Digital Commons Network^™

Conditions For Capacitor Voltage Regulation In A Five-Level Cascade Multilevel Inverter: Application To Voltage-Boost In A Pm Drive, John Chiasson, Burak Ozpineci, Zhong Du, Leon Tolbert

Burak Ozpineci

A cascade multilevel inverter is a power electronic device built to synthesize a desired AC voltage from several levels of DC voltages. Such inverters have been the subject of research in the last several years, where the DC levels were considered to be identical in that all of them were either batteries, solar cells, etc. Similar to previous results in the literature, the work here shows how a cascade multilevel inverter can be used to obtain a voltage boost at higher speeds for a three-phase PM drive using only a single DC voltage source. The input of a standard three-leg …

A Five-Level Three-Phase Hybrid Cascade Multilevel Inverter Using A Single Dc Source For A Pm Synchronous Motor Drive, John N. Chiasson, Burak Ozpineci, Leon M. Tolbert

Burak Ozpineci

The interest here is in using a single DC power source to construct a 3-phase 5-level cascade multilevel inverter to be used as a drive for a PM traction motor. The 5-level inverter consists of a standard 3-leg inverter (one leg for each phase) and an H-bridge in series with each inverter leg, which use a capacitor as a DC source. It is shown that one can simultaneously maintain the regulation of the capacitor voltage while achieving an output voltage waveform which is 25% higher than that obtained using a standard 3-leg inverter by itself.

Impact Damage On A Thin Glass Plate With A Thin Polycarbonate Backing, Wenke Hu, Yenan Wang, Jian Yu, Chian-Fong Yen, Florin Bobaru

Florin Bobaru Ph.D.

We present experimental and computational results for the impact of a spherical projectile on a thin glass plate with a thin polycarbonate backing plate, restrained in a metal frame, or in the absence of the frame. We analyze the dependence of the damage patterns in the glass plate on the increasing impact velocities, from 61 m/s to 200 m/s. Experimental results are compared with those from peridynamic simulations of a simplified model. The main fracture patterns observed experimentally are captured by the peridynamic model for each of the three projectile velocities tested. More accurate implementation of the actual boundary conditions …

A Comparison Of Gasification Phenomena Among Raw Biomass, Torrefied Biomass And Coal In An Entrained-Flow Reactor, Wei-Hsin Chen

Wei-Hsin Chen

Loading Path Determination For Tube Hydroforming Process Of Automotive Component Using Apdl, E. Masoumi Khalil Abad, Amir Ghazanfari, R. Hashemi

Amir Armani (Ghazanfari)

A Proposed Learner-Centered Mechatronics Engineering Instructional Program, Patrick N. Currier, Richard Goff, Janis Terpenny

Patrick N. Currier

This paper examines the need and requirements for a mechatronics degree program. The results of a survey of the few existing programs in this field are provided. Then, using a case study example for Virginia Tech, a proposed mechatronics curriculum based on a learner-centered paradigm is described. The curriculum combines existing courses in mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering with new, hands-on courses to provide students with a chance to practice and explore the subject matter in ways consistent with the demands of both industry and accreditation. This program, if implemented, could provide a university with a unique offering to attract …

Carbon Dioxide Capture By Single Droplet Using Selexol, Rectisol And Water As Absorbents: A Theoretical Approach, Wei-Hsin Chen

Wei-Hsin Chen

No abstract provided.

Hydrogen Permeation And Recovery From H2-N2 Gas Mixtures By Pd Membranes With High Permeance, Wei-Hsin Chen

Wei-Hsin Chen

No abstract provided.

A Novel Method For Prediction Of Mobile Robot Maneuvering Spaces, Patrick N. Currier, Alfred L. Wicks

Patrick N. Currier

As the operational uses of mobile robots continue to expand, it becomes useful to be able to predict the admissible maneuvering space to prevent the robot from executing unsafe maneuvers. A novel method is proposed to address this need by using force-moment diagrams to characterize the robot’s maneuvering space in terms of path curvature and curvature rate. Using the proposed superposition techniques, these diagrams can then be transformed in real-time to provide a representation of the permissible maneuvering space while allowing for changes in the robot’s loading and terrain conditions. Simulation results indicate that the technique can be applied to …

An Experimental And Modeling Study Of Formaldehyde And 1,3,5-Trioxane Flame Chemistry, Jeffrey S. Santner, Francis M. Haas, Frederick L. Dryer, Yiguang Ju

Francis (Mac) Haas

Evaluation Of Thermal Radiation Effects On Apparent Propagation Rates Of High Pressure Spherical Flames, Jeffrey S. Santner, Francis M. Haas, Yiguang Ju, Frederick L. Dryer

Francis (Mac) Haas

Biomass Torrefaction Characteristics In Inert And Oxidative Atmospheres At Various Superficial Velocities, Wei-Hsin Chen

Wei-Hsin Chen

No abstract provided.

A Numerical Approach Of Interaction Of Methane Thermocatalytic Decomposition And Microwave Irradiation, Wei-Hsin Chen

Wei-Hsin Chen

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Performance Of Fault Detection And Diagnostics Protocols Applied To Air-Cooled Unitary Air-Conditioning Equipment, David P. Yuill, James E. Braun

David Yuill

Fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) tools are increasingly being applied to air-cooled unitary air-conditioning systems. However, it is not known how well these tools work because there is no standard method of measuring or evaluating the performance of FDD. In the current paper the authors describe the common faults that FDD is applied to in unitary systems, and propose a method of evaluating the performance of FDD protocols. The method involves feeding measurement data through a candidate protocol and collecting and organizing the responses based upon the fault’s impacts on performance. A library of faulted and unfaulted measurement data has …

Toward A Gpu-Accelerated Immersed Boundary Method For Wind Forecasting Over Complex Terrain, Rey Deleon, Kyle Felzien, Inanc Senocak

Inanc Senocak

A short-term wind power forecasting capability can be a valuable tool in the renewable energy industry to address load-balancing issues that arise from intermittent wind fields. Although numerical weather prediction models have been used to forecast winds, their applicability to micro-scale atmospheric boundary layer flows and ability to predict wind speeds at turbine hub height with a desired accuracy is not clear. To address this issue, we develop a multi-GPU parallel flow solver to forecast winds over complex terrain at the micro-scale, where computational domain size can range from meters to several kilometers. In the solver, we adopt the immersed …

Finite Element Analysis Of The Ramberg-Osgood Bar, Dongming Wei

Dongming Wei

In this work, we present a priori error estimates of finite element approximations of the solution for the equilibrium equation of an axially loaded Ramberg-Osgood bar. The existence and uniqueness of the solution to the associated nonlinear two point boundary value problem is established and used as a foundation for the finite element analysis.

3d Modelling Of Limestone Reactions In Oxygen Fired Cfb, Sirpa Rahiala, Kari Myöhänen, Timo Hyppänen

Kari Myöhänen

No abstract provided.

Numerical Prediction Ofco2capture Process Byasingle Droplet Inalkaline Spray, Wei-Hsin Chen

Wei-Hsin Chen

No abstract provided.

Taguchi Approach For Co-Gasification Optimization Of Torrefied Biomass And Coal, Wei-Hsin Chen

Wei-Hsin Chen

No abstract provided.

Hydrogen Production And Thermal Behavior Of Methanol Autothermal Reforming And Steam Reforming Triggered By Microwave Heating, Wei-Hsin Chen

Wei-Hsin Chen

No abstract provided.

Enhancement Of Heat Recirculation On The Hysteresis Effect Of Catalytic Partial Oxidation Of Methane, Wei-Hsin Chen

Wei-Hsin Chen

No abstract provided.

Non-Destructive Testing (Ndt) By Laser Shearography And Fringe Projection, Xiaoran Chen, Morteza Khaleghi, Ivo Dobrev, Cosme Furlong

Morteza Khaleghi

Non-destructive testing (NDT) is critical to many precision industries because it can provide important information about the structural health of critical components and systems. In addition, NDT can also identify situations that could potentially lead to critical failures. Specifically, NDT by optical methods have become popular because of their non-contact and non-invasive nature. Shearography is a high-resolution optical NDT method for identification and characterization of structural defects in components and has gained wide acceptance over the last decade; however, as a drawback, shearography cannot locate the position of defects in 3D. To overcome this limitation, we are combining shearography with …

Development Of A Novel Handheld Device For Active Compensation Of Physiological Tremor, Abhijit Saxena

Abhijit Saxena

In microsurgery, the human hand imposes certain limitations in accurately positioning the tip of a device such as scalpel. Any errors in the motion of the hand make microsurgical procedures difficult and involuntary motions such as hand tremors can make some procedures significantly difficult to perform. This is particularly true in the case of vitreoretinal microsurgery. The most familiar source of involuntary motion is physiological tremor. Real-time compensation of tremor is, therefore, necessary to assist surgeons to precisely position and manipulate the tool-tip to accurately perform a microsurgery. In this thesis, a novel handheld device (AID) is described for compensation …

Optimization Of Multilayer Wear-Resistant Thin Films Using Finite Element Analysis On Stiff And Compliant Substrates, R. K. Lakkaraju, Florin Bobaru, S. L. Rohde

Florin Bobaru Ph.D.

Extensive research has been carried out by researchers on the growth and characterization of multilayer protective coatings, but the design of these coatings still remains largely empirical. In this regard, recent progress has been made in developing a design approach for optimizing a multilayer coating structure before deposition, which would help save time and material. In pursuit of an optimal design, finite element analysis using a plane strain Hertzian contact model was developed to investigate the stress/ strain behavior within the layers of the system. The present study looks to find the optimal thicknesses of individual layers in a multilayer …

The Formulation And Computation Of The Nonlocal J-Integral In Bond-Based Peridynamics, Wenke Hu, Youn Doh Ha, Florin Bobaru, Stewart A. Silling

Florin Bobaru Ph.D.

This work presents a rigorous derivation for the formulation of the J-integral in bond-based peridynamics using the crack infinitesimal virtual extension approach. We give a detailed description of an algorithm for computing this nonlocal version of the J-integral.We present convergence studies (m-convergence and δ-convergence) for two different geometries: a single edge-notch configuration and a double edge-notch sample.We compare the results with results based on the classical J-integral and obtained from FEM calculations that employ special elements near the crack tip.We identify the size of the nonlocal region for which the peridynamic J-integral value is near the classical FEM solutions.We discuss …

The Meaning, Selection, And Use Of The Peridynamic Horizon And Its Relation To Crack Branching In Brittle Materials, Florin Bobaru, Wenke Hu

Florin Bobaru Ph.D.

This note discusses the peridynamic horizon (the nonlocal region around a material point), its role, and practical use in modeling. The objective is to eliminate some misunderstandings and misconceptions regarding the peridynamic horizon. An example of crack branching in a nominally brittle material (homalite) is addressed and we show that crack branching takes place without wave interaction. We explain under what conditions the crack propagation speed depends on the horizon size and the role of incident stress waves on this speed.

Force Chains And Resonant Behavior In Bending Of A Granular Layer On An Elastic Support, Kitti Rattanadit, Florin Bobaru, Konlayut Promratana, Joseph A. Turner

Florin Bobaru Ph.D.

In this paper we investigate the interaction between a granular layer and an elastic foundation using a coupled Discrete Element Method-Finite Element Method (DEM–FEM) computational model. We use this dynamics code to simulate quasi-static bending of the granular layer and we observe the changes taking place in the structure of the force chains for two cases: with and without rolling resistance. A reversal of the arches formed in the force chains leads to a bending resistance similar to that observed in dynamic experiments on resonant behavior under bending of a layer of sand in a container with an elastic bottom. …

Editorial: Advances In The Dynamics Of Granular Materials, Florin Bobaru, J. S. Chen, Joseph A. Turner

Florin Bobaru Ph.D.

Granular materials exhibit a complex array of phenomena which makes the prediction of their behavior extremely difficult. Granular materials are strongly dissipative and show collective (heap formation, jamming) and size segregation phenomena, and can propagate surface waves. They display fluidization and convective motion, and under certain vibration regimes, they tend to mix when they would otherwise segregate, and segregate when they might otherwise mix. The wide range of behaviors that granular materials can display has been one of the main factors for which the development of predictive models has continued to remain an open problem. The papers in this Special …

Impact Mechanics And High-Energy Absorbing Materials: Review, Pizhong Qiao, Mijia Yang, Florin Bobaru

Florin Bobaru Ph.D.

In this paper a review of impact mechanics and high-energy absorbing materials is presented. We review different theoretical models (rigid-body dynamics, elastic, shock, and plastic wave propagation, and nonclassical or nonlocal models. and computational methods (finite-element, finite-difference, and mesh-free methods. used in impact mechanics. Some recent developments in numerical simulation of impact (e.g., peridynamics) and new design concepts proposed as high energy absorbing materials (lattice and truss structures, hybrid sandwich composites, metal foams, magnetorheological fluids, porous shape memory alloys. are discussed. Recent studies on experimental evaluation and constitutive modeling of strain rate-dependent polymer matrix composites are also presented. Impact damage …

Convergence, Adaptive Refinement, And Scaling In 1d Peridynamics, Florin Bobaru Ph.D., Mijia Yabg Ph.D., Leonardo F. Alves M.S., Stewart A. Silling Ph.D., Ebrahim Askari Ph.D., Jifeng Xu Ph.D.

Florin Bobaru Ph.D.

We introduce here adaptive refinement algorithms for the non-local method peridynamics, which was proposed (in J. Mech. Phys. Solids 2000; 48:175–209) as a reformulation of classical elasticity for discontinuities and long-range forces. We use scaling of the micromodulus and horizon and discuss the particular features of adaptivity in peridynamics for which multiscale modeling and grid refinement are closely connected. We discuss three types of numerical convergence for peridynamics and obtain uniform convergence to the classical solutions of static and dynamic elasticity problems in 1D in the limit of the horizon going to zero. Continuous micromoduli lead to optimal rates of …