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

Engineering Commons

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

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Numerical Simulation Of Underground Solar Thermal Energy Storage, Marshall Sweet Dec 2010

Numerical Simulation Of Underground Solar Thermal Energy Storage, Marshall Sweet

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Department of Energy indicates that 97% of all homes in the US use fossil fuels either directly or indirectly for space heating. In 2005, space heating in residential homes was responsible for releasing approximately 502 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the Sun provides the Earth with 1000 watts per square meter of power everyday. This document discusses the research of modeling a system that will capture and store solar energy during the summer for use during the following winter. Specifically, flat plate solar thermal collectors attached to the roof of a single …


Modeling And Simulation Of Autonomous Thermal Soaring With Horizon Simulation Framework, Zhenhua Li Dec 2010

Modeling And Simulation Of Autonomous Thermal Soaring With Horizon Simulation Framework, Zhenhua Li

Master's Theses

A thermal is a column of warm rising air triggered by differential heating on the ground. In recent studies UAVs were programmed to exploit this free atmospheric energy from thermals to improve their range and endurance. Researchers had successfully flown UAVs autonomously with thermal soaring method. Most research involved some form of flight simulation. Improvements to the aircraft and thermal models for simulation purpose would enable researchers to better design their UAVs and explore any potential flaws in their designs. An aircraft simulation with a thermal environment was created in Horizon Simulation Framework, a modeling and verification framework that was …


An Empirical Model Of Thermal Updrafts Using Data Obtained From A Manned Glider, Christopher E. Childress May 2010

An Empirical Model Of Thermal Updrafts Using Data Obtained From A Manned Glider, Christopher E. Childress

Masters Theses

Various methods have been used, including airborne radars, LIDAR, observation of flying birds, towers, tethered balloons, and aircraft to gain both a qualitative and quantitative representation of how heat and moisture are transported to higher altitudes and grow the boundary or mixing layer by thermal updrafts. This paper builds upon that research using an instrumented glider to determine the structure and build a mathematical model of thermals in a desert environment. During these flights, it was discovered that the traditional view of a thermal as a singular rising plume of air did not sufficiently explain what was being observed, but …