect, the meteorological observatory Milešovka is one of the most important stations at Czech Republic. When this master's thesis was writen, the 106 years long set of the daily mean air temperature was available. This dataset is not influenced by the urban heat island. Beside the older studies, the trend of the mean annual air temperature increased on 1,02řC/100 years. The highest value is in the spring, the lowest one in the winter. The value of mean diurnal temperature range is increasing. The duration of the frost period is decreasing, on the contrary, the lenght of the growing season is prolonging. 36 % of the absolute extremes of maximal daily temperature were detected in the period 1996-2010. On the other hand, the absolute extremes of minimal daily temperature are rare in this period. The sub-seasonal anomalies are three or more days long significant deviations from the smoothed annual progress of the air temperature. This anomalies of the air temperature has highest mean value of deviations and longest mean duration in winter. The relations between the sub-seasonal anomalies and the meteorological singularities are weak.

The thesis deals with optimization of the continuous slab casting process. The thesis summarizes the basic analytical and empirical findings concerning to the solidification process, the numerical modeling and the selected optimization techniques. Physical conditions and factors that affect the quality of steel including their relationships are also described. The basis of the solution strategy is the original numerical model of the temperature field in its off-line version. The numerical model was verified by the real historical data. The optimization part is based on the fuzzy logic implemented above the numerical model. The optimization algorithm is used for the optimal control of the casting process. The universal usage of the optimization model is demonstrated on several cases, e.g. the finding of optimal casting parameters that ensure the high quality of products, the optimal reactions on breakdown situations, the determination of an optimal relationship between casting parameters, etc. Based on optimization results, the suitable caster modification to increase the surface temperature at the unbending point was proposed. The whole concept of the numerical and optimization model is general and it can be applied to arbitrary slab or billet continuous casting.

Snow accumulation and snowmelt research is one of the most important hydrological issues in mountain areas World-wide. Spring snowmelt, usually in the combination with intensive rainfall or high air temperature, is one of the most common causes of flooding in the Czech Republic. Mathematical modeling of hydrological processes belongs to effective instruments of flood protection and finds its use in a variety of areas. For example, water management, hydrological forecasts for agriculture, information for dam regulation or for recreational areas and water sports are all affected. This thesis focuses on snow accumulation and snowmelt modeling with use of the empirical Degree-day method. This method is based on the relationship between snowmelt rate and air temperature. The American HAC-HMS programme is used for the simulation of hydrological processes. The main goal of this thesis is to calibrate the model and to simulate snow accumulation, snowmelt and run-off from the watershed. The experimental basin 'Ptačí potok' is situated in the central part of the Šumava Mountains, in altitude of about 1,200 m. Two winter seasons, 2011 and 2012, were simulated. Simulations showed high reliability and correct calibration of the Temperature index snowmelt model. Simulations of the snow water equivalent evolution...

Fouling of tube bundles in boilers on the flue gas side affects not only the service life, but also the boiler heat output and increases maintenance and operating costs. Therefore, it is necessary to minimize or completely eliminate this process. This thesis focuses on comparison of the service life and the heat output of the tube bundles with and without deposit in the coal fired boiler. Simulations of flue gas flow in area of tube bundles with and without deposit are performed using ANSYS Fluent software, which shows that the surface of tube bundles with deposit is much less heated than the surface without deposit. The thermal loads of tubes obtained by the CFD analysis are applied to the model, which is created in the program ANSYS Mechanical, where the calculation of the temperature field in the cross section of the pipe is realized. The effect of fouling on creep life and heat output is then evaluated based on simulation results. The results show that fouling increases creep life, but significantly reduces heat output of heavily fouled tubes. Hence the flue gas flows at a higher temperature to the rest of the tube bundle, and the service life of those tubes will therefore probably decrease.