Engineering Commons^™

Lattice Boltzmann Methods For Wind Energy Analysis, Stephen Lloyd Wood

Doctoral Dissertations

An estimate of the United States wind potential conducted in 2011 found that the energy available at an altitude of 80 meters is approximately triple the wind energy available 50 meters above ground. In 2012, 43% of all new electricity generation installed in the U.S. (13.1 GW) came from wind power. The majority of this power, 79%, comes from large utility scale turbines that are being manufactured at unprecedented sizes. Existing wind plants operate with a capacity factor of only approximately 30%. Measurements have shown that the turbulent wake of a turbine persists for many rotor diameters, inducing increased vibration …

Lignin-Based Li-Ion Anode Materials Synthesized From Low-Cost Renewable Resources, Nicholas William Mcnutt

Doctoral Dissertations

In today’s world, the demand for novel methods of energy storage is increasing rapidly, particularly with the rise of portable electronic devices, electric vehicles, and the personal consumption and storage of solar energy. While other technologies have arguably improved at a rate that is exponential in accordance with Moore’s law, battery technology has lagged behind largely due to the difficulty in devising new electric storage systems that are simultaneously high performing, inexpensive, and safe.

In order to tackle these challenges, novel Li-ion battery anodes have been developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that are made from lignin, a low-cost, renewable …

The Use Of Sodium Persulfate In Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids: A Degradation Study Based On Furfural, Katherine Elizabeth Manz

Masters Theses

Hydraulic fracturing has allowed natural gas to become a viable energy source via extraction of unconventional shale reserves, but this process requires an enormous amount of water. To ensure a productive fracture, a proprietary blend of chemical additives is added to the water. In this research, a hydraulic fracturing chemical additive – an enzyme breaking agent – is analyzed for organic components using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The chemical changes that occur over the course of a fracture are also investigated using one model chemical found in the additive, furfural, in order to help assess the environmental risk that hydraulic …

A Mobile Canoe-Mounted, Geo-Referenced, 3-D Water Quality Analyzer, Alex Shpik, Alysse Ness, Ryan Vernich

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Water quality analysis is vital to ensure the health of water sources, as well as identifying pollutants and modeling how they affect a river system. Current methods of collecting water samples consist of stationary samplers that measure changes in water quality at only one location over time. We have designed a mobile, canoe-mounted, water quality analyzing system that will enable researchers to efficiently collect a large number of water quality samples with an associated GPS location and depth for each data point. While the canoe travels in parallel swaths bank to bank, the unit will alternately collect samples from 3 …