Engineering Commons^™

Feasibility Study Of An Electromagnetic Trap Fusion Reactor., Dennis Gilbert Blondin

Masters Theses

"Through the use of detailed particle and energy balances, electromagnetic traps with magnetic cusps are found to be unsatisfactory for continuous operation when using only neutral particle beams to sustain a thermonuclear plasma. Low power multiplication characteristics inherent in this CTR design probably preclude supplemental plasma heating methods. However, by using an alternate Yin-Yang magnetic system, continuous CTR operating regimes are found at an ion temperature of 20 keV while assuming only neutral particle beam heating. Although these regimes require applied electrostatic potentials approaching a half-million volts, this device demonstrates a capability for efficient power production"-- Abstract, p. ii

Development Of A Four Channel Cloud Nucleus Spectrometer., Larry Allan Brunner

Masters Theses

"A four-channel vertical flow thermal diffusion chamber for use as a cloud nucleus counter is described. The droplets in each channel are photographically counted. The instrument provides about 20 seconds of available growth time, which enables better distinction of active droplets than does ii the conventional horizontal chamber. Droplet growth calculations show that the uncertainty in droplet count due to limited available growth time is negligible for supersaturations above 0.3% but increases rapidly as the supersaturation is lowered below 0.3%. For example, at 0.1% supersaturation, the uncertainty is -27% to +38% in the drop count. The possible error in supersaturation …

Thermal Fragmentation Of Rock - The Influence Of Temperature Dependent Material Properties., James Dale Scheller

Masters Theses

"This investigation is concerned with a thermal rock fragmentation system employing heat to create subsurface thermal inclusions. The effectiveness of this system as applied to three different rock types is studied. The rock types are Dresser basalt, Charcoal gray granite, and Sioux quartzite. Also, the influence of temperature dependent material properties is investigated.

The actual three-dimensional problem of in situ rock fragmentation involves parallel rows of equally spaced holes drilled to a constant depth. A heat source at the bottom of each hole creates a thermal inclusion resulting in a stress field causing fracture.

Axisymmetric models of the fragmentation system …

Post Irradiation Changes Of The Elastic Modulus Of Aluminum, Dale A. Powers

Masters Theses

"Aluminum samples of 99.99% and 99.999% purity were irradiated to neutron fluences of 3·8·10¹⁸ nvt and 1.4·10¹⁹ nvt (E greater than 0.1 Mev) at one-third of the melting temperature. The change in Young's modulus of elasticity after isothermal annealing in the temperature range of 110⁰C to 130⁰C was measured. After 2.5 hours of annealing, the modulus reached a steady state value which was decreased by 0.25% ± 0.17% from the unannealed value. Electron microscopy suggests the hardening mechanisms were dispersion hardening by silicon precipitates and void hardening"--Abstract, page ii.

Graph Model Analysis Of Computer Structures, Ömür Taşar

Masters Theses

"Graph theory is applicable to the solving of problems in nearly every field of scientific study. The purpose of this thesis is to consider its applications in representing and analyzing digital computers. Fundamental graph theory definitions, the types and the properties of the directed graphs, the matrix representation, and several reduction techniques are discussed. The blocking gate method for diagnosing computer systems is described and applied to the Scientific Control Corporation (SCC) 650 for its fault-diagnosis.

Microprogramming has been a significant trend in hardware and software designs of computers. Microprogrammed computers are discussed in comparison to conventional computers. A general …

Computer Analysis Of 3-Phase Induction Motor Operation On An Open-Delta Distribution System, S. Clark Seematter

Masters Theses

"Open-delta/open-delta and open-wye/open-delta transformer banks are often used as an economic means of supplying simultaneous single-phase and 3-phase loads. If the 3-phase load is an induction motor and if these banks are used, the inherent voltage unbalance causes increased losses and uneven heating that may lead to motor failure. Two previously published theories are used to predict motor heating that is caused by the unbalanced voltages and the motor derating that is necessary to prevent insulation failure"--Abstract, page ii.

Local Buckling Of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members Having Initially Curved Compression Elements, William M. Mckinney

Masters Theses

"A comprehensive investigation of the effect of initial deviation from flatness on buckling stress and post-buckling strength of compression elements in structural plate members is presented. The study of stiffened and unstiffened elements expands the scope of elastic stability for initially curved plates. Finite element techniques were utilized for the study of unstiffened elements"--Abstract, page ii.

Combined Forced And Free Convection On A Vertical Cylinder And Flat Plate, Aleksandros Mucoglu

Masters Theses

"In the study of fluid flow over heated surfaces, it is customary to neglect the effects of buoyancy force when the flow is horizontal. However, such a practice is not justified when the forced flow is along an inclined or a vertical surface, because under these conditions the buoyancy force modifies considerably the flow field and hence the heat transfer rate from the surface. Such a flow is termed combined forced and free convective flow.

The present study is concerned with the effects of buoyancy force on forced convection along an isothermal vertical cylinder and a flat plate. This type …

Investigation Of The Electric Field In The Vicinity Of A Water Drop Adhering To A Conductor, Jamnarn Hokierti

Masters Theses

"Electric field calculations in the vicinity of a conductor above ground are developed with constraints on the distance from the conductor for which the electric field equations can be applied for practical applications. The electric field in the vicinity of a small water drop adhering to the conductor has been calculated. Application of this electric field in the vicinity of the water drop has been used to compute the apparent surface charges and also the forces on the small water drop surface. Methods for the calculation of space charge due to ionization on the water drop has been suggested"--Abstract, page …

Two-Dimensional Radiative Transfer In A Finite Scattering Mediu, James Warren Koewing

Masters Theses

"Exact formulations are presented for the source function, intensity and flux for a two-dimensional, isotropically scattering medium of finite thickness. Spatially varying collimated and diffuse radiation of the following types are incident on the medium: (1) cosine varying, (2) semi-infinite step, (3) step at the origin, and (4) finite strip. The solutions for the cosine varying collimated boundary condition are used to construct solutions for the other boundary conditions. The two-dimensional integral equations are reduced to one-dimensional equations by separating variables. Through a series of transformations, the one-dimensional equations are put into a form in which the source function, intensity …

Laboratory Evaluation Of Dynamic Soil Properties By Ultrasonic Testing Methods, Ronald Maurice Eckelkamp

Masters Theses

"Measurement of ultrasonic compression and shear wave velocities through a soil material has been made with a pulse wave generator developed at the University of Missouri-Rolla. The variation of these velocities along with the behavior of the dynamic material parameters of the material (Young's modulus, shear modulus, Poisson's ratio) with void ratio and degree of saturation were determined. Compression wave velocity, shear wave velocity, Young's modulus and shear modulus were found to decrease with increasing void ratio; degree of saturation was of little influence. Wave attenuation could not be measured by the test procedure used"--Abstract, page ii.

Laser Holographic Interferometric Investigation Of Heat Transfer About An Isothermal Vertical Flat Plate, Richard Michael Quinlisk

Masters Theses

"A study of the laser holographic interferometer was conducted to compare heat transfer data obtained with the device to standard free convection boundary layer theory. The system studied was an isothermal vertical flat plate. The interferometer was used to obtain fringe patterns of the boundary layer at the plate surface.

Data from the holographic interferograms were recorded by making conventional two-dimensional photographs of the holographic images.

The optical data are shown to have a good correlation to Von-Karman theory. Values of the boundary layer thickness, temperature distribution, and heat transfer were compared. An attempt was made to probe the boundary …

Waste Heat Utilization From A Direct Cycle High Temperature Gas Cooled Nuclear Reactor For District Heating And Air Conditioning, John Joseph Blase

Masters Theses

"An analysis was conducted to determine the economic as well as technical feasibility of waste heat utilization from the proposed direct cycle high temperature gas cooled nuclear reactor, as designed by the General Atomic Company.

The rejected heat from this system is at considerably higher temperatures than those normally encountered in conventional steam-electric Rankine cycles. By taking advantage of these higher rejection temperatures, heat was translated into energy available to a district heating and air conditioning service. The transportation of this energy was considered to be in the form of heated and chilled water.

A refrigeration capacity on the order …

A Systems Approach To Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Training Programs, Jesse Michael Haverstick

Masters Theses

"The evaluation of the effectiveness of training programs has long been recognized as a necessity in determining the allocation of investment. However, much of industry, today, still does not use an easily administered, systematic, and reliable method for determining training program effectiveness for their salaried (managerial) personnel. It is easily seen that determining training program effectiveness is not a one-shot, one-time event, but a continual process, whose aim, ultimately, is increased productivity. For the effectiveness of a training program to be adequately monitored, these four areas should be measured: (1) trainee attitude, (2) learning, (3) behavior change, and (4) productivity …

A Study Of Pollution Abatement From The F-15 Jet Engine Test Stand, Gary Joseph Fennewald

Masters Theses

"The pollutants emitted from jet engine test stands are carbon particles, unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and the oxides of nitrogen. This work is a study of various ways of removing these pollutants from the test stand exhaust. The methods investigated include absorption, adsorption, electrostatic precipitation, filtration, catalytic reduction and oxidation, and thermal oxidation.

For abatement of nitrogen oxides, none of the present methods is considered to provide adequate technical reliability to proceed with an installation at this time. Each of the methods for removal of nitrogen oxides has high capital and operating cost; and, in many cases, secondary pollution problems …

Diurnal Solar Heating And Cooling Of A Water Reservoir, Stephen Patrick Lepper

Masters Theses

"The transient diurnal heating of a water reservoir by solar radiation; and its cooling by surface convection, evaporation, and radiation emission was analytically modeled. The directional and spectral properties of the incident solar radiation, the air-water interface, and the selective attenuation of radiant energy by the water were properly included in the analysis. The diurnal vertical temperature distribution was predicted by numerically solving the energy equation using a finite difference technique. It was determined that the surface boundary conditions and the selective absorption of radiant energy by the water strongly influence the thermal stratification of stagnant water.

The diurnal compensating …

Possible Damage Mechanism In Dresden 2 Class Boiling Water Reactor Fuel, Donald Lee Moffett

Masters Theses

"A thermal hydraulic analysis of a typical hot channel of a Dresden 2 class boiling water reactor is studied for possible severe local overheating. The COBRA-II thermal hydraulic analysis code is modified to include critical heat flux calculations for each subchannel. The effects of flow distribution, inlet mass velocity variations, dimensional tolerances, enrichment variations, and input parameters are examined in detail. Bulk channel results are in good agreement with the published data, but the assembly wall side of the corner fuel rod has a minimum critical heat flux ratio of less than unity for a number of the situations examined. …

A Multiple-Plan Evaluation Model For Small Ungauged Watersheds, James R. Dexter

Masters Theses

A computer solution model is proposed for simulation of the effect of alternative measures for flood damage reduction. The goal of the model is to optimize the value of an objective function which will maximize the amount of net benefits returned by the project. The evaluation includes unit hydrograph synthesis, direct runoff construction, computation of average annual damages, and optimization of an objective function. A test application of the model is made on a small community affected by floods from a small ungauged stream"--Abstract, page iii.

A Discrete Approach To Surface Interpolation, Jerry Lee Albert Sandvos

Masters Theses

"An equidistant spacing of two dimensional data points is a requirement of most automated analysis routines. In this thesis, a method of generating such equispaced data from randomly spaced data is developed and implemented by a set of computer routines. The method represents the study area as a two dimensional spatial array, in which each array cell represents the data value of a subarea of the study area. A routine sorts and places the data in the array. Missing values in the array are interpolated from nearest neighbors. Filtering is used to smooth errors and a contouring routine is used …

A Digital Simulation Of The Statistical Properties Of Ionospheric Scintillation, William Frederick Deckelman

Masters Theses

"This thesis shows that a bandlimited bivariate-normal time series is a useful model for the envelope of scintillating radio signals traversing the ionosphere. A software computer model is designed and its parameters varied to obtain good fits of the fade duration distribution of the time series generated by the model with that of an actual block of ionospheric scintillation data. The power spectrum of the actual time series corresponding to the in-phase and phase quadrature components of ionospheric scintillation is shown to lie between that of a first- and second-order Butterworth filter through comparison with model generated data"--Abstract, page ii.

A Geohydrologic Study Of The St. Francois County Regional Sanitary Landfill., Kent David Gastreich

Masters Theses

"The St. Francois County Sanitary Landfill is a 503.8-acre site located 1n the Old Lead Belt area of southeast Missouri. The landfill, which was opened in July 1973., is being operated by the non-profit St. Francois County Environmental Corporation. The site is largely covered by up to 80 feet of tailings finely ground dolomite of the lower Bonne Terre Formation., wh1ch are a product of decades of lead mining and milling at the Deslodge, Missouri, Mine. The landfill 1s surrounded on three sides by the Big River. Approximately 36,000 people are being served by the landfill which takes in about …

Numerical Modeling Of The Early Stage Of Cloud Formation In A Simulation Chamber, Adel Nassif Saad

Doctoral Dissertations

"A numerical model has been developed to simulate the growth of cloud droplets by condensation upon a spectrum of hygroscopic nuclei. The model is applicable to cloud simulation chamber conditions as well as to the study of the role of these nuclei on cloud base microstructure.

Equations are given for the growth by condensation of water vapor on a population of hygroscopic nuclei in a volume being cooled by expansion. The equations are integrated simultaneously, using Hamming's modified predictor-corrector method for given initial conditions, to obtain the droplet size distribution, temperature, pressure, supersaturation, and liquid water content. Temperature fluctuations, sedimentation …

A Study Of The Feasibility In Obtaining The Kinetics Of Various Ordering Phenomena Of The Iron Aluminum System Utilizing The Mössbauer Effect, Lloyd Rollan Chapman

Masters Theses

"The determination of the kinetics of ordering for various ordering phenomena of the Iron-Aluminum system utilizing exclusively the Mössbauer effect technique is shown to be infeasible for all but a highly restrictive consideration from experimental as well as theoretical evidence. Also, the possible use of the Mössbauer effect for the analysis of other ordered systems is discussed.

An alternative method for the acquisition of the needed information utilizing diffraction and Mossbauer techniques is presented recognizing the need for a computer fitting analysis of the complex Mössbauer effect spectra. However, at this stage of investigation, no experimental work has been performed …

Transient Thermal Stresses In A Sphere By Local Heating, J. B. Cheung, T. S. Chen, K. Thirumalai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The problem of transient thermal stresses in a solid, elastic, homogeneous, and isotropic sphere is solved for uniform and nonuniform, local surface heating. The temperature solutions are obtained by using separation of variables and integral transformation. The corresponding thermal stresses are derived by superposing a particular displacement potential function on Boussinesq solutions. Numerical solutions for two particular cases of localized heating of a typical brittle spherical solid have been obtained and presented. The results indicate a tensile stress concentration in the interior of the solid below the heated zone. © 1974 by ASME.

Vibration Characteristics Of Free Thin Cylindrical Shells, Floyd M. Cunningham, D. E. Leanhardt

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper considers the flexural vibrations of free thin circular cylinders. A frequency equation is derived using free-free characteristic beam functions to represent the variation of mid-surface shell displacement components, u, v and w, with respect to the axial direction. Timoshenko strain-displacement relations for thin cylinders are used to determine elastic vibratory strain energy. Energy methods are applied to obtain the frequency equation and associated amplitude ratios for each of its roots. This energy solution is checked experimentally using a vibration exciter and numerically using the SABOR IV finite element program. With minor modification, the frequency equation conforms to the …

Equalization Of Qpsk Data Transmission In Specular Multipath, Rodger E. Ziemer, C. R. Ryan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper gives performance results for transversal-filter equalization of Quadri phase phase-shift-keyed (QPSK) signals with two-component multipath and demodulator phase error. An analytical expression for optimum, minimum mean-square-error tap weights in terms of the multipath and signal parameters is given. Probability of error results for no equalization and equalization with adaptive decision-feedback tap-weight adjustment are compared. The results show that significant improvement can be obtained with relatively simple equalizer structures. Copyright © 1974 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.

Evaluating The Membrane Fecal Coliform Test By Using Escherichia Coli As The Indicator Organism, James B. Hufham

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The fecal coliform membrane filter method (MFC) currently used in water pollution analysis was evaluated by using two strains of E. coli, a known fecal coliform, as th indicator organism. A large relative error in the results obtained with this method was found to be dependent upon the brand of membrane filter employed, the medium, and the temperature of incubation. MFC densities varied between 10 and 60% of the densities determined by means of total bacteria counts and total coliform counts performed at 35°C. Due to the large relative error encountered, the MFC method cannot be recommended as an analytical …

A Mass Spectrometric Study Of Positive Ions Produced In An Experimental Diode, L. A. Addington, Gordon Lewis

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A simple diode ion source has been developed for direct observation in a mass spectrometer of the positive ions created in an operating diode. The ionic species accelerated toward the cathode were identified. The shape of the peak displayed in the spectrum is related to the region of the diode in which the ions were formed. Variation of experimental parameters, including the composition of the background gases, indicated that the characteristic shapes of the peaks can be related to space charge in the diode. This is complicated by the tendency of some of the species to fragment and further work …

Growth Of Single Crystals By The Flux Technique, Nabil H Kerba

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Field Emission Of Boron On Tungsten, P. D. Ownby, Thomas A. Flaim

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.