Engineering Commons^™

United States Army Corps Of Engineers Info Session At California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, Gabriel L. Vesneski

Construction Management

Gabriel Vesneski facilitated an Info Session on Thursday, November 2, at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo for the United States Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District Civil Works. Three guest speakers from the Sacramento District Civil Works office presented their educational background, experience as employees for the Corps of Engineers, occupational benefits, and finally opened a question-and-answer forum for the students attending the Info Session. Upon completion of the Info Session, a survey was provided for attendees, in order to track interest in employment or internship opportunities provided by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Finally, there …

Compressive And Flexural Tensile Strength Impacts Of Aluminum Shavings In Concrete, Ian Smith

Construction Management

Concrete is one of the most utilized construction materials around the world, but new and cutting-edge methods are constantly pushing the envelope for concrete’s applications and feasibility as a construction material. Unfortunately, concrete has a general lack of resistance to bending and stretching. Studies have shown several successful attempts to enhance the mechanical properties of concrete through implementation of various admixtures and methods. Steel is widely considered the primary material capable of reinforcing concrete. This paper evaluates concrete’s change in strength of flexural tension and compression as a result of implementing aluminum as a reinforcing agent. To determine the full …

Transitions Metal Health Association Youth Treatment Program Facility Upgrades, Nicolas Fregulia

Construction Management

The Transitions Mental Health Association (TMHA) Youth Treatment Program in San Luis Obispo is a vital resource dedicated to supporting the mental health and well-being of young individuals in the community. TMHA recently purchased a new property that requires several updates before opening. Three California Polytechnic State University Construction Management students collaborated an estimate, schedule, design and construction of a parking lot, walking path, and a new tortoise enclosure. The team split up the roles evenly into two phases preconstruction and construction, where preconstruction includes estimate, schedule, design, and logistics. The purpose of this is to review phase one of …

Hybrid Wall Outlet For Ac Or Dc Power Delivery, Garrett Knoller, Kerr Allan, Greg Perini

Electrical Engineering

The goal of this project is to develop hybrid DC and AC wall outlets for an efficient, flexible power interface. A DC plug standard is also proposed to allow DC devices to be safely powered by the outlet with the correct DC voltage for each device. The primary objective is to create a power outlet compatible with the proposed DC plug as well as NEMA 5-15 AC plugs, enabling the same outlet to power both types of load as needed. The outlet is intended for buildings and systems transitioning to an isolated DC grid to encourage DC development and adoption. …

Dc To Ac Inverter For A Microgrid-Inspired Power Distribution Architecture For Electric Vehicles, Bryan A. Carrillo Martinez, Eli Blacklock, Paul A. Samson, William S. Holt-Hillis

Electrical Engineering

This project builds upon the prototyping of a microgrid-inspired power distribution architecture for electric vehicles (EVs). The efficacy of this prototype aims to inform a full-scale power distribution system that charges an EV battery, supports the electric grid with important ancillary services, performs peer-to-peer EV charging, and works in conjunction with other AC and DC sources and loads. The scope of this report focuses specifically on the design, construction, and testing of the DC/AC inverter. Future development of this distribution architecture will incorporate synchronous generators, a battery management system, and an Arduino/Raspberry Pi-based communication system to fully simulate an electric …

Digital Filter Implementation On A Dsp Development Board, Tien Le, Helen Zhang

Electrical Engineering

This project to implement digital filters on a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) development board intends to demonstrate viability for future use in teaching digital signal processing lab courses. The digital filter types covered, including Finite Impulse Response (FIR) and Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filters of various basic frequency responses, will mirror current DSP lab projects to fulfill course learning objectives for filter design and characterization. Design features will include speed optimization to enable real-time digital signal processing. This project will investigate the use of Code Composer Studio to compile C and assembly code to the DSP. Alternatives for currently available …

4-Band Personal Eq Device, Carson Kellerman

Electrical Engineering

The device is a 4-band EQ with 3.5mm audio input and output jacks. The device has 4 adjustable EQ bands. Each of the 4 bands are adjustable via knob potentiometers, and are able to boost or cut their respective center frequencies of 150Hz, 400Hz, 2500Hz, and 10kHz from -15dB to +15dB. The device is battery powered off of 1 9V battery and is able to function for 10 hours before needing to replace the batteries. The device has a Total Harmonic Distortion of less than 1% and a Signal to Noise Ratio greater than 60dB. Overall, this device allows music …

Design Of An Angle Measurement Device Using Ultrasonic Pairs, Shadi Khanpour Doustkar

Electrical Engineering

In this paper, a new concept for ultrasonic indoor positioning built upon instantaneous frequency of ultrasonic signals is presented. Ultrasonic sensors are inexpensive and manageable sensors; they are currently not used to good advantage with their potential for the electronics industry. The current ultrasonic sensors in the market only present a distance value to the nearest object for the user and due to this kind of feedback, it’s not attainable to find the relative position of the object from the sensor in a detection area; examples vary from workpieces and robots to even people. By using an algorithm and multiple …

Band Motor Crankshaft For Hydrogen Combustion Engine, Lincoln Hofer, Jacqueline Mendoza Cortes, Austin Rhee, Roze Raymond

Mechanical Engineering

This report outlines the steps in which a group of four mechanical engineers at California Polytechnic State University California, San Luis Obispo, addressed an issue brought up by Professor Roger Benham from the Materials Department. The task included developing an automated and modular testing platform for a revolutionary concept crankshaft prototype – meant for a hydrogen combustion engine - developed and produced by the sponsor: Roger Benham. A testing platform is necessary to measure the performance of the shaft design created to eventually implement this subsystem into a complete hydrogen engine design. Values being tested include geometric validation, maximum static …

Interactive Water Vortex Exhibit, Simon Way, Emily Laing, Roqaya Naseri, Makenzie Kan

Mechanical Engineering

The San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum requested an interactive water vortex exhibit to both engage and entertain inquisitive guests, ages two to eight. The goal was to design and manufacture an exhibit that would educate its users on the fluid mechanics behind water vortices. They activate the mechanics by spinning a wheel, which is perceived as the catalyst to manipulate the flow of water to successfully create a whirlpool. Our team has created an interactive display that will enlighten young minds, providing the museum with an educational exhibit which shares a concept not currently taught by any other. Our project …

An Analysis On Wildfire Mitigations Employed By Utilities In California, Evan Luu

Master's Theses

As climate change continues to worsen, environmental effects are felt by many people around the world. In California, some of its most damaging wildfires have been found to be started by utilities. As the state continues to suffer from worsening wildfire conditions, the utilities need to implement a variety of wildfire mitigations to help reduce the risk of wildfires that can affect the state and its residents. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of four mitigations employed across three California utilities and suggests potential ways for the mitigations to be used together. The technologies evaluated are covered conductor, rapid earth fault …

Improvement Of Rotation Capacity Of Composite Beam-To-Hss Column Connections Using External Horizontal Stiffeners, Mahdi Afshar Arjmand

Master's Theses

Improvement of Rotation Capacity of Composite Beam-to-HSS Column Connections Using External Horizontal Stiffeners

Mahdi Afshar Arjmand

This thesis focuses on the analysis of out-of-plane deformation (OOP) in column flange located in the panel zone of composite beam-to-column steel connection, as a critical aspect of steel structural engineering. This type of connection is an integral component of steel structures, and understanding their behavior is essential for ensuring safety and performance. The investigation involves examining the causes, factors influencing, and potential mitigation strategies for out-of-plane deformation of HSS flange column in these connections. Beam-to-column connections play a vital role in transferring loads …

Development Of Load Measurement Technique For Arbitrary Shapes, Quintin J. Cockrell

Master's Theses

Obtaining aerodynamic forces and moments about all three orthogonal axes for arbitrary shapes at arbitrary orientations in a fast manner via a measurement technique specific to Cal Poly’s low-speed wind tunnel to continually obtain the forces and moments under quasi-steady conditions is explored. A Continuous Rotation Technique (CR) uses a 6-DOF load cell and stepper motor to rotate an object about an axis for a complete rotation. The forces and moments acting upon the object pass through the stepper motor and interface plates and recorded by the load cell as the object is rotated continuously a finite number of rotations. …

Parametric Optimization Of A Wing-Fuselage System Using A Vorticity-Based Panel Solver, Chino Cruz

Master's Theses

Aerodynamic topology optimization is a useful tool in the aerodynamic design pro-
cess, especially when looking for marginal gains within a design. One example is
a turboprop racer concept aircraft that is designed with the goal of breaking world
speed records. An optimization framework was developed with the intention of later
being applied to this design. In the early design stages, the optimization framework
must focus on quicker methods of drag estimation, such as a panel codes. The large
number of design variables in topology optimization can exponentially increase func-
tion evaluations and thus computational cost. A vorticity-based panel solver …

The Tidal Prism, Viable Eelgrass Habitat, And The Effects Of Sea Level Rise In Morro Bay, Kaden A. Caliendo

Master's Theses

The tidal prism, or the volume of water exchanged from the sea to an estuary from mean low to mean high tide, influences system hydrodynamics and ecological functioning. Since 1884, the tidal prism in Morro Bay, California has been estimated to be decreasing over time due to sedimentation from upstream practices. What is the current tidal prism in Morro Bay and how will that change with sea level rise? How will eelgrass respond to rising sea levels?

For this study, inexpensive tidal gauges were deployed at four locations in Morro Bay from March to August 2023 to measure spatially varying …

Novel Method Of The Quantification Of Turbulent Fluid Flow In Silicone Artery Phantoms Using Acoustic Analysis, Julia Wong

Master's Theses

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally and is responsible for taking 17.9 million lives per year. Despite the use of clinical treatments and detection methods, there remains a large population of individuals that suffer from CVD whose symptoms are left undetected and untreated prior to a life-threatening cardiac event. This highlights a need for an early detection method that can prevent the manifestation and worsening of the disease as well as address limitations of current early detection methods. An area of interest for early detection of CVD is subclinical atherosclerosis, which is the long, early, asymptomatic stage …

Development Of An Angiogenic Tissue-On-A-Chip Microenvironment, Eric Stuehr

Master's Theses

Preclinical testing is necessary to investigate the safety and efficacy of novel therapeutics before moving to clinical trials, yet approximately 90% of these therapies fail once tested in humans. This has led to increased interest in developing robust preclinical models that accurately mimic the complex human in vivo physiology. Microfluidic devices that can introduce dynamic conditions to 3D cell/organoid cultures, also known as tissue-on-a-chip, have emerged as physiologically relevant in vitro preclinical models that can achieve high throughput screening of therapeutics. The research presented here aimed to develop an angiogenic environment within a novel microfluidic device to stimulate formation of …

Custom Led Dashboard Integration For The Cal Poly Racing Team, Josue Hernandez

Computer Engineering

The Custom LED Dashboard Integration was made for the Cal Poly Racing Team, specifically the BAJA division. The dashboard was made as a way to combat the current limitations endured from the past methods used to display critical information of the vehicle to the car. The display was made to combat issues of limited quantity of data being able to be displayed to the driver and its small readability was an issue, the display helped combat that by providing a greater quantity of data being able to be sent and displayed on the display and the information being displayed having …

Design And Scale Model Of Wave Generator For The Testing Of Wave Energy Conversion Devices, Amanda Olla

Master's Theses

As the climate crisis draws more concern, research and development in wave energy as a renewable energy source has increased. Devices such as wave energy converters (WECs) are being researched, tested, and implemented to make wave energy a competitive power source. Testing of these devices is limited due to environmental concerns such as weather, location, and other issues. WECs require testing in a marine environment, however, performing testing in the actual environment may be difficult due to weather, access, mounting, and other issues. To eliminate environmental unknowns from testing, a wave simulator device can mimic wave behavior without the need …

Skip The Grid: Solar System Installations In The Navajo Nation, Gina H. Chun

Construction Management

Skip the Grid is an interdisciplinary project that involves installing solar energy systems in the Navajo Nation. The project’s mission was to support the Navajo families, specifically the students that have limited access to light which directly affects their education. On March 26, 2023, a team of 20 California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) students, across eight different majors, travelled to Arizona to collaborate with the Red Mesa and Chinle Unified School Districts to install “off-grid” solar energy systems and lights. Through this project the Cal Poly students learned about the people of Navajo Nation, solar energy, …

Smartphone Based Object Detection For Shark Spotting, Darrick W. Oliver

Master's Theses

Given concern over shark attacks in coastal regions, the recent use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, has increased to ensure the safety of beachgoers. However, much of city officials' process remains manual, with drone operation and review of footage still playing a significant role. In pursuit of a more automated solution, researchers have turned to the usage of neural networks to perform detection of sharks and other marine life. For on-device solutions, this has historically required assembling individual hardware components to form an embedded system to utilize the machine learning model. This means that the camera, neural processing …

Using Noninvasive Calibrated Cuff Plethysmography To Observe The Effects Of Cold-Water Immersion On Arterial Compliance, Rita M. Grigorian

Master's Theses

As the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases continues to exponentially grow in populations across the globe, the necessity of determining underlying factors, effective methods of diagnoses, and universally available preventive measures also grows. Early detection of endothelial dysfunction, a proven precursor of cardiovascular diseases, can be extremely impactful in encouraging preventative measures and early intervention before medical conditions become chronic. In recent years, ice plunging, a form of cryotherapy involving full body immersion in cold water, has gained popularity within circles of fitness and health practitioners, gaining the interest of people of all backgrounds. Certain parallels observed between the human physiological …

Characterization Of Ground Albedo Materials For Bifacial Solar Farms, Fernanda De Los Angeles Garcia, Benny Tam, Jean Lee, James Vance

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Bifacial photovoltaics can collect solar energy from both sides, unlike regular one-sided solar panels. With the ability to collect energy from both sides, the energy production of bifacial photovoltaic farms is about 2-6% more efficient than typical solar farms. However, the increase in efficiency is highly dependent on the reflectivity of the ground material. This project explores six different materials to determine which material would be best to implement as a ground material for a bifacial photovoltaic farm, based on their mechanical properties and albedo value. Albedo refers to the ratio between the reflected solar radiation to the incident solar …

Analysis Of Gait Parameters And Knee Angles In Ultimate Frisbee Players: Implications For Balance And Injury, Ethan Nikcevich

Master's Theses

Biomechanics research investigating gait and balance of ultimate frisbee players is an unexplored topic. Ultimate requires a wide range of motions that could improve balance and is also a sport prone to frequent injury. This study explores the impact of playing ultimate on gait parameters associated with balance and knee angles associated with joint injury. Gait trials were conducted on 8 ultimate players and 8 control participants between the ages of 18 and 23 to obtain total double support time, stance phase time, single support time, load response time, abduction-adduction (AA) angles, internal-external (IE) rotation angles, and flexion angles of …

Exoskeletons - Designing For Social Justice, Grace Cd Murphy

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Many engineering professionals believe that discussions surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and social justice do not belong in engineering because engineering is supposed to be a neutral or objective field. Through an extensive review of the literature and a survey sent out to potential users, the need for DEI in engineering was examined. Many current engineering projects do not take into consideration social justice principles which leaves certain groups further marginalized and disempowered while empowering a select few. Engineering has the opportunity to be a field of service, but first risks and benefits must be weighed and the outcome …

Exploring And Operationalizing Inclusive Teaching In Engineering Education, Keith Fouch, Ellie Abundo

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Inclusive teaching is vital in engineering education because of its potential to enhance learning for all students. The purpose of this research is to explore faculty experiences with inclusive teaching, specifically focused on engineering settings. Our findings highlight dominant beliefs, practices, and challenges that emerged from our preliminary analysis. Future work will corroborate these findings with additional faculty as well as engineering student perspectives and beliefs.

Deep Semantic Hashing For Aerial Livestock Detection, Shosei Anegawa, Franz Kurfess, Sumona Mukhopadhyay

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

The goal of this project is to be able to accurately detect and count livestock in footage captured by a drone in real time. The main problems with this arise from the fact that a drone can only carry limited computing resources, and hashing is conventionally thought of as a great method of doing image classification very quickly and thus even on low-power devices. In this project, we use both a Faster-RCNN, which is a state-of-the art object detection model as a benchmark to develop a hashing model that can perform a similar task much more quickly. These two models …

Machine Learning Prediction Of Hea Properties, Nicholas J. Beaver, Nathaniel Melisso, Travis Murphy

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

High-entropy alloys (HEA) are a very new development in the field of metallurgical materials. They are made up of multiple principle atoms unlike traditional alloys, which contributes to their high configurational entropy. The microstructure and properties of HEAs are are not well predicted with the models developed for more common engineering alloys, and there is not enough data available on HEAs to fully represent the complex behavior of these alloys. To that end, we explore how the use of machine learning models can be used to model the complex, high dimensional behavior in the HEA composition space. Based on our …

Communicating The Need To Communicate - Lessons Learned From Failure Point To A Need For Systems Perspectives, Calvin J. Fong, Elizabeth Matranga, Dianne J. Deturris

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Failure investigation reports indicate that a systems perspective is needed to reduce failure in aerospace missions.

The failures occurred not because of a technical problem but because not enough communication was occurring.

Additive Manufacturing And Characterization Of Auxetic Structures, Jayesh P. Moore, Stephanie R. Ruzicka

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

An auxetic structure is an arrangement of unit cells that under a uniaxial load experiences expansion in both the longitudinal and transverse directions, resulting in a negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR). Research in auxetics has led to new insights into how non-linear mechanical reactions can be applied to various engineering fields. This project utilized stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing to manufacture auxetic test specimens to analyze of geometry-driven NPRs. With the distinctive mechanical properties of auxetic structures and vast applications, the future of product development of these geometries seems promising.