Engineering Commons^™

Intercode Advanced Fuels And Cladding Comparison Using Bison, Frapcon, And Femaxi Fuel Performance Codes, Aaren Rice

Theses and Dissertations

The high density uranium-based fuels are regaining popularity as the current fleet of LWR’s are showing interest in uprating plants to increase accident tolerance and performance. Fuels such as U3Si2, UN, and UC all contain a higher uranium loading and thermal conductivity than that of UO2 making them attractive in combination with an advanced cladding type such as the ceramic SiC cladding. In addition to adding more mass uranium to the core without surpassing current enrichment limits, these advanced fuels and claddings are designed with increased accident tolerance performance in a LOCA type scenario in mind. One of the possible …

Evaluating And Predicting Agricultural Management Effects Under Tile Drainage Using Modified Apsim, Robert W. Malone, N. Huth, P. S. Carberry, Liwang Ma, Thomas C. Kaspar, Douglas L. Karlen, T. Meade, Ramesh S. Kanwar, Philip Heilman

Douglas L Karlen

An accurate and management sensitive simulation model for tile-drained Midwestern soils is needed to optimize the use of agricultural management practices (e.g., winter cover crops) to reduce nitrate leaching without adversely affecting corn yield. Our objectives were to enhance the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) for tile drainage, test the modified model for several management scenarios, and then predict nitrate leaching with and without winter wheat cover crop. Twelve years of data (1990–2001) from northeast Iowa were used for model testing. Management scenarios included continuous corn and corn–soybean rotations with single or split N applications. For 38 of 44 observations, …

Oxidation Process Of H 2 O /Uv For Cod Reduction Of Wastewater From Soybean Tofu Production, Komala Pontas, Abrar Muslim

Makara Journal of Technology

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) reduction of wastewater from soybean tofu production was studied by conducting advanced oxidation process (AOP) using hydrogen peroxide with UV radiation catalysts in a closed cylindrical glass reactor. The hydroxyl radical (*OH) concentration from H2O2 decomposition was modeled, and exponential trends were found for the *OH concentration over radiation time and operation temperature. As a result, it was found that the maximal *OH concentration was 0.209 mol L-1 at 240 minutes and 50 °C. The *OH concentration exponentially increased following rise in operation temperature. The H2O2/UV AOP application reduced COD concentration to approximately 42.41% from 10,545 …

Estimating The Water Quality Condition Of River And Lake Water In The Midwestern United States From Its Spectral Characteristics, Jing Tan

Open Access Dissertations

This study focuses on developing/calibrating remote sensing algorithms for water quality retrieval in Midwestern rivers and lakes. In the first part of this study, the spectral measurements collected using a hand-held spectrometer as well as water quality observations for the Wabash River and its tributary the Tippecanoe River in Indiana were used to develop empirical models for the retrieval of chlorophyll (chl) and total suspended solids (TSS). A method for removing sky and sun glint from field spectra for turbid inland waters was developed and tested. Empirical models were then developed using a subset of the field measurements with the …

Bankfull Geomorphic Relationships And Hec-Ras Assessment In Small Catchments Of The Cumberland Plateau Ecoregion, Ryan Lee Hodges

Masters Theses

There is a great need for state governments to have effective watershed restoration and mitigation efforts to return degraded ecosystems to a stable, healthy condition. Given the growing investment in stream restoration efforts, there is an urgent need for tools to assess and improve the effectiveness of restoration efforts at local, state, and nationwide scales. In 2000 there was less than ten stream restoration permits provided by the state of Tennessee and has increased each year with almost forty permits issued in 2013. To better achieve successful stream restoration, appropriate channel designs must be used that reflect the hydraulic conditions …

Monitoring And Modeling The Hydrological Performance Of Extensive Green Roof Systems, Joseph Seidl

Theses and Dissertations

Urban stormwater runoff causes many problems for watersheds located within large metropolitan areas, including such detrimental effects as flooding, erosion, pollution, and the increased risk of combined sewerage overflows. Increased amounts of impervious areas resulting from urban sprawl have also been shown to escalate stormwater flows, which exacerbates water management issues in these metropolitan areas. Water resource engineers have progressively turned toward green infrastructure to solve stormwater problems, and green roof systems represent one type of this green infrastructure. As of current, however, green roof systems are largely underused in as an effective stormwater management tool.

The major factor limiting …

Modeling The Feasibility Of Corn Stover Combustion As A Heat Source At Corn Ethanol Plants, Sulekha Tamvada

Theses and Dissertations

Alternative energy sources are of prime interest for most of the nations across the world. Rising fuel prices and depleting petroleum reserves are of serious national and global concern. Bio-fuels if proved feasible for larger scale implementation could become the ideal breakthrough in easing the extensive dependence on fossil fuels and retaining the current engine technology of fossil fuels. Current methods of producing bio-fuels rely heavily on the consumption of non-renewable energy in the production process. Therefore, it is desirable to find renewable alternatives to these non-renewable energy sources.

Although bio-mass based fuels have been tested and proven to be …

Spatial Variation In Fine Sediment And Microbial Transport Along Stream Cross Sections: Implications To Modeling And Monitoring, Thomas Michael Walton

Masters Theses

Spatial variations in suspended concentrations of fine sediment and indicator bacteria in streams is noted as a source of uncertainty in various applications of water quality datasets. Without proper analysis of the persistence and reasoning for this variance in natural systems, a finer resolution of model calibration is necessary to account for spatial variation in stream cross sections. This level of calibration has become of utmost importance due to technological advancements presenting the ability for water quality modeling frameworks to generate a much finer resolution of outputs. While the importance of model calibration has been noted for remediating levels of …

Numerical Simulation And Modeling Of Combustion In Scramjets, Ryan James Clark

Dissertations

In the last fifteen years the development of a viable scramjet has quickly approached the following long term goals: responsive sub-orbital space access; long-range, prompt global strike; and high-speed transportation. Nonetheless, there are significant challenges that need to be resolved. These challenges include high skin friction drag and high heat transfer rates, inherent to vehicles in sustained, hypersonic flight. Another challenge is sustaining combustion. Numerical simulation and modeling was performed to provide insight into reducing skin friction drag and sustaining combustion.

Numerical simulation was used to investigate boundary layer combustion, which has been shown to reduce skin friction drag. The …

Robust Modeling And Predictions Of Greenhouse Gas Fluxes From Forest And Wetland Ecosystems, Khandker S. Ishtiaq

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The land-atmospheric exchanges of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) are major drivers of global warming and climatic changes. The greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes indicate the dynamics and potential storage of carbon in terrestrial and wetland ecosystems. Appropriate modeling and prediction tools can provide a quantitative understanding and valuable insights into the ecosystem carbon dynamics, while aiding the development of engineering and management strategies to limit emissions of GHGs and enhance carbon sequestration. This dissertation focuses on the development of data-analytics tools and engineering models by employing a range of empirical and semi-mechanistic approaches to robustly …

Thermodynamics Of Migration In Polymers: Can Contamination From Materials In Contact Be Predicted, Controlled And Possibly Avoided?, Olivier Vitrac, Phuong Nguyen

Single-Use Technologies: Bridging Polymer Science to Biotechnology Applications

The contamination from materials is coined as “migration” and refers to a combination of various mass transfer mechanisms under thermodynamic control: molecular or mutual diffusion, sorption and desorption phenomena linear with concentration or not. The contamination pathways are particularly complicated when they involve several components or steps and strong interactions between materials and the medium in contact. They have been studied and mathematically described with two possible purposes: i) simplified approaches with a goal of overestimating the real contamination and ii) more sophisticated approaches to optimize the design of polymer materials, packaging materials or to redesign plastic additives with lower …

Stochastic Modeling And Optimization Of Multi-Plant Capacity Planning Problem, Anoop Verma, Nagesh Shukla, S.K Tyagi, Nishikant Mishra

Nagesh Shukla

n this paper the problem of capacity planning under risk from demand and price/cost uncertainty of the finished products is addressed. The deterministic model is extended into a two-stage stochastic model with fixed recourse by means of various expected levels of demand as random. A recourse penalty is also included in the objective for both shortage and surplus in the finished products. The model is analyzed to quantify the risk using Markowitz mean-variance model.

Membrane Biological Reactors: Theory, Modeling, Design, Management And Applications To Wastewater Reuse, Faisal Hai, Kazou Yamamoto, Chung-Hak Lee

Faisal I Hai

Membrane Biological Reactors: Theory, Modeling, Design, Management and Applications to Wastewater Reuse comprehensively covers the salient features and emerging issues associated with the MBR technology. The book provides thorough coverage starting from biological aspects and fundamentals of membranes, via modeling and design concepts, to practitioners’ perspective and good application examples. Membrane Biological Reactors focuses on all the relevant emerging issues raised by including the latest research from renowned experts in the field. It is a valuable reference to the academic and professional community and suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.

Computations And Detailing Of Pressure Vessels Having Unusual Requirements In Design, Anil Patnaik, Ashenafi Hegana, Tirumalai Srivatsan

Anil Patnaik

The provisions of Australian Standard AS 1210-1989 for design and detailing of unfired pressure vessels can be applied to commonly encountered design situations where the shells have small openings. The technique of finite element analysis is a convenient and powerful tool for the purpose of computational stress analysis when the design requirements are such that either the openings are large, or where concentrated loads and/or thermal movements are present. This paper provides a summary of one such practical design of a pressure vessel. While the computational technique using finite element analysis simplifies the stress analysis of pressure vessels considerably, the …

Thermophotovoltaic System Simulation With Realistic Experimental Considerations, Evan L. Schlenker, Zhiguang Zhou, Peter Bermel

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems are a promising type of energy generation method that convert heat into electricity via thermal radiation. TPV has potential to benefit the economy, the energy sector, and the environment by converting waste heat from other power generation methods into electricity. Simulations of these systems can play a key role in designing TPV systems and validating their experimental performance. Current simulation tools can model important aspects of TPV systems fairly accurately, but generally make certain simplifying assumptions that are challenging to reproduce in experiments. Developing a simulation tool that accurately captures thermal emission and reflection in complex, realistic …

In Need Of A Domain-Specific Language Modeling Notation For Smartphone Applications With Portable Capability, Hamza Ghandorh, Luiz Fernando Capretz Dr., Ali Bou Nassif Dr.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The rapid growth of the smartphone market and its increasing revenue has motivated developers to target multiple platforms. Market leaders, such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft, develop their smartphone applications complying with their platform specifications. The specification of each platform makes a platform-dedicated application incompatible with other platforms due to the diversity of operating systems, programming languages, and design patterns. Conventional development methodologies are applied to smartphone applications, yet they perform less well. Smartphone applications have unique hardware and software requirements. All previous factors push smartphone developers to build less sophisticated and low-quality products when targeting multiple smartphone platforms. Model-driven …

Modeling Water Quality For Switchgrass Crop Production: Implications For Bioenergy Sustainability In East Tennessee, Zachariah Tzvi Seiden

Masters Theses

With passing of the US Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, there has been considerable research conducted on the sustainability of bioenergy crop production in the United States; switchgrass has shown particular potential for bioenergy production in East Tennessee. Many studies evaluating the environmental impact switchgrass has on runoff and water quality use the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for watershed modeling. Because SWAT is a lumped watershed model, it evaluates the result of hydrological processes for each hydrologic response unit (HRU), without accounting for the physical interactions between these HRUs. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) …

Interdisciplinary Modeling For Water-Related Issues Graduate Course, Laurel Saito, Alexander Fernald, Timothy Link

All ECSTATIC Materials

The science and management of aquatic ecosystems is inherently interdisciplinary, with issues associated with hydrology, atmospheric science, water quality, geochemistry, sociology, economics, environmental science, and ecology. Addressing water resources issues in any one discipline invariably involves effects that concern other disciplines, and attempts to address one issue often have consequences that exacerbate existing issues or concerns, or create new ones (Jørgensen et al. 1992; Lackey et al. 1975; Straskraba 1994) due to the strongly interactive nature of key processes (Christensen et al. 1996). Thus, research and management of aquatic ecosystems must be interdisciplinary to be most effective, but such truly …

Detecting, Modeling, And Predicting User Temporal Intention, Hany M. Salaheldeen

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

The content of social media has grown exponentially in the recent years and its role has evolved from narrating life events to actually shaping them. Unfortunately, content posted and shared in social networks is vulnerable and prone to loss or change, rendering the context associated with it (a tweet, post, status, or others) meaningless. There is an inherent value in maintaining the consistency of such social records as in some cases they take over the task of being the first draft of history as collections of these social posts narrate the pulse of the street during historic events, protest, riots, …

A Cloud-Based Gssha Index Map Editor Utility For Watershed Decision Support, Jocelynn Marie Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Preventing damages from flooding is critically important for city managers and planners.Efforts in protecting infrastructure from flooding are often coupled with building hydrologicmodels to provide predictions of what is likely to happen during storm events. As land usechanges, these models must be updated, which is more challenging with sophisticated models. Ateam of researchers from universities in Utah and Wyoming have been developing tools forwater management in the Intermountain West as part of a collaborative NSF research grantcalled CI-WATER. In particular, a free and open source web platform called Tethys has beendeveloped to support the development and hosting of hydrologic web …

Design Of High Temperature Evaporator For Spectroscopic Study Of Equilibrated Vapor Phase Materials, Yarden Bosch

MSU Graduate Theses

This work details the design, assembly, and testing of a high temperature electron beam evaporator for equilibrated vapor phase evaporation of rock oxides for the purpose of astrophysical characterization of extrasolar planetary atmospheres. Infrared spectroscopy of high temperature SiO2 atmosphere created through the electron beam evaporation technique and trapped by argon ice matrix isolation was performed to generate a reference spectrum against which absorption lines in stellar spectra taken during planetary transits can be compared. Studies demonstrate that water inclusions in milky quartz (SiO2) can be used to create H2O/SiO2 equilibrated atmospheres within a Knudsen cell. Modeling of exoplanet spectra …

Characterizing And Modeling The Experience Of Transfer Students In Engineering—Progress On Nsf Award 0969474, Matthew Ohland, Clemencia M. Cosentino, Catherine E. Brawner, Catherine Mobley, Russell A. Long

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Characterizing and Modeling the Experience of Transfer Students in Engineering— Progress on NSF Award 0969474Quantitative analysis of MIDFIELD databaseOur analysis used records for 94,732 undergraduate students from the Multiple-InstitutionDatabase for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD). MIDFIELDcomprises a census of undergraduate students who attended 11 public institutions between 1988and 2008. MIDFIELD institutions represent public universities that educate large numbers ofengineering students.From the 977,950 records available, we restricted our sample to those who (1) were domesticstudents (927,350), (2) were in the data set early enough for us to observe the possibility ofgraduation within six years (677,691), and (3) declared a major in …

Study Of Seasonal Rainfall Infiltration Via Time-Lapse Surface Electrical Resistivity Tomography: Case Study Of Gamboa Area, Panama Canal Watershed, Alexis Mojica, Irving Díaz, Carlos Ho, Fred Ogden, Reinhardt Pinzón, José Fábrega, David Vega, Jan Hendrickx

Fred L. Ogden

The present investigation was focused on the variations in rainwater infltration experienced by soils of Gamboa zone (Panama Canal Watershed) during various seasons of the year, employing a time-lapse analysis of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). In 2009, a total of 3 geoelectrical tests were undertaken during the dry, transition and rainy seasons across a profle 47 m in length, strategically distributed on site. The results obtained in this study showed strong variations in calculated resistivity between these seasons, taking the dry season as a reference with decreases and increases of percent diference of resistivity between -20% and -100%, and between …

Tethys Platform: A Development And Hosting Platform For Water Resources Web Apps, Nathan R. Swain

Theses and Dissertations

The interactive nature of web applications or “web apps” makes it an excellent medium for conveying complex scientific concepts to lay audiences and creating decision support tools that harness cutting edge modeling techniques. However, the technical expertise required to develop them represents a barrier for would-be developers. The barrier can be characterized by the following hurdles that developers must overcome: (1) identify, select, and install software that meet the spatial and computational capabilities commonly required for water resources modeling; (2) orchestrate the use of multiple FOSS and FOSS4G projects and navigate their differing application programming interfaces (APIs); (3) learn the …

Probing Mechanical Forces In Flagella By Manipulation Of Media Viscosity And Axonemal Structure, Kate Wilson

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Cilia and flagella are subcellular organelles used to generate fluid flow or propel the cell. These long cylindrical structures are composed of cytoskeletal elements activated by the unidirectional motor protein dynein. Cilia and flagella are crucial to a number of physiological functions, yet the specific mechanisms of dynein activation and coordination remain unclear. This work investigates the response of the flagellum of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to increased mechanical loading achieved by variation of media viscosity, and to structural changes achieved by genetic manipulation. Effects of these perturbations are quantified using high spatiotemporal resolution recordings; the results demonstrate mutation-specific changes to the …

Saturable Reactor For Power Flow Control In Electric Transmission Systems: Modeling And System Impact Study, Marcus Aaron Young Ii

Doctoral Dissertations

A Saturable Reactor for Power Flow Control (SRPFC) is a novel application of a concept well known to electronics and power electronics engineers that provides continuous modulation of line reactance by controlling the magnetization in a ferromagnetic core. The novelty of the SRPFC is the target application, which is power flow control in meshed electric power networks. Modulation of the line impedance occurs by altering the current in a DC winding to control the magnetization of the ferromagnetic core, thereby varying the reactance of the AC winding. The deployment of power system equipment, like SRPFC, requires careful planning and study …

Modeling Of Environmentally Assisted Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior, Sree Phani Chandar Reddy

Dissertations

The formation of fatigue cracks and their propagation due to cyclic loading in metals have been a concern for more than hundred years. Since fatigue failure were first reported by the railroad industry in 1840s, tremendous progress has been achieved in understanding fatigue behavior of metals. But fatigue damage is still a concern due to its complex dependency on various environmental variable like humidity, temperature, time and corrosive environment. Although numerous theories and models have been proposed in the past, the effects of environment on fatigue crack growth (FCG) is not completely understood. This dissertation aims to shed light on …

Microscopic Modeling Of Crowds Involving Individuals With Physical Disability: Exploring Social Force Interaction, Daniel S. Stuart

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nearly one quarter of a population is affected by a disability which influences crowd evacuation. Emergencies such as stampede or crowd crush can occur during evacuations. While research has investigated crowd evacuation, little has been researched involving individuals with disabilities. There is a need to understand and model individuals with disabilities in their interaction and how it impacts crowd movement. This dissertation creates a video tracking system to study heterogeneous crowds with individuals with disabilities towards conducting crowd experiments. A large-scale crowd experiment is conducted and the results are analyzed through a developed analysis graphical user interface. Preliminary results of …

Systems Modeling And Economic Analysis Of Photovoltaic (Pv) Powered Water Pumping Brackish Water Desalination For Agriculture, Michael A. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this study was to determine the economic viability of solar powered water pumping and desalination systems for agriculture. Growing global demand for agricultural production has put increased pressure on limited freshwater resources in various locations around the word. Many areas have low quality groundwater resources that have not been utilized for agriculture due to limited availability to electricity, high operational costs of diesel generators and the economics associated with water pumping and processing. Reverse osmosis is a desalination technology that removes salts and other minerals from low-quality water, making it fit for drinking or irrigation. Reduced costs …

Modeling Transportation Planning Applications Via Path Flow Estimator, Seungkyu Ryu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The current practice for modeling in the field of transportation planning is through a four-step travel demand forecasting procedure (i.e., trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice, and traffic assignment); the practice is commonly referred to as the four-step model. Although such a modeling approach has become standard practice, it is deficient in several areas. Specifically, (1) it lacks capability for modeling non-motorized modes such as bicycles, (2) it is inadequate for modeling multiple vehicle types sharing the same roadway space, and (3) it is difficult to apply to small communities with limited resources. This dissertation recognizes these deficiencies and responds …