Engineering Commons^™

Direct Foam Writing In Microgravity, Guy Jacob Cordonier, Cicely Sharafati, Spencer Mays, Lukas Thackery, Ellena Gemmen, Samuel Cyphert, Megan Brown, John Quinn Napolillo, Savannah Toney, Hunter Moore, John M. Kuhlman `, Konstantinos A. Sierros

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Herein we report 2D printing in microgravity of aqueous-based foams containing metal oxide nanoparticles. Such hierarchical foams have potential space applications, for example for in situ habitat repair work, or for UV shielding. Foam line patterns of a TiO2-containing foam have been printed onto glass substrates via Direct Foam Writing (DFW) under microgravity conditions through a parabolic aircraft flight. Initial characterization of the foam properties (printed foam line width, bubble size, etc.) are presented. It has been found that gravity plays a significant role in the process of direct foam writing. The foam spread less over the substrate when deposited …

Trip Based Modeling Of Fuel Consumption In Modern Heavy-Duty Vehicles Using Artificial Intelligence, Sasanka Katreddi, Arvind Thiruvengadam

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Heavy-duty trucks contribute approximately 20% of fuel consumption in the United States of America (USA). The fuel economy of heavy-duty vehicles (HDV) is affected by several real-world parameters like road parameters, driver behavior, weather conditions, and vehicle parameters, etc. Although modern vehicles comply with emissions regulations, potential malfunction of the engine, regular wear and tear, or other factors could affect vehicle performance. Predicting fuel consumption per trip based on dynamic on-road data can help the automotive industry to reduce the cost and time for on-road testing. Data modeling can easily help to diagnose the reason behind fuel consumption with a …

Exploring Dft+U Parameter Space With A Bayesian Calibration Assisted By Markov Chain Monte Carlo Sampling, Pedram Tavadze, Reese Boucher, Guillermo Avendaño-Franco, Keenan X. Kocan, Sobhit Singh, Viviana Dovale-Farelo, Wilfredo Ibarra-Hernández, Matthew B. Johnson, David S. Mebane, Aldo H. Romero

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The density-functional theory is widely used to predict the physical properties of materials. However, it usually fails for strongly correlated materials. A popular solution is to use the Hubbard correction to treat strongly correlated electronic states. Unfortunately, the values of the Hubbard U and J parameters are initially unknown, and they can vary from one material to another. In this semi-empirical study, we explore the U and J parameter space of a group of iron-based compounds to simultaneously improve the prediction of physical properties (volume, magnetic moment, and bandgap). We used a Bayesian calibration assisted by Markov chain Monte Carlo …

Graphene Flake Self-Assembly Enhancement Via Stretchable Platforms And External Mechanical Stimuli, Harrison A. Loh, Claudio Marchi, Luca Magagnin, Konstantinos A. Sierros

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

While the green production and application of 2D functional nanomaterials, such as graphene flakes, in films for stretchable and wearable technologies is a promising platform for advanced technologies, there are still challenges involved in the processing of the deposited material to improve properties such as electrical conductivity. In applications such as wearable biomedical and flexible energy devices, the widely used flexible and stretchable substrate materials are incompatible with high-temperature processing traditionally employed to improve the electrical properties, which necessitates alternative manufacturing approaches and new steps for enhancing the film functionality. We hypothesize that a mechanical stimulus, in the form of …

An Application Of An Unequal-Area Facilities Layout Problem With Fixed-Shape Facilities, Alan Mckendall, Artak Hakobyan

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The unequal-area facility layout problem (UA-FLP) is the problem of locating rectangular facilities on a rectangular floor space such that facilities do not overlap while optimizing some objective. The objective considered in this paper is minimizing the total distance materials travel between facilities. The UA-FLP considered in this paper considers facilities with fixed dimension and was motivated by the investigation of layout options for a production area at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia (TMMWV) plant in Buffalo, WV, USA. This paper presents a mathematical model and a genetic algorithm for locating facilities on a continuous plant floor. More specifically, …

An Application Of An Unequal-Area Facilities Layout Problem With Fixed-Shape Facilities, Alan Mckendall, Artak Hakobyan

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The unequal-area facility layout problem (UA-FLP) is the problem of locating rectangular facilities on a rectangular floor space such that facilities do not overlap while optimizing some objective. The objective considered in this paper is minimizing the total distance materials travel between facilities. The UA-FLP considered in this paper considers facilities with fixed dimension and was motivated by the investigation of layout options for a production area at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia (TMMWV) plant in Buffalo, WV, USA. This paper presents a mathematical model and a genetic algorithm for locating facilities on a continuous plant floor. More specifically, …

The Impact Of Vision Zero Initiatives On Road User Safety In New York City, Alex C. Phares, Md Amdad Hossen, Kakan Dey

Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review

Despite modern vehicles, improved transportation infrastructure, and advanced traffic signals, more than 36,000 Americans die from traffic crashes every year1. With the goal of reducing traffic fatalities to zero, New York City (NYC) adopted Vision Zero (VZ) initiatives in 2014 and has deployed 23 categories of countermeasures, ranging from road improvements to training and community outreach programs2. In this research, trend analysis and hypothesis tests were done on NYC traffic fatality data for three main categories of roadway users: motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians, to evaluate the success of the VZ initiatives. It was found that annual fatalities of both motorist …

Valorization Of Xylan In Agroforestry Waste Streams, Harrison Appiah

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Valorization of Xylan in Agroforestry Waste Streams.

Harrison Appiah

Microwave-assisted deep eutectic solvent and gamma-valerolactone metallic chloride catalyzed conversion of xylan to furfural were investigated using a 2x3 factorial experimental design at two levels of percent microwave power, reaction time, and catalyst concentration. The levels of each factor studied were (20%, 60% microwave power, 2, 4 minutes, and 10, 20mg) respectively. The effect of three metallic chloride catalysts (LiCl, FeCl3.6H20, CuCl2) on the conversion of xylan to furfural was also investigated. The gamma-valerolactone-ferric chloride sent system exhibited the highest mean yield of furfural (56.50%). The next highest furfural yield of …

Application Of Artificial Intelligence In Three Phase Unbalanced Smart Power Distribution Grid, Deepak Tiwari

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Electrification of the transportation sector can play an essential role in curbing fossil fuel scarcity and oil shortages in the world. Electric vehicles (EVs) can significantly reduce CO2 emissions, improve urban pollution. Apart from these advantages of EVs, they may also pose challenges to the distribution grid. Increasing penetration of EVs puts an extra burden and leads to affect the grid severely. Load congestions, voltage drops/regulation, overloading are some of the issues that might incur in the grid because of improper charging of EVs. The uncertain nature of EV owners makes it very difficult to predict the charging pattern. So …

Sustainability Key Performance Indicators For Mass Customization, Md Fahid Hasan Pulak

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Today’s manufacturers are striving towards a more sustainable and customized product offering in their value chain to satisfy customer demand and compete on the marketplace. By adopting sustainability practices, companies are not only complying with environmental regulations but are strategically addressing the triple bottom line (TBL) of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic). Similarly, mass customization allows a company to better satisfy their customers by creating individualized products economically. Moving forward, it is important to better understand the relationship of these two competitive strategies. In order to assess the sustainability performance of mass customization, it is important to understand the appropriate …

Natural Gas Conversion To Value-Added Chemicals By Microwave Catalytic Processes, Brandon Robinson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Ethane is the second-largest component in natural gas and is typically separated out to minimize condensation in the pipelines. The technical difficulties and cost associated with the transportation and the storage of ethane have led companies to start burning natural gas to produce power or flaring which attributes to the global CO₂ emission problem. The conversion of ethane to higher-value liquid products is of increasing importance so that the natural gas can be safely utilized and cost-effectively transported. Existing commercial technologies used to convert ethane to liquid chemical products are typically based on the indirect syngas route, such as …

Multimodel Operability Framework For Design Of Modular And Intensified Energy Systems, Vitor Gazzaneo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In this dissertation, a novel operability framework is introduced for the process design of modular and intensified energy systems that are challenged by complexity and highly constrained environments. Previously developed process operability approaches are reviewed and further developed in terms of theory, application, and software infrastructure. An optimization-based multilayer operability framework is introduced for process design of nonlinear energy systems. In the first layer of this framework, a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP)-based iterative algorithm considers the minimization of footprint and achievement of process intensification targets. Then, in the second layer, an operability analysis is performed to incorporate key features of …

Dynamic Optimization Algorithms For Baseload Power Plant Cycling Under Variable Renewable Energy, Rebecca Hyen Hae Kim

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The growing deployment of variable renewable energy (VRE) sources, such as wind and solar, is mainly due to the decline in the cost of renewable technologies and the increase of societal and cultural pressures. Solar and wind power generation are also known to have zero marginal costs and fuel emissions during dispatch. Thereby, the VRE from these sources should be prioritized when available. However, the rapid deployment of VRE has heightened concerns regarding the challenges in the integration between fossil-fueled and renewable energy systems. The high variability introduced by the VRE as well as the limited alignment between demand and …

Deep Learning Architectures For Heterogeneous Face Recognition, Seyed Mehdi Iranmanesh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Face recognition has been one of the most challenging areas of research in biometrics and computer vision. Many face recognition algorithms are designed to address illumination and pose problems for visible face images. In recent years, there has been significant amount of research in Heterogeneous Face Recognition (HFR). The large modality gap between faces captured in different spectrum as well as lack of training data makes heterogeneous face recognition (HFR) quite a challenging problem. In this work, we present different deep learning frameworks to address the problem of matching non-visible face photos against a gallery of visible faces.

Algorithms for …

Static And Dynamic Analysis Of Composite Plates Using The Monna Finite Element, Mohamed Omar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Composite materials are replacing metals in many fields due to their favorable qualities such as strength-to-weight ratio, fatigue characteristics, and corrosion resistance. An efficient, versatile, and accurate composite plate element applicable to the dynamic analysis of composite plates would help the advancement of composites tremendously.

The objective of this research is to analyze composite plates using the classical laminated plate theory (CLPT), first-order deformation theory (FSDT), and higher-order deformation theory (HSDT) with the applicable finite element modeling (FEM) for each theory. This thesis investigates which theory is more efficient and accurate and evaluates the benefits of using an h-p-version …

Development Of Thermal Management Strategies Using Cylinder Deactivation For Low-Load Operation In Heavy-Duty Diesel Trucks, Christian M. Hushion

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Cylinder deactivation (CDA) has been used in gasoline engines, for decades, as a strategy for fuel consumption reduction. The idea of CDA in the heavy-duty diesel (HDD) engine sector has gained traction as a pathway to fuel efficient thermal management strategy. Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) control has been a major focus over the last decade and maintaining conducive aftertreatment temperatures is a major design aspect. HDD original equipment manufacturers (OEM) have developed a variety of thermal management strategies which almost all revolve around large fuel penalties. The goal of all of these strategies is for thermal management of the diesel …

Uncertainty Estimation For Stereo Visual Odometry, Derek W. Ross

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Over the past few decades, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been increasingly popular for use in locations that are lacking, or have unreliable global navigation satellite system (GNSS) availability. One of the more popular localization techniques for quadrotors is the use of visual odometry (VO) through monocular, RGB-D, or stereo cameras. With primary applications in the context of Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) and indoor navigation, VO is largely used in combination with other sensors through Bayesian filters, namely Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) or Particle Filter. This work investigates the accuracy of two standard covariance estimation techniques for a feature-based …

Models And Solution Approaches For Integrated Student To School Assignment And School Bus Routing Problem Focusing On Special Needs Students, Azadeh Ansari

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation addresses the integrated problem of assigning students to schools and generating school bus routes particularly focusing on the special needs students is addressed. Special needs students generally require supplementary accommodations and must be picked up from and dropped off at their home addresses. This will increase the number of nodes in the network and therefore introduces additional complexities to the problems of assignment and routing for students. An integrated single objective mathematical model is first developed that simultaneously assigns the students to schools based on their needs and generates efficient bus routes to deliver the students to their …

Investigating Nox Vs Co2 Tradeoff In Heavy Duty Emissions Through The Years Under The Scope Of Carb’S 3-Bin Moving Average Window Method, Ghadi Sadek

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

With the rise in urban pollution level over the last few years, regulatory agencies around the world have taken multiple steps to ensure engine exhaust pollutant are well monitored and properly regulated. Yet there exists a significant difference in emissions rates in various operating conditions between US and European products which currently uses a Moving average window (MAW) approach for their in-use compliance testing and certification program. Using WVU’s vehicle data collected using PEMS devices, this study aims at investigating the NOx versus CO2 tradeoff found in heavy duty diesel engines equipped with different aftertreatment technologies, under the scope of …

Effect Of Feedrate, Depth Of Cut, Tool Material, And Toolpath On Dimensional Accuracy And Surface Roughness Of Milled Cfrp, Assem Hesham Almadani

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This thesis investigates the effect of different factors on Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) milling, like feedrate, tool material, and cutting speed. CFRP offers excellent material properties, which led to the increase of the material in today's manufacturing industry. CFRP offers up to 2.25 times steel's modulus of elasticity at about a fifth of the weight and excellent thermal properties, which allow the use of this material in applications with high heat like automobiles. Many industries have implemented the use of CFRP in their applications, like airplanes and automobiles, which lead to a decrease in weight and increase in strength. …

Metal Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Using Proton Conducting Electrolyte For Direct Ammonia Utilization, Edwin Vega Hiraldo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Transportation represents about 27% of global warming greenhouse gas emissions nowadays. To reduce these emissions, fuel cell electric vehicles have been poised to be a new trend to provide zero-emission transportation. Among them, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) offer efficient, clean energy, especially when powered by carbon-free fuel, such as ammonia. To enable onboard ammonia-fed SOFCs, a metal-supported, proton-conducting SOFC is investigated in this study. The metal support would provide physical robustness for thermal shock during vehicles’ quick start-up and shutdown, reduce internal temperature gradients due to the greater thermal conductivity of the metal, and enable conventional metal joining for …

Improving Real-Time Methane Monitoring In Longwall Coal Mines Through System Response Characterization Of A Multi-Nodal Methane Detection Network, Brian Philip Cappellini

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Machine automation and atmospheric monitoring are used by many industries to improve safety and productivity in the workplace. The underground Methane Watchdog System (MWS) is a multi-nodal network of sensors currently under development. The MWS aims to improve safety and productivity by introducing 10 compact sampling units designed to be easily integrated within the current roof support equipment of the mine. Each unit contains an array of sensors used to continuously monitor the environmental conditions which include methane concentration, temperature, pressure, and relative humidity. All MWS units report information back to a remote central processing hub (CPH) which collects nodal …

Interoperability Of Contact And Contactless Fingerprints Across Multiple Fingerprint Sensors, Brady M. Williams

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Contactless fingerprinting devices have grown in popularity in recent years due to speed and convenience of capture. Also, due to the global COID-19 pandemic, the need for safe and hygienic options for fingerprint capture are more pressing than ever. However, contactless systems face challenges in the areas of interoperability and matching performance as shown in other works. In this paper, we present a contactless vs. contact interoperability assessment of several contactless devices, including cellphone fingerphoto capture. During the interoperability assessment, the quality of the fingerprints was considered using the NBIS NFIQ software with the contact-based fingerprint performing the best overall …

Development Of Synthetic Coal Char Simulant For Microwave Conversion Studies: A Computationally-Driven Approach, Kevin A. Hager

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Recent experimental demonstration of new reaction windows for coal char/methane reactions that are less energy-intensive, provides innovation for modular reactors. However, the correlation of the exact mechanism for the enhancement of these reaction windows is not certain. This study investigates the simplification of these experimental studies by developing a well-characterized coal char simulant. The approach involves using a computational approach to screen macroscopic composition to replicate the dielectric and compositional response of actual char. This study is focused on PRB coal char. A discrete element method (DEM) technique was used to simulate the packing of coal chars to give the …

Implementation Of Fuzzy Logic Control Into An Equivalent Minimization Strategy For Adaptive Energy Management Of A Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Jared Alexander Diethorn

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

As government agencies continue to tighten emissions regulations due to the continued increase in greenhouse gas production, automotive industries are seeking to produce increasingly efficient vehicle technology. Electric vehicles have been introduced by the industry, showing promising signs of reducing emissions production in the automotive sector. However, many consumers may be hesitant to purchase fully electric vehicles due to several uncertainty variables including available charging stations. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) have been introduced to reduce problems while improving fuel economy. HEVs have led to the demand of creating more advanced controls software to consider multiple components for propulsive power in …

Dynamic Modeling Of A Coal Mill For Simultaneous Dynamic Data Reconciliation And Parameter Estimation, Vinayak Dwivedy

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In comparison with other gaseous and liquid fossil fuels used in power production, a coal fired power plants requires additional equipment for fuel preparation. A medium speed mill is usually a preferred equipment which serves in grinding and drying of the raw feed coal. Due to the high recycle of coal particles within a medium speed coal mill, the mill performance is sensitive to the efficiency of grinding and classification operations within mill. The goal of this research is to study the performance of the milling system and develop a method to estimate some of the unmeasured variables, which include …

Re-Design Of Precision Signal Conditioning Circuit For Detecting Schumann Resonance, Rohith Bikkina

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Extremely low frequencies signals are waves between 3 to 30Hz and corresponding wavelengths between 10,000 to 100,000 kilometers. The specific signals used here are generated from lightning and are excited at frequencies around 8Hz, 14Hz, 20Hz. These are often called Schumann Resonance frequencies. Several stations have been built around the world for identifying ELF waves. All of those required a sparsely populated area that was far away from electric power lines because of interference from electric noise at 50 Hz and 60Hz. This project develops and tests an amplifier and filter circuit that should assist in identifying the Schumann Resonance …

Simultaneous Activation Of Stable Molecules- Methane And Nitrogen- Using Microwave Reactor With And Without Plasma- To Produce Ethylene And Ammonia, Sarojini Tiwari

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The discovery of stranded natural gas around the world has made shale gas cheaper and widely accessible. This has driven the relevant research towards the direct utilization of Methane (CH4), a major component of natural gas. CH4 is a highly stable molecule, hence its activation and consequent formation of value-added chemicals in a direct and efficient manner is a relevant problem of the 21st century. All the commercial processes convert natural gas to chemicals indirectly, via the formation of syngas followed by several reactions. The conventional systems are energy intensive and one of the major contributors to green-house gas emissions. …

Modeling Gas Migration During A Gas Kick, Ali Zankawi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Gas kick is an undesirable problem in the oil and gas industry, which can potentially interfere with the production process and damage drilling equipment. The primary intent of this study is to highlight gas migration and its effect on gas kick mitigation approaches that would benefit the petroleum industry. The integrated analysis provides valuable insight regarding parameters promoting efficient drilling and production processes, Minimizing the risk of gas kicks. This study aimed to investigate the impact of critical parameters on gas migration during the gas kick in both water- and oil-based mud and promote the understanding of the dynamics of …

Microwave-Assisted Natural Gas Conversion To Value-Added Chemicals, Xinwei Bai

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Stranded gas is a raw gas mixture of volatile hydrocarbons where the main composition is methane. The producers flare the stranded gas at the site because the cost of collecting and transporting the gas is higher than the value of the gas itself. To reduce the waste of this natural resource, it is worthwhile to utilize the on-site stranded natural gas as feedstock to produce value-added chemicals without emitting greenhouse gas. Direct natural gas conversion process is more desirable because of lower capital investment. Methane and ethane, the two major components of natural gas, are very stable molecules that usually …