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LSU Master's Theses

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Articles 31 - 60 of 236

Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Heat And Mass Transfer In A Cylindrical Heat Pipe With Idealized Porous Lining, Pramesh Regmi Jan 2017

Heat And Mass Transfer In A Cylindrical Heat Pipe With Idealized Porous Lining, Pramesh Regmi

LSU Master's Theses

Many devices use heat pipes for cooling. They can be of different cross-sectional shapes and can range from 15 m long to 10 mm. In this work, the heat and mass transfer in a cylindrical heat pipe is modelled. The heat pipe is lined with a wick next to the wall. The wick consists of straight capillaries that run the whole length of the pipe and radially aligned capillaries that span the width of the wick. The capillaries are filled with a partially wetting liquid, and the center of the pipe is filled with its vapor. The radial capillaries are …


Development Of Laboratory Scale Conical Spouted Bed Reactors, James Blake Gegenheimer Jan 2017

Development Of Laboratory Scale Conical Spouted Bed Reactors, James Blake Gegenheimer

LSU Master's Theses

Conical spouted beds (CSBs) are a form of a fluidized bed that is characteristic of its spouting behaviors. The conical spouted bed has a small inlet that diverges through a conical section towards a larger fixed-diameter column which is filled with static spouting media. By injecting a fluid at a sufficient velocity, a small spout will form in which the spouting media will become entrained by the fluid particles and carried to the top of the system where it will circulate back into the system. It has been shown that CSB reactors have the potential for increasing the heat circulation …


Novel Design And Synthesis Of Nanostructured Electrode Materials For Advanced Lithium Ion Batteries, Zhiqiang Xie Jan 2017

Novel Design And Synthesis Of Nanostructured Electrode Materials For Advanced Lithium Ion Batteries, Zhiqiang Xie

LSU Master's Theses

Nowadays, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely used as energy storage devices for portable electronic devices. The increasing demand for their emerging applications in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) requires us to develop LIBs with higher energy density and power density. However, both the commercial cathode material (LiCoO2) and anode material (graphite) exhibit low specific capacity and poor rate capability, which severely hinder the practical application of lithium-ion batteries for transportation. This thesis mainly includes four research works on novel design and synthesis of nanostructured electrode materials for advanced lithium-ion batteries. To improve the electrochemical performances …


Fabrication And Characterization Of Thiol-Acrylate Based Polymer For Bone Tissue Engineering Application, Anoosha Forghani Jan 2016

Fabrication And Characterization Of Thiol-Acrylate Based Polymer For Bone Tissue Engineering Application, Anoosha Forghani

LSU Master's Theses

Thiol-acrylate materials have been demonstrated to have therapeutic potential as biocompatible scaffolds for bone tissue regeneration due to their osteoconductivity, biodegradability, and well-suited mechanical properties. This study connects the mechanical properties and stability of thiol-acrylate polymer with cell adhesion and proliferation of human adipose derived stromal cells. The polymer presented in this study, trimethylolpropane ethoxylate triacrylate-co-trimethylolpropane tris (3-mercaptopropionate) (TMPeTA-co-TMPTMP), was synthesized by an amine-catalyzed Michael addition reaction. Physical, mechanical, and chemical characterizations were performed on the polymeric scaffold, followed by preliminary in vitro cytocompatibility tests. Live/dead staining assays showed significant differences in cell adhesion for TMPeTA (692 and 912 MW). …


Hybrid Ant Colony Optimization For Fuzzy Unrelated Parallel Machine Scheduling Problems, Po An Su Jan 2016

Hybrid Ant Colony Optimization For Fuzzy Unrelated Parallel Machine Scheduling Problems, Po An Su

LSU Master's Theses

This study extends the best hybrid ant colony optimization variant developed by Liao et al. (2014) for crisp unrelated parallel machine scheduling problems to solve fuzzy unrelated parallel machine scheduling problems in consideration of trapezoidal fuzzy processing times, trapezoidal fuzzy sequencing dependent setup times and trapezoidal fuzzy release times. The objective is to find the best schedule taking minimum fuzzy makespan in completing all jobs. In this study, fuzzy arithmetic is used to determine fuzzy completion times of jobs and defuzzification function is used to convert fuzzy numbers back to crisp numbers for ranking. Eight fuzzy ranking methods are tested …


A Comparison Between Functional And Traditional Interface Displays In Support Of Console Operator Performance And Workload, Sophie Lynn Schwartz Jan 2016

A Comparison Between Functional And Traditional Interface Displays In Support Of Console Operator Performance And Workload, Sophie Lynn Schwartz

LSU Master's Theses

In the petrochemical industry, schematic interfaces have been traditionally used as the main interface for console operators to monitor activities. There is limited research in this industry investigating alternative interface types to better support console operator’s decisions during alarm management. Furthermore, even less of that research includes eye-tracking as a measure for console operator situation awareness (SA). This research aimed to investigate an alternative interface, called a functional interface, in its level of support of console operator situation awareness, accuracy, subjective workload, and average response time. Additionally, eye-tracking was incorporated to explore its value as measure for situation awareness on …


Characterization Of Thermoplastic Fusion Bonding Of Microchannels Using Pressure Assisted Boiling Point Control System, Kavya Dathathreya Jan 2016

Characterization Of Thermoplastic Fusion Bonding Of Microchannels Using Pressure Assisted Boiling Point Control System, Kavya Dathathreya

LSU Master's Theses

An innovative method of thermoplastic fusion bonding using a pressure assisted boiling point control (PABP) system was characterized to determine the optimum parameters for bonding polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) components containing microchannels and thin, 250 µm cover sheets. The PABP system enables precise control of the temperature boundary condition and the applied pressure by immersing the components being bonded in boiling water and varying the vapor pressure. Test structure geometries containing microchannels of two depths and four different aspect ratios were designed: 1:10 (Depth: 10µm, Width: 100 µm and Depth: 5µm, Width: 50 µm), 1:50 (Depth: 10µm, Width: 500µm and Depth: …


The Design, Fabrication, And Validation Of A Film Cooled Rotating Turbine Cascade With An Actively Cooled Shroud In A Closed Loop Wind Tunnel, Christopher Michael Drewes Jan 2016

The Design, Fabrication, And Validation Of A Film Cooled Rotating Turbine Cascade With An Actively Cooled Shroud In A Closed Loop Wind Tunnel, Christopher Michael Drewes

LSU Master's Theses

To test shroud and blade cooling effectiveness, a closed loop, heated wind tunnel housing a film cooled rotating turbine cascade with prescribed blade and vane geometry surrounded by a fully cooled shroud with a leading edge gap were designed and assembled on Louisiana State University’s campus. Heat transfer coefficients and film cooling effectiveness results were computed using a 1-D semi-infinite solid conduction analysis of material temperatures obtained with liquid crystal thermography. Proper analysis required a step change in air temperature; so a bypass loop provided mainstream air heating while maintaining the shroud and blades at ambient temperature. Also, analysis required …


Optimal Configuration Of Inspection And Rework Stations In A Multistage Flexible Flowline, Md. Shahriar Jahan Hossain Jan 2016

Optimal Configuration Of Inspection And Rework Stations In A Multistage Flexible Flowline, Md. Shahriar Jahan Hossain

LSU Master's Theses

Inspection and rework are two important issues of quality control. In this research, an N-stage flowline is considered to make decisions on these two issues. When defective items are detected at the inspection station the items are either scrapped or reworked. A reworkable item may be repaired at the regular defect-creating workstation or at a dedicated off-line rework station. Two problems (end-of-line and multistage inspections) are considered here to deal with this situation. The end-of-line inspection (ELI) problem considers an inspection station located at the end of the line while the multistage inspection (MSI) problem deals with multiple in-line inspection …


Development Of A Three-Dimensional Bioprinter With Inline Light Activation For Bone Tissue Engineering, Colton Alexander Mcelheny Jan 2015

Development Of A Three-Dimensional Bioprinter With Inline Light Activation For Bone Tissue Engineering, Colton Alexander Mcelheny

LSU Master's Theses

Bioprinting offers exciting possibilities for tissue engineering related to tissue and organ failure due to trauma, disease, or aging. This is of substantial societal value as the world populace mean age rises. Current needs for tissue and organ repair far exceed availability. A strategy being explored to counter this imbalance is the single step fabrication of cellular constructs. This paper explores various bioprinting techniques and suggests a custom design for a cost-effective, low-maintenance bioprinting platform for academic research. The platform functionality was validated via two-dimensional image transfer and simple three-dimensional geometries.


Exploration Of Segmented Flow In Microchannels Using The Volume Of Fluid Method In Ansys Fluent, Jace Michael Boudreaux Jan 2015

Exploration Of Segmented Flow In Microchannels Using The Volume Of Fluid Method In Ansys Fluent, Jace Michael Boudreaux

LSU Master's Theses

Segmented flow can be utilized in lab-on-a-chip technologies to speed up chemical and biological analysis. Segmented flow (also known as Taylor flow or the Bretherton problem) has often been explored in circular channels, but rectangular channels are more common for microfluidics applications. To this end, pressure-driven droplet flow in a square microchannel is studied using the volume of fluid method in ANSYS Fluent, a computational fluid dynamics program. It was found that for low Reynolds number (Ret = 0.01) and droplet sizes larger than the channel diameter, the flow is mostly influenced by capillary number and viscosity ratio. The …


An Analytic Solution Of The Thermal Boundary Layer At The Leading Edge Of A Heated Semi-Infinite Flat Plate Under Forced Uniform Flow, Robert Jessee Jan 2015

An Analytic Solution Of The Thermal Boundary Layer At The Leading Edge Of A Heated Semi-Infinite Flat Plate Under Forced Uniform Flow, Robert Jessee

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract The heated flat plate under uniform flow has been vastly studied, with the Blasius and Pohlhausen solutions developed over 100 years ago. These solutions are numerical in nature. Here, an analytic solution is found for the temperature and velocity profiles at the leading edge of a heated flat plate under forced uniform flow. By defining a similarity variable the governing equations are reduced to a dimensionless equation with an analytic solution at the leading edge. This report gives justification for the similarity variable via scaling analysis, details the process of converting to similarity form, and presents a similarity solution. …


Heat Transfer Study Of Porous Media With A Temperature Jump Condition, Pravin Kumar Jan 2015

Heat Transfer Study Of Porous Media With A Temperature Jump Condition, Pravin Kumar

LSU Master's Theses

Conjugate heat transfer in a porous media is investigated with a temperature jump condition obtained from kinetic gas theory. The temperature jump appears alongside flow boundary condition when the pressure is low, and considered to be in non-continuum regime. This investigation focuses on both one-dimensional and two-dimensional porous media models. The length scale of the pores is 100 microns. The temperature is ambient, and the pressure is low enough to reach the slip-flow regime. The thermal behavior of porous media is investigated using a slot model with a gas trapped between two solid blocks. Aluminum oxide and air are considered …


Experimental Study Of A Cascade Of Low Pressure Turbine Blades With Upstream Periodic Stator Wakes, Carlos Rene Gonzalez Rodriguez Jan 2015

Experimental Study Of A Cascade Of Low Pressure Turbine Blades With Upstream Periodic Stator Wakes, Carlos Rene Gonzalez Rodriguez

LSU Master's Theses

The objective of this study is to experimentally study film cooling flows. A closed-loop wind tunnel with a four passage linear cascade of US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) ultra-high-lift L1A low pressure turbine (LPT) blades and upstream wake generator is used in conjunction with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) flow visualization technique to study turbulent film cooling flows due to the interaction between vanes and blades. Further post-processing in the form of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) modal analyses is performed to determine the relevant modes that characterize the coherent structures in the flow. An image …


A Comparative Assessment Of Ergonomic Risk Factors In University Personnel Using Rula And Reba Aiming To Study The Cause And Effect Relationship, Nabila Chowdhury Jan 2015

A Comparative Assessment Of Ergonomic Risk Factors In University Personnel Using Rula And Reba Aiming To Study The Cause And Effect Relationship, Nabila Chowdhury

LSU Master's Theses

The aim of this research was to conduct an ergonomic assessment of working postures and the design of computer workstations of the employees in Louisiana State University. The purpose of the study was threefold- (1) to determine the major ergonomic issues in university employees while working on computer workstations, (2) to compare the two ergonomic assessment tools (RULA and REBA) to see how similarly or differently they assess the risks present in the same working condition and (3) to develop a model that correlates between working condition, work posture and computer workstation design with their effects on musculoskeletal system. This …


Effect Of Appointment Schedules On The Operational Performance Of A University Medical Clinic, Arunn Pisharody Vijayan Jan 2015

Effect Of Appointment Schedules On The Operational Performance Of A University Medical Clinic, Arunn Pisharody Vijayan

LSU Master's Theses

Healthcare costs in the United States are one of the highest in the world. The healthcare expenditure alone accounted for 17.9% of the Gross Domestic Product of US in 2011. The National Healthcare Expenditure (NHE) is expected to increase at an annual rate of 6.6% from $ 2.6 Trillion in 2010 to $ 4.5 Trillion in 2019. The per capita expenditure for hospital outpatients and physicians has been the highest among other hospital expenses. This escalation in expenses created a need for productivity improvements in the healthcare industry to control costs. Some of the common problems encountered in outpatient clinics …


The Effects Of Work Zone Configurations On Physiological And Subjective Workload, Mahmoud Shakouri Hassanabadi Jan 2015

The Effects Of Work Zone Configurations On Physiological And Subjective Workload, Mahmoud Shakouri Hassanabadi

LSU Master's Theses

There is a dearth of research on the effect of driving through work zones on physiological and subjective workload of drivers. The objectives of this research were to (a) study the effect of work zones and traffic density on physiological measures of workload, subjective workload and performance variables (b) study the relationship between physiological measures of workload, subjective workload and performance variables. Conventional lane merge (CLM), joint lane merge (JLM) and a road without a work zone (control) were modeled with high and low traffic density by using a full-size driving simulator. 13 female and 17 male students volunteered to …


Radiation Heat Transfer In A Particulate Medium Using A Ray Tracing Method, Manish B. Patil Jan 2015

Radiation Heat Transfer In A Particulate Medium Using A Ray Tracing Method, Manish B. Patil

LSU Master's Theses

In the present work, a complete 3D simulation of ray tracing model is developed for studying the radiation heat transfer, associated with laser based additive manufacturing, in both thick and thin particulate beds by using the Monte Carlo method. Additional program is developed for creating different types of packing structures such as simple cubic, rhombohydral and random packing. The scattering mechanisms in the particulate beds for large opaque spheres are evaluated using the specular and diffuse reflection methods. Further, a novel approach has been added to the model to include isotropic, forward and backward scattering mechanisms for a medium which …


Multiscale Modeling Of Smart Materials Under Static And Dynamic Thermo-Mechanical Loading, Soodabeh Sharafi Jan 2015

Multiscale Modeling Of Smart Materials Under Static And Dynamic Thermo-Mechanical Loading, Soodabeh Sharafi

LSU Master's Theses

Engineering material systems with tailored capabilities are a topic trend in plethora of research. Polymer based Artificial Muscle, PAM, and Shape memory polymer fiber, SMPF, enable structural engineers to incorporate smartness functionality into their design through programming cycles. Smartness functionality leads to the production of artificial muscles with different load carrying capability. SMPF is another category of smart materials, which are capable of being micro-structurally engineered to isolate vibration at different temperature and frequency conditions. The smartness functionality offers the adjustment between inherent properties of these materials with their industrial applications through modeling techniques. Mixture of phenomenological, numerical, mathematical models …


Composition Control Of Spinel Lithium Manganese Oxide For High Voltage, High Energy Lithium Ion Batteries, Hilary Eikhuemelo Jan 2014

Composition Control Of Spinel Lithium Manganese Oxide For High Voltage, High Energy Lithium Ion Batteries, Hilary Eikhuemelo

LSU Master's Theses

In the quest for renewable source of energy, a remarkable step made was in the introduction of the battery system. The lithium ion battery was revolutionary in this regard particularly for its light weight and high energy density. There has been significant progress in the development of this battery system since the present form was introduced in the 1990s. There is currently a global dependence on the use of lithium ion battery in diverse applications such as in the electronics, communications and automobiles. Unfortunately, the energy obtainable from the lithium ion battery continuously falls behind the energy demand. This setback …


A Parametric Investigation Of A Novel, Modular, Gasketless, Microfluidic Interconnect Using Parallel Superhydrophobic Surfaces, Christopher Ramsey Brown Jan 2014

A Parametric Investigation Of A Novel, Modular, Gasketless, Microfluidic Interconnect Using Parallel Superhydrophobic Surfaces, Christopher Ramsey Brown

LSU Master's Theses

The gasketless microfluidic interconnect has the potential to offer a standardized approach to interconnects between modular microfluidic components. This strategy uses parallel superhydrophobic surfaces (contact angle ≥ 150ᴼ) to passively seal adjacent, concentric, microfluidic ports separated by an air gap using a liquid bridge created between the chips. The parallel superhydrophobic surfaces do not require the addition of a gasket or other additional components so that the assembly process scales favorably with an increasing number of fluidic interconnects. The gasketless seal does not contribute to geometric constraint between the component chips which allows alignment between chips to scale favorably with …


Fabrication And Enhancement Of Aluminum-Based Microchannel Devices, Paul Joseph Hymel Jan 2014

Fabrication And Enhancement Of Aluminum-Based Microchannel Devices, Paul Joseph Hymel

LSU Master's Theses

Microscale molding replication and transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding were used to fabricate Al-based microchannel heat exchangers (MHEs) and micro gas chromatograph (mGC) columns. Metal-based microchannel heat exchangers often experience corrosion as a result of their operating conditions. To address this problem, an internal anodization method was developed in Al microtubes by pulsing the flow of electrolyte through a microtube when the current dropped below a set value. The anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam (FIB) cross sections, and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to determine their growth rate and morphology. …


Influence Of Magnetic Fields On The Evaporation And Combustion Of A Single Droplet, Domingo Elias Jan 2014

Influence Of Magnetic Fields On The Evaporation And Combustion Of A Single Droplet, Domingo Elias

LSU Master's Theses

The reliance on combustion as the primary source of energy will continue in the US for the next thirty years [1]. Experiments suggest that the use of magnetic fields can be one tool in the many-sided approach to the problem of environmental protection and energy conservation in the US. For instance, it is estimated that an increase in efficiency of 2% in spray combustion can save the US economy billions of dollars [2]. In this thesis I report on improving the quality of combustion through the use of magnetic fields. (1)I investigated the effects of magnetic fields on the evaporation …


Using Eye-Tracking To Investigate Strategy And Performance Of Expert And Novice Control Room Operators, Christina Marie Koffskey Jan 2014

Using Eye-Tracking To Investigate Strategy And Performance Of Expert And Novice Control Room Operators, Christina Marie Koffskey

LSU Master's Theses

There is lacking research within the Petrochemical Industry that uses eye-tracking to explore the differences between the strategies of expert and novice control room operators as they monitor and address process parameters that could be used to improve novice training programs and interface design. Scan paths and three eye-tracking metrics (Fixation Frequency, Gaze Duration Mean, and Gaze Percentage) were used to investigate the differences in eye behavior of three expert control room operators and six novice students as they monitored and corrected a Crude Refinement simulation. A 2x2x2 mixed factor design was used to explore the effects that expertise (expert …


An Experimental Investigation Of Corrosion Fatigue Life Via Thermographic Method, Richard Wayne Purvis Jan 2014

An Experimental Investigation Of Corrosion Fatigue Life Via Thermographic Method, Richard Wayne Purvis

LSU Master's Theses

The effect of prior corrosion fatigue damage on the thermographic response of 1018 low carbon steel is investigated. Specimens were subject to rotating bending fatigue at 38 Hz loading frequency while being exposed to a 3.5% NaCl and distilled water solution. Some specimens were subject to corrosion fatigue for part of their fatigue life and then their thermographic response measured under fatigue in air at 62 Hz loading frequency. Fatigue tests in air with thermographic measurement were performed as a comparison. It was observed that the initial temperature rise after corrosion fatigue fits the previously proposed model for air fatigue, …


Assessing The Effects Of Work Zone Configurations On Drivers' Visual Attention, Karthy Punniaraj Jan 2014

Assessing The Effects Of Work Zone Configurations On Drivers' Visual Attention, Karthy Punniaraj

LSU Master's Theses

This study assessed the effects of two different work zone configurations on driver’s visual attention by eye movement monitoring. A driving simulator study was conducted with thirty participants. Variations in traffic density and warning sign placement distance were added to the merge configurations to simulate the real time situation. A 2 x 2 x 3 within-subjects factorial design was used for this research. The independent variables used in this study were (1) merge configuration [(i) Conventional Lane Merge (CLM) and (ii) Joint Lane Merge (JLM)], (2) traffic density [(i) high and (ii) low] and (3) distance between traffic signs [(i) …


Using A Sleep And Activity Monitor To Operationalize Fatigue Risk Management, Vanessa Bégat Seitz Jan 2014

Using A Sleep And Activity Monitor To Operationalize Fatigue Risk Management, Vanessa Bégat Seitz

LSU Master's Theses

When a person continues to work despite being fatigued, an accident may occur or productivity may decrease. Reducing fatigue related accidents is complicated due to the subjective nature and pervasiveness of the feeling of fatigue. Because finding one universal definition or measure of fatigue is problematic, fatigue is typically measured by a combination of factors such as amount of sleep obtained, physical or cognitive work performed, or sleepiness which can then be related back to a measure of performance. Until recently, sleep measurement was restricted to a lab setting; however, with the emergence of actigraph devices, it is now possible …


Age, Performance And Retention Interval Effects On Acceptance Of A Consumer Health Information Technology System, Stephen Andrew Ford Jan 2014

Age, Performance And Retention Interval Effects On Acceptance Of A Consumer Health Information Technology System, Stephen Andrew Ford

LSU Master's Theses

The older adult population will continue to place pressure on the financial and resource allocation of the healthcare industry as the over 65 population continues to grow. Health care expenditures to treat the aging population will continue to rise as older adults are more likely to have expensive chronic conditions. The future may lay with Consumer Health Information Technology which may allow the patients to have more control of their treatment schedule and self-management of their health and chronic conditions. However, older adults may exhibit cognitive declines that prohibit the learning and proper use of technology, and this assumption is …


Minimization Of Transportation, Installation And Maintenance Operations Costs For Offshore Wind Turbines, Tasnim Ibn Faiz Jan 2014

Minimization Of Transportation, Installation And Maintenance Operations Costs For Offshore Wind Turbines, Tasnim Ibn Faiz

LSU Master's Theses

Although it is a sustainable source and there is abundant potential for energy, cost of energy generated from offshore wind is still high compared to other sustainable energy sources. Apart from the manufacturing cost of turbines, cost of energy is significantly affected by costs of transportation and installation operations of wind turbines and maintenance operations of turbine components. Through optimum selection of decision variables, such as turbine installation method and rated power output of each turbine, cost of transportation and installation operations can be minimized. The first model in this study investigates the impact of these decision variables and effect …


Analyses Of Online Monitoring Signals For A Gmaw Process Before And After Improvement, Aniruddha Joshi Jan 2014

Analyses Of Online Monitoring Signals For A Gmaw Process Before And After Improvement, Aniruddha Joshi

LSU Master's Theses

The ability to detect the onset of welding instability is a very powerful tool in welding process monitoring and control. Toward this goal, this study investigates a gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process by analyzing online monitoring signals. Two separate data sets are obtained from the process, which correspond to (a) a stable process after improvement and (b) a relatively unstable process which tends to exhibit spatter and poor weld bead geometry. Voltage, current, wire-feeding speed and line speed signals for both data sets are analysed and features are extracted from the raw signals using different signal processing techniques. Specifically, …