Engineering Commons^™

Fatigue Performance Of Glass Fiber/Epoxy Composite At Low Temperature, Prajakta Govande 2817401530, Dominic R. Cross, Kwek Tze Tan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Due to technological advancement in the manufacturing methods of composites, these materials find a plethora of applications which include but are not limited to wind energy projects in the form of turbine blades. These blades at times are exposed to temperatures as low as -40ᵒC. Therefore, there is a need to study low-temperature effects on such materials under different loading scenarios. This study investigates the possibility of utilizing MAC/GMC as a simulation tool to match trends of mechanical properties such as fatigue performance and stiffness variation of a given Glass fiber/Epoxy composite at 23ᵒC (room temperature) and -40 ᵒC, under …

Compact Electric Personal Transport, James M. Maganja Mr.

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project was to design a compact and powerful personal transport vehicle around the high performance electric power systems associated with large radio controlled aircraft. The relatively powerful and lightweight components associated with these models are the perfect candidate for this application. The selected electric motor for instance is rated at 3kW of continuous power with a mass of just 384 grams.

There were engineering challenges that arose from using these types of components for a vehicle application. At its designed operating voltage the motor will be spinning at around 25,000 rpm. This will require a novel …

The University Of Akron Human Powered Vehicle Team, Maria E. Rizzo, Andrew J. Derhammer, Christopher M. Trowbridge, Timothy M. Nutt, Joseph R. Boyd, Jeremy W. Marcum, Jonathan E. Adams, Donald G. Haiss, Julia Wood, Brian D. Goshia, Scott T. Fagan, Joshua D. Everhard, Rebecca L. Slivka

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The University of Akron Human Powered Vehicle Team’s 2016 vehicle, Klokan, was designed, manufactured and tested with safety, reliability, performance and ease of use in mind. The vehicle is a fully faired tadpole trike with a lightweight aluminum frame constructed from 6061-T6 tubing having a total weight of 8.9 lbs. To complement the lightweight frame, the fairing is constructed from polycarbonate, PETG and carbon fiber strips which combine into a lightweight, easy to manufacture weather barrier and aerodynamic structure. Klokan was designed to be a safe and efficient mode of everyday transportation which ensures that riders are sufficiently protected by …

The Effect Of Green Structures On Hydrology In Urban Areas Of Akron, Ohio, Brooke Hayes, Brian Long

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Stormwater runoff is a major environmental concern in dense urban areas. Runoff in these areas contributes to flooding as well as water quality problems in the streams, lakes, and reservoirs downstream. The Cuyahoga River is the receiving waterbody for the City of Akron’s stormwater runoff. Currently, combined sewer overflow (CSO) from the city's outdated sewer system is the overriding reason for poor water quality in the Cuyahoga River.

Implementation of green infrastructure is one way to mitigate problems associated with stormwater runoff from urban areas. In this study, hydrologic modeling of the Little Cuyahoga watershed was conducted to determine how …

Designing A Nano-Drone With Hybrid Structural Energy Storage, Ann Klindworth, Jared Cornett, Kyle Leifheit, Joseph Dejacimo

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Advanced Energy and Sensor Lab at the University of Akron has been working to develop a working flow battery that replaces today’s solid batteries. The objective of this senior design project was to replace the conventional lithium-ion battery as the energy storage component in nano-copters with a newly designed hybrid structural battery. In the design, the nano-copter needed to be mechanically supported and store enough energy for flying. In order to accomplish this, the nano-copter weight was reduced so that the flight range could be significantly increased. Therefore, the project was broken into two major parts. The first was …

Zipping Towards Stem: Simulation Wind Tunnel, Emma Pierson, Greg Flohr, Devon Goldberg, Brandon Hein, Jeremy Hein

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The simulation wind tunnel was created to be integrated into a larger project funded by the National Science Foundation titled Zipping Towards STEM: Integrating Engineering Design into the Middle School Physical Science Curriculum. The goal of this project is to integrate the engineering design process of computer modeling, simulation, rapid prototyping, and testing into the 8^th grade level curriculum by letting students design and test their own mini soap box derby cars. The simulation wind tunnel will be used to help the students understand the basics of aerodynamics so they can design an aerodynamic mini soap box derby …

Pothole Reporting System, Brian G. Simmons Mr., Alissa L. Mcgill Ms., Elizabeth J. Hammell Ms., Sean D. Querry Mr.

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this project is to create a pothole detection device that can be attached to the underside of a commercial vehicle. Potholes cost motorists around 6.4 billion dollars annually, thus demonstrating the need for a system to aid with the detections and reporting of potholes. The four systems we needed to consider for the implementation of this project were the power system, the sensing system, the data processing system, and the reporting and logging system. Power pulled from the vehicle will enable the sensors and data processing module. The data processing module will analyze the readings from the …

Cogeneration System Comparison For The Akron Water Treatment Plant, Devin J. Pearcy, Madison R. Morgan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Cogeneration is a process of electrical power generation that simultaneously harnesses the heat produced from that electrical generation and uses it to supply heat to a space. The Akron Water Plant was identified as potentially benefitting from this technology for two main reasons. First, they have a large and relatively constant electrical load. Second, they have ownership of a significant amount of natural gas wells at the site.

This report analyzes the economic feasibility of installing a cogeneration plant at the Akron Water Plant (AWP). Data was collected for the plant and its operations, including electricity bills, gas bills, plant …

Roobockey: Remote Controlled, Aim-Assisted Street Hockey Robot, Deboshri Sadhukhan, Troy W. Bowers, Keith R. Martin, John A. Supel

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of the ROObockey project is to design and construct a floor hockey robot that can competitively shoot a puck. The robot design quickly locates a specific beacon through the use of image processing and uses a pneumatic shooting mechanism to send a puck to a specified target. The beacons act as possible player or goal positions in a hockey game. The robot also utilizes a wireless controller device to allow a user to maneuver the robot across a hockey field.

The Smart Hard Hat, Darcy Fyffe, Connor Langenderfer, Charlton Johns

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In a wide variety of manual labor industries, workers are often unaware that they are approaching dangerous vital thresholds until they have already overexerted themselves. According to a 2012 white paper by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), over 4,500 workers lose their lives, and more than 4 million are seriously injured each year. There is an immediate need to improve the safety and monitoring of manual workers to reduce the number of workplace injuries and fatalities. Millions of laborers around the globe go to work every day relying on basic safety devices, such as harnesses and steel toed …

Reducing Fretting Corrosion At The Femoral Neck To Taper Junction In Total Hip Arthroplasty, Andrea M. Carly, Nicholas S. Moyer, Abel S. Pietros

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Fretting corrosion due to micromotion between the femoral head and neck of hip implants is a growing concern of surgeons and patients. Debris from corrosion can lead to severe adverse effects for patients of total hip arthroplasty and reduce the lifespan of the product. Previous studies conducted by Zimmer Biomet show a connection between higher impaction force and reduced fretting corrosion and debris. This design project explored this issue and developed a training device using a current technology, a dynamic force sensor, and data analysis software for surgeons to obtain muscle memory of a 4kN strike on the head impactor, …

Heterogeneous Thermal Effects On Structural-Grade Steel, Eric Wickersham

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The AISC Steel Construction Manual covers structural steel design while at atmospheric and elevated temperatures. The manual does not, though, cover what happens to the steel after it has cooled from elevated temperatures. To fill in this knowledge gap, A36 steel was studied with respect to three main criteria: time, temperature, and cooling. Time was sub-divided into a standard burn (17-20min) and a prolonged burn (90min). Temperature was sub-divided into an average burn (600-800⁰F) and an extreme burn (>1200⁰F). To reach such temperatures, a forge was constructed and used during the burning process. Cooling was sub-divided into standard (air …

Hvac Monitoring System, Ryan Gerhart, Tyler Miller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report outlines the design and implementation stages of the development of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) airflow, humidity, and temperature monitoring device. The purpose of the device is to collect data to inform manufacturers and users about the current operational status of the HVAC system in place. Information about the airflow, humidity, and temperature is to be collected and wirelessly transmitted to a central database, where the data can be stored for later use and processing. The sensors and transmitter are to be powered using only energy harvested from the system, so that this data can be …

Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion: Rhamnolipid Effects, Andrea M. Wildroudt

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this experiment was to identify if a rhamnolipid could inhibit the growth of a biofilm on carbon steel coupons and result in less corrosion activity. This type of research impacts various industries (with one of the largest being the oil and gas industry). Multiple systems with varying concentrations of the rhamnolipid were created to determine, if any, the optimum concentration to inhibit biofilm growth. The systems were created and exposed to optimum physio-chemical environments to promote SRB induced corrosion. Coupons were immersed for 28 days. Seven systems were created with varying rhamnolipid concentrations; to ensure accurate results, …

Oxidation Resistance Of Nanocrystalline 316l Stainless Steel Processed By High Pressure Torsion, Kevin J. Meisner

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

High Pressure Torsion (HPT) is a materials processing method used to refine the grain size of metallic materials through the application of simultaneous axial and torsional strain. HPT is reported to result in nanocrystalline structure, which the current scientific literature suggests may improve the high temperature oxidation resistance by enhancing diffusion of solutes, particularly Cr, to the surface to form a protective external oxide scale. If oxidation resistance is improved, this possibly allows the use of 316L in oxidizing environments where more expensive alloys are typically used. However, the influence of grain refinement to nanoscale on various properties have been …

Stress Corrosion Cracking Evaluation Of Carbon Steel In Biodiesel And The Effect Of Ultrasonic Nanocrystal Surface Modification (Unsm) On 304 Stainless Steel, Josh Geyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The project that was performed was stress corrosion cracking (SSC) of carbon steel in biodiesel, petroleum diesel and a mixture. The project also included the effect of Ultrasonic Nanocrystal Surface Modification (UNSM) on 304 stainless steel. It included the assembly of a slow strain rate (SSR) machine and carrying out testing using the SSR machine. The assembly of the machine will require purchasing and building a stand to house the electrical equipment which includes the computer, actuator control panel and the actuator power supply. The assembly will also include designing and purchasing the connections to connect the actuator to the …

Plc Water Pump Control, Kevin Logsdon

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project set out to use a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) to control a water pump to maintain the water level in a tank at a desired setpoint. A proximity sensor is mounted above the upper reservoir to detect the distance to the water level from the sensor, which will be communicated back to an Allen-Bradley CompactLogix PLC. To control the water level, an AC variable speed drive, that can receive instructions from the PLC, is connected to a water pump that will ramp up the RPM as the water level drops below the setpoint to bring it back to …

Below-Grade Structurla Flexibility Study For Seismic-Resistant, Self-Centering, Concentrically-Braced Frames, Derek A.J. Hauff

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Self-centering, concentrically braced frames (SC-CBFs) are seismic-resistant lateral-load resisting systems for buildings that increase the lateral drift capacity in comparison to conventional CBFs. Two different substructures were examined on a six-story and a ten-story building to see which below grade structure was more efficient and how the flexibility from the addition of a basement compares to previous research of SC-CBFs structures without basements.

The study was completed in phases: modeling of forces in SAP2000, sizing of structural members, coding of structure into the modeling program Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (OpenSees), and comparison of the output data.

Substructure one …

Home Networking With Enterprise Equipment, Alex Lowers

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project tested various wired and wireless topologies and benchmarked download speeds and quality for various types of media. For music, topology had a negligible impact. High quality video streams were impacted by latency introduced in the wireless topologies. Likewise, video game streaming, especially games of high graphical fidelity, were negatively impacted when streamed over a wireless network. For all types of media, a fully wired topology is recommended.

Optimization Of Formula Sae Electric Vehicle Frame With Finite Element Analysis, Alexander Prorok

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Optimization of Formula SAE Electric Vehicle Frame with Finite Element Analysis

The University Of Akron Nfpa 2015/2016 Chainless Challenge, Andrew Tupta, Andrew Ball, Stefan Stamboldziev, Jordon Spence, Sean Catchpole

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Parker Hannifin has issued a challenge to student design teams of creating a Chainless bike using a hydraulic system. Each student design team will be assigned a technical advisor from the University. The project will be divided into two phases after the initial kickoff. The first phase will align with senior design course for motion control and hydraulics and will yield the student obtaining knowledge in hydraulics, including bio-degradable fluids, pneumatics, electromechanical systems, green technologies (sustainable energy) and controlling force and motion. Students will be provided data sheets, a list of in-stock Parker components and by the end of the …

A Software Application For Cardiac-Gated Computerized Tomography Scanning, Stephen Caldwell, Trevor Engelsman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Computerized tomography (CT) scans are a common clinical imaging procedure used worldwide. Operating in the X-Ray spectrum, these machines rotate scanners around a stationary body in order to compile two-dimensional images into a unified three-dimensional image. With adjustment to scan frequency and intensity, internal features such as muscles, organs, and tendons can easily be viewed. However, the heart has long evaded CT use due to its near-constant motion. Recently, cardiac-gated scans have entered the market as a technique to image the heart at a specific moment in time when it is nearly still - the quiescent period. Occurring during rapid …

Deep Excavations In Urban Environments: A Review Of Recent Developments, Micah D. Nine

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Failure of excavations can be incredibly costly. Lives can be lost, projects delayed for months, and adjacent structures damaged by ground surface settlement related to both basal-heave and serviceability failures. This report summarizes developments in recent years that pertain to deep excavations in urban environments and mathematical methods to best avoid failures. The ultimate limit state (basal-heave and piping failure), and serviceability limit state (ground surface settlement and lateral wall defection) are the basis for geotechnical design in excavations. Structurally, the strength limit state (structural strength of the wall), serviceability limit state (deformation of the retaining wall), and stability (such …

Optimizing Solvent Blends For A Quinary System, Thomas L. Hoy

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Department of Polymer Engineering had received a grant from the Keck foundation to produce a process in which hundreds of copolymers can be formulated, synthesized, analyzed and then extrapolated to produce the optimal polymer for the desired material property. This process involves synthesizing approximately fifty polymers in a custom apparatus, none of which necessarily have the same monomer components. This leads to issue of which solvent or blend of solvents to use that would sufficiently dissolve both monomers and the resulting copolymer. If the monomers are not completely dissolved, a homogenous reaction will be impossible and if the copolymer …

Corrosion Protection Systems In Offshore Structures, Hristo Ivanov

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Corrosion plays a pivotal role in the engineering world. Engineers of all disciplines must consider the dangers that this phenomenon can incur. Interestingly, corrosion mitigation is not a topic that is addressed in most academic curricula. The goal of this paper is to give engineering students a brief introduction into corrosion and some of the prevention techniques commonly used today.

The design of a corrosion protection system for offshore structures is discussed in order to illustrate how these techniques can be utilized even in the most extreme environments. First, the driving force behind corrosion is examined, introducing the basic mechanics …

Thermal Responsive Release Of A Model Drug, Rhoadmine B, From Alginate Bead System, Heather F. Fairbairn Miss

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Smart drug delivery systems have garnered increased interest in the biomedical community during recent years. Investigation into thermal, pH, and light responsive delivery systems allows for targeted drug release systems to be developed. For this project, thermal responsive release behavior was investigated for the purpose of tuning release systems to achieve 60% release in a specified time by varying the content of thermal responsive polymer. To investigate this, the release profile of a model small hydrophilic drug (rhodamine B) from polymeric alginate beads that have been modified by the addition of thermal responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm). It was determined that when …

Human Health Risks From Tap Water Chlorine Disinfection Byproducts: An Ohio Study, Leann L. Brown

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The use of chlorine in the disinfection process for drinking water has resulted in the creation of disinfection byproducts in the potable water. These carcinogenic disinfection byproducts (DBP’s) pose a risk to consumers. Traveling through the water distribution system, stagnation of water in plumbing pipes, and the heating of the water in a hot water tank are all responsible for increasing the concentration of DBP’s. In this report, the existing concentrations of trihalomethanes (THM’s) and haloacetic acids (HAA’s) were gathered from the consumer confidence reports (CCR’s) of eight water treatment plants in five Ohio cities. These values were given assumed …

Selective, Catalytic Decomposition Of Hydrazine, Benjamin A. Kitson, Shirin N. Oliaee

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The selective, catalytic decomposition of hydrazine has been investigated using a 1 wt% Pt-Ni(OH)₂ catalyst system quantitatively studied by changing the following parameters; reaction solution alkalinity, temperature, hydrazine concentration, catalyst selectivity, catalyst stability, and catalyst durability. Using sodium hydroxide (NaOH), the best alkalinity was found to be 1 M NaOH. The optimal temperature was found to be 50 °C for complete hydrazine conversion. A hydrazine concentration of 0.1 M produced the most effective reaction. The catalyst was found to be completely selective in hydrogen and nitrogen production with no ammonia formation. The catalyst activity decreased by 15% after 8 …

Galvanic Corrosion On Monel K-500 And 1018 Carbon Steel Couple, John K. Nnyanzi

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this research project was to evaluate galvanic damage on 1018 Carbon Steel coupled to Monel K-500 at varying rotation speeds on a rotating cylinder electrode in an aerated solution of ASTM artificial seawater. The work in this project is and attempt to study corrosion behavior for a Monel fastener coupled to a Carbon Steel plate. Polarization curves of each material at different rotation speeds were created to predict the corrosion behavior for a galvanic couple of Carbon Steel and Monel. The Potentiodynamic sweeps predict an increase in the corrosion current density for the galvanic couple when then …