Engineering Commons^™

Modeling Tools For Analyzing Electrical Power Distribution Systems Impacted By Electric Vehicle Load Growth, Jacob Sheeran

Dissertations and Theses

Growing Electric Vehicle penetration presents unwanted problems to grid reliability. For nearly every EV there is corresponding household charging. High penetration of Electric Vehicle Service Equipment can lead to over loading of assets and under voltage conditions. In order to understand the effects EV have on a distribution system, studies have to be done for EVSE to understand how the distribution system is affected. Using advanced Power Engineering Simulation Software is often the best way to model systems due to the credibility of their software modules. For this thesis, I developed a suite of distribution system analysis tools using CYME …

Distributionally Robust Optimization Utilizing Facility Location Problems, Elijah Kling

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Facility location problems are used in widespread application in transportation, freight, supply chain, and logistics problems. Models can be developed as deterministic, where all parameters are known, or robust, where a parameter has uncertainty. This thesis explores a new method for developing robust formulation and compares the implications of assuming values for this uncertain parameter. Two models are solved, and both are compared against their deterministic counterparts using numerical analysis. By manipulating the input parameters and considering real world implications of the solutions, either the robust or deterministic can show better performance.

Maximum Coverage Facility Location Drone Routing Problem With Multiple Trip Stops, Marie Roza

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Integer linear optimization can be used to formulate routing problems as models to find optimal solutions given a set of inputs and constraints. In this research, Chauhan et al.'s publication, "Maximum coverage capacitated facility location problem with range constrained drones," is expanded upon by modeling a facility location problem with two-to-one drone deliveries. The model analyzes a set of potential facilities that are available to meet the demands of a set of demand points. The drone delivery routes are modeled with the assumption that each opened facility is assigned one drone that can fulfill up to two demand points’ demands …

Cei Hub Failure Following A Cascadia Earthquake Event: Preliminary Modeling Of A Liquid Fuel Spill In The Lower Willamette And Columbia Rivers, Mike Du Bose

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub in Northwest Portland, OR spans a six-mile stretch of the Lower Willamette River and stores 90% of Oregon’s liquid fuel supply and 100% of the jet fuel for PDX. The CEI Hub is also built entirely on liquefiable soils which are likely to fail during a Cascadia earthquake event. The purpose of this project was to model a liquid fuel spill in the Lower Willamette and Columbia Rivers using the CE-QUAL-W2 model. Several scenarios were developed to account for different environmental conditions, (e.g., high and low discharge years) and varying spill durations (e.g., rapid …

A Comparison Of Particulate Matter Deposition Onto Green Roof Species And White Roof In Portland, Oregon, Amelia Drake

University Honors Theses

This study explores the following question: how do different green roof vegetation species contribute to particulate matter deposition relative to a white roof in Portland, Oregon? To answer this question, rinse water from two species of vegetation and rinse water from a white roof were filtered to measure the mass of particles found on these leaves. Leaf area was then determined in order to calculate the density of particles found on each surface. The resulting conclusions from this process clearly indicate that a larger density of particles collected on vegetative surfaces as opposed to the surface of the white roof. …

The Critical Energy Infrastructure (Cei) Hub: A Look Into The Seismic Fragility Of Oregon’S Fuel, Annecy Bal

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research evaluates the seismic vulnerability of the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub and the associated fuel repercussions for the expected 9.0 magnitude earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The tanks in the CEI hub are analyzed based on size and content. The owners and secondary containment areas are discussed using the same parameters. Various analysis techniques are reviewed to determine the most appropriate seismic fragility estimate for the site. The seismic vulnerability is analyzed using fragility curves by Hazus, American Lifeline Alliance, and D'Amico. The fragility curves are applied to the CEI Hub to determine expected damage and the …

An Analysis Of Suspended Sediment Dynamics In A Partially Mixed Estuary, Riyadh Hamad Muttaleb

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this work is to investigate via data analysis and numerical modeling the SPM (suspended particulate matter) dynamics of a heavily contaminated partially urban estuary, the Lower Passaic River estuary (LPR), NJ. Accordingly, I investigate the quantity and mechanics of variation of fine and coarse SPM in the LPR via data analysis. Data analysis focuses on the parameters that affect SPM dynamics at six moored stations occupied during the Fall and Spring seasons, from near the estuary mouth to tidal freshwater. A 3D hydrodynamic model (Delft3D-FM) is used to analyze the effects of estuary topography on the dynamic …

Memristor Crossbar Array Testing Using Sneak Paths, Rasika Dhananjay Joshi

Dissertations and Theses

Moore's law decline has paved the way to shift to new technologies at architectural and device levels. CMOS based technologies are facing many challenges with the growing demand for miniaturization. The growing heat dissipation is the major limitation for performance, energy efficiency and reliability with the increasing transistor count in integrated circuits. Manufacturing costs and process/memory performance gap have also grown steadily over the last several decades with the scaling down of the CMOS feature size. Memristor, a nanoscale device, has the potential to address the CMOS limitations because of its non-volatility, high density, low power operation, low cost per …

Power Distribution System Tools For Analyzing Impacts Of Projected Electric Vehicle Load Growth Using Gridlab-D, Shahad Alomani

Dissertations and Theses

The increased penetration of Electric Vehicle (EV) will provide substantial benefits to the environment. However, each EV will present a significant additional load to electric power distribution infrastructure, especially to radial distribution feeders. The additional load may cause transformers to operate beyond their thermal limits, unacceptable voltage drops along distribution lines, and primary conductor overloads. It is now, more than ever, vital to understand the limitations of existing infrastructure in light of an accelerating push for greener alternatives with insight that stems from modeling, simulation, and proper analysis as the backbone to a well-informed response.

The objective of this work …

Automated Test Generation For Validating Systemc Designs, Bin Lin

Dissertations and Theses

Modern system design involves integration of all components of a system on a single chip, namely System-on-a-Chip (SoC). The ever-increasing complexity of SoCs and rapidly decreasing time-to-market have pushed the design abstraction to the electronic system level (ESL), in order to increase design productivity. SystemC is a widely used ESL modeling language that plays a central role in modern SoCs design process. ESL SystemC designs usually serve as executable specifications for the subsequent SoCs design flow. Therefore, undetected bugs in ESL SystemC designs may propagate to low-level implementations or even final silicon products. In addition, modern SoCs design often involves …

Mit-S1 Constitutive Model Calibration For A Portland-Area Soil, Steven Ryan Young

Dissertations and Theses

Soils that are intermediate to sands and clays are a challenge for geotechnical engineers since most methods for interpreting soil properties or soil behaviors are based on sands or clays and do not address behaviors of intermediate soils. This is a particular challenge for engineers in the Portland-area where many of the major soil units are composed of intermediate soils. Analysis of intermediate soils is further challenged since many standard constitutive models are based on sandy or clay-like soils. However, the MIT-S1 constitutive model is capable of capturing intermediate soil behavior. A calibration of the MIT-S1 constitutive model for Portland-area …

Methods For Object Tracking With Machine Vision, Zachary Simon Stamler

Dissertations and Theses

As machine learning and deep learning systems continue to find applications in science and engineering, the problem of providing these systems with high-quality data continues to increase in importance. Many of these systems utilize machine vision as their primary source of information, and in order to maximally leverage their abilities it is important to be able to provide them with high quality, accurate data. Unfortunately, many sets of tracking data extracted from video suffer from the problem of missing frames, which can arise from a multitude of causes depending on the system. These missing frames can result in confusion between …

Development Of Graphene Synthesis And Characterization Techniques Toward Cmos Applications And Beyond, Otto Kno Zietz

Dissertations and Theses

Graphene exhibits mechanical and electrical properties which, coupled with its two dimensional (2D) morphology, make it an attractive material component for inclusion in a wide range of industries. Since the discovery of graphene in 2004, industry adoption has been limited due to the demanding synthesis requirements for high quality and connected graphene as well as the difficulties associated with direct incorporation. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has emerged as the most cost efficient method for producing high quality graphene at scales suitable for mass production. However, the 1000°C temperatures and micrometer thick catalysts required for this process preclude direct inclusion in …

Numerical Simulation Of Continuous Cone Penetration And Interpretation Of Cptu Dissipation Tests, Andrew Phillip Eugene Huffman

Dissertations and Theses

The piezocone penetration test (CPTu) is a commonly used method of geotechnical site investigation. The CPTu is especially useful because it provides a nearly continuous data profile of in-situ soil behavior, which can be correlated to useful engineering parameters. However, limitations exist for interpretation of geotechnical properties from CPTu data and for numerical analysis of cone penetration problems. The research presented in this thesis examines interpretation of coefficient of consolidation from CPTu dissipation test data and implementation of an algorithm to advance numerical simulation of cone penetration problems. This thesis presents analysis of CPTu dissipation responses from field-measured and numerically …

Small Scale Plasma Gasification Of Municipal Solid Waste, Keith Male

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

The goal of this project was to develop a prototype plasma gasification system to treat municipal solid waste (MSW) with minimal regulated emissions in a footprint small enough to be transported for a wide range of applicability. This project started with a review of current MSW treatment methods and of the emissions produced from thermal breakdown of MSW. A review of air quality regulations and emission control technologies was then used to select the emission control systems to be used for a small-scale plasma gasification system.

This plasma gasification system began with a plasma torch and cooling system being designed, …