Engineering Commons^™

Flight Software Development For A University-Class Microsatellite Mission, Yumeka Nagano

Masters Theses

"The purpose of this research is to present the software development process used by the Command and Data Handling (C&DH) subsystem as a part of a microsatellite mission underway at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. The mission's objective is to evaluate the performance of an innovative cold gas propulsion system for use in formation flying applications and the incorporation of a stereoscopic imaging sensor used to measure the satellite pair's relative position and velocity vectors in real time. C&DH uses a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B as the flight computer running a Linux environment, and the flight code …

Implementing Effective University - Level Small Satellite Assembly, Integration, And Testing Procedures, Tyler Patrick Hoover

Masters Theses

"As applications for satellite assets grow within government and commercial spheres, demand for aerospace engineers and related technicians has pushed universities to develop graduates with relevant knowledge in the field. As such, universities began to grow university satellite programs to give members hands-on experience and a background of working on satellite systems before entering the workforce.

The M-SAT team at Missouri University of Science and Technology, along with contributions and assistance from the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA, are progressing their first satellite mission through assembly, integration, and testing (AIT) development. This document serves to give a background into …

Tailoring A System Engineering And Management Plan For A University Satellite Team, Jacob D. Anderson

Masters Theses

"A Systems Engineering and Management Plan (SEMP) helps enable a successful engineering project or team. All university teams working on satellite development encounter similar obstacles that are not commonly seen in industry. As a result, university teams must determine new approaches to solve these unique and difficult problems. A SEMP can mitigate risks, solve problems, and provide streamlined solutions. A modified SEMP is proposed along with guidance for implementing it into a new team and an existing team.

The adopted SEMP provides a road map for the technical execution and program management of a university team. The SEMP should be …

3d-Printed Hydrogels Dressings With Bioactive Borate Glass For Continuous Hydration And Treatment Of Second-Degree Burns, Fateme Fayyazbakhsh, Michael J. Khayat, Candy Sadler, Delbert Day, Yue-Wern Huang, Ming-Chuan Leu

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Recent advances in additive manufacturing have led to the development of innovative solutions for tissue regeneration. Hydrogel materials have gained significant attention for burn wound treatment in clinical practice among various advanced dressings due to their soothing and moisturizing activity. However, prolonged healing, pain, and traumatic removal due to the lack of long-term wound hydration are some of the challenges in the treatment of second-degree burn wounds. In this study, 3D-printed dressings were fabricated using gelatin, alginate, and bioactive borate glass (BBG) using an extrusion-based bioprinter. After ionic crosslinking, the 3D-printed dressings were characterized for mechanical properties, degradation rate, hydration …

Auto-Ignition Characteristics Of Hydrogen Enriched Natural Gas For Gas Turbine Applications, Christopher T. Loving

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

A successful transition to clean energy hinges on meeting the world's growing energy demand while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving this will require significant growth in electricity generation from clean and carbon-free energy sources. Several energy providers have already begun the transition from traditional carbon-based fuels to cleaner alternatives, such as hydrogen and hydrogen enriched natural gas. However, there are still many technical challenges that must be addressed when applying these fuels in gas turbines. The application of hydrogen or hydrogen/natural gas blends to advanced class gas turbines, which have higher operating pressures and temperatures has raised concerns about the …

Performance Evaluation Of Composite Sandwich Structures With Additively Manufactured Aluminum Honeycomb Cores With Increased Bonding Surface Area, M. Rangapuram, S. K. Dasari, Joseph William Newkirk, K. Chandrashekhara, H. Misak, P. R. Toivonen, D. Klenosky, T. Unruh, J. Sam

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Modern aerostructures, including wings and fuselages, increasingly feature sandwich structures due to their high-energy absorption, low weight, and high flexural stiffness. The face sheet of these sandwich structures are typically thin composite laminates with interior honeycombs made of Nomex or aluminum. Standard cores are structurally efficient, but their design cannot be varied throughout the structure. With additive manufacturing (AM) technology, these core geometries can be altered to meet the design requirements that are not met in standard honeycomb cores. This study used a modified aluminum honeycomb core, with increased surface area on the top and bottom, as the core material …

Post-Consolidation Process For Modifying Microscale And Mesoscale Parameters Of 3d Printed Composite Materials, Arief Yudhanto, Alwaleed Aldhirgham, Eric Feron, Gilles Lubineau

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Advancements in additive manufacturing technology (3D printing) have enabled us to fabricate reasonably good parts using continuous fiber-reinforced matrix composites. Unfortunately, most of these 3D-printed composite parts inherently possess a large number of voids originating from the trapped air within and between molten composite beads during the deposition stage. Removing the voids has thus become a key challenge in attempts to apply 3D printed composite parts for fabricating stiff/strong load-bearing structures. Here, we employed a classical process, viz. compression molding, to post-consolidate 3D-printed continuous carbon fiber-reinforced polyamide (CFPA), and to investigate the implications in terms of microscale parameters (void content) …

Mixed-Input Learning For Multi-Point Landing Guidance With Hazard Avoidance Part I: Offline Mission Planning Based On Multi-Stage Optimization, Chaoying Pei, Sixiong You, Ran Dai, Jeremy R. Rea

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes a multi-stage optimization framework based on iterative second-order cone programming (SOCP) to solve the three-dimensional (3D) multi-point landing guidance (MLG) problem with hazard avoidance. The approach is used to generate the offline optimal trajectories for database construction in Part II of this paper, it aims to select a safe landing point while finding an optimal path to the selected landing point with minimum fuel consumption. First, by introducing binary variables associated with quadratic constraints, the MLG problem with hazard avoidance is equivalently reformulated as a quadratically constrained quadratic programming (QCQP) problem. Next, to solve the reformulated QCQP …

Experimental Approach For Development Of A Powder Spreading Metric In Additive Manufacturing, M. Hossein Sehhat, Austin T. Sutton, Zane Yates, Ming-Chuan Leu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Powder Spreading is a Vital Step of Powder-Based Additive Manufacturing (AM) Processes. the Quality of Spread Powder Can Considerably Influence the Properties of Fabricated Parts. Poorly Packed Powder Beds with High Surface Roughness Result in Printed Part Layers with Large Porosity and Low Dimensional Accuracy, Leading to Poor Mechanical Properties. Therefore, the Powder Spread ability and its Dependence on Process Parameters and Powder Characteristics Should Be Quantified to Improve the Efficiency of Powder-Based AM Methods. This Study Proposes a Novel Dimensionless Powder Spread Ability Metric that Can Be Commonly Used in Different Powder-Based AM Processes. the Quality of Spread …

An Insight Into The Effect Of Sharp And Round Edges On The Flow Field-A Cfd Simulation, Abid Hussain, Gao Puzhen, M. Mustafa Azeem, Muhammad Zubair, Muhammad Aamir, Muhammad Irfan Khaleed

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a numerical investigation of pressure drop and distribution in a channel around a sharp edge and a disc that is connected to the base of a circular rod. We have employed computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-Fluent for the validation of our models. It was found that the edge sharpness of the disc influences the pressure drop., i.e. sharp edge has higher turbulence and pressure drop. We also observed that pressure drops in the case of the circular disc are less than that of the sharp edge. However, pressure drop has essentially the same values for both shapes after …

Rotorcraft Lander Fixed To A Descending Capsule Backshell, Corey Zucker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

NASA is financing a mission to study the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, to investigate the terrain, chemical compositions, and potential for existent life. This mission is an exciting advancement from Mars Ingenuity, because the quadrotor lander, Dragonfly, will be the first of its kind with four coaxial rotors. Upon entry into Titan, and at near surface atmospheric conditions, Dragonfly will exit a parachute supported backshell that has shed its protective heatshield. The aerodynamics of this state are significant in comprehending the dynamics of the overall system for successful deployment into powered flight. The studies presented here examine the …

Hypersonic Aero-Optic Measurements In A High-Pressure Shock Tube, Jonathan P. Mcgaunn

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The high-pressure shock tube facility (HiPER-STAR) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) is analyzed experimentally to demonstrate the practicality of hypersonic aero-optical testing in an impulse facility without the use of an expansion nozzle or acceleration tube. The investigation analyses driver gas blending with helium and hydrogen to raise the speed of sound ratio in an attempt to increase the Mach number for aero-optics testing. HiPER-STAR has a unique ability to withstand pressures up to 1000 atm and run in a double diaphragm configuration allowing for a significant pressure differential to be created between the driver and driven sections. …

Thermal Management Strategies For Hypersonic Flight: Supercritical Co2 Jet Impingement Cooling Investigation For Leading Edge, Manoj Prabakar Sargunaraj

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This study addresses the critical need for effective thermal management in hypersonic vehicles facing intense heat at their leading edge due to high enthalpy flow. The objective is to propose an active impingement cooling system that ensures the structural stability and performance of these vehicles. This dissertation presents an in-depth exploration of the numerical simulations conducted on the hypersonic leading edge, focusing on a 3mm radius with active cooling utilizing supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) as the coolant. The research incorporates conjugate simulations that merge external hypersonic flow and sCO2 active cooling. Utilizing a thermodynamic non-equilibrium two-temperature model and various chemical …

Topologically Optimized Electrodes For Electroosmotic Actuation, Jianwen Sun, Jianyu Zhang, Ce Guan, Teng Zhou, Shizhi Qian, Yongbo Deng

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Electroosmosis is one of the most used actuation mechanisms for the microfluidics in the current active lab-on-chip devices. It is generated on the induced charged microchannel walls in contact with an electrolyte solution. Electrode distribution plays the key role on providing the external electric field for electroosmosis, and determines the performance of electroosmotic microfluidics. Therefore, this paper proposes a topology optimization approach for the electrodes of electroosmotic microfluidics, where the electrode layout on the microchannel wall can be determined to achieve designer desired microfluidic performance. This topology optimization is carried out by implementing the interpolation of electric insulation and electric …

Patch-Wise Training With Convolutional Neural Networks To Synthetically Upscale Cfd Simulations, John P. Romano, Alec C. Brodeur, Oktay Baysal

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper expands the authors’ prior work[1], which focuses on developing a convolutional neural network (CNN) model capable of mapping time-averaged, unsteady Reynold’s-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) simulations to higher resolution results informed by time-averaged detached eddy simulations (DES). The authors present improvements over the prior CNN autoencoder model that result from hyperparameter optimization, increased data set augmentation through the adoption of a patch-wise training approach, and the predictions of primitive variables rather than vorticity magnitude. The training of the CNN model developed in this study uses the same URANS and DES simulations of a transonic flow around several NACA 4-digit airfoils …

Model Based Systems Engineering With A Docs-As-Code Approach For The Sealion Cubesat Project, Kevin Chiu, Sean Marquez, Sharanabasaweshwara Asundi

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

The SeaLion mission architecture team sought to create a model-based systems engineering approach to assist improving CubeSat success rates as well as for the SeaLion CubeSat project to guide an implementation for the flight software. This is important because university CubeSat teams are growing in number but often have untrained students as their core personnel. This was done using a document-as-code, or docs-as-code, approach. With this the team created tools for the systems architecture with the Mach 30 Modeling Language to create an architecture that is easy to learn and use even for newly admitted team members with little to …

Microstrip Antenna Design Using Cst Optimized By Neural Network Algorithm, Hadeer. A Shoeab, Mohamed A.Mohamed, Marzouk El Said A, Ahmed. A. Kabeel

Mansoura Engineering Journal

In this paper, a general design procedure is suggested for the microstrip antennas using artificial neural networks and this is demonstrated using the rectangular patch geometry. The model was analyzed for 1733 data sets of input output parameters. 1300 samples for training and 433 samples for testing and 1500 epoch, learning rate from (0.003 to 0.005). Python was used to create and implement the ANN algorithm model. The mean error in detection of resonance frequencies (return loss peaks) was 0.144GHz on train set, and 0.116GHz on test set. The outputs of the radial basis function are optimized by varying the …

Nonprehensile Manipulation Of A Stick Using Impulsive Forces, Aakash Khandelwal, Nilay Kant, Ranjan Mukherjee

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The problem of nonprehensile manipulation of a stick in three-dimensional space using intermittent impulsive forces is considered. The objective is to juggle the stick between a sequence of configurations that are rotationally symmetric about the vertical axis. The dynamics of the stick is described by five generalized coordinates and three control inputs. Between two consecutive configurations where impulsive inputs are applied, the dynamics is conveniently represented by a Poincaré map in the reference frame of the juggler. Stabilization of the orbit associated with a desired juggling motion is accomplished by stabilizing a fixed point on the Poincaré map. The Impulse …

Nucleotide Detection Mechanism And Comparison Based On Low-Dimensional Materials: A Review, M. Mustafa Azeem, Muhammad Shafa, Muhammad Aamir, Muhammad Zubair, Basma Souayeh, Mir Waqas Alam

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The recent pandemic has led to the fabrication of new nucleic acid sensors that can detect infinitesimal limits immediately and effectively. Therefore, various techniques have been demonstrated using low-dimensional materials that exhibit ultrahigh detection and accuracy. Numerous detection approaches have been reported, and new methods for impulse sensing are being explored. All ongoing research converges at one unique point, that is, an impetus: the enhanced limit of detection of sensors. There are several reviews on the detection of viruses and other proteins related to disease control point of care; however, to the best of our knowledge, none summarizes the various …

Efficacy, Durability And Design Of A Bucket Wheel Excavator For Icy Lunar Regolith, Austin Lohsandt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project focused on the design and testing of a prototype bucket wheel excavator developed for NASA's Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, which sought innovative ideas for lunar excavation. Several attempts have been made by other universities and private industries to create systems that can successfully excavate simulated frozen regolith, however, few have been successful. The chosen excavation technology employed a bucket wheel concept inspired by large open-pit mining machines, modified to incorporate grinding nubs for pulverizing lunar simulant material. The goals included proving the viability of a bucket wheel excavator for lunar excavation, exploring grinding nubs, conducting durability …

Air Traffic Management Principles: A Case Study On How To Create A Sustainable System, Eva Maleviti

Publications

BEYOND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

• Emissions, SAF, CORSIA, Design
• Economic growth and development
• Sustainability should go beyond environment
• Non-technology approaches for sustainability and Net-Zero targets
• What about social sustainability and people?

In the total share of aviation emissions (1GT CO2) 3% is 3Mt CO2. Small share but very significant contribution.

Development Of A Mission Design Tool For Computing Libration Point Formations Using Differential Corrections Initialized With A Genetic Algorithm, Donna Jennings

Doctoral Dissertations

"The growing interest in deep space spacecraft missions and distributed spacecraft formations has established the need for state-of-the-art advancements in the areas of relative dynamics and mission design. The focus of this research is to develop methods for identifying natural (i.e. ballistic) relative formation trajectories in the vicinity of the collinear libration points. A natural formation decreases the station keeping costs, lowering the consumption of spacecraft resources and extending mission lifetime. This research adapts both numerical and machine learning approaches to the problem of mission design. A genetic algorithm was first used to identify a multi-agent spacecraft formation in the …

Mitigation Of Aeroacoustic Noise Of A Fixed Wing Using Passive Flow Control, Cameron L. Perry

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

As the world becomes more environmentally conscious, noise pollution is of increasing concern. In this study, shallow dimples are applied to a NACA 0012 airfoil at multiple angles of attack (AoA) with the intent of reducing aeroacoustic noise emissions. Both Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) models are used for aerodynamic and aeroacoustic investigations, respectively, at a fixed Reynolds number of 4.8 x 10⁵. Altering the dimple depth to diameter ratio (d/D) from 2.5% to 15% is first investigated, with a d/D of 5% or lower resulting in the least aerodynamic impact. The transition from …

Computational And Experimental Investigation Of Mass Reduced Aircraft Wing Ribs, Charles R. Fricks Iii

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study seeks to develop and evaluate a novel design of mass reduced aircraft wing ribs through the topology optimization method. For comparison, the same examination is performed on ribs with normal internal geometry. The wing rib design is based on that of the Gulfstream G650 transonic jet. The rib was divided into three segments for analysis based around the positions of the two spars. Only the center section of the rib (that being between the forward and aft spars) is mass optimized, while the leading and trailing edges of the ribs (outside the spars) will be kept solid for …

Heat Release And Flame Scale Effects On Turbulence Dynamics In Confined Premixed Flows, Max Fortin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

As industry transitions to a net-zero carbon future, turbulent premixed combustion will remain an integral process for power generating gas turbines and are also desired for aviation engines due to their ability to minimize pollutant emissions. However, accurately predicting the behavior of a turbulent reacting flow field remains a challenge. To better understand the dynamics of premixed reacting flows, this study experimentally investigates the evolution of turbulence in a high-speed bluff-body combustor. The combustor is operated across a range of equivalence ratios from 0.7-1 to quantify the role of heat release and flame scales on the evolution of turbulence as …

Additively Manufactured Carbon Fiber- Reinforced Thermoplastic Composite Mold Plates For Injection Molding Process, C. Bivens, A. Wood, D. Ruble, M. Rangapuram, S. K. Dasari, K. Chandrashekhara, J. Degrange

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Polymer injection molding processes have been used to create high-volume parts quickly and efficiently. Injection molding uses mold plates that are traditionally made of very hard tool steels, such as P20 steel, which is extremely heavy and has very long lead times to build new molds. In this study, composite-based additive manufacturing (CBAM) was used to create mold plates using long-fiber carbon fiber and polyether ether ketone (PEEK). These mold plates were installed in an injection molding machine, and rectangular flat plates were produced using Lustran 348 acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Tensile and flexural testing was performed on these parts …

Fine-Grained Activity Classification In Assembly Based On Multi-Visual Modalities, Haodong Chen, Niloofar Zendehdel, Ming-Chuan Leu, Zhaozheng Yin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Assembly activity recognition and prediction help to improve productivity, quality control, and safety measures in smart factories. This study aims to sense, recognize, and predict a worker's continuous fine-grained assembly activities in a manufacturing platform. We propose a two-stage network for workers' fine-grained activity classification by leveraging scene-level and temporal-level activity features. The first stage is a feature awareness block that extracts scene-level features from multi-visual modalities, including red, green blue (RGB) and hand skeleton frames. We use the transfer learning method in the first stage and compare three different pre-trained feature extraction models. Then, we transmit the feature information …

Comparison Of The Thermal Stability In Equal-Channel-Angular-Pressed And High-Pressure-Torsion-Processed Fe–21cr–5al Alloy, Maalavan Arivu, Andrew Hoffman, Jiaqi Duan, Jonathan Poplawsky, Xinchang Zhang, Frank W. Liou, Rinat Islamgaliev, Ruslan Valiev, Haiming Wen

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Nanostructured Steels Are Expected to Have Enhanced Irradiation Tolerance and Improved Strength. However, They Suffer from Poor Microstructural Stability at Elevated Temperatures. in This Study, Fe–21Cr–5Al–0.026C (Wt%) Kanthal D (KD) Alloy Belonging to a Class of (FeCrAl) Alloys Considered for Accident-Tolerant Fuel Cladding in Light-Water Reactors is Nanostructured using Two Severe Plastic Deformation Techniques of Equal-Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) and High-Pressure Torsion (HPT), and their Thermal Stability between 500–700 °C is Studied and Compared. ECAP KD is Found to Be Thermally Stable Up to 500 °C, Whereas HPT KD is Unstable at 500 °C. Microstructural Characterization Reveals that ECAP KD …

Static I-V Based Pim Evaluation For Spring And Fabric-Over-Foam Contacts, Kalkidan W. Anjajo, Yang Xu, Shengxuan Xia, Yuchu He, Haicheng Zhou, Hanfeng Wang, Jonghyun Park, Chulsoon Hwang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Spring Clips and Fabric-Over-Foams (FOFs) Are Widely Used in Mobile Devices for Electrical Connection Purposes. However, the Imperfect Metallic Connections Tend to Induce Passive Intermodulation (PIM), Resulting in a Receiver Sensitivity Degradation, Known as RP Desensitization. Due to the Complexity of the PIM Characterization, there is Not Yet a Way to Evaluate PIM Performance using a Simple Setup for Environments Like Factories. in This Paper, a Current-Voltage (I-V) Behavior-Based PIM Evaluation Method is Proposed and Validated with Various Metallic Contacts and Contact Forces. the Test Results Demonstrated the Feasibility of the PIM Performance Evaluation based on the Measured Static I-V …

Application Of A Variable Path Length Repetitive Process Control For Direct Energy Deposition Of Thin-Walled Structures, Elias B. Snider, Douglas A. Bristow

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Direct Energy Deposition (DED) Additive Manufacturing is Well Suited to Fabricating Large Thin-Walled Metal Structures Such as Rocket Nozzles but Suffers from Layer-To-Layer Defect Propagation. Propagating Defects May Exhibit as Slumping or a Ripple in Bead Geometry. Recent Works Have Used Repetitive Process Control (RPC) Methods for Additive Manufacturing to Stabilize the Layer-Wise Defect Propagation, But These Methods Require Repetition of the Same Path. However, Typical Thin-Wall DED Applications, Sometimes Referred to as Vase Structures, Have Changing Paths with Each Layer Such as Expanding or Contracting Diameters and Changing Profiles. This Paper Presents an Extension to Optimal RPC that Uses …