Fighting Avant-Garde with Phenomenology : Gustav Shpet's ‘New Realism'

This chapter discusses Gustav Shpet’s phenomenology and aesthetic theory as part of early Soviet culture. The author suggests that the ‘official’ acceptance of Shpet’s philosophy, particularly through GAKhN, is emblematic of the internal complexity of the cultural regime in the 1920s. Shpet’s pre-revolutionary phenomenology was praised for its modernising potential, while his later anti-avant-garde art theory was criticised as old-fashioned and unscientific. Yet both were welcomed by Marxist thinkers and the Bolshevik regime. Shpet’s involvement in Soviet culture from 1917 to 1929 can thus be seen as a reflection of its gradually changing needs. His aesthetics of ‘new realism’ and the ‘inner form of the word’ were deemed useful until the end of the 1920s, when he was finally charged with ‘idealism’ and ‘anti-communism’. Nonetheless, Shpet’s neo-classical cultural conception can be considered part of a broad conservative turn that eventually led to the introduction of socialist realism.Peer reviewe

Gustav Shpet's Transcendental Turn

Shpet's interpretation of Husserl's phenomenology has caused puzzlement because of the lack of clarity with which he treats the transcendental turn in Appearance and Sense (1914). I suggest that we find a more comprehensive discussion on the topic in Shpet's 1917 article, "Wisdom or Reason?" There, Shpet reacts to Husserl's treatment of a cluster of problems related to the latter's transition to transcendental idealism. I read "Wisdom or Reason?" not only in relation to Husserl's Logos article of 1911, but also to his 1907 lecture series "The Idea of Phenomenology." My analysis of Shpet's phenomenology reveals that he followed through with the transcendental turn, although his philosophy developed in a direction different from Husserl's transcendental idealism. Shpet postulates a collective consciousness, in which meaning-constitution takes place, and discovers the "word" as the foundation for any cognition. Shpet's phenomenology remains ontological, as he considers language or culture as the "form of being" in which human beings live. In "Wisdom or Reason?," Shpet argues that we can have direct knowledge of this meaningful reality: being is not "represented" but "presented" in a word. A certain compatibility thus exists between Shpet's phenomenology of cultural reality and Husserl's search for the absolute validity of knowledge.Peer reviewe

Hydrodynamic Coefficients and Wave Loads for a WEC Device in Heaving Mode

International audienceThis paper deals with the hydrodynamic parameter computation of a Wave Energy Converter (WEC) that consists of a cylindrical buoy sliding along a partially submerged platform made up of a plate and a column. The computed parameters are particularly needed for the development of a simple hydrodynamic time-dependant model based on the Cummins formulation. This model is intended to be used for WEC control purposes. A semi-analytical approach is therefore proposed for the computation of the hydrodynamic coefficients and the excitation forces. The boundary value problem is solved using variable separation and matched eigenfunction expansion methods. Analytical expressions for the velocity potential are then obtained for each subdomain. Using afterwards these expressions enables the hydrodynamic coefficients and the excitation force to be computed. Numerical results are given for different radiuses of the buoy, column and plate and are compared with previously published models

On the Generator Constraint Design of a Wave Energy Converter at a Pre-Sizing Stage

International audienceThis paper deals with the constraint pre-design of the energy conversion chain for a wave energy converter application. At the first step, and because the control input is the torque (or the linear force) delivered by the generator, we start by limiting mechanically the nominal velocity. For that purpose, we introduce a new quantity based on short-term wave analysis, namely the maximum expected relative velocity. It may be evaluated when both the wave energy converter is controlled or not. Using long-term wave analysis, based on a known local wave climate, we can constraint the maximum relative velocity that the system have to handle. It appears that because of the constraint applied on the torque, it has to be chosen when no loading is applied. Once it have been chosen, we can then determine the generator nominal power rating based on a time-domain analysis. In this context we use two simple criteria (i) one based on the maximisation of the produced electrical energy, (ii) the second on the maximisation of the annual profit. From numerical investigation, it appears that it exists a point which make a compromise between these two antinomic criteria

Bagzan

Le massif de l’Aïr* (Niger septentrional) constitue un vaste îlot rocheux complexe composé de granit et de shistes cristallins dont la longueur est d’environ 450 km sur une largeur minimum de 100 km au niveau du 17e parallèle, atteignant jusqu’à 200 km entre les 18e et 19e parallèles pour finalement se rétrécir dans l’extrême-sud. Les formes actuelles sont conséquentes aux bouleversements du tertiaire, époque de grande activité volcanique. L’ensemble apparaît comme un chapelet de massifs, gén..

Modelling and Preliminary Studies for a Self-Reacting Point Absorber WEC

International audienceThis paper deals with the special case modelling, in both frequency and time domain, of a self-reacting wave energy converter where the reaction force is obtained using a damping plate. In order to take into account the viscous damping that arises on the plate due to the flow separation at the sharp corners, an additional non-linear term have to be introduce. The influence of this non-linearity is then evaluate in a qualitative manner and obviously it is found that we can not neglect it

Optimal control for a self-reacting point absorber: A one-body equivalent model approach

International audienceThis paper deals with the optimal control of a self-reacting Wave Energy Converter (WEC) where the reaction force is obtained using a damping-plate. Model Predictive Control (MPC) is applied for unconstrained and constrained input control cases. Objective function attempting to optimise the power generation is directly formulated as an absorbed power maximisation problem and thus no optimal references, such as buoy and/or spar velocity, is required. Moreover, rather than using the full WEC model in the optimisation problem which can be time-consuming, and because of linear assumptions, we propose the use of a phenomenologically one-body equivalent model derived using the Thévenin 's theorem. Index Terms—wave energy converter, phenomenologically one-body equivalent model, optimal control, model predictive control