Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A Fluent Model For Particle Flow Through A Porous Particle-Heating Receiver, Jonathan Roop, Clayton Nguyen, Said Abdel-Khalik, Sheldon Jeter

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 8: Heat Transfer; pp. 220-225

Influence Of Fluid Rheology On The Piston Cylinder Oil Film Development And Pressure Distribution Considering Medium Speed Effects In Initial Engine Start Up, Chaudhri Usman, Kendrick Aung

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 9: Miscelleneous; pp. 229-235

Water Heating Options At Mcwane Science Center - Birmingham, Al, Justin Hill, Mary Clark Noble, Hessam Taherian

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 8: Heat Transfer; pp. 215-219

Some Project Manegement Challenges When Planning To Conduct Vertical Transportation Study, Magdelena Krstanoski

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 9: Miscelleneous; pp. 236-240

Design And Development Of Air Powered Engine, Shalin Shah, Nisarg Patel, Kirtan Khajanchi, Vimal Savsani

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 9: Miscelleneous; pp. 241-248

Asme Early Career Technical Journal (End Matter), Asme Ectc Coordinating Committee

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Proceedings of the ASME Early Career Technical Conference, November 1-2, 2014. School of Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; pp. 249-250

Asme Early Career Technical Journal (Conference Program), Asme Ectc Coordinating Committee

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Program of the ASME Early Career Technical Conference, November 1-2, 2014. School of Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama

An Environmentally-Friendly Design To Reduce Energy Loss By Heat Transfer Through Windows, Andrew Li

Honors Theses

With windows as main areas of energy loss in residential environments, a market exists for a product to act a removable barrier which improves heat transfer for cases of extreme temperatures in seasonal weather. Such a product would allow consumers to save money in the long run without permanently losing the use of their windows when the weather is mild and such an apparatus is not needed. This project designs such a product using an assembly of polished aluminum foil for low radiation emissivity, ABS plastic for an insulating material with low conductivity, and an aluminum glass mirror pane which …

Improving Startability And Reducing Emissions In Flexfuel Spark Ignition Direct Injection Variable Cam Timing Engine, Vaibhav S. Kale

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Experimental work and analysis was done to investigate engine startup robustness and emissions of a flex-fuel spark ignition (SI) direct injection (DI) engine. The vaporization and other characteristics of ethanol fuel blends present a challenge at engine startup. Strategies to reduce the enrichment requirements for the first engine startup cycle and emissions for the second and third fired cycle at 25°C ± 1°C engine and intake air temperature were investigated.

Research work was conducted on a single cylinder SIDI engine with gasoline and E85 fuels, to study the effect on first fired cycle of engine startup. Piston configurations that included …

Water Access And Maintenance In Karonga, Malawi, Donald A. Norris

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This report is a case study of how Mwangalala community accesses water and how that access is maintained. Mwangalala community is located in the northern tip of Karonga district in Malawi, Africa. The case study evaluates how close the community is to meeting target 10 of the Millennium Development Goals, sustainable access to safe drinking water, and evaluates the current water system through Human Centered Design’s criteria of desirability, feasibility, and viability. It also makes recommendations to improve water security in Mwangalala community.

Data was collected through two years of immersive observation, interviews with 30 families, and observing two wells …

A Study Of Acoustic Boom Generation Due To Vibro-Acoustic Coupling In Passenger Cars, Mayuresh Pathak

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This thesis aims at understanding the vibro-acoustic behavior related to vehicle boom in passenger cars. Acoustic boom in the 40 Hz frequency range is studied on a 2013 Chevrolet Cruze LTZ model. Impact testing, full vehicle structural and acoustic modal tests are first performed to understand, locate and test the boom phenomenon and the fluid-structure interaction between the vehicle structure and acoustic cavity. Later, different iterations like effect of door cavities, trunk cavity and rear seats are also tested to understand their participation. LMS Test.Lab software is used for data acquisition, processing and analysis of the test results.

Finite Element …

A Backing Device Based On An Embedded Stiffener And Retractable Insertion Tool For Thin-Film Cochlear Arrays, Radheshyam Tewari

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Intracochlear trauma from surgical insertion of bulky electrode arrays and inadequate pitch perception are areas of concern with current hand-assembled commercial cochlear implants. Parylene thin-film arrays with higher electrode densities and lower profiles are a potential solution, but lack rigidity and hence depend on manually fabricated permanently attached polyethylene terephthalate (PET) tubing based bulky backing devices. As a solution, we investigated a new backing device with two sub-systems. The first sub-system is a thin poly(lactic acid) (PLA) stiffener that will be embedded in the parylene array. The second sub-system is an attaching and detaching mechanism, utilizing a poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)-block-poly(d,l-lactide) (PVP-b-PDLLA) copolymer-based …

Development Of Confocal Imaging Techniques For Probing Interfacial Dynamics In Microscale, Gas-Liquid, Two-Phase Flow, Joseph E. Hernandez

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Micro-scale, two-phase flow is found in a variety of devices such as Lab-on-a-chip, bio-chips, micro-heat exchangers, and fuel cells. Knowledge of the fluid behavior near the dynamic gas-liquid interface is required for developing accurate predictive models. Light is distorted near a curved gas-liquid interface preventing accurate measurement of interfacial shape and internal liquid velocities. This research focused on the development of experimental methods designed to isolate and probe dynamic liquid films and measure velocity fields near a moving gas-liquid interface. A high-speed, reflectance, swept-field confocal (RSFC) imaging system was developed for imaging near curved surfaces.

Experimental studies of dynamic gas-liquid …

Use Of An Electrical Impedance Tomography Method To Detect And Track Fractures In A Gelatin Medium, Evan G. Lucas

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Electrical impedance tomography is applied to the problem of detecting, locating, and tracking fractures in ballistics gelatin. The hardware developed is intended to be physically robust and based on off-the-shelf hardware. Fractures were created in two separate ways: by shooting a .22 caliber bullet into the gelatin and by injecting saline solution into the gelatin. The .22 caliber bullet created an air gap, which was seen as an increase in resistivity. The saline solution created a fluid filled gap, which was seen as a decrease in resistivity. A double linear array was used to take data for each of the …

Thickness Measurement Of Dynamic Thin Liquid Films Generated By Plug-Annular Flow In Non-Wetting Microchannels, David C. Deisenroth

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Surface tension forces are significant at millimeter length-scales, causing profoundly different flow morphologies in microchannels than in macroscale flows. The existence and morphology of thin liquid films is particularly relevant for predicting performance and operational stability of devices containing microscale two phase flows. Analytical, computational, and experimental methods previously employed in the study of thin liquid films are discussed. Thicknesses before and after a novel film morphology, referred to as a `shock,' are measured with a novel film thickness measurement technique that uses confocal microscopy. Film thicknesses predicted by previous work are compared to experimental results. Methods for increasing the …

Density Of Amorphous Carbon By Using Density Functional Theory, Sorayot Chinkanjanarot

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Amorphous carbon has been investigated for a long time. Since it has the random orientation of carbon atoms, its density depends on the position of each carbon atom. It is important to know the density of amorphous carbon to use it for modeling advance carbon materials in the future. Two methods were used to create the initial structures of amorphous carbon. One is the random placement method by randomly locating 100 carbon atoms in a cubic lattice. Another method is the liquid-quench method by using reactive force field (ReaxFF) to rapidly decrease the system of 100 carbon atoms from the …

Understanding Chassis Inputs From The Rear Suspension Of A Snowmobile, Jamie L. Kleinendorst

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Today’s snowmobile industry faces great challenges in the field of noise & vibration. The area of main concern is the pass-by noise restriction defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) test standard J192, with a maximum sound pressure level of 78 dB(A) being required by many states and national parks. To continue meet or beat this requirement without effecting machine performance, a deeper understanding of the sound transfer paths is required. This thesis examines the transfer paths created by the tunnel, rear suspension, drive shaft, and rubber composite track, with the primary source being suspension input through the ground. …

A Proposed Return Algorithm For Elastoplastic Constitutive Relations, David A. Cooper, David L. Littlefield

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 5: Numerical Methods; pp. 121-125

Gravitational Stabilization Methods For Hydrocodes, Gerald Pekmezi, David Littlefield, Stephen Akers, Kent Danielson

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 5: Numerical Methods; pp. 150-157

Unidirectional Rotary Tendency Of A Wave-Driven Rotor, Yingchen Yang

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Ocean waves can directly drive WECs (wave energy converters) to perform two types of motion—reciprocating motion and unidirectional rotary motion. In general, the efficiency of a reciprocating WEC is strongly wave-frequency dependent, whereas the efficiency of a rotary WEC can be somewhat wave-frequency independent. To date, a huge majority of WEC technologies under development in industry belong to the reciprocating class, and only a few WEC concepts fall in the unidirectional rotary class. In the present work, a wave-driven rotor for unidirectional rotary motion was proposed and characterized. A numerical tool has been developed for characterization of the rotor’s unidirectional …