Engineering Commons^™

Tribological Aspects Of Journal Bearings Focusing On The Stribeck Curve, Xiaobin Lu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation focuses on the frictional characteristics of journal bearings as represented by the Stribeck curve. The behavior of lift-off speed and the factors that affect it are explored. An equation is proposed for predicting the lift-off speed. The comparison between the experimental results of oil- and grease-lubricated journal bearings with a mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication model for line contacts is indicative of good agreement in the mixed lubrication regime. Efforts are made to modify the surface profile of bushing by putting dimples on its surface. Experimental results show that with proper dimensions of dimples, the friction performance of journal bearings …

A Generalized Approach For The Control Of Micro-Electromechanical Relays, Mohamed Abdelrahman Younis

LSU Master's Theses

MEMS (Micro-Electromechanical Systems) is an area of research and applications that is becoming increasingly popular. It's mainly concerned with integrating micro-mechanical transducers with micro-electronic circuits on common substrates, traditionally silicon, through micro-fabrication. Instead of traditionally having the transducer and the communicating (or control) circuit as two separate entities, MEMS miniaturizes and combines them on a single chip, giving it several advantages, saving space, money, and increasing the sensitivity and accuracy of the integrated system. A micro-electromechanical relay is a type of MEM devices that is becoming increasingly important in a wide range of industries such as the computer industry, the …

System Optimization For Realizing A Miniaturized Gas Chromatograph Sensor For Rapid Chemical Analysis, Abhinav Bhushan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rapid and comprehensive on-site analysis of chemicals in applications ranging from industrial process control to homeland security is of significant importance to improve the environment and save human life. The need for sensors that are fast, reliable, and portable has never been greater. For the challenging task of on-site instrumentation, where power sources can be limited, shrinking the size of the device is the most effective way to conserve power. Although gas chromatography is a mature technique well suited for these applications, current instrumentation has deficiencies that limit its usage. Speed of analysis and non portability are severe hindrances to …

Experimental Analysis Of Mechanical Seal Design With Enhanced Thermal Performance, Ainsworth Gidden

LSU Master's Theses

For industries that use pumps and mixers in their process operations, it is of paramount importance to control the leakage from these equipments. The leakage presents safety hazards and economic loss. It is widely believed that the majority of downtime associated with a pump or a mixer is the result of a mechanical seal failure. Therefore, it is important for these industries to have a mechanical seal that is a reliable performer and enables a longer operational life than what exist in the market at present. The aim of this research was to design and test a mating ring with …

A Thermodynamic Model For Wear In Sliding Contact, Susheel Brahmeshwarkar

LSU Master's Theses

Consideration of wear, an irreversible phenomenon, is a very important criterion in design. The knowledge of wear and its behavior enables one to make major considerations to conceptualize and design efficient machinery components with enhanced performance and reliability. The present work deals with the introduction of a novel approach of correlating wear with the thermodynamic properties of the system. The approach involves relating wear to thermodynamic entropy flow in the system using the laws of thermodynamics. This relation is verified experimentally and theoretically by considering a sliding contact in a disk-on-disk configuration for two sets of contacting materials namely Bronze …

Numerical Solution Of Flow Resistance In Outflow Pathway And Intravitreal Drug Delivery In Vitrectomised Eyes, Jyoti Gururaj Kathawate

LSU Master's Theses

In this study, numerical computations of the ocular fluid dynamics in a human eye are presented with a perspective of understanding the mechanisms of increased flow resistance. In the present study, the TM is represented as a multilayered-graded porous structure with specific pore size and void fraction. The flow patterns and pressure distribution in anterior chamber are analyzed to delineate key flow mechanism; the shear stresses on the lens, iris and IW of SC are also examined to locate the maximum values. Inside the human eye, the largest pressure drop occurs across JCT and IW of SC. The highest pressure …

Pulsed Vertical Jet In Cross Flow At Mean Blowing Ratios 0.35 And 0.45, Pierre-Emmanuel Jacques Joseph Bouladoux

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis deals with a pulsed vertical jet transverse to a cross flow (U_∞=1.6m/s) at mean blowing ratios 0.35 and 0.45. First the reasons of this study are explained and the previous work in the field is described. Then the experimental setup, the experimental procedures and the data processing are detailed. The system (wind tunnel and jet) is characterized before studying the Jet in Cross Flow (JICF). The JICF is explored under unforced and forced conditions through LASER sheet visualizations and constant temperature anemometry (CTA) measurements using hot-wire sensors. Blowing ratios ranging from 0.150 to 0.600 are studied …

A New Method To Determine Radiative Properties Of Rough Solid Surfaces, Raghu Nandan Mutukulla

LSU Master's Theses

The radiative properties of the rough surfaces are important both from fundamental and practical standpoint. Thus, there is a need to determine the effect of roughness on radiative properties of materials accurately, as these properties effect the performance of electronic devices, communication devices, optical sensors, and furnaces, amongst others. The effects of roughness are assessed by measuring the reflection coefficients from the carbon rod surfaces and steel 1086 samples over the range of angles 25 to 75 in the visible range and near infrared region. Different levels of roughness are induced on the surfaces by utilizing different grid size sand-paper …

Thermal Management Of Micro Gas Chromatographs, Chetan Ramesh

LSU Master's Theses

Gas chromatography is an analytical technique for separating and analyzing individual components in a gas mixture. Applications of gas chromatographs (GCs) include chemical analysis, environmental maintenance, green house gases monitoring, and forensic analysis when used in conjunction with mass spectrometry. There has been a tremendous interest in miniaturization of gas chromatograph systems because of significantly reduced size, portability, fast response times, low power consumption and low cost. Isothermal analysis is a chromatographic analysis at one column temperature. In temperature programming, a linear increase of column temperature with time is used during the course of the analysis. Temperature programming facilitates separation …

Characterization And Tribological Behavior Of Diamond-Like Carbon And Nitrogen-Doped Diamond-Like Carbon Thin Films, Krishna Chaitanya Kadiyala

LSU Master's Theses

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have been extensively studied for more than two decades due to their highly attractive properties. These films exhibit unique mechanical, electrical and tribological behavior and thus, possess great potential for applications in tribology. However, the high level of internal stress developed and low thermal stability are the main drawbacks. Synthesis of nitrogen-doped DLC (N-DLC) offers the possibility of overcoming these drawbacks. In the present study, DLC and N-DLC films (with low N content) were deposited on Si substrates using a hybrid plasma-assisted CVD/PVD process. Film characterization in terms of microstructure, composition and chemical state of components …

Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study Of Grain Boundary Migration In Nanocrystalline Pd, Shengyu Wang

LSU Master's Theses

We present a new methodology for measuring the grain boundary mobility for curved boundaries using molecular-dynamics simulation of grain growth in a small, specifically tailored Pd nanocrystalline structure. In the model system, the boundaries move under the forces provided by their curvature and in the presence of the triple junctions. As a consequence of grain boundary migration the boundary area per unit volume is reduced and the mean grain size of grains increases with time. Our investigation shows that at elevated temperatures the activation energy for grain growth in this specifically tailored microstructure is very close to that of grain …

Two-Phase Flow In High Aspect Ratio, Polymer Microchannels For Reagent Delivery Applications, Estelle Evans

LSU Master's Theses

Multiphase flow in microfluidics is an increasingly growing field, especially in biotechnology. For instance, a steady-state slug flow would benefit lab-on-a-chip drug delivery methods. This flow would not only use minute amounts of reagents, but it would also decrease the sample processing time. Thus, researching a steady-state plug flow in a microchannel is beneficial to the drug delivery field. Five PMMA, directly-milled microchannels [2: Aspect Ratio 1 (with and without pressure ports, 2): Aspect ratio 2 (with and without pressure ports), and 1: Aspect Ratio 3 (without pressure ports)] were manufactured. These channels were then cleaned, and a PMMA cover …

Active Control Of Spray Combustion, Onur Tuncer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Effect of a forced dilution air jet on air-fuel spray mixing and emissions has been investigated. Temperature measurements have been made at a number of forcing frequencies in the range of 100-1100 Hz and blowing ratios between 6-15. Open-loop flame response to forcing has also been acquired by recording pressure and heat release spectra. The results show that the mean temperature field inside the flame can be altered due to jet modulation. Significant effects are observed by forcing at locations close to the dump plane. Enhancements in temperature of the order of 100–200 ˚C, and reduction in pattern factor of …

Synthesis Of Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Using Unseeded Hydrocarbon Diffusion Flames, Kozo Saito, Forman A. Williams, Alvin S. Gordon, Liming Yuang

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Patents

A method is provided for synthesizing carbon nanotubes from unseeded methane-air diffusion flames. A novel stainless steel and Ni—Cr wire probe is also provided for collecting carbon nanotubes from those diffusion flames.

Laminar Film Condensation On A Horizontal Plate In A Porous Medium With Surface Tension Effects, Tong-Bou Chang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The problem of steady filmwise condensation on a finite-size horizontal plate embedded in a porous medium is studied for the case in which a cold plate faces upwards with a dry saturation vapor. Due to the effects of surface tension forces, there is a two-phase zone lying between the liquid film and the vapor zone. As in classical filmwise condensation problems, it is assumed that; (a) the inertia within the liquid film is negligible, and (b) the properties of porous medium, dry vapor, and condensate are constant. A dimensionless parameter Boc is introduced to characterize liquid flow due to surface …

A Note On Grashof’S Theorem, Wen-Tung Chang, Chen-Chou Lin, Long-Iong Wu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In this paper, Grashof’s theorem is justified from the perspective of the occurrence of stationary configurations and uncertainty configurations of four-link chains. The link length relations at stationary configurations and uncertainty configurations are examined in detail based on the triangle inequality, and then the conditions for the existence of a crank and a change point are deduced.

Analysis Of Indentation Loading Of Cortical Bone Using Acoustic Emission Techniques, Ashkan Safari, Ger Reilly, Brendan Mccormack

Conference Papers

In this study, we recorded the number of Acoustic emission (AE) hits and related AE energy during indentation fracture of cortical bone using a PAC PCI-2 card and pico sensor. A threshold value of 43dB was used to filter premature trigger due to background noise. Registered AE hits had more than one count (threshold crossing). Amplifier gain was set at 40dB with a (0.1-1) MHz band pass filter. 8mm cubes of cortical bones were indented in the longitudinal direction at constant crosshead speed of 1 mm min-1 using a large 2D, 50˚ wedge indenter. We hypothesised that signals occurring as …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2005, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Top-Down Structure And Device Fabrication Using In Situ Nanomachining, Xiaodong Li, Xinnan Wang, Qihua Xiong, Peter C. Eklund

Faculty Publications

We demonstrate the potential of an alternative tool for the fabrication of nanoscale structures and devices. A nanoindenter integrated with an atomic force microscope is shown to be a powerful machine tool for cutting precise length nanowires or nanobelts and for manipulating the shortened wires. We also demonstrate its utility in cutting grooves and fabricating dents (or periodic arrays of dents) in ZnSnanobelts. This approach permits the direct mechanical machining of nanodevices that are supported on a substrate without the inherent complications of e beam or photolithography.

Fully Compliant Tensural Bistable Micro-Mechanisms (Ftbm), D. L. Wilcox, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

A new class of bistable mechanisms, the fully compliant tensural bistable micromechanism (FTBM) class, is introduced. The class consists of linear bistable micromechanisms that undergo tension loads, in addition to the bending loads present, through their range of motion. Proof-of-concept designs fabricated in two different microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) surface micromachining processes were demonstrated. Three sets of refined designs within the FTBM class were designed using optimization methods linked with nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA), then fabricated and tested. Measured force and displacement performance are compared to values obtained by FEA. On-chip actuation of the bistable mechanisms was achieved using thermomechanical …

A Detailed Approach For Concept Generation And Evaluation In A Technology Push Product Development Environment, Andrew Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Many companies rely on successful product development as a means to increase their revenues and expand their operations. Market pull, the most common form of product development, begins with a specific customer, and focuses on how to satisfy that customer's needs. Technology push is a product development process where a technology is first discovered, then embodied in products that may be marketed to specific customers. Technology push presents several obstacles not encountered in market pull processes, such as a lack of a defined market, lack of established processes and difficulty in execution. These complications keep technology push from being more …

Ole Miss Engineer 2005

Ole Miss Engineer

No abstract provided.

Numerical Study Of Chemically Reacting Viscous Flow Relevant To Pulsed Detonation Engines, Tae-Hyeong Yi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

A computational fluid dynamics code for two-dimensional, multi-species, laminar Navier-Stokes equations is developed to simulate a recently proposed engine concept for a pulsed detonation based propulsion system and to investigate the feasibility of the engine of the concept.The governing equations that include transport phenomena such as viscosity, thermal conduction and diffusion are coupled with chemical reactions. The gas is assumed to be thermally perfect and in chemically non-equilibrium. The stiffness due to coupling the fluid dynamics and the chemical kinetics is properly taken care of by using a time-operator splitting method and a variable coefficient ordinary differential equation solver. A …

Modular Multi-Scale Assembly System For Mems Packaging, Rakesh Murthy

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

A multi-scale robotic assembly problem is approached here with focus on mechanical design for precision positioning at the microscale. The assembly system is characterized in terms of accuracy/repeatability and calibration via experiments. The MEMS packaging requirements are studied from an assembly point of view. The tolerance budget of the assembly ranges from 4 microns to 300 microns. The system components include robots, microstages, end-effectors and fixtures that accomplish the assembly tasks. Task assignment amongst this hardware has been accomplished based on precision and dexterity availability. Various end-effectors and fixtures have been designed for use with off-the-shelf hardware (robots and microstages) …

Design And Analysis Of Multi-Functional Laparoscopic Tool, Vadakkapattu Candadai Venkat Raghavan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Laparoscopic tools have been developed over many years, but there is a need for a laparoscopic tool that can be used for multiple purposes without the need to be removed and reinserted in the body. This thesis discusses the design of such a multi-functional laparoscopic tool with the ability to independently actuate grasping and shearing mechanisms, and is modular enough to be easily adapted to robot assisted surgical techniques. The envisioned tool can be divided into three main sections - the surgeon interface, the transmission mechanism, and the end effector. The surgeon interface mainly consists of a handle and two …

Parametric Cycle Analysis For Pulse Detonation Engines, Haider Hekiri

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The performance of an ejector-driven pulse detonation engine (PDE) with an afterburner is analytically estimated. In the analysis, the PDE was modeled as a straight tube, closed at the front end and open at the other. A detonation wave starts to travel after it is ignited at the closed end, causing a Chapman-Jouguet detonation wave followed by a Taylor rarefaction to travel to the open end. At that point, rarefaction waves are reflected back to the closed end. The result is a high thrust due to both the primary and secondary flows of the ejector-driven PDE. A theoretical analysis is …

Airy Stress Function For Two Dimensional Inclusion Problems, Dharshini Rao Kavati

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

This thesis addresses a problem of finding the elastic fields in a two-dimensional body containing an inhomogeneous inclusion using the Airy stress function which is determined so that the prescribed boundary condition at a far field and the continuity condition of the traction force and the displacement field at the interface are satisfied exactly. All the derivations and solving simultaneous equations are carried out using symbolic software.

Arc-Heated Gas Flow Experiments For Hypersonic Propulsion Applications, Christopher Matthew Roseberry

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Although hydrogen is an attractive fuel for a hypersonic air-breathing vehicle in terms of reaction rate, flame temperature, and energy content per unit mass, the substantial tank volume required to store hydrogen imposes a drag penalty to performance that tends to offset these advantages. An alternative approach is to carry a hydrocarbon fuel and convert it on-board into a hydrogen-rich gas mixture to be injected into the engine combustors. To investigate this approach, the UTA Arc-Heated Wind Tunnel facility was modified to run on methane rather than the normally used nitrogen. Previously, this facility was extensively developed for the purpose …

Reliability Of Lead-Free Solder Under Cyclic Bending, Fahad Zahedi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

To characterize particular compositions of lead free solder, four point cyclic bending test was conducted to study the affects of accelerated stress testing on the package to board interconnects. Nine CTBGA packages with 0.5 mm ball pitch and 12 x 12 mm package size were reflowed on 8 layered PWB's using solder balls with lead free composition alloys and different PWB copper pad finishes. The boards were subjected to test conditions based on proposed standards by JEDEC. Strain gages were mounted at different locations on the test boards as well as on bare boards in order to observe the difference …

Experimental Characterization Of Femtosecond Laser Micromachining For Silicon Mold Fabrication And Hot Embossing For Polymer Microreplication, Sunil Ranganath Belligundu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Hot embossing is a fabrication technique employed for replicating microfeatures on a polymer surface that was primarily developed to fabricate MEMS devices for microfluidic applications. This manuscript deals with characterization of the femtosecond laser micromachining (FLM) and hot embossing (HEMM) processes for master mold fabrication on silicon and polymer replication respectively. Given the required size of the features to be fabricated or replicated, process parameters for FLM can be determined using the derived empirical equations, process parameters for the HEMM process can be established using the characteristic plots. A novel two-stage embossing process is developed and introduced that employs polymer …