Engineering Commons^™

Zero Net Energy Test House, Timothy Hemsath, James D. Goedert, Avery Don Schwer, Yong Cho

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

This paper describes the first phase of a residential research program to reduce the impact of new construction on the environment through research and education using a Zero Net Energy Test House as a framework. Containing four bedrooms, three and a half baths, the 1,800 square foot house, 1,000 square foot basement, is located in Omaha, Nebraska. It is being used to validate several research projects and provides a platform for applications research of a number of technological advances. Laminated photovoltaic solar panels, a wind turbine, and an occupant monitoring energy control system are some of the sustainable design innovations …

Use Of Energy Consumption During Milling To Fill A Measurement Gap In Hybrid Additive Manufacturing, K. L. M. Avegnon, P. Noll, M. R. Uddin, G. Madireddy, R. Williams, A. Achuthan, M. P. Sealy

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Coupling additive manufacturing (AM) with interlayer peening introduces bulk anisotropic properties within a build across several centimeters. Current methods to map high resolution anisotropy and heterogeneity are either destructive or have a limited penetration depth using a nondestructive method. An alternative pseudo-nondestructive method to map high-resolution anisotropy and heterogeneity is through energy consumption during milling. Previous research has shown energy consumption during milling correlates with surface integrity. Since surface milling of additively manufactured parts is often required for post-processing to improve dimensional accuracy, an opportunity is available to use surface milling as an alternative method to measure mechanical properties and …

Dynamic Rops Test For Tractors Over 6,000 Kilograms, Caleb M. Lindhorst, Roger M. Hoy, Santosh Pitla, Michael F. Kocher

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

OECD static tests (Codes 4, 6, 7, and 8) for agricultural rollover protective structures (ROPS) have become accepted standards for evaluating the ability of these structures to protect the operator during tractor rollover events. The strength properties of some materials typically used in ROPS change because of cold weather embrittlement at low temperatures. The static ROPS tests lack the ability to evaluate the strength of these structures during cold weather. The use of the dynamic ROPS test is well noted as a means for proving cold weather embrittlement resistance properties. Unfortunately, application of the OECD dynamic ROPS test (Code 3) …

Benchmarking The Energy Intensity Of Small Nebraska Wastewater Treatment Plants, Steven M. Hanna

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Student Research

To help small communities improve the energy efficiency of their wastewater treatment plants, this study created energy benchmarking models for small wastewater plants serving populations of 10,000 or less and having average flows less than 1.5 million gallons per day (MGD). The purpose of these models is to allow comparisons among plants of similar type and size, identify what factors most significantly impact energy usage, and predict potential savings from changes in key plant characteristics.

Energy usage and plant data from 83 small, mechanical wastewater plants in Nebraska were collected and used to create energy benchmarking models. Data obtained from …

Suspended Graphene-Based Gas Sensor With 1-Mw Energy Consumption, Jong-Hyun Kim, Qin Zhou, Jiyoung Chang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper presents NH₃ sensing with ultra-low energy consumption for fast recovery and a graphene sheet based on a suspended microheater. Sensitivity and repeatability are important characteristics of functional gas sensors embedded in mobile devices. Moreover, low energy consumption is an essential requirement in flexible and stretchable mobile electronics due to their small dimension and fluctuating resistivity during mechanical behavior. In this paper, we introduce a graphene-based ultra-low power gas detection device with integration of a suspended silicon heater. Dramatic power reduction is enabled by a duty cycle while not sacrificing sensitivity. The new oscillation method of heating improves …

Water And Energy Use And Wastewater Production In A Beef Packing Plant, Rami Ziara

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Accurate information about water and energy use and wastewater production in beef packing plants is scarce. The objective of this study was to collect baseline water and energy use data within a beef packing plant with a special focus on antimicrobial interventions and to collect preliminary wastewater production data in addition. Permanent and portable water flow meters were installed on the plant’s plumbing system to collect water flow data from March 2014 to March 2015. A local utility company was hired to meter electricity at antimicrobial interventions using portable data loggers. Metered water flows and temperatures were combined with fundamental …

Eight Principles Of Uncertainty For Life Cycle Assessment Of Biofuel Systems, Adam J. Liska

Adam Liska Papers

New environmental regulations in the USA and Europe require a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation fuels as a component of climate change mitigation policy. The US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) requires GHG emission reductions from the life cycles of biofuels compared to gasoline, by 20% for ethanol from maize grain (maize-ethanol), 60% for cellulosic ethanol, and 50% for other advanced biofuels. To determine these reductions, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employs life cycle assessment (LCA) methods which were not used previously in national environmental regulations. These regulations, entitled the “Renewable Fuel Standard …

On Target For People And Planet: Setting And Achieving Water-Related Sustainable Development Goals, Julie Van Der Bliek, Peter G. Mccornick, James Clarke

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Our specific focus in this book is on securing water for sustainable food production. This links to sustainable water resources management, delivering on the water supply and sanitation requirements and provisioning water for energy and the urban sector. A specific intent is to ensure that the realities in low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia are recognized and to provide practical pathways to change that fit these realities and the aspirations of those countries. This will help to prepare for the next step in the SDG [sustainable development goals] process: devolving the SDGs to the national level. It will …

Development Of A New Energy-Absorbing Roadside/Median Barrier System With Restorable Elastomer Cartridges, Ronald K. Faller, Dean L. Sicking, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Robert W. Bielenberg, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, James C. Holloway, John D. Reid, Jennifer D. Schmidt

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Analysis Of Ghg Production From The Lincoln Water System To Determine Operating Energy And Infrastructure Construction Impacts, Martin Gakuria

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Student Research

The Lincoln Water System (LWS) provides water to the citizens, industries, and commercial areas within and near the City of Lincoln, Nebraska. The intent of this thesis is to determine if reductions in future per capita water demand will help reduce the building of infrastructure and reduce future pumping costs and uses the computation of greenhouse gasses to compare the effects of different degrees of water conservation.

Data analysis was performed on water production statistics and data (1994-2011) collected and provided by the City of Lincoln, Nebraska. Projections in accordance with the Lincoln-Lancaster County 2040 Comprehensive Plan were made to …

Wireless Embedded Smart Cameras: Performance Analysis And Their Application To Fall Detection For Eldercare., Alvaro Pinto

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wireless Embedded Smart Camera Networks has received a lot of attention from academia and industry because they are small in size and easy to deploy, and they offer a multitude of attractive applications. They can be used for embedded single unit applications, or can be networked for multi-camera applications.

We first analyze three different operation scenarios for a wireless vision sensor network wherein different levels of local processing is performed. A detailed quantitative comparison of three operation scenarios are presented in terms of energy consumption and latency. This quantitative analysis provides the motivation for performing high-level local processing and decision …

Emergy As A Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicator A Gold Mining Case Study, Wesley W. Ingwesen

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Staff Publications

Founded in thermodynamics and systems ecology, emergy evaluation is a method to associate a product with its dependencies on all upstream environmental and resource flows using a common unit of energy. Emergy is thus proposed as an indicator of aggregate resource use for life cycle assessment (LCA). An LCA of gold mining, based on an original life cycle inventory of a large gold mine in Peru, is used to demonstrate how emergy can be incorporated as an impact indicator into a process-based LCA model. The results demonstrate the usefulness of emergy in the LCA context. The adaptation of emergy evaluation, …

Updating The Nebraska Pumping Plant Performance Criteria, William Kranz, Derrel L. Martin, Dean Patterson, Jerry Hudgins, Simon Van Donk, C. Dean Yonts

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Conference Presentations and White Papers

Irrigation water is removed from groundwater storage using deep well turbine pumps powered by electric motors or diesel, gasoline, propane, ethanol, or natural gas internal combustion engines. For best operating efficiency irrigation power units are selected to specifically meet the requirements of the irrigation system that include how deep the water in the well is under pumping conditions, the water pressure required at the pump outlet, and the system flow rate. The evaluation of pumping plants to establish pumping plant performance dates back into the 1950’s when researchers at the University of Nebraska were unable to directly compare the operation …

Actual And Reference Evaporative Losses And Surface Coefficients Of A Maize Field During Nongrowing (Dormant) Periods, Christopher H. Hay, Suat Irmak

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Effective water resources planning, allocation, management, and use in agroecosystems require accurate quantification of actual evapotranspiration (ET_c) during growing and nongrowing (dormant) periods. Prediction of ET_c for a variety of vegetation surfaces during the growing season has been researched extensively, but relatively little information exists on evaporative losses during nongrowing periods for different surfaces. The objectives of this research were to evaluate ET_c in relation to available energy, precipitation, and grass and alfalfa-reference ET (ET_o and ET_r) for a maize (Zea mays L.) field and to analyze the dynamics of surface coefficients …