Engineering Commons^™

Housing Pre-Fabrication And Resource Optimization, Emma Dubensky

Honors Theses

Enclosure during construction is often time-consuming, expensive, and at the mercy of the weather. By introducing methods for manufacturing prefabricated enclosure components such as wall panels and roof sections, the impact of the three major variables is reduced. Designs for trusses, roof sections, wall sections, and foundations were developed and selected using civil engineering principles; and manufacturing and logistical processes were optimized using engineering and project management skill sets. These multi-disciplinary efforts were combined to create an accessible and versatile set of designs and instructions that can improve the effectiveness of both a skilled and non-skilled volunteer workforce. By creating …

Housing Prefabrication And Resource Optimization, Megan Scherpereel

Honors Theses

Enclosure during construction is often time-consuming, expensive, and at the mercy of the weather. By introducing methods for manufacturing prefabricated enclosure components such as wall panels and roof sections, the impact of the three major variables is reduced. Designs for trusses, roof sections, wall sections, and foundations were developed and selected using civil engineering principles; and manufacturing and logistical processes were optimized using engineering and project management skill sets. These multi-disciplinary efforts were combined to create an accessible and versatile set of designs and instructions that can improve the effectiveness of both a skilled and non-skilled volunteer workforce. By creating …

Loup Public Power District Fishing Pier & Parking Lot, Tyler Ruwe

Honors Theses

This project was performed in fulfillment of the Civil Engineering Senior Design class (CIVE 489H). The goal of this project was to design an ADA compliant fishing pier and parking lot for the Loup Public Power District in Columbus, Nebraska. The fishing pier and parking lot will be located near the northeast corner of Lake North. A four-member team was formed to delegate the workload to accomplish this design project. I, Tyler Ruwe, served as the team’s project manager and structural engineering lead. Other disciplines of this design project included work involved in geotechnical, water resources, environmental, and transportation engineering. …

Bridge Design Replacement Project For The Charenton Canal Bridge On La 87 And Comparison Of Deck Design Methods, Emily Rone

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Lead In Drinking Water And The Effectiveness Of Point-Of-Use Filtration, Donald Hopper

Honors Theses

Lead in drinking water has been proven harmful to human health and is an ongoing problem in the state of Mississippi. The goal of this thesis is to analyze lead contamination data in Mississippi, its implications, and possible short-term solutions for remediation. This was done through community outreach events and voluntary sampling in the Jackson, MS area, analyzing published data from the Mississippi State Department of Health, and conducting controlled sampling and testing in Lafayette County, MS.

Community engagement events were executed in which researchers informed citizens in the Jackson, MS area about the impacts of lead in drinking water …

Melamine-Derived Graphene Foam As A Thermal Additive For Water Harvesting Applications, Emily Chase

Honors Theses

This project proposes the use of a novel melamine-derived graphene foam formed by high temperature pyrolysis under inert conditions for use as a thermal additive to absorbent crystals. The high thermal conductivity of graphene foam makes it an ideal candidate for use as a cheap, flexible, and light-weight alternative to previously used copper foam and metal organic frameworks. Following surface functionalization, graphene foam may be saturated with hydrophilic absorbent crystals. The primary objectives of this research are to optimize the synthesis process of such a graphene foam to obtain the highest purity product while maintaining foam flexibility and to study …

An Economic And Ecological Analysis Of Three Land Building Approaches Using Mississippi River Sediment, Madison Hasenkampf

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Aqueous And Oil Products From Hydrothermal Liquefaction Of Manure Digestate, Kenzie Burns

Honors Theses

Hydrothermal liquefaction is a promising thermochemical waste-to-energy (WtE) technology for conversion of wet biomasses, such as manure and digested manure, into value-added products, namely energy-rich biofuel and a nutrient-rich aqueous product. WtE technologies can address environmental issues relating to overproduction of organic wastes and increasing dependence on fossil fuels, which leads to climate change. HTL has not been implemented on a commercial scale, in part due to the uncertainty regarding specific reaction pathways for different feedstocks and ideal conditions for production of the most valuable products.

This research investigates the compositions of the aqueous and oil products from HTL of …