Surgénérateurs ; l'état des matériaux aux hautes irradiations, hautes puissances locales et températures, leurs gradients et propriétés mécaniques adaptées aux contraintes qui en résultent

The motivations to realize nuclear breeder reactors are developed in the present context of a strong growth in electronuclear power stations in many countries, using mostly moderated and water cooled reactors.The past studies can be of a substantial profit in France and, to a lesser degree, in other countries of the EU. However, to use fully the 238 uranium isotope, the materials for these breeders must withstand much harder radiation than those for water reactors. The power densities and thermal gradients will also be much more intense. The mechanical stresses, both static and dynamic, will be large and will act on materials with altered mechanical properties. Fuel elements will have to be produced with materials already irradiated several times and therefore showing such alterations.A field of studies concerning materials and their mechanical behavior in new and severe conditions is sketched here, both in construction and working conditions, together with proposed necessary instrumentation and research orientations.     

Modèles discrets de structures tissées : Analyse de stabilité et de drapéDiscrete models of woven structures: stability and draping analysis

A discrete model of a woven fabric structure is established, whereby nodes endowed with a mass and a rotational rigidity are connected by rigid bars to form a two-dimensional truss. The set of four bars that delineate a quadrilateral area is further endowed with a torsion deformation mode. The kinematics of the truss reproduces the large rotations and displacements encountered for real tissues. The equilibrium shape of such a structure is obtained as the minimum of its total potential energy versus the whole set of kinematic translational and rotational variables, accounting for eventual kinematic constraints due to contact with a rigid surface by the Lagrange multipliers method. A stability analysis is conducted, and the potentiality of the model is illustrated by fabric draping simulations. To cite this article: B. Ben Boubaker et al., C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 871–877.     

Homogénéisation de problèmes d''évolution dans une structure renforcée de fibresHomogenization of evolution problems in a fiber reinforced structure

We study the homogenization of evolution equations such as:

where the coefficient a is -periodic and takes very high values on a subset TΩ (fibered structure) of very small measure. We find a non-local effective equation deduced from a homogenized system of several equations. To cite this article: M. Bellieud, C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 843–848.     

Transfert du trichloréthylène en milieu poreux à partir d'un panache de vapeursMass transfer of trichloroethylene in a porous medium from a vapor plume

A large scale experiment has been carried out on an experimental facility to study the mass transfer of trichloroethylene (TCE) in a partially saturated porous medium. 5 liters of TCE have been infiltrated in the vadose zone of the site. The mass transfer of TCE from the vapor plume in the unsaturated zone towards the top of groundwater was quantified based on an analytical and a numerical approach. The mass of the pollutant measured at the exit of the model is well represented by the two mathematical approaches. It is found that the transfer of TCE towards the groundwater from the vapor plume is weak, which corresponds to 285 g of TCE, approximately 4% of the initial mass. To cite this article: H. Benremita, G. Schäfer, C. R. Mecanique 331 (2003).     

Structuration de la convection mixte en milieu poreux confiné latéralement et chauffé par le bas : effets d''inertiePattern formation of mixed convection in a porous medium confined laterally and heated from below: effect of inertia

We consider the onset of convection in a porous medium heated from below and subjected to a horizontal mean flow. The effect of porous inertia is studied, and the transverse aspect ratio a of the medium is taken into accout. We find that the dominant modes are longitudinal rolls (L.R) if a is an integer or transverse traveling rolls (T.R) if a is below a_c with a_c<1. When a is not an integer with a>a_c, the setting on patterns are oscillatory three-dimensional structures (3D) for a>1 or T.R for a_c<a<1 provided that the Reynolds number remains below a critical value Re_K^*. We show that these structures are replaced by L.R if Re_K>Re_K^*. To cite this article: A. Delache et al., C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 885–891.     

Modélisation du comportement thermique d'un outil de fraisage : approche par identification de système non entierThermal modelling of a milling tool: a noninteger system identification approach

In this work we present an experimental apparatus devoted to the thermal characterisation of a milling tool. The experimental device used thermistors, one for each insert. Each thermistor is located at a point in the tool close to the tip of the insert. The heat flux in each insert is expressed according to the temperature at the sensor from a non-integer model. The parameters of the model are identified from transient evolutions measurements of the temperature on the sensor and on the cutting edge. An application shows the difference in the behaviour of each insert during machining from the estimated heat fluxes. To cite this article: J.-L. Battaglia et al., C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 857–864.     

Sur les approximations « isotrope » et « anisotrope » de l''opérateur tangent pour les méthodes tangentes incrémentale et affineOn the ‘isotropic’ and ‘anisotropic’ approximations of the tangent operator in the incremental tangent and affine methods

Three localisation rules, TFA, the incremental tangent, and the affine method, are recalled and evaluated in the context of the elastoplastic micromechanical analysis of heterogeneous materials, composites or polycrystals. With the help of a severe example, it is shown how methods based on the complete anisotropic elastoplastic tangent operator yield very stiff predictions which are far from the reference solution; the same conclusion holds for the method using the elastic accommodation rule. On the other hand, using an isotropic form of the tangent operator delivers much better responses. The reasons for such differences are discussed, together with possible justifications for the choice of the isotropic form. To cite this article: J.-L. Chaboche, P. Kanouté, C. R. Mecanique 331 (2003).