Engineering Commons^™

Lab Home Testing Of Residential Isolation Space Control To Minimize Infectious Disease Transmission In Existing Single-Family Homes -- Fact Sheet, Florida Solar Energy Center, Tanvir Khan

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The FSEC Energy Research Center at the University of Central Florida performed research to test the effectiveness of interventions to isolate an ill person recovering from a contagious disease in a single-family home from the rest of the occupants in the home. Focus was placed on interventions requiring minor cost and effort on the part of the occupants.

DOE/GO-102021-5537, https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy21osti/79519.pdf

Lab Home Testing Of Residential Isolation Space Control To Minimize Infectious Disease Transmission In Existing Single-Family Homes, Florida Solar Energy Center, Tanvir Khan

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Existing evidence strongly suggests that viral infectious diseases can be transmitted via an airborne route across distances in indoor environments. Accordingly, the risk of airborne transmission within homes should be managed. The public health emergency associated with SARS-CoV-2 makes controlling airborne transmission of respired viruses in indoor environments critical, especially in poorly ventilated indoor environments. The effectiveness of engineering interventions requiring minor efforts that create a negative-pressure isolation zone (IZ) for a contagious person has yet to be tested for existing residential homes.

To mitigate the risk of airborne virus transmission and maximize health protection for the population in existing …

Survey Of Unvented Attics In Climate Zone 2a, Florida Solar Energy Center, Eric Martin

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Moisture risk must be managed in unvented attics to ensure durability of components and longevity of the system. The FSEC Energy Research Center (FSEC), at the University of Central Florida tested and collected data in six homes in the northern Florida portion of IECC Climate Zone 2A built after 2015 with unvented (semi-conditioned) attics to add to the body of knowledge on the accumulation of moisture in the attic and its effects on roof moisture that can impact durability.

Relative International Energy Conservation Code (Iecc) Energy Impacts By Compliance Path, Florida Solar Energy Center, Philip Fairey

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The EnergyGauge® USA (v.6.2) residential building energy simulation software tool is used to examine energy impacts in two-story, 2,376 ft², single-family homes configured in accordance with the minimum requirements of Section R402-R404 of the 2018 IECC in fourteen representative U.S. cities.⁴ EnergyGauge USA is a RESNET-accredited HERS software tool capable of evaluating not only the HERS Index and the IECC Section R406 Energy Rating Index Compliance Alternative but also the IECC Section R405 Simulated Performance Alternative as well as the IECC Section R402 R-Value and Total UA Alternative prescriptive methods along with all of the IECC mandatory …

Resilient Florida Buildings: Alternative Fuel Options For Maintaining Power During Outages, Brochure, Florida Solar Energy Center, Colleen Kettles

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Electricity outages impact buildings as well as the fueling infrastructure that delivers energy resources for power generation and transportation. A fueling infrastructure with minimal downtime during power outages is needed to increase the resiliency of buildings and the economy. This brochure describes alternative fuels to consider for a buildings resiliency plan. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Energy Technology Development Program Award Number DE-EE0008880. FSEC Art#: BLDG-89 Updated: 05/20/2021

Metal And Flexible Duct Systems Impacts Upon Cooling Energy And Performance, Florida Solar Energy Center, Charles Withers, Jr.

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Flexible duct is commonly used throughout the U.S. in residential construction. It performs well when installed in accordance with industry standards, however, they are often not installed as such. Issues such as not cutting ducts to the exact length needed, and instead using significantly more duct, result in compression and higher static pressure. Poorly supported ducts or turns without proper radius also increase static pressure. A research project was completed to evaluate the differences in performance between a metal duct and flexible duct systems in two side-by-side otherwise identical residential laboratories. Testing evaluated three different flex duct system configurations compared …

Exergoeconomic Analysis And Optimization Of Novel Cogeneration Systems For Freshwater Production, Power And Cooling, Sattam Alharbi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Global consumption of energy and freshwater is increasing continuously due to population growth and improving living standards. The world energy consumption is anticipated to increase by around 50% by 2050 according to the U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA). There is also very limited access to freshwater and cooling in many developing countries. Therefore, developing an efficient energy system, recovering the waste heat (cogeneration system or multigeneration) to produce freshwater and cooling, and using a renewable energy source are promising solutions to meet the energy demand and to reduce environment pollution associated with fossil fuels. In this study, several novel cogeneration …

Signals As Symbols: Applying Normalization Of Deviance To Improve User-Centered Design, Amy Vanschaik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Mistakes can happen in the process of designing and developing interactive digital projects. Sometimes these mistakes negatively impact users' perception and trust of digital interfaces. This research applies the concept of normalization of deviance to identify potential missed opportunities in user-centered design data within the context of a website redesign. By doing this I explore how through observing accidental deviant behaviors or processes we can identify ways to improve the usability and user experience of digital environments. I review the concepts of normalized deviant behavior as addressed by Diane Vaughan in the field of engineering and identify a process for …

Studies On Powder Compaction And Wire Extrusion Of Pure Metals And Metal/Cnt Nano Composites, Qiang Zhou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The goal of this dissertation is to fabricate wires made of Cu/CNT and Al/CNT composites with good mechanical strength and super thermal/electrical conductivities using powder compaction and wire extrusion manufacturing processes. Powder compaction was studied using both test and simulation. Cold compaction, hot compaction and vibration assisted (cold) compaction tests were conducted to achieve different density ratios. Hot compaction tests improved about 6% compared with cold compaction under the same compression pressure. Although the relative density ratio does not obviously improve at vibration assisted (cold) compaction, the strength of the specimens made under vibration loading is much better than those …

Damping And Ejection Of Sloshing Liquid Drops From Elastic Substrates, Md Erfanul Alam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Liquid slosh is a potential source of disturbance of the motion of a moving structure. In this thesis, we probe the damping technique of sessile drop by absorbing a portion of the kinetic energy. The sloshing dynamics are typically represented by a mechanical model of a spring mass damper. However, damping by drop sloshing is dependent on viscosity, surface tension, drop size and drop location. We explore highly-coupled fluid-solid mechanics using singular liquid drop with varying viscosity and surface tension resting on a millimetric cantilever. Cantilevers are displaced 0.6 mm and their free end is allowed to vibrate freely. Cantilever …

Fluid-Structure Interaction For A Deformable Anisotropic Cylinder: A Case Study, Jared T. Decker

Honors Undergraduate Theses

For a structure designed to interact with the surrounding fluid, structural deformation under loads induced by fluid flows is an important factor to consider, and one which is traditionally difficult to account for analytically. Coupling the finite element method for structural analysis with the finite volume method for the determination of fluid response allows for accurate simulation of the pressure and shearing loads applied by the fluid onto the fluid-structure interface, while also determining localized structural displacements that would cause changes to the geometry of the interface. This work seeks to simulate the behavior of cylinders with varying heights and …

Electromyographic And Mechanomyogrpahic Signal Changes With Fatigue In Adults, Rehana Koilpillai

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Surface electromyography (sEMG) and mechanomyography (MMG) are well-studied signals that can reveal information about the physiological behavior of muscles during contraction. The purpose of this study was to quantify, characterize, and analyze the electrical and mechanical muscle responses to submaximal, isometric contractions in the rectus femoris in adults. Previous studies have investigated the use of EMG to monitor muscle fatigue. However, more information appears to be needed about the use of MMG to measure muscle fatigue during submaximal isometric contraction in the rectus femoris. In this study, the utility of MMG as a measure of muscle fatigue or muscle state …

Heart Rate Variability In Adults During 24-Hours With A Focus On Sleep Period, Ankur Ravikanth

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The objective of this study is to investigate heart rate variability (HRV) over a period of 24 hours with special focus on patterns during the sleep period. Comparisons were made between sleep and the full 24-hour data. The Polar M430 watch was used to record heart rate (HR) data for about 24 hours, and the subject kept a journal of the activities they performed throughout the day. The data was visualized as heart rate in beats per minute (BPM) as a function of time. To check the accuracy of the Polar watch, a 7-minute recording of HR from the watch …

Flow Field Dynamics As A Result Of Perforated Plates, Hector Perez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Detonation to Deflagration Transition (DDT) is the process of accelerating a laminar flame to supersonic speeds to cause a detonation. A method used to reach Chapman-Jouguet (CJ) detonation velocities is the induction of turbulence to increase the surface area of the flame front, increasing the consumption rate of unburned gases and the propagation speed of the flame. Perforated plates helped achieve flame acceleration in previous studies to induce turbulence when the flame front interacts with the turbulator; previous work also accomplished detonation speeds with perforated plates. This work aims to visualize the flame front and perforated plate interaction and analyze …

An Evaporation Based Micro-Synthetic Jet In Microchannel And Its Applications, Ehsan Sourtiji

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

An approach to create synthetic jets at micro-scales using periodic bubble growth and collapse was presented and studied over a range of operating frequencies (0.1 to 2.5 Hz) and heating powers (3 to 4.5 Watt). The microfluidic device uses an interfacial layer between vapor and liquid phases which substitutes the requirement for a physical flexible membrane and any other moving parts. The bubble explosion and implosion in the chamber was triggered by periodically powering a micro-heater, which in turn generated the synthetic jet. High-speed camera photography and a microscope were used to capture sequential images of bubble nucleation, growth and …

Model-Form Uncertainty Quantification In Prognosis And Fleet Management With Physics-Informed Neural Networks, Arinan De Piemonte Dourado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Prognosis and health management play an important role in the control of costs associated with the operation of large industrial equipment. By properly comprehending hardware degradation and accurately predicting the remaining useful life of such equipment, we can significantly lower operational costs by reducing asset downtime and maintenance interventions. However, complex interactions between operational conditions and component capability make accurately modeling damage accumulation for large fleets a daunting task. Unforeseen factors such as aggressive missions introduced by operators, exposure to harsh environments, manufacturing issues, amongst many others, can lead to large discrepancies between predicted and observed useful life. Motivated by …

Mechanical Properties And Spectral Vibrational Response Of Si-O-C With And Without Graphene Toughening, Anthony Vozza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The mechanical behavior of silicon oxycarbide polymer derived ceramics (SiOC-PDC) without and with a graphene toughening phase was studied under uniaxial compressive load with zero dwell time and with 200 second dwell time step loading in combination with in-situ Raman spectroscopy to determine spectral vibrational response of SiOC under compressive stress. SiOC without and with graphene ceramic samples were produced through the replica templating technique. The compressive strengths of SiOC without and with a graphene toughening phase measured with zero dwell time was determined to be equal to 165.65 (SD 54.21) and 163 (SD 24.2) MPa, respectively, while compressive strengths …

Influence Of Ecm Composition And Intracellular Calcium On Endothelial Biomechanics And Prediction Of Cellular Stresses Using Machine Learning, Vignesh Aravind Subramanian Balachandar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Endothelial cells, which form the inner layer of the vasculature, constantly interact with their external microenvironment called the extracellular matrix (ECM) by exerting contractile cell-substrate stresses called tractions and cell-cell stresses called intercellular stresses. This cellular mechanosensing can become aberrant and act as a precursor for many vascular pathological and physiological processes such as cancer metastasis, atherosclerosis, cell differentiation, migration, and morphogenesis. Also, intracellular calcium signalling plays an important role in endothelial cell motility and in maintaining vascular tone. Alteration in ECM composition has been linked to several pathologies, in fact, a transition to a fibronectin-rich matrix from a type …

Investigation Of Various Jet Configurations On Jet-In Crossflow Flame Characteristics At Elevated Pressures, Max K. Fortin

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The goal of this study is to investigate how varying the configuration of an axially staged combustion test facility affects the resultant flame and its relevant characteristics. Such relevant characteristics are the jet liftoff and the centerline jet trajectory. The configurations that are primarily being investigated are varied jet configuration diameters, 4mm and 12.7mm, preheated and non-preheated fuel, and different fuels. The testing facility is located at the University of Central Florida in the PERL (Propulsion and Energy Research Lab) facility. The facility allows for modeling an industrial turbine combustor, specifically an axial staged combustor with a Jet-In-Crossflow …

The Stability Of Two-Dimensional Cylinder Wakes In The Presence Of A Wavy Ground, Matt Duran

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The following study investigates hydrodynamic stability for two-dimensional, incompressible flow past a cylinder and compares it alongside four different variations of a wave-like ground introduced within the wake region of the cylinder wake. These different variations include changing the distance of the cylinder both horizontally from the wave-like structure and vertically from the ground. The geometry and meshes were initially constructed using GMSH and imported into Nektar++. The baseflows were then obtained in Nektar++ using the Velocity Correction Scheme, continuous Galerkin method, and Unsteady Navier Stokes solver. Then, the Implicitly Restarted Arnoldi Method driver was used to retrieve the various …

The Mechanics And Multiphysics Of Biomimetic Discrete Exoskeleton Substrates, Hessein Ali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Biological structures have inspired synthetic materials with unparalleled performances such as ultra-lightweight design, tunable elasticity, camouflaging, and antifouling. Among biological structures, exoskeletal scales that cover the exterior surfaces of fishes, fur, and many reptiles. These exoskeletal scales had appeared in the earliest stages of evolution of complex multicellular life and continued their existence in spite of millions of years of evolutionary pressures. This makes them an attractive candidate for biomimicry to produce high performance multifunctional materials with applications to soft robotics, wearables, energy efficient smart skins, antifouling surfaces and on-demand tunable materials. Canonically speaking, biomimetic samples can be fabricated by …

Mechanics Of Low Dimensional Biomimetic Scale Metamaterials, Hossein Ebrahimi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Combination of topology and material could play an important role in giving rise to nontraditional behavior in mechanical structures and is a typical strategy in nature. Topology is concerned with the geometrical and spatial properties of the objects, which are preserved under continues mechanical deformation of the object such as stretching, bending, twisting, etc. In this work, we focus on structures based on fish scale inspired surface topology. The utilized idea for surface topology is a bioinspired design on the substrate of biological scale-covered systems. Scales are a path breaking evolutionary adaptation that accompanied vertebrate evolution for the past 500 …

The Effect Of Dynamic Span Wise Bending On The Forces Of A Pitching Flat Plate, Manoj Prabakar Sargunaraj

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

A novel experiment has been conducted to investigate the effect of dynamic spanwise bending on the formation of a dynamic stall vortex on a rapidly pitching flat plate. Experiments have been performed in a towing tank at different nondimensional pitch rates (Kp) in the range of 0.4112 < Kp < 0.8225, and four maximum pitch angles (30° , 45°, 60°, and 90°) at a Reynolds number of 12,000. Synchronized direct force measurements and particle image velocimetry (PIV) are used to characterize the effect of bending on the unsteady forces and the flow field. An unsteady analytical model based on the bending and pitching kinematics is used to model the lift force histories. It is found that a spanwise bending of a pitching wing alleviated the unsteady lift forces. However, the main contribution was found to come from the non-circulatory forces. The circulation and pressure analysis of the pitching wing revealed little or no sensitivity to the wing bending motions examined.

Econometric Frameworks For Energy Prediction, Naveen Chandra Iraganaboina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Global warming and associated role of energy consumption across various sectors is a well-researched topic in recent years. Understanding current urban energy consumption patterns will allow us to understand how future energy consumption patterns will evolve. With electrification of vehicles and potentially altering culture of work from home, the energy usage at regional level would see a significant change in the future. The current PhD dissertation contributes to energy consumption analysis of a region by analyzing residential energy consumption, commercial energy consumption and transportation energy use by households. The aggregation of these energy consumption within a region contributes to the …

Hotspot Cooling Performance For Confined Jet Impingement Cooling, Tanvir Ahmed Chowdhury

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The current trend in microelectronics is to manufacture devices with increased computational powers and reduced size. These devices with increased power densities are consequently subject to extreme thermal loads. Thermal management of these power loads is extremely challenging. The presence of the hotspots can make this challenge even more difficult. Jet impingement cooling is one of the top candidates for removing such extreme heat fluxes in microelectronics. Jet impingement cooling can achieve heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) due to its normal incident flow-field and ability to thin the local thermal boundary layer in the stagnation region. This dissertation presents the hotspot …

Diffusion Biomarkers To Characterize Tissue Microstructure In Chronic Myocardial Infarction, Mohammad Tanjib Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Non-invasive imaging techniques to detect and characterize infarcted myocardium are critical for myocardial infarction (MI) prognosis and post-MI risk assessment. Many existing imaging techniques (such as T1-mapping) for MI detection require the use of contrast agents, which are not recommended for patients with renal failure. Cardiac diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (cDTI), a non-contrast imaging technique, allows estimating the aggregate cardiomyocyte microstructure in healthy subjects and its remodeling as a result of cardiac diseases. Two main questions are investigated in this thesis: 1) how cDTI based biomarkers can characterize microstructural changes occurring post-MI; and 2) if cDTI based biomarkers can …

Understanding Forearm Muscle Coordination In Children, Miguel Gonzalez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

A combination of surface electromyography (EMG) and pattern recognition algorithms have led to improvements in the functionality of upper limb prosthetics. This method of control relies on user's ability to repeatedly generate consistent muscle contractions. Research in EMG based control of prosthesis has mainly utilized adult subjects who have fully developed neuromuscular control. Little is known about children's ability to generate consistent EMG signals necessary to control artificial limbs with multiple degrees of freedom. To address this gap, two experiments were designed to validate and benchmark an experimental protocol that quantifies the ability to coordinate forearm muscle contractions in able-bodied …

Mid-Infrared Laser Absorption Spectroscopy And Ignition Delay Time Measurements Of Advanced Renewable Fuels At High Pressure In A Shock Tube, Erik Ninnemann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The United States government has set 2050 as the target for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions due to their increasing levels and the subsequent rise in global temperatures. To meet this target, there has been renewed interest in the combustion of high-energy biofuels that could combat these issues. Thus, the Department of Energy started the Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines program to find bioderived blendstocks that can harmonize with current and future generation engines to increase power and efficiency, all while reducing overall emissions. As part of this program, it is crucial to understand the combustion of these fuels at the …

Corticomuscular Adaptation To Mechanical Perturbations In A Seated Locomotor Task, Seyed Yahya Shirazi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Cortical control during walking is most pronounced when the person is perturbed. Although seated locomotor tasks such as cycling or recumbent stepping improve walking performance, the electrocortical correlates of perturbed seated tasks have not been studied in detail. The primary purpose of this research was to quantify cortical and muscular responses to mechanical perturbations during recumbent stepping. We also aimed to quantify possible differences between young and older adults' responses to perturbed stepping. A secondary aim of this research was to determine the accuracy of electroencephalography (EEG) source imaging to interpret the electrocortical findings adequately. We hypothesized that both young …

Wind Turbine Main Bearing Fatigue Prognosis With Physics-Informed Machine Learning, Yigit Yucesan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Unexpected main bearing failure on a wind turbine causes unscheduled maintenance and increased operation costs (mainly due to crane, parts, labor, and production loss). Unfortunately, historical data indicates that failure can happen far earlier than the component designed lives (due to manufacturing problems, for example). For the legacy fleet, which composes the majority of the installed basis, fatigue has become a major issue. Although bearing fatigue can be expressed with physics-informed models, they often inherent large uncertainties due to operation and unknown lubricant degradation mechanism. Apart from the unknown physics of failure, additional uncertainties associated with the grease that surrounds …