Digital Commons Network^™

An Equest Based Building Energy Modeling Analysis For Energy Efficiency Of Buildings, Saroj Lamichhane

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Building energy performance is a function of numerous building parameters. In this study, sensitivity analysis on twenty parameters is performed to determine the top three parameters which have the most significant impact on the energy performance of buildings. Actual data from two fully operational commercial buildings were collected and used to develop a building energy model in eQUEST. The model is calibrated using Normalized Mean Bias Error (NMBE) and Coefficient of Variation of Root Mean Square Error (CV(RMSE)) method. The model satisfies the NMBE and CV(RMSE) criteria set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning (ASHRAE) Guideline 14, …

On The Improvement Of The Indirect Quantification Of Methane Emissions: A Stationary Single Sensor Approach, Robert Scott Heltzel

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

There is a need for improved indirect quantification of methane emissions, particularly from the natural gas industry. Natural gas production continues to increase along with the number of wells and production sites. These production sites have the potential to contribute significant levels of methane emissions. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the primary component of natural gas. A more complete understanding of emissions through improved quantification will lead to enhanced mitigation. Emissions have historically been quantified with both direct and indirect methods, with varying results. Emissions have been shown to be both temporally and spatially variable. These facts have …

Kinetics Of Photolysis And Photocatalytic Oxidation Of Ammonium Sulfite For Hydrogen Production, Moustafa A. Soliman, Maryam Zakaria

Chemical Engineering

The production of hydrogen via photocatalytic water splitting is one of the most promising technologies for obtaining chemical energy from direct solar energy while maintaining the least possible waste and pollutants. In this paper, we obtain the kinetic parameters necessary for the design of a photoreactor for photolysis and photocatalysis of ammonium sulfite solution. For the case of photolysis, we obtain the kinetics for the effect of changing the pH on the produced amount of hydrogen. For the case of photocatalysis, the intrinsic kinetic parameters of photocatalysis of water splitting reaction of ammonium sulfite and water in the presence of …

A Solution For Overcoming Transradial Prosthetic Control Limitations With Additive Manufacturing And Modeling Techniques, Olivia Layne Santee

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Prosthetic limbs have aided in the restoration of both cosmetic and functional capabilities of the human hand; however, structural and control limitations hinder widespread adoption. One example of these limitations addressed in this study is the lack of wrist degrees of freedom (DOF) in robotic hands. Using the mechanical model-driven design, I developed a hand with cable-driven actuation of fingers and direct actuation of the wrist pronation-supination and flexion-extension DOFs. An inverse dynamic simulation determined torque requirements in common tasks manipulating a 1 kg mass with rotational speeds up to 60 deg/s, setting a minimum limitation of 0.76 Nm on …

Application Of Project Management Strategies And Tools For An Efficient And Successful Competition-Based Engineering Senior Capstone Design Project, Benton Duane Morris

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The industry-level engineering workforce for a project in modern times requires a clear plan and management process to execute the goals of the consumer and the producer. The engineers of tomorrow need the ability to be competitive and successful upon entry into the industry, where there have already been established management tactics for the execution of the company's goals. The mentality within the industry is adaptable to senior collegiate-level competition-based capstone projects. Therefore the West Virginia University EcoCAR Mobility Challenge team has adapted, altered, or adjusted industry-level practices in order to have an overall functioning and effective team that follows …

Dry Reforming Of Methane Using Microwave Irradiated Metal Oxide/Coal Char Catalysts, Anthony Carter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This research focuses on the synthesis of both shaped and amorphous powder materials, the combination of these materials with dried Powder River Basin (PRB) coal char, and their reactionary properties with methane and carbon dioxide gasses with conventional and microwave (MW) heating. The first goal of this project was to synthesize shaped micro and nano sized particles with ideal dielectric properties for converting electromagnetic energy into heat and proven capabilities of activating methane. These particles were synthesized via solvothermal, hydrothermal, and co-preceptory treatments alone and onto the surface of dried PRB coal char. PRB is a sub-bituminous, low-ranking coal (LRC) …

Viability Of A Proposed Transparent Fluid Model For Analog Metal Casting Filling Process, Andres Segura Irazoqui

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

No abstract provided.

Design Of A Heat Exchanger For A Supercritical Co2 Turbine System, Kehinde Oluwatobi Adenuga

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This research aims at designing a shell and tube heat exchanger which will drive a turbine operated on supercritical CO₂. Hot gases from boiler (simulated using air) at 1500 K is introduced into the shell to heat up the supercritical CO₂ at 10 MPa flowing within tubes from 450 K to 1050 K. The design was done using selected shell and tube heat exchanger empirical equations at predefined boundary conditions. The effect of shell and tube diameter on other design parameters was examined. It was observed that the number of tubes, tube external and internal side surface …

Studying The Effects Of Initial Crack Angle On The Crack Propagation In Graphene Nano-Ribbon Through Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Vijay Kumar Pathak

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this research, we have worked on the brittle fracture of graphene nano-ribbon to explore the behavior of crack propagation at different crack angles. We have performed classical Molecular Dynamics simulations using LAMMPS at ten different crack angles between 0 degrees and 45 degrees, in an increment of 5 degrees to observe the parameters that dominate the crack path. The graphene nanoribbon is loaded in the zigzag direction by pulling it in the armchair direction with a pre-existing crack in the center. We have used OVITO for the visualization of the simulation. AIREBO potential is employed in this work because …

Torrefaction Of Mixed Solid Waste, Zhuo Xu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The world is witnessing unprecedented accumulation of solid wastes in the environment and landfills with well-documented ecological, environmental, health, and economic consequences. With population growth and rise in living standards, solid wastes generation will increase, making the issue more pressing. In addition, current practices of solid waste disposal are creating an immediate challenge and a long-term disaster-scale problem. The solid wastes comprises two main groups of materials: (i) fiber wastes (paper, food, wood, trimming, 61% of U.S. municipal solid waste) and (ii)uniquely challenging subset of plastic wastes (13%) that become a threat to global sustainability including dangers to marine and …

High Injection Pressure Impinging Diesel Spray Characteristics And Subsequent Soot Formation In Reacting Conditions, Zhihao Zhao

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The spray impingement in diesel engines attracts the attention of engine researchers in recent decades as the physical size of the engine is reduced. Due to the spray impingement, the atomization, vaporizing and air-fuel mixing quality is altered compared to a free spray. For emission control, soot is one of the major particulate emissions from diesel combustion and its formation in an impinged spray is worthy to be investigated.

Firstly, to understand the impinged spray characteristics, the experiments for both non-vaporizing and reacting conditions were conducted in a constant volume combustion vessel. The impinged spray was captured by a high-speed …

Integrated Torrefaction-Extrusion System For Conversion Of Fiber-Plastic Wastes Into Solid Fuels, Shreyas Kolapkar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Waste generation is increasing, and a significant portion is being landfilled. In parallel, we are constantly pursuing cleaner fuels due to environmental and regulatory factors. To address both these challenges, torrefaction of wastes to produce clean fuels and feedstock for other thermochemical processes is one of the potential solutions. This work focuses on (a) fundamental understanding of the properties of un-torrefied and torrefied wastes and (b) development of a pilot-scale integrated torrefaction-extrusion system for converting fiber-plastic wastes to solid fuels.

In this study, a 60:40 fiber-plastic waste blend was used for performing extensive experiments on densified and un-densified wastes to …

Development Of Autonomous Vehicle Motion Planning And Control Algorithm With D* Planner And Model Predictive Control In A Dynamic Environment, Somnath Mondal

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The research in this report incorporates the improvement in the autonomous driving capability of self-driving cars in a dynamic environment. Global and local path planning are implemented using the D* path planning algorithm with a combined Cubic B-Spline trajectory generator, which generates an optimal obstacle free trajectory for the vehicle to follow and avoid collision. Model Predictive Control (MPC) is used for the longitudinal and the lateral control of the vehicle. The presented motion planning and control algorithm is tested using Model-In-the-Loop (MIL) method with the help of MATLAB® Driving Scenario Designer and Unreal Engine® Simulator by Epic Games®. Different …

Mechanical Properties Of Nanomodified Hybrid Gfrp Composite Materials, Micah Rop Kimutai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The mechanical behavior of the nanomodified hybrid epoxy matrix was investigated in glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP). In this study, five nanocomposites enriched with as received halloysite, nanomer I.28E, HNT-APTES, and the hybrid combinations of the two HNTs with the nanomer I.28E were successfully fabricated. To evaluate the effects and morphological characteristics of the individual fillers and the hybrid configurations on the epoxy resin matrix, TGA, DSC, and DMA were analyzed. To understand the effect of the five configurations on the neat GFRP laminate, mode I interlaminar fracture toughness, tensile, and vibration properties were investigated. Electron microscopy testing techniques were …

Development And Characterization Of Nb₃N/Al₂0₃ Superconducting Multilayers For Particle Accelerators, Chris Sundahl, Junki Makita, Paul B. Welander, Yi-Feng Su, Fumitake Kametani, Lin Xie, Huimin Zhang, Lian Li, Alex Gurevich, Chang-Beom Eom

Physics Faculty Publications

Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) resonator cavities provide extremely high quality factors > 10¹⁰ at 1-2 GHz and 2 K in large linear accelerators of high-energy particles. The maximum accelerating field of SRF cavities is limited by penetration of vortices into the superconductor. Present state-of-the-art Nb cavities can withstand up to 50 MV/m accelerating gradients and magnetic fields of 200-240 mT which destroy the low-dissipative Meissner state. Achieving higher accelerating gradients requires superconductors with higher thermodynamic critical fields, of which Nb₃Sn has emerged as a leading material for the next generation accelerators. To overcome the problem of low vortex penetration …

In-Situ Process Monitoring For Metal Additive Manufacturing (Am) Through Acoustic Technique, Md Shahjahan Hossain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is currently a widely used technology in different industries such as aerospace, medical, and consumer products. Previously it was mainly used for prototyping of the products, but now it is equally valuable for commercial product manufacturing. More profound understanding is still needed to track and identify defects during the AM process to ensure higher quality products with less material waste. Nondestructive testing becomes an essential form of testing for AM parts, where AE is one of the most used methods for in situ process monitoring. The Acoustic Emission (AE) approach has gained a reputation in nondestructive testing …

Design And Development Of Soft Earthworm Robot Driven By Fibrous Artificial Muscles, Beau Ragland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Earthworm robots have proven their viability in the fields of medicine, reconnaissance, search and rescue, and infrastructure inspection. These robots are traditionally typically hard-shelled and must be tethered to whatever drives their locomotion. For this reason, truly autonomous capabilities are not yet feasible. The goal of this thesis is to introduce a robot that not only sets the groundwork for autonomous locomotion, but also is safe for human-robot interaction. This was done by ensuring that the actuation principle utilized by the robot is safe around humans and can work in an untethered design. Artificial muscle actuation allowed for these prerequisites …

Variational Inference For Morphological Modification To 3d Geometry : An Application To The Support Generation For Metal Additive Manufacturing, Mugdha Swanand Joshi

Masters Theses

"A key issue in metal additive manufacturing (AM) processes is the optimization of support geometry. Correct selection of support strategy can reduce build time, improve surface finish, reduce support removal time, and maximize build success. Strategies used to design support structure are time consuming and need skilled personnel. In this research we have deployed a deep generative model capable of making morphological modifications to the part. However, it is not similar to topology optimization where the aim is to reduce or eliminate support structure. The proposed model can make necessary changes to the part in order to transform it into …

A Semi-Active Vibration Isolator For 3d Printing On Shipboard, Mohammad Z. Shahabuddin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the recent years, additive manufacturing (AM) (aka 3D printing)-has become a viable alternative to traditional manufacturing due to its unique advantages, such as enabling the fabrication of complex geometries at reduced weight and costs as well as allowing on-site fabrication for maintenance and repair. One specific application area of the AM is the navy vessels. During extended voyages, the navy vessels likely require the convenience of on-site fabrication of the malfunctioned parts. However, the shipboard equipment suffers from a broad range of external excitations arising not only from the waves but also from the vessel’s engines, which …

Reclamation Of Fused Silica From Investment Shells Used For Casting Steel, Samuel L. Holt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fused silica is widely used for investment casting shell molds. Fused silica shells are discarded after being used for casting one time. This is due to the transformation of fused silica to beta cristobalite above 1652℉ (900℃). To reduce cost and waste of investment casting foundries, this study is exploring a method to inhibit transformation of fused silica and reclaim it from high temperature investment casting shells. This research has employed firing to minimalize fused silica transformation to cristobalite. The phase transformation is minimalized due to sintering and coarsening of the particles during firing. Coarsening reduces surface area to volume …

Design Of Compact Signal Distribution Device For Hoffman Reflex Methodologic Applications In Sports Medicine, Abayomi E. Folaranmi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A study is presented on the design of compact sized signal distribution device for Hoffman reflex methodological applications in sports medicine. Established conventional method for measuring and recording human or animal nervous system response to external electrical stimulus was considered in this study. Challenges with measuring and recording techniques which introduces inaccuracies and unreliability of reflex response data obtained was analyzed, this work is aimed at improving the reliability of H-reflex d measuring and recording technique for the purpose of reducing inaccuracies introduced to data obtained because of conventional methodologic approach. Inaccuracies due to changes in subject muscle geometry and …

Investigation Of The Sensitivity Of Human Arm To Small Interaction Forces During Physical Human-Robot Interaction (Phri), Fazlur Rashid

Masters Theses

“Understanding the human motor control strategy during physical interaction tasks is crucial for developing future robots for physical human-robot interaction (pHRI). Effective pHRI depends on humans communicating their intentions for movement with robots. In physical human-human interaction (pHHI), small interaction forces are known to convey their intent between the partners. It is speculated that small interaction forces contain significant information to convey the movement intention of pHHI. However, the mechanism underlying this interaction strategy is largely unknown. Hence, the aim of this work was to investigate what affects humans’ sensitivity to the interaction forces. The hypothesis was that small interaction …

Research And Development Of A Laser Hot Wire Deposition Process, Christopher Croft

Masters Theses

“Laser hot wire directed energy deposition (DED) is an increasingly popular method for improving deposition rates and overall reduction of build times in DED processing. While there is clear benefit, it is important to fully understand the impact of preheating the wire. This work focuses on developing a model that describes bead geometry output using all factors including the wire preheat. The model was fit with over 150 data points that explored a large range of each factor. The resulting model was then leveraged to evaluate a process control variable. The technique chosen used feedback from the hot wire system …

Physics-Based Modeling Of Lithium-Ion Batteries For Control And Estimation Applications, Brody J. C. Riemann

Masters Theses

“Lithium-ion batteries are extensively used in many application areas like consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and microgrids. As the world moves towards further electrification of vehicles and more widespread use of renewable energy sources, the need for large-scale battery storage systems will grow. To effectively replace conventional methods, batteries will need to be charged quickly while accounting for degradation to maximize lifetime. Further, larger batteries require more detailed safety monitoring, which is implemented using a battery management system (BMS). A BMS is responsible for state of charge (SOC) estimation, state of health (SOH) estimation, cell balancing, regulating voltage and current according …

Quality Assurance Of Lightweight Structures Via Phase-Based Motion Estimation, Ikenna E. Ifekaonwu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, lightweight structures have become mature and adopted in various applications. The importance of quality assurance cannot be overemphasized hence extensive research has been conducted to assess the quality of lightweight structures. This study investigates a novel process that exploits motion magnification to investigate the damage characteristics of lightweight mission-critical parts. The goal is to assure the structural integrity of 3D printed structures and composite structures by determining the inherent defects present in the part by exploiting their vibration characteristics. The minuscule vibration of the structure was recorded with the aid of a high-speed digital camera, and the …

The Development Of A Holistic Quality Score Using In-Situ Monitoring Of Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Ryan Daigneault

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing processes allow for a great degree of flexibility in terms of part production. The process is autonomous once the part has started printing in that the operator generally does not need to intervene until the part is finished. One issue that this introduces, however, is an inability to determine part quality during the printing process. Once a part has started printing, the operator must either wait until the part is finished or regularly check on the part during the print to determine the part quality. Using data gathered from multiple sensors, a quality score can be used to …

Tibial Strains And Tray-Bone Micromotions After Total Knee Arthroplasty: Computational Studies Evaluating The Tibial Fixation, Huizhou Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cemented and cementless fixation in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) have been successfully used for decades. As the number of younger and more active patients treated with TKA continues to increase, long-term implant survivorship is of increasing importance. One of the most common complications and hence the reason for revision is mechanical loosening (23.1% of all revised TKA). The loosening mechanisms have been proposed for different fixation types. For cemented fixation, bone remodeling after surgery is regulated by the changes in strain energy density (SED). The recruitment of osteoclasts and osteoblasts is controlled by SED-related signals. Insufficient stimuli can promote bone …

Pulse Reverse Current Electrodeposited Tio2 Doped Ni-W Coating, Sydney Hughes

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Nickel-Tungsten (Ni-W) coatings via the pulse reverse current method have been under development as a potential replacement for typical Chromium/Cadmium coatings. To increase the effectiveness of Ni-W as a coating, dopants have been tested to decrease microcracks and pores and increase overall tribological performance. Previous research by Timken Engineered Surfaces Laboratory showed that Ni-W doped with TiO₂ nanoparticles had a positive effect on coating performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the ideal solution parameters (i.e. TiO₂ concentration, pH) to maximize the benefit of the dopant when samples are subjected to tribological testing. Here, solutions of …

Dji Drone Modification, Sean Lacey, Seth Mancuso, Bryce Mckenzie

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For this project, we set out to create a lightweight carrying case that would be mounted to a DJI Phantom 3. This case is designed to transport small packages, such as medications, from a delivery vehicle to their final destination. Based on our maximum drone lifting capacity of 600 grams, our case, servomotor, and contents had to weigh less than or equal to that value. The coronavirus pandemic has led to an increase in contactless delivery options along with the push for immunocompromised people to avoid contact with people that may be sick. Our product would help transport necessary supplies …

Development Of A Heavy-Duty Aluminum Rail Hole Punch Manufacturing Fixture, Reese Hawthorne

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report details the development and testing of an improved replacement for a worn manufacturing fixture which was used to position the location of four drilled holes on the outside of a heavy-duty aluminum rail. Commissioned by JohnDow Industries, the new process improves upon the old one by implementing an electro-hydraulic punch and new locating fixture. The new design produced higher quality slots, decreased cycle time by 15%, and aimed to improve the ergonomics of the process for the employees. All these factors contributed to making the aluminum rails a high-quality end product for JohnDow’s customers. Further iteration of the …