Engineering Commons^™

Two Clamped Pipe Support Connections For Oil And Gas Brownfield Projects, Helen M. Claycomb

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the oil and gas industry, brownfield projects focus on the modification of or addition to an existing production facility that is fully operational and operating. Welding is typically avoided on these projects. The drilling of holes in existing primary structural elements is also prohibited. Clamped connections are often used when adding additional services in a brownfield project. There are different types of clamped connections utilized when a new structural support must be attached to an existing vertical structural pipe. The short bolt clamped connection is a well-established connection and typically used on offshore projects. The U-bolt clamped connection is …

Gaussian Conditionally Markov Sequences: Theory With Application, Reza Rezaie

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Markov processes have been widely studied and used for modeling problems. A Markov process has two main components (i.e., an evolution law and an initial distribution). Markov processes are not suitable for modeling some problems, for example, the problem of predicting a trajectory with a known destination. Such a problem has three main components: an origin, an evolution law, and a destination. The conditionally Markov (CM) process is a powerful mathematical tool for generalizing the Markov process. One class of CM processes, called $CM_L$, fits the above components of trajectories with a destination. The CM process combines the Markov property …

Size Effects In Small Scale Forward Extrusion And Metal Forming, Debabrata Mondal

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Size effects play a significant role in metal processing when the specimen dimensions are reduced. In this study, influence of size effects were investigated on two problem specific processes. First, numerical simulations of a small-scale forward extrusion with varying grain size were performed for both 2D and 3D cases. Here, grains were assigned to non-homogeneous properties in a random fashion. The computational geometry was obtained from Voronoi tessellation in MATLAB, and python-scripting in ABAQUS. Then the effects of size and property non-homogeneity were investigated. Second, a numerical model was simulated to predict final form shapes, punch load requirement, and thickness …

Development Of Experimental And Finite Element Models To Show Size Effects In The Forming Of Thin Sheet Metals, Jeffrey D. Morris

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

An experimental method was developed that demonstrated the size effects in forming thin sheet metals, and a finite element model was developed to predict the effects demonstrated by the experiment. A universal testing machine (UTM) was used to form aluminum and copper of varying thicknesses (less than 1mm) into a hemispherical dome. A stereolithography additive manufacturing technology was used to fabricate the punch and die from a UV curing resin. There was agreement between the experimental and numerical models. The results showed that geometric size effects were significant for both materials, and these effects increased as the thickness of …

General Nonlinear-Material Elasticity In Classical One-Dimensional Solid Mechanics, Ronald Joseph Giardina Jr

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

We will create a class of generalized ellipses and explore their ability to define a distance on a space and generate continuous, periodic functions. Connections between these continuous, periodic functions and the generalizations of trigonometric functions known in the literature shall be established along with connections between these generalized ellipses and some spectrahedral projections onto the plane, more specifically the well-known multifocal ellipses. The superellipse, or Lam\'{e} curve, will be a special case of the generalized ellipse. Applications of these generalized ellipses shall be explored with regards to some one-dimensional systems of classical mechanics. We will adopt the Ramberg-Osgood relation …

Design And Analysis Of Modular Axial Flux Switched Reluctance Motor, Rochak Shiwakoti

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a new modular structure of the axial flux Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM). The design consists of four stator disks with each adjacent disk rotated 30 degrees apart and four rotor disks connected to a common shaft. The proposed design aims to reduce the unwanted radial force, mitigate the torque ripple, and improve the efficiency. The modular structure distributes the radial force and torque strokes along the axial length of the motor, potentially damping the torque pulsation. In addition, the modular structure would deliver the rating power at a lower current level, reducing the overall ohmic loss. Moreover, …

Scalable Community Detection Using Distributed Louvain Algorithm, Naw Safrin Sattar

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Community detection (or clustering) in large-scale graph is an important problem in graph mining. Communities reveal interesting characteristics of a network. Louvain is an efficient sequential algorithm but fails to scale emerging large-scale data. Developing distributed-memory parallel algorithms is challenging because of inter-process communication and load-balancing issues. In this work, we design a shared memory-based algorithm using OpenMP, which shows a 4-fold speedup but is limited to available physical cores. Our second algorithm is an MPI-based parallel algorithm that scales to a moderate number of processors. We also implement a hybrid algorithm combining both. Finally, we incorporate dynamic load-balancing in …

Total Fume Emissions And Emission Factors Applicable To Gas Metal Arc Welding, Nayara De Souza

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Welding is a common industrial practice that has the potential to emit air pollutants. Emission factors are useful indicators to help in the understanding of the extent of pollution from a process and managing them to reduce or minimize health impacts. The objective of this thesis is to determine emission factors applicable to the gas metal arc welding (GMAW), under varying current and voltage conditions. The most used base metals and an electrode for the shipbuilding industry were considered. A weld fume chamber was used to achieve the project goals along with standard sampling and analytical procedures. Three test runs …

Modeling The Effect Of A Compartment Fire On Spaces Adjacent To A Bulkhead With And Without Attachments, Carl E. Hendrickson Ii

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Structural fire protection is an integral component of shipboard fire safety. There are national and international regulations that delineate requirements for the insulation placed throughout ships. The attachments that penetrate the insulation for hanging wires and pipes can disrupt the integrity of the division, and cause a failure to adhere to the regulations. This problem will be analyzed by using a simplified lumped capacitance model and ANSYS FLUENT CFD. A standard time-temperature fire curve is applied to the fire side of the enclosure. The thermal conductivity of the insulation and steel are made to be temperature dependent. The density of …

Detection Of Sand Boils From Images Using Machine Learning Approaches, Aditi S. Kuchi

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Levees provide protection for vast amounts of commercial and residential properties. However, these structures degrade over time, due to the impact of severe weather, sand boils, subsidence of land, seepage, etc. In this research, we focus on detecting sand boils. Sand boils occur when water under pressure wells up to the surface through a bed of sand. These make levees especially vulnerable. Object detection is a good approach to confirm the presence of sand boils from satellite or drone imagery, which can be utilized to assist in the automated levee monitoring methodology. Since sand boils have distinct features, applying object …

Stackcbpred: A Stacking Based Prediction Of Protein-Carbohydrate Binding Sites From Sequence, Suraj Gattani

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Carbohydrate-binding proteins play vital roles in many vital biological processes and study of these interactions, at residue level, are useful in treating many critical diseases. Analyzing the local sequential environments of the binding and non-binding regions to predict the protein-carbohydrate binding sites is one of the challenging problems in molecular and computational biology. Prediction of such binding sites, directly from sequences, using computational methods, can be useful to fast annotate the binding sites and guide the experimental process. Because the number of carbohydrate-binding residues is significantly lower than non-carbohydrate-binding residues, most of the methods developed are biased towards over predicting …

Geotechnical And Geothermal Properties Of Louisiana Coastal Sediments, Myriam Bou-Mekhayel

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Land loss in South Louisiana is increasing at a fairly rapid rate. In an effort to reduce land loss and save the marshes of Louisiana, marsh creation projects have been proposed in carefully selected regions around the coast as part of the CPRA Coastal Master Plan 2017. Properties and characteristics of the soil obtained from soil borings were analyzed and used to determine the various design parameters that allow the marsh creation process to occur. Other properties that were taken into consideration for Louisiana coastal sediment are the geothermal properties.

This research analyses those different properties obtained from geotechnical reports …

Proposed New Military Live Load For Highway Bridges In The United States, Walter P. Parker

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the results of a mathematical analysis of various live load combinations on highway bridge spans up to 304.8 meters (1,000 feet) total lengths. The analysis included continuous beams, but only the results for simple beams is presented. The analysis was performed using an independently developed Microsoft EXCEL spreadsheet computation, based on superposition and classical mechanics.

In this thesis, several actual bridge live loadings and several hypothetical live loadings were analyzed and compared to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Load and Resistance Factor Design method. Also considered was the new bridge design method adopted …

Evaluation Of Total Fume And Heavy Metal Emission Factors Applicable To Gas Metal Arc Welding, Abhinay Jilla

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Welding is a metal joining process widely used in many manufacturing facilities around the world. It involves the process of heating the base and filler metals to a high temperature that leads to the formation of fumes. Welding emissions consist of gaseous pollutants and micron and sub-micron particles consisting of different heavy metals. Health risks associated with exposures to weld fume is well recognized in the literature. This research evaluates emissions and emission factors applicable to gas metal arc welding (GMAW) on AH 36 (mild steel) and 316 L (stainless steel). Emission factors evaluated consisted, total fume, chromium, cobalt, lead, …

Directional Comparison Bus Protection Using Superimposed Partial Operating Current Characteristics, Bishwas Baral

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Various directional comparison bus protection methods including widely used superimposed directional element method need to have both voltages and currents from all feeders connected to the zone of protection to find the direction of current for detecting a bus fault or a line fault. The purpose of the thesis is to present a new technique for directional comparison bus protection to discriminate a bus fault from line fault and normal condition. The new technique, which is implementing superimposed directional element method to modify partial operating current characteristics (POC) method to superimposed POC (SPOC) method, does not use voltages from feeders, …

Investigation On The Impacts Of Vessel Flooding On Roll Motion, Adam N. Bacon

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis develops a method to analyze the roll response of a vessel during a damaged (flooded) scenario. This was done by developing a time-domain method in which the damaged compartment was flooding while the ship is simultaneously subjected to a seaway. The KRISO containership was used as a test hull and was subjected to three flooding conditions. These flooding conditions involved flooding Hold 5, Hold 3, and Hold 1 separately. Newmark’s Beta method for linear acceleration was used to solve the roll motion of equation in which the hydrodynamic coefficients A44, B44, and C44 were predetermined from linear strip …

Optimization Techniques For Image Processing, Prerak Chapagain

Senior Honors Theses

This research thesis starts off with a basic introduction to optimization and image processing. Because there are several different tools to apply optimization in image processing applications, we started researching one category of mathematical optimization techniques, namely Convex Optimization. This thesis provides a basic background consisting of mathematical concepts, as well as some challenges of employing Convex Optimization in solving problems. One major issue is to be able to identify the convexity of the problem in a potential application (Boyd). After spending a couple of months researching and learning Convex Optimization, my advisor and I decided to go on a …