Thermodynamics Commons^™

Outstanding Advantages, Current Drawbacks, And Significant Recent Developments In Mechanochemistry: A Perspective View, Silvina Pagola

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Although known since antiquity, mechanochemistry has remained dormant for centuries. Nowadays, mechanochemistry is a flourishing research field at the simultaneous stages of gathering data and (often astonishing) observations, and scientific argumentation toward their analysis, for which the combination of interdisciplinary expertise is necessary. Mechanochemistry’s implementation as a synthetic method is constantly increasing, although it remains far from being fully exploited, or understood on the basis of fundamental principles. This review starts by describing many remarkable advantages of mechanochemical reactions, simplifying and “greening” chemistry in solutions. This description is followed by an overview of the current main weaknesses to be addressed …

Fugacity-Based Lattice Boltzmann Method For Multicomponent Multiphase Systems, Muzammil Soomro, Luis F. Ayala, Cheng Peng, Orlando M. Ayala

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The free-energy model can extend the lattice Boltzmann method to multiphase systems. However, there is a lack of models capable of simulating multicomponent multiphase fluids with partial miscibility. In addition, existing models cannot be generalized to honor thermodynamic information provided by any multicomponent equation of state of choice. In this paper, we introduce a free-energy lattice Boltzmann model where the forcing term is determined by the fugacity of the species, the thermodynamic property that connects species partial pressure to chemical potential calculations. By doing so, we are able to carry out multicomponent multiphase simulations of partially miscible fluids and generalize …

Operation And Preliminary Energy Balance Of A Portable Kelp Dryer In Maine, Tuqa Al-Asadi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Seaweed (macroalgae) is a marine resource that has a high economic value. Seaweeds are important commodities as raw material for food or additives and as a source of biomass. One popular species of seaweed is Sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima) – a brown algae that is native to the Maine coast and also a commonly farmed species. It is a rich source of fibers, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Seaweeds are highly perishable due to their high moisture content and will spoil quickly if not preserved, therefore a common practice is to dry the product to prolong storage life and to minimize …

Generation Of Phase Transitions Boundaries Via Convolutional Neural Networks, Christopher Alexis Ibarra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Accurate mapping of phase transitions boundaries is crucial in accurately modeling the equation of state of materials. The phase transitions can be structural (solid-solid) driven by temperature or pressure or a phase change like melting which defines the solid-liquid melt line. There exist many computational methods for evaluating the phase diagram at a particular point in temperature (T) and pressure (P). Most of these methods involve evaluation of a single (P,T) point at a time. The present work partially automates the search for phase boundaries lines utilizing a machine learning method based on convolutional neural networks and an efficient search …

Elucidation Of Active Site And Mechanism Of Metal Catalysts Supported In Nu-1000, Hafeera Shabbir

All Dissertations

Advances in extraction of shale oil and gas has increased the production of geographically stranded natural gas (primarily consisting of methane (C1) and ethane (C2)) that is burned on site. A potential utilization strategy for shale gas is to convert it into fuel range hydrocarbons by catalytic dehydrogenation followed by oligomerization by direct efficient catalysts. This work focuses on understanding metal cation catalysts supported on metal-organic framework (MOF) NU-1000 that will actively and selectively do this transformation under mild reaction conditions, while remaining stable to deactivation (via metal agglomeration or sintering). I built computational models validated by experimental methods to …

Detectability Of Wormholes Through Various Methods, Jonathan W. Keathley

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

There are three methods that can possibly detect wormholes: Negative Temperature, Hawking/ Phantom Radiation, and Kα iron emission lines. This paper discusses whether or not any of these three methods are useful ways to detect wormholes with today’s technology and if so, which one is the best and which is the worst. As it turns out, all of these methods have their flaws and impracticalities. After looking through all the evidence and comparing it to what capabilities we have currently, there is clearly a best and worst method. The best method to detect possible wormhole candidates is through the detection …

Droplet-Based Two-Phase Thermal Management, Junhui Li

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The rapid development of electronic systems with ever-higher power densities in a wide range of applications requires new advanced thermal management methods. Droplet-based two-phase thermal management technologies are considered promising solutions to conquer the cooling challenges in the electronic industries. The heat transfer behavior of droplets is based on several important fundamental processes, such as droplet evaporation, droplet impact on heated surfaces, and molten droplet impact. In this dissertation, four research projects are completed to explore the insights of these fundamental processes. For droplet evaporation, I introduce an investigation of diffusion confinement of droplets evaporating on a supported pillar structure. …

Droplet Dynamics And Heat Transfer During Condensation On Lubricant-Infused Surfaces, Jianxing Sun

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Inspired by pitcher plants, a micro/nano- structured solid surface infused with low-surface-tension lubricant constitutes a novel class of biomimetic surfaces—lubricant-infused surfaces (LISs). Unlike solid hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces, a LIS is “hemi-solid and hemi-liquid”. The thin lubricating film can extraordinarily decrease adhesion and avoid contact line pinning between the working fluid and the underlying solid, displaying many desirable properties, such as excellent liquid repellency, suppression of fouling, and self-healing. Hence, LISs are ideal for applications where liquids or contaminants must be efficiently removed from surfaces in harsh environments. For example, LISs can promote stable dropwise condensation of water or low-surface-tension …

Fabrication Of Nb3Sn By Magnetron Sputtering For Superconducting Radiofrequency Application, Md Nizam Sayeed

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Particle accelerators are considered as an important device that has wide applications in cancer treatment, sterilizing waste, preserving foods, ion implantation in semiconductor industry, and in production of isotopes for medical applications. Superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities are the building blocks of a linear particle accelerator. Current particle accelerators use niobium (Nb) superconductors as the sheet material to fabricate a single SRF cavity for particle acceleration. With better superconducting properties (critical temperature T_c ~ 18.3 K, superheating field H_sh~ 400 mT), Nb₃Sn is considered a potential candidate in SRF technology. Magnetron sputtering is a promising deposition …

Study Of Thermoelectric And Lattice Dynamics Properties Of 2d Layered Mx (M = Sn, Pb; X = S, Se, Te) And Zrs2 Compounds Using First-Principles Approach, Abhiyan Pandit

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is the investigation of thermoelectric and lattice dynamics properties of two-dimensional (2D) MX (M = Sn, Pb; X = S, Se, Te) and ZrS2 compounds based on the first-principles density functional theory. The dimensionality reduction (e.g., using 2D structure) of bulk materials is found to have enhanced thermoelectric efficiency. This enhancement is attributed to the increase of the Seebeck coefficient as a result of higher electronic density of states near the Fermi level in low-dimensional materials. In addition, lowering the dimensionality increases phonon scattering near interfaces and surfaces in 2D materials, which leads to a …

The Design And Economic Optimization Of A Warehouse Refrigeration System, Hannah Talbot

Honors Theses

The purpose of this project was to design a cool warehouse refrigeration system for Acme Frozen Foods, Inc located in Newark, New Jersey. The refrigeration system was used to cool eighteen 300,000 ft³ refrigerated units (200 ft x 100 ft x 15 ft), each requiring 200 cooling tons of refrigeration at a level of 0 F. The scope of this project included determining the appropriate refrigeration cycle, selecting the most desirable refrigerant, and temperature ranges to optimize the performance of the system. This project also considered the economic cost of the power needed to run the refrigerated units and …

Optimization Of Styrene From Ethylbenzene Case Study, Jabria Daria Thompson

Honors Theses

The following pages detail the optimization process of styrene from ethylbenzene in the Styrene Production Plant, Unit 500. There were two parts of the assignment, each with slightly different end goals. The goal of the first part of the assignment, was to create a process that would effectively and efficiently increase the negative Net Present Value (NPV) of the production plant. Procedures taken in this process included developing a working kinetic process simulation model and optimizing this model through unit operations and heat integration, as well as developing an accurate economic model that will be used to evaluate the proposed …

Crowd Control: Regulating The Spatial Organization Of Biopolymers And Gene Expression By Macromolecular Crowding, Gaurav Chauhan

Doctoral Dissertations

The intracellular environment is crowded with macromolecules that can occupy a significant fraction of the cellular volume. This can give rise to attractive depletion interactions that impact the conformations and interactions of biopolymers, as well as their interactions with confining surfaces. We used computer simulations to study the effects of crowding on biologically-inspired models of polymers. We showed that crowding can lead to attractive interactions between two flexible ring polymers, and we further characterized the adsorption of both flexible and semiflexible polymers onto confining surfaces. These results indicate that crowding-induced depletion interactions could play a role in the spatial organization …

Phonon Thermodynamics Of Bcc Zirconium With Machine Learning, Vanessa Judith Meraz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

First principles-based simulations have allowed us to explore emerging phenomena in a variety of systems. Its steadfast practicality has led to an increase in molecular and materials design ranging from drug discovery to planetary formation. However ubiquitous in its field, one of its biggest drawbacks is its computational cost, notably so in molecular dynamics simulations. To counter this setback, there have been many leading efforts in machine learning methods, whether it be in algorithms or network architectures. Our contribution uses an active learning algorithm paired with a tensor field network, e3nn. By steadily feeding new data points to our model, …

Free Convection Heat Transfer From Plates, Alexa Moreno

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this honors thesis is to create an experiment for the CHEG Lab I course. This report explains the motivation for creating this heat convection experiment, the results of performing the experiment, and provides recommendations for future work on this experiment. Multiple experiments were performed to assess materials and parameters to be investigated. It was determined that a 0.5” plate has smaller percent error and accommodates for the desired timeframe for a Lab I experiment compared to the first plate used (1.5” thickness). Recommendations for expanding on this project include adding experiments using vertical geometry for heat convection …

Novel Thermal Coating For High-Speed Airplanes, Abinash Satapathy, Lakshay Battu, Liam Watson, Nazanin Rajabi

Symposium of Student Scholars

In comparison to various other materials, Carbon Fiber, specifically Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP), is pre-eminent amongst other materials for use on aeronautical systems. Due to its high specific strength (strength-to-weight ratio), CFRP is prominent for carrying heavy loads while maintaining a lightweight build. However, when influenced by heat resulting from air resistance, CFRP is known to undergo serious degradation that would significantly decrease the effectiveness of the polymers. To prevent this degradation and maintain the strength of the CFRP, thermal protective layers (TPLs) are designed to shield the CFRP from heat exposure. This research is focused on the examination …

Computational Rational Design Of Electrocatalysts For Electrochemical Ammonia And Hydrogen Synthesis, Akash Jain

Doctoral Dissertations

The electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) offer fossil-fuel-free routes for hydrogen and ammonia synthesis, respectively. However, currently, both processes lack suitable electrocatalysts for practical applications. Thus, this dissertation focuses on the computational rational design of HER and NRR electrocatalysts.

HER is most efficiently catalyzed by platinum (Pt), which is expensive. To reduce the catalyst cost, we investigate core-shell nanoparticles of inexpensive tungsten-carbide (WC) and Pt (WC@Pt). Using first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we compare the suitability of two WC phases, α-WC and β-WC as support materials for Pt overlayers. We dope WC with titanium …

Type-B Energetic Processes And Their Associated Scientific Implications, James Weifu Lee

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Recently, our work has identified two thermodynamically distinct types (A and B) of energetic processes naturally occurring on Earth. Type-A energy processes such as the classical heat engines, ATP hydrolysis, and many of the known chemical, electrical, and mechanical processes apparently follow well the second law of thermodynamics; Type-B energy processes, for example, the newly discovered thermotropic function that isothermally utilizes environmental heat energy to do useful work in driving ATP synthesis, follow the first law of thermodynamics (conservation of mass and energy) but do not have to be constrained by the second law, owing to its special asymmetric functions. …

A Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis Of The Temperature And Impurity Profiles In The Protodune-Sp Neutrino Detector, Jenna Harrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of the ProtoDUNE single-phase detector were developed, refined, and analyzed. The ProtoDUNE single-phase detector is a prototype detector that is part of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, an international research collaboration aimed at better understanding neutrinos and the role they play in our universe. The ProtoDUNE single-phase detector is used to gather data and inform design changes for the full-sized far detector prior to its construction. The effects of certain geometric features and heat sources on the thermal profiles within the liquid region of the detector were investigated in a set of parametric studies. The …

The Utilization And Loss Of Available Energy In Aerospace Systems, Mohammad Abbas

Doctoral Dissertations

“Theoretical principles and analytical methodology for the control volume-based energy availability methodology for aerospace vehicles are developed; applications are made to jet-propelled and rocket-propelled vehicles as well as to stand-alone engine systems. Energy availability utilization characteristics of a modeled turbojet engine are studied across a wide range of operating conditions of throttle setting, flight altitude, and flight Mach number. The method is also extended to consider jet-powered vehicles. Fundamental principles regarding entropy generation and energy availability are developed, including directly linking entropy generation and maximum range and endurance of a powered aircraft. Theory and application of the energy utilization methodology …