Engineering Commons^™

Mechanistic Modeling Of Nanoparticle-Stabilized Supercritical Co2 Foams And Its Implication In Field-Scale Eor Applications, Doris Patricia Ortiz Maestre

LSU Master's Theses

Previous experimental studies show that nanoparticle-stabilized supercritical CO₂ foams (or, NP CO₂ foams) can be applied as an alternative to surfactant foams, in order to reduce CO₂ mobility in gas injection enhanced oil recovery (EOR). These nanoparticles, if chosen correctly, can be an effective foam stabilizer attached at the fluid interface in a wide range of physicochemical conditions.

By using NP CO₂ foam experiments available in the literature, this study performs two tasks: (i) presenting how a mechanistic foam model can be used to fit experimental data and determine required model parameters, and (ii) investigating the …

Discovery Canada Films At Water Lab | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Production crews for Discovery Canada were at the Utah Water Research Lab on Wednesday producing an upcoming TV special about the Oroville Dam spillway model.

Simplified Models Of Fault Effects On Unitary Air-Conditioning Equipment For Use In Building Simulation Tools, David Yuill, Mehdi Mehrabi

David Yuill

Wing Deflection Analysis Of 3d Printed Wind Tunnel Models, Matthew G. Paul

Master's Theses

This work investigates the feasibility of producing small scale, low aerodynamic loading wind tunnel models, using FDM 3D printing methods, that are both structurally and aerodynamically representative in the wind tunnel. To verify the applicability of this approach, a 2.07% scale model of the NASA CRM was produced, whose wings were manufacturing using a Finite Deposition Modeling 3D printer. Experimental data was compared to numerical simulations to determine percent difference in wake distribution and wingtip deflection for multiple configurations.

Numerical simulation data taken in the form of CFD and FEA was used to validate data taken in the wind tunnel …

Perception Of 3d Symmetrical And Near-Symmetrical Shapes, Vijai Jayadevan, Aaron Michaux, Edward Delp, Zygmunt Pizlo

MODVIS Workshop

No abstract provided.

Protein-Specific Empirical Model Of Protein Adsorption On Surfaces, Dan Nicolau

Single-use Technologies II: Bridging Polymer Science to Biotechnology Applications

Predicting protein adsorption from solution to a surface is an important problem in biomedicine and related fields. Despite constant attention in the literature, it is not currently possible to predict quantitatively the amount of adsorbed protein given environment, protein and surface parameters. We present a purely empirical approach to predict protein adsorption using a linearly piecewise model with breakpoint, based on progress in the understanding and quantification of physico-chemical properties on protein molecular surfaces. This model is capable of accounting for over 90% of the variance in the data, despite the fact that the adsorption data spans over three orders …

An Optimization Method For Matched Abundance-Ratio Cascades By Varying The Key Weight, Richard Dale Harvey

Doctoral Dissertations

The theory of multicomponent isotope separation in matched abundance-ratio cascades (MARC) has been well established by Cohen, de la Garza, von Halle, and others. Because separation factors of different isotopes vary in the same separator, isotopic weight fractions cannot be matched in the same sense as in a two-component ideal system. Therefore, the abundance ratios of the desired isotope and a selected key isotope are matched, hence the name. These ratios are matched by choosing a key weight between the two selected components of separation.

Desirable stable isotopes for separation can exist as minor components of a natural, multicomponent isotope …

Segmental Kinematic Analysis Of Planovalgus Feet During Walking In Children With Cerebral Palsy, Karen M. Kruger, Katherine A. Konop, Joseph Krzak, Adam Graf, Haluk Altiok, Peter A. Smith, Gerald F. Harris

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Pes planovalgus (flatfoot) is a common deformity among children with cerebral palsy. The Milwaukee Foot Model (MFM), a multi-segmental kinematic foot model, which uses radiography to align the underlying bony anatomy with reflective surface markers, was used to evaluate 20 pediatric participants (30 feet) with planovalgus secondary to cerebral palsy prior to surgery. Three-dimensional kinematics of the tibia, hindfoot, forefoot, and hallux segments are reported and compared to an age-matched control set of typically-developing children. Most results were consistent with known characteristics of the deformity and showed decreased plantar flexion of the forefoot relative to hindfoot, increased forefoot abduction, and …

Cloud-Based Analytic Element Groundwater Modeling, Jacob Baird Fullerton

Theses and Dissertations

Managing groundwater resources requires computer modeling software, which in turn brings its own costs in education and usage fees. Although many groundwater modeling programs can be obtained at relatively inexpensive rates the hidden costs of software training remain high in general. What has been done is to make both the software and training available online for free, but this method delegates all responsibility to the users for both accessing the software in addition to learning how to use it properly. In this research the accessibility of groundwater models has been improved upon by creating a web app of an open …

Embrace The Unknown: Stop Saying “It’S Too Hard” And Start Embracing Uncertainty In Your Mine Plans, C. Roos

Mining Engineering

Nearly every input to a mine plan is based on an estimate. The estimates may be from sample data, historical information, models, or personal opinion, but in all cases, these values are simply expected values (means). In real life, we do not get to iterate the exact conditions at our mining operation many times to ensure that that average value is attained. The expected value also tells us nothing about the spread of values that that input might take on. The result is a significant amount of unquantified uncertainty in our mine plans. Unfortunately, it is often too expensive or …

Optimal Control Based Stiffness Identification Of An Ankle-Foot Orthosis Using A Predictive Walking Model, Manish Sreenivasa, Matthew Millard, Martin Felis, Katja Mombaur, Sebastian I. Wolf

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Predicting the movements, ground reaction forces and neuromuscular activity during gait can be a valuable asset to the clinical rehabilitation community, both to understand pathology, as well as to plan effective intervention. In this work we use an optimal control method to generate predictive simulations of pathological gait in the sagittal plane. We construct a patient-specific model corresponding to a 7-year old child with gait abnormalities and identify the optimal spring characteristics of an ankle-foot orthosis that minimizes muscle effort. Our simulations include the computation of foot-ground reaction forces, as well as the neuromuscular dynamics using computationally efficient muscle torque …

A Dynamic Behavioural Traffic Assignment Model With Strategic Agents, Johan Barthelemy, Timoteo Carletti

SMART Infrastructure Facility - Papers

Foresee traffic conditions and demand is a major issue nowadays that is very often approached using simulation tools. The aim of this work is to propose an innovative strategy to tackle such problem, relying on the presentation and analysis of a behavioural dynamic traffic assignment. The proposal relies on the assumption that travellers take routing policies rather than paths, leading us to introduce the possibility for each simulated agent to apply, in real time, a strategy allowing him to possibly re-route his path depending on the perceived local traffic conditions, jam and/or time already spent in his journey. The re-routing …

Development Of A Dynamic Model For A Hybrid Photovoltaic Thermal Collector - Solar Air Heater With Fins, Wenke Fan, Georgios Kokogiannakis, Zhenjun Ma, Paul Cooper

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

A dynamic model for a hybrid Photovoltaic Thermal Collector-Solar Air Heater (PVT-SAH) with longitudinal fins was developed to enable assessment of the potential of the system to provide high temperature outlet air (60-90 °C) under dynamic boundary conditions. The model description includes the method for discretising the system into a number of control volumes, the energy balance equations for each control volume and the implementation of the numerical solution. Model validation has been successfully undertaken by using empirical verification of model predictions with an experimental facility and by comparing the model outputs with the reference data from the literature. The …

Statistical Shape Model Generation Using Diffeomorphic Surface Registration, Jiaqi Wu, Guangxu Li, Huimin Lu, Hyoung Kim, Philip O. Ogunbona

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Statistical shape modelling is an efficient and robust method for medical image segmentation in computer-aided diagnosis. The key step in building a statistical shape model is to find corresponding landmarks in each instance of a training set. In this paper, a novel landmark correspondence estimation method that uses edge collapse surface simplification and the sphere registration is proposed. All the landmarks are selected and transformed by spherical conformal mapping from the instances of the training set and the associated correspondence are automatically found on the spheres. We applied our method on 21 cases of 3-D right lung shapes. The results …

Hybrid Model Predictive Control Of A Residential Hvac System With On-Site Thermal Energy Generation And Storage, Massimo Fiorentini, Josh Wall, Zhenjun Ma, Julio H. Braslavsky, Paul Cooper

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper describes the development, implementation and experimental investigation of a Hybrid Model Predictive Control (HMPC) strategy to control solar-assisted heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems with on-site thermal energy generation and storage. A comprehensive approach to the thermal energy management of a residential building is presented to optimise the scheduling of the available thermal energy resources to meet a comfort objective. The system has a hybrid nature with both continuous variables and discrete, logic-driven operating modes. The proposed control strategy is organized in two hierarchical levels. At the high-level, an HMPC controller with a 24-h prediction horizon and a …

Model-Based Optimization Of Ground Source Heat Pump Systems, Zhenjun Ma, Lei Xia

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper presents the development of an optimization strategy for ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems equipped with variable speed pumps in the ground loop system. The optimization problem is formulated using a model-based approach, in which the component models are used to estimate the system performance under various trial settings and an exhaustive search method is used to identify the optimal settings under the search ranges defined. The variable optimized is the outlet water temperature from the ground heat exchangers, which can be used as a set-point to control the operation of the variable speed pumps in the ground …

Railnet: A Simulation Model For Operational Planning Of Rail Freight, Guillaume Michal, Nam N. Huynh, Nagesh Shukla, Albert Munoz, Johan Barthelemy

SMART Infrastructure Facility - Papers

In many rail networks, infrastructure constraints force the shared usage of lines between passenger and freight movements. Scheduling additional freight movements around existing passenger services and peak traffic based curfews presents significant challenges to commodity industries eager to increase export volumes. This paper addresses the problem of inserting additional freight movements in a constrained railway network. To this end, a railway operations planning model was developed to simulate and insert feasible rail movements in a non-periodic timetable. The simulation modelling platform developed in this paper is called RailNet, which simulates the existing railway network constraints and is capable of adding …

Aligning Business Strategy With It Strategy From Business Model To Enterprise In Saudi Arabia Public Sector, Abdulaziz Alghazi, Mengxiang Li, Jun Shen, Samuel Fosso Wamba

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Over the last decades researchers seem to have big concerns on the complexity of business-IT alignment with the government organizational strategy goals. The Saudi Arabian (SA) government is one of the world’s governments that has launched the national government strategy for 2030 to all public sectors to enhance performance. This research proposal is aimed at investigating the adoption performance of alignment strategy incorporated by the SA government in order to benefit of IT infrastructure and achieve high performance, quality of service (QoS) and return of investment (ROI). This study will use mixed method design combines both qualitative and quantitative methods …

The Effect Of Imputing Missing Clinical Attribute Values On Training Lung Cancer Survival Prediction Model Performance, Mohamed S. Barakat, Matthew Field, Aditya K. Ghose, David Stirling, Lois C. Holloway, Shalini K. Vinod, Andre Dekker, David Thwaites

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

According to the estimations of the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research in Cancer, lung cancer is the most common cause of death from cancer worldwide. The last few years have witnessed a rise in the attention given to the use of clinical decision support systems in medicine generally and in cancer in particular. These can predict patients' likelihood of survival based on analysis of and learning from previously treated patients. The datasets that are mined for developing clinical decision support functionality are often incomplete, which adversely impacts the quality of the models developed and the decision …

Motion Optimization And Parameter Identification For A Human And Lower Back Exoskeleton Model, Paul Manns, Manish Sreenivasa, Matthew Millard, Katja Mombaur

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Designing an exoskeleton to reduce the risk of low-back injury during lifting is challenging. Computational models of the human-robot system coupled with predictive movement simulations can help to simplify this design process. Here, we present a study that models the interaction between a human model actuated by muscles and a lower back exoskeleton. We provide a computational framework for identifying the spring parameters of the exoskeleton using an optimal control approach and forward-dynamics simulations. This is applied to generate dynamically consistent bending and lifting movements in the sagittal plane. Our computations are able to predict motions and forces of the …

Patients' Acceptance Of Smartphone Health Technology For Chronic Disease Management: A Theoretical Model And Empirical Test, Kaili Dou, Ping Yu, Ning Deng, Fang Liu, Yingping Guan, Zhenye Li, Yumeng Ji, Ningkai Du, Xudong Lu, Huilong Duan

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Nonlinear Model For The Prediction Of Response Times Of Glucose Affinity Sensors Using Concanavalin A And Dextran And The Development Of A Differential Osmotic Glucose Affinity Sensor, Louis G. Reis

Doctoral Dissertations

With the increasing prevalence of diabetes in the United States and worldwide, blood glucose monitoring must be accurate and reliable. Current enzymatic sensors have numerous disadvantages that make them unreliable and unfavorable among patients. Recent research in glucose affinity sensors correct some of the problems that enzymatic sensors experience. Dextran and concanavalin A are two of the more common components used in glucose affinity sensors. When these sensors were first explored, a model was derived to predict the response time of a glucose affinity sensor using concanavalin A and dextran. However, the model assumed the system was linear and fell …

Fuel Consumption Models For Tractor Test Reports, Michael F. Kocher, Bryan J. Smith, Roger M. Hoy, Jeffrey C. Woldstad, Santosh Pitla

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Five models for estimating fuel consumption for agricultural tractors with partial drawbar loads were compared. Data were collected from eight John Deere tractors, JD 7230R (e23), 7250R (e23), 7270R (e23), 7290R (e23), 8320R (16 speed), 7290R (IVT), 8345RT (IVT), 8370R (IVT), on the drawbar test track at the Nebraska Tractor Test Lab. The tractors were tested with seven load levels per speed at three different travel speeds as close as possible to 7.5, 10, and 13 km h-1. The IVT tractors were operated in auto mode, and the geared tractors were shifted up three gears and throttled back to the …

Unsteady Flow Simulations To Develop Model Scale Discharge Hydrographs For The Expanded Small Scale Physical Model Of The Mississippi River, Ronald Joseph Rodi

LSU Master's Theses

Small-scale HEC-RAS models were used to analyze discharges used to test the Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Coastal Protection & Restoration Authority Expanded Small Scale Physical Model (ESSPM) of the Mississippi River. The HEC-RAS models extend from River Mile 228.4 (Baton Rouge) to the Gulf of Mexico that includes the ESSPM reach which begins at River Mile 173.5 (Donaldsonville). The model scales are 1:6000 horizontally and 1:400 vertically. Using the historic river discharges from 2008 through 2015, the small-scale numerical models proved capable of replicating observed stages along eleven sites of the lower Mississippi River within the targets of …