This work presents an experimental study of the hydromechanical behavior of a natural swelling soil taken from Boumagueur region east of Algeria. Several pathological cases due to the soil shrinkage / swelling phenomenon were detected in this area. In a first part, the hydric behavior on drying-wetting paths was made, using the osmotic technics and saturated salts solutions to control suction. In The second part, using a new osmotic oedometer, the coupled behavior as a function of applied stresses and suction was investigated. It was shown that soil compressibility parameters was influenced by suction variations that an increase in suction is followed by a decrease in the virgin compression slope. On the other hand, the unloading slope of the oedometric curves was not obviously affected by the imposed suction. The decrease in suction strongly influences the apparent preconsolidation pressure, ie during swelling of the samples after wetting.

In this study, the surface settlement induced by shield TBM excavation is simulated by using finite differences code Flac-3D. The proposed three dimensional simulation procedure is taking into account the main features of slurry shield TBM. The line D subway project in Lyon is chosen to validate the numerical simulations. The comparison of the numerical simulation results with the in-situ measurements shows that the proposed 3D simulation is relevant, in particular in the adopted representation for the different operations achieved by the tunnel boring machine.

In urban areas, the control of ground surface settlement is an important issue during shield tunnel-boring machine (TBM) tunneling. These ground movements are affected by many machine control parameters. In this article, a finite difference (FD) model is developed using Itasca FLAC-3D to numerically simulate the whole process of shield TBM tunneling. The model simulates important components of the mechanized excavation process including slurry pressure on the excavation face, shield conicity, installation of segmental lining, grout injection in the annular void, and grout consolidation. The analysis results from the proposed method are compared and discussed in terms of ground movements (both vertical and horizontal) with field measurements data. The results reveal that the proposed 3D simulation is sufficient and can reasonably reproduce all the operations achieved by the TBM. In fact, the results show that the TBM parameters can be controlled to have acceptable levels of surface settlement. In particular, it seems that moderate face pressure can reduce ground movement significantly and, most importantly, can prevent the occurrence of face-expected instability when the shield crosses very weak soil layers. The shield conicity has also an important effect on ground surface settlement, which can be partly compensated by the grout pressure during tail grouting. Finally, the injection pressure at the rear of the shield significantly reduces the vertical displacements at the crown of the tunnel and, therefore, reduces the settlement at the ground surface.

In this article, we present a comparative study between two control techniques applied on the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM), namely vector control and fuzzy logic. This comparison is based on three criteria: qualitative, quantitative and robust during the transient and permanent operation of the system. The latter comprises a machine is driven through the stator variables by two bidirectional converters. In the first part, we have presented the individual modeling of the global chain (PMSM, Inverter, and Rectifier). Then we presented and developed the two commands techniques to control the speed and the torque produced by this machine. The results of this study made it possible to evaluate the performance of these controls.

This paper presents a comparative study between two strategies for the direct torque control (DTC) of the permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based on wind energy conversion system (WECS). The first method is a conventional direct torque control DTC and it is based on hysteresis controllers where the torque and the flux are regulated by these controllers. The second one is direct torque control by space vector modulation strategy (DTC-SVM) where the torque and flux are regulated by PI controllers. The simulation results are implemented by using MATLAB/SIMULINK. The main feature of the proposed (DTC-SVM) strategy is the reduction of torque and flux ripples. The proposed approach can be considered as an alternative solution to the control of PMSG.

This paper presents a comparative study between two strategies for the direct torque control (DTC) of the permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based on wind energy conversion system (WECS). The first method is a conventional direct torque control DTC and it is based on hysteresis controllers where the torque and the flux are regulated by these controllers. The second one is direct torque control by space vector modulation strategy (DTC-SVM) where the torque and flux are regulated by PI controllers. The simulation results are implemented by using MATLAB/SIMULINK. The main feature of the proposed (DTC-SVM) strategy is the reduction of torque and flux ripples. The proposed approach can be considered as an alternative solution to the control of PMSG.

This investigation examines mathematical modelling and experimental validation of two types of solar cookers: a box type with tilted intercept area equipped with one external reflector, and a parabolic cooker with a new configuration. Experiments were carried out with the cookers filled with two kilograms of water from 08:00 to 15:00 solar time. During the experiments, temperature gain in the box-type solar cooker was recorded at about 69.8 °C and in the parabolic-type solar cooker at 73.6 °C at the stagnation point. Direct normal irradiation in three distinct study areas was observed and found that it varied from 7.6 to 10 kWh m⁻². Cooking pot placed in parabolic cooker was varied between 130 and 132 °C. Centre and south-east regions of study areas where global irradiation varied from 8 to 8.4 kWh m⁻² were found suitable for box-type solar cooker and cooking pot temperature were found in the range of 100 °C to 105 °C. Mathematical modelling was programmed in MATLAB. The theoretical results were consistent with experiential data for both types of solar cookers. The effectiveness of the two cooker types can be deduced from the maps. It is found the use of the cookers in Northern and Southern regions of the country was not identical. Their suitability for cooking depends on the amount of solar radiations received.

The magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is an important interdisciplinary field. It is the interaction between an electromagnetic field and an electrically conducting fluid. Electromagnetic pumps are widely used for the transportation of the fluids in a variety of technological processes. The advantage of these devices is that permits the pumping of liquids without moving parts. The design of the pump is considered as an optimization problem where the objective function is the minimum of the MHD pump mass with both geometrical and electromagnetic contraints type. The obtained optimization results using the finite volume method with Matlab software show the performances of the used stochastic simulated annealing method.

This paper designs an indirect power control method for brushless doubly fed induction generator (BDFIG), in which the stator is attached to grid with back-to-back space vector modulation (SVM) converter that converts the generated wind power. Our control method is a sliding mode control based on the theory of variable structure control. Specifically, the active and reactive powers, which are exchanged between the stator of the BDFIG and the grid in a linear and decoupled manner, are subjected to decoupled, vector control. In addition, a proportional integral (PI) controller was implemented to keep the DC-voltage constant for the back-to-back SVM converter. The efficiency of our control strategy was validated through simulation. The research greatly promotes the control of renewable energy generators.

This paper deals with the robust power control of a grid-connected brushless doubly-fed induction generator (BDFIG) driven by the variable speed wind turbine. With the using of a super twisting algorithm which is a high-order sliding mode controller (HOSMC). This approach guarantees both the dynamic performance and the same robustness as traditional first order (SMC) algorithm and reduces the chattering phenomenon, which is the biggest disadvantage in the implementation of this technique. The developed algorithm relies on the decoupling control by implementing the strategy of oriented grid flux vector control. In order to enhance the desired performances, an attempt is made by controlling the generated stator active and reactive powers in a linear and decoupled manner to ensure the global asymptotical stability, HOSMC approach is implemented. Therefore, an optimal operation of the BDFIG in sub-synchronous operation is used in addition to the stator power flows where the stator power factor is kept in a unity. The suggested method is examined with the Matlab/Simulink software. The performances and the feasibility of the designed control are illustrated by simulation results.