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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Deep Reinforcement Learning For The Design Of Structural Topologies, Nathan Brown
Deep Reinforcement Learning For The Design Of Structural Topologies, Nathan Brown
All Dissertations
Advances in machine learning algorithms and increased computational efficiencies have given engineers new capabilities and tools for engineering design. The presented work investigates using deep reinforcement learning (DRL), a subset of deep machine learning that teaches an agent to complete a task through accumulating experiences in an interactive environment, to design 2D structural topologies. Three unique structural topology design problems are investigated to validate DRL as a practical design automation tool to produce high-performing designs in structural topology domains.
The first design problem attempts to find a gradient-free alternative to solving the compliance minimization topology optimization problem. In the proposed …
Development Of A Reverse Engineered, Parameterized, And Structurally Validated Computational Model To Identify Design Parameters That Influence American Football Faceguard Performance, William Ferriell
All Dissertations
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) continues to have the greatest incidence among athletes participating in American football. The headgear design research community has focused on developing accurate computational and experimental analysis techniques to better assess the ability of headgear technology to attenuate impacts and protect athletes from TBI. Despite efforts to innovate the headgear system, minimal progress has been made to innovate the faceguard. Although the faceguard is not the primary component of the headgear system that contributes to impact attenuation, faceguard performance metrics, such as weight, structural stiffness, and visual field occlusions, have been linked to athlete safety. To improve …
Considerations For The Design Optimization Of Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Blades, Evan M. Gaertner
Considerations For The Design Optimization Of Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Blades, Evan M. Gaertner
Doctoral Dissertations
Floating offshore wind turbines are an immature technology with relatively high costs and risk associated with deployment. Of the few floating wind turbine prototypes and demonstration projects deployed in real metocean conditions, all have used standard turbines design for onshore or offshore fixed bottom conditions. This neglects the unique unsteady aerodynamics brought on by floating support structure motion. While the floating platform has been designed and optimized for a given rotor, the global system is suboptimal due to the rotor operating in conditions outside of which it was design for. If the potential offered by floating wind turbines is to …
Design And Optimization Of Dynamic System For A One-Kw Free Piston Linear Engine Alternator-Gensets Program, Nima Zamani Meymian
Design And Optimization Of Dynamic System For A One-Kw Free Piston Linear Engine Alternator-Gensets Program, Nima Zamani Meymian
Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports
In power/energy systems, free-piston linear machines are referred to as a mechanism where the constrained crank motion is eliminated and replaced with free reciprocating piston motion. Depending on the application, the piston motion can be converted into other types of energy and includes compressed air/fluid, electricity, and high temperature/pressure gas. A research group at West Virginia University developed a free-piston linear engine alternator (LEA) in 1998 and have achieved significant accomplishment in the performance enhancement of the LEAs to date. The present LEA design incorporates flexure springs as energy restoration components and as bearing supports. The advantages of using flexure …
Design And Process Of 3d-Printed Parts Using Composite Theory, Jordan Garcia
Design And Process Of 3d-Printed Parts Using Composite Theory, Jordan Garcia
Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering
3D printing is a revolutionary manufacturing method that allows the productions of engineering parts almost directly from modeling software on a computer. With 3D printing technology, future manufacturing could become vastly efficient. However, it is observed that the procedures used in 3D printing differ substantially among the printers and from those used in conventional manufacturing. In this thesis, the mechanical properties of engineering products fabricated by 3D printing were comprehensively evaluated and then compared with those made by conventional manufacturing. Three open-source 3D printers, i.e., the Flash Forge Dreamer, the Tevo Tornado, and the Prusa, were used to fabricate the …
A Parametric Investigation And Optimization Of A Cylindrical Explosive Charge, Logan Ellsworth Beaver
A Parametric Investigation And Optimization Of A Cylindrical Explosive Charge, Logan Ellsworth Beaver
Master's Theses (2009 -)
Explosive device design has a wide impact in the space, manufacturing, military, and mining industries. As a step toward computer assisted design of explosives, an optimization framework was developed using the Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terrascale Applications (Dakota). This software was coupled with the hydrocode CTH. This framework was applied to three exploding cylinder models, two in 1D and one in 2D. Gradient descent, dividing rectangles, and a genetic algorithm were each applied to the one-dimensional models. Parametric studies were performed as a basis for comparison with the optimization algorithms, as well as qualifying the 1D model's accuracy. …
Corgi: Compute Oriented Recumbent Generation Infrastructure, Christopher Allen Hunt
Corgi: Compute Oriented Recumbent Generation Infrastructure, Christopher Allen Hunt
Master's Theses
Creating a bicycle with a rideable geometry is more complicated than it may appear, with today’s mainstay designs having evolved through years of iteration. This slow evolution coupled with the bicycle’s intricate mechanical system has lead most builders to base their new geometries off of previous work rather than expand into new design spaces. This crutch can lead to slow bicycle iteration rates, often causing bicycles to all look about the same. To combat this, several bicycle design models have been created over the years, with each attempting to define a bicycle’s handling characteristics given its physical geometry. However, these …
Improving Ventricular Catheter Design Through Computational Fluid Dynamics, Sofy Hefets Weisenberg
Improving Ventricular Catheter Design Through Computational Fluid Dynamics, Sofy Hefets Weisenberg
Masters Theses
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunts are fully implantable medical devices that are used to treat patients suffering from conditions characterized by elevated intracranial pressure, such as hydrocephalus. In cases of shunt failure or malfunction, patients are often required to endure one or more revision surgeries to replace all or part of the shunt. One of the primary causes of CSF shunt failure is obstruction of the ventricular catheter, a component of the shunt system implanted directly into the brain's ventricular system. This work aims to improve the design of ventricular catheters in order to reduce the incidence of catheter obstruction and …
Finite Element Analysis And Topology Optimization Of Differential Case And Control Arm For Static And Fatigue Loading, Pankaj N. Kalan
Finite Element Analysis And Topology Optimization Of Differential Case And Control Arm For Static And Fatigue Loading, Pankaj N. Kalan
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
Optimization of the automobile components can result in a significant decrease in vehicle weight, increase in fuel efficiency and reduction in environmental damage. For example, the lightweight vehicle production will save over 4.4×109 GJ of energy and 4.1×108 tons of CO2 over a 10 year period, compared to the current non-light weight vehicles. This equates to 890 billion miles or 42 billion gallons of gas savings (Wu 2016). This study evaluates the weight reduction possible by using manual and automatic (using Optistruct software) topology optimization processes. Optimization of a vehicle differential case done in this study shows that a weight …
Optimization Of Formula Sae Electric Vehicle Frame With Finite Element Analysis, Alexander Prorok
Optimization Of Formula Sae Electric Vehicle Frame With Finite Element Analysis, Alexander Prorok
Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects
Optimization of Formula SAE Electric Vehicle Frame with Finite Element Analysis