Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A Cubesat Instrument For Microgravity Particle Damper Performance Analysis, John Trevor Abel

Master's Theses

Spacecraft pointing accuracy and structural longevity requirements often necessitate auxiliary vibration dissipation mechanisms.  However, temperature sensitivity and material degradation limit the effectiveness of traditional damping techniques in space.  Robust particle damping technology offers a potential solution, driving the need for microgravity characterization.   A 1U cubesat satellite presents a low cost, low risk platform for the acquisition of data needed for this evaluation, but severely restricts available mass, volume, power and bandwidth resources.  This paper details the development of an instrument subject to these constraints that is capable of capturing high resolution frequency response measurements of highly nonlinear particle damper dynamics.

Me-Em Enewsbrief, June 2011, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Poroelastic Finite Element Analysis Of A Heterogeneous Articular Cartilage Explant Under Dynamic Compression In Abaqus, Kelsey Kiyo Kam

Master's Theses

A poroelastic finite element model of a heterogeneous articular cartilage disc was

created to examine the tissue response to low amplitude (± 2% strain), low

frequency (0.1 Hz) dynamic unconfined compression (UCC). A strong correlation

has been made between the relative fluid velocity and stimulation of

glycosaminoglycan synthesis. A contour plot of the model shows the relative fluid

velocity during compression exceeds a trigger value of 0.25 μm/s at the radial

periphery. Dynamic UCC biochemical results have also reported a higher

glycosaminoglycan content in this region versus that of day 0 specimens. Fluid

velocity was also found not to be …

Compressibility Effects Of Extended Formation Flight, Andrew Ning, Ilan Kroo

Faculty Publications

Aircraft flown in formations may realize significant reductions in induced drag by flying in regions of wake upwash. However, most transports fly at transonic speeds and compressibility effects in formation flight are not well understood. This study uses an Euler solver to analyze the inviscid aerodynamic forces and moments of transonic wing/body configurations flying in a 2-aircraft formation. We consider formations with large streamwise separation distances (10-50 wingspans) in an arrangement we term extended formation flight. Compressibility-related drag penalties in formation flight may be eliminated by slowing 2-3% below the nominal out-of-formation drag divergence Mach number, at fixed lift coefficient …

Cal Poly Human Powered Helicopter, Josiah Auer, Eric Behne, Dave Berry, Rebecca Hennings, James Koch, Ian Marquardt, Josiah Mayfield, Sean Miller

Mechanical Engineering

The following report encompasses the Cal Poly Human Powered Helicopter team’s efforts during the 2010-2011 academic year. The intention of this project is to further the knowledge of human powered helicopter design and to validate an ideal configuration through experimental tests and analysis. 

A. Background

The Sikorsky Prize offered by the American Helicopter Society has been the catalyst for many attempts at Human Powered Helicopter (HPH) flight. The requirement to win the prize is a continuous, human powered flight of more than 60 seconds that stays within a 10 meter square box and reaches an altitude greater than 3 meters …

Piedras Blancas Light Station Vista Point Improvement Plan, Larissa Heeren, Reuben Juster, Annamarie Usher, John Rossi, Nick Mitchell

Mechanical Engineering

Piedras Blancas Light station Improvement Involved the design of two separate parking lot/vista point plans as well as the creation of a concrete Iron Ranger located near the gift shop on site.

Power Steering Concept, Anthony N. Escobedo, William Ryan Flores, Russell Haverstock

Mechanical Engineering

This senior project was created in conjunction with Edwards Lifesciences. This project was created under an non-disclosure agreement and will not be submitted to any outside sources. The submitted title page will act as proof of completion.

The Effect Of On-Line Videos On Learner Outcomes In A Mechanics Of Materials Course, Jeffery S. Thomas, Richard H. Hall, Timothy A. Philpot, Douglas R. Carroll

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Mechanics of Materials course is one of the core engineering courses included in the curriculum of mechanical, civil, mining, petroleum, marine, aeronautical, and several other engineering disciplines. As a core course, the Mechanics of Materials course typically has large enrollment. Initiatives aimed at improving the effectiveness of the engineering core courses can have a major impact on engineering education by virtue of the large number of students affected.

Computers afford opportunities for creative instructional activities that are not possible in the traditional lecture-and-textbook class format. The study described in this paper examines the effectiveness of asynchronous online video that …

Modeling Of Non-Uniform Hydrodynamics And Catalytic Reaction In A Solids-Laden Riser, Rajeshkumar Patel

Dissertations

The riser reactors are widely used in a variety of industrial applications such as polymerization, coal combustion and petroleum refinery because of the strong mixing of gas and solids that yields high heat and mass transfer rates, and reaction rates. In a Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) process, the performance of riser reactor is strongly dependent on the interaction between the fluid and catalysts, since the reaction takes place on the active surface of the catalysts. This is why, the local coupling between hydrodynamics and reaction kinetics is critical to the development of riser reaction models. The local gas-solids flow structure …

A Virtual Supply Airflow Rate Meter In Rooftop Air Conditioning Units, Daihong Yu

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Virtual sensing technology aims to estimate difficult to measure, expensive, or new quantities by using multifarious mathematical models along with non-invasive and low-cost measurements. Such embedded intelligence is a key to improving the performance of building systems in terms of functionality, safety, energy efficiency, environmental impacts, and costs. Considering the progress that has been achieved over many various fields (e.g., process controls, automobiles, avionics, autonomous robots, telemedicine) within the last two decades, numerous intelligent features have been incorporated and enabled that would otherwise not be possible or economical.

To identify the potential opportunities and research/development needs of virtual sensing technology …

The Passive Load-Bearing Capacity Of The Human Lumbar Spine In The Neutral Standing Posture, Shaun B. Jeffs

Theses and Dissertations

The human lumbar spine has been shown to support compressive loads of 1000 N in standing and walking, and up to many thousands of Newtons in strenuous activities such as lifting. The literature presents a number of biomechanical models that seek to replicate the load-carrying capacity of the spine while adhering to physiological constraints. While many of these models provide invaluable insights into the mechanisms governing spinal stability, there is a nearly universal disregard for the magnitude of the muscle forces required in the neutral standing posture. In compliance with constraints on metabolic cost and muscle fatigue, muscle activations in …

Soap Bubbles And Solid Spheres: Collisions And Interactions, Joshua A. Bryson

Theses and Dissertations

Under the right conditions, a moving sphere may successfully enter, and leave, a soap bubble without rupturing that bubble. The physics behind this phenomena are not well understood, nor the limiting factors (such as sphere size, speed, etc.). This work, investigating this phenomenon using high speed photography, has produced several results which are presented. First, several distinct regimes, noted while photographing the interactions between the spheres and the bubbles, are classified and discussed. Next a probabilistic examination of the soap bubbles rupture by the moving spheres is presented. Then a conjecture for the limiting sphere sizes and speeds is presented. …

Control System For Mass Spectrometer, Jian Xu

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Mass spectrometry (MS) is a very popular analytical methodology that measures the mass of ions using a mass spectrometer. It is widely used for determining masses of chemicals, the elemental composition of a sample and molecule structure. The process of mass spectrometry normally consists of ionizing chemical compounds to ions and measuring their ratios of mass to charge for analysis.

MS instruments consist of three modules: Ionization, Analysis and detection. A LabVIEW system was developed to control the three modules of a mass spectrometer, giving the required signals in a right sequence. Experiments can be carried out by using the …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2011, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2011, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

New Construction Builders Challenge: Sealed Attic And High Efficiency Hvac In Central Florida: A Year In Review Monitored Prototypes - Springwater Homes, Florida Solar Energy Center, Carlos Colon

FSEC Energy Research Center®

In 2010 the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), with funding from the Building America program, was involved with a new Builders Challenge builder located in Rockledge, Florida -- Springwater Homes (see figure 1). The newly constructed home in March 2010, features a sealed attic with R-27 roof deck insulation (shown in figure 2). Selection of the HVAC system, an important aspect to achieve high efficiency levels in buildings, ended with one of the highest residential equipment systems available in the U.S., the Nutone IQ Drive (SEER 21). The house was confirmed with a HERS index of 53 using the EnergyGauge …

Classification Of Marine Vessels In A Littoral Environment Using A Novel Training Database, Robert Andrew Lister

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

Research into object classification has led to the creation of hundreds of databases for use as training sets in object classification algorithms. Datasets made up of thousands of cars, people, boats, faces and everyday objects exist for general classification techniques. However, no commercially available database exists for use with detailed classification and categorization of marine vessels commonly found in littoral environments. This research seeks to fill this void and is the combination of a multi-stage research endeavor designed to provide the missing marine vessel ontology. The first of the two stages performed to date introduces a novel training database called …

How Much Do U.S. University Students Know, And Want To Know, About Sustainability And Green Building? The Findings Of A Survey, And Possible Implications For General Elective Curricula., Jeremy R. Farner

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Using the survey approach, this investigation examined the attitudes and interest of college students at two universities in different geographic locations within the United States.  Approximately 24,000 students from all disciplines and majors at Weber State University (WSU) in Utah, and 4,000 at Purdue University in Indiana, were invited to participate in a study to determine current knowledge, familiarity, and interest in topics within the sustainability and Green Building educational arena. The goal of this study was to determine what students already know, would like to know, and how much interest there would be in developing …

Capillary Climb Dynamics In The Limits Of Prevailing Capillary And Gravity Force, B. Bijeljic, B. Markicevic, Homayun K. Navaz

Mechanical Engineering Publications

The dynamics of capillary climb of a wetting liquid into a porous medium that is opposed by gravity force is studied numerically. We use the capillary network model, in which an actual porous medium is represented as a network of pores and throats, each following a predefined size distribution function. The liquid potential in the pores along the liquid interface within the network is calculated as a result of capillary and gravity forces. The solution is general, and accounts for changes in the climbing height and climbing velocity. The numerical results for the capillary climb reveal that there are at …

Dynamics Of A Partially Fluid-Filled Sphere, Jeff Hendricks, Taylor W. Killian, Robert A. Klaus, Nick Smith, Tadd T. Truscott

Faculty Publications

We introduce a study on the slosh dynamics of a partially filled elastic sphere. Currently the physical design of fluid-filled containers utilizes clever construction and machinery to mitigate sloshing motions. There are numerous cases that have been observed but we focus on the impact of a sphere under free fall with an initially undisturbed free surface. The study focuses on measurement and simulation of the force distribution between the fluid and the sphere through the use of high-speed imaging and finite element analysis. Using the cavity shape data, a potential flow numerical model is developed that predicts the unsteady forces. …