Engineering Commons^™

Investigation Of Asphalt Pavement Mixture Blending Utilizing Analytical Chemistry Techniques, Benjamin Frank Bowers

Doctoral Dissertations

The use of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in new pavement mixtures is a topic of interest throughout the transportation industry and academia due its economic and environmental implications. There is concern however about how well the binder from the RAP blends with new, virgin binder when the mixture is created. Insufficient blending of the aged and unaged binders may compromise the long-term pavement performance. In this study, an enhanced staged extraction method is coupled with two chemical testing techniques to develop a novel approach for evaluating blending efficiency from a qualitative and quantitative perspective: Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) and Fourier …

Testing Virtual Machines For Cadrc Server Hosting, Robin Verweij

Computer Science and Software Engineering

No abstract provided.

Equipment Maintenance And Replacement Decision Making Processes, Michael W. Gage

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This project contains recommendations for the decision making processes for support and production equipment maintenance and replacement for a large defense contractor. Recent literature has been reviewed to provide perspective on current trends in the field. A complete evaluation of their current processes and systems is included with recommendations on areas for improvement. A decision support system is also proposed to supplement their existing decision making.

S1nn Gmbh & Co. Kg (Automobile Connectivity Module 1.1), Tyler Alexander Ball

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The results of this report show how when diagnostics were run on the Connectivity Module 1.1, the problems discovered such as potential short-circuiting, 90-degree copper tracing angles, and components overheating/tombstoning were addressed. By using the method of “DMAIC,” which stands for Design, Measure, Analyze, Implement, Control, successful corrections were made. In the first design of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB), 1454 critical issues were found. With the newly designed PCB’s modifications being implemented, only 12 critical issues remained, which were later addressed and corrected. The results from this report are a functional Automobile Connectivity Module 1.1.

Project Management Of High School Shadow And Building An Engineer Day, Andrea M. Carroll

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Building an Engineer Day and High School Shadow are semi-annual outreach events hosted by Cal Poly’s Society of Women Engineers section during fall and spring quarters. The events focus on encouraging women and minorities to take an interest in engineering. These events are the two largest outreach events hosted by The Society of Women Engineers and need to run smoothly in order to provide student attendees with a meaningful experience.

Building an Engineer Day and High School Shadow are currently un-organized and un-planned, which leads to problems with officer retention, increase in expediting process and a low attendance rate at …

Fixture For Carbon Fiber Spar Of Human Powered Helicopter, David John Ikeda, Luis Gonzalez

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The following report describes our contribution to Cal Poly Human Powered Helicopter for the 2012 competition for the Sikorsky Prize offered by the American Helicopter Society. In order to win this prize the team needs to build and fly a human powered helicopter for more than 60 seconds reaching and altitude of 3 meters while staying in a 10 meter square box. Our team was created to support the integration of Carbon Fiber parts, specifically the carbon fiber spars with rotor and landing gears. Precise cutting and accurate drilling was needed and our team was tasked with creating a fixture …

Design And Construction Of A Portable Gantry Hoist, Sam Hutcheson

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This report covers the design of a portable gantry hoist with a custom frame design. The design was based off of the materials that were available and practical for this project to save money. The portable gantry hoist will be rated for a 2 ton capacity. The casters, trolley, and hoist were the only parts purchased.

Thermodynamic Efficiency Evaluation For Distillation Of Ethanol, Joe A. Cavaletto

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Energy will always be a consideration when distilling any product. Fog’s End Distillery in Gonzales, CA is a small scale micro distillery for ethanol. For Fog’s End, efficiency is key to staying competitive. In this project the efficiency of energy in vs product out will be calculated. While collecting this data the price/bottle for energy will be determined and used for an assembly cost. To determine the efficiency the fuel usage will be recorded for several distillation trials. The mash contents and product contents will all be measured and calculations will be performed to find the theoretical amount of energy …

Exploring Human-Computer Interaction Through Bluetooth Low Energy Enabled Human Interface Devices, Tyler Durkin

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Football Helmet Pressure On The Shock Taken During A Controlled Impact, Sullivan Grosz

Industrial Technology and Packaging

College and NFL football teams are focusing their efforts on protecting players more than ever before. With the recent attention on concussions and the troubling long-term effects of head injuries, more research is needed to find ways to ensure players have the adequate protection. The helmets being used have a hard polycarbonate shell with four inner pads that fit tight to the player’s head. These pads are filled with air.

The purpose of the testing and project is to find an ideal air pressure that helmets need to maintain in order to protect the player to the best of its …

Gait And Locomotion Analysis For Tribological Applications, Md Hayder Ali

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Wind Turbine Controls For Farm And Offshore Operation, Zhongzhou Yang

Theses and Dissertations

Development of advanced control techniques is a critical measure for reducing the cost of energy for wind power generation, in terms of both enhancing energy capture and reducing fatigue load. There are two remarkable trends for wind energy. First, more and more large wind farms are developed in order to reduce the unit-power cost in installation, operation, maintenance and transmission. Second, offshore wind energy has received significant attention when the scarcity of land resource has appeared to be a major bottleneck for next level of wind penetration, especially for Europe and Asia. This dissertation study investigates on several wind turbine …

Seasonal Change In Bacteria Levels And Eluent Comparison For The Enumeration Of E. Coli And Enterococci From Recreational Beach Sand, Kyle Hines

Theses and Dissertations

Research into the causes of bacterial contamination of recreational beaches has been increasing. Many researchers are now looking to enumerate bacteria from beach sands in order to find the connections between the water and sand quality. As the number of these studies increase, there is a need to determine a standard procedure for enumerating bacteria from sand. The eluent that a researcher chooses could impact the results that they obtain due to ionic strength. The first part of this paper compares the E. coli and Enterococci counts of identical sand samples using phosphate buffered saline and distilled water as eluents. …

Finite Element Analysis Of Contribution Of Adhesion And Hysteresis To Shoe-Floor Friction, Seyed Reza Mirhassani Moghaddam

Theses and Dissertations

Slips and falls are one of the leading causes of occupational accidents. Understanding the important factors that affect shoe-floor friction is vital for identifying unsafe surfaces and designing better footwear and flooring. While the shoe-floor coefficient of friction is known to be dependent on several factors including shoe and floor roughness, shoe speed, shoe material, and normal load, the mechanisms that cause these effects are not very well understood. The objective of this thesis is to develop a finite element model that simulates the microscopic asperity interaction between shoe and floor surfaces and apply it to quantify the effect of …

Steady-State Voltage Security Assessment Using Symmetric Eigenvalue Analysis For Weak Area Identification In Large Power Transmission Network, Yagnaramasubramanian Somayajulu

Theses and Dissertations

The central focus of this thesis is on long-term static voltage stability analysis of large power transmission grid. This thesis work is a product of an attempt to comprehend the numerous researches that has been done over the years on voltage security assessment. Voltage stability is one of the essential components influencing the reliability of a power network. There are several Transmission planning and operation compliance standards pertaining to voltage criterion from NERC and Independent System Operators (ISO) directed toward the utilities to operate their grid within tight voltage limits. This requires the utility to perform comprehensive planning studies of …

Minerva 2013, The Honors College

Minerva

This issue of Minerva includes an article on the opening of Charlie's Terrace in honor of former Honors Dean, Charlie Slavin; a discussion on community engagement in the Honors curriculum and community; an article on the student recipients of the Rezendes Travel Scholarship; and several articles catching up with Honors alumni.

The Future Of Transit In West Virginia, Diana Long, Benjamin L. Blandford, Peter J. Dailey, Sinaya Dayan, Justin Matthews, Kent Sowards

Reports with Contribution from KTC Researchers

No abstract provided.

Image Registration Of Ex-Vivo Mri To Sparsely Sectioned Histology Of Hippocampal And Neocortical Temporal Lobe Specimens., Maged Goubran, Cathie Crukley, Sandrine De Ribaupierre, Terence M Peters, Ali R Khan

Robarts Imaging Publications

Intractable or drug-resistant epilepsy occurs in up to 30% of epilepsy patients, with many of these patients undergoing surgical excision of the affected brain region to achieve seizure control. Recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences and analysis techniques have the potential to detect abnormalities not identified with diagnostic MRI protocols. Prospective studies involving pre-operative imaging and collection of surgically-resected tissue provide a unique opportunity for verification and tuning of these image analysis techniques, since direct comparison can be made against histopathology, and can lead to better prediction of surgical outcomes and potentially less invasive procedures. To carry out MRI and …

Fabrication And In Vivo Thrombogenecity Testing Of Nitric Oxide Generating Artificial Lungs, Kagya Amoako, Patrick Montoya, Terry C. Major, Ahmed B. Suhaib, Hitesh Handa, David O. Brant, Mark E. Meyerhoff, Robert H. Bartlett, Keith E. Cook

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Hollow fiber artificial lungs are increasingly being used for long-term applications. However, clot formation limits their use to 1–2 weeks. This study investigated the effect of nitric oxide generating (NOgen) hollow fibers on artificial lung thrombogenicity. Silicone hollow fibers were fabricated to incorporate 50 nm copper particles as a catalyst for NO generation from the blood. Fibers with and without (control) these particles were incorporated into artificial lungs with a 0.1 m2 surface area and inserted in circuits coated tip-to-tip with the NOgen material. Circuits (N = 5/each) were attached to rabbits in a pumpless, arterio-venous configuration and run for …

Friction And Wear Of Polytetrafluoroethylene/Graphene Oxide Composite Thin Films, Justin Kyle Carter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a commonly used solid lubricant due to its low coefficient of friction and chemical inertness. As a polymer, PTFE suffers from high wear and low adhesion to substrates limiting its use as a thin film. Thin PTFE films are ideal candidates for solid lubrication in micro-machines and bearing applications. The main goal of this work is to enhance the durability of thin PTFE films through the addition of few layered graphene oxide (GO) as filler. In order to address adhesion issues, the addition of an adhesive layer of polydopamine (PDA) between stainless steel substrates and thin PTFE …

Crack Growth Behavior Under Creep-Fatigue Conditions Using Compact And Double Edge Notch Tension-Compression Specimens, Santosh B. Narasimha Chary

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has recently developed a new standard for creep-fatigue crack growth testing, E 2760-10, that supports testing compact specimens, C(T), under load controlled conditions. C(T) specimens are commonly used for fatigue and creep-fatigue crack growth testing under constant-load-amplitude conditions. The use of these specimens is limited to positive load ratios. They are also limited in the amount of crack growth data that can be developed at high stress intensity values due to accumulation of plastic and/or creep strains leading to ratcheting in the specimen. Testing under displacement control can potentially address these shortcomings …

Assessing Trichloromethane Formation And Control In Algal-Stimulated Waters Amended With Nitrogen And Phosphorus, Clinton Mash

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) enrichments can stimulate algal growth in drinking water sources, which can cause increased production of disinfection byproduct (DBP) precursors. However, the effect of systematic N and P enrichments on DBP formation and control has not been adequately studied. In this work, we enriched samples from a drinking water source - sampled on April 5, May 30, and August 19, 2013 - with N and P to stimulate algal growth at N:P ratios covering almost five orders of magnitude (0.2-4,429). To simulate DBP-precursor removal processes at drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs), the samples were treated with …

Assessing The Impact Of Chlorine Residual On Trihalomethane And Haloacetonitrile Formation Under Chlorination And Chloramination Disinfection Regimes, Thien Duc Do

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation potential (FP) test can be used to indirectly measure the concentration of DBP precursors in natural waters, permitting assessment of various DBP-related treatment processes and control strategies. While these tests require a 7-day chlorine residual (CR) between 3-5 mg L^-1 as Cl², it is not well known if this recommended residual corresponds to the true DBPFP (i.e., the maximum concentrations) for trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetonitriles (HANs). In this study, THMs and HANs were quantified as a function of CR under three common disinfection regimes: (1) free chlorine at pH 7.0 (FC7), (2) …

Trampoline And Bungee Fatigue-Test Machine, Andy Brock, Christopher D'Elia, Ryan Murphy

Mechanical Engineering

JumpSport, a Saratoga based recreational and fitness trampoline company, sponsored this senior project team towards the development of a fatigue-testing machine. The goal of this project was to iterate the previous machine JumpSport used for bungee cord, spring, and trampoline fatigue testing. Since minimal study had been conducted on these specific bungee cords, the fixture was designed to confirm the theoretical correlations for rubber and perform the final tests according to a strict protocol. Operating with a specific test protocol in mind will allow the data from multiple tests to be combined and analyzed statistically. With a design concept in …

Design Of A Sustainable Toilet, Meghan Pranger, Tommy Lauderdale, Joseph Benyon, Kyle Moore

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Tascked: The Sanity Promoting Task Manager, Jake Tobin

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Personal task managers or various forms of to-do lists are abundant in our modern computing age. With the explosion of mobile computing technology, it is easier than ever to take notes digitally and make the data seemingly instantly available anywhere on the Internet. There is a fairly well defined core set of features in personal task managers available for public consumption, but it seems nothing that is publicly available provides feedback to the user or suggestions based on user history. Tascked is a task management solution, which records user history and solicits user feedback on progress. This allows the system …

Depleted Energy Charge And Increased Pulmonary Endothelial Permeability Induced By Mitochondrial Complex I Inhibition Are Mitigated By Coenzyme Q1 In The Isolated Perfused Rat Lung, Robert D. Bongard, Ke Yan, Raymond G. Hoffmann, Said H. Audi, Xiao Zhang, Brian J. Lindemer, Mary I. Townsley, Marilyn P. Merker

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with various forms of lung injury and disease that also involve alterations in pulmonary endothelial permeability, but the relationship, if any, between the two is not well understood. This question was addressed by perfusing isolated intact rat lung with a buffered physiological saline solution in the absence or presence of the mitochondrial complex I inhibitor rotenone (20 μM). Compared to control, rotenone depressed whole lung tissue ATP from 5.66±0.46 (SEM) to 2.34±0.15 µmol·g⁻¹ dry lung, with concomitant increases in the ADP:ATP and AMP:ATP ratios. Rotenone also increased lung perfusate lactate (from 12.36±1.64 to 38.62±3.14 µmol·15 …

In-Bottle Wine Aerator, Kevin Kesler, Patrick Lowry, Paul Woolworth

Mechanical Engineering

The proposal for Capitol Cultivators discusses and evaluates the development of an in-bottle wine aerator. It defines the problem and need for an aerator located inside the wine bottle. Additionally, it outlines requirements essential for an effective design and describes the engineering process that will be followed.

Establishing Key Performance Indicators To Measure The Benefit Of Introducing The Facilities Manager At An Early Stage In The Building Information Modelling Process, Barry Mcauley

Conference papers

The Facilities Manager occupies a unique position within the lifecycle of a building asset, as he/she is one of the only AEC / FM professionals who is in a position to view the product of the entire design and build process and, is responsible for the operational phase which incurs approximately five times the initial capital cost. Despite the potential benefits that the Facilities Manager offers, this profession still does not command the recognition it deserves within the AEC/FM sector. This is beginning to change through the introduction of Building Information Modelling (BIM). In order for the BIM process to …

Development Of Novel Bioelectrochemical Systems For In Situ Nitrate Removal From Groundwater, Yiran Tong

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to develop new approaches for in situ nitrate removal from groundwater by using bioelectrochemical systems (BES). BESs employ bioelectricity generated from organic compounds to drive nitrate moving from groundwater into the electrode chamber and reduce nitrate to nitrogen gas by heterotrophic denitrification. In first phase experiments, nitrate ions were driven into the anode chamber of a de-coupled reactor, whose electrode chambers were separated, where heterotrophic denitrification took place with organic reduction. It was proved that by applying additional electrical potential at 0.8V, the reactor could achieve highest removal rate of 208.2±13.3 g NO3--N/m3/d, when initial nitrate concentration …