Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Modeling Portfolios Of Low Carbon Energy Generation Under Deep Uncertainty, Franklyn Kanyako

Doctoral Dissertations

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, nearly every country pledge through the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) increased adoption of low carbon energy technologies in their energy system. However, allocating investments to different low carbon energy technologies under rising demand for energy and budget constraints, uncertain technical change in these technologies involves maneuvering significant uncertainties among experts, models, and decision-makers. We examine the interactions of low carbon energy sources (LCES) under the condition of deep uncertainty. Deep uncertainty directly impacts the understanding of the role of low carbon energy technologies in climate change mitigation and how much R&D investment should be allocated …

Robust And Sustainable Energy Pathways To Reach Mexico’S Climate Goals, Rodrigo Mercado Fernandez

Doctoral Dissertations

As countries set climate change goals for adaptation and mitigation efforts, there are many questions regarding to how to reach these targets. These efforts will necessitate the transition of our electricity infrastructure from relying on conventional electricity generation technologies including natural gas, coal and oil, to clean energy generation with renewables. Through the three essays presented in this dissertation, we explore various pathways of development for the electricity system to reach long term climate change goals. We are interested in identifying: Is there a unique optimal development option or are there various? How do different mixes of electricity generation technologies …

Modeling Of Electrical Grid Systems To Evaluate Sustainable Electricity Generation In Pakistan, Muhammad Mustafa Amjad

Masters Theses

Pakistan has always had a history of severe energy shortfalls, which rose up to an alarming 33% in 2013. This situation was countered by investments in the energy sector through the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which were unfortunately largely based on brown fuels. Although beneficial in the short term, these investments do not bode well for the climate scenario of Pakistan, with various parts of the country already having experienced temperatures rise of 1-3°C. To ensure that the current situation doesn’t exacerbate and is tackled in a timely manner, this research aims to examine how the untapped potential of …

Three Essays On Data-Driven Optimization For Scheduling In Manufacturing And Healthcare, Ekin Koker

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays on data-driven optimization for scheduling in manufacturing and healthcare. In Chapter 1, we briefly introduce the optimization problems tackled in these essays. The first of these essays deals with machine scheduling problems. In Chapter 2, we compare the effectiveness of direct positional variables against relative positional variables computationally in a variety of machine scheduling problems and we present our results. The second essay deals with a scheduling problem in healthcare: the team primary care practice. In Chapter 3, we build upon the two-stage stochastic integer programming model introduced by Alvarez Oh (2015) to solve …

The Promise Of Vr Headsets: Validation Of A Virtual Reality Headset-Based Driving Simulator For Measuring Drivers’ Hazard Anticipation Performance, Ganesh Pai Mangalore

Masters Theses

The objective of the current study is to evaluate the use of virtual reality (VR) headsets to measure driving performance. This is desirable because they are several orders of magnitude less expensive and, if validated, could greatly extend the powers of simulation. Out of several possible measures of performance that could be considered for evaluating VR headsets, the current study specifically examines drivers’ latent hazard anticipation behavior both because it has been linked to crashes and because it has been shown to be significantly poorer in young drivers compared to their experienced counterparts in traditional driving simulators and in open …

Topology Network Optimization Of Facility Planning And Design Problems, Ravi Ratan Raj Monga

Masters Theses

The research attempts to provide a graphical theory-based approach to solve the facility layout problem. Which has generally been approached using Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP) in the past, an algebraic method. It is a very complex problem and is part of the NP-Hard optimization class, because of the nonlinear quadratic objective function and (0,1) binary variables. The research is divided into three phases which together provide an optimal facility layout, block plan solution consisting of MHS (material handling solution) projected onto the block plan. In phase one, we solve for the position of departments in a facility based on flow …

Advanced Virtual Reality Headset Based Training To Improve Young Drivers’ Latent Hazard Anticipation Ability, Ravi Agrawal

Masters Theses

Driving safety among young novice driver is one of the largest concern in the transportation domain. Many Paper-based or PC- based training program have been developed over the years to train the young novice driver to improve their driving skills (Hazard Anticipation). This training programs does help young novice driver to improve their situational awareness and so the hazard anticipation skills. But, there is one common problem with most of the currently available training programs. They are not very immersive, because such training program mostly provide plain view of the training scenario’s along with some description about the scenario and …

Forecasting The Cost Of Electricity Generated By Offshore Wind Turbines, Timothy Costa

Masters Theses

To impede the progress of climate change, many policy makers are considering avenues to decarbonize electricity production. In addition to decarbonization, policy makers must consider how the cost of electricity will impact various stakeholders, balancing cost and social benefits. Offshore wind farms have the potential to produce affordable, carbon-free electricity, but they are a relatively new technology. The relative juvenescence of offshore wind lends itself to an uncertain future, regarding production costs. In this thesis, we seek to understand cost drivers behind offshore wind electricity by analyzing historic trends in offshore wind levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) through learning curves, …

Syllabus: Introduction To Mechanical And Industrial Engineering, Erin Baker

Sustainability Education Resources

Student teams will explore engineering analysis and design under the theme of Engineering Sustainability: Energy and the Environment, incorporating economics, environmental impacts, and social concerns. ENGIN 113 is intended to introduce students to the fields of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering, and to provide students with important skills that they will need to be successful in college and the professional world. The specific course objectives are to:  Develop effective teamwork skills, including peer- and self-evaluation.  Practice critical thinking and engineering problem solving.  Take a systems approach to design, incorporating economics, environment, and social concerns  Develop information …

Classroom Exercise: Intro To Mechanical And Industrial Engineering, Erin Baker

Sustainability Education Resources

This classroom exercise was developed for Introduction to Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; Engineering Sustainability: Energy and the Environment. This is a freshman class with a class size of about 200. It is intended to get students to think critically about energy in the economy; to recognize the power of technological change; and to inspire them to work toward solving climate change.

Operational Planning In Combined Heat And Power Systems, Hariharan Gopalakrishnan

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents methodologies for operational planning in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems. The subject of experimentation is the University of Massachusetts CHP system, which is a 22 MWe/640 MBh system for a district energy application. Systems like this have complex energy flow networks due to multiple interconnected thermodynamic components like gas and steam turbines, boilers and heat recovery steam generators and also interconnection with centralized electric grids. In district energy applications, heat and power requirements vary over 24 hour periods (planning horizon) due to changing weather conditions, time-of-day factors and consumer requirements. System thermal performance is highly dependent …

Effect Of Total Awake Time On Drivers' Performance And Evaluation Of Training Intervention To Mitigate Effects Of Total Awake Time On Drivers' Performance, Abd Malek Abdul Hamid

Open Access Dissertations

Driving while sleepy, drowsy or fatigued are leading contributors to road crashes. Sleepiness, drowsiness and fatigue usually occur at the end of a prolonged period of time during which an individual has been awake. Although these factors have been heavily researched, it is not clear how one of their primary causes, a prolonged total awake time (TAT), might affect driving skills such as hazard anticipation, hazard mitigation and attention maintenance, three skills that are crucial for safe driving.

The first experiment investigated how these three driving skills are affected by prolonged TAT, and if so to what extent. Forty-eight participants …

Techno-Economic Feasibility Study Of Ammonia Plants Powered By Offshore Wind, Eric R. Morgan

Open Access Dissertations

Ammonia production with offshore wind power has the potential to transform energy and fertilizer markets within the United States. The vast offshore wind resource can be converted directly into liquid ammonia using existing technologies. The liquid ammonia can then be transported around the country via rail, truck, barge or pipeline and used as either a fertilizer or a fuel. This thesis reviews the technologies required for all-electric, wind-powered ammonia production and offers a simple design of such a system. Cost models based on the physical equipment necessary to produce ammonia with wind power are developed; offshore wind farm cost models …

Acceleration Of Cfd And Data Analysis Using Graphics Processors, Ali Khajeh Saeed

Open Access Dissertations

Graphics processing units function well as high performance computing devices for scientific computing. The non-standard processor architecture and high memory bandwidth allow graphics processing units (GPUs) to provide some of the best performance in terms of FLOPS per dollar. Recently these capabilities became accessible for general purpose computations with the CUDA programming environment on NVIDIA GPUs and ATI Stream Computing environment on ATI GPUs. Many applications in computational science are constrained by memory access speeds and can be accelerated significantly by using GPUs as the compute engine. Using graphics processing units as a compute engine gives the personal desktop computer …

The Aerodynamics And Near Wake Of An Offshore Floating Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine, Thomas Sebastian

Open Access Dissertations

Offshore floating wind turbines represent the future of wind energy. However, significant challenges must be overcome before these systems can be widely used. Because of the dynamics of offshore floating wind turbines -- surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch, and yaw -- and the resulting interactions between the rotor and generated wake, the aerodynamic analysis methods and design codes that have found wide use throughout the wind energy industry may be inadequate. Application of these techniques to offshore floating wind turbine aerodynamics may result in off-optimal designs, effectively handicapping these next-generation systems, thereby minimizing their full potential. This dissertation will demonstrate …

Development Of A Cost Minimizing Strategy To Mitigate Bird Mortalities In A Wind Farm, Karamvir Singh

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Wind is the second largest renewable energy source after solar. It is one of the fastest growing sources of electricity in the world and currently of wind energy is installed in the United States and an additional is under construction (Office of Energy and Environment Affairs, 2011). For the growth of wind electricity, one of the most prominent environmental concerns relates to the death of birds, bats and other avian species resulting from collision with turbine blades.

This thesis develops a model that provides the optimal strategy of turning the turbines off in a wind farm for certain periods to …

Analysis Of The Induction And Wake Evolution Of An Offshore Floating Wind Turbine, Thomas Sebastian, Matthew Lackner

Matthew Lackner

The degrees-of-freedom associated with offshore floating wind turbines (OFWTs) result in a more dynamic flow field. The resulting aerodynamic loads may be significantly influenced by these motions via perturbations in the evolving wake. This is of great interest in terms of OFWT design, placement and simulation. This study presents free vortex wake method (FVM) simulations of the NREL 5-MW wind turbine of a variety of platforms, operating in a range of wind speeds synthesized platform motion time series. Motion-induced wake perturbations are observed to affect induction. Transitions between windmill and propeller states are also observed.

A Numerical Study Of Droplet Formation And Behavior Using Interface Tracking Methods, Sandeep Menon

Open Access Dissertations

An adaptive remeshing algorithm has been developed for multiphase flow simulations using the moving-mesh interface tracking (MMIT) technique. The edge-swapping algorithm uses the Delaunay criterion (in 2D) and a dynamic programming technique (in 3D) to maximize the quality of mesh primitives surrounding edges in the mesh, and performs local remeshing to minimize interpolation errors. Edge bisection and contraction operations are also performed to adjust the mesh resolution around important features like fluid-interfaces, driven by a local length scale estimation algorithm that is efficient and easily parallelized. Flow-field interpolation after reconnection is achieved using a conservative, second-order accurate remapping scheme that …

The Performance Of Wind Turbine Smart Rotor Control Approaches During Extreme Loads, Matthew Lackner, Gijs A. M. Van Kuik

Matthew Lackner

Reducing the loads experienced by wind turbine rotor blades can lower the cost of energy of wind turbines. “Smart rotor control” concepts have emerged as a solution to reduce fatigue loads on wind turbines. In this approach, aerodynamic load control devices are distributed along the span of the blade, and through a combination of sensing, control, and actuation, these devices dynamically control the blade loads. While smart rotor control approaches are primarily focused on fatigue load reductions, extreme loads on the blades may also be critical in determining the lifetime of components, and the ability to reduce these loads as …

Uncertainty Analysis In Mcp-Based Wind Resource Assessment And Energy Production Estimation, Matthew Lackner, Anthony L. Rogers, James F. Manwell

Matthew Lackner

This paper presents a mathematical framework to properly account for uncertainty in wind resource assessment and wind energy production estimation. A meteorological tower based wind measurement campaign is considered exclusively, in which measurecorrelate- predict is used to estimate the long-term wind resource. The evaluation of a wind resource and the subsequent estimation of the annual energy production (AEP) is a highly uncertain process. Uncertainty arises at all points in the process, from measuring the wind speed to the uncertainty in a power curve. A proper assessment of uncertainty is critical for judging the feasibility and risk of a potential wind …