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Articles 1 - 15 of 15
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Occupant Evacuation Behavior In Wildfires: Gap Analysis, Agnes Ampomah
Occupant Evacuation Behavior In Wildfires: Gap Analysis, Agnes Ampomah
Theses
This thesis investigates the impacts wildfires have on those who live within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas. The Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF) sponsored this investigation to provide insight on information concerning evacuee pre-movement delays and behaviors before the beginning of an evacuation, both in terms of types of behaviors and elapsed time for these delays. Furthermore, the analysis of evacuee behavior in wildfire past and present evacuations will assist in the construction of future evacuation models that will mitigate evacuee loses during evacuations. The investigation is based on literature reviews on wildfires and their evacuation processes, past and …
Control Of Separated Flow Using A Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuator, Mahdi Hasan
Control Of Separated Flow Using A Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuator, Mahdi Hasan
Theses
Historically, Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma actuators have shown to be an effective method to control adverse pressure gradient induced boundary layer separation. In this study, a numerical investigation was carried out to explore the effects of a DBD plasma actuator on a three-dimensional incompressible, separated flow. The well-validated National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) wall-mounted hump configuration studied in the simulations, were run at a Reynolds Number of 936,000, based on chord length, and a freestream Mach number of 0.1. The baseline code, CALC-LES, developed by the Chalmers University of Technology was modified to include the effects of the …
Design Of Dual-Band Rf-Dc Rectifier And Dc-Dc Boost Converter For Energy Harvesting Applications, Merghani K. Merghani
Design Of Dual-Band Rf-Dc Rectifier And Dc-Dc Boost Converter For Energy Harvesting Applications, Merghani K. Merghani
Theses
Wireless sensors are used in many industrial and commercial applications. However powering up those sensors is challenging, because batteries have limited lifetime, require periodic maintenance, and their depositions are toxic to the environment. One of the new methods to power up those small sensors is to capture energy from ambient sources and convert it into a steady dc output voltage, which is known as energy harvesting or scavenging. In this thesis, we propose an energy harvesting method by scavenging the electromagnetic (EM), or radio frequency (RF) energy in the ambient and converting it into a steady dc output voltage that …
Reinforcement Learning Reward Design For Low-Level Controllers, Evan J. Olney
Reinforcement Learning Reward Design For Low-Level Controllers, Evan J. Olney
Theses
The past few decades have produced many successful applications of machine learning. In the area of automated controls, machine learning controllers have been developed to take advantage of the tendency for computers to stumble upon avenues to solutions people either overlooked, or simply do not have the computational capability to explore. Reinforcement learning is a machine learning technique for learning how to choose actions in an environment to increase its expected reward. The reward is the signal that indicates whether or not proper actions were chosen, therefore a behavioral goal is achieved from implicit rewards rather than explicit direction. The …
Investigating A Cyber-Human System For Millennial Caregivers, Ashley Lofton
Investigating A Cyber-Human System For Millennial Caregivers, Ashley Lofton
Theses
Research indicates that most caregiving of persons with dementia (PwD) is done by adults 49 years of age and older. However, millennials make up 25% of the estimated 44 million caregivers in the United States. Although the definition varies, “millennials” for this research is defined by those born between 1984 - 2000, which aligns with the research by Strauss and Howe (2003). Millennial caregivers are taking on this task as their parents or grandparents get older and diagnosed with dementia. Taking on the task of caring for a loved one with dementia can present itself as difficult because of competing …
Mesoporous Bimetallic Oxides Supported Mono And Bimetallic Catalysts For Fischer-Tropsch Studies In A Stainless-Steel Microchannel Reactor, Robert Stevens-Boyd
Mesoporous Bimetallic Oxides Supported Mono And Bimetallic Catalysts For Fischer-Tropsch Studies In A Stainless-Steel Microchannel Reactor, Robert Stevens-Boyd
Theses
Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis is the controlled catalyzed conversion of synthesized (syn) gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, to fuel grade alkanes or hydrocarbons. One of the objectives of NSF-CREST Bioenergy Center is to develop stable catalysts for F-T synthesis with the goal of conversion of syngas enriched with CO2 in microchannel microreactors to liquid fuels. In our previous work, the effect of silica and titania sol-gel as support for F-T studies using syngas (CO:H2; 1:3 or 1:2) was investigated and significant differences in the activities of Co, Fe, and Ru catalysts were observed. In order to investigate synergistic …
Feedback Control For Leader Follower Architecture Of Unmanned Arial And Ground Vehicles, Mahmoud El Mahmoud
Feedback Control For Leader Follower Architecture Of Unmanned Arial And Ground Vehicles, Mahmoud El Mahmoud
Theses
This thesis presents development of a feedback controller for a cooperative mission using unmanned aerial vehicle and unmanned ground vehicle. This developed controller offers a solution to the time delayed collaborative autonomous systems for multiple robot systems. There are many motivating applications for these missions including exploration, search and rescue in damaged areas. The architecture developed in this thesis consists of an unmanned ground vehicle as a leader and an unmanned aerial vehicle as a follower. To be specific, the unmanned ground vehicle navigates through a damaged environment and leads the mission. The unmanned aerial vehicle follows the leader and …
Comparison Study Of Supervised Machine Learning Algorithms For Real Time Prediction Of Uav Behaviors, Brian Baity
Comparison Study Of Supervised Machine Learning Algorithms For Real Time Prediction Of Uav Behaviors, Brian Baity
Theses
An American scientific writer/critic of the mid-20th century, Joseph Wood Krutch, stated, “Technology made large populations possible: large populations now make technology indispensable.” Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become a vital part of society, evolving from solely military use to commercial and even personal day-to-day use. UAV application has grown for mobility on demand, increasing the number of UAVs in the sky. Consequently, more UAVs increases the possibility of aerial collisions, challenging the safety of passengers flying and bystanders on the ground. Understanding the behavior of UAVs and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in general, therefore, will decrease the possibility of …
Design And Fabrication Of A Remote-Controlled Plane For The Advanced Class Sae Aero Design Competition, Simon Esau
Design And Fabrication Of A Remote-Controlled Plane For The Advanced Class Sae Aero Design Competition, Simon Esau
Theses
The goal of the present research is to optimize the radio-controlled airplane design for the Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE) Aero Design Advanced Class competition. The SAE Aero Design Advanced Class seeks to further research and development of an aeronautic system that can deliver cargo and passengers to form a colony on Mars. Mission success is achieved by attending to the rules, constraints, and requirements of the competition. System-level engineering is applied to meet these diverse requirements and create a robust final product. The radio-controlled airplane submitted for competition can theoretically be scaled to carry colonists, habitats, and supplies …
Controlled Release Chemical Oxidation: Sodium Persulfate Encapsulated In Pvac Polymer, Mosarrat Samiha Kabir
Controlled Release Chemical Oxidation: Sodium Persulfate Encapsulated In Pvac Polymer, Mosarrat Samiha Kabir
Theses
In this study, sodium persulfate was encapsulated in polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) polymer to investigate the potential of activated persulfate to remediate total coliform and E. coli bacteria from contaminated water through a control release system. Controlled release structures were produced with the polymer and persulfate melted to form pellets at two different baking times. CRP structures containing 60 weight % sodium persulfates blended with 40 weight % polyvinyl acetate (PS- PVAc) were baked for 4 minutes and 10 minutes at 120ºC. The kinetics release of sodium persulfate was studied in a water system and in sand columns. Experimental results showed …
Feasibility Of Integrating Microfluidics Into Point-Of-Care Bio-Diagnostics, Swetha Manoharan
Feasibility Of Integrating Microfluidics Into Point-Of-Care Bio-Diagnostics, Swetha Manoharan
Theses
Potassium in the body needs to be maintained in proper levels for the normal functioning of heart and kidneys. The aim of this work is to develop a simple technique to measure the concentration of Potassium present in a bodily fluid sample, which can be used to assess the health condition of extremely sick patients, especially when the patient's condition needs to be diagnosed and results needs to be obtained rapidly under Point-of-Care settings. Microfluidics is one of the platforms used in bio-diagnostics because of several advantages such as low sample volume requirement and integration into high-throughput screening. In this …
Smart Polyacrylonitrile (Pan) Nanofibers With Thermal Energy Storage And Retrieval Functionality, De’Andre James Cherry
Smart Polyacrylonitrile (Pan) Nanofibers With Thermal Energy Storage And Retrieval Functionality, De’Andre James Cherry
Theses
Phase change materials (PCMs) are generally substances with a high heat of fusion in the process of solid to liquid phase change. The nature of PCMs make them efficient materials to store and retrieve large amounts of thermal energy. Presently, high efficiency thermal energy storage/retrieval in applications where flexibility and space saving are required, such as smart textiles, still remains as a challenge. In this study, lauric acid (LA) and myristic acid (MA) were combined to prepare a specific binary fatty acid eutectic (LA-MA) with a melting point near the operating body temperature of a human being and then encapsulated …
Thermal Characterization Of As4/3501-6 Carbon-Epoxy Composite, Bradley R. Doleman
Thermal Characterization Of As4/3501-6 Carbon-Epoxy Composite, Bradley R. Doleman
Theses
Thermal diffusivity, specific heat, and thermal conductivity are important thermophysical properties of composite materials and foams. Thermal characterization provides these material properties which play a significant role in the engineering design process of space systems, aerospace vehicles, transportation, energy storage devices, and power generation including fuel cells. Thermal conductivity is the parameter that is important in problems involving heat transfer and thermal structures. Because it determines the working temperature levels of a material, the thermal conductivity is critical when considering the performance of materials in high temperature applications as well as safety, process control, and quality assurance. As a result …
Examination Of Thermal Properties Of Carbon-Carbon And Graphitized Carbon-Carbon Composites, Melanie Jene' Patrick
Examination Of Thermal Properties Of Carbon-Carbon And Graphitized Carbon-Carbon Composites, Melanie Jene' Patrick
Theses
Thermal characterization of composites is essential for their proper assignment to a specific application. Specific heat, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity of carbon-carbon composites are essential in the engineering design process and in the analysis of aerospace vehicles, space systems and other high temperature thermal systems. Specifically, thermal conductivity determines the working temperature levels of a material and is influential in its performance in high temperature applications. There is insufficient thermal property data for carbon-carbon composites over a range of temperatures. The purpose of this research is to develop a thermal properties database for carbon-carbon composites that will contain in-plane …
A Study Of The Economical Feasibility Of Installing Heating, Ventilation, And Air-Conditioning Condensate Recovery System, Rafid M. Kully
A Study Of The Economical Feasibility Of Installing Heating, Ventilation, And Air-Conditioning Condensate Recovery System, Rafid M. Kully
Theses
The objective of this study is to establish a guide line or an analytical frame work to predetermine the economic benefits associated with the installation of Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) condensate recovery systems to capture the air-handler’s condensate water and use it as makeup water for the cooling tower. Some factors should be considered such as; the location, building operation, amount of outside air required, type of energy recovery system, and indoor conditions setup. Experimental data was used from Emory University in Georgia, where a condensate recovery system was installed and the condensate water from four air-handler units at …