Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Design Principles And Preliminary Actuation Approaches For Novel Multiple-Layer Lamina Emergent Mechanisms, Paul Shumway Gollnick

Theses and Dissertations

Multiple-layer Lamina Emergent Mechanisms (MLEMs) are mechanisms made from multiple sheets (lamina) of material with motion that emerges out of the fabrication plane. This study has shown that understanding how layers are used in existing products and in nature provides insight into how MLEMs can also use layers to achieve certain tasks. The multi-layered nature of MLEMs and the interactions between these layers are what enhance the capabilities of MLEMs and allow them to better meet design objectives. Layer separation is one objective for which MLEMs are well-suited. Layer separation can have a variety of applications and there are a …

Florida Weatherization Training - Quarterly Report (July 2010 - September 2010), Florida Solar Energy Center, Neil Moyer

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The weatherization training for the State of Florida Dept of Community Affairs continues at the Florida Solar Energy Center's Training Facility. Progress for the fifth three months of the contract included minor course refinement of presentation materials and handouts as the result of the June 2010 updates to the P & G . Four 1-day IR classes were completed (45 students).

Search Pattern Generation And Path Management For Search Over Rough Terrain With A Small Uav, Jacob L. Bishop

Theses and Dissertations

Search operations can be described by the interaction between three entities: the target, the sensor, and the environment. Past treatments of the search problem have focused primarily on the interaction between the sensor and the target. The effects that the environment has on the target and sensor have been greatly simplified or ignored completely. The wilderness search and rescue scenario is one case in which these interactions cannot be safely ignored. Using the wilderness search and rescue problem as our motivating example, we develop an algorithm for planning search paths for a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over rough terrain …

Reliability Estimation Of Complex Numerical Problems Using Modified Conditional Expectation Method, Christopher D. Eamon, Bulakorn Charumas

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research Publications

A simulation-based structural reliability analysis method is presented. It is intended as an alternate approach to estimate reliability for problems for which most-probable point of failure methods fail and when computational resources are limited. The proposed method combines conditional expectation and estimating the PDF or CDF of a selected portion of the limit state. In the proposed approach, complex limit state functions are simplified to two random variable problems. The success of the simplification depends on the quality of the CDF estimate. Results indicate that the method may provide accurate and efficient solutions for some difficult reliability problems.

Auxiliary State Variables For Rotor Crack Detection, Zbigniew Kulesza, Jerzy T. Sawicki

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

In the present study, a new model-based method for rotor crack detection and crack location is proposed. The finiteelement model of the rotor-bearing system accounts for the breathing mechanism of the crack. The model of the rotor system is augmented with an auxiliary single-degree-of-freedom oscillator. The observer is designed and the estimates of its two auxiliary state variables are proposed as crack indicators. The crack location along the shaft is determined by designing a set of observers, which calculate the values of these indicators for different possible crack locations along the shaft. The proposed method is validated numerically and the …

Longitudinal Sex Differences During Landing In Knee Abduction In Young Athletes, Kevin R. Ford, Robert Shapiro, Gregory D. Meyer, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert, Timothy E. Hewett

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Purpose—

The objective of this study was to determine if biomechanical and neuromuscular risk factors related to abnormal movement patterns increased in females, but not males, during the adolescent growth spurt.

Methods—

315 subjects participated in two testing sessions approximately one year apart. Male and female subjects were classified based on their maturation status as pubertal or post-pubertal.Three trials of a drop vertical jump (DVJ) were collected. Maximum knee abduction angle and external moments were calculated during the DVJ deceleration phase using a 3D motion analysis system. Changes in knee abduction from the first to second year were compared among …

Motorcycle Data Acquisition System, Jonathan Luke Harmse

Biomedical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Electromagnetic Field Calculations For Microlens Optical Systems, Jian Wang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Microlenses are becoming more widely used in modern optical equipment. When the microlens diameter is comparable with the incident electromagnetic illumination wavelength, diffraction effects through the microlens aperture dominate and significantly affect the microlens optical properties leading to differences from that predicted by ordinary geometrical optics theory. In this work, the continuous-profile symmetrical biconvex microlens is selected for investigation. Its optical properties, with both monochromatic plane wave and TEM00 mode Gaussian beam illumination, are studied using the full-field Separation-of-Variables method (SVM) in the oblate spheroidal coordinate system by calculating the electromagnetic field distributions inside of and adjacent to the microlens. …

2010 (Fall) Ensi Informer Magazine, Morehead State University. Engineering Sciences Department

ENSI Informer Magazine Archive

The ENSI Informer Magazine published in the fall of 2010.

A Novel Piezoelectric Device With Dual Functions Of Studying Biological Soft Tissues, Avin A. Jamadagni

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis presents the design of a novel piezoelectric device with dual functions of studying soft biological tissues. The device consists of a central circular plate and a set of flexural beams. The flexural beams are partially covered with piezoelectric film for integrated transduction. It can function as a force sensor for measuring the mechanical behavior of a tissue sample and a load applier for mimicking physiological loads experienced by the tissue sample in vivo, while the mechanical behavior can be visually observed under a microscope simultaneously. By combining the classic theories in solid mechanics and piezoelectricity, the performance of …

Methodology To Quantify Vertical Accelerations Of Planing Craft In Irregular Waves, Jennifer Suzanne Grimsley

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Planing craft operating in waves at high speeds can experience high, repetitive vertical accelerations that are random and nonlinear in relation to the sea condition. A proper understanding of vertical accelerations is critical to meet statistically based criteria for structural design, habitability, and equipment selection. Historically, it was assumed that planing craft vertical accelerations fit the Exponential distribution, and design methods adopted this conclusion. However, several published papers have raised doubts regarding the accuracy and validity of this Exponential distribution assumption.

The statistical behavior of planing craft vertical accelerations are examined for the Parent and Peak data sets from twenty-eight …

Prediction Of Shock Diamonds And Mach Disk In An Under-Expanded Air Jet, Praveen D. Malali

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The present study involves performing simulations, using the commercially available CFD code Fluent, to obtain under-expanded jet flow structures for different values of nozzle pressure ratio (NPR). A fluid flow domain comprised of a converging nozzle attached to a plenum chamber is discretized, using triangular cells, in the pre-processing software Gambit, companion software to Fluent. The test of grid independence is carried out by performing simulations for NPR value of 10 using three discretized flow domains, referred to as a mesh or a grid, with varying cell numbers. Two models, namely the inviscid compressible flow model, employing Euler equations, and …

Freight Transportation Analysis Comparison Of Short Sea Shipping To Conventional Transportation Modes, Vishwesh Vilas Parkhi

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Pollution due to transportation is one of the biggest concerns today. Freight transportation plays a significant role in this situation. Pollution can be reduced by minimizing the use of transport fuel. This can be achieved by selecting the most economical transport mode for long voyages for which fuel cost is one of the major costs. The model developed in this research helps in comparing the transport modes by evaluating cost per ton-mile. The three transportation modes of trucks, trains and Ro-Ro shipping vessels are considered in the model with very detailed costs associated with them. The major objective of this …

Engineering Design And Development, David Kennedy

Conference Papers

Combining Industrial and Functional Design methodologies for the development of new products and systems requires a broad understanding of human behaviour and industrial activities. The requirements of international standards, protection of the environment and the ability to make a profit on sales requires a sound attitude and approach to succeed, especially in current economic conditions. This highlights the importance of good business and management strategy that must be dynamic to meet the changing needs of the market. Competitiveness depends largely upon advances in the fields of design and Innovation, cutting edge research and new advances over a broad range of …

Development Of Sustainability Indicators For Products And Processes, Sundeep Bodapati

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Significant increase in industrialization is a leading cause for the depletion of global resources and changes in the earth's atmosphere due to global warming. There has been a major concern for the manufacturing industry to deal with the above problems and this had led the researchers to focus on the area of sustainability. Sustainable development aims for the future, which is characterized by the interaction of the economic, environment and society. To enable the manufacturing companies to measure sustainability performance, developing the metrics for sustainability is critical. The purpose of this thesis is to review the indicators published in the …

Turbulence Measurement With Coherent Doppler Sonar, Jeremy Dillon

Link Foundation Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship Reports

The ocean has been described as Earth's "fi nal frontier" in a vision statement on ocean exploration (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2000). The search for new insight is motivated by the fact that our environmental and economic security depends critically on the ocean and the freshwater bodies that drain into it. As the vast majority of the ocean is unknown and unexplored, there is great potential for scientifi c discovery beneath the sea surface (McNutt, 2002). The development of remote and in situ sensors forms a cornerstone of this vision for exploring ocean dynamics at new scales.

Opportunities For Energy Conservation And Improved Comfort From Wind Washing Retrofits In Two-Story Homes - Part I, Florida Solar Energy Center, Charles Withers, Jr.

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Wind washing is a general term referring to diminished thermal control caused by air movement over or through a thermal barrier. The primary focus of this paper is towards a specific type of wind washing where wind can push attic air into the floor cavity between first and second stories of the home through ineffective (or missing) air barriers separating attic space from the floor cavity. A second type of wind washing studied in this project involved insulation batts on knee walls where space between the batts and the wall board allowed air movement against the gypsum wall board. During …

Opportunities For Energy Conservation And Improved Comfort From Wind Washing Retrofits In Two-Story Homes - Part Ii, Florida Solar Energy Center, Charles Withers, Jr.

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Wind washing is a general term referring to diminished thermal control caused by air movement partially or completely bypassing the thermal barrier. The primary focus of this paper relates to a specific type of wind washing where wind can push attic air into the floor cavity between first and second stories of the home through ineffective (or missing) air barriers separating attic space from the floor cavity. A second type of wind washing studied in this project involves insulation batts on knee walls where space between the batts and the wall board allow air movement against the gypsum wall board. …

Affiliate Steps Toward Building Energy Star Homes, Florida Solar Energy Center, Janet Mcilvaine

FSEC Energy Research Center®

To certify a home as an Energy Star, a builder works with a RESNET certified home energy rater to evaluate the home with respect to criteria required by the Energy Star program. The following steps will help Habitat affiliates navigate the path toward building Energy Star homes.

Cutting Tool Insert Having Internal Microduct For Coolant, William J. Endres

Michigan Tech Patents

A cutting tool insert includes: a body defining a rake face, a flank face, and a cutting edge at an intersection of the rake and flank faces; and a cooling microduct within the body. A portion of the microduct extends along the cutting edge not more than 0.5 millimeter from the rake face, and not more than 0.5 millimeter from the flank face. The microduct has a cross-sectional area of not more than 1.0 square millimeter. The microduct is adapted to permit the flow of a coolant therethrough to transfer heat away from the cutting edge and extend the useful …