Photoacoustic tomography (PAT), as well as thermoacoustic tomography (TAT), utilize electromagnetic radiation in its visible, near infrared, microwave, and radiofrequency forms, respectively, to induce acoustic waves in biological tissues for imaging purposes. Combining the advantages of both the high image contrast that results from electromagnetic absorption and the high resolution of ultrasound imaging, these new imaging modalities could be the next successful imaging techniques in biomedical applications. Basic research on PAT and TAT, and the relevant physics, is presented in Chapter I. In Chapter II, we investigate the imaging mechanisms of TAT in terms of signal generation, propagation and detection. We present a theoretical analysis as well as simulations of such imaging characteristics as contrast and resolution, accompanied by experimental results from phantom and tissue samples. In Chapter III, we discuss the further application of TAT to the imaging of biological tissues. The microwave absorption difference in normal and cancerous breast tissues, as well as its influence on thermoacoustic wave generation and the resulting transducer response, is investigated over a wide range of electromagnetic frequencies and depths of tumor locations. In Chapter IV, we describe the mechanism of PAT and the algorithm used for image reconstruction. Because of the broad bandwidth of the laser-induced ultrasonic waves and the limited bandwidth of the single transducer, multiple ultrasonic transducers, each with a different central frequency, are employed for simultaneous detection. Chapter V further demonstrates PAT’s ability to image vascular structures in biological tissue based on blood’s strong light absorption capability. The photoacoustic images of rat brain tumors in this study clearly reveal the angiogenesis that is associated with tumors. In Chapter VI, we report on further developing PAT to image deeply embedded optical heterogeneity in biological tissues. The improved imaging ability is attributed to better penetration by NIR light, the use of the optical contrast agent ICG (indocyanine green) and a new detection scheme of a circular scanning configuration. Deep penetrating PAT, which is based on a tissue’s intrinsic contrast using laser light of 532 nm green light and 1.06 µm near infrared light, is also presented.

The persistent thrust for a cleaner, greener environment has prompted air pollution regulations to be enforced with increased stringency by environmental protection bodies all over the world. This has prompted gas turbine manufacturers to move from non-premixed combustion to lean, premixed combustion. These lean premixed combustors operate quite fuel-lean compared to the stochiometric, in order to minimize CO and NOx productions, and are very susceptible to oscillations in any of the upstream flow variables. These oscillations cause the heat release rate of the flame to oscillate, which can engage one or more acoustic modes of the combustor or gas turbine components, and under certain conditions, lead to limit cycle oscillations. This phenomenon, called thermoacoustic instabilities, is characterized by very high pressure oscillations and increased heat fluxes at system walls, and can cause significant problems in the routine operability of these combustors, not to mention the occasional hardware damages that could occur, all of which cumulatively cost several millions of dollars. In a bid towards understanding this flow-flame interaction, this research works studies the heat release response of premixed flames to oscillations in reactant equivalence ratio, reactant velocity and pressure, under conditions where the flame preheat zone is convectively compact to these disturbances, using the G-equation. The heat release response is quantified by means of the flame transfer function and together with combustor acoustics, forms a critical component of the analytical models that can predict combustor dynamics. To this end, low excitation amplitude (linear) and high excitation amplitude (nonlinear) responses of the flame are studied in this work. The linear heat release response of lean, premixed flames are seen to be dominated by responses to velocity and equivalence ratio fluctuations at low frequencies, and to pressure fluctuations at high frequencies which are in the vicinity of typical screech frequencies in gas turbine combustors. The nonlinear response problem is exclusively studied in the case of equivalence ratio coupling. Various nonlinearity mechanisms are identified, amongst which the crossover mechanisms, viz., stoichiometric and flammability crossovers, are seen to be responsible in causing saturation in the overall heat release magnitude of the flame. The response physics remain the same across various preheat temperatures and reactant pressures. Finally, comparisons between the chemiluminescence transfer function obtained experimentally and the heat release transfer functions obtained from the reduced order model (ROM) are performed for lean, CH4/Air swirl-stabilized, axisymmetric V-flames. While the comparison between the phases of the experimental and theoretical transfer functions are encouraging, their magnitudes show disagreement at lower Strouhal number gains show disagreement.

La conception des turbines à gaz est aujourd'hui contrainte par des normes d'émissions de plus en plus draconiennes, couplées à l'urgente nécessité d'économiser les ressources en carburant fossile. Les choix technologiques adoptés pour répondre à ces exigences entraînent parfois l'apparition d'instabilités de combustion. Dans les chambres de combustion annulaires, ces instabilités prennent souvent la forme de modes azimutaux. Prédire ces modes reste un défi à l'heure actuelle et impose de considérer la totalité de la géométrie annulaire, ce qui n'est rendu possible, dans le domaine de la simulation numérique en mécanique des fluides, que par l'avènement très récent des supercalculateurs massivement parallèles. Dans ce travail de thèse, les modes azimutaux pouvant apparaître dans les chambres de combustion annulaires sont abordés avec plusieurs approches: un modèle analytique 1D, un solveur acoustique de Helmholtz 3D et enfin des Simulations aux Grandes Echelles. Combiner ces méthodes permet une meilleure compréhension de la structure de ces modes et peut amener à considérer des solutions innovantes pour concevoir des chambres inconditionnellement stables. / Increasingly stringent regulations and the need to tackle rising fuel prices have placed great emphasis on the design of aeronautical gas turbines. This drive towards innovation has resulted sometimes in new concepts being prone to combustion instabilities. Combustion instabilities arise from the coupling of acoustics and combustion. In the particular field of annular combustion chambers, these instabilities often take the form of azimuthal modes. To predict these modes, one must consider the full combustion chamber, which, in the numerical simulation domain, remained out of reach until very recently and the development of massively parallel computers. In this work, azimuthal modes that may develop in annular combustors are studied with different numerical approaches: a low order model, a 3D Helmholtz solver and Large Eddy Simulations. Combining these methods allows a better understanding of the structure of the instabilities and may provide guidelines to build intrinsically stable combustion chambers.

Pratiquement toutes les chambres de combustion présentent des instabilités. Par conséquent, il est nécessaire de mieux les comprendre afin de les contrôler. Une possibilité est de simuler l’écoulement réactif à l’intérieur d’une chambre de combustion grâce à la Simulation aux Grandes Echelles (SGE). Cependant la SGE est très coûteuse en terme de capacité de calcul. Une autre possibilité est de réduire la complexité du problème à une simple équation d’onde thermoacoustique (équation dite de Helmholtz), qui peut être résolue en fréquence comme un problème aux valeurs propres. Le couplage entre l’acoustique et la flamme est alors prise en compte au travers des modèles appropriés. Le principal problème de cette méthode est qu’elle repose sur l’hypothèse d’un nombre de Mach nul. Tous les phénomènes liés à l’écoulement moyen sont donc négligés. La présente thèse propose une nouvelle stratégie pour prendre en compte certains effets de l’écoulement dans un contexte à Mach nul. Dans une première partie, la manière la plus judicieuse d’imposer un élément présentant un écoulement très rapide est étudiée. La seconde partie se focalise sur le couplage entre l’acoustique et les hétérogénéités de température qui sont générées par la flamme et naturellement convectées par l’écoulement moyen. Ce phénomène est important car il est responsable du bruit indirect de combustion qui peut conduire à une instabilité thermoacoustique. Un nouveau type de condition limite (DECBC) est proposé afin de prendre en compte ce mécanisme dans un contexte de résolution de l’équation de Helmholtz à Mach nul. Dans la dernière partie, une chambre de combustion aéronautique présentant une instabilité mixte acoustique/entropique est étudiée. Le bénéfice des méthodes développées dans la présente thèse est testé et comparé à des calculs avec la SGE. Il est montré que les calculs avec un solveur de Helmholtz peuvent reproduire une instabilité de combustion complexe, et que cet outil s’avère avoir le potentiel pour prédire les instabilités afin de concevoir de nouvelles chambres de combustion. / Virtually all combustion chambers are subject to instabilities. Consequently there is a need to better understand them so as to control them. A possibility is to simulate the reactive flow within a combustor with the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) method. However LES results come at a tremendous computational cost. Another route is to reduce the complexity of the problem to a simple thermoacoustic Helmholtz wave equation, which can be solved in the frequency domain as an eigenvalue problem. The coupling between the flame and the acoustics is then taken into account via proper models. The main drawback of this latter methodology is that it relies on the zero-Mach number assumption. Hence all phenomena inherent to mean flow effects are neglected. The present thesis aims to provide a novel strategy to introduce back some mean flow effects within the zero-Mach number framework. In a first part, the proper way to impose high-speed elements such as a turbine is investigated. The second part focuses on the coupling between acoustics and temperature heterogeneities that are naturally generated at the flame and convected downstream by the flow. Such phenomenon is important because it is responsible for indirect combustion noise that may drive a thermoacoustic instability. A Delayed Entropy Coupled Boundary Condition (DECBC) is then derived in order to account for this latter mechanism in the framework of a Helmholtz solver where the baseline flow is assumed at rest. In the last part, a realistic aero-engine combustor that features a mixed acoustic/entropy instability is studied. The methodology developed in the present thesis is tested and compared to LES computations. It is shown that computations with the Helmholtz solver can reproduce a complex combustion instability, and that this latter methodology is a potential tool to design new combustors so as to predict and avoid combustion instabilities.

This work is focused on the developement of a sensor, which enables to measure the ultrasonic power by heat effect of the mechanical Wales. The princip of two basic kinds of thermoacoustic sensor is descibed here – one level and two level sensor. This work also contains a proposition of these sensors with description of each parts and a trial to find suitable absorber. Achieved results, which support the function of the sensors are presented here by form of graphs and tables. Measuring by thermoacoustic sensors is confronted here with measuring of ultrasonic by hydrophone, which is used as reference measuring.

The topic of this diploma thesis is an elaboration of technical documentation for project of newly-built mixed-use building in Hlučín. Object is located on a quiet suburban area. The building has four floors and is designed from materials typical for our area. On the ground floor is shop and restaurant, on the floors are housing units. The house is covered with a hipped roof.

Les besoins énergétiques de la population mondiale ne cessent d’augmenter. Les prévisions indiquent par exemple une forte croissance de la demande du secteur du transport aéronautique. La recherche de systèmes toujours plus performants et moins polluants est nécessaire. Des nouveaux concepts pour la combustion ont été mis au point et appliqués aux turbines à gaz. Parmi eux il existe ceux basés sur la combustion en prémélange pauvre ou en prémélange pauvre pré-vaporisé dans le cas où le carburant utilisé est liquide. Les nouveaux systèmes énergétiques basés sur la combustion en régime pauvre sont prometteurs pour satisfaire les futures normes d’émissions polluantes, mais ils sont plus sensibles aux instabilités de combustion qui limitent leur plage de fonctionnement et peuvent détériorer irréversiblement ces systèmes. Dans ce domaine il reste des questions à aborder. En particulier celle du comportement des flammes tourbillonnaires en combustion diphasique soumises à des perturbations acoustiques. La plupart des moteurs aéronautiques utilisent des flammes de ce type, cependant leur dynamique et leurs interactions mutuelles, quand elles subissent les effets d’une perturbation acoustique, sont loin d’être bien comprises. Ce travail aborde ces questions et apporte des éléments de compréhension sur les mécanismes pilotant la réponse de l’écoulement diphasique et de la flamme, ainsi que des éléments de validation des modèles de prédiction des points de fonctionnement instables. TACC-Spray est le banc expérimental utilisé pour ce travail. Il a été conçu et développé au sein du laboratoire CORIA lors de ce doctorat qui s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet ANR FASMIC. Le système d’injection qui équipe ce banc expérimental reçoit trois injecteurs tourbillonnaires alimentés en combustible liquide (ici n-heptane), développés par le laboratoire EM2C. Ils sont montés en lignes dans le banc, celui-ci représentant ainsi un secteur d’une chambre annulaire. Le montage étant complexe et nouveau, un travail de développement de solutions techniques a été fait pour rendre possible l’équipement du TACC-Spray avec des capteurs de pression, température, photomultiplicateur ainsi que des diagnostiques optiques performants (e.g. LDA, PDA, imagerie à haute cadence). Pour cette étude, le système énergétique, composé par l’écoulement diphasique et la flamme, a été soumis à l’impact d’un mode acoustique transverse excité dans la cavité acoustique. La réponse du système a été étudiée en fonction de son positionnement dans le champ acoustique. Trois bassins d’influence du champ acoustique sur le système énergétique ont été choisis, à savoir: (i) le ventre de pression acoustique caractérisé principalement par des fortes fluctuations de pression, (ii) le ventre d’intensité acoustique présentant de forts gradients de pression et vitesse acoustique, (iii) le ventre de vitesse acoustique avec de fortes fluctuations de vitesse où la fluctuation de pression est résiduelle. L’approche de cette étude a consisté à étudier en premier lieu le système de référence en absence de forçage acoustique, les résultats sont recueillis dans la Partie I de ce manuscrit. En deuxième lieu le système énergétique est placé à chacune des positions d’intérêt dans le champ acoustique et la réponse de l’écoulement d’air sans combustion, la réponse de l’écoulement diphasique avec combustion et finalement celle des flammes, sont étudiées systématiquement. Les résultats de l’étude avec forçage acoustique sont rassemblés dans la Partie II du manuscrit. / The energy needs of population around the word are continuously increasing. For instance, forecasts indicates an important grow of the request of the aeronautic transportation sector. It is necessary to continue the research efforts to get more performants and less contaminating systems. New concepts for combustion have been developed and introduced to the gas turbine industry. Among these concepts it is found technologies based on lean-premixed combustion or lean-premixed prevaporized combustion when liquid fuels are employed. These novel energetic systems, making use of lean combustion, are promising to meet the future norms about pollutant emissions, but this make them more sensitive to combustion instabilities that limit their operating range and can lead to irreversible damage. In this domain, many questions still need to be considered. In particular that of the behavior of two-phase flow swirling flames subjected to acoustic perturbations. Indeed most of aero-engines operate with this type of flames, but the dynamics and mutual interaction of these flames, as they are submitted to acoustic perturbation, are not yet well understood. This work addresses these issues and gives some understanding elements for the mechanisms driving the response of the flow and of the flame to acoustic perturbations and delivers data to validate models predicting unstable operating points.The experimental bench employed for this work is TACC-Spray. It has been designed and developed in the CORIA laboratory during this PhD thesis which is inscribed in the framework of the ANR FASMIC project. The injections system that equips this bench is composed by three swirled injectors fed with a liquid fuel (here n-heptane), developed by the EM2C laboratory. They are linearly arranged in the bench such that this represents an unwrapped sector of an annular chamber. The setup, being new and complex, needed technical solutions developed during this work and applied then in order to equip TACC-Spray with pressure and temperature sensors, a photomultiplier as well as adequate optic diagnostics (LDA, PDA, high speed imaging systems). In this study, the energetic system, composed by the two-phase swirling flow and the spray flame, has been submitted to the impact of a transverse acoustic mode excited within the acoustic cavity. The system response has been studied as a function of its location in the acoustic field. Three basins of influence of the acoustic field on the energetic system have been chosen, namely: (i) the pressure antinode characterized mainly by strong pressure fluctuations, (ii) the intensity antinode where important acoustic pressure and velocity gradients are present, (iii) the velocity antinode with strong velocity fluctuations where the acoustic pressure is residual. The approach of the study presented here is to investigate in first place the energetic system free of acoustic forcing. The results concerning this first study are presented in the Part I of this manuscript. In second place, the energetic system is placed in each of the location of interest within the acoustic field and the response of the air flow without combustion, that of the two-phase flow with combustion and finally that of the spray flames, are systematically investigated. The results of the study under acoustic forcing are shown in Part II of the manuscript.

<p dir="ltr">The increasing availability of spatio-temporal information in the form of detailed time-resolved images sampled at very high framing rates has resulted in a search for mathematical techniques capable of extracting and relaying the pertinent underlying physics governing complex flows. Analysis relying on the usage of a solitary spectral, correlation, or modal decomposition techniques to identify dynamically significant information from large datasets may give an incomplete description of these phenomena. Moreover, fully resolved spatio-temporal measurements of these complex flow fields are needed for a complete and accurate description across a wide spectrum of length and time scales. The primary goals of this dissertation are address these challenges in two key aspects: (1) to improve and demonstrate the novel application of complementary data analysis and modal decomposition techniques to quantify the dynamics of flow systems that exhibit intricate patterns and behaviors in both space and time, and (2) to make advancements in achieving and characterizing high-resolution and high-speed quantitative measurements of turbulent mixing fields.</p><p dir="ltr">In the first goal, two canonical flow fields are considered, including an acoustically excited co-axial jet and a bluff-body stabilized flame. The local susceptibility of a nonreacting, cryogenic, coaxial-jet, rocket injector to transverse acoustics is characterized by applying dynamical systems theory in conjunction with complementary wavelet-based spectral decomposition to high-speed backlit images of flow field. The local coupling of the jet with external acoustics is studied as a function of the relative momentum flux ratio between the outer and inner jets, giving a quantitative description of the dynamical response of each jet to external acoustics as a function of the downstream distance from the nozzle.</p><p dir="ltr">Bluff bodies are a common feature in the design of propulsion systems owing to their ability to act as flame holders. The reacting wake behind the bluff body consists of a recirculation bubble laden with hot-products and wrapped between separated shear layers. The wake region of a bluff body is systematically investigated utilizing a technique known as robust dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) to discern the onset of the thermoacoustic instability mode, which is highly detrimental to aerospace propulsion systems. The approach enables quantification of the spatial distribution and behavior of coherent structures observed from different flows as a function of the equivalence ratio.</p><p dir="ltr">As modal decomposition techniques employ a certain degree of averaging in time, a novel space-and-time local filtering technique utilizing the well-defined characteristics of wavelets is introduced with a goal of temporally resolving the spatial evolution of irregular flow instabilities associated with specific frequencies. This provides insight into the existence of transient sub-modal characteristics representing intermittencies within seemingly stable modes. The flow fields obtained from the same two canonical flows are interrogated to demonstrate the utility of the technique. It has been shown that temporally resolved flow features obtained from wavelet filtering satisfactorily track the same modal featured derived from DMD, but reveal sub-modal spatial distortions or local non-stationarity of specific modal frequencies on a frame-by-frame basis.</p><p dir="ltr">Finally, to improve the ability to study the dynamical behavior of complex flows across the full range of spatio-temporal scales present, advancements are reported in the spatial and temporal quantitative measurement of the scalar quantities in turbulent mixing fields utilizing 100 kHz planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) and Rayleigh scattering imaging of acetone. The imaging system provided a resolution of 55 µm with a field-of-view mapping of 18.5 µm/pixel on the camera sensor, which is three times better spatial resolution than the previous reported work to-date for similar flow fields that were investigated at 1/10^th the current measurement rate. The power spectra of instantaneous mixture fraction fluctuations adhere to Kolmogorov's well-established -5/3 law, showing that the technique captures a significant range of dissipation scales. This observation underscores the ability to study mixing dynamics throughout the turbulent by fully resolving scalar fluctuations up to 30 kHz. This enhanced spatio-temporal resolution allows for a more detailed investigation of the dynamical behavior of turbulent flows with complex modal interactions down to the smallest diffusion limited mixing scales.</p>

Les moteurs thermoacoustiques sont des oscillateurs autonomes constitués d'un résonateur acoustique partiellement occupé par un matériau poreux (stack) soumis à un important gradient de température grâce à un apport de chaleur externe. Lorsque le gradient de température imposé le long du stack devient supérieur à un certain gradient critique, appelé seuil de déclenchement, l'interaction fluide-parois se traduit par l'amplification d'une onde acoustique auto-entretenue de fort niveau sur le mode le plus instable du résonateur. L'objet des travaux présentés dans ce mémoire est double. D'une part, il est de proposer un formalisme pour la description du fonctionnement de moteurs thermoacoustiques facilement généralisable à l'ensemble de ces systèmes, qu'ils soient à ondes stationnaires ou à ondes progressives. D'autre part, il est de proposer une approche expérimentale pour la caractérisation du noyau thermoacoustique (incluant le stack et la portion de guide inhomogène en température), qui permette de décrire le comportement de systèmes thermoacoustiques sans formuler d'hypothèses sur la forme du champ de température ou la géométrie du stack.Une modélisation analytique des conditions marginales de stabilité et du taux d'amplification de l'onde est tout d'abord proposée, basée sur l'écriture des matrices de transfert des différents éléments qui constituent le moteur. Ces matrices de transfert associées aux conditions aux limites du système étudié conduisent à une équation caractéristique dont la forme dépend de la géométrie de moteur considérée. La solution de cette équation est une pulsation acoustique complexe dont la partie imaginaire correspond au coefficient d'amplification thermoacoustique.La mesure de la matrice de transfert du noyau thermoacoustique constitue la partie expérimentale des travaux exposés. Elle est réalisée pour différentes conditions de chauffage au moyen d'une méthode à quatre microphones. Dans un premier temps, les résultats expérimentaux sont introduits dans le modèle développé précedemment pour prédire le seuil de déclenchement de divers moteurs thermoacoustiques équipés de ce noyau. Les résultats obtenus grâce à cette méthode sont très proches des observations expérimentales, validant ainsi le banc de mesure et le modèle décrivant les conditions de stabilité. Dans un second temps, les données expérimentales sont utilisées pour affiner un modèle analytique décrivant les mécanismes couplés de propagation acoustique et de transport de la chaleur dans le noyau thermoacoustique : ceci permet notamment d'ajuster les valeurs de paramètres acoustiques et thermiques au moyen d'une méthode inverse.Au-delà du seuil de déclenchement, l'amplification et la saturation de l'onde résultent pour une bonne part du transport de chaleur thermoacoustique et de la convection forcée liée à la génération d'un écoulement redressé (vent acoustique), ces deux mécanismes étant généralement responsables d'une dynamique d'évolution complexe de l'amplitude de pression acoustique au cours du régime transitoire. La dernière partie de ces travaux est consacrée à l'introduction de ces deux effets dans le modèle décrit ci-avant, donnant ainsi accès à la description du régime transitoire de l'onde. Une modélisation simplifiée des transports de chaleur associés au vent acoustique de Rayleigh est notamment proposée, qui permet de montrer que cet effet joue vraisemblablement un rôle important dans la dynamique des régimes transitoires observés expérimentalement dans un générateur thermoacoustique quart d'onde. / Thermoacoustic engines are autonomous oscillators generally made of an acoustic resonator, partially filled with a porous material (stack) submitted to a strong, externally supplied, temperature gradient. When the imposed temperature gradient along the stack becomes larger than a critical value, called the onset threshold, the interaction between the fluid and the solid plates leads to a high-level self-sustained acoustic wave at the frequency of the most unstable mode of the resonator. The purpose of the work presented in this report can be separated into two parts. On the one hand, a theoretical modelling is proposed for the description of thermoacoustic engines, which is derived for standing-wave thermoacoustic systems as well as for travelling-wave systems. On the other hand, an experimental approach is proposed for the characterisation of the thermoacoustic core (corresponding to the stack and the thermal buffer tube), allowing to describe the behaviour of thermoacoustic systems without making any assumptions concerning the shape of the temperature profile or the stack geometry. An analytical network modelling of thermoacoustic engines is proposed for the calculation of the threshold conditions and the amplification rate of the acoustic wave. The transfer matrices, combined with appropriate boundary conditions, lead to the derivation of the characteristic equation of the system. The solution of this equation is a complex angular frequency whose imaginary part represents the thermoacoustic amplification coefficient.The experimental part of this work consists in measuring the transfer matrix of the thermoacoustic core. This is realized for several heat supply conditions, by means of a four-microphones method. First, these experimental results are used for the prediction of onset conditions of standard thermoacoustic engines equipped with the thermoacoustic core. The results obtained with this method are very close to the experimental observations, which allow to judge of the consistency of the experimental apparatus and of the model describing the stability conditions. Second, the experimental datas are used in order to fit an analytical model describing the coupled mechanisms of acoustic propagation and heat transfers in the thermoacoustic core : this allows to estimate the values of acoustic and thermal parameters using an inverse method.Beyond the onset threshold, the amplification and saturation of the wave essentially result from the thermoacoustic heat flux and the convection coming from the generation of a mass flow (acoustic streaming). Both these mechanisms are generally responsible of complicated dynamics for the transient acoustic pressure amplitude. The last part of this work is dedicated to the introduction of both these effects in the previously described model, which leads to the calculation of the transient regime. A simplified modelling of Rayleigh streaming enhanced heat transfers is proposed, which allows to show that this effect may play an important role in the transient dynamics observed in an experimental quarter-wavelength thermoacoustic engine.

Η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή εστιάστηκε στη μελέτη συστημάτων ακουστικής εκπομπής για απευθείας αναπαραγωγή ψηφιακού ήχου. Η ερευνητική διαδικασία βασίστηκε στον προσδιορισμό και βελτίωση των δυνατοτήτων δύο διαφορετικών υλοποιήσεων ακουστικής μετατροπής: i. Ένα υβριδικό πρωτότυπο θερμοακουστικό στοιχείο και ii. Μια συστοιχία 32 ηλεκτροδυναμικών μεγαφώνων σχεδιασμένη, ώστε να αναπαράγει ψηφιακά ηχητικά σήματα. Η θερμοακουστική μετατροπή προσφέρει μια εναλλακτική τεχνική για υλοποιήσεις ακουστικών στοιχείων. Είναι βασισμένη στο μετασχηματισμό των διακυμάνσεων της θερμικής ενέργειας σε ακουστικό κύμα που προκαλούνται από τη ροή του ηλεκτρικού σήματος ήχου σε μια συσκευή στερεάς κατάστασης που λειτουργεί χωρίς τη χρήση οποιουδήποτε κινούμενου τμήματος ή μηχανισμού. Η υλοποίηση αυτής της τεχνικής ηχητικής αναπαραγωγής, μελετάται με τη χρήση ενός πρωτότυπου μετατροπέα ο οποίος αναπτύχθηκε πάνω σε πλακέτα κρυσταλλικού πυριτίου (silicon wafer). H απόδοση της συσκευής αυτής βελτιώνεται ιδίως όσον αφορά στις μη γραμμικές παραμορφώσεις που προσθέτει ο φυσικός μηχανισμός κατά την αναπαραγωγή των ακουστών συχνοτήτων. Για τις ανάγκες της ερευνητικής μελέτης κατασκευάσθηκε εξειδικευμένο στάδιο οδήγησης, ενώ επίσης αναπτύχθηκαν εργαλεία που προσομοιώνουν την απόδοση αυτών των συσκευών. Οι ψηφιακές συστοιχίες μεγαφώνων (DLAs) σήμερα βασίζονται σε μικρούς μετατροπείς κινούμενου πηνίου για την ανακατασκευή ακουστικών σημάτων από ροές ψηφιακού ήχου. Τα σημαντικά ζητήματα απόδοσης για τα συστήματα αυτά αναλύονται από την παρούσα διατριβή, με στόχο να ερμηνευθεί η απόκριση συχνότητας και οι ρυθμοί των διακριτών (on/off) μεταβάσεων των μεγαφώνων, εξαιτίας των ψηφιακών σημάτων. Λεπτομερείς προσομοιώσεις που επιτρέπουν την πραγματοποίηση συγκρίσεων για μια πανομοιότυπη συστοιχία 32 μετατροπέων η οποία τροφοδοτείται από αναλογικά σήματα, σε παρόμοια τοποθέτηση και ενεργοποίηση των στοιχείων. Οι μελέτες αυτές παράγουν πρωτότυπα αποτελέσματα για τις απαιτήσεις σε ηλεκτρική ενέργεια και την ευαισθησία της συστοιχίας, καταλήγοντας στο συμπέρασμα ότι αυτά τα δύο συστήματα επιτυγχάνουν συγκρίσιμες επιδόσεις. / The present Phd Thesis is focused on the study of acoustic transduction systems for direct digital audio signal emission. The research process was based on the evaluation and optimization of the behavior of two different implementations: i. A novel hybrid thermoacoustic device and ii. A loudspeaker array consisting of 32 moving coil speakers designed for digital audio reproduction. Thermoacoustic transduction offers an alternative technique for transducer implementations, based on the transformation of thermal energy fluctuations into sound after the direct application of the electrical audio signal on a solid state device which operates without the use of any moving/mechanical components. Here, an implementation of this sound generation technique is studied based on a prototype developed on silicon wafer and its performance is optimised, especially with respect to non-linear distortions within the audio band. For the purposes of the research study a specialised driving circuit was constructed and also the appropriate tools were developed to simulate the performance of these devices. Digital loudspeaker arrays currently are based on small moving-coil speakers to reconstruct acoustic signals out of binary audio streams. An overview of significant performance issues for such systems is given here to explain frequency response and speaker discrete transition rates due to the digital data. Detailed simulations provided comparisons for a 32-speaker DLA with similar arrangements of speakers driven by analogue signals. These tests produce novel results for electrical power requirements and array sensitivity, concluding that these two systems achieve comparable performance.