Yield surface approximation for lower and upper bound yield design of 3d composite frame structures

International audienceThe present contribution advocates an up-scaling procedure for computing the limit loads of spatial structures made of composite beams. The resolution of an auxiliary yield design problem leads to the determination of a yield surface in the space of axial force and bending moments. A general method for approximating the numerically computed yield surface by a sum of several ellipsoids is developed. The so-obtained analytical expression of the criterion is then incorporated in the yield design calculations of the whole structure, using second-order cone programming techniques. An illustrative application to a complex spatial frame structure is presented

Three-dimensional shape characterization for particle aggregates using multiple projective representations

Shape descriptors are used extensively in computer vision/automated recognition applications such as fingerprint matching, robotics, character recognition, etc. The conventional two-dimensional shape descriptors used in these applications do not readily lend themselves to compact representations in three dimensions. The situation is even more challenging when one attempts to numerically describe the three-dimensional shapes of a mixture of objects such as in an aggregate mix. The goal of this study is the design, development and validation of automated image processing algorithms that can estimate three-dimensional shape-descriptors for particle aggregates. The thesis demonstrates that a single set of numbers representing a composite three-dimensional shape can be used to characterize all the varying three-dimensional shapes of similar particles in an aggregate mix. The composite shape is obtained by subdividing the problem into a judicious combination of simple techniques - two-dimensional shape description using Fourier and/or invariant moment descriptors, feature extraction using principal component analysis, statistical modeling.and projective reconstruction. The algorithms developed in this thesis are applied for describing the three-dimensional shapes of particle aggregates in sand mixes. Geomaterial response such as shear strength is significantly affected by particle shape - and a numerical description of shape allows for calculation of functional characteristics using other previously established models. Results demonstrating the consistency, separability and uniqueness of the three-dimensional shape descriptor algorithms are presented

Basic Understanding of Condensed Phases of Matter via Packing Models

Packing problems have been a source of fascination for millenia and their study has produced a rich literature that spans numerous disciplines. Investigations of hard-particle packing models have provided basic insights into the structure and bulk properties of condensed phases of matter, including low-temperature states (e.g., molecular and colloidal liquids, crystals and glasses), multiphase heterogeneous media, granular media, and biological systems. The densest packings are of great interest in pure mathematics, including discrete geometry and number theory. This perspective reviews pertinent theoretical and computational literature concerning the equilibrium, metastable and nonequilibrium packings of hard-particle packings in various Euclidean space dimensions. In the case of jammed packings, emphasis will be placed on the "geometric-structure" approach, which provides a powerful and unified means to quantitatively characterize individual packings via jamming categories and "order" maps. It incorporates extremal jammed states, including the densest packings, maximally random jammed states, and lowest-density jammed structures. Packings of identical spheres, spheres with a size distribution, and nonspherical particles are also surveyed. We close this review by identifying challenges and open questions for future research.Comment: 33 pages, 20 figures, Invited "Perspective" submitted to the Journal of Chemical Physics. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1008.298

Visualization and analysis of diffusion tensor fields

technical reportThe power of medical imaging modalities to measure and characterize biological tissue is amplified by visualization and analysis methods that help researchers to see and understand the structures within their data. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging can measure microstructural properties of biological tissue, such as the coherent linear organization of white matter of the central nervous system, or the fibrous texture of muscle tissue. This dissertation describes new methods for visualizing and analyzing the salient structure of diffusion tensor datasets. Glyphs from superquadric surfaces and textures from reactiondiffusion systems facilitate inspection of data properties and trends. Fiber tractography based on vector-tensor multiplication allows major white matter pathways to be visualized. The generalization of direct volume rendering to tensor data allows large-scale structures to be shaded and rendered. Finally, a mathematical framework for analyzing the derivatives of tensor values, in terms of shape and orientation change, enables analytical shading in volume renderings, and a method of feature detection important for feature-preserving filtering of tensor fields. Together, the combination of methods enhances the ability of diffusion tensor imaging to provide insight into the local and global structure of biological tissue

An algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) for the synthesis of three-dimensional models of particle aggregates from projective representations

There exists considerable evidence that the shear behavior and flow behavior of granular materials is significantly dependent on particle morphology. However, quantification of this dependence is a challenging task owing to a dearth of quantitative models for describing particle shape and the difficulty of modeling angular particle assemblies. The situation becomes more complex when discrete element analyses of realistic 3-D particle shapes are required. The thesis attempts to address this problem by adapting the algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) to synthesize composite 3-D granular particles from statistically obtained 3-D shape descriptors of the particles in an aggregate mixture. This thesis extends previous work where it was demonstrated that the 3-D shape characteristics of particles in an aggregate mixture can be numerically expressed by statistical models obtained from 2-D projective representations of multiple particles in the mixture. In this thesis, attempts were made to validate the premise that multiple projective representations of multiple particles could be used to synthesize a composite 3-D particle that represents the entire mixture in terms of its 3-D shape descriptors. Also, single particles isolated from the aggregate mix were scanned using optical and X-ray tomography techniques to generate 2-D multiple projections and synthesize the 3-D particle shape. This research work proves useful for generating realistic shapes for discrete element applications or in obtaining more fundamental understanding of the micromechanics of granular solids

Spherical Harmonics Models and their Application to non-Spherical Shape Particles

The dissertation investigates spherical harmonics method for describing a particle shape. The main object of research is the non-spherical shape particles. The purpose of this dissertation is to create spherical harmonics model for a non-pherical particle. The dissertation also focuses on determining the suitability of the lowresolution spherical harmonics for describing various non-spherical particles. The work approaches a few tasks such as testing the suitability of a spherical harmonics model for simple symmetric particles and applying it to complex shape particles. The first task is formulated aiming to test the modelling concept and strategy using simple shapes. The second task is related to the practical applications, when complex shape particles are considered. The dissertation consists of introduction, 4 chapters, general conclusions, references, a list of publications by the author on the topic of the dissertation, a summary in Lithuanian and 5 annexes. The introduction reveals the investigated problem, importance of the thesis and the object of research, describes the purpose and tasks of the thesis, research methodology, scientific novelty, the practical significance of results and defended statements. The introduction ends in presenting the author’s publications on the topic of the dissertation, offering the material of made presentations in conferences and defining the structure of the dissertation. Chapter 1 revises the literature: the particulate systems and their processes, shapes of the particles and methods for describing the shape, shape indicators. At the end of the chapter, conclusions are drawn and the tasks for the dissertation are reconsidered. Chapter 2 presents the modelling approach and strategies for the points of the particle surface, spherical harmonics, the calculation of the expansion coefficients, integral parameters and curvature and also the conclusions. Chapters 3 and 4 analize the modelling results of the simple and complex particles. At the end of the both chapters conclusions are drawn. 5 articles focusing on the topic of the dissertation have been published: two articles – in the Thomson ISI register, one article – in conference material and scientific papers in Thomson ISI Proceedings data base, one article – in the journal quoted by other international data base, one article – in material reviewed during international conference. 8 presentations on the subject of the dissertation have been given in conferences at national and international levels

Extraction of Knowledge Rules for the Retrieval of Mesoscale Oceanic Structures in Ocean Satellite Images

The processing of ocean satellite images has as goal the detection of phenomena related with ocean dynamics. In this context, Mesoscale Oceanic Structures (MOS) play an essential role. In this chapter we will present the tool developed in our group in order to extract knowledge rules for the retrieval of MOS in ocean satellite images. We will describe the implementation of the tool: the workflow associated with the tool, the user interface, the class structure, and the database of the tool. Additionally, the experimental results obtained with the tool in terms of fuzzy knowledge rules as well as labeled structures with these rules are shown. These results have been obtained with the tool analyzing chlorophyll and temperature images of the Canary Islands and North West African coast captured by the SeaWiFS and MODIS-Aqua sensors

Contributions à la stabilisation des systèmes à commutation affine

Cette thèse porte sur la stabilisation des systèmes à commutation dont la commande, le signal de commutation, est échantillonné de manière périodique. Les difficultés liées à cette classe de systèmes non linéaires sont d'abord dues au fait que l'action de contrôle est effectuée aux instants de calcul en sélectionnant le mode de commutation à activer et, ensuite, au problème de fournir une caractérisation précise de l'ensemble vers lequel convergent les solutions du système, c'est-à-dire l'attracteur. Dans cette thèse, les contributions ont pour fil conducteur la réduction du conservatisme fait pendant la définition d'attracteurs, ce qui a mené à garantir la stabilisation du système à un cycle limite. Après une introduction générale où sont présentés le contexte et les principaux résultats de la littérature, le premier chapitre contributif introduit une nouvelle méthode basée sur une nouvelle classe de fonctions de Lyapunov contrôlées qui fournit une caractérisation plus précise des ensembles invariants pour les systèmes en boucle fermée. La contribution présentée comme un problème d'optimisation non convexe et faisant référence à une condition de Lyapunov-Metzler apparaît comme un résultat préliminaire et une étape clé pour les chapitres à suivre. La deuxième partie traite de la stabilisation des systèmes affines commutés vers des cycles limites. Après avoir présenté quelques préliminaires sur les cycles limites hybrides et les notions dérivées telles que les cycles au Chapitre 3, les lois de commutation stabilisantes sont introduites dans le Chapitre 4. Une approche par fonctions de Lyapunov contrôlées et une stratégie de min-switching sont utilisées pour garantir que les solutions du système nominal en boucle fermée convergent vers un cycle limite. Les conditions du théorème sont exprimées en termes d'Inégalités Matricielles Linéaires (dont l'abréviation anglaise est LMI) simples, dont les conditions nécessaires sous-jacentes relâchent les conditions habituelles dans cette littérature. Cette méthode est étendue au cas des systèmes incertains dans le Chapitre 5, pour lesquels la notion de cycles limites doit être adaptée. Enfin, le cas des systèmes dynamiques hybrides est exploré au Chapitre 6 et les attracteurs ne sont plus caractérisés par des régions éventuellement disjointes mais par des trajectoires fermées et isolées en temps continu. Tout au long de la thèse, les résultats théoriques sont évalués sur des exemples académiques et démontrent le potentiel de la méthode par rapport à la littérature récente sur le sujet.This thesis deals with the stabilization of switched affine systems with a periodic sampled-data switching control. The particularities of this class of nonlinear systems are first related to the fact that the control action is performed at the computation times by selecting the switching mode to be activated and, second, to the problem of providing an accurate characterization of the set where the solutions to the system converge to, i.e. the attractors. The contributions reported in this thesis have as common thread to reduce the conservatism made in the characterization of attractors, leading to guarantee the stabilization of the system at a limit cycle. After a brief introduction presenting the context and some main results, the first contributive chapter introduced a new method based on a new class of control Lyapunov functions that provides a more accurate characterization of the invariant set for a closed-loop system. The contribution presented as a nonconvex optimization problem and referring to a Lyapunov-Metzler condition appears to be a preliminary result and the milestone of the forthcoming chapters. The second part deals with the stabilization of switched affine systems to limit cycles. After presenting some preliminaries on hybrid limit cycles and derived notions such as cycles in Chapter 3, stabilizing switching control laws are developed in Chapter 4. A control Lyapunov approach and a min-switching strategy are used to guarantee that the solutions to a nominal closed-loop system converge to a limit cycle. The conditions of the theorem are expressed in terms of simple linear matrix inequalities (LMI), whose underlying necessary conditions relax the usual one in this literature. This method is then extended to the case of uncertain systems in Chapter 5, for which the notion of limit cycle needs to be adapted. Finally, the hybrid dynamical system framework is explored in Chapter 6 and the attractors are no longer characterized by possibly disjoint regions but as continuous-time closed and isolated trajectory. All along the dissertation, the theoretical results are evaluated on academic examples and demonstrate the potential of the method over the recent literature on this subject