Other Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Experimental Characterization Of Hydraulic System Sound, Ben Kolb

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The purpose of this research was to establish test methods for characterizing the interaction between the hydraulic fluid and hydraulic hose at clipping points in mobile heavy equipment hydraulic systems. A simple hydraulic circuit test bench was developed and the laboratory axial piston pump was characterized using ISO 10767-1. A direct relationship between the fluidborne noise and structureborne noise present at each hose clip location was observed for a specific operating condition using operating deflection shapes and structureborne noise measurements. This result shows that optimal hose clip placement can be a viable solution to structureborne noise reduction. Additionally, a modal …

Development Of A Fused Deposition 3d Printed Buoy And Method For Quantifying Wave Tank Reflections, Samantha G. Swartzmiller

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Testing model scale prototypes is integral to the development of wave energy converter (WEC) technology. Model scale WECs are tested in wave tanks where they are subjected to repeatable wave fields. Their presence in water creates radiated waves that eventually reflect off tank walls disrupting the intended wave field. Fabrication of model scale WECs is another developing aspect of tank testing. Often model WECs are built of foam. Additive manufacturing is a promising alternative although the most common method, fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing, does not typically produce waterproof parts. The goals of this work were 1) develop a …

Center Lift Trailer Support Structure, Carson Corle, Anthony M. Hayes, Bryan A. Truax

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Center lift pontoon trailers have a high center of gravity, therefore have the potential for the pontoon and trailer to tip while cornering. There is need for a component to stabilize the pontoon on the trailer while towing. Different concepts of a support system were sketched to determine the best option. The characteristics that were deemed important for the support system were narrowed down to determine the best concept and the connections of the best design were sketched in greater detail. The forces that the support system would have to withstand to stabilize the pontoon on the trailer were calculated. …

Fluid Power Vehicle Competition, Madison Graham, Wayne Ritchie, Emily Dicks, Ariana Cupello

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Our senior design project for the Honors College and the Department of Mechanical Engineering was to design a fluid powered vehicle. Our design was tested in an official capacity against other universities’ vehicles at the Fluid Powered Vehicle Challenge hosted and funded by the National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) and its industry partners. This competition had six different evaluations for our vehicle design; three race events, midway presentation, final presentation, and safety inspection. The three different race events were the sprint race, the efficiency race, and the endurance race. The sprint race was a 475 feet speed test, the efficiency …

Laser Ablation Of Aluminum, Erika Nosal, Zachary Rahe, Arthur Pamboukis

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The laser ablation of metal carries relevance in a variety of engineering industries. This includes, but is not limited to, processes such as micromachining, or implementation on aircraft weaponry. The latter application is the reasoning for why aluminum is the specific metal in consideration, as it is commonly used for the construction of aircraft components.

The scope of this project was to optimize the energy dispersed through laser ablation on aluminum by mathematical modeling. The transient conduction process in the aluminum was modeled using a 2-dimensional cylindrical coordinate system in both MATLAB and ANSYS/Fluent. These models were adopted to simulate …

Nebraska Summary: S1180 Fendt 939, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Nebraska Summary: S1160 John Deere 6195m, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Test 2215: Kubota M7-152, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Test 2211: John Deere 5125ml, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Test 2210: John Deere 5090e, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Test 2209a: New Holland Wormaster 70, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Hydro-Aeroponic Design, Megan J. Doll, Nathan J. Boring, Meredith B. Taylor, Chancelor L. Sunkle

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

“Aeroponics” is a plant cultivation technique where roots hang suspended in the air while the nutrient solution is delivered in the form of a fine mist. NASA has done experiments in space and found out that plants grow very well with aeroponic technology. However, “Hydroponics” is the most preferred method, where plants are grown in a non-soil medium, and mostly in nutrient liquid that flows through rectangular channels. There are advantages and disadvantages to each system. With the intention of combining the efficiency of aeroponics and the compactness of hydroponics, a hydro-aeroponic system was created to grow spinach and lettuce. …

Expendable 3d Printed Rescue Drone, Matthew Chapman, Nathan Knutty, Matthew Chapman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project team designed a 3D printed, expendable drone capable of flying for 80 minutes with a 5 lb payload in order to deliver rescue supplies to individuals in distress.

Recumbent Bicycle Balancing Aid, James Hager

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For our senior design project, our team will be consulting to create a balancing aid system intended for the recumbent bicycle shown below in Figure 1. The owner of the bicycle is Robert Henderson, a former United States Navy sailor from Northeast Ohio who picked up biking and skiing while he was stationed in Maine in the late 80’s. While there, he took to the mountains on the rugged terrain and brought this passion of biking back home to share with his wife, Johanna once he completed his service to his country. Biking became an integral part of the …

Interlaminar Damage Detection In Composite Materials, Hariharan Rangarajan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Using ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) for high-temperature applications in jet engines increases durability and reduces weight and cooling requirements resulting in improved efficiency and fuel savings. Understanding, detecting, and monitoring different types of damage is essential to achieve optimal performance of CMC components. The Direct Current Potential Drop (DCPD) method is a non-destructive technique of estimating damage in composite materials.

DCPD technique works by measuring nodal potential differences when current is flown through the material. Direct current spreading in different woven and laminate composites is modeled to follow a ladder resistor network in which the nodal voltages decrease exponentially as …

Compositional Analysis Of Cerium And Cesium In Rapid Setting Cement As An Immobilization Agent For Nuclear Waste, Riyadh M. Motny

Theses and Dissertations

A feasibility of rapid setting cement (RSC) as an agent of immobilization for certain elements such as fission products or radioactive materials was explored. Cerium (Ce) and cesium (Cs) have been selected as a surrogate for U and/or Pu and fission products, respectively, in this study in three phases. In Phase I, RSC was evaluated for physical properties (e.g., porosity, density, pH values, etc.) using two groups methods—the cement powder at different concentrations of Ce (2 – 10 wt%) with deionized water (DIW) and artificial seawater (ASW). The results showed that the final setting time and compressive strength of RSC …

Resonant Acoustic Wave Assisted Spin-Transfer-Torque Switching Of Nanomagnets, Austin R. Roe

Theses and Dissertations

We studied the possibility of achieving an order of magnitude reduction in the energy dissipation needed to write bits in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (p-MTJs) by simulating the magnetization dynamics under a combination of resonant surface acoustic waves (r-SAW) and spin-transfer-torque (STT). The magnetization dynamics were simulated using the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation under macrospin assumption with the inclusion of thermal noise. We studied such r-SAW assisted STT switching of nanomagnets for both in-plane elliptical and circular perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) nanomagnets and show that while thermal noise affects switching probability in in-plane nanomagnets, the PMA nanomagnets are relatively robust to the …

High Strength, Deformable Nanotwinned Al–Co Alloys, S. Xue, Qiang Li, D. Y. Xie, Y. F. Zhang, Han Wang, Haiyan Wong, J. Wang, Xinghang Zhang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Aluminum (Al) alloys have been widely used in the transportation industry. However, most highstrength Al alloys to date have limited mechanical strength, on the order of a few hundred MPa, which is much lower than the flow stress of high-strength steels. In this study, we show the fabrication of nanocrystalline Al alloys with high-density growth twins enabled by a few atomic percent of Co solute. In situ uniaxial compression tests show that the flow stress of Al–Co solid solution alloys exceeds 1.5 GPa, while good work hardening capability is maintained. This study provides a new perspective on the design of …

A Sensorless Force-Feedback System For Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery, Baoliang Zhao, Carl A. Nelson

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The existing surgical robots for laparoscopic surgery offer no or limited force feedback, and there are many problems for the traditional sensor-based solutions. This paper builds a teleoperation surgical system and validates the effectiveness of sensorless force feedback. The tool-tissue interaction force at the surgical grasper tip is estimated using the driving motor’s current, and fed back to the master robot with a position-force bilateral control algorithm. The stiffness differentiation experiment and tumor detection experiment were conducted. In the stiffness differentiation experiment, 43 out of 45 pairs of ranking relationships were identified correctly, yielding a success rate of 96%. In …

Effects Of Compositional Tailoring On Drug Delivery Behaviours Of Silica Xerogel/Polymer Core-Shell Composite Nanoparticles, Wenfei Huang, Chi Pong Tsui, Chak Yin Tang, Linxia Gu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Conventional core-shell polymer nanoparticles usually exhibit a rapid release rate with their release kinetics mainly adjusted through changing composition of the polymer shells, limiting their applications for prolonged drug delivery. As a solution to these problems, silica xerogel/polymer core-shellstructured composite nanoparticles have been proposed. Different with our previous work centring on studying process variables, we here focused on investigating the effects of key compositional variables on essential properties of the composite nanoparticles. The drug release profiles (in vitro) were well interpreted by the Baker and Lonsdale model on a predicted two-stage basis. The first stage (<1 day) was well controlled from 18.6% to 45.9%; the second stage (1–14 days) was tailored in a range from 28.7 to 58.2% by changing the composition of the silica xerogel cores and polymeric shells. A substantial achievement was reducing the release rate by more than 40 times compared with that of conventional polymer nanoparticles by virtue of the silica xerogel cores. A semi-empirical model was also established in the first attempt to describe the effects of polymer concentration and drug loading capacity on the size of the composite nanoparticles. All these results indicated that the composite nanoparticles are promising candidates for prolonged drug delivery applications.