Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Nonlinear Finite Element Model For Functionally Graded Porous Circular/Annular Micro-Plates Under Thermal And Mechanical Load, Enrique Nava Munoz

Masters Theses

A nonlinear finite element model for micro circular/annular plates under thermal and mechanical loading is developed using a third order shear deformation theory. In the kinematic assumptions, the change of plate thickness is allowed and no transverse shear strains are considered on the top and bottom surfaces. A power-law distribution is utilized to account for variations of two constituents through the thickness of the plate. Three different types of porosity distributions are considered. The strain gradient effect in micro scale structures is considered using the modified couple stress theory. The dynamic version of the principle of virtual displacements is used …

Enabling Energy Efficiency In Connected And Automated Vehicles Through Predictive Control Techniques, Farhang Motallebiaraghi

Dissertations

The transportation sector is a significant contributor to global energy consumption and emissions, necessitating the development of sustainable transportation systems. In this regard, connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) have emerged as a potential solution to transform the transportation industry. By harnessing advanced mapping and location technologies, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication, CAVs offer the promise of improving efficiency, reducing traffic congestion, and enhancing safety and comfort. However, the adoption of CAVs also brings about various challenges, including energy efficiency concerns that need to be addressed to fully realize their potential benefits. This dissertation investigates energy-efficient control techniques for transportation …

Improving Autonomous Vehicles Operational Performance Using Resilience Engineering, Johan Fanas Rojas

Dissertations

Autonomous vehicles are expected to revolutionize the transportation industry by providing a safer and more efficient means of transportation. However, as autonomous vehicles are deployed on public roads, they are exposed to significant risks, both in terms of safety and system performance. Recent studies have highlighted a range of errors and accidents associated with autonomous vehicles, underscoring the need for a systematic approach to improve their operational resilience. Resilience engineering, a discipline focused on designing and analyzing complex systems to better cope with unexpected events and disruptions, offers a promising framework for addressing these challenges. Despite the potential benefits of …

Design And Implementation Of Test Stand Upgrades For Investigating Gearset Churning Losses With Baffles, Matthew Martin

Honors Theses

The automotive industry is continually researching ways to decrease energy losses in drivetrain applications. Rotating gear sets in an oil bath suffer frictional losses due to oil churning. The Center for Advanced Vehicle Design and Simulation (CAViDS) consortium has proposed studies to understand and reduce these churning losses. The primary means to reduce these churning losses are to redirect the oil flow using baffles and/or alter the oil viscosity. To perform churning loss optimization under controlled conditions, an existing test stand was upgraded to improve safety, introduce oil temperature control, and allow for the interchange of baffle designs. For safety, …

Improving Future Vehicle Fuel Economy And Operational Design Domain Through Novel Data Pipelines, Kyle James Carow

Masters Theses

Modern automobiles have greatly advanced in recent years, with technological developments that enhance performance, safety, and comfort. However, there is still much room for improvement. Today’s vehicles are heavily reliant on the combustion of fossil fuels, proven to be harmful for the environment on both a local and global scale. In addition, the safety benefits of autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems are not yet fully realized due to the limited operational design domain of these technologies. In this research, these needs are addressed through the development of two novel data pipelines. In the first study, a novel methodology …

The Musical Water Fountain, Amy Nielsen

Honors Theses

An affordable musical water fountain was designed over the course of one year. The target consumers for this fountain are middle to upper class homeowners. Based on the design parameters and research found on the topic, the fountain presents an aesthetically pleasing light and water show for residential neighborhoods. The design was sought to be competitive on the market with preexisting fountains. Since it must play music and perform a water and light show all in synchronous, there was confidence in the unique features to sell with today’s consumers. SolidWorks was used extensively to design and model the fountain and …

Measurement Of Low-Speed Impinging Jet Structure Using Temperature Sensitive Paint, Arthur Dean Woodworth

Masters Theses

Temperature sensitive paint (TSP) is used to analyze surface flow structures driven by a jet impinging on a heated steel sheet. Temperature and Nusselt number images are calculated from CCD images of the TSP surface. TSP calibration is discussed. Skin friction data is obtained from the temperature images.

Data is collected for metal and 3D-printed plastic nozzles of varying shape and size at one or two jet airspeeds depending on the nozzle. For the circular nozzles, data is collected for four Reynolds numbers at impinging angles of 90, 70, and 50 degrees. For the elliptical nozzles and the star-shaped nozzle, …

Additive Metal Deposition Feedback Optimization For The 3d Hybrid Metal Printer, Andrew James Wyman

Dissertations

In the additive manufacturing realm, explicitly the direct energy deposition method, there continues to be numerous advancements along with advantages to control print quality of the component and the ability to apply the successful repetition of metallic layers consecutively. Metal additive printed components have the capacity to directly use the component for the desired application or intended purpose from which the three-dimensional model was created. In contrast, plastic printers that produce components that would not hold to the physical conditions required such as a metallic component could withstand.

Research exertions were focused on improving the present Western Michigan University patented …

Peridynamic Modeling Of Crack Propagation In Brittle Materials With Electromechanical Coupling, Semsi Coskun

Dissertations

The bond-based peridynamics (BB-PD) is a widely used peridynamic model in the literature. Despite Poisson's ratio restriction, it still serves as a powerful tool to solve challenging engineering problems with a relatively cheap computational cost. Consider the Poisson ratio of the material does not deviate from the ones that BB-PD can model. In that case, it becomes advantageous to use the BB-PD compared to other PD models in terms of computational cost and simplicity. However, the BB-PD suffers from the so-called surface or skin effect where the material response at boundaries becomes softer than the bulk material points. As a …

Model Predictive Controller Design For Internal Combustion Engines Based On The Second Law Of Thermodynamics, Muataz Abotabik

Dissertations

Energy resources depletion and worldwide strict emissions policies pose challenges that automotive manufacturers try to overcome through researching advanced powertrain technologies such as lean-burn gasoline, direct injection, homogeneous charge compression ignition engines, powertrain electrification, etc. Most of these developments have been focused on conventional internal combustion engines (ICE) emissions and performance enhancements. Most ICE control strategies are built based on the First Law of Thermodynamics (FLT) i.e., to deliver a specific load requirement, enhancing thermal efficiency, etc. The FLT doesn’t account for in-cylinder high temperature thermodynamics process irreversibilities that cause losses in the work potential; up to 25% of the …

Thermal & Efficiency Analysis For A High-Speed Gearbox, Austin Owen

Honors Theses

The aim of this project was to design and build a test stand to validate a thermal model of a high-speed gearbox developed by Western Michigan University’s (WMU) Center for Advanced Vehicle Design and Simulation (CAViDS) consortium. At the completion of this project, the experimental results measured from tests will be compared to those from a Siemens Amesim model of the same gearbox. For these tests, an electric inverter/motor/gearbox package was connected to an intermediate transmission for the purpose of output speed matching to an electric dynamometer. This dynamometer applied a load to the motor/gearbox to replicate its designed running …

Fsae Vehicle Instrumentation And Validation, Alexander Anthony

Honors Theses

Formula SAE is a student chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Each year SAE hosts a collegiate competition for teams of university students to design, build, and compete with a formula-style vehicle. Students from all around the world collaborate to engineer and manufacture a competition worthy racecar. Each component of the vehicle is designed from scratch, using calculated load cases to optimize weight and strength. Once the car is built, students will test and validate their vehicle. Not every team has the opportunity to validate the critical load cases the vehicle is designed around. This senior design project …

Electromagnetically Propelled Garage Door, Connor Seifert

Honors Theses

Garage door systems are loud and energy inefficient given their many contact points and need for continual maintenance. Most garage door systems use a loud, bulky electric motor to pull the garage door up and down using a chain. To reduce noise and energy loss due to friction from the electric motor and chain, electromagnetic forces used in Electromagnetic Suspension (EMS) trains were researched and adapted to a garage door system. The electromagnetically propelled garage door (EPGD) system was designed and validated using SOLIDWORKS and ANSYS simulation with significantly less contact points due to non-contact electromagnetic propulsion (EMP). The design …

Standardized 1x6u Cubesat Structure Design, Maximilian H. Brummel

Masters Theses

A CubeSat is a small satellite composed of one or more 10cm x 10cm x ~10cm cubes. Sometimes referred to as a “U” as in unit, the cubes can be combined in configurations of 2U, 3U, 6U, and more. CubeSats provide many advantages that larger satellites cannot offer. They are relatively inexpensive and can be fabricated much faster. Small-scale projects that require a fast timeline from conception up to completion are perfect for CubeSats. Furthermore, educational programs use CubeSat projects to teach and prepare students for the satellite industry. Popular configurations for CubeSat are 1U, 3U and 6U where the …

Towards Real-Time Energy Efficiency Analysis Of A Hydraulic System, Montasir Mamun Mithu

Masters Theses

The study aims at developing a real-time data analysis system for the energy efficiency study of hydraulic systems. It also aims at implementing automation for hydraulic systems so that energy efficiency can be improved using the real-time approach. This research uses a system-level experimental methodology. A linear push system hydraulic prototype is developed for the study. The prototype contains hydraulic actuator, shock absorber, electronic flow control valve, and electronic sensor. This prototype is used to experiment with different operating conditions to characterize hydraulic system behavior. A real-time data analysis system is developed using LabVIEW and an Open Platform Communication (OPC) …

Advancing The Use Of Quality Control Tools For High-Density Data In Modern Manufacturing, Romina Dastoorian

Dissertations

In modern manufacturing, advanced metrology systems are continually being incorporated into quality control (QC) systems to provide high-density (HD) datasets. These datasets can contain millions of measurements that can be used to represent a part’s whole geometry. While integrating HD datasets into QC systems has brought several opportunities to enhance the performance of QC systems, it has resulted in new challenges in this area as well. While significant amounts of research have been performed in this area, the QC research community still strives to tackle these challenges. This study identifies key challenges regarding incorporating HD datasets into QC systems. Specifically, …

Hinging, Propping, And Latching Mechanisms For Sunseeker Solar Car, Zachary Ruppenthal

Honors Theses

In this project, designs for the hinging, propping, and latching mechanisms on the 2021 Sunseeker Solar Car were created. These designs allow for the car’s array of solar panels to be held at any desired angle to maximize collection of solar power and give the team access to the battery and driver compartment. Removable telescoping prop rods with pin attachments are used to set the array at a desired angle. The hinging mechanism allows for the array to be lifted vertically prior to rotation in order to avoid interference with the car’s roll cage. To accomplish this, two four-bar linkages …

Charge Tracing For Determining Electrical Facility Effects On Electric Spacecraft Propulsion Systems., Joseph Backe

Honors Theses

Electric Propulsion Systems are the future of deep space travel. Since its design in 2016 Western Michigan University has been testing a Hall-Thruster from a previous Senior Design Group. One issue with Electric Propulsion Systems is tracing where the electrons go after being used to ionize propellant for spacecraft acceleration. Induced magnetic fields on Earth alter the electron paths found in the vacuum of space.

One solution is the EP TEMPEST. The EP TEMPEST is an electron tracer designed by the Air Force Research Laboratory. The goal of this project is to design an electron tracer like the EP TEMPEST …

Autonomous Vehicle Camera Mount Application, Yuan Sheng Sit

Honors Theses

Autonomous vehicles consist of many complex systems, an extensive set of hardware components, and various computing algorithms that constantly work in harmony to provide selfdriving capabilities to a vehicle. This project focuses on developing a universal mount for a ZED 2 stereo camera used in data collection for autonomous driving applications. The main purpose of the mount is to reduce dashboard, windshield, and lens glare that affect the quality of data collection for autonomous driving applications. Software such as Ansys and SOLIDWORKS are used to simulate stress, strain, and thermal distributions on the mount to better understand the strong and …

Automated Form-Fill-Seal Loader, Amara Crosby

Honors Theses

Keystone Solutions Group requires a space, money, and time saving machine that can automatically load swabs and other similar sized devices into a new Multivac R245 form-fill-seal machine. Currently, Multivac “auto-loaders” are very costly and take up a great deal of space. A portable, easy-to-mount, automated swab loader was designed and initially prototyped. This design can be moved throughout the cleanroom with current material handling devices and contains enough storage to run continuously for upwards of a half an hour.

Software Tool For Analyzing The Bending Strength Of Gear Teeth, Tayla Hall

Honors Theses

Current finite element (FE) models for gear analysis are computationally expensive. We will develop a software tool in Excel to efficiently assess the effect of different root geometries on gear tooth bending strength. The tool will assess the change in root stress as the root fillet shape is changed, using a 2-D model of a representative gear tooth using an A to B comparison. This is assumed to correlate to equivalent stress reduction in an actual gear. The tool will be validated by comparing the root stress found using the software to a FE analysis of root stress using ANSYS. …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Non-Pgm Catalysts For Fuel Cell Applications, Sudharsan Sridhar

Masters Theses

Fuel Cells convert the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidizing agent into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells convert (efficiency-60%) hydrogen and air to power the electric motors with zero emissions, facilitating the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable automobile technologies. One of the major obstacles for larger commercial viability of Fuel Cells for automobile applications is their cost-effectiveness. Currently, fuel cells use platinum as a catalyst material, which is prohibitively expensive for commercial automobile applications. The development of non-Platinum Group Metal (non-PGM) catalyst materials with similar electrochemical performance to that …

Use Of Dimpling Techniques To Alter The Vibration And Acoustic Characteristics Of Beams And Plates, Mofareh Ghazwani

Dissertations

Structures such as beams and plates can produce potentially high levels of unwanted vibrations and noises in the environment. A method for improving the vibroacoustic characteristics of structures based on creating dimples on its surfaces is presented in this study. The goal of this technique is to keep the mass of the subject structure the same while changing its vibration and sound radiation characteristics. A boundary value model (BVM), derived using Hamilton’s Variational Principle, is used for modeling dimpled beams subjected to various boundary conditions. Using this method, the non-dimensional equations of motion, boundary conditions, and continuity conditions for a …

Experimental Study Of Collecting Running Water From Moderately Heated Water Vapors Using Turbulence-Induced Particles Collision (Tipc) Device, Hassan Ali Ghazwani

Dissertations

This dissertation describes the development of an alternative technique to collect water vapors or changing any vapor state to liquid state using a device called the turbulence-induced particles collision generator (TIPC). The experiment of collecting water vapors using the TIPC device is conducted at different values of temperature. The spatial patterns of droplets deposited on a wall due to the TIPC are measured at different values of pressure using luminescent oil technique, and the integrated intensity of deposited droplets is calculated. Also, the luminescent oil technique has been used to visualize the deposited particles on a pipe wall. ANSYS FLUENT …

Turbulence Investigations In The Core-Flow Of An Internal Combustion Engine, James R. Macdonald

Dissertations

Turbulence significantly impacts the operation of energy conversion devices. In internal combustion (IC) engines, mixing, heat transfer, and combustion are all strongly dependent on the turbulence inside the cylinder. Consequently, knowledge of the state of turbulence is critical for improving our understanding and modeling of engine processes.

Turbulence states may be determined through analysis of the Reynolds stress tensor, which can in turn be experimentally quantified using velocity data. In this research, stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (stereo-PIV) experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder, motored engine with optical access to measure the two-dimensional, three-component (2D-3C) velocity fields throughout the compression stroke. …

Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of Free Water Surface Evaporation In Case Of Natural Convection, Hassan Fagehi

Dissertations

Evaporation of water can be considered an essential part of the hydrological cycle. It is important for many technological applications such as industrial cooling towers, air conditioning, solid material drying, distillation, and liquid film cooling. Moreover, the interfacial convection caused by the density gradient belongs to Rayleigh convection, which plays an important role in the evaporation process by means of intensifying heat and mass transfer, as in an isopropanol‒water system. In addition, natural convection, which can be defined as a buoyancy-driven flow, is important in astrophysics, geophysics, and numerous engineering applications such as solar energy systems, cooling of electrical equipment, …

Design Of A Carbon Fiber Composite Monocoque Chassis For A Formula-Style Vehicle, Alexander Carline

Honors Theses

Western Michigan University’s Formula SAE team, Bronco Racing, designs and manufactures a formula-style vehicle to compete annually at an international collegiate design and racing competition. In order to remain competitive, Bronco Racing required a lighter chassis for the 2021 vehicle. To achieve this, the full 2020 carbon fiber monocoque chassis system was redesigned to be lightweight while considering packaging constraints, the Formula SAE rules, and design parameters set by Bronco Racing. The monocoque geometry was modeled using SolidWorks and the carbon composite was simulated, tested, and verified using ANSYS and quasi-static load frame testing. The newly designed 2021 monocoque chassis …

Design Of A Carbon Fiber Composite Monocoque Chassis For A Formula Style Vehicle, Mitchell Hiller

Honors Theses

Western Michigan University’s Formula SAE team, Bronco Racing, designs and manufactures a formula-style vehicle to compete annually at an international collegiate design and racing competition. In order to remain competitive, Bronco Racing required a lighter chassis for the 2021 vehicle. To achieve this, the full 2020 carbon fiber monocoque chassis system was redesigned to be lightweight while considering packaging constraints, the Formula SAE rules, and design parameters set by Bronco Racing. The monocoque geometry was modeled using SolidWorks and the carbon composite was simulated, tested, and verified using ANSYS and quasi-static load frame testing. The newly designed 2021 monocoque chassis …

Development Of A Finite Element Model Of The Stamping Process To Predict The Natural Frequencies Of Dimpled Beams, Varad Vasudeo Pendse

Masters Theses

Creating dimples on beams has been proven to be an effective way of altering their vibrational behavior. The objective of this research is to simulate the process of stamping using the finite element (FE) method to create a model of a dimpled beam. This dimple has non-uniform thickness, so it shows close agreement with its real-life counterpart.

ANSYS® Parametric Design Language (APDL) is used to build a three-dimensional (3-D) finite element model and simulate the process of stamping used to create the dimple. The structural simulation is validated by calculating the thickness and width of the deformed geometry of the …

Evaporation Rate From Free Water Surface, Safa M. Aldarabseh

Dissertations

This work aims to perform an experiment in the laboratory and investigate the effect of the wave steepness, airflow velocity, air relative humidity, air temperature, and water surface temperature on the evaporation rate from still and wavy water surface. In this investigation, the experimental results are used to quantify an evaporation rate from a still and wavy water surface under different convection regimes that are free, mixed, and forced convection under turbulent airflow conditions. Empirical correlations are also derived using the experimental results based on modified Dalton’s law and Similarity method (analogy between mass and heat transfer equation). In this …