Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Engineering Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Theses/Dissertations

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

PDF

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication

Articles 1 - 30 of 1710

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Cignn: Community-Induced Graph Neural Networks, Shi Yin Hong May 2024

Cignn: Community-Induced Graph Neural Networks, Shi Yin Hong

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Message-passing graph neural networks (MPGNNs) are known to have limitations in their representational power. Recent work proposes subgraph graph neural network (subgraph GNN) models to address these limitations by upgrading the local node representations of MPGNNs to respective subgraph representations. However, existing subgraph GNN models have limited interpretability in capturing inherent local structural dynamics across diverse graph structures. In this work, we present a novel subgraph GNNs framework, termed Community-Induced Graph Neural Network (CiGNN). The key idea of CiGNN is to endow an intuitive interpretability basis for subgraph GNNs by capturing the dynamics of inherent structural community topology in subgraph …


Cam And Design For Manufacturing: Developing A Project-Based Learning Course, Stephen Pierson May 2024

Cam And Design For Manufacturing: Developing A Project-Based Learning Course, Stephen Pierson

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

To effectively serve student career success, mechanical engineering programs must teach students how to account for manufacturing considerations in design. Despite this, manufacturing education is a glaring area of need in current engineering curricula. In fact, basic manufacturing knowledge is one of the only hard skills consistently ranked as one of the greatest weaknesses of mechanical engineering hires in surveys of industrial employers over the last few decades. Without radically changing departmental curriculum to include more emphasis on design-build projects, one solution to combat this is to incubate a lab course in mechanical engineering programs in which undergraduates would practice …


The Analysis Of Mechanical Exfoliation Of Graphene For Various Fabrication And Automation Techniques, Lance Yarbrough May 2024

The Analysis Of Mechanical Exfoliation Of Graphene For Various Fabrication And Automation Techniques, Lance Yarbrough

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mechanical Exfoliation of Graphene is an often-overlooked portion of the fabrication of quantum devices, and to create more devices quickly, optimizing this process to generate better flakes is critical. In addition, it would be valuable to simulate test pulls quickly, to gain insight on flake quality of various materials and exfoliation conditions. Physical pulls of graphene at various temperatures, pull forces, and pull repetitions were analyzed and compared to the results of ANSYS simulations, solved for similar results. Using ANSYS’ ability to predict trends in exfoliations, flake thickness and coverage using stress and deflection analyses were investigated. Generally, both strongly …


Decoding Usage And Adoption Behavior Of The Low-Carbon Transportation Market: An Ai-Driven Exploration, Vuban Chowdhury Dec 2023

Decoding Usage And Adoption Behavior Of The Low-Carbon Transportation Market: An Ai-Driven Exploration, Vuban Chowdhury

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The transportation sector stands as a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, with its environmental impact steadily escalating over the past few decades. This has prompted government agencies to facilitate the adoption and usage of low-carbon transportation (LCT) options as alternatives to fossil-fuel-powered transportation. LCTs include modes of transportation that minimize the overall carbon footprint of the transportation sector by relying on energy sources that are environmentally sustainable. These sustainable transportation options have also garnered significant interest in the transportation research community. For government agencies and researchers alike, a comprehensive understanding of the adoption and usage …


Determining The Effect Of The Presence Of Food Deserts On The Number Of Crashes In Census Tracts In Arkansas, Lizbeth Juarez-Bartolo Dec 2023

Determining The Effect Of The Presence Of Food Deserts On The Number Of Crashes In Census Tracts In Arkansas, Lizbeth Juarez-Bartolo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Food deserts, areas with limited access to grocery stores which sell fresh produce, dairy, and meats, are a growing concern in many communities. The presence of a food desert is known to cause great impacts on the physical health of the people residing within them, but there is little to no research on a food desert’s influence on the traffic safety of the location in which it encompasses. Based on previous studies into food deserts, studies suggest that food inaccessibility is mostly felt by rural residents. Since rural residents must travel farther distances on more hazardous rural roadways to access …


Capabilities Of Sintered Silver As A High Temperature Packaging Material, Bakhtiyar Mohammad Nafis Dec 2023

Capabilities Of Sintered Silver As A High Temperature Packaging Material, Bakhtiyar Mohammad Nafis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With electrification progressing across many sectors including industry, automotive and aerospace, the power density requirements are changing. The increased power density results in higher and higher ambient temperatures that electronics are exposed to. The response has been to move towards wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices that can withstand much greater temperatures and can operate at much higher voltages than silicon. Additionally, these WBG devices deliver low drain-source on resistance (RDS_on) capabilities, enabling high current power modules that increase power density even further. This also requires the packaging to evolve in order to withstand the new requirements. As a result, researchers …


Reliability Modeling And Improvement Of Critical Infrastructures: Theory, Simulation, And Computational Methods, José Carlos Hernández Azucena Dec 2023

Reliability Modeling And Improvement Of Critical Infrastructures: Theory, Simulation, And Computational Methods, José Carlos Hernández Azucena

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a framework for developing data-driven tools to model and improve the performance of Interconnected Critical Infrastructures (ICIs) in multiple contexts. The importance of ICIs for daily human activities and the large volumes of data in continuous generation in modern industries grant relevance to research efforts in this direction. Chapter 2 focuses on the impact of disruptions in Multimodal Transportation Networks, which I explored from an application perspective. The outlined research directions propose exploring the combination of simulation for decision-making with data-driven optimization paradigms to create tools that may provide stakeholders with optimal policies for a wide array …


Self-Consolidating Concrete Design For Drilled Shaft Structural Applications, Grady S. Caton Dec 2023

Self-Consolidating Concrete Design For Drilled Shaft Structural Applications, Grady S. Caton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is a relatively new concrete technology which allows the concrete to be placed without the need for manual or machine vibration. This innovation reduces labor costs, construction times, and can provide a smooth, finished surface. However, this technology is used in the United States primarily in the precast and prestressed concrete industry. The utility of SCC in structural applications, such as areas of dense reinforcement or locations where complex geometry makes consolidation impossible, is also advantageous. In this study, a series of SCC mixtures were developed both with and without fly ash replacement. These mixtures were then …


Comparing In-Situ Liquefaction Triggering Procedures For Sites In Arkansas, Sagar Barua Dec 2023

Comparing In-Situ Liquefaction Triggering Procedures For Sites In Arkansas, Sagar Barua

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There currently exists a significant amount of uncertainty when designing piles for bridge foundations in liquefiable soil. Currently ARDOT engineers use a Standard Penetration Test (SPT) based liquefaction spreadsheet developed 10 years ago to evaluate liquefaction triggering. Since this spreadsheet was developed, updates to the liquefaction triggering procedures have been published making the spreadsheet out-of-date. Moreover, additional methods of liquefaction evaluation using cone penetration test (CPT) and shear wave velocity (Vs) provide added means of evaluating liquefaction potential. This thesis updates ARDOT's liquefaction triggering evaluation methodology with the newest procedures and incorporates additional empirical liquefaction hazard estimates such as the …


Development Of A Prototype Satellite-Tracking Telescope For Ground-Based Spectroscopy, Charles Smith Dec 2023

Development Of A Prototype Satellite-Tracking Telescope For Ground-Based Spectroscopy, Charles Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Spectroscopy is the practice of determining the chemical composition of a gas through analyzing the light that is filtered by the gas. Spectroscopy is commonly used by astronomers to deduce the atmospheric composition of planets. This process is done by initially measuring the spectrum of light from the star that the planet orbits, and then measuring it again once the planet is in between the observer and the star. The spectrum light that is filtered out is dependent on the chemical composition of the gas, and so this information can be used to determine the chemical composition of the atmosphere …


Characterization Of Highly Doped N-Type And P-Type Silicon Carbide Ohmic Contacts, Tanner Rice Dec 2023

Characterization Of Highly Doped N-Type And P-Type Silicon Carbide Ohmic Contacts, Tanner Rice

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon Carbide (SiC) is a rather new material that possesses unparalleled properties when compared to Silicon. Due to its larger band gap alongside other thermal properties, SiC can survive in hotter, more radiation intensive environments, whether that be within the crust of the earth or in the reaches of space. As a desirable semiconductor for these applications, CMOS is an especially important device due to its low power consumption. However, creating a good contact between the metal and semiconductor optimally requires two different metals for the n -type and the p-type semiconductor. This greatly increases the processing time, as separate …


Deep Learning Frameworks For Accelerated Magnetic Resonance Image Reconstruction Without Ground Truths, Ibsa Kumara Jalata Dec 2023

Deep Learning Frameworks For Accelerated Magnetic Resonance Image Reconstruction Without Ground Truths, Ibsa Kumara Jalata

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is typically a slow process because of its sequential data acquisition. To speed up this process, MR acquisition is often accelerated by undersampling k-space signals and solving an ill-posed problem through a constrained optimization process. Image reconstruction from under-sampled data is posed as an inverse problem in traditional model-based learning paradigms. While traditional methods use image priors as constraints, modern deep learning methods use supervised learning with ground truth images to learn image features and priors. However, in some cases, ground truth images are not available, making supervised learning impractical. Recent data-centric learning frameworks such as …


Testing And Implementation Of Attitude Determination & Control System For Arksat-1 Cubesatellite, Cassandra Sands Dec 2023

Testing And Implementation Of Attitude Determination & Control System For Arksat-1 Cubesatellite, Cassandra Sands

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ARKSAT-1 is a CubeSatellite (CubeSat) developed at the University of Arkansas and launched to the International Space Station on SpaceX mission SPX-27 launching from Kennedy Space Center as part of the NASA’s 8th CubeSat Launch Initiative CSLI-8. ARKSAT-1’s payload features a high-powered LED, the Solid State Inflatable Balloon (SSIB) deorbiting system applicable to small satellites, and a series of InfraRed and Visible cameras. To point the LED or take images of desired observational targets, the spacecraft will need to be able to determine its orientation within its orbit, as well as rotate. This will be achieved through the use of …


Development Of Lignin-Based Copolymers And Polymer Blends, David Chem Dec 2023

Development Of Lignin-Based Copolymers And Polymer Blends, David Chem

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing industrial interest in reducing fossil fuels in virgin polymer production and incorporating bio-based polymeric materials has led researchers to explore the potential of utilizing plant-based polymers such as lignin. Chapter 1 of this thesis presents a comprehensive overview of copolymerization and blending techniques for lignin and synthetic polymers, emphasizing different types of modifications and copolymerization techniques as well as key parameters such as temperature, reaction time, pH level, and solution compositions. These valorization methods are directed towards the development of high-value lignin-based materials with properties well-suited for various commercial applications. Chapter 2 offers a fundamental exploration into the amination …


Towards Multi-Modal Interpretable Video Understanding, Quang Sang Truong Dec 2023

Towards Multi-Modal Interpretable Video Understanding, Quang Sang Truong

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis introduces an innovative approach to video comprehension, which simulates human perceptual mechanisms and establishes a comprehensible and coherent narrative representation of video content. At the core of this approach lies the creation of a Visual-Linguistic (VL) feature for an interpretable video portrayal and an adaptive attention mechanism (AAM) aimed at concentrating solely on principal actors or pertinent objects while modeling their interconnections. Taking cues from the way humans disassemble scenes into visual and non-visual constituents, the proposed VL feature characterizes a scene via three distinct modalities: (i) a global visual environment, providing a broad contextual comprehension of the …


Ism-Band Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Node, Fnu Naveed Dec 2023

Ism-Band Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Node, Fnu Naveed

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the interest in remote wireless sensor networks has grown significantly, particularly with the rapid advancements in Internet of Things (IoT) technology. These networks find diverse applications, from inventory tracking to environmental monitoring. In remote areas where grid access is unavailable, wireless sensors are commonly powered by batteries, which imposes a constraint on their lifespan. However, with the emergence of wireless energy harvesting technologies, there is a transformative potential in addressing the power challenges faced by these sensors. By harnessing energy from the surrounding environment, such as solar, thermal, vibrational, or RF sources, these sensors can potentially operate …


Representativeness Evaluation Of Delta-Flux Eddy Covariance Towers For Assessing Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Rice Fields In The Mid-South Region, Katherine Skiles Dec 2023

Representativeness Evaluation Of Delta-Flux Eddy Covariance Towers For Assessing Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Rice Fields In The Mid-South Region, Katherine Skiles

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Rice grown in 5 states across the Mid-South (AR, LA, MS, TX, and MO) account for nearly 80% of all domestic U.S. rice production. Methane emissions produced during rice farming and the large seasonal water demand to maintain flooded fields have created a need for alternative irrigation research that can reduce methane emissions and conserve water. Structures called eddy covariance towers (ECTs) can observe methane and other flux responses to changing irrigation styles, and their data is shared across flux tower networks such as Delta-Flux in the Mid-South. The Delta-Flux network is relatively new, and its data-sharing capacity is not …


Thermal Resistance Characterization Of High-Voltage Sic Power Module, Landon Lemmons Dec 2023

Thermal Resistance Characterization Of High-Voltage Sic Power Module, Landon Lemmons

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Researchers within the University of Arkansas Electrical Engineering Research Department have embarked on a project aimed at enhancing the thermal performance of high-voltage power modules. To aid in the progress of this project, the design, and development of a thermal tester device are needed. The primary objective of this device is to determine the various thermal properties of high-voltage power modules that the electrical engineering department has developed. Additionally, the project aims to facilitate electrical loading tests on power modules and provide researchers with the means to calibrate the power module in terms of thermal load. This project also possesses …


Trojan Detection Expansion Of Structural Checking, Zachary Chapman Dec 2023

Trojan Detection Expansion Of Structural Checking, Zachary Chapman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the growth of the integrated circuit (IC) market, there has also been a rise in demand for third-party soft intellectual properties (IPs). However, the growing use of such Ips makes it easier for adversaries to hide malicious code, like hardware Trojans, into these designs. Unlike software Trojan detection, hardware Trojan detection is still an active research area. One proposed approach to this problem is the Structural Checking tool, which can detect hardware Trojans using two methodologies. The first method is a matching process, which takes an unknown design and attempts to determine if it might contain a Trojan by …


Cybersecurity In Critical Infrastructure Systems: Emulated Protection Relay, Mitchell Bylak Dec 2023

Cybersecurity In Critical Infrastructure Systems: Emulated Protection Relay, Mitchell Bylak

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cyber-attacks on Critical Systems Infrastructure have been steadily increasing across the world as the capabilities of and reliance on technology have grown throughout the 21st century, and despite the influx of new cybersecurity practices and technologies, the industry faces challenges in its cooperation between the government that regulates law practices and the private sector that owns and operates critical infrastructure and security, which has directly led to an absence of eas- ily accessible information and learning resources on cybersecurity for use in public environments and educational settings. This honors research thesis addresses these challenges by submitting the development of an …


Modeling And Control Strategies For A Two-Wheel Balancing Mobile Robot, John Alan Moritz Oct 2023

Modeling And Control Strategies For A Two-Wheel Balancing Mobile Robot, John Alan Moritz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The problem of balancing and autonomously navigating a two-wheel mobile robot is an increasingly active area of research, due to its potential applications in last-mile delivery, pedestrian transportation, warehouse automation, parts supply, agriculture, surveillance, and monitoring. This thesis investigates the design and control of a two-wheel balancing mobile robot using three different control strategies: Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers, Sliding Mode Control, and Deep Q-Learning methodology. The mobile robot is modeled using a dynamic and kinematic model, and its motion is simulated in a custom MATLAB/Simulink environment. The first part of the thesis focuses on developing a dynamic and kinematic …


Machine Tool Communication (Mtcomm) Method And Its Applications In A Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Cloud, S M Nahian Al Sunny Oct 2023

Machine Tool Communication (Mtcomm) Method And Its Applications In A Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Cloud, S M Nahian Al Sunny

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The integration of cyber-physical systems and cloud manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize existing manufacturing systems by enabling better accessibility, agility, and efficiency. To achieve this, it is necessary to establish a communication method of manufacturing services over the Internet to access and manage physical machines from cloud applications. Most of the existing industrial automation protocols utilize Ethernet based Local Area Network (LAN) and are not designed specifically for Internet enabled data transmission. Recently MTConnect has been gaining popularity as a standard for monitoring status of machine tools through RESTful web services and an XML based messaging structure, but it …


A Real-Time Anpc Inverter Digital Twin With Integrated Design-For-Trust, Paulo Vitor Do Amaral Custodio Sep 2023

A Real-Time Anpc Inverter Digital Twin With Integrated Design-For-Trust, Paulo Vitor Do Amaral Custodio

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The demand for renewable energy has increased over the last few years, and so has the demand for greater expectations within the energy market. This increasing trend has been accompanied by more significant usage of internet-connected devices (IoT), leading to critical electrical infrastructure being connected to the internet. Implementing internet connectivity with such devices and systems provides benefits such as improving the system's performance, facilitating irregularity and anomaly mitigation, and providing additional situational awareness for enhanced decision-making. However, enhancing the connected system with IoT introduces a drawback – a greater vulnerability to cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks targeting critical infrastructure in the electrical …


Chip- And System-Level Reliability On Sic-Based Power Modules, Pengyu Lai Sep 2023

Chip- And System-Level Reliability On Sic-Based Power Modules, Pengyu Lai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The blocking voltage, switching frequency and temperature tolerance of power devices have been greatly improved due to the revolution of wide bandgap (WBG) materials, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN). Owing to the development of SiC-based power devices, the power rating, operating voltage, and power density of power modules have been significantly improved. However, the reliability of SiC-based power modules has not been fully explored yet. Thus, this dissertation focuses on the chip- and system-level reliability on SiC-based power modules. For chip-level reliability, this work focuses on on-chip SiC ESD protection devices for SiC-based integrated circuits (ICs). …


Partial Discharge Mitigation In Power Modules Using An Automation-Driven Design Rule Development Method, Shilpi Mukherjee Sep 2023

Partial Discharge Mitigation In Power Modules Using An Automation-Driven Design Rule Development Method, Shilpi Mukherjee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Power modules used for the conversion and conditioning of electrical power for applications like electric vehicles, more-electric aircraft, the power grid, etc., are largely designed manually by engineers. Design automation of power modules is starting to gain recognition as a timely and necessary alternative to intuitive manual design and fabrication. With increasing need for wide bandgap materials that can operate at higher voltages, and the need to make modules more compact, hazards like electrical breakdown are more likely. Partial discharge (PD) is a silent and invisible precursor to electrical breakdown. It is compounded with compaction, creating a potential for electrical …


Treating High Salinity Produced Water Using Hybrid Membrane Processes: Electrocoagulation-Microfiltration/Ultrafiltration-Membrane Distillation-Crystallization, Mahmood Gheni Jebur Sep 2023

Treating High Salinity Produced Water Using Hybrid Membrane Processes: Electrocoagulation-Microfiltration/Ultrafiltration-Membrane Distillation-Crystallization, Mahmood Gheni Jebur

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Produced water (PW) is considered the largest industrial wastewater stream in the world. PW generated from oil and gas operations generally contains a range of contaminants including high total dissolved solids, high total suspended solids, polar and nonpolar organic compounds, and low surface tension dissolved species. Treating PW is very challenging and applying only membrane-based technologies is not sufficient due to membrane fouling, which affects their long-term performance. Hence, integrated membrane processes are required to treat PW effectively. Hybrid membrane processes, which may result from combining a conventional process with a membrane separation, could be used to address the issues …


Investigation Of The Flow Field In The Jack Rabbit Ii Mock Urban Environment Field Tests Using A 1:50 Scale Wind Tunnel Model, Paulo Victor De Freitas Lopes Aug 2023

Investigation Of The Flow Field In The Jack Rabbit Ii Mock Urban Environment Field Tests Using A 1:50 Scale Wind Tunnel Model, Paulo Victor De Freitas Lopes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Accidental release of toxic chemicals can put workers and nearby populations at significant risk. Consequence assessment of accidents in urban environments is of particular interest. Urban geometries create wind channels between buildings, along with particularly dangerous areas downwind of buildings, where near-stagnant flow is present. Furthermore, recirculation zones can be formed between buildings, trapping high concentrations of toxic gases at ground level, particularly for denser-than-air gases. In 2015, the Department of Homeland Security conducted the Jack Rabbit II Field Test (JR-II) at Dugway Proving Ground, UT. During JR-II, chlorine was released at the center of a Mock Urban Environment (MUE) …


Verification Of Astm Centrifugation Equations For Soil Suction Determination, Esteban Maclein Miranda Pinzon Aug 2023

Verification Of Astm Centrifugation Equations For Soil Suction Determination, Esteban Maclein Miranda Pinzon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The unit correction constant (B) in the ASTM D6836 standard needs to be evaluated. The B-value was proposed to be 0.00548 instead of 0.00553. This apparent discrepancy led to an investigation comparing the predicted and measured suction values for high air entry (HAE) ceramic disks. A Beckman-Coulter Model J6-MI six-bay centrifuge and a WP4C Dewpoint Potentiameter were used in the testing program. HAE ceramic disks rated with bubbling pressures of 3-bar and 5-bar were used as analogue soil specimens. The HAE ceramic disks were spun in the small-scale centrifuge to apply prescribed suction amounts and then placed in the WP4C …


Alkali Silica Reaction Mitigation Using Glycerin, Ana Laura Errigo Chanis Aug 2023

Alkali Silica Reaction Mitigation Using Glycerin, Ana Laura Errigo Chanis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of glycerin as a concrete additive to reduce alkali silica reaction (ASR), was evaluated and is presented in this study. Specifically, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) ultra-accelerated alkali silica reaction testing procedure by means of autoclaving was employed to examine the use of glycerin for ASR mitigation or reduction by analyzing mortar bar expansion data. The fine aggregates used in this investigation consisted of highly reactive Jobe Sand or Los Lunas Sand with an autoclave expansion of 0.5 and 0.4 percent, respectively. The laboratory investigation was performed by recording the amount of expansion of the …


Wind Tunnel Modeling Of The Jack Rabbit Ii Mock Urban Environment Chlorine Releases Based On Comparison With Field Scale Video Record, Samuel Gallimore Aug 2023

Wind Tunnel Modeling Of The Jack Rabbit Ii Mock Urban Environment Chlorine Releases Based On Comparison With Field Scale Video Record, Samuel Gallimore

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unintentional releases of hazardous gases have led to significant injuries and fatalities in severe cases. Field tests can be used to release hazardous gases to document and evaluate the behavior of the gases. Chlorine is an especially hazardous gas due to its toxicity. The Jack Rabbit II Phase I field tests released chlorine within a mock urban environment (MUE) consisting of Conex containers arranged in rows to simulate buildings and streets. The number of field tests is limited by both expense and time. Simulation of a field test using a wind tunnel model can provide additional data and opportunity for …