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The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed in Italy at the end of January 2020, when the first positive cases for the virus were identified. At the beginning of March, the virus had spread to all Italian regions and on 10 March 2020 the lockdown phase began, limiting the movement of people and prohibiting almost all commercial activities, businesses and non-essential industries. As a result, millions of people were forced to stay at home, causing a drastic drop in traffic volume, which significantly changed the acoustic environment and air quality of cities. On 4 May 2020, the lockdown was partially lifted and activities were progressively reopened. Therefore, traffic gradually started to increase and, consequently, the noise emitted by motor vehicles. This behaviour was confirmed by the data collected by the DYNAMAP system, an automatic platform developed within the LIFE DYNAMAP project, providing real time traffic noise maps in terms of sound pressure levels and impacts at receivers (people and dwellings exposed to noise level bands). In this paper traffic and non-traffic-related noise events in the cities of Rome and Milan from March to May 2020 are analysed and compared to the corresponding values in 2019 to evaluate the effects of the lockdown period.

Acoustic event detection and analysis has been widely developed in the last few years for its valuable application in monitoring elderly or dependant people, for surveillance issues, for multimedia retrieval, or even for biodiversity metrics in natural environments. For this purpose, sound source identification is a key issue to give a smart technological answer to all the aforementioned applications. Diverse types of sounds and variate environments, together with a number of challenges in terms of application, widen the choice of artificial intelligence algorithm proposal. This paper presents a comparative study on combining several feature extraction algorithms (Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficients (MFCC), Gammatone Cepstrum Coefficients (GTCC), and Narrow Band (NB)) with a group of machine learning algorithms (k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN), Neural Networks (NN), and Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM)), tested over five different acoustic environments. This work has the goal of detailing a best practice method and evaluate the reliability of this general-purpose algorithm for all the classes. Preliminary results show that most of the combinations of feature extraction and machine learning present acceptable results in most of the described corpora. Nevertheless, there is a combination that outperforms the others: the use of GTCC together with kNN, and its results are further analyzed for all the corpora.

In this project, we aim to study the effect that the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has caused on the perception of noise in Catalonia. In Sons al Balcó, the research activities cohabit with the dynamic collaboration with citizens and other stakeholders to create social and environmental impact, to widen awareness and design tools to improve citizenship development and empowerment. The initial scientific hypothesis is that the annoyance coming from outdoor noise, minimized by the lockdown effect, could be associated with better perception of the soundscape by people. Sons al Balcó allows validating this hypothesis in two different ways. On the one hand, by means of subjective questionnaires conducted to people living in pre-defined diverse acoustic areas (urban, suburban and rural environments), and on the other hand, by the use of objective measurements of the noise levels, and the study of the soundscape in these areas, using short pieces of video collected by citizens. For this purpose, we designed an on line test to be conducted by any citizen aiming to contribute to this wide study for all the territory of Catalonia, both from rural areas and from cities. A communication campaign was conducted to reach a significant participation. During the lockdown, more than 350 questionnaires and videos were collected, and a first map of the soundscape of the confinement in Catalonia was depicted.

This Special Issue is focused on all the technologies necessary for the development of an efficient wireless acoustic sensor network, from the first stages of its design to the tests conducted during deployment; its final performance; and possible subsequent implications for authorities in terms of the definition of policies. This Special Issue collects the contributions of several LIFE and H2020 projects aimed at the design and implementation of intelligent acoustic sensor networks, with a focus on the publication of good practices for the design and deployment of intelligent networks in any locations.

Poultry meat is the world&rsquo, s primary source of animal protein due to low cost and is widely eaten at a global level. However, intensive production is required to supply the demand although it generates stress to animals and welfare problems, which have to be reduced or eradicated for the better health of birds. In this study, bird welfare is measured by certain indicators: CO2, temperature, humidity, weight, deaths, food, and water intake. Additionally, we approach an acoustic analysis of bird vocalisations as a possible metric to add to the aforementioned parameters. For this purpose, an acoustic recording and analysis of an entire production cycle of an intensive broiler Ross 308 poultry farm in the Mediterranean area was performed. The acoustic dataset generated was processed to obtain the Equivalent Level (Leq), the mean Peak Frequency (PF), and the PF variation, every 30 min. This acoustical analysis aims to evaluate the relation between traditional indicators (death, weight, and CO2) as well as acoustical metrics (equivalent level impact (Leq) and Peak Frequency) of a complete intensive production cycle. As a result, relation between CO2 and humidity versus Leq was found, as well as decreases in vocalisation when the intake of food and water was large.

The poultry meat industry is one of the most efficient biological systems to transform cereal protein into high quality protein for human consumption at a low cost. However, intensive production generates stress to animals, which can be major sources of welfare problems. In this study, broiler bird welfare is measured by some indicators: CO2, temperature, humidity, weight, deaths, food and water intake. Additionally, we approach the acoustic analysis of the bird's vocalisations as a possible metric to add to the aforementioned parameters. For this purpose, an acoustic recording and analysis of an entire production cycle of an intensive broiler Ross 308 poultry farm in the Mediterranean area has been performed, and that data has been analysed. The following step to consolidate the analysis is to stablish a clear comparison among the performance of the indicators (Leq, PF, PF variation, death, CO2, weight, etc) in the conditions of three different recording campaigns corresponding to three different entire production cycles. The promising dependencies about peak frequency and Leq variability among the other parameters measured in the farm previously studied should be validated in an inter-campaign comparison, which may also arise the possibility of changes due to the season of the year.

Acoustic pollution has been associated with adverse effects on the health and life expectancy of people, especially when noise exposure happens during the nighttime. With over half of the world population living in urban areas, acoustic pollution is an important concern for city administrators, especially those focused on transportation and leisure noise. Advances in sensor and network technologies made the deployment of Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks (WASN) possible in cities, which, combined with artificial intelligence (AI), can enable smart services for their citizens. However, the creation of such services often requires structured environmental audio databases to train AI algorithms. This paper reports on an environmental audio dataset of 363 min and 53 s created in a lively area of the Barcelona city center, which targeted traffic and leisure events. This dataset, which is free and publicly available, can provide researchers with real-world acoustic data to help the development and testing of sound monitoring solutions for urban environments.

In addition to air pollution, environmental noise has become one of the major hazards for citizens, being Road Traffic Noise (RTN) as its main source in urban areas. Recently, low-cost Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks (WASNs) have become an alternative to traditional strategic noise mapping in cities. In order to monitor RTN solely, WASN-based approaches should automatize the off-line removal of those events unrelated to regular road traffic (e.g., sirens, airplanes, trams, etc.). Within the LIFE DYNAMAP project, 15 urban Anomalous Noise Events (ANEs) were described through an expert-based recording campaign. However, that work only focused on the overall analysis of the events gathered during non-sequential diurnal periods. As a step forward to characterize the temporal and local particularities of urban ANEs in real acoustic environments, this work analyses their distribution between day (06:00&ndash, 22:00) and night (22:00&ndash, 06:00) in narrow (1 lane) and wide (more than 1 lane) streets. The study is developed on a manually-labelled 151-h acoustic database obtained from the 24-nodes WASN deployed across DYNAMAP&rsquo, s Milan pilot area during a weekday and a weekend day. Results confirm the unbalanced nature of the problem (RTN represents 83.5% of the data), while identifying 26 ANE subcategories mainly derived from pedestrians, animals, transports and industry. Their presence depends more significantly on the time period than on the street type, as most events have been observed in the day-time during the weekday, despite being especially present in narrow streets. Moreover, although ANEs show quite similar median durations regardless of time and location in general terms, they usually present higher median signal-to-noise ratios at night, mainly on the weekend, which becomes especially relevant for the WASN-based computation of equivalent RTN levels.

Environmental noise can be defined as the accumulation of noise pollution caused by sounds generated by outdoor human activities, Road Traffic Noise (RTN) being the main source in urban and suburban areas. To address the negative effects of environmental noise on public health, the European Environmental Noise Directive requires EU member states to tailor noise maps and define the corresponding action plans every five years for major agglomerations and key infrastructures. Noise maps have been hitherto created from expert-based measurements, after cleaning the recorded acoustic data of undesired acoustic events, or Anomalous Noise Events (ANEs). In recent years, Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks (WASNs) have become an alternative. However, most of the proposals focus on measuring global noise levels without taking into account the presence of ANEs. The LIFE DYNAMAP project has developed a WASN-based dynamic noise mapping system to analyze the acoustic impact of road infrastructures in real time based solely on RTN levels. After studying the bias caused by individual ANEs on the computation of the A-weighted equivalent noise levels through an expert-based dataset obtained before installing the sensor networks, this work evaluates the aggregate impact of the ANEs on the RTN measurements in a real-operation environment. To that effect, 304 h and 20 min of labeled acoustic data collected through the two WASNs deployed in both pilot areas have been analyzed, computing the individual and aggregate impacts of ANEs for each sensor location and impact range (low, medium and high) for a 5 min integration time. The study shows the regular occurrence of ANEs when monitoring RTN levels in both acoustic environments, which are especially common in the urban area. Moreover, the results reveal that the aggregate contribution of low- and medium-impact ANEs can become as critical as the presence of high-impact individual ANEs, thus highlighting the importance of their automatic removal to obtain reliable WASN-based RTN maps in real-operation environments.

El present treball analitza les progressions d’aprenentatge de l’alumnat durant la realització d’una unitat didàctica sobre el model del so. Les dades es van recollir en un institut públic al Vallès Oriental. Les activitats de recollida de dades van ser dissenyades per tal de que els alumnes descrivissin els conceptes sobre naturalesa, transmissió i interacció del so amb l’entorn a partir d’una pregunta. Les representacions extretes van permetre tractar les idees prèvies de l’alumnat, les progressió d’aprenentatge i les trajectòries. Els resultats obtinguts durant l’estudi permet confirmar la presència d’algunes de les concepcions prèvies descrites a la bibliografia, així com observar una progressió en les idees clau sobre del model.

Concerned about the noise pollution in urban environments, the European Commission (EC) has created an Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC (END) requiring Member states to publish noise maps and noise management plans every five years for cities with a high density of inhabitants, major roads, railways and airports. The END also requires the noise pressure levels for these sources to be presented independently. Currently, data measurements and the representations of the noise pressure levels in such maps are performed semi-manually by experts. This process is time and cost consuming, as well as limited to presenting only a static picture of the noise levels. To overcome these issues, we propose the deployment of Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks with several nodes in urban environments that can enable the generation of real-time noise level maps, as well as detect the source of the sound thanks to machine learning algorithms. In this paper, we briefly review the state of the art of the hardware used in wireless acoustic applications and propose a low-cost sensor based on an ARM cortex-A microprocessor. This node is able to process machine learning algorithms for sound source detection in-situ, allowing the deployment of highly scalable sound identification systems.

In a SmartCities world, with the citizen in the center of all the decisions, the measurement of environmental noise cannot be limited to provide an equivalent level captured over a certain time in a place of interest. By means of WHO reports and other studies, we know that the type of noise (traffic, anthropomorphic, industrial, etc.) has a different impact on people and that it is important to identify the source of the measured noise levels. In order to facilitate this work for the competent authorities, in Andorra a 3D City model platform is used to visualize acoustic measurements carried out at three strategic points in the country. The platform represents the measured noise differentiating the type of noise, the equivalent acoustic level it is providing and the salience of the event with respect to background noise by means of the calculation of the Signal-to-Noise Ratio, providing a wider and more complete amount of information to allow to decide policies to minimize the impact on people.

Environmental noise is increasing year after year and, besides annoyance, it causes harmful health effects on people according to last 2018 WHO report. The Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC (END) is the main instrument of the European Union to identify and combat noise pollution, followed by the CNOSSOS-EU methodological framework. In order to apply the END legislation, the EU Member States have to publish noise maps and action plans every five years. The use of Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks (WASNs) changes the paradigm that addresses the END regulatory requirements as they enable the dynamic ubiquitous measurement of environmental noise pollution. Following the END, the DYNAMAP project develops a WASN-based lowcost noise mapping system to monitor in real-time the impact of road infrastructures in two pilot areas: Milan and Rome. To avoid biasing the noise maps with noise levels unrelated to traffic noise, an Anomalous Noise Event Detector (ANED) is included to remove them from the corresponding LAeq. The paper reflects the adaptation of the ANED algorithm to the WASN of the suburban area of Rome, which requires a specific analysis of the particularities of the suburban audio database, as well as future challenges and research on the generalization of the WASN.

Ports and harbours are logistic nodes characterized by several types of noise, which can usually occur in a concurrent manner in the same harbour premises: ferries, cruises, fishing and trade ships coexist with other industrial and auxiliary services. Noise pollution can have negative effects on the urban population inhabiting the port vicinity. The Port of Barcelona is an infrastructure that serves trade, passengers and fishing. The purpose of this work is to describe the impact of certain acoustic events recorded in the maritime stations of Port of Barcelona dedicated exclusively to passengers and vehicle transport. The traffic of arrivals and departures of cruises with passengers is intense in these maritime stations; the characterization of the acoustic events caused by this traffic, as well as the acoustic events collected by means of a short but complete recording campaign in Port of Barcelona. This work presents a proposal of categorization of the noise sources in order to generate an algorithm to classify automatically several types of activity.

El Deep Learning és un conjunt d’einesd'aprenentatgeautomàticque en els últims anys ha revolucionat el món gràcies als bons resultats que ofereix a l’hora de modelitzar dades complexes. Avui en dia el Deep Learningés un camp punter de la ciència i l’augment d’escenaris d’aplicació d’aquest tipus d'aprenentatge és part de la revolució que ha generat aquesta tecnologia.Buscant solucions per al que s’anomenacom aSmartCities,sorgeix la necessitat d'entendre l'entorn que ens envoltabasant-seen els sons propis de la ciutat; en aquest projecte s’ha buscat aquesta comprensió de l'entorn fent ús del Deep Learning(p.ex. xarxes neuronals convolucionals (CNN)ixarxes neuronals recurrents(RNN)). En el projecte s’ha treballatamb dades reals recollides en el marc d'un projecte europeu que té per objectiu la monitorització acústica del soroll de trànsit de laciutat. L'objectiu passa per aconseguir sistemes dereconeixement d'esdeveniments acústics mésrobustos i / o precisos.

Las Smart Grids se presentan como una solución a la demanda de la gestión distribuida e inteligente de la energía, mejorando así las funciones de automatización, recolección y procesamiento de datos. Para dar soporte a estas funciones inteligentes, es necesario el despliegue de novedosas infraestructuras TIC diseñadas para tal propósito. Una de las principales problemáticas de las Smart Grids es la heterogeneidad de protocolos de comunicación utilizados por los dispositivos inteligentes que las integran. Para dar solución a este problema, se propone el uso del concepto de la Web of Things. Sin embargo, somos conscientes de que las entidades que se encargan de la generación y gestión de la energía eléctrica pueden encontrar dificultades para adaptar su infraestructura a este novedoso entorno. Este artículo propone la introducción del Actor Model como modelo de diseño para una infraestructura que soporte las demandadas funciones inteligentes y sea capaz de agrupar y convertir la heterogeneidad de las infraestructuras tradicionales en la homogeneidad característica de la Web of Things.

The present thesis aims at developing robust numerical and experimental methods for the simulation of composite adhesive joints. Firstly, a new method for the experimental characterization of adhesive joints is presented. The proposed method widens the range of applicability of the existing methods at the same time that lowers the uncertainty of the results. By means of this method, a critical study on the validity of the existing experimental methods is presented, as well as the thorough characterization of an adhesive in terms of the cohesive laws of the material. The experimental evidences are analyzed to obtain a guideline for the simulation of adhesive joints and a formulation of a new cohesive elements is presented. The proposed formulation allows the simulation of the elastic response, damage and failure of adhesive layers by using experimentally measurable material properties, with no further calibrations required., L’objectiu de la present tesi és el desenvolupament de mètodes numèrics i experimentals robustos per a la simulació de la fractura en unions adhesives de material compòsit. En primer lloc es presenta un nou mètode per a la caracterització experimental d’unions adhesives que amplia el rang d’aplicació dels mètodes existents i en disminueix la incertesa. A partir d’aquí, es realitza un estudi crític sobre la idoneïtat dels mètodes de caracterització d’unions adhesives existents i es presenta la caracterització exhaustiva d’un adhesiu en termes de la llei cohesiva del material. Les evidencies experimentals obtingudes s’analitzen per tal de proporcionar les directrius necessàries per a la simulació d’unions adhesives i es presenta la formulació d’un nou element cohesiu per modelar la resposta elàstica, el dany i la fallada d’adhesius. El model proposat permet l’ús de propietats del material mesurables experimentalment, sense la necessitat de dur a terme ajustaments o calibratges addicionals.

Turbulence intermittency influences so many processes in natural waters on a wide range of scales. This work analyzes intermittency, both internal and external, by considering two cases: the thermocline of a small lake under low winds and the bottom boundary layer of a tidal flow. External intermittency in Lake Banyoles is studied based on patches. Variability of their sizes and turbulent scales is described using probability models, which are consistent with marine turbulence results. Dynamics of mixing depends on the phase of the dominant internal seiche. Episodic and powerful wind gusts generate large patches in the lake's interior. Internal intermittency is analyzed based the analysis of tidal flow data. Scaling exponents of structure functions and moments of the dissipation rate fit to multifractal model. For energetic episodes intermittency parameters approach the values expected for fully developed turbulence. They increase with decreasing of Reynolds numbers, which is associated with underdeveloped turbulence., El comportament intermitent de la turbulència afecta molts processos en els sistemes aquàtics. Aquest treball estudia la intermitència interna i externa en dos casos particulars: la termoclina d'un estany sota vents fluixos i la capa de fons d'un corrent de marea. La intermitència externa a l'estany de Banyoles s'analitza estudiant la variabilitat de mides i escales turbulentes dels claps, que s'ajusten bé als models de probabilitat obtinguts també en turbulència marina. La dinàmica de barreja depèn de la fase de la seca interna dominant a l'estany. Els claps grans generats a l'interior s'han relacionat amb cops de vent episòdics forts. La intermitència interna s'analitza en un corrent de marea (funcions d'estructura i moments de la dissipació). Els exponents d'escalatge s'ajusten a models multifractals, amb paràmetres propers als de turbulència completament desenvolupada per a episodis energètics. Aquests augmenten quan el nombre de Reynolds disminueix, possiblement degut a turbulència no completament desenvolupada.

The LIFE+ DYNAMAP project aims at creating dynamic road traffic noise maps automatically upon the levels measured by a low cost sensors network. To ensure these maps reflect the acoustic impact of road infrastructures, it is necessary to exclude other acoustic sources (e.g. aircrafts, industries, etc.) from the noise level computation. To that end, an anomalous noise event detection algorithm based on supervised learning techniques is designed. This paper describes the recording campaign conducted in the two pilot areas of the DYNAMAP project in Rome and Milan, aimed at collecting road traffic and anomalous noise event samples to train the algorithm.

A collection of spherical obstacles in the ball in Euclidean space is said to be avoidable for Brownian motion if there is a positive probability that Brownian motion diffusing from some point in the ball will avoid all the obstacles and reach the boundary of the ball. The centres of the spherical obstacles are generated according to a Poisson point process while the radius of an obstacle is a deterministic function depending only on the distance from the obstacle's centre to the centre of the ball. Lundh has given the name percolation diffusion to this process if avoidable configurations are generated with positive probability. An integral condition for percolation diffusion is derived in terms of the intensity of the Poisson point process and the function that determines the radii of the obstacles.

Treball de recerca realitzat per alumnes d’ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit científic del Jovent l’any 2008. Els ultrasons són la franja de freqüències de so pel damunt de 20 kHz que ja no poden ser escoltades per l’oïda humana, però si per altres animals i es poden detectar amb instruments adeqüats. Es presenta un estudi experimental sobre els ultrasons tant en l’àmbit de la física com en el de la química, amb materials senzills.

Treball de recerca realitzat per un alumne d’ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit científic del Jovent l’any 2008. L’objectiu d’aquest treball ha estat l’aplicació pràctica dels mètodes d’anàlisi del so a l’estudi de cants de diversos individus d’una espècie d’ocell, el tallarol de casquet, per arribar al reconeixement tant d’aquesta espècie com dels diferents individus enregistrats. El treball consta de dues parts: una primera part pràctica que inclou la gravació dels cants a la natura, la seva classificació i anàlisi, i una segona del seu estudi a través dels sonogrames aplicant criteris físics i l’extracció de conclusions.

Sir James Lighthill proposed in 1992 that acoustic streaming (AS) within the mammalian cochlea could play a role in the transmission of acoustic signals to the auditory sensory cells. Microelectromechanical devices for mixing and pumping, based on the acoustic streaming effect were introduced in the mid 1990s. Nature may have preceded this invention by 2.7Gyr. We believe that acoustic streaming produced by nanometer scale membrane vibrations is widespread in cell biology. Flows generated by acoustic streaming could be produced along the ''raphes'' (central channels) of silica coated diatoms. Other possible instances are yeast cells and erythrocytes whose membranes generate nanoscale vibrations. We hypothesize that some of the most ancient organisms use acoustic streaming not only for self-propulsion but also to enhance their nutrient uptake. In this paper we focus on a motile strain of Synechococcus, a cyanobacterium whose mechanism for self-propulsion is not known. The calculations presented here show that a traveling surface acoustic wave (SAW) could account for the observed velocities. These SAWs would also produce a non-negligible Stokes layer surrounding the cell, motion within this region being essentially chaotic. Therefore, an AS mechanism would be biologically advantageous, enhancing localized diffusion processes and consequently, chemical reactions. Finally, we discuss possible experiments to support (or rule out) the AS model vs. other contending explanations for Synechococcus locomotion.

An objective way to obtain consonant visemes for any given Spanish speaking person is proposed. Its face is recorded while speaking a balanced set of sentences and stored as an audiovisual sequence. Visual and auditory modes are segmented by allophones and a distance matrix is built to find visually similar perceived allophones. Results show high correlation with tedious subjective earlier evaluations regardless of being in English. In addition, estimation between modes is also studied, revealing a tradeoff between performances in both modes: given a set of auditory groups and another of visual ones for each grouping criteria, increasing the estimation performance of one mode is translated to decreasing that of the other one. Moreover, the tradeoff is very similar (

En el trabajo se definen modelos constitutivos que permiten reproducir el proceso de fallo de estructuras de materiales compuestos en distintas escalas bajo cargas estáticas. Se define un modelo constitutivo para determinar la respuesta de estructuras de materiales compuestos mediante la teoría de laminados. El modelo es validado mediante un programa de ensayos experimentales con probetas con un agujero central geométricamente similares. Se muestra la capacidad del modelo de detectar el efecto tamaño.Se define un modelo constitutivo para materiales transversalmente isótropos bajo estados tridimensionales de tensión. El modelo se valida analizando numéricamente el proceso de agrietamiento de la matriz. Finalmente se desarrolla un modelo analítico para determinar el agrietamiento de la matriz y la delaminación entre las capas., In this contribution a set of constitutive models are defined to reproduce the damage processes that takes place in laminated composites until failure at different scales under static loads.A damage model is defined to determine the structural response of composite structures by means of laminated theory. The validation of this model is done by comparing the numerical results with an experimental program on open hole test specimens. The ability of the model to reproduce the size effect in laminated composite is demostrated.A damage model for a transversely isotropic material under tridimentional stress states is defined. It is numerically validated analysing the process of matrix cracking in multidirectional composites.Finally an analytical model is defined that describes the onset and evolution of matrix cracking and delamination .

Molts sistemes mecànics existents tenen un comportament vibratori funcionalment perceptible, que es posa de manifest enfront d'excitacions transitòries. Normalment, les vibracions generades segueixen presents després del transitori (vibracions residuals), i poden provocar efectes negatius en la funció de disseny del mecanisme. El mètode que es proposa en aquesta tesi té com a objectiu principal la síntesi de lleis de moviment per reduir les vibracions residuals. Addicionalment, els senyals generats permeten complir dues condicions definides per l'usuari (anomenats requeriments funcionals). El mètode es fonamenta en la relació existent entre el contingut freqüencial d'un senyal transitori, i la vibració residual generada, segons sigui l'esmorteïment del sistema. Basat en aquesta relació, i aprofitant les propietats de la transformada de Fourier, es proposa la generació de lleis de moviment per convolució temporal de polsos. Aquestes resulten formades per trams concatenats de polinomis algebraics, cosa que facilita la seva implementació en entorns numèrics per mitjà de corbes B-spline. Many mechanical systems have a vibratory behavior, functionally noticeable, which can be raised when transient excitations happen. Usually, such generated vibrations remain in the system after this transient (residual vibrations), and may imply negative effects in the mechanism's intended function. The method proposed in this thesis has as main objective, the synthesis of excitation signals for mechanical systems in order to reduce residual vibrations. In addition, generated signals are able to achieve two conditions defined by the user related to function of the mechanism (called functional requirements). This method is based on the relationship between the frequency contents of the transient signal and the residual vibration generated, depending on the system damping. From this relation, and taking advantage of the Fourier transform properties, motion laws are generated through the pulses' time convolution. Resultant laws are made up of algebraic polynomial pieces linked together, which makes them very suitable for implementation with numerical calculus through B-spline curves.

Hem estudiat la influència de la política científica francesa a Espanya entre 1946 i 1964, la seva repercussió a Barcelona i la creació de diverses institucions patrocinades pel govern francès. Hem analitzat els cursos de mecànica quàntica dels anys seixanta que va impartir l’agregat científic francès a Barcelona i que són els primers que presentaven la física teòrica que es practicava als Estats Unit a llicenciats espanyols. Hem analitzat el programa de beques que va permetre estudiar a França a molts estudiants de física catalans. Finalment hem revisat la carrera d’un grup destacat d’aquest físics que van quedar-se a França.

La feina feta en aquest treball de tesis s'ha desenvolupat a partir de tres objectius vertebradors, que fonamentalment són:·El primer dels objectius d'aquest treball de tesis és presentar un recull dels factors que intervenen en l'acústica urbanística: soroll produït pels diferents vehicles, fórmules de predicció de soroll, geometria dels edificis... , tot estudiant els seus efectes en la ciutat de Girona.·Un altre objectiu ha estat desenvolupar uns mètodes numèrics propis, contrastats experimentalment i extrapolables a qualsevol entorn urbanístic, que permetin predir els valors de les pertorbacions acústiques produïdes pels diferents vehicles en diferents situacions, entre els que es destaquen: -Fórmula de predicció del soroll en un entorn urbà i la seva aplicació a Girona.-Càlcul de l'increment de soroll en un carrer provocat per les reflexions de les ones sonores en les façanes dels edificis.-Estudi del nivell de soroll en la boca de la cavitat d'un túnel produït pel pas del ferrocarril.-Determinació del soroll provocat pel pas d'un tren sobre un viaducte.-Mètode de distribució i planificació del trànsit urbà per disminuir l'impacte acústic sobre la zona.·El darrer objectiu consisteix en fer una descripció analítica de les principals fonts de soroll que afecten a la ciutat: el trànsit viari i el ferrocarril.Per realitzar aquests objectius s'ha disposat d'un banc de dades amb més de 2.000 mesures sonores de Girona (nivells equivalents de 10 minuts de durada). La metodologia seguida i els principis en que es fonamenta es detallen a l'inici de cada apartat. La finalitat de tots aquests estudis, no és altre que millorar el confort acústic, i la qualitat de vida, de les ciutats. Gairebé tots els grans nuclis de població del planeta es veuen afectats per una gravíssima problemàtica mediambiental, doncs a l'anomenada contaminació acústica cal afegir uns alts índexs de pol·lució atmosfèrica (altes concentracions de biòxid de carboni, generació d'illes de calor...). Aquesta situació, generalitzada arreu del planeta, ha propiciat l'aparició de mesures dràstiques consistents fonamentalment en restringir l'accés dels vehicles motoritzats als nuclis i zones centrals de les àrees urbanes. Precisament aquesta opció s'ha proposat per les zones interiors de Girona on l'elevada densitat de les edificacions deixa un escàs marge per plantejar la construcció de noves rutes o vies alternatives.Cal esmentar que tots els càlculs i teories que es desenvolupen en aquest treball de tesis reflecteixen la realitat acústica actual provocada pels diferents mitjans de transport. Molt possiblement, en un futur no massa llunyà, els nivells de soroll (dB) enregistrats en situacions de tràfic similar seran força menors. Són molts els factors que poden contribuir a aquesta disminució de la intensitat de les emissions sonores: reducció del fregament mecànic, augment del coeficient aerodinàmic, nous materials pels pneumàtics i l'asfalt ... Sense cap mena de dubte, però, una millora transcendental, i no només pel que fa al confort acústic sinó per l'ecosistema en general, seria potenciar la construcció de motors elèctrics o d'hidrogen. Aquests últims per exemple, a diferència dels motors de combustió, funcionen mitjançant piles de combustible que converteixen, amb molta netedat, el gas hidrogen en electricitat i possibiliten l'existència de vehicles no contaminants propulsats per motors elèctrics menys sorollosos. Així, al haver-hi menys fregament entre les parts mòbils del motor (no hi ha pistons ni cilindres) el soroll generat es reduiria considerablement., This thesis has been made considering three main objectives:The first one is to explain the main factors involved in noise generation and prediction: traffic and railway noise, noise prediction models, buildings geometry... This study has been applied to the city of Girona.The second objective has been develope our own numerical methods, experimentally contrasted and applicable to any urban area, to predict the noise level produced by the vehicles in different situations.The last objective consist in analize the main noise sources in the city, especially traffic and railway noise.To achieve this objectives a large data bank with approximately 2000 noise measures (equivalent sound levels) has been used. The aim of this work is to improve the quality of life, reducing the sound pressure levels.Almost all the big cities are affected by serious acoustical problems. To the so called "acoustic contamination" there are other, direct or indirectly, related environmental problems like atmospheric pollution levels. This situation is common around the planet and has propitiated the application of several restriction measures applied to traffic flow in certain urban areas. This solution has been proposed and studied from different points of view in the city of Girona.

El chorro plano es una configuración resultante de la interacción de dos capas de corte simétricas, paralelas y de diferente signo de vorticidad. Se trata de un flujo de gran interés práctico por sus aplicaciones directas en procesos industriales y medioambientales.Este trabajo que se presenta analiza la interacción entre las estructuras de flujo y el transporte de materia en el chorro plano. El estudio realizado demuestra que el flujo aguas abajo está determinado por las condiciones en la región de entrada del chorro. Así, mediante perturbaciones artificiales en la entrada se puede determinar la posterior evolución de las estructuras características del flujo. Este control permite aumentar y disminuir el consumo de especies químicas en un sistema reactivo en el chorro. Escogiendo las perturbaciones adecuadas en la entrada del dominio, se puede conseguir influenciar en desarrollo de la reacción química a lo largo del chorro y obtener una conversión deseada lejos del punto donde el flujo ha sido perturbado.Para realizar este trabajo, se ha desarrollado un código de simulación de dinámica de fluidos con el lenguaje de programación Fortran 90 y bajo la interficie de envío de mensajes (MPI) entre procesadores. Este programa informático resuelve numéricamente las ecuaciones de transporte de cantidad de movimiento, energía y materia en un dominio computacional rectangular y abierto. Con las condiciones de contorno implementadas se puede incorporar fluido externo y las recirculaciones del flujo pueden salir del dominio, reproduciendo el comportamiento físico real del chorro en un dominio infinito.Las ecuaciones están discretizadas mediante diferentes esquemas: en los términos convectivos se ha utilizado un esquema QUICK de segundo orden, para los difusivos un esquema centrado y para los temporales un esquema Adams-Bashfort. Para el transporte de materia y energía se ha utilizado un esquema centrado con la corrección ULTIMATE de Leonard para los términos convectivos, ya que este esquema corrige las inestabilidades y falsas oscilaciones del transporte altamente convectivo cuando existen fuertes gradientes.El código ha sido paralelizado para poder ejecutarse en máquinas multicomputadoras.El dominio computacional se divide entre los procesadores y cada uno resuelve las 1 ecuaciones discretizadas sobre los nodos de una región determinada. Para intercambiar datos entre los diferentes procesadores se utilizan los comandos de la librería MPI (Message Passing Interface). Los resultados demuestran que hay una gran mejora en el tiempo de cálculo y que se puede conseguir una buena eficiencia si se compara con un código secuencial optimizado.Para evaluar los efectos de las perturbaciones artificiales sobre el campo de velocidades y caracterizar las estructuras coherentes se han realizado una serie de simulaciones bidimensionales a Reynolds 7000. En estos casos se han considerando chorros planos débiles, es decir, con una velocidad de flujo co-corriente alto. De esta manera la zona de autosimilitud se aleja de la entrada y se puede centrar el análisis sobre la región inicial del chorro. Con las simulaciones computacionales realizadas se ha evaluado detalladamente la influencia de las perturbaciones sobre el flujo, demostrando que las estructuras coherentes son periódicas en el tiempo.En estos casos también se ha estudiado el efecto que producen el número de Schmidt, Strouhal y Damk®ohler sobre la conversión de la reacción química en chorros con y sin premezcla de reactivos. Se ha comprobado que determinadas frecuencias de perturbaciones facilitan la formación de estructuras coherentes que mejoran la mezcla y aumentan la conversión de la reacción. También se ha demostrado la poca influencia del término difusivo ya que el flujo está fuertemente dominado por el transporte convectivo. Implementado en el código la técnica de simulación de grandes escalas con el modelo de Smagorinsky, se ha estudiado un chorro plano tridimensional turbulento a Reynolds 3000. En este caso la velocidad del _flujo co-corriente se ha escogido pequeña para obtener la región de autosimilitud cerca de la entrada y dentro del dominio computacional.Además, el chorro se ha inestabilizado aplicando un pequeño ruido en la entrada. Los resultados obtenidos para el campo dinámico presentan gran concordancia con los experimentales disponibles en la bibliografía y siguen el patrón de la zona de autosimilitud.Se ha analizado el sistema reactivo bajo estas condiciones, estudiando la evolución de la conversión en las regiones de régimen de transición y turbulento. Se ha demostrado que el gran número de estructuras existentes en la región turbulenta del campo instantáneo facilita la mezcla entre las especies químicas aumentado la conversión de los reactivos.

Un dels aspectes dels fluxos turbulents que s'ha tractat amb més interès en els últims anys, és l'estudi de l'existència de moviments de gran escala, repetitius i que presenten una certa organització. Aquests moviments són el que s'ha anomenat estructura coherent. El present treball intenta aportar una visió més complerta de les estructures coherents en l'estela llunyana turbulenta generada per un cilindre escalfat per una resistència interna. Amb aquesta finalitat s'han realitzat una sèrie d'experiments, emprant tècniques d'anemometria de fil calent, en el túnel aerodinàmic de baixa turbulència de l'E.T.S. d'Enginyeria Química. Aquests experiments han proporcionat dades de temperatura i dels tres components de la velocitat en l'estela llunyana turbulenta (x/D=150). Aquestes dades s'han analitzat emprant un mètode de reconeixement de formes condicional que empra les fluctuacions de temperatura com a marcador del pas de les estructures coherents. El primer resultat de les anàlisis realitzades ha estat la confirmació de que l'estructura predominant en el pla horitzontal (homogeni) de l'estela és una circulació doble amb fluctuacions negatives del component longitudinal de la velocitat en el centre. De fet aquesta estructura és la que va predir Grant (1958) i en la que s'han recolzat multitud d'estudis posteriors (Mumford, 1983; Ferré, 1986). Per altra banda, amb l'aplicació del mètode de reconeixement de formes condicional, s'ha obtingut una visió tridimensional del camp dinàmic de l'estructura relacionant-lo amb el camp tèrmic, el de vorticitat i el de la velocitat de deformació. Un resultat interessant de les anàlisis anteriors és la relació existent entre el camp tèrmic i el camp dinàmic de l'estructura. Aquesta relació es pot resumir dient que existeix una correlació negativa entre el component longitudinal de les fluctuacions de la velocitat, u, i les fluctuacions de temperatura, θ. Es a dir, a u negatives li corresponen θ positives. En canvi existeix una correlació positiva entre el component lateral de la velocitat, v, i les fluctuacions de la temperatura. Un segon grup de resultats, obtinguts de les anàlisis realitzades, són els que fan referència al contingut energètic de l'estructura i a l'intercanvi d'energia entre les diferents escales de la turbulència. En primer lloc s'ha analitzat el contingut energètic de les finestres de dades seleccionades per obtenir la mitjana de conjunt de l'estructura, observant-se que encara que representen el 40% de les dades totals, aquestes sumen més del 60% de l'energia associada, el que implica que les finestres seleccionades són més important energèticament que la resta.També s'ha obtingut la distribució dels diferents termes de la producció, que informen de l'intercanvi d'energia entre les diferents escales de la turbulència, es a dir entre el camp mitjà, el camp coherent i el camp incoherent. També es mostren les distribucions de la dissipació i de la funció indicadora d'escala fina (FSTIF). Amb aquest resultats, s'ha pogut analitzar com i quan l'estructura guanya i/o perd energia.Per últim s'ha realitzat un esquema tridimensional de l'estructura, relacionant-la amb els processos d' engoliment i amb el flux que l'envolta., One of the topics emphasized in the study of turbulent flows in the last few years has been the identification of large scale organized motions called coherent structures. The present work extends the knowledge of the coherent structures in free turbulence by examining the far wake (x/D=150) of a heated cylinder at a Reynolds number of 9700. Multi-probe experiments carried out using hot- and cold-wire anemometry in a low turbulence wind tunnel, measuring temperature and the three velocity components simultaneously in time. The data were analyzed using a conditional pattern recognition technique. Basically, events in the temperature field were used to identify the velocity patterns of the coherent structures. Specifically, the pattern recognition software searched for hot-to-cold transitions in the temperature field. In the horizontal planes, the typical footprint identified with the temperature transitions was a double roller eddy with negative streamwise fluctuations in its centre plane. This eddy is similar to that identified by Grant (1958) with correlation measurements and is the origin for a large number of later investigations (Munford, 1983; Ferré, 1986). The present work shows that, in fact, this double roller structure is part of a larger structure which is shaped like a horseshoe.The use of the conditional pattern recognition technique allows one to obtain the three-dimensional velocity field that characterizes the coherent structure, and its relationship to the temperature field. It was found that the correlation between the temperature fluctuations and the streamwise velocity fluctuations is negative, while the correlation between the same temperature fluctuations and the lateral velocity fluctuations is positive. In addition, it was observed that the individual horseshoe structures occupy at least 40% of the flow and that these structures contain 60% of the turbulent kinetic energy. Thus, the parts of the flow selected by the technique are more energetic that the mean. As well, the role of the coherent structures in the exchange of energy between different turbulent scales, the mean, the coherent field and the incoherent field has been identified. The distributions of the fine scale turbulence and the dissipation were also investigated relative to the horseshoe structure. These results provide information about where and when the structure gains and loses energy. It was found that the majority of the production and dissipation of fine-scale turbulence occur in the central portion of the three-dimensional horseshoe structure.

Disseny d'un ascensor elèctric per a 4 persones en un edifici d'edificació antiga, per tal de suplir les necessitats de movilitat de la gent gran i disminuïda. Compliment de la normativa UNE EN-81 del Reglament RAE espanyol.

Estudi científic sobre l’acústica d’una taula doblement recolzada i la seva aplicació a la txalaparta. Després d’un experiment destructor amb Iroko (Clorophora excelsa) es va trobar la relació matemàtica que definia la freqüència fonamental pròpia d’una taula en funció de la seva pròpia longitud. Es van estudiar els principis acústics que definien el so de la txalaparta a demés de proposar un model de txalaparta afinada basat en les relacions obtingudes. S’estableixen unes bases d’experimentació