Engineering Commons^™

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 …

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 …

Extracting The Structure And Conformations Of Biological Entities From Large Datasets, Ali Dashti

Theses and Dissertations

In biology, structure determines function, which often proceeds via changes in conformation. Efficient means for determining structure exist, but mapping conformations continue to present a serious challenge. Single-particles approaches, such as cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and emerging "diffract & destroy" X-ray techniques are, in principle, ideally positioned to overcome these challenges. But the algorithmic ability to extract information from large heterogeneous datasets consisting of "unsorted" snapshots - each emanating from an unknown orientation of an object in an unknown conformation - remains elusive.

It is the objective of this thesis to describe and validate a powerful suite of manifold-based algorithms …

Patient-Oriented Evidence-Based Treatment Decision Support System (Treatquest®) For Lung Cancer, Danqing Hu

Theses and Dissertations

Involving patients in healthcare decisions makes a significant and enduring difference to healthcare outcomes. One challenge for patients is the lack of evidence-based information and tools to support their decision making. Although patients have access to significant information through internet and other sources, it is not personalized for their specific situation. This dissertation attempts to help patients acquire evidence-based information relevant to their own situation, so they can make a more informed decision in co-operation with their physicians. Lung cancer has been selected as a focus for this study because lung cancer presents very complex decision making situation and is …

Shape Memory Alloy Reinforced Self-Healing Metal Matrix Composites, Shobhit Krishna Misra

Theses and Dissertations

A metal matrix composite system incorporating Nickel Titanium (NiTi) Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) as smart reinforcement with self-healing potential for crack closure is investigated. Lead free proof of concept solder matrix-alloys of Sn-Bi with off eutectic compositions were designed, synthesized and characterized. This was aimed at enabling partial melting of the matrix at healing temperature - the temperature at which the reinforced SMA reverts to its original shape, whereby welding the cracks shut. In this composite system, NiTi long fibers (wires) have been incorporated as reinforcements. The reinforcements were etched and flux treated to improve wettability with the solder matrix …

Mechanical Properties And High-Temperature Performance Of A Polyester Resin Modified Using Fgd Gypsum, Morteza Janbaz

Theses and Dissertations

High-temperature performance of polyester- based construction materials is an important consideration when fire safety is a concern. These materials are typically used as non-structural components of buildings and other structures. Structural retrofits using fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are also gaining popularity. However, a major disadvantage of polymer- based materials (including FRP composites) is their flammability and toxic gas generation at high temperatures. The main objective of this research effort was to determine the mechanical properties and high-temperature performance of a polyester resin modified with various amounts of an industrial by-product additive. The additive used was Flu-Gas Desulfurization (FGD) gypsum, which …

A Two-Echelon Location-Inventory Model For A Multi-Product Donation-Demand Driven Industry, Milad Khajehnezhad

Theses and Dissertations

This study involves a joint bi-echelon location inventory model for a donation-demand driven industry in which Distribution Centers (DC) and retailers (R) exist. In this model, we confine the variables of interest to include; coverage radius, service level, and multiple products. Each retailer has two classes of product flowing to and from its assigned DC i.e. surpluses and deliveries. The proposed model determines the number of DCs, DC locations, and assignments of retailers to those DCs so that the total annual cost including: facility location costs, transportation costs, and inventory costs are minimized. Due to the complexity of problem, the …

Recovering Bioresources From Integrated Photo-Bioelectrochemical System, Li Xiao

Theses and Dissertations

Compared to traditional wastewater treatment technologies, the electricity generation is one of the most important advantages of bioelectrochemical systems (BES). However, due to its high cost and low energy production, BES technologies are still far away from feasible application. The main purpose of this work was to investigate ways to improve the electricity generation and reduce the cost of BES technologies. We focused on microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) as two representative BES technologies. In order to improve the energy performance of MFCs, an accurate evaluation of the energy is necessary. However, the common evaluation methods …

Investigation Of Application Niche For Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Using Microbial Fuel Cells, Patrick Thomas Kelly

Theses and Dissertations

Microbial fuel cells represent a sustainable wastewater treatment technology due to its simultaneous treatment of contaminants and electricity production. Selection of suitable substrates is important to identifying proper application of microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology. In this work, four identical MFCs were used to treat the wastes sampled from different stages of a cheese wastewater treatment process, and both treatment performance and energy balance were examined. The two MFCs treating liquid wastes achieved more than 80% removal of total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD), while the other two MFCs fed with sludge or cheese whey removed about 60% of TCOD. The …

Sediment Microbial Fuel Cell As Sustainable Power Resource, Ananta Kothapalli

Theses and Dissertations

This research demonstrates that Ceratophyllum demersum a root less non vascular aquatic plant has negatively affected the power generation from a Sediment Microbial Fuel cell (SMFC). In SMFC the reduced organic matter in the sediment in water produces electrons, which reduces oxygen. Whereas in Plant SMFC continuous supply of organic matter to the anode is done by rhizodeposition (root exudates). Six SMFCs were run for more than 3 months to see the effect of plants, pH and temperature on power generation. Out of six only two SMFC showed stable data. The maximum power density 18 ± 1mW/m3 was generated from …

Angiography And Monitoring Of Hemodynamic Signals In The Brain Via Optical Coherence Tomography, Alana Mauluidy Soehartono

Theses and Dissertations

The brain is a complex network of interconnected neurons with each cell functioning as a nonlinear processing unit. Neural responses to stimulus can be described by activity in neurons. While blood flow changes have been associated with neural activity and are critical to brain function, this neurovascular coupling is not well understood. This work presents a technique for neurovascular interrogation, combining optogenetics and optical coherence tomography.

Optogenetics is a recently developed neuromodulation technique to control activity in the brain using light with precise spatial neuronal control and high temporal resolution. Using this method, cells act as light-gated ion channels and …

Extraction And Classification Of Drug-Drug Interaction From Biomedical Text Using A Two-Stage Classifier, Majid Rastegar-Mojarad

Theses and Dissertations

One of the critical causes of medical errors is Drug-Drug interaction (DDI), which occurs when one drug increases or decreases the effect of another drug. We propose a machine learning system to extract and classify drug-drug interactions from the biomedical literature, using the annotated corpus from the DDIExtraction-2013 shared task challenge. Our approach applies a two-stage classifier to handle the highly unbalanced class distribution in the corpus. The first stage is designed for binary classification of drug pairs as interacting or non-interacting, and the second stage for further classification of interacting pairs into one of four interacting types: advise, effect, …

Performance Evaluation Of Multiple Antenna Systems, M-Adib El Effendi

Theses and Dissertations

Wireless traffic is in a continuous increase and there are growing demands for wireless systems that support higher interference suppression and noise mitigation for mobile and cellular communications. Single antenna systems use frequency or time diversity to overcome the multipath fading effect as it represents a major problem that results in sever performance degradation. However, frequency diversity is inefficient in terms of bandwidth requirements and time diversity needs slow time varying channels. Space diversity has been proposed as an alternative to the former schemes where more antennas are added to the transmitter and/or receiver. Nevertheless, when multiple antennas are used; …

The Effectiveness Of Silane And Siloxane Treatments On The Superhydrophobicity And Icephobicity Of Concrete Surfaces, Sunil M. Rao

Theses and Dissertations

Icy roads lead to treacherous driving conditions in regions of the U.S., leading to over 450 fatalities per year. De-icing chemicals, such as road salt, leave much to be desired. In this report, commercially available silane, siloxane, and related materials were evaluated as solutions, simple emulsions, and complex emulsions with incorporated particulates, for their effectiveness as superhydrophobic treatments. Through the development and use of a basic impact test, the ease of ice removal (icephobicity) was examined as an application of the targeted superhydrophobicity.

A general correlation was found between icephobicity and hydrophobicity, with the amount of ice removed on impact …

Applying Computational Methods To Interpret Experimental Results In Tribology And Enantioselective Catalysis, Michael Garvey

Theses and Dissertations

Computational methods are rapidly becoming a mainstay in the field of chemistry. Advances in computational methods (both theory and implementation), increasing availability of computational resources and the advancement of parallel computing are some of the major forces driving this trend.

It is now possible to perform density functional theory (DFT) calculations with chemical accuracy for model systems that can be interrogated experimentally. This allows computational methods to supplement or complement experimental methods. There are even cases where DFT calculations can give insight into processes and interactions that cannot be interrogated directly by current experimental methods.

This work presents several examples …

Superhydrophobicity And Underwater Superoleophobicity Of Oxidized Surfaces Of Some Copper Alloys, Aniedi Effiong Nyong

Theses and Dissertations

Thermal oxidation and chemical oxidation of C36000 and C84400 copper alloys in different oxidizing N2-O2 mixtures and in different concentrations of stearic acid (STA) and arachidic acid (ARA) generated surface morphologies that affected the wetting of the copper alloys. XRD and EDX analyses of the thermally oxidized surface layers of the C36000 copper alloys confirmed the formation of ZnO and PbO with the nanowires formed consisting of ZnO in terms of the chemical composition. Equally, the XRD analyses of the oxidized surface layer of the C84400 copper alloy at the different oxidizing temperatures (550 °C and 650 °C) showed that …

An Experimental Investigation Characterizing The Tribological Performance Of Natural And Synthetic Biolubricants Composed Of Carboxylic Acids For Energy Conservation And Sustainability, Carlton Jonathan Reeves

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last several decades the lubrication industry has been striving to bring bio-based lubricants known as biolubricants to prominence. The reasons for the increased environmental initiatives are due to depletion of oil reserves, increases in oil price, stringent government regulations on petroleum-based oils, and most importantly, concerns for protecting the environment. With an estimated, 50% of all lubricants entering the environment and much of these being composed of toxic mineral oils, biolubricants have begun to witness a resurgence. This experimental investigation seeks to develop a new class of ecofriendly biolubricants that are less toxic to the environment, derived from …

Using Bioelectrochemical Systems For Sustainable Desalination, Bo Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Desalination of seawater or brackish water holds the potential to solve the freshwater shortage that is threatening nearly half of the world population. Current desalination technologies are energy intensive, which makes the desalinated water prohibitively expensive. In this study, investigations have been made to use renewable energy sources from organic waste to power the desalination process. Since desalination is driven by renewable energy, such desalination systems are more sustainable than currently wide employed commercial technologies. Efforts have been made to study how to operate BES driven desalination process such that the energy consumption will be minimized. Forward osmosis technology is …

Techniques For Optimum Design Of Actively Controlled Structures Including Topological Considerations, Arjumand Ali

Theses and Dissertations

The design and performance of complex engineering systems often depends on several conflicting objectives which, in many cases, cannot be represented as a single measure of performance. This thesis presents a multi-objective formulation for a comprehensive treatment of the structural and topological considerations in the design of actively controlled structures.

The dissertation addresses three main problems. The first problem deals with optimum placement of actuators in actively controlled structures. The purpose of control is to reduce the vibrations when the structure is subjected to a disturbance. In order to mitigate the structural vibrations as quickly as possible, it is necessary …

Techniques For Engine Mount Modeling And Optimization, Fadi Alkhatib

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents techniques for the design of engine mounting system to address the issue of vibration isolation. While the techniques presented herein are general, the application of proposed techniques is demonstrated primarily through applications in motorcycles. The dynamic loads that are generated due to the shaking forces within the engine and the road loads that are transmitted to the engine through the tire patch are discussed. The geometrical shape of the engine mount is also considered in this work. All models discussed herein deal with solving the optimization problem for the engine mount system such that the transmitted forces …

Inverse Methods For Load Identification Augmented By Optimal Sensor Placement And Model Order Reduction, Deepak Kumar Gupta

Theses and Dissertations

Design problems require accurate characterization of loads acting on a structure. One way to estimate the loads is through experimentally measured structural response. This is known as the "inverse problem." The instrumented structure essentially acts as its own transducer. It is well known that the inverse problems tend to be highly ill-conditioned. This dissertation proposes several novel time domain and modal domain algorithms for estimating multiple dynamic loads exciting a structure from structural response measured at a finite number of optimally placed non-collocated sensors on the structure. The optimal placement of sensors is necessary to counter the inherent limitation of …

Heat Transfer Analysis Of Two Pass Cooling Channel Of Gas Turbine Blade With Analytical Wall Function Turbulence Approach, Hitoshi Arakawa

Theses and Dissertations

This paper reports experimental and computational studies of heat transfer through a square duct with a sharp 180 degree turn. The main purpose of this research was to study heat transfer predictions using the Analytical Wall-Function (AWF). To compare the predicting performance of the AWF, the standard Log-Law Based Wall-Function (LWF) and a Low-Reynolds-number (LRN) k-e model were applied. Their results were also compared with experimental results for validation. In addition, three extended forms of the AWF were tested. The AWF showed better results than the conventional wall-function based on a logarithmic law especially in separation and reattachment regions and …

Effect Of Relative Humidity In High Temperature Oxidation Of Ceria Nanoparticles Coating On 316l Austenitic Stainless Steel, Luis Giraldez Pizarro

Theses and Dissertations

A solution of 20 wt. % colloidal dispersion of Cerium Oxide (CeO2) in 2.5% of acetic acid, was used for depositing a coating film on an austenitic stainless steel 316L. Cerium compounds have been distinguished as potential corrosion inhibitors in coatings over several alloys. The oxidation behavior of the cerium oxide coating on 316L austenitic stainless steel alloy was evaluated in dry and humid environments, the weight changes (W/A) was monitored as a function of time using a custom built Thermogravimetrical Analysis (TGA) instrument at temperatures of 750C, 800C and 850C, and different relative humidity levels (0%, 10% and 20%) …

Facility Location Selection For Global Manufacturing, Amir Hossein Kalantari

Theses and Dissertations

The selection of a facility location for operations is an important decision in strategic planning of manufacturing corporations. As globalization is transcending national borders, the whole world is becoming the domain of site selection problem. This, in turn, significantly changes the nature of facility location problem. The change is, particularly, paramount in the consideration of attributes impacting the selection decision. Many recent studies have considered the global dimensions of manufacturing site selections and have cited economic, social, and political factors impacting manufacturing operations. The complexity of facility location problem combined with the emerging global factors impacting site selection for manufacturing …

Bi- And Multi Level Game Theoretic Approaches In Mechanical Design, Ehsan Ghotbi

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a game theoretic approach to solve bi and multi-level optimization problems arising in mechanical design. Toward this end, Stackelberg (leader-follower), Nash, as well as cooperative game formulations are considered. To solve these problems numerically, a sensitivity based approach is developed in this dissertation. Although game theoretic methods have been used by several authors for solving multi-objective problems, numerical methods and the applications of extensive games to engineering design problems are very limited. This dissertation tries to fill this gap by developing the possible scenarios for multi-objective problems and develops new numerical approaches for solving them.

This dissertation …

Establishing And Understanding The Electron Balance In Microbial Fuel Cells, Fei Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been intensively studied in the past decade as a promising alternative wastewater treatment technology. However, the critical mass balances such as carbon (or electrons) balances have not well addressed before. Clear understanding of a carbon balance in the anode of an MFC will help to identify electron distribution among different electron acceptors, and the limiting factors that divert electrons from electricity generation. In this study, the effect of substrate loading rate, sulfate, temperature, substrate type and nitrate concentration on MFC's performance were investigated. At different operation condition, the biomass, current, biogas, dissolved oxygen, sulfate and …