Engineering Commons^™

Best Practices For Volume Flow Rate Measurements Using Piv At The Exit Of A Turbulent Planar Jet, Rick Cressall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to make volume-flow-rate measurements at the exit of a turbulent, planar nozzle. The objective of this report is to assess a range of data acquisition and processing parameters. Data is acquired for volume flow rates of Reynolds numbers between 10,000 and 100,000 for both two-component (2C) and stereo PIV. The parameters are systematically changed one at a time and evaluated using differences in uncertainty, calculation time, and volume- flow-rate deviation. Data acquisition parameters follow the trends of previous work. A multitude of processing parameters were varied for several PIV processing methods. Recommendations for each …

Investigating And Improving Bridge Management System Methodologies Under Uncertainty, Minwoo Chang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation presents a novel procedure to select explanatory variables, without the influence of human bias, for deterioration model development using National Bridge Inventory (NBI) data. Using NBI information, including geometric data and climate information, candidate explanatory variables can be converted into normalized numeric values and analyzed prior to the development of deterministic or stochastic deterioration models. The prevailing approach for explanatory variable selection is to use expert opinion solicited from experienced engineers. This may introduce human influenced biases into the deterioration modeling process. A framework using Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) penalized regression and covariance analysis are …

Adaptive Background Modeling With Temporal Feature Update For Dynamic Foreground Object Removal, Li Yin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis explores several approaches in order to develop an effective algorithm for separating the moving objects from the background so that the background alone may be displayed in a video sequence. In particular, this thesis seeks to develop an algorithm that can successfully remove a moving teacher from the whiteboard, so that the writing on the whiteboard may be fully visible to the audience.

In this thesis, some prior works related to this problem are studied to understand the basic principles of adaptive background modeling, or removing the foreground from a background with occasional changes in a video sequence. …

Design For Manufacturability And Assembly Of An Assistive Technician Creeper, Including Single Drive Control Of A Multi-Degree Of Freedom Kinematic Mechanism, Larry T. Wilde Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In 2011, a team of engineering students at Utah State University designed and built an assistive technician creeper to assist persons with lower-extremity physical disabilities to work in low-clearance areas. In order to put this technology on the market, a complete product redesign was needed to address safety and functionality concerns. This thesis outlines the specific design needs, presents the detailed design approach, and summarizes the final creeper solution. The mechanisms of the initial prototype were modified to independently incline or recline the upper body, and raise or lower the seat surface with a single motor. This will be especially …

Effects On A Wedge Flowmeter Installed Downstream Of A Double Elbow Out Of Plane, Devan S. Radle

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Precise flow measurement is a critical part of many industries including industrial, hydropower, petroleum, nuclear, and water/wastewater. Lengthy upstream piping is required for many flowmeters to obtain accurate results. Due to piping constraints, sub- optimal flow meter installations can occur. One of these conditions is the installment of a flow meter in close proximity downstream of a double elbow out of plane (DEOP). A DEOP can cause swirl to form in the flow and can cause inaccurate metering results due to the non-uniform flow and pressure conditions. This study investigated the effect of installing a differential pressure producing wedge flow …

Modified Trajectory Shaping Guidance For Autonomous Path Following Control Of Platooning Ground Vehicles, Ishmaal T. Erekson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis proposes a modification of trajectory shaping guidance to provide more accurate path convergence in curved paths. The object of this thesis is to apply this simple guidance law to platooning control to ensure all vehicles in the platoon converge to a desired constant radius path at a desired vehicle separation distance. To show the viability of this new guidance law, it is shown mathematically to be exponentially stable. It is also confirmed through simulations and on ground robots.

Investigating Biosynthetic Steps Of An Angucycline Antifungal, S. Gabrielle Gladstone

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The species of bacterium Streptomyces sp. SCC-2136 which has the American Type Culture Collection index 55186 naturally produces two chemical compounds, labeled Sch 47554 and Sch 47555. These compounds were previously reported to posess antifungal activity. This thesis sets out to confirm the mechanism by which the bacterium produces these compounds; specifically which genes are responsible for producing the enzymes that make and shape the molecules.

The genes and enzymes that were characterized are the minimal polyketide synthase, the ketoreductase that specifically acts on the ninth carbon, the first-ring aromatase, the subsequent ring cyclase, and two oxygenases. Also elucidated …

Chromium Oxidation By Disinfectants And Oxidants Used In Drinking Water Treatment, Nathan D. Rogers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This project investigated the behavior of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI), a potential carcinogen) in drinking water. While Cr(VI) can exist naturally, it can also be oxidized from Cr(III), a known trace nutrient. Recently, the State of California implemented a water regulation specifically for Cr(VI) at 10 parts per billion (ppb). This project completed a comprehensive evaluation of chromium behavior when in contact with common drinking water treatment chemicals including chlorine, monochloramine, chlorine dioxide, potassium permanganate, and ozone.

The results of these oxidation experiments are highly applicable to water treatment facilities. If a treatment plant is using monochloramine, there is no indication …

Transparent Solar Panel Antenna Array, Taha Shahvirdi Dizaj Yekan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A CubeSat is a very small satellite that has been achieving growing interests in space exploration. The base unit of CubeSats 1U, which is a cube with 10 cm on each side. In applications, CubeSats can be deployed as just 1U, or multiple unites can be stacked together to form a larger CubeSat for extended functionality. Due to their small sizes, it is challenging to fit antennas onto CubeSats because the antenna always fights for surface real estate with solar cells. The challenge is further aggravated when an antenna is required to have high gain such as more than 20 …

Rhizosphere Interactions Between Copper Oxide Nanoparticles And Wheat Root Exudates In A Sand Matrix; Influences On Bioavailability And Uptake, Paul Mcmanus

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) are extremely small particles (less than 1 nm in one or more dimension, or one billionth (10^-9) of a meter) used in a diverse range of industries. They have been shown to travel through water systems, and like pharmaceuticals, can end up in wastewater treatment plants and then be land applied as biosolids, where crops are grown for animal consumption, potentially leading to food chain accumulation.

Cu is an essential micronutrient for plants, but is phytotoxic at higher concentrations. CuO NPs present an increasingly real environmental threat to agriculture in soils treated with …

Computational Fluid Dynamic Modeling Of Natural Convection In Vertically Heated Rods, Mahesh Surendran

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Natural convection is a phenomenon that occurs in a wide range of applications such as cooling towers, air conditioners, and power plants. Natural convection may be used in decay heat removal systems such as spent fuel casks, where the higher reliability inherent of natural convection is more desirable than forced convection. Passive systems, such as natural convection, may provide better safety, and hence have received much attention recently. Cooling of spent fuel rods is conventionally done using water as the coolant. However, it involves contaminating the water with radiation from the fuel rods. Contamination becomes dangerous and difficult for humans …

Accumulation And Release Of Trace Inorganic Contaminants From Biofilm Matrices Produced And Challenged Under Drinking Water Distribution System Conditions, William W. Kent

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) are used to transport drinking water from the place of treatment to your home. DWDS are made of many types of pipe materials and have the potential to accumulate materials such as iron and manganese oxides and biofilms that serve as reservoirs for toxic trace inorganic contaminants (TICs) such as thallium, arsenic, and lead. These materials can be stable, but changes in water quality or a physical disturbance such as road construction or water use changes may result in a TIC release, causing water quality degradation. This study used glass columns filled with glass beads …

Investigating The Effect Of Carbon Nanotube Functionalization In A Polydimethylsiloxane Composite Through Use Of A Stepped Bar Apparatus, Matthew I. Ralphs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are used in transporting heat away from a circuit or electronic module. Composite materials are a popular research area for TIMs because they allow the desired properties to be joined in a composite to take advantage of the best properties from all the constituents involved. The composite selected for this study uses carbon nanotubes (CNT) as the filler and an elastomeric polymer for the matrix, specifically a multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) / polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite. This study looks at chemical modification (functionalization) of the CNTin an effort to produce a better bond between the CNT and …

An Automatic Algorithm For Textured Digital Elevation Model Formation Using Aerial Texel Swaths, Taylor C. Bybee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The process of creating a 3D terrain map of an area is a challenging, computationally intensive task. There are two main camps of established methods doing this, with varying degrees of accuracy and cost. Using the established methods, there is a trade-off between accuracy and cost. The first method involves using many aerial images to detect disparity between points in the images. This is a difficult task as it requires a lot of computer processing with varying degrees of reliability. In addition, this method does not make any direct distance measurements. Secondly, using high-precision and high-cost lasers and positioning equipment, …

Plasma Velocity Vector Instrument For Small Satellites (Pvviss), William Smith Hatch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Low-earth orbit (LEO) contains plasma which can impact satellite charging and radio frequency (RF) communications. Quantifying both the composition and movement of ions in LEO can improve efficiency of the forecasting models that predict the impact plasma will have on satellite communications and accuracy of global positioning satellite measurements.

Two instruments known as the Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA) and the Ion Drift Meter (IDM) have been used in tandem to measure ionospheric properties including ion temperature, velocity, and density. These instruments are costly and occupy large areas on a spacecraft. In recent years, space mission budgets have diminished. This change …

Design Of Miniaturized Time-Of-Flight Reflectron Mass Spectrometer For Upper Atmosphere Density Measurements, Michelle Lynn Pyle

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Upper atmosphere and solar events can have strong impacts on the communication, power, and navigation systems we use every day. Modeling atmospheric dynamics, or the changes and reactions of different regions of the atmosphere, can help improve understanding and predictions of the effects of solar events. A suite of measurements of the upper atmosphere, including wind, temperature, and composition measurements, is used to build atmospheric models. Current atmospheric models are very sophisticated but need additional data to fully model atmospheric dynamics. In the past, measurements used to determine atmospheric composition have been performed using mass spectrometer instruments on full-size satellites. …

Anaerobic Digestion Process Stability And The Extension Of The Adm1 For Municipal Sludge Co-Digested With Bakery Waste, Morris Elya Demitry

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The anaerobic digestion process is used to treat and convert waste organic matter to biogas (principally methane and carbon dioxide) through biological, chemical and physical reactions. The biogas can be used as a source of energy recovery. In order to increase the biogas production rate, two different kinds of waste (municipal wastewater treatment sludge and bakery waste) were mixed together to enhance the anaerobic process and increase the biogas production in pilot scale reactors. The process succeeded in increasing biogas production and at the same time kept the process of treatment effective when high rates of organics were fed to …

Understanding The Characteristics Of Successful Projects And Post-Campaign Activities In A Crowdfunding Platform, Madhavi Reddy Dontham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Online crowdfunding platforms provide project creators with new opportunities for seeking funds from people in the world. But reaching a fund-raising goal or making a project successful is always a challenge. Besides, little is known about post-campaign activities of project creators and backers. To fill the gap, in this research, we are interested in understanding (i) the characteristics of successful projects, (ii) how project creators reacted when their projects failed, and (iii) what post-campaign activities creators and backers made. To achieve our research objectives, first, we analyzed successful projects and failed projects on Kickstarter, the most popular crowdfunding platform. Then …

Impact Of Heavy Metal Contamination From Coal Flue Gas On Microalgae Biofuel And Biogas Production Through Multiple Conversion Pathways, Derek E. Hess

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Microalgae has a great potential to help alleviate the world's current dependence on fossil fuels. Microalgae is a single celled organism that produces lipids as a food storage device much like humans and animals store fat. These lipids are a kind of oil that when harvested can be utilized as biofuel.

As the technology surrounding using microalgae as a source of biofuel has advanced key bottlenecks in the eventual large-scale production of microalgae based biofuel have been discovered. One of these bottlenecks is the need to cheaply supply carbon for microalgae growth. One idea that has emerged as a plausible …

Achieving Uniform Flow Distribution In Compact Irrigation Splitter Boxes With High Flow Rates, Joshua Ryan Hogge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In many irrigation systems and networks, there are multiple water users and shareholders who take their water from different locations along a single canal or pipeline. Often, irrigation splitter boxes are used to divert water to multiple shareholders from a single location. The splitter boxes, which can be small and compact, are generally installed at different locations along a piped irrigation supply line. The purpose of a splitter box is to split a specific amount of water so that each user receives their allotted portion, regardless of the flow rate in the system.

Each splitter box usually includes two compartments, …

Impact Of Mass And Bond Energy Difference And Interface Defects On Thermal Boundary Conductance, Changjin Choi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many portions of energy generated in the U.S. are not used and take the form of wasted heat due to a poor heat transfer efficiency. This fact leads research communities to focus on thermoelectrics as a means for using waste heat through direct thermal to electrical energy conversion. One way to enhance thermoelectric efficiency is to reduce thermal conductivity through nanostructuring. In nanostructures, understanding energy transport across the interface of two materials is important because interfaces dominate the resistance to overall thermal transport of the system and can be described by thermal boundary conductance (TBC). Also of note, an understanding …

Visualization Of Three-Dimensional Models From Multiple Texel Images Created From Fused Ladar/Digital Imagery, Cody C. Killpack

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The ability to create three-dimensional (3D) images offers a wide variety of solutions to meet ever increasing consumer demands. As popularity for 3D cinema and television continues to grow, 3D images will remain an important area of research and development. While there are a variety of ways to create a 3D model, textel images are quickly become the preferred solution that has been captured with a texel camera. The combination of multiple texel images taken around a scene can be used to form a texel model. Offering both visual and dimensional accuracy, texel models are becoming invaluable tools for disaster …

An Optical System To Transform The Output Beam Of A Quantum Cascade Laser To Be Uniform, Jordan M. Jacobson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are a candidate for calibration sources in space-based remote sensing applications. However, the output beam from a QCL has some characteristics that are undesirable in a calibration source. These characteristics need to be mitigated before QCLs can be used as calibration sources. This study presents the design and implementation of an optical system that removes the undesirable characteristics from a QCL output beam, so it can be used as a calibration source.

Efficient Device To Device Communications Underlaying Heterogeneous Networks, Xue Chen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Device-to-Device communications have the great potential to bring significant performance boost to the conventional heterogeneous network by reusing cellular resources. In cellular networks, Device-to-Device communication is defined as two user equipments in a close range communicating directly with each other without going through the base station, thus offloading cellular traffic from cellular networks. In addition to improve network spectral efficiency, D2D communication can also improve energy efficiency and user experience.

However, the co-existence of D2D communication on the same spectrum with cellular users can cause severe interference to the primary cellular users. Thus the performance of cellular users must be …

Quality Of Experience Aware Spectrum Efficiency And Energy Efficiency Over Wireless Heterogeneous Networks, Yiran Xu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Propelled by the explosive increases in mobile data traffic volume, existing wireless technologies are stretched to their capacity limits. There is a tremendous need for an expansion in system capacity and an improvement on energy efficiency. In addition, wireless network will support more and more multimedia services and applications, in which user experience has been always an important factor in evaluating the overall network performance. In order to keep pace with this explosion of data traffic and to meet the emerging quality of experience needs, wireless heterogeneous networks have been introduced as a promising network architecture evolution of the traditional …

Evapotranspiration Estimation: A Study Of Methods In The Western United States, Clayton S. Lewis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Theoretical water use of well-watered vegetation in the western United States was investigated by comparing a gridded dataset developed from satellite and ground instruments to weather stations representative of irrigated agricultural conditions. Since wetter environments are cooler and therefore subject to lower levels of evaporation than the same scenario with warmer temperatures, models derived from dryland and often populated areas overestimate potential plant needs in semi-arid or arid conditions. Evaluation of the model revealed an acceptable fit for air temperatures and solar radiation but with less confidence in humidity and wind speeds. Ultimately, the last two parameters were minor components …

Engineering Of Polyketide Biosynthetic Pathways For Bioactive Molecules, Siyuan Wang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study is focused on engineering of natural product biosynthetic pathways for efficient production of pharmaceutically important molecules or generation of new bioactive molecules for drug development.

Plant natural products are an important source of therapeutics, such as paclitaxel (anticancer) and artemisinin (anti-malarial). Production of plant natural products relies on conventional plant cultivation and solvent extraction, which is time-consuming and cost-ineffective. This work built a biosynthetic platform in Escherichia coli using seven biosynthetic genes from plants and bacteria, which were used to make valuable compounds such as the strong antioxidant resveratrol and anti-inflammatory agent curcuminoids. Through different combinations of these …

Blind Front-End Processing Of Dynamic Multi-Channel Wideband Signals, Kevin Jackson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Society today relies heavily on the exchange of information via wireless communication. Such communication provides the means of transferring information from point A to point B over the air. In order to accomplish this, a minimum of two devices is required: a transmitter and a receiver. Just as people must speak the same language in order to communicate, the receiver must know how the transmitter communicates in order to make sense of the data being transmitted. For multiple wireless communication system to coexist, they must each speak a unique language, which in the communications world is referred to as modulation. …

Thermal Property Measurement Of Thin Fibers By Complementary Methods, Troy Robert Munro

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Thin fibers are prevalent in many engineering materials. Measuring how well heat transfers in such small fibers can be difficult to determine, and previous methods have led to erroneous results. This dissertation details three proposed methods to improve the measurement of the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and volumetric heat capacity of thin fibers. Of particular interest is natural and synthetic spider silks because previously published values of the natural silk thermal conductivity was similar to copper, an excellent thermal conductor.

The three methods developed are the improved transient electrothermal technique (which was redeveloped to include radiation and convection heat losses …

Anaerobic Hydrogen And Methane Production From Dairy Processing Waste: Experiment And Modeling, Jianming Zhong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Dairy processing waste (DPW) is the waste produced from manufacturing dairy products: cheese, yogurt, ice cream, milk, butter, etc. DPW is high in chemical oxygen demand (COD) due to its lactose, fat and protein content, and therefore needs to be appropriately treated. An investigation was conducted to produce energy (hydrogen and methane) from DPW by anaerobic digestion. This project developed an effective engineering method for stable methane production from DPW without adding pH control chemicals. This study also explored the optimal operational condition for hydrogen production from DPW. We further built a mathematical model to help us monitor and predict …