Engineering Commons^™

Electrical Characterization Of Phytoplankton Suspensions Using Impedance Spectroscopy., Margaret R Jett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Phytoplankton are closely monitored because of their important environmental role, and the impacts they have on their local ecosystems. Some phytoplankton respond to stress by producing lipids, which can be harvested for biofuels and other chemicals. Microfluidic devices have been important in improving the portability and throughput of phytoplankton characterization methods, increasing their potential for in situ use. This study utilized a small sample of phytoplankton suspended in a stagnant medium and measured the impedance response using a lab-on-chip and impedance analyzer. The individual cell characteristics were derived from the impedance response of the group. The goal was to characterize …

Material Detection With Thermal Imaging And Computer Vision: Potentials And Limitations, Jared Poe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of my masters thesis research is to develop an affordable and mobile infraredbased environmental sensoring system for the control of a servo motor based on material identification. While this sensing could be oriented towards different applications, my thesis is particularly interested in material detection due to the wide range of possible applications in mechanical engineering. Material detection using a thermal mobile camera could be used in manufacturing, recycling or autonomous robotics. For my research, the application that will be focused on is using this material detection to control a servo motor by identifying and sending control inputs based …

Frequency Domain Measurements Of Melt Pool Recoil Force Using Modal Analysis, Tristan Cullom, Cody Lough, Nicholas Altese, Douglas Bristow, Robert Landers, Ben Brown, Troy Hartwig, Andrew Barnard, Jason Blough, Kevin Johnson, Edward Kinzel

Michigan Tech Publications

Recoil pressure is a critical factor affecting the melt pool dynamics during Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) processes. Recoil pressure depresses the melt pool. When the recoil pressure is low, thermal conduction and capillary forces may be inadequate to provide proper fusion between layers. However, excessive recoil pressure can produce a keyhole inside the melt pool, which is associated with gas porosity. Direct recoil pressure measurements are challenging because it is localized over an area proportionate to the laser spot size producing a force in the mN range. This paper reports a vibration-based approach to quantify the recoil force exerted …

Human Powered Vehicle Capstone, Maya L. Washington, Ryan Apolonio, Marc Sunga, John Rettenmier, Dr. Allen Wilson

Honors Thesis

In the ASME Human Powered Vehicle Challenge (HPVC), students design, develop, construct, and test different designs of human-powered vehicles. The design utilizes two wheels, the rear of which is responsible for power transmission from a pedal crank and braking through a disc and caliper. The design also utilizes the front wheel fork wheel for steering. Steering and braking are controlled by two levers on the handlebars. To determine whether the design was sufficient, it was compared to the standards set by ASME, including maximum weight, minimum speed, minimum turning radius, minimum ride distance, load testing, harness verification, and a complete …

Monitoring Of Overhead Polymer Core Composite Conductors Under Excessive Mechanical Loads Using Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors, Daniel H. Waters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This combined experimental and numerical study addresses mechanical effects associated with static and dynamic loading of novel High Temperature Low Sag (HTLS) transmission line polymer core composite conductors. The developed methodology was successfully applied to ACCC® to explain the complex failure mechanisms associated with combined bending and tension loading. Furthermore, the use of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors was investigated for the first time to monitor the ACCC® design during installation and in-service.

Transverse low-velocity impacts to the ACCC® conductor having either free or constrained end conditions and large axial tensile loads were performed. It was identified that the most …

Sources Of Quality Uncertainty In Laser Powder Bed Fusion Metal Additive Manufacturing, Zachary Young

Doctoral Dissertations

"Powder based additive manufacturing (AM) exhibits tremendous uncertainties, where variations in build quality is present despite utilizing similar build processing parameters. First, this work reports the features and formation mechanisms of five unique types of spatter during the LPBF process by in-situ high-speed, high-energy x-ray imaging. The unique physical characteristics of spatter are determined. The effect of laser scan speed and laser power on spatter formation, ejection, and mitigation are determined. Second, this work addresses the uncertainty challenge by identifying the sources of uncertainty in SLM by in-situ characterization due to variations from the additive manufacturing processing parameters needed for …

Customizable Armor Set, Olivia Reedy

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project is intended to help people who make costume armor by reducing the amount of time and money it takes to create a set of armor. Making armor can take a lot of resources for beginners, and this project is intended to help hobbyists with that process. This customizable armor set goes through the engineering design process, from the initial design of the parts to creating the prototype using vacuum forming. The prototype armor can be painted and adhered to using acrylic paint and contact cement, respectively, and fits three sizes of small, medium, and large.

Development Of An Undergraduate Welding Laboratory For Research And Education, Hamid Eisazadeh, Alok K. Verma

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The shortage of welders in Hampton Roads area, where many shipyards are located, is becoming severe for shipbuilding in coming years. Many welding engineers graduated from universities located out of state, tend to go back to companies near their home, after receiving couple years of welding experience at Hampton Roads shipyards. Therefore, it is critical to train local welders. In order to address the welding workforce needs of Hampton Roads, the Department of Engineering Technology at Old Dominion University has recently launched an initiative for developing a laboratory for welding processes (LWP) for supporting educational and research activities in its …

Using Schema Training To Facilitate Students' Understanding Of Challenging Engineering Concepts In Heat Transfer And Thermodynamics, Dazhi Yang, Ruth Streveler, Ronald L. Miller, Inanc Senocak, Jim Slotta

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Chi and colleagues have argued that some of the most challenging engineering concepts exhibit properties of emergent systems. However, students often lack a mental framework, or schema, for understanding emergence. Slotta and Chi posited that helping students develop a schema for emergent systems, referred to as schema training, would increase the understanding of challenging concepts exhibiting emergent properties.

Purpose: We tested the effectiveness of schema training and explored the nature of challenging concepts from thermodynamics and heat transfer. We investigated if schema training could (a) repair misconceptions in advanced engineering students and (b) prevent them in beginning engineering students. …

Prosthetic Foot Shell, Ql+, Kathryn Victoria Versteeg, Jackson A. Tucker, Ethan William Frey

Mechanical Engineering

This final design review includes an overview of our project and the steps we have taken to create our final product. We discuss the background research conducted, including various products like the foot shell we are trying to design and its related patents, along with similar past senior projects. As our product is considered a medical device, there are also certain standards that we must comply with. After determining our problem statement, we established what we believe to be the wants and needs of our user. These wants and needs were converted into specifications for our design, with durability as …

Parametric Studies Of Reciprocating-Flow Heat Transfer In A Reciprocating Loop Device, Majid Abdulmajeed Almas

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is anticipated that clean vehicles such as Electric Vehicles (EVs) may dominate ground transportation in the future. Reliable and lower-cost batteries are essential to the growth of EV industries. A literature review reveals that if non-uniformity of battery operating temperature reaches about 9.0 ^oC, the capacity of the battery pack could drop by more than 30%, Also, If the operating temperature of the battery system exceeds 40 ^oC or is below 0 ^oC, the battery power could decrease dramatically and eventually to zero. However, excellent battery thermal-management systems that improve battery capacity and operational life have …

Efficiency Of Gas Turbine Engines, Tahir A. Upshaw

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

The following research involves conducting a confirmation of test bench results, and parametric cycle analysis. The results from these two methods of data collection is meant to show relationship between both. Where the data of the price induction can be verified with the parametric cycle analysis of the individual components to calculate the thrust and efficiency. Once we compare both methods, it will allow us to move on to part two of the research which involves determining how to make gas turbine engines more efficient based on the collected data.

College Of Engineering News, Georgia Southern University

Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering & Computing News (2012-2023)

• Georgia Engineering Foundation Scholarships
• GDOT and FHWA Fund Traffic Safety Research at Georgia Southern

Polyurethane-Carbon Microfiber Composite Coating For Electrical Heating Of Concrete Pavement Surfaces, Alireza Sassani, Ali Arabzadeh, Halil Ceylan, Sunghwan Kim, Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan, Peter C. Taylor, Ali Nahvi

Ali Nahvi

Electrically-heated pavements have attracted attention as alternatives to the traditional ice/snow removal practices. Electrically conductive polymer-carbon composite coatings provide promising properties for this application. Based on the concept of joule heating, the conductive composite can be utilized as a resistor that generates heat by electric current and increases the surface temperature to melt the ice and snow on the pavement surface. This research investigates the feasibility of applying an electrically conductive composite coating made with a Polyurethane (PU) binder and micrometer-scale carbon fiber (CMF) filler as the electrical heating materials on the surface of Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements. PU-CMF …

Design Of A Canine Inspired Quadruped Robot As A Platform For Synthetic Neural Network Control, Cody Warren Scharzenberger

Dissertations and Theses

Legged locomotion is a feat ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom, but modern robots still fall far short of similar achievements. This paper presents the design of a canine-inspired quadruped robot named DoggyDeux as a platform for synthetic neural network (SNN) research that may be one avenue for robots to attain animal-like agility and adaptability. DoggyDeux features a fully 3D printed frame, 24 braided pneumatic actuators (BPAs) that drive four 3-DOF limbs in antagonistic extensor-flexor pairs, and an electrical system that allows it to respond to commands from a SNN comprised of central pattern generators (CPGs). Compared to the previous version …

The School Of Engineering And Computer Science Class Of 2019 Mechanical Engineering Academic Celebration Program, Cedarville University

Engineering and Computer Science Academic Celebrations

No abstract provided.

Water Walking As A New Mode Of Free Surface Skipping, Randy Craig Hurd, Jesse Belden, Allan F. Bower, Sean Holekamp, Michael A. Jandron, Tadd T. Truscott

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Deformable elastomeric spheres are evaluated experimentally as they skip multiple times over a lake surface. Some spheres are embedded with small inertial measurement units to measure the acceleration experienced during water surface impact. A model for multiple impact events shows good agreement between measured acceleration, number of skipping events and distanced traveled. The experiment reveals a new mode of skipping, “water walking”, which is observed for relatively soft spheres impacting at low impact angles. The mode occurs when the sphere gains significant angular velocity over the first several impacts, causing the sphere to maintain a deformed, oblong shape. The behavior …

Additive Manufactured Ear Pinna For Spatial Cue Preservation In Custom Hearing Devices, Carlos Felipe Acosta Carrasco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Advancements in additive manufacturing/3D printing technologies has permitted the fabrication of intricate features such as the ones present in the human ear. The outer ear, also known as the pinna, allows for the spectral cues from incoming sound to be captured and identified. The hypothesis of the preservation of auditory localization and externalization relies on the fabrication of an ear pinna via additive manufacturing embedded into a headset for spectral cue preservation and hearing protection. Before exploring these custom circumaural hearing devices, a study on the fabrication process of AM pinnae was performed. The KEMAR system for acoustic research was …

Molecular Dynamics Study Of Sintering Behavior Of Single-Crystal, Bimetallic Core/Shell Alloy, And Intermetallic Alloy Nanoparticles, Jungmin Jeon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has been rapidly growing interest in the sintering process of nanoparticles (NPs) among academia and modern industry due to their promising applications in additive manufacturing (AM) based on the overall improved properties at nanoscale. In the past decade a lot of experimental and computational work has been conducted to study the sintering process of powder materials. However there is still a significant knowledge gap in a fundamental understanding of the thermodynamics and nanostructural evolution of NPs undergoing additive manufacturing. This thesis aims to gain fundamental insights into melting behavior of different materials including single-crystal bimetallic core/shell alloy and intermetallic …

Muse 1: Interactive Water Table, Sarah R. Higginbotham

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Properties Of Supercapacitors And Possible Applications For The Technology, Vincent Oliveto

Honors Theses

Supercapacitors have a lot of excellent qualities that would make them a great substitute for batteries when it comes to electrical energy storage systems. Supercapacitors can discharge and charge very rapidly, they have a lifespan in the realm of millions of cycles, and they are much more efficient than batteries. Unfortunately, they cannot hold nearly as much charge as batteries. This paper seeks to further investigate the properties of supercapacitor technology and the best way to exploit these properties with the purpose of integrating them into renewable energy systems. There is currently a lot of research occurring around the world …

Foot Stress And Blood Flow Sensing Under High-Loading During Hip Surgery, Chris Cardenas, Esther Chen, Claire Kingston, Katie Paswaters, Brianna Rodebaugh

Mechanical Engineering

The PolyHIPS team was tasked with integrating sensors into Stryker’s hip arthroscopy boot that monitor blood flow and heel slip during hip surgery. During hip arthroscopy, the femur head is distracted from the acetabulum to create space in the joint for the surgeon to operate. This requires the use of up to 200 lbf. In order to maintain this space, the foot is held tightly in the boot. Complications can result from the foot being held too tightly in the boot during the procedure. The most common complication is neuropraxia, or temporary nerve damage. PolyHIPS proposes a solution that utilizes …

The School Of Engineering And Computer Science Class Of 2018 Mechanical Engineering Academic Celebration Program, Cedarville University

Engineering and Computer Science Academic Celebrations

No abstract provided.

The Rock 2018, School Of Engineering And Computer Science

The Rock

No abstract provided.

Trochoidal Milling Of Alsicp With Cvd Diamond Coated End Mills, Tony Nguyen

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Metal matrix composites have seen a rise in demand within the last decade. Aluminum alloy reinforced with silicon carbide particles is a type of particle metal matrix composite that has seen applications in the aerospace, ground transportation, and electronics industry. However, the abrasive SiC particles have made this material difficult to machine through conventional machining strategies. This research will focus on using computer aided manufacturing with trochoidal tool paths to maximize machining productivity and extend the tool life of CVD diamond coated end mills. The focus of this research will be on AlSiCp with a high volume fraction of reinforcement …

Applications Of Low Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Muhammad Waqas

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic resonance imaging is a non-invasive imaging modality that is used to produce detailed images of soft tissues within the human body. Typically, MRI scanners used in the clinical setting are high field systems because they have a magnetic field strength greater than 1.5 Tesla. The high magnetic field offers the benefit of high spatial resolution and high SNR. However, low filed systems can also produce high resolution MR images with the added benefit of imaging stiffer samples. In this study, a low field 0.5 T MR system was used to image various samples to demonstrate the capability of the …

Rapid Characterization Of Local Shape Memory Properties Through Indentation, Peizhen Li, Haluk E. Karaca, Yang-Tse Cheng

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) have the ability to show large recoverable shape changes upon temperature, stress or magnetic field cycling. Their shape memory, material and magnetic properties (e.g. transformation temperatures, strain, saturation magnetization and strength) determine their prospects for applications from small-scale microelectromechanical systems to large scale aerospace and biomedical systems. It should be noted that properties of SMAs are highly temperature dependent. Generally, the conventional mechanical characterization methods (e.g, tension, compression, and torsion) are used on bulk samples of SMAs to determine those properties. In this article, it will be shown that indentation technique can be used as an …

Innovation Of Driving Gear Train System For Developer Unit Of Lexmark Home Printers, Jay A. Crist, Sarah Gore, Kun Xie, Michael Mixoon

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A Wood-Powered Lawn Mower: Separating The Rules Of Thumb From Engineering Design, William White

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Biomass gasification, the thermal process of exracting combustible gasses from organic matter, is an established procedure that has been used for many years to provide fuel in various applications. It is a potential source of renewable fuel and has proven useful as a crisis energy source. This thesis investigates the primary engineering science principles involved in gasifier-engine system design. It arises from and supplements a WKU mechanical engineering senior project. The senior project has developed a wood gasification system designed to power a riding lawn mower. The thesis reiews theory-based design and separates it from informal hit and miss approaches—rule …

The School Of Engineering And Computer Science Class Of 2017 Mechanical Engineering Academic Celebration Program, Cedarville University

Engineering and Computer Science Academic Celebrations

No abstract provided.