Proyectos

El objetivo de la presente propuesta es investigar el desarrollo de competencias profesionales de estudiantes UOH de Ingeniería Civil Mecánica a través de acciones de intervención mediante diseño ágil y fabricación e investigación mediante técnicas de psicología cognitiva y análisis de contenido.

El objetivo de la presente propuesta es investigar el desarrollo de competencias profesionales de estudiantes UOH de Ingeniería Civil Mecánica a través de acciones de intervención mediante diseño ágil y fabricación e investigación mediante técnicas de psicología cognitiva y análisis de contenido.

La contaminación ambiental extradomiciliaria es un importante problema de salud ambiental ya que es responsable del 7,6% de la mortalidad anual total y de la pérdida de 103,1 millones de años de vida saludable. Entre algunos de los efectos adversos que se han reportado para el Material Particulado, uno de los principales contaminantes, se encuentran aumento en la mortalidad, morbilidad, muerte prematura, enfermedades cardiovasculares y respiratorias, cáncer de pulmón, impacto adverso en la actividad del sistema nervioso central que resulta en deterioro cognitivo, y efectos nocivos sobre el desarrollo fetal y el embarazo, afectando mayormente a grupos más vulnerables. Si bien, a nivel global, se cuentan con estrategias y criterios de monitoreo de calidad del aire para identificar la concentración de los contaminantes relacionados con la salud, es posible que estos no permitan analizar con mayor profundidad las diferencias en la distribución geográfica de los contaminantes y su impacto en poblaciones específicas. En ese sentido, el presente proyecto tiene el objetivo de establecer una metodología para la generación de un mapa confiable de la contaminación del aire a partir de una red de monitoreo, el cual permita correlacionar de manera más precisa a través de modelos de interpolación, la contaminación del aire con los problemas de salud respiratorio de las personas del sector considerado, hacer una validación de la metodología propuesta con un programa piloto en un área a determinar de la comuna de Rancagua y realizar divulgación de resultados en colegios y jardines de la región con la finalidad de generar un debate más amplio y democrático sobre tanto de prácticas personales así como de las nuevas políticas relacionadas con la contaminación del aire. Para esto se propone emplear diversos métodos propios de cada disciplina. Primeramente, se estimará un radio máximo de cobertura de un sensor dentro del cual se garantice cierto grado de confianza (Variograma empírico) respecto de los valores entregados por el sensor como promedios representativos, para así determinar el tamaño/forma del área geográfica total donde instalar la red de sensores (Obj 1). Con esta información se determinará una configuración inicial de los sensores en un área geográfica determinada considerando la capacidad de la red, usando como ubicación potencial establecimientos educativos. Luego se hará un análisis estadístico con los datos proporcionados por la red y por sensores móviles para determinar una nueva configuración que maximice la confianza de la nueva interpolación. Una vez instalados los sensores y a partir de los datos entregados por ellos se escogerá una nueva configuración a través de un análisis estadístico de covarianzas (Obj 2). Además, se realizará un estudio ecológico para correlacionar las mediciones de contaminación de aire y algunos indicadores de salud respiratoria y atención de salud considerando distintos puntos geográficos de la sexta región (Obj 3). Finalmente, el proyecto desarrollará un plan de educación ambiental para concientizar sobre el tema y favorecer el cambio de comportamientos a nivel individual y comunitario (Obj 4). Con este proyecto se espera abordar con una visión interdisciplinaria un tema que es de especial preocupación en la región, como es la contaminación ambiental, fortaleciendo esta línea de investigación tanto en el instituto de ingeniería como en el de Salud, involucrando de forma activa también a estudiantes de pregrado.

URO 2295. El Ministerio de Educación a través del Departamento de Fortalecimiento Institucional de la Subsecretaria de Educación Superior financia proyectos que permitan contribuir al desarrollo social y territorial, a nivel local y/o regional, a través de la generación compartida de conocimientos, oportunidades de desarrollo y/o beneficios entre las instituciones de educación superior y los actores sociales, tanto públicos como privados. En este contexto, este proyecto busca generar estrategias eficaces – con la comunidad y distintos actores sociales de la región – y basadas en la evidencia que aborden el aumento de la prevalencia de enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles a través de la mejora de los patrones de actividad física y alimentarios de la población regional. Objetivo general: Fortalecer las estrategias comunitarias de promoción de la salud, prevención y tratamiento temprano y oportuno de enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles en la Región de O’Higgins con foco en actividad física y nutrición saludable

North-central Chile and south-east France are facing semi-arid and Mediterranean climates, respectively. In addition to being historically exposed to water supply challenges, these regions are sensitive to climate change, which is increasing aridity. Thus, the pressure on water resources to meet domestic, agricultural and industrial demands is high and growing. As precipitation in these regions is low and highly variable, the water stored underground is a key adjustment variable to mitigate years with low precipitation. Hence, groundwater resources need to be carefully managed in order to secure water supply in the years and decades to come. To tackle this challenge, this project aims to develop geophysical characterization and groundwater modeling approaches to support sustainable groundwater management. The main objective of the project is to produce key information about groundwater for water resources planners in semi-arid and Mediterranean areas such as in north-central Chile and southeast France. This objective will be achieved by training students and young researchers in state-of-the-art technologies such as the Magnetic Resonance Sounding (MRS) geophysical method and the WEAP-MODFLOW integrated water resources modeling framework.

Proyecto de investigación básica en procesos de arrastre estocásticos.

Society is facing an unprecedented challenge in terms of combining sustainability, economic growth and technological development. The industry has tackled these demands by developing novel products and innovative service strategies, taking the maximum advantage of the installed capabilities and cutting edge technologies. Steel industry has taken the lead by supporting internal research and scientific collaborations worldwide, enabling an ever increasing number of scientific developments. Steel plays a major role as the backbone material of civilization for a number of reasons, namely (i) abundance, (ii) relatively cheap, (iii) wide range of properties and applications, (iv) 100% recyclable, (v) potential to improve in-service performance. In the framework of (v), the current proposal aims to provide new grades of steel by means of chemical patterning of austenite. The concept of austenite patterning consists in producing layers in the microstructure with a chemical composition different from the bulk composition, via specific alloying elements and thermal cycles. These layers, after fully austenitization, deliver transformation products on cooling different than expected from the average austenite, allowing a new degree of freedom for tailoring of microstructures. So far there is only one scientific paper on the subject, which has reported outstanding mechanical strength (ultimate) of ca. 2 GPa, with uniform elongations of 7% in a lamellar martensite-austenite microstructure in a single 0.51C-4.35Mn steel. The present proposal sets a detailed working plan to investigate the impact of the initial microstructure and thermal path upon the chemical patterning of austenite in a number of different steel chemistries. The aim is two-folded: to analize the evolution of the phase transformations at different stages of the process as a function of the initial microstructure and heat-treatment parameters, and to gain fundamental insights on the mechanical behavior of the new steel grades. It is hypothesized that the correct interplay of the parameters mentioned above can yield optimized final microstructures with enhanced in-service performance.The methodology incorporates up-to-date assessment tools of thermodynamic equilibria and kinetics (ThermoCalc & Dictra) in selected steel chemistries, accurate tracking of phase transformations via Dilatometry experiments, in-depth characterization of the microstructure and mechanical properties and insitu/ex-situ ultrasound probing of tensile test specimens to better understand the hardening mechanisms. The experimental results will be compared with modeling strategies for both phase transformations and mechanical behavior. The expected results of the proposal will be of interest to the scientific community due to the novelty of the experimental concept and the potential contribution to the understanding of structure-property relations. Else, the findings will be of significance for the design of structural parts, such as high strength and impact toughness for car body crash worthiness. In the case of Chilean mining industry, wear and impact wear resistance are potential applications of the new steel grades to be tested. The proposal is lay out within a novel cooperation framework between a group of specialists on specific aspects of materials science (phase transformations in steel, constitutive modeling, ultrasound probing), oriented to contribute to the fundamental understanding of the microstructure-property relations resulting from chemical patterning of austenite. Additionally, three universities and one industrial partner (University of Twente, The Nederland, Gent University, Belgium; University of Alberta, Canada; and ME Elecmetal, Chile-US, respectively) are supporting the proposal with resources such as workshops, sample preparation, specific characterization techniques, software for post-processing, among others.

Ensure a secure and sustainable energy and mineral supply is a major challenge for the 21th century. Understanding the nature and evolution of hydrothermal systems can contribute to that aim by improving the effectiveness of exploration strategies for geothermal energy and precious metal epithermal deposits. Studies bridging together geochemistry and structural geology have shown that fault activity plays a critical role on fluid circulation and fluid chemical composition in hydrothermal systems. Despite the relevance of processes affecting the chemical and physical dimensions in such dynamic systems, little is known about the residence times of fluids and its metal budget in different structural contexts. Into this framework, fundamental questions arise regarding the optimal conditions leading to the development of high enthalpy geothermal resources and the formation of epithermal deposits: What is the structural control on the sources and concentration of base metals in hydrothermal fluids? How does the structural context affect the water residence times in hydrothermal systems? How does the meteoric recharge affect the geothermal systems in different structural domains? An ideal natural laboratory to address these questions is the Andean Cordillera of Central-Southern Chile, where hydrothermal systems occur in close spatial relationship with active volcanism as well as major seismically-active fault systems. Recent studies based on fluid geochemistry and noble gases isotopic composition have shown that the intersection of structural features promotes both the accumulation formation of magmatic/hydrothermal reservoir in the upper crust exerting a first-order control on hydrothermal fluid composition by conditioning residence times of magmas, promoting magma differentiation and separation of magmatic vapors. However, how similar processes are involved on residence times and metal budget of hydrothermal fluids remains unconstrained. We propose a geochemical and multi-isotopic study that integrates state-of-the-art analytical techniques to unravel the circulation times and base metals contribution from magma degassing and water- rock interaction in two volcano-tectonic settings in Southern Andes, i) the arc parallel strike-slip Liquiñe- Ofqui Fault System (LOFS) and ii) the intersection between the LOFS structures and the Andean Transverse Fault (ATF). I will integrate major and trace elements (e.g., Cu, Pb, Zn, among others) geochemistry of hot springs with water dating systems (3H-3He, 14C, U-Th/4He), noble gas (3He/4He; 40Ar/36Ar, 4He/20Ne), strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and water stable (𝛿!"𝑂, 𝛿 #𝐻) isotopes to identify the circulation times, recharge condition and metal budget of hydrothermal systems. This study will be the first to directly measure the residence times and metals contents of hydrothermal fluids in the Southern Andes of Chile. The results from the study will contribute to a better understanding of the fundamental geological and environmental controls on the evolution of hydrothermal systems. The data will directly impact the community exploring for geothermal energy in the Andes because it will help them to better constrain the formation and recharge times of geothermal reservoirs. In addition, this will be an original contribution that will impact the general geochemical science community, as no data exists on the links between residence times of hydrothermal fluids and the structural context.

This project will consider the design of Stochastic MPC strategies based Computational Intelligence techniques such as fuzzy models and neural networks, but focusing on achieving theoretical properties such as stability and feasibility, increasing computation speed, and can use control policies. This is novel in that these properties are hardly ever obtained when using nonlinear models in SMPC. Additionally, we will aim to systematize the stability and convergence analyses. These developments will be validated on applications such as irrigation systems, climatization systems, microgrids. This is expected to improve the performance of existing control methods for systems with stochastic uncertainty, and enable the design of advanced control systems where the lack of guarantees or slow computation does not permit the implementation of advanced control systems. Additionally, the development of ad-hoc controllers based on SMPC with RL for Electric Vehicle Routing will be tackled in this research. This controller will be tackled following principles particularly selected for this application since stability is not a major concern here because of the finite horizon for every day of operation.

PROPOSAL ABSTRACT: Cyber-attacks in modular multilevel converters (MMCs) Cyber-attacks on electrical systems are a major concern to many countries as they can have significant impacts on social well-being and economic prosperity. Recent examples of such attacks are (i) the cyber-attacks that targeted the supervisory control data acquisition (SCADA) system of the Ukrainian power grid, causing a power outage that affected approximately 225,000 customers, (ii) the cyber-attack that occurred in 2019 in Venezuela, affecting the power supply of Caracas city, and (iii) the cyber-attacks that affected battery control systems in Korea, resulting in fire and damage. These examples show that cyber-attacks can significantly affect the normal operation of electrical systems and have motivated much research around the world. Much of the published research deals with cyber-attack issues in electrical systems such as microgrids, smart grids and modern power systems. However, cyber-attacks in modular multilevel converters (MMCs) have received limited attention: a recent letter (2021, see introduction section) is the only article published in this area so far. The MMC is deemed to be a prominent solution for medium to high-voltage and high-power applications, with several commercial converters adopting this approach and numerous projects worldwide using this topology. This project aims to investigate cyber-attack issues in the MMC control system and addresses the lack of investigation in this area. In particular, this research will consider the MMC in the context of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems since this topology is a promising solution to transfer power over long distances. It has been widely used in commercial projects (Trans Bay Cable, Dolwin2, Nano3-terminal DC grid, etc.). In this project, distributed control schemes for controlling the MMC are considered. For this control approach, low-level control tasks are distributed among local controllers placed in the MMC submodules, while high-level control tasks are undertaken by a central controller. The computational burden for the central controller is therefore reduced. The distributed architecture is chosen since the MMC for HVDC applications requires a high number of submodules (SMs). In this case, if the traditional centralised control scheme is used, where a central controller is in charge of processing all the information required for implementing the whole control system, the execution time may not be sufficient for each control cycle to perform all the control tasks, limiting the modularity, flexibility and expandability of this topology (in terms of software development). This project will investigate and quantify the impacts, in terms of operation and stability, of the type of cyber-attack named “false data injection attacks” (FDIAs ) on distributed control systems used for MMCs. Particular focus will be centred on designing strategies for detecting these cyber-attacks and locating the vulnerable sub-modules in the MMC. Also, novel cyber-attack-resilient distributed control schemes will be proposed. It must be pointed out that all the methods derived in this project will be validated through simulation and experimental results. To this end, the cyber-attack detection methods will be based on state observers (Kalman filter, particle filter, etc.) and artificial intelligence (AI) based observers. Note that these detection methods should operate in a distributed architecture, meaning the state estimation should be performed based on partial information of the system. They should be able to be implemented on the SMs local controllers. Finally, once the cyber-attacks are identified, control schemes to neutralise those attacks will be investigated, generating cyber-attack-resilient distributed control schemes for the MMC. The objectives of this proposal are (i) Analyse and quantify the effects of cyber-attacks on the standard distributed control strategies proposed for MMCs and the ones recently proposed based on the consensus theory, (ii) Design distributed methods for the detection of the cyber-attacks considered in this project, (iii) Design of cyber-attacks-resilient distributed control schemes for the MMC, and (iv) Implement an experimental rig for testing and validate the proposals derived from this research. Since there is no literature regarding cyber-attacks in MMCs, the literature review will be focused on work dealing with cyber-attacks on other electrical systems such as microgrids, smart grid and modern power systems. The aim will be to determine if the techniques proposed for these systems can be adapted for the MMC. A similar approach will be followed to address cyber-attack-resilient distributed control schemes. The main contributions of this project will be: 1. The project will provide the foundation for research into cyber-attacks in MMC, as so far, there is very little information in the literature on this topic. Note that cyber-attacks are a hot topic in other electrical systems. Thus it should be investigated for the MMC. 2. Novel distributed methods for detecting cyber-attacks in MMCs will be proposed and validated through simulations and experiment. 3. Novel cyber-attack-resilient distributed control schemes for the MMC will be proposed and validated through simulations and experiment. 4. An experimental rig to analyse and validate the points mentioned above will be designed and built. It will be composed of a central controller and local controllers placed in each SM of the MMC.