Digital Commons Network^™

Automatic Chain Cleaner, Daniel Cherenson, Rudy Lawler, Darius Rucker

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

The Automatic Chain Cleaner (ACC) is a battery-powered tool that clamps onto a bicycle frame and encloses the chain while cleaning it with brushes and degreaser and/or water. The batteries power a motor that drives the chain in the reverse direction from normal bicycle use. Clamps stabilize the tool and provide a consistent and stable cleaning job. This project aims to replace the manual versions of thistool which suffer from lack of stability and a poor user experience. Ease of use and reliability are important requirements for this project. The ACC will take 4 AA batteries and will run smoothly …

Validating An Open-Source Uvlm Solver For Analyzing Flapping Wing Flight, Cameron Urban

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Scientists have long used the unsteady vortex lattice method (UVLM) to simulate flapping wing flight. However, until recently, there has not been an available open-source UVLM solver designed explicitly for this field. Ptera Software is the only open-source UVLM solver that can simulate flapping wing aerodynamics without the modifications required by other open-source solvers. This report documents the next step in the software’s development: validation of its results. Comparing Ptera Software’s output to high-fidelity experimental data of the pressures on a flapping wing robot shows that the simulated results predict the trends and magnitudes of the net lift over time …

Induced Flow In Coaxial Rotor Systems, Andrew Bergantz

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

In coaxial rotor helicopter systems, both rotors of the helicopter spin in opposite directions on the same vertical axis, requiring the bottom rotor to spin faster with a higher blade pitch angle and the top rotor to spin slower with a lower blade pitch angle. This was proven by Peters and Seidel [1]. As both blades are spinning, there is an induced flow of air between the rotors. The solution of the potential flow equations shows that the flow induced by the upper rotor on the lower is related to the adjoint velocity above the rotors and the time delays …

Textile Dispenser, Sabrina Nguyen, Syeda Mohsin

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

The purpose of this study was to improve the design of the first prototype of the Textile Dispenser developed in MEMS 411. However, in light of COVID-19, we shifted our primary focus to exploring and drawing out several different design directions that both build off of our initial prototype and implement newer insights from our research. While we were unable to create a physical prototype, our conceptualizations offer a full-bodied, comprehensive imagination of our brainstorming process and in-depth design-thinking that could be used as a framework for future projects that aim to make fashion sustainable. This report outlines the extensive …

Viscoelasticity And Spectral Analysis With Tikhonov Regularization, Ethan Hoppe

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

The focus of this independent study is an in-depth study of viscoelasticity and the mechanisms to obtaining a viscoelastic spectrum from stress data. The independent study begins with a study of simple models such as the Maxwell, Kelvin, and Zener models. It then proceeds to biphasic models associated with Biot theory, as expounded upon by Mow and co-workers. The paper culminates with a study of spectral methods and Tikhonov regularization for the spectral analysis of material behavior, including noise sensitivity and signal-noise information.

Validation Of Stereovision Camera System For 3d Strain Tracking, Vaishali Shah, Leanne Iannucci, Spencer Lake

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Throughout this spring semester, I worked in Dr. Spencer Lake’s Musculoskeletal Soft Tissue Laboratory to validate a Matlab-based script intended to determine three dimensional distances between points of interest using a stereovision camera written last semester. The importance of this 3D measurement system is to be able to quantify 3D strain in musculoskeletal soft tissues, like the ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow, which undergo multi-planar deformations in vivo. I worked closely with my mentor Leanne Iannucci to establish an efficient workflow in order to validate this Matlab script at different zoom settings on the stereovision camera. My objective was …

Knee Joint Peri-Articular Hardware Sawbones Study, Sharon Park

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Study of discovering the effect of instrumentation after open reduction internal fixation on knee contact pressures was conducted with sawbones. Four sawbones were utilized, although only two of those, #3172 and #3181, were analyzed for this study because the other two lacked data to compare with the control. For sample #3172, uniaxial loading with average body weight of women and 2.5 times the body weight was done in two conditions: before fixation and with fixation. The process was repeated with sample #3181, which also employed the two types of loading to account for the load variability on knee while walking. …

Observations On The Underlying Mechanisms Behind Particle-Melt Pool Interactions, Jonathon Azziz, Katherine Flores

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Additive manufacturing processes are key to changing the manufacturing landscape for years to come. Despite this however, these processes are not entirely understood. One such process, the LENS system, and its incorporation mechanisms of metal particles into a melt pool are incredibly complex. Therefore, an investigation of those mechanism was undertaken as a way to understand and improve the LENS additive manufacturing process. High-speed videos made it possible to observe the interactions between particles and the melt pool. The interactions were categorized in order to find trends that presented themselves throughout the data. Multiple correlations were drawn between surface tension …

Mems 500 Independent Study Report: Contribution Attribution Via Fair Division, Kuan Lu

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

This report is a summary of my work under the guidance of Dr. Mark Jakiela during the Spring 2020 semester. I have worked with Dr. Jakiela on this independent study project which complements his research interests in computer-supported collaborative work (“CSCW”) systems. These can be applied to higher-level, more complex tasks. This independent study examines contribution attribution via fair division. The goal of this project is to develop a program to decide whether a member in a team-based project group could receive a reward or not, based upon their contribution. I came up with the idea to use a perception …

Violin Bow-Hand Prosthesis, Kc Cook, Muriel Drexler, Ronald Hayes

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

The following report summarizes the ongoing work of designing and engineering a violin bow-hand prosthetic for an 11 year old violinist, Sam. Building off the first two prototypes developed last semester, this project seeks to provide a more comprehensive prosthetic that allows for better control, increased range of motion, comfort, and the possibility of more advanced bowing techniques. With the unfortunate situation of COVID-19, the execution of this project was altered accordingly. Parts of the prosthetic were redesigned and reprinted, while others are still in the design phase. Despite changing circumstances, our goal of providing Sam a proper prosthetic was …

Dynamic Tasks And Developmental Dysplasia Of The Hip, Elizabeth Saliba

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

The primary objective of this semester’s research was to analyze patients performing high demand dynamic tasks (e.g. running, squatting, and cutting) using rigid-body dynamics modeling in Vicon Nexus and in-vivo 3D motion capture in Visual 3D. With this data, movement patterns were compared between healthy individuals and DDH patients through an analysis of lower-extremity joint moments and angles while performing hop-and-cuts, and the results are presented here. The data processed for running, squatting, and run-and-cuts will be used in future musculoskeletal models.

Asme Student Design Competition 2020, Anthony Acosta, Justine Alandy-Dy, Nathan Vaska

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Our initial work on the ASME design challenge, the focus of this independent study, occurred in our senior design class. A brief summary of the senior design project and our learning from that project is presented in this section.

Heat Transfer And Melt Dynamics Of Spherical Ice Particles Impacting A Heated Water Bath, Kate Baskin, Katharine M. Flores, Patricia Weisensee

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

In metallic additive manufacturing using direct energy deposition, particles and melt pool undergo complex interactions, including particle impact, penetration, and melting. The spatio-temporal evolution of these processes dictates the final material properties and workpiece quality. However, due to the opaqueness of metallic melt pools, in-situ visualization is nearly impossible. To model this system, we use high-speed imaging to investigate the heat transfer and melting dynamics of spherical ice particles (D ≈ 2 mm) impacting heated water baths of varying temperatures (23 – 70°C) with velocities ranging from 0.8 to 2.1 m/s. To visualize the outflow of molten ice, representative of …

Observing Microstructural Heterogeneities In Bulk Metallic Glass, Jordan Hu

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

A Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) was investigated to using dynamic modulus mapping (DMM) to explore spatial variations of mechanical properties. Elastic modulus patterns were determined using storage modulus maps at different positions on the sample. We partially re-confirmed the existence of a heterogenous directionally aligned elastic microstructure network in a Zr-based BMG. A K-means clustering algorithm was applied to the appropriate modulus maps, to divide the data into stiff, intermediate and compliant regions, however data on several of the maps was inconclusive.

Creation Of A Graphical User Interface For Reflectance And Transmission Mode Quantitative Polarized Light Imaging, Ethan Meitz

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Throughout the spring 2020 semester I worked in Dr. Lake’s Musculoskeletal Soft Tissue lab developing custom software and a graphical user interface (GUI) for polarized light image acquisition. The Lake lab recently purchased a commercially available polarization camera produced by FLIR, the Blackfly S USB 3.0 with SONY IMX250MZR sensor which required code development for polarization image acquisition. The Lake lab has previously used quantitative polarized light imaging (QPLI) in reflectance and transmission mode to evaluate dynamic collagen fiber alignment in musculoskeletal soft tissues. They aim to use the reflectance based QPLI technique (rQPLI) to measure the alignment of collagen …

Independent Study Report: Design Of Metallic Droplet Generator And Data Analysis For The Project On Wettability Of Graphene, Shuhan Zhang, Patricia Weisensee

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

The outcome of this independent study is different from what I have planned at the beginning of the semester due to the COVID-19. Since the lab has been closed after the spring break, I was not able to continue the project on the fabrication of a metallic droplet generator, which is to be used to conduct research on to analyze the cooling rates and impact dynamics of molten metal droplets. After the spring break, I helped analyze the data for the research on the wettability of graphene, which I have been working on since last summer. Therefore, this report summarized …

Cfd Study Of Wake Interactions From Multiple Vertical Axis Wind Turbines Using Actuator Cylinder Theory, Cory Schovanec, Ramesh K. Agarwal

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

This paper studies the flow field and power generation from Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) arrays using an extension of the Actuator Cylinder Model that includes the viscous effects. The ideal spacing for two VAWT arrays is determined by solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations with the Spalart-Allmaras (SA) turbulence model in ANSYS Fluent. Next, a third VAWT is introduced downfield and calculations are repeated to determine the ideal downfield distance for each spacing variation of the leading row of two turbines. Comparisons are made with an isolated vertical axis wind turbine. Differences in generated power are discussed.

Specimen Preparation And Surface Analysis, Angelo Hawa, Patricia Weisensee

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

The surface profiles of eight aluminum discs were scanned after each sample was buffed with an electric buffer. This experiment seeks to determine whether or not a buffer is an effective instrument for creating a smooth surface at the microscopic level. The samples were buffed with three buffing wheels of the following grit in sequential order: 120, 180, and 240. They were then scanned using a stylus profilometer in two perpendicular paths. The resulting profile graphs displayed a wide range of surface roughness among the samples, with only one of the samples meeting the defined criteria of a microscopically smooth …

Exploration Of Drug Therapies For Post-Traumatic Elbow Joint Contracture, Ishani D. Shah, Michael David, Spencer Lake

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

This semester I worked in the Musculoskeletal Soft Tissue Laboratory to explore the potential drug therapies for post-traumatic joint contracture (PTJC), or arthrofibrosis, in the elbow following a traumatic joint injury. To simulate the potential effects of these drugs in the elbow post-injury, this study utilized an in-vitro model using collagen gels and NIH-3T3 cells to mimick the contraction of capsule tissue in the elbow and the cells thought to contribute to disease progression in the capsule, namely fibroblasts and myofibroblasts. The first part of the study tested the effects of two drugs, losartan and simvastatin, on decreasing contraction. The …

Image Analysis To Quantitatively Estimate Catheter Bending Stiffness, Vinay Chandrasekaran, Guy Genin

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

The performance of endovascular surgery is highly dependent on catheter stiffness, especially when navigating past tortuous anatomy. Stiff catheters lack the maneuverability of compliant catheters, but they provide necessary support for medical device delivery and intervention. Conversely, compliant catheters can easily navigate through the vasculature, but they are not stable enough for device delivery and intervention. Catheters vary in length, diameter, shape, and stiffness to accommodate various surgical situations. Although stiffness is of critical importance when considering catheter properties, biomedical companies offer no quantitative measure of a catheter’s bending rigidity. A method for determining bending rigidity would therefore allow surgeons …

Prediction Of On-Disk Velocity Across A Coaxial Rotor With Xgboost, Ethan Genter, Cory Seidel, David Peters

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Recent updates in finite state inflow models to solve multi-rotor systems has come at the expense of extra computation time requirements, especially for higher harmonic cases. A potential solution to counter the lengthy time requirements is the application of machine learning algorithms to fit to velocity distributions and predict future distributions. In this paper, we look at XGBoost as a potential application of machine learning to predict accurate velocity distributions across the rotor disk.

An Updated Protocol To Study The Effects Of Elastase Treatment On The Mechanical Properties Of Bovine Tendon, James Abraham, Jeremy Eekhoff, Spencer Lake

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Throughout this fall, I worked in Dr. Spencer Lake’s Musculoskeletal Soft Tissue Laboratory testing bovine tendons to study the effects of elastin on the mechanical properties of tendon. To study the effects of elastin, the mechanical properties of tendon were compared when elastin was and was not functionally active. This process was completed by utilizing elastase, which enzymatically degrades elastin and renders it non-functional. Once the elastin was degraded, the mechanical properties of the tendon without elastin was tested using an Instron. Previously, 20 tendons were tested which included the bovine long digital extensor tendon (LDET) and bovine superficial digital …

Joshua Miller Mems Independent Study Report – Fall 2019, Joshua Miller, Andreea Stoica, J. Mark Meacham

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

µ-BEC:

The stud

µ-BEC:

The study of microbes performing extracellular electron uptake (EEU) has multiple uses for biotechnological applications. To that end, a high-throughput platform comprising an array of bioelectrochemical cells (essentially small chambers for electrochemical analysis of biological cells) is necessary to provide the opportunity for proper study of microbes performing EEU. Utilizing traditional cleanroom microfabrication techniques (photolithography, metallization, and lift-off), a 16-chamber micro bio-electrochemical cell (µ-BEC) array was fabricated. Each cell utilized a 3-electrode system, achieving successful electrochemical measurements for 8 of 16 chambers. The 8 chambers that failed exhibited peeling of electrodes due to processing …