On tangents to quadric surfaces

We study the variety of common tangents for up to four quadric surfaces in projective three-space, with particular regard to configurations of four quadrics admitting a continuum of common tangents. We formulate geometrical conditions in the projective space defined by all complex quadric surfaces which express the fact that several quadrics are tangent along a curve to one and the same quadric of rank at least three, and called, for intuitive reasons: a basket. Lines in any ruling of the latter will be common tangents. These considerations are then restricted to spheres in Euclidean three-space, and result in a complete answer to the question over the reals: ``When do four spheres allow infinitely many common tangents?''.Comment: 50 page

A coupled parametric and nonparametric approach for modal analysis of a satellite

This study takes place in the context of dynamical prediction for satellite structures. Aims of such studies are to survey the dynamical response of satellite equipment and components, to check that requirements are correct and to give prediction of vibration levels, which are inputs for the experimental test validation according to the launcher specification. This prediction is done by modal analysis performed on a numerical model built by finite element method. Uncertainties on equipment and components properties lead to random frequency response function (FRF). This paper aims at understanding how modal approach can be adapted to probabilistic framework in order to calculate cumulative density function or, at least, some quantiles of a FRF. Starting point of deterministic modal analysis is the study of a single degree of freedom (DOF) system. C. Heinkelé analytically expresses the probability density function (PDF) of the FRF of an oscillator with a random natural pulsation following a uniform law. We have generalized this work to random natural pulsation following a law of finite variance. Then, the expression of a FRF between two DOF of the structure is a linear function of random oscillators FRF and DOF components of random eigenvectors. Assuming that random eigenvectors are close to their means, we have access to the characteristic function of the random FRF between two DOF as a multi-dimensional integral with respect to the joint PDF of the oscillators FRF. This paper mainly focuses on two major points which are calculation of oscillators joint PDF and inversion of characteristic functions. The first one is tackled by copulas theory. Dependence structure of random eigenvalues are identified and modeled by a copula. Then we apply results on copulas transformations to obtain joint PDF of oscillators FRF. Classical results concern monotonic transformations but we extended these ones to non-monotonic cases. Concerning inversion of characteristic function, several methods are studied to numerically compute the Gil-Pelaez formula. This approach allows to access some FRF quantiles by numerical integration which error can be controlled. Moreover, an interesting point is the flexibility in the identification of the random eigenvalues PDF. This is especially interesting in order to couple parametric identification with nonparametric one, when only few dispersion informations are given for equipments, housed in the satellite primary structure

Line transversals to disjoint balls

We prove that the set of directions of lines intersecting three disjoint balls in $R^3$ in a given order is a strictly convex subset of $S^2$. We then generalize this result to $n$ disjoint balls in $R^d$. As a consequence, we can improve upon several old and new results on line transversals to disjoint balls in arbitrary dimension, such as bounds on the number of connected components and Helly-type theorems.Comment: 21 pages, includes figure

Determination of Bootstrap confidence intervals on sensitivity indices obtained by polynomial chaos expansion

L’analyse de sensibilité a pour but d’évaluer l’influence de la variabilité d’un ou plusieurs paramètres d’entrée d’un modèle sur la variabilité d’une ou plusieurs réponses. Parmi toutes les méthodes d’approximations, le développement sur une base de chaos polynômial est une des plus efficace pour le calcul des indices de sensibilité, car ils sont obtenus analytiquement grâce aux coefficients de la décomposition (Sudret (2008)). Les indices sont donc approximés et il est difficile d’évaluer l’erreur due à cette approximation. Afin d’évaluer la confiance que l’on peut leur accorder nous proposons de construire des intervalles de confiance par ré-échantillonnage Bootstrap (Efron, Tibshirani (1993)) sur le plan d’expérience utilisé pour construire l’approximation par chaos polynômial. L’utilisation de ces intervalles de confiance permet de trouver un plan d’expérience optimal garantissant le calcul des indices de sensibilité avec une précision donnée

On the expected size of the 2d visibility complex

We study the expected size of the 2D visibility complex of randomly distributed objects in the plane. We prove that the asymptotic expected number of free bitangents (which correspond to 0-faces of the visibility complex) among unit discs (or polygons of bounded aspect ratio and similar size) is linear and exhibit bounds in terms of the density of the objects. We also make an experimental assessment of the size of the visibility complex for disjoint random unit discs. We provide experimental estimates of the onset of the linear behavior and of the asymptotic slope and y-intercept of the number of free bitangents in terms of the density of discs. Finally, we analyze the quality of our estimates in terms of the density of discs.

Synthèse modale probabiliste de systèmes à plusieurs degrés de liberté

Notre travail concerne les études dynamiques basse fréquence de satellites. Le but est d’étendre l’analyse modale en prenant en compte les incertitudes sur les paramètres d’entrée du modèle. Pour cela, l’approche probabiliste a été choisie. Les paramètres incertains du modèle sont donc définis par des variables aléatoires de lois connues. L’objectif de cette analyse est de déterminer la variabilité d’une fonction de réponse en fréquence (FRF) entre deux points de la structure. Nous supposons qu’il est possible d’identifier les lois de probabilité des valeurs propres du système et que l’amortissement modal est déterministe. Nous présentons une expression analytique des densités de probabilité de la FRF, ainsi qu’une méthodologie permettant de les calculer y compris dans le cas où les valeurs propres sont corrélées

Etude numérique de l'influence de la structure de dépendance des valeurs propres en synthèse modale probabiliste

Ce travail a pour cadre la détermination de fonctions de réponse en fréquence (FRF) par synthèse modale. La modélisation probabiliste des paramètres d'entrée du modèle conduit à un problème aux valeurs propres aléatoires. Nous nous intéressons à la représentation de la structure de dépendance entre les valeurs propres et son influence sur la densité de probabilité de la FRF . Cette structure de dépendance est modélisée par une copule identifiée à partir de simulations de Monte-Carlo. En adaptant les travaux de C. Heinkelé au cas de l'amortissement critique, nous obtenons les expressions analytiques des densités de probabilité de la FRF d'un oscillateur harmonique. Nous utilisons ces résultats afin d'exprimer la densité jointe d'un vecteur de N oscillateurs connaissant la loi jointe des N premières valeurs propres du système

Collection of abstracts of the 24th European Workshop on Computational Geometry

International audienceThe 24th European Workshop on Computational Geomety (EuroCG'08) was held at INRIA Nancy - Grand Est & LORIA on March 18-20, 2008. The present collection of abstracts contains the 63 scientific contributions as well as three invited talks presented at the workshop

A coupled parametric and nonparametric approach for modal analysis of a satellite

International audienceThis study takes place in the context of dynamical prediction for satellite structures. Aims of such studies are to survey the dynamical response of satellite equipment and components, to check that requirements are correct and to give prediction of vibration levels, which are inputs for the experimental test validation according to the launcher specification. This prediction is done by modal analysis performed on a numerical model built by finite element method. Uncertainties on equipment and components properties lead to random frequency response function (FRF). This paper aims at understanding how modal approach can be adapted to probabilistic framework in order to calculate cumulative density function or, at least, some quantiles of a FRF. Starting point of deterministic modal analysis is the study of a single degree of freedom (DOF) system. C. Heinkelé analytically expresses the probability density function (PDF) of the FRF of an oscillator with a random natural pulsation following a uniform law. We have generalized this work to random natural pulsation following a law of finite variance. Then, the expression of a FRF between two DOF of the structure is a linear function of random oscillators FRF and DOF components of random eigenvectors. Assuming that random eigenvectors are close to their means, we have access to the characteristic function of the random FRF between two DOF as a multi-dimensional integral with respect to the joint PDF of the oscillators FRF. This paper mainly focuses on two major points which are calculation of oscillators joint PDF and inversion of characteristic functions. The first one is tackled by copulas theory. Dependence structure of random eigenvalues are identified and modeled by a copula. Then we apply results on copulas transformations to obtain joint PDF of oscillators FRF. Classical results concern monotonic transformations but we extended these ones to non-monotonic cases. Concerning inversion of characteristic function, several methods are studied to numerically compute the Gil-Pelaez formula. This approach allows to access some FRF quantiles by numerical integration which error can be controlled. Moreover, an interesting point is the flexibility in the identification of the random eigenvalues PDF. This is especially interesting in order to couple parametric identification with nonparametric one, when only few dispersion informations are given for equipments, housed in the satellite primary structure