Engineering Commons^™

Study On Vacuum Dehydration Rate From Oil Based On T_S Fuzzy Identifying Model, Liu Ge, Bin Chen, Xianming Zhang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The process of vacuum dehydration from oil is time-varying, nonlinear, and difficult to be specified with mathematical methods. Takagi-Sugeno (T_S) fuzzy model of vacuum dehydration rate of oil purifier is proposed, which a method of applying Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering algorithm and using the least square method identifying the consequent parameters. The nonlinear mapping is set up from four influence factors (the initial water content, the vacuum pressure , the initial temperature and running time) to vacuum dehydration rate using the T_S fuzzy model. The simulation and experimental results show the T_S model reflects the laws of the influences …

Goods Consumed During Transit In Split Delivery Vehicle Routing Problems: Modeling And Solution, Wenzhe Yang, Di Wang, Wei Pang, Ah-Hwee Tan, You Zhou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This article presents the modeling and solution of an extended type of split delivery vehicle routing problem (SDVRP). In SDVRP, the demands of customers need to be met by efficiently routing a given number of capacitated vehicles, wherein each customer may be served multiple times by more than one vehicle. Furthermore, in many real-world scenarios, consumption of vehicles en route is the same as the goods being delivered to customers, such as food, water and fuel in rescue or replenishment missions in harsh environments. Moreover, the consumption may also be in virtual forms, such as time spent in constrained tasks. …

Improved Particle Swarm Optimization Based On Lévy Flights, Rongyu Li, Wang Ying

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The particle swarm optimization (PSO) has some demerits, such as relapsing into local extremum, slow convergence velocity and low convergence precision in the late evolutionary. The Lévy particle swarm optimization (Lévy PSO) was proposed. In the particle position updating formula, Lévy PSO eliminated the impact of speed on the convergence rate, and used Levy flight to change the direction of particle positions movement to prevent particles getting into local optimum value, and then using greedy strategy to update the evaluation and choose the best solution to obtain the global optimum. The experimental results show that Lévy PSO can effectively …

Optimization And Simulation Models To Improve Access To Organ Transplantation In The United States., Fatemeh Karami

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Organ allocation in the U.S. is administrated by the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS). UNOS’s mission is to ensure fair and equitable allocation of organs as stated in the Code of Federal Regulations, which reads "neither place of residence nor place of listing shall be a major determinant of access to transplant". Despite the regulations, there has been endless controversy surrounding the disparity in access to organ transplants. In this context, the primary research goal in this dissertation was to reduce geographic disparity in access to transplants in the U.S., with a focus on heart and kidney transplants. To …

Locating Emergency Shelters While Incorporating Spatial Factors, Justin Taylor

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the immediate response phase of a natural disaster, local governments and nonprofit agencies often establish shelters for affected populations. Decisions regarding at which locations to open shelters are made ad hoc based on available building inventory, and may result in high travel impedance to reach shelters and congestion. This thesis presents a shelter location optimization model based on the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method. The 2SFCA method creates a shelter accessibility score for each areal unit (e.g., census block group) which represents the ability for persons in the unit to access shelter capacity with low travel impedance, relative …

Curriculum Optimization Via Activity-On-Node Network Modeling, Caroline Rhomberg

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

University degree plans must be carefully planned so that they allow students the best chance of succeeding. Although for the better, with the advancement of technology and its incorporation into the classroom, it can be argued that the complexity and difficulty of some long-established engineering core classes has changed. With this trend certain combinations of engineering courses have become unfavorable in terms of course withdrawal and fail rates stemming from the interaction of course challenges. A wealth of data has been collected on this topic and will be utilized in this project. As one can imagine, the probability of success …

Identifying And Addressing Improvement Opportunities In Primary Care Clinics, Mozhdeh Sadighi

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations

ABSTRACT: The main aim of this dissertation is to study how unrecognized opportunities for improving efficiency of in-person patient visits in a primary care clinic can be identified and addressed. To fulfill this goal, the research is divided into three distinct but related sections. Section one, with the most holistic view, uses a combination of scientific and rigorous methods along two research paths and, as a result, explores two opportunities for improvement in the clinic. These opportunities are high patient waiting time and unbalanced workload. Sections two and three each focus on underlying conditions driving one of these two opportunities. …

Golng Off The Grid: Optimizing Solar Renewable Energy Systems At Remote Locations To Minimize Logistics Requirements, Increase Sustainability, And Strengthen Energy Assurance, Nathanael J. Thomsen

Theses and Dissertations

Grid-based electrical infrastructure is unavailable at many remote locations including developing nation communities, isolated construction sites, and military contingency bases. Powering these locations with diesel generators requires regular fuel resupply, resulting in increased costs, environmental impacts, and burdensome logistics—making generators an obstacle for energy resiliency and sustainability. This research examines using solar renewable energy systems to replace generators at remote locations and presents a multi-objective optimization model that minimizes logistics variables. Replacing a single deployed generator would save over 500,000 gal of fuel annually, eliminating the need for 100 fuel tanker deliveries.

Route Planning For Long-Term Robotics Missions, Christopher Alexander Arend Tatsch

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Many future robotic applications such as the operation in large uncertain environment depend on a more autonomous robot. The robotics long term autonomy presents challenges on how to plan and schedule goal locations across multiple days of mission duration. This is an NP-hard problem that is infeasible to solve for an optimal solution due to the large number of vertices to visit. In some cases the robot hardware constraints also adds the requirement to return to a charging station multiple times in a long term mission. The uncertainties in the robot model and environment require the robot planner to account …

Computational Model For Neural Architecture Search, Ram Deepak Gottapu

Doctoral Dissertations

"A long-standing goal in Deep Learning (DL) research is to design efficient architectures for a given dataset that are both accurate and computationally inexpensive. At present, designing deep learning architectures for a real-world application requires both human expertise and considerable effort as they are either handcrafted by careful experimentation or modified from a handful of existing models. This method is inefficient as the process of architecture design is highly time-consuming and computationally expensive.

The research presents an approach to automate the process of deep learning architecture design through a modeling procedure. In particular, it first introduces a framework that treats …

Efficiency Analysis Of A Congested Brazilian Airport Applying Slots Optimization Control: Congonhas Airport Case, Mariana Franco B. Mendes, Rafael Roco De Araujo, Ana Paula Beck Da Silva Etges, Massoud Bazargan

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The current slot allocation mechanism in Brazil, based on the International Air Transport Association (IATA) rules, and its supplementary local regulation The National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), displays a few issues and limitations (e.g. slot misuse, allocation inefficiencies). Such issues are particularly present in the case of busy airports that works near their maximum capacity for major parts of the day. This inefficiency problem is generated because of the complexity of slot allocation added to the limited decision support available for the Brazilian system. This study focuses on the implementation of an optimal slot model, based on IATA regulations with …

Credible Optimum Selection Of Guidance System Simulation Based On Entropy Weight Vikor Method, Wenguang Yang, Yunjie Wu

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: As the core component of the missile system, the guidance system plays an increasingly important role in the design of missile system. In order to improve the accuracy of the guidance system, this paper obtains the experimental data under a number of parameter design schemes by means of simulation experiments. The problem of simulation credibility verification of guidance system is transformed into multi-attribute decision-making optimization problem, and a parameter optimization method of guidance system based on improved VIKOR method is designed. The improved VIKOR method overcomes the phenomenon of rank reversal and ensures that the optimal final compromise solution …

Mazak Laser Optimization, Maylon Ellington, Terrilian E. Agbor Oji, William N. Palm

Senior Design Project For Engineers

Starflex Fabrication is a manufacturing company that thrives to provide custom, precision fabricated parts, and assemblies to their customers.The Mazak laser is Starflex Fabrication’s primary cutting machine and is critical to the overall process for each order. Team Flex will look to optimize the laser’s process and improve overall shop throughput.

Optimizing Block-Stacking Operations With Relocation, Hueon Lee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The focus of the dissertation is developing the optimization problem of finding the minimum-cost operational plan of block stacking with relocation as well as devising a solution procedure to solve practical-sized instances of the problem. Assuming changeable row depth instead of permanent row depth, this research is distinguished from conventional block stacking studies.

The first contribution of the dissertation is the development of the optimization problem under the assumption of deterministic demand. The problem is modeled using integer programming as a variation of the unsplittable multi-commodity flow problem. To find a good feasible solution of practical-sized instances in reasonable time, …

Simulation And Optimization Of A Multi-Agent System On Physical Internet Enabled Interconnected Urban Logistics., Long Zheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An urban logistics system is composed of multiple agents, e.g., shippers, carriers, and distribution centers, etc., and multi-modal networks. The structure of Physical Internet (PI) transportation network is different from current logistics practices, and simulation can effectively model a series of PI-approach scenarios. In addition to the baseline model, three more scenarios are enacted based on different characteristics: shared trucks, shared hubs, and shared flows with other less-than-truckload shipments passing through the urban area. Five performance measures, i.e., truck distance per container, mean truck time per container, lead time, CO₂ emissions, and transport mean fill rate, are included in …

Planning And Optimization Of A Stochastic Multi-Phase Multi- Criteria Multi-Echelon Humanitarian Logistics Network, A B M Mainul Bari

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations

Disasters, may that be anthropogenic or natural, cause much havoc to vast area and population. Property and infrastructures get destroyed. People are often in need of urgent relief like dry foods and water to survive. In a country which is in the underdeveloped part of the world, relief and evacuation activities are usually carried out by local government run aid agencies. Most of the time, the local decision makers do the coordination or planning of these humanitarian activities largely based on either past experience or sometimes just pure hunch, which is neither efficient nor economic. Proper planning and coordination in …

Insulation Sensitivity Analysis For An Optimized Fabric Shelter Off-Grid Hybrid Energy System, Jay F. Pearson [*], Torrey J. Wagner, Steven Schuldt

Faculty Publications

During military and disaster relief operations, connecting to an established electrical grid is rarely an option. In these situations, camps consisting of poorly insulated fabric shelters are predominantly powered by inefficient diesel generators that require frequent fuel resupply. In order to reduce the fuel demand of these generators, camps may utilize photovoltaic-battery systems. This paper presents an innovative cost-performance model capable of optimizing solar array size, battery backup system, and shelter insulation type to minimize the operating cost of powering a single fabric shelter. Model performance was evaluated using one year of insolation, weather and energy requirement data from a …

Evaluation Of Data Collection Operations For Real-Time Influenza Surveillance During An Emergency, Yuwen Gu

Dissertations

It is unclear how data collection operations for surveillance alter the disease portrayal that influenza reported trends attempt to provide during an emergency. This study developed a model that simulates the collection and testing of influenza specimens after an outbreak is declared in Michigan. It performed simulation based optimization to understand which operational factors affect the biases between the growth rates of original and observed influenza incidence trends, and to quantify the predictive power of the influenza incidence trends at different points of data collection. The results show that emergency driven high risk perception increases the reporting, which leads to …

Interventions Of Waterjet Technology In Skin Incisions, Nadi Atalla

Dissertations

This research explores the use of waterjet (WJ) technology in performing skin incisions. The study defines the analytical relationships between the skin properties and the operating parameters of the WJ which include the skin thickness, its elastic modulus, the WJ pressure, the nozzle’s orifice diameter, its stand-off distance and the traverse speed of the WJ as well as the duration of applying the WJ pressure. An analytical model is developed to measure the depth incision of the skin, the water pressure and the water velocity, while using a WJ. Systemization and optimization models that determine the optimal operating parameters levels …

Re-Org: An Online Repositioning Guidance Agent, Muralidhar Konda, Pradeep Varakantham, Aayush Saxena, Meghna Lowalekar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

No abstract provided.

Optimization Of The Retention Rates Of Ready Mix Usa Drivers, Pruthvi Hira, Jaime Harmon, Kenneth Correa, Destiny Sessums

Senior Design Project For Engineers

Ready Mix USA, a CEMEX company, is a giant in the building materials industry, servicing the Southeastern region of the United States through various commercial and residential projects. The Atlanta Division of RMUSA currently consists of 15 operational plants in the state of Georgia with its headquarters located in Woodstock. From the years 2015 to 2018, managers at Ready Mix USA noticed a drastic increase in turnover rates of ready mix truck drivers and did not have an answer for the increasing percentages. The Continuous Improvement at RMUSA tasked the student project team from the Industrial and Systems Engineering department …

Supply Chain Network Analysis For Outboard Motors At Motor Boaters Usa, Seyedalireza (Ali) Ghiasi, Chase Griffith, Djanene Manuel, Yesenia Pérez, Alvand Rafiee

Senior Design Project For Engineers

Motor Boaters USA found themselves possibly spending too much on their current network distribution of small and large outboard motors and requested new distribution alternatives for the U.S. Through past network distribution data analysis, the team devised 3 scenarios it believed would provide one or more cost effective distribution networks applicable to the request. Through what-if analysis, the teams' calculations produced solid results, which were then presented to Motor Boaters USA for reflection and possible implementation.

Optimization Of Automated Guided Vehicles (Agv) Fleet Size With Incorporation Of Battery Management, Ahmed Hamdy

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

An important aspect in manufacturing automation is material handling. To facilitate material handling, automated transport systems are implemented and employed. The AGV (automated guided vehicle) has become widely used for internal and external transport of materials. A critical aspect in the use of AGVs is determining the number of vehicles required for the system to meet the material handling requirements.

Several models and simulations have been applied to determine the fleet size. Most of these models and simulations do not incorporate the battery usage of the vehicles and the effect it can have on the throughput and the number of …

Centroidal Voronoi Tessellation With Local Optimization, Tianyu Ye, Yiqun Wang, Dongming Yan, Junhai Yong

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Centroidal Voronoi tessellation is a special geometric structure, which has many applications in various fields such as geographical information system, signal processing, mesh generation/optimization, visualization and so on. Due to the highly non-convex nature of the CVT energy function, the existing methods for computing CVT have several drawbacks, which always trap into local minima. We propose generation optimization and stochastic optimization schemes for further reducing the CVT energy. Experimental results show that the proposed method improves both quality and efficiency compared to the recent approaches.

Artificial Fish Swarm And Feedback Linearization Of Flue Gas Denitration Control Based On Neural Network, Yuguang Niu, Pan Yan, Wenyuan Huang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: According to the present situation of SCR flue gas dentration control system in thermal power plant, an optimum proposal that control valve and concentration transmitter are added in the inlet of the SCR reactor is presented, and the corresponding control strategy is given. At the entrance of the SCR reactor, the receding horizon algorithm combined with the single neuron adaptive algorithm and the artificial fish swarm algorithm (RSNAAFS) is used to control branch valves to pretreat NO_X in the exhaust flue gas. At the outlet of the SCR reactor, the neural network based on feedback linearization algorithm (NNFL) …

Real-Time Pricing Strategy Considering The Risk Of Smart Grid, Hongbo Zhu, Gao Yan, Yeming Dai

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The real-time electricity price mechanism is an ideal method to adjust the power balance between supply and demand in smart grid. Its implementation has profound impacts on the users' behavior and the operation and management of electricity power grid’s safety. The users’ demand behavior plays a regulatory role in designing real-time electricity pricing strategy. Aiming at maximizing social welfare, the dynamic change of users’ aggregate demand is analyzed, which corrects the electricity risk items in online real-time risk model in the way of changing the individual user’s power fluctuations to all the users’ demand power fluctuations, and the optimization …

Optimization Of Q-Btgsid Based On Sensitivity Analysis, Shuwei Jia

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: In order to make up for the defect that relative degree of incidence, absolute degree of incidence and synthetic degree of incidence are limited in the range of (0.5, 1], this paper attempts to improve the degree of grey incidence. A control factor of “λ” and the metric space are set up to adjust. A new model is established and its specific properties are studied. It is proved that the new model satisfies the grey incidence axioms and the range of degree of grey incidence can be extended to (0, 1]. We put forward four principles of …

Optimization Of Scheduling Rule Of Unidirectional Material Handling System With Short-Cut, Juntao Li, Kun Xia, Kise Hiroshi

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To decrease the interference and improve the performance of a unidirectional circulation-type material handling system on a single loop with a shortcut, the interference and scheduling problem between AGVs are studied. According to the actual situation of material handling system, the interferences of two scheduling rules (random rule and order rule) are analyzed. An optimal scheduling rule under the interference case—exchange order rule is proposed. Different scheduling rules have an influence on the interference between AGVs and then have an important effect on the efficiency of the whole system. Experiment results show that the exchange order (E-Order) rule …

Applications Of A New Genetic Algorithm To Solve The Centralized Carrier Collaboration And Multihub Location Problem Considering Environmental Impacts, Eduardo Jose Castillo Fatule

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Centralized Carrier Collaboration and Multi-hub Location Problem (CCCMLP) represents a strategy that small-to-medium sized less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier companies can use in order to improve their profit margins. It is a strategy that is being explored in order to make these companies more sustainable as they are forced to reinvent their processes and supply chains. In this work, I will present a metaheuristic approach to optimizing their hub establishment and routing policies in order to better their expected profit margins and reduce their environmental impacts. The study considers the costs of transportation, loading and unloading, maintenance, operations, and inventory holding …

Foundations For A Game Theoretic Framework For Agile Acquisition, Scott Rosen, Kelly Horinek, Alexander Odeh, Les Servi, Andreas Tolk

VMASC Publications

This article investigates the concept of developing a game theoretic framework that is based on the application of buyer and seller utility functions to support the bidding process in government acquisition. The results of a literature survey of utility function approaches, with potential to provide a suitable foundation to a game theory framework for acquisition, are presented. The utility function methods found most promising were further adapted and tested: the Best-Worst method, the Multi-Swing Method, and Functional Dependency for Network Analysis. To test the scalability of the approach, the Best-Worst method is applied to a larger problem to show the …