Now showing items 191-210 of 341

    A machine learning based methodology for anomaly detection in dam behaviour 

    Salazar González, Fernando (Date of defense: 2017-02-23)

    Dam behaviour is difficult to predict with high accuracy. Numerical models for structural calculation solve the equations of continuum mechanics, but are subject to considerable uncertainty as to the characterisation of ...

    Mathematical and computational modeling of flexoelectricity at mesoscopic and atomistic scales 

    Codony, David (Date of defense: 2021-03-01)

    This PhD thesis focuses on the development of mathematical and computational models for flexoelectricity, a relatively new electromechanical coupling that is present in any dielectric at the micron and sub-micron scales. ...

    Mathematical formulations of water mixing for reactive transport through heterogeneous media 

    Soler Sagarra, Joaquim (Date of defense: 2020-07-28)

    The study of transport of reacting solute through aquifers is relevant in many engineering fields. Reactive transport (RT) is complex because it consists of two phenomena, solute transport and chemical reactions, both of ...

    Measuring impact loads on rigid coastal structures 

    Marzeddu, Andrea (Date of defense: 2016-04-19)

    The aim of this work is the study of laboratory effects on the measurement of wave impact induced loads on rigid maritime structures. A high number of experiments (more then 4000 using regular wave attacks) have been carried ...

    Mechanical characterisation of masonry in existing structures by means of laboratory and in-situ experimental techniques 

    Cabané Cañas, Albert (Date of defense: 2023-05-17)

    (English) Masonry structures are among the most abundant construction typologies in the world, having been commonly built until the second half of the 20th century. The determination of the mechanical properties of these ...

    Mechanical performance and sustainability assessment of reinforced soil walls 

    Puig Damians, Ivan (Date of defense: 2016-07-28)

    Soil reinforced retaining wall structures are materiallymore efficientthan competing construction solutions such as gravity and cantilever walls. Nevertheless, the behaviour and interactions between the com ponent materials ...

    Mechanism and stochastic dynamics of transport in Darcy-scale heterogeneous porous media 

    Comolli, Alessandro (Date of defense: 2018-06-14)

    Solute transport in heterogeneous porous media in general exhibits anomalous behaviors, in the sense that it is characterized by features that cannot be explained in terms of traditional models based on the advection-dispersion ...

    The Mediterranean outflow water : transformations and pathways into the Gulf of Cádiz 

    Gasser i Rubinat, Marc (Date of defense: 2018-11-19)

    The Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) is a dense (¿>1028.5 kg/m3), saline (38.5 g/kg) ocean stream originated in the evaporative Mediterranean basin flowing westward past Espartel Sill as a fast (>1 m/s) and often unstable ...

    Mejora del diagnóstico y de la hemodinámica en la revascularización carotídea : aplicación de la dinámica de fluidos computacional mediante el OpenFOAM® y otras herramientas de libre distribución 

    Arias Araluce, Fausto Arturo (Date of defense: 2017-05-19)

    Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in Spain and in the Western world. It is often caused by an accumulation of atherosclerotic plaques on the walls of carotid arteries. Carotid revascularization may be the ...

    Methodology for seismic vulnerability assessment of existing masonry buildings in urban centres. Application to the Eixample district in Barcelona 

    Dimovska, Sara (Date of defense: 2023-05-26)

    (English) Unreinforced masonry buildings (URM), which prevail in many historic and urban centres, can be considered to be significantly vulnerable to seismic actions due to their peculiar constructive and structural features ...

    Microalgae harvesting in wastewater treatment plants : application of natural techniques for an efficient flocculation 

    Gutiérrez Martínez, Raquel (Date of defense: 2016-05-03)

    Research of new sources of bioenergy is nowadays driving attention to microalgae. Cost-effective biomass harvesting poses a challenge for full-scale microalgae production for biofuels. In the context of wastewater treatment ...

    Microalgae in aquaculture wastewater : a new forecasting method of production in a marine system 

    Andreotti, Valeria (Date of defense: 2019-07-12)

    In the field of aquaculture, the main microalgae application is animal nutrition, in which they can be used as an unprocessed component, or as dried material for feed preparations. Moreover, microalgae can assimilate the ...

    Microalgae-based wastewater treatment systems at demonstrative scale : gravity harvesting and thickening of biomass, and advanced design of bioreactors 

    Ortiz Ruiz, Antonio (Date of defense: 2021-12-17)

    Microalgae culture is currently receiving considerable attention for its potential in wastewater treatment and production of algal biomass from which high-value bioproducts and bioenergy can be obtained, as well as the ...

    Microbial and geochemical dynamics in soils and their impact on the hydraulic properties : from laboratory experiments to model development 

    Carles Brangarí, Albert (Date of defense: 2017-09-22)

    Most of the microorganisms on Earth are found in sophisticated colonies called biofilms. Such microbial communities may proliferate everywhere life can exist as long as nutrients are available and surface attachment is ...

    Mixed finite element formulations for strain localization and failure in plasticity 

    Benedetti, Lorenzo (Date of defense: 2017-05-11)

    Strain localization and quasi-brittle failure in frictional-cohesive materials is still an open and challenging problem in computational mechanics. Owing to its complexity and the significant implications on numerous ...

    Mixing and chemical reaction hotspots in saline-freshwater mixing zones 

    De Vriendt, Kevin (Date of defense: 2021-07-16)

    Seawater intrusion presents one of the most unique and ubiquitous groundwater problems in the field of hydrogeology. Its complex boundary conditions coupled with variable density flow results in non-uniform flow which lead ...

    Model order reduction of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in geo-environmental applications 

    Larion, Ygee (Date of defense: 2022-02-01)

    In a large number of geo-environmental applications, it is essential to model coupled processes that depend on several design parameters such as material properties and geometrical features. Thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) ...

    Modeling capillarity and two-phase flow in granular media: from porescale to network scale 

    Puig Montellà, Eduard (Date of defense: 2019-07-16)

    Numerical simulations at the pore scale are a way to study the behavior of multiphase flows encountered in many natural processes and industrial applications. In this work, liquid morphology and capillary action are examined ...

    Modeling of container throughput in the European port system-analysis of container liner shipping networks 

    Stamatopoulos, Georgios (Date of defense: 2023-07-07)

    (English) This thesis records the evolution of the container throughput dynamics of the European port system from 2001-2020, analyses the dynamics of the European container port hierarchy with methodologies that have not ...

    Modeling of droplet dynamics in a proton exchange fuel cell electrode channel 

    Jarauta Arabi, Àlex (Date of defense: 2016-03-30)

    Fuel cells are promising alternatives to conventional energy conversion devices. Cells fueled with hydrogen are environmentally friendly and their effciency is up to 3 times higher than that of high-temperature combustion ...