Computer-Aided Engineering and Design Commons^™

Robot Rodeo, Daniel Rickers, Tyler Vaughn, Vinayak Sharath, Berent Baysal, Promit Das Gupta

Mechanical Engineering

This document outlines the Final Design Review (FDR) for an autonomous robot developed in response to the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Ship Maintenance Robot Rodeo Challenge. Through extensive analysis, we selected a design concept, built a verification prototype, and tested the prototype in the NSWC Robot Rodeo Competition. The design overview portion of this report will present the details of our design while explaining how it will function. Next, is our implementation section, which provides evidence about our procurement, manufacturing, and assembly of our product. Our design verification follows and explains the tests that we conducted on the robot …

Scitechatorium Exhibit, Adam Khan, Cole Busch, Logan Femling, Alan Onuma

Mechanical Engineering

This document outlines the final stages of development and analysis of our interactive children’s exhibit for the Bellevue-Santa Fe Charter School’s SciTechatorium. We will showcase the final form of our ball and track display, giving a detailed look at each component and subsystem.

To describe how our final prototype will be built we have included a detailed manufacturing summary for our design. Our models have been designed with manufacturability in mind, and we have outlined which processes were used to produce all our parts.

There are also detailed descriptions of testing that were conducted to verify the performance of the …

Supermileage Competition: Vehicle Chassis, Enrico Miguel Sangalang, Walter Oppelt, Adam Ponce, Vincent Corella

Mechanical Engineering

The Supermileage Urban Concept Vehicle Chassis Project was proposed by the Cal Poly Supermileage club. The goal of this project is to deliver a fully assembled vehicle chassis by the end of the 2023-2024 school year to be used by the club in the 2025 Shell Eco-Marathon competition. The competition requires a four-wheeled vehicle to comply with various requirements outlined in the Shell Eco-Marathon rulebook, such as dimensions and some safety requirements. The team selected a backbone-style chassis as the design direction. This design consists of a main structural beam that supports all other chassis and vehicle components. This main …

Impact Force Helmet Device For Concussion Monitoring, Patrice Mulligan, Karina Mealey, Zack Borthwick, Benjamin Fick

General Engineering

To track head trauma in football, our device is placed inside a football helmet to measure both linear and gyroscopic (rotational) accelerations. These measurements are taken using an ADXL375 linear accelerometer and an LSM6DSOX accelerometer and gyroscope. The data from these sensors is processed and transmitted wirelessly by a SparkFun Thing Plus microcontroller to another SparkFun Thing Plus microcontroller connected to a laptop on the sidelines. Our program on the laptop stores the acceleration impact data into a .csv file for each player. If a likely concussive impact is detected, the program displays a popup warning. Testing results were promising …

3d-Printed Remote Controlled Aircraft, Sebastian Bessoudo, Jose Ramirez, Manny Ruiz, Andrew Edwards

Mechanical Engineering

The Senior Project for the 3D Printed Aircraft presents a compelling challenge to the team: design and fabricate an aircraft for the Cal State LA 3D-Printed Fixed-Wing Aircraft Competition, comprising three distinct events: Flight, Design, and Simulation. The objective of the flight competition is to achieve the longest flight duration, while the design event emphasizes innovation and originality. In the Simulation contest, our aircraft's CAD model undergoes Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis to assess its aerodynamic performance. These competitions are slated for May 2024.

While building the aircraft has its limitations due to the source of our construction being only 3D …

Miniature Train Engine, Jason Patrick Lacson Del Castillo, Renato Andrew Dilauro, Sophia Theresa Tiu, Robert John Pallares Iii

Mechanical Engineering

This report details the redesign of the Mini Train Prop for the SLO Civic Ballet’s The Nutcracker, aiming to create a lighter, more user-friendly, and easily maneuverable train. The Final Design Review (FDR) includes the design process, manufacturing plan, and justifications for decisions made. Key improvements are reducing the train's weight, automating the fake wheels, and enhancing maneuverability with a neutral pin and lever system. In this report we detail the significant changes since the Critical Design Review (CDR). The implementation covers procurement, manufacturing, and assembly, while design verification ensures compliance with cost, weight, turn radius, and structural integrity specifications. …

A Computational Investigation Of Wood Selection For Acoustic Guitar, Jonah Osterhus

Senior Honors Theses

The acoustic guitar is a stringed instrument, often made of wood, that transduces vibrational energy of steel strings into coupled vibrations of the wood and acoustic pressure waves in the air. Variations in wood selection and instrument geometry have been shown to affect the timbre of the acoustic guitar. Computational methods were utilized to investigate the impact of material properties on acoustic performance. Sitka spruce was deemed the most suitable wood for guitar soundboards due to its acoustic characteristics, strength, and uniform aesthetic. Mahogany was deemed to be the best wood for the back and sides of the guitar body …

Comparative Analysis Of Water-Induced Response In 3d-Printed Scf/Abs Composites Under Controlled Diffusion, Samiul Alam, Md Tareq Hassan, Joshua Merrell, Juhyeong Lee

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing of fiber-reinforced composites (FRCs) has garnered significant interests for its versatility in creating intricate parts and rapid prototyping due to cost-effectiveness. Although short fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites are challenging to manufacture, their mechanical properties are enhanced. However, void formation during printing is a key issue, impacting mechanical properties and facilitating water ingress, affecting long-term durability. This work studies water diffusion characteristics and the associated hydro-aging of 3Dprinted short carbon fiber (SCF)/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) composites with controlled water diffusion. Effects of material type (ABS and SCF/ABS), 3D printing path (horizontal and vertical filament orientation), and …

Autonomous Bottling And Packaging System - Mechanical Bottling Portion, Kathryn Gray

Honors College Theses

This report details the complete mechanical design of an autonomous bottling automation system. This system is fully integrated with a bottling and packaging system. The scope of the full project is to successfully bottle and cap twelve small bottles (approximately 68 cm3) in under three minutes and thirty seconds. The bottles shall be filled with an “electrolyte” and water mixture, and the mixture should be fully mixed. To complete this task, two tanks will dispense liquid (one electrolyte, and one water) into the bottles. Each tank shall have a measuring chamber, that will fill with the correct amount of volume …

The Analysis Of Mechanical Exfoliation Of Graphene For Various Fabrication And Automation Techniques, Lance Yarbrough

Physics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mechanical Exfoliation

Blade Design And Validation Of Hydrokinetic Turbine To Harvest Water Current Energy, Setare Sadeqi

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The innovative aspect of this research lies in the careful integration of cutting-edge technologies throughout the entire process of designing, fabricating, and testing the carbon fiber propeller for the 3-bladed horizontal axis ocean current turbine (OCT). SolidWorks software played a pivotal role in the initial design phase, enabling a meticulous and precise modeling of the propeller's geometry. The utilization of SolidWorks allowed for a detailed exploration of various design parameters, ensuring that the propeller's structure and form were optimized for performance in ocean current conditions. Moving beyond the realm of virtual design, the choice of carbon fiber as the fabrication …

Towing Tank Trials Of Hydrokinetic Turbine Scale Model To Support Marine Energy System Verification, Shahab Rouhi

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In response to the escalating demand for sustainable energy solutions and the critical reevaluation of conventional fossil fuels due to environmental concerns, this dissertation embarks on a comprehensive exploration of hydrokinetic energy as a promising alternative. The study delves into the underexplored domain of hydrokinetic energy, leveraging innovative methodologies for effective utilization and harnessing, particularly through the development and investigation of hydrokinetic turbines.

In the realm of hydrokinetic energy conversion, our research has exclusively concentrated on horizontal-axis turbines, distinct from other turbine configurations. Noteworthy is the adaptation of a conventional horizontal-axis wind turbine for water currents, revealing enhanced performance through …

Cam And Design For Manufacturing: Developing A Project-Based Learning Course, Stephen Pierson

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

To effectively serve student career success, mechanical engineering programs must teach students how to account for manufacturing considerations in design. Despite this, manufacturing education is a glaring area of need in current engineering curricula. In fact, basic manufacturing knowledge is one of the only hard skills consistently ranked as one of the greatest weaknesses of mechanical engineering hires in surveys of industrial employers over the last few decades. Without radically changing departmental curriculum to include more emphasis on design-build projects, one solution to combat this is to incubate a lab course in mechanical engineering programs in which undergraduates would practice …

Design And Fabrication Of A Carbon Fiber Wheel For The Husker Motorsports Club, Benjamin Bashtovoi, Jordan Chapin, Michael Pineda, Caden Lind, Thomas Crum

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Every year, the Husker Motorsports team participates in a Formula SAE competition that challenges students to design and manufacture a Formula-style vehicle to compete against colleges from around the world. The Husker Motorsports club has sponsored this senior capstone project to improve the vehicle’s performance by reducing unsprung mass. Unsprung mass reduction has numerous benefits on vehicle dynamics, including improved acceleration, handling, and braking. To achieve these performance improvements, the team developed carbon-fiber composite wheels that weigh less than the current wheel solution and provide better rigidity. The team designed and modeled the wheel according to the 2023-2024 competition car …

The Analysis Of Mechanical Exfoliation Of Graphene For Various Fabrication And Automation Techniques, Lance Yarbrough

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mechanical Exfoliation of Graphene is an often-overlooked portion of the fabrication of quantum devices, and to create more devices quickly, optimizing this process to generate better flakes is critical. In addition, it would be valuable to simulate test pulls quickly, to gain insight on flake quality of various materials and exfoliation conditions. Physical pulls of graphene at various temperatures, pull forces, and pull repetitions were analyzed and compared to the results of ANSYS simulations, solved for similar results. Using ANSYS’ ability to predict trends in exfoliations, flake thickness and coverage using stress and deflection analyses were investigated. Generally, both strongly …

Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of Air-Cooled Heat Sinks, Ethan Weems

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Lightweight and affordable cooling capabilities are critical as the physical scale of electronics continues to decrease. Air-cooled heat sinks that dissipate heat from electronic components to the surrounding air are excellent candidates to fill this role. While plate-fin and pin-fin heat sinks have been implemented extensively for electronic cooling, recent advances in additive manufacturing enable the fabrication of more complex structures. In this undergraduate Honors thesis, a means by which to generate novel heat sink geometries is presented. To that end, an experimental characterization facility is developed to evaluate existing traditional heat sinks. The heat transfer performance of the heat …

Digital Twin In Military Ground Vehicles: Design And Predictive Maintenance, Conner W. Eddy

All Theses

Digital twin technology builds upon virtual engineering models, computer simulation, and real-time field data streaming to enable next-generation designs and predictive maintenance. A digital twin is a computer-based high-fidelity collection of models that predicts the performance of dynamic systems per operating cycles, input feature parameters, and data communication from a physical plant. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is growing in importance and is central to virtual design processes where the digital twin toolset fits into this emerging architecture. The product design process can be advanced using digital twin resources by eliminating the need for, and cost from, continual physical prototyping, reliability …

Experimental And Numerical Analysis Of Laminar And Transitional Flow Through Annular Corrugated Pipes, Joseph Russell Sargent

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents studies on pressure loss through annular corrugated pipes to determine a friction factor coefficient using nitrogen. Ten different corrugated pipes’ geometries were evaluated via testing and experimentation. The ratio of corrugation height to inner diameter varied from 0.233 to 0.333 and the ratio of corrugation pitch to inner diameter varied from 0.181 to 0.446. Nitrogen flow rates between 0.25 to 94.4 standard liters per minute were used, resulting in Reynolds numbers, based on the corrugated pipe inner diameter, from 100 to 23,000. The experimental set-up was validated using smooth-pipe pressure loss measurements and the derived friction factor …

A Manufacturing-To-Response Pathway For Manufacturing Optimization Of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Structures, Madhura Limaye

All Dissertations

Over the past decade, there has been an increased adoption of thermoplastic and thermoset based continuous carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites for structural applications in several industries. Among the different manufacturing methods, thermoforming process for thermoplastic based continuous CFRP’s offer a major advantage in reducing cycle times for large scale productions. Similarly, out-of-autoclave curing process for thermoset based continuous CFRP’s using heated tooling enables production of large composite structures. However, these manufacturing processes can have a significant impact on the structural performance of parts by inducing undesirable effects. These effects include inhomogeneous fiber orientations, thickness variations, and residual stresses …

Comparison Of Meteorological Drought Indices In Tanzania Using The Meteorological Drought Monitoring Software Package, Paul Ts Limbu

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Low precipitation, substantial evaporation, and an unequal distribution of precipitation throughout the area are the characteristics of drought, a climatic abnormality. This study used the Meteorological Drought Monitoring (MDM) software and monthly rainfall data from the Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) to examine and compare the Deciles Index (DI), Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI), Percent of Normal Index (PNI), Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI), Z-Score Index (ZSI), China-Z Index (CZI), and Modified China-Z Index (MCZI) for drought monitoring in Tanzania from 1988 to 2017. It was found that ZSI represented the dry years better than other indices, followed by DI, RAI, PNI, SPI, …