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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Optimal Sampling Paths For Autonomous Vehicles In Uncertain Ocean Flows, Andrew J. De Stefan Aug 2019

Optimal Sampling Paths For Autonomous Vehicles In Uncertain Ocean Flows, Andrew J. De Stefan

Dissertations

Despite an extensive history of oceanic observation, researchers have only begun to build a complete picture of oceanic currents. Sparsity of instrumentation has created the need to maximize the information extracted from every source of data in building this picture. Within the last few decades, autonomous vehicles, or AVs, have been employed as tools to aid in this research initiative. Unmanned and self-propelled, AVs are capable of spending weeks, if not months, exploring and monitoring the oceans. However, the quality of data acquired by these vehicles is highly dependent on the paths along which they collect their observational data. The …


A Decision-Making Framework For Hybrid Resource Recovery Oriented Wastewater Systems, Nader Rezaei Jun 2019

A Decision-Making Framework For Hybrid Resource Recovery Oriented Wastewater Systems, Nader Rezaei

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water shortage, water contamination, and the emerging challenges in sustainable water resources management (e.g., the likely impacts of climate change and population growth) necessitate adopting a reverse logistics approach, which is the process of moving wastewater from its typical final destination back to the water supply chain for reuse purposes. This practice not only reduces the negative impacts of wastewater on the environment, but also provides an alternative to withdrawal from natural water resources, forming a closed-loop water supply chain. However, the design of such a supply chain requires an appropriate sustainability assessment, which simultaneously accounts for economic, environmental, and …


Two-On-One Pursuit With A Non-Zero Capture Radius, Patrick J. Wasz Mar 2019

Two-On-One Pursuit With A Non-Zero Capture Radius, Patrick J. Wasz

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, we revisit the "Two Cutters and Fugitive Ship" differential game that was addressed by Isaacs, but move away from point capture. We consider a two-on-one pursuit-evasion differential game with simple motion and pursuers endowed with circular capture sets of radius l > 0. The regions in the state space where only one pursuer effects the capture and the region in the state space where both pursuers cooperatively and isochronously capture the evader are characterized, thus solving the Game of Kind. Concerning the Game of Degree, the algorithm for the synthesis of the optimal state feedback strategies of the …


Optimization And Control Of Arrays Of Wave Energy Converters, Jianyang Lyu Jan 2019

Optimization And Control Of Arrays Of Wave Energy Converters, Jianyang Lyu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Wave Energy Converter Array is a practical approach to harvest ocean wave energy. To leverage the potential of the WEC array in terms of energy extraction, it is essential to have a properly designed array configuration and control system. This thesis explores the optimal configuration of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) arrays and their optimal control. The optimization of the WEC array allows both dimensions of individual WECs as well as the array layout to varying. In the first optimization problem, cylindrical buoys are assumed in the array where their radii and drafts are optimization parameters. Genetic Algorithms are used for …