Low Cycle Fatigue Behavior Of Concrete With Recycled Concrete Aggregates, Paul Mark Gordon

Master's Theses

A comparison of concrete containing recycled concrete coarse aggregates and natural coarse aggregates subjected to high strain, low cycle compressive fatigue is presented. Using a strain based feedback control loop, concrete cylinders are compressed at 15µε/s to a specified strain then unloaded to zero stress for 10 cycles. After cycling, all samples are loaded to a strain of 0.008. Direct concrete material variables are the water to cement (w/c) ratio, taken as 0.60, 0.45, and 0.39, and percent coarse recycled concrete aggregate content, varied from zero to 100 percent. The primary testing variable is the specified unloading strain. Unloading strains …

Development Of An Open Source Prosthetic Hand Platform, Scott James Garrett

Master's Theses

Development of an Open Source Prosthetic Hand Platform

Scott Garrett

In the field of upper extremity prosthetic devices, advancements in technology drive the design of products which are becoming capable of restoring the lost functions of the native hand. While several dexterous devices have been developed to serve this purpose, they remain prohibitively expensive and thus are not a viable option for many upper extremity amputees. To address this problem a prosthetic hand platform was developed utilizing the open source Arduino microcontroller and off-the-shelf electrical components. Using these resources, a novel finger actuation mechanism was developed to show how …

The Effectiveness Of Milestone Versus Duration Projects In A University Environment, Nicholas James Mehas

Master's Theses

The Critical Path and Critical Chain project management methodologies have different and unique characteristics; both methods are used by project managers to manage projects. This research develops and implements two methodologies, milestones (critical path) versus duration (modified critical chain), in a university environment. The implementation of the two methods allows for the comparison of the effectiveness of both styles. The intent is to determine if there is a significant difference in the project management methodologies in a university setting. The design of both projects allows for easy implementation and the ability to easily record determined measureable statistics.

Anaerobic Co-Digestion Of Microalgae With Food Waste And Wastewater Sludge, Ruth E. Spierling

Master's Theses

This research sought to optimize anaerobic co-digestion of microalgae biomass harvested from a wastewater treatment pond facility with locally-available wastes.  The goal was to produce high methane yields and stable digestion without the need for supplemental alkalinity addition.  A key research question was if algae digestion could be improved via the synergistic effects of co-digestion.  Cell disruption to increase digestibility was not pursued due to its relatively high mechanical complexity and high energy use.  For the wastewater treatment ponds studied, the most practical co-substrates identified were municipal wastewater sludge and food waste (sorted organic municipal waste).  Although wastewater sludge does …

Studying Milk Coagulation Kinetics With Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy, Image Processing, And Computational Modeling, Richard Joseph Hennessy

Master's Theses

The kinetics of milk coagulation are complex and still not well understood. A deeper understanding of coagulation and the impact of the relevant factors would aid in both cheese manufacturing and also in determining the nutritional benefits of dairy products. A method using confocal microscopy was developed to follow the movement of milk fat globules and the formation of a milk protein network during the enzyme-induced coagulation of milk. Image processing methods were then used to quantify the rate of coagulation. It was found that the texture of the protein network is an indicator of the current status of the …

Characterization And Implementation Of A Decellularized Porcine Vessel As A Biologic Scaffold For A Blood Vessel Mimic, Aubrey N. Smith

Master's Theses

Every 34 seconds, someone in the United States suffers from a heart attack.  Most heart attacks are caused by atherosclerotic build up in the coronary arteries, occluding normal blood flow.  Balloon angioplasty procedures in combination with a metal stent often result in successful restoration of normal blood flow.  However, bare metal stents often lead to restenosis and other complications.  To compensate for this problem, industry has created drug-eluting stents to promote healing of the artery wall post stenting.  These stents are continually advancing toward better drug-eluting designs and methods, resulting in a need for fast and reliable pre-clinical testing modalities. …

Implementation And Assessment Of Hyperglycemic Conditions For The Creation Of A Diabetic Blood Vessel Mimic, Vikramaditya Mediratta

Master's Theses

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus is a metabolic disorder that affects a person’s ability to either produce insulin (Type I diabetes mellitus) or properly use insulin (Type II diabetes mellitus) in order to maintain adequate blood glucose levels. The most severe diabetic complications arise due to hyperglycemia – a state of extremely high blood glucose levels – such as, coronary artery disease (CAD), in which coronary stent therapy is a popular method of treatment. However, research has shown a high rate of in-stent restenosis in diabetic patients with CAD, most likely due to activation of cellular adhesion molecules on endothelial cells exposed …

An Optimization Approach To Employee Scheduling Using Fuzzy Logic, William G. Spence

Master's Theses

An Optimization Approach to Employee Scheduling Using Fuzzy Logic

William G. Spence

Selection of sales employees is critical because the sales employees represent the company’s image, competitive advantage, technology, and values. In many service systems the majority of consumer contact is with the sales department. Since there are different types of customers, scheduling quality salespersons who can adequately help consumers may affect revenue.

This thesis proposes a new methodology for the scheduling of employees in a service system. The methodology uses Fuzzy Logic to calculate possible sales and Linear Programming to create an optimal schedule. This approach enables the rating …

Modeling Erosion And Sedimentation Processes In The Chorro Creek Subwatershed To Evaluate And Develop Effective Watershed Management Approaches, Michael Randall, Misgana K. Muleta

Civil and Environmental Engineering

The Morro Bay Watershed, located in San Luis Obispo County, California, covers more than 48,000 acres of land and discharges into Morro Bay through the Morro Bay National Estuary (MBNE). The Chorro Creek Subwatershed consists of approximately 30,000 acres of the overall watershed. The MBNE provides an ecosystem that supports a variety of wildlife, from the common sea gull to the endangered sea otter. The estuary is also home to over 200 species of birds. The operational waterfront of the Morro Bay Harbor was and continues to be a strong supporter to the local economy of the City of Morro …

Improving Model Performance Using Dynamic Evaluation And Proper Objective Function, Misgana K. Muleta

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Models have become important decision making aids. Model evaluation (i.e., global sensitivity analysis, calibration and uncertainty analysis), is crucial to improve their prediction accuracy and reduce the likelihood of making decisions that could lead to undesirable policy outcomes. The conventional approach assumes that model parameters are insensitive to season irrespective of the temporal variability of input forcings such as rainfall. This assumption could significantly compromise model performance for low flow seasons and/or high flow seasons depending on the calibration method pursued. This study will demonstrate the advantage of dynamic (seasonal) model evaluation in improving performance compared to the traditional approach. …

Development Of A Laboratory Experiment To Simulate Upper-Stage Rocket Explosions, Timothy J. Price

Aerospace Engineering

This report is a summary of the senior project entitled Development of a Laboratory Experiment to Simulate Upper-Stage Rocket Explosions. The goal of the experiment was to recreate a NASA experiment which used aluminum soft drink cans to approximate the shape of an Ariane third stage rocket. The cans were placed in a vacuum chamber and fired upon with a projectile from a light gas gun. The resulting debris was collected and analyzed allowing several conclusions to be made regarding the behavior or rocket breakups and the formation of space debris. In lieu of a light gas gun, energy drink …

Strawberries: Effects Of Modifying Irrigation Methods For Transplant Establishment, Stuart Styles, Lynn Groundwater, Curtis Lutje

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

In 2009, the Cal Poly Irrigation Training and Research Center began a multi-year analysis of the current irrigation practices of strawberry growers on the Central Coast of California. Specifically, the project examines the impacts of salinity on young strawberry transplants and the current practice of sprinkler use during the establishment of transplants for salinity control in areas where drip irrigation is available. The overall goal of the project is to study current practices and determine any conditions where growers can minimize or eliminate sprinkler use on strawberries, thereby conserving water, saving pumping costs, and reducing runoff. Results from the first …

Implementation And Field Calibration Pipeline Doppler Meters In Northern California, Stuart Styles

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

The Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority (TCCA) has been using SonTek Doppler flow meters at approximately 30 installations for about 3 years. TCCA is located in northern California with its headquarters in Willows. The Cal Poly ITRC compared the accuracy of the flow measurement readings from the new Doppler flow meters to the venturi meters that were installed by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). The venturis were used as the historical standard for flow measurement for TCCA. TCCA has opted to move away from the existing technology for a variety of reasons, especially due to the issue concerning access requirements for …

Characteristics Of Irrigation Pump Performance In Major Irrigated Areas Of California, Charles Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Pumping data was collected from over 15,000 well and non-well pumps throughout the Sacramento, Salinas, and San Joaquin Valley groundwater basins of California. Each of these basins is divided into a number of subbasins. A map of the general layout is shown below (gray lines outside of basins represent county lines; gray lines inside basins represent subbasins).

Data was analyzed by basin and subbasin for well pumps and non-well pumps. For each pump type, averages were calculated based on:

• The whole basin
• Overall pumping plant efficiency (OPPE)
• kWh/AF
• Subbasins

General conclusions were drawn for each set of averages, and a …

Irrigation System Components And Potentials For Energy Conservation, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

On-site electricity conservation in irrigation can be accomplished through a series of general steps. The primary focus of the agricultural energy conservation programs of the utilities has been to improve the efficiency of the pumping plant. In general, the electric utilities have provided or subsidized pump testing, along with some form of rebate for replacement or repair of pumps. There are, of course, other irrigation-related aspects of energy conservation. However, this report focuses on on-site electricity conservation in the field.

Integrating Embedded Computing Systems Into High School And Early Undergraduate Education, Bridget Benson, Arash Arfaee, Choon Kim, Ryan Kastner, Rajesh K. Gupta

Electrical Engineering

Early exposure to embedded computing systems is crucial for students to be prepared for the embedded computing demands of today's world. However, exposure to systems knowledge often comes too late in the curriculum to stimulate students' interests and to provide a meaningful difference in how they direct their choice of electives for future education and careers. This paper describes an experience with integrating embedded computing systems education into high school and early undergraduate curricula to give students that needed early exposure. It provides assessment data that illustrates the success and limitations of the efforts described as well as the lessons …

Design Of A Micro Irrigation System For An Almond Orchard, Adam Scheuber

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

The owners of Scheuber Farms, a 1,000 acre row crop farming operation located in Patterson, California, wish to convert a 15-acre field into an almond orchard. For irrigating the trees, they would like to use a microsprayer irrigation system. The design I recommend and describe in this paper utilizes proper hydraulic analysis, and is based on the ability to supply enough water to match the amount of water required by the orchard during the peak month of an average year.

All of the major components and parameters of the microsprayer irrigation system were designed at minimal cost while ensuring that …

Interoperation For Lazy And Eager Evaluation, William Jeffrey Faught

Master's Theses

Programmers forgo existing solutions to problems in other programming lan- guages where software interoperation proves too cumbersome; they remake so- lutions, rather than reuse them. To facilitate reuse, interoperation must resolve language incompatibilities transparently. To address part of this problem, we present a model of computation that resolves incompatible lazy and eager eval- uation strategies using dual notions of evaluation contexts and values to mirror the lazy evaluation strategy in the eager one. This method could be extended to resolve incompatible evaluation strategies for any pair of languages with common expressions.

Mammary Epithelial Cell Growth On A Three-Dimensional Scaffold In An Operating Bioreactor, Melissa Marie Davalle

Master's Theses

Mammary epithelial cells are highly efficient secreting cells. With genetic engineering, the uses of these cells could be endless. Research is being conducted on these cells to determine their full potential to the biotech industry.

This paper investigates whether bovine epithelial mammary cells can survive in glutaraldehyde-treated gelatin tubes in an operating bioreactor. Many bioreactors were developed and tested to suit the needs of the cells. Procedures were created and carried out to ensure sterility of the bioreactors. Bovine mammary epithelial cells were implanted in the bioreactors and samples of their growth were taken over time.

Enhancing Progressive Collapse Resistance Of Steel Building Frames Using Thin Infill Steel Panels, Victor M. Sanchez Escalera

Master's Theses

Progressive collapse occurs when damage from a localized first failure spreads in a domino effect manner resulting in a total damage disproportionate to the initial failure.  Recent building failures (e.g., World Trade Center twin towers) highlight the catastrophic outcome of progressive collapse.  This research proposes a reliable and realistic retrofit technology which installs thin steel panels into steel building structural frames to enhance the system progressive collapse resistance.

The steel frames with simple beam-to-column connections, under different boundary conditions (i.e., sidesway uninhibited and sidesway inhibited, respectively), and the loss of one bottom story column were retrofitted using the proposed technology …

Simulation And Validation Of Two-Component Flow In A Void Recirculation System, Oscar Eduardo Daza

Master's Theses

Nuclear power plants rely on the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) to cool down the reactor core in case of an accident. Occasionally, air is entrained into the suction piping of ECCS causing voids that decrease pumping efficiency, and consequently damage the pumps. In an attempt to minimize the amount of voids entering the suction side of the pump in ECCS, a Void Recirculation System (VRS) experiment was conducted for a proof of concept purpose. While many studies have been oriented in studying two-component flow behavior in ECCS, none of them propose a solution to minimize air entrainment. As a …

Elliptical Machine Dc-Dc Converter For The Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines Project, Greg Hollister

Electrical Engineering

Designing a DC/DC Converter for the Cal Poly Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines project requires special attention to the unique operating characteristics of the source and the load. An elliptical machine powered by a person exercising comprises the source, while an AC Inverter makes up the load. This project attempts to integrate the two devices with a custom DC/DC Converter in order to ultimately deliver power back into the power grid.

Energy Harvesting From Elliptical Machines Using Four-Switch Buck-Boost Topology, Alvin Jay Hilario

Master's Theses

This thesis presents the topic of using the Four-Switch Buck-Boost topology as a DC-DC converter for the Energy Harvesting from Elliptical Machines Project. The project works toward providing a modular synchronous power generation system. Due to the dynamic and sporadic output voltage and power characteristics of the Precor elliptical machine, the system requires a DC-DC converter as a voltage preregulator. The inherent wide input range, high efficiency, and low parts cost of this converter well suit the application. This paper further discusses other topologies and their shortcomings, as well as characterizes the Precor elliptical machine and Enphase Microinverter for interfacing. …

Migration Models - Comparison Of Pvc, Pet And Pla Diffusivity, Combined With A Production Cost Model For Westridge Laboratories, Shelley Cooke, Sarina Surrette

Materials Engineering

This project has two parts: [1] a migration and diffusivity model for candidate plastics used in containers, and [2] a product cost model for Westridge Laboratories (Santa Ana, CA).

Diffusion modeling is a useful tool to predict migration of polymer constituents into exposed liquids.  Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polylactic acid (PLA) were studied to estimate production costs, and component migration into water-based liquids from plastic containers.  Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), antimony trioxide, and stannous octoate, are components of concern in the three candidate polymers, respectively.  Normal detection limits for these constituents are about 1 - 10 ppb, …

Investigation Of A Simulated Annealing Cooling Schedule Used To Optimize The Estimation Of The Fiber Diameter Distribution In A Peripheral Nerve Trunk, Arya Vigeh

Master's Theses

In previous studies it was determined that the fiber diameter distribution in a peripheral nerve could be estimated by a simulation technique known as group delay. These results could be further improved using a combinatorial optimization algorithm called simulated annealing. This paper explores the structure and behavior of simulated annealing for the application of optimizing the group delay estimated fiber diameter distribution. Specifically, a set of parameters known as the cooling schedule is investigated to determine its effectiveness in the optimization process.

Simulated annealing is a technique for finding the global minimum (or maximum) of a cost function which may …

Semiconductor Laser Device-Level Characteristics, Clement K. Law

Master's Theses

High-speed modulations of the semiconductor lasers are highly desirable in cost-effective optical communication systems.  Developing the experimental setups to extract the characteristics of the semiconductor lasers is vital to the future of the optical research projects.  In this thesis, integrated experimental setup designs have been developed to measure the characteristics of the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL), Distributed Feedback (DFB), and Fabry-Pérot (FP) lasers.  The measurements of the DC characteristics are optical power versus drive current (L-I) curves (DFB, VCSEL) and optical spectra (FP, DFB, VCSEL).  In addition, the high-speed optical detection measurement of the optoelectronic frequency responses for …

A Computational Study Of Engine Deflection Using A Circulation Control Wing, Bryan Holly Blessing

Master's Theses

In the past, research into Short Takeoff and Landing aircraft has led to the investigation of the coupling of a Circulation Control Wing and Upper Surface Blowing engine. The Circulation Control Wing entrains the flow of the engine to be deflected downward such that a component of the thrust is now in the vertical direction. The unfortunate consequence of the Upper Surface Blowing engine is the poor cruise performance due to scrub drag. Cal Poly's research into a Cruise Efficient Short Takeoff and Landing Aircraft offers a solution by pylon mounting over the wing engines. Analysis shows that the engine …

High-Frame-Rate Oil Film Interferometry, Jonathan Charles White

Master's Theses

High-Frame-Rate Oil Film Interferometry

Jonathan Charles White

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a high-frame-rate oil film interferometry technique (HOFI) used to directly measure skin friction in time dependent flows. Experiments were performed to determine the ability of a high-speed camera to capture oil film interferometry images. HOFI was found to be able to capture these interferometry images at frequencies up to 10⁵ Hz. Steady laminar and turbulent flows were tested. Transient flows tested consisted of a wind tunnel ramping up in velocity and a laminar boundary layer which was intermittently tripped to turbulence by puffing air …

Assessment Of Public Perception Of User-Based Fees And Tolls To Finance Transportation Infrastructure Improvements, Anurag Pande, Cornelius Nuworsoo, Adrianna Jordan, Reuben Juster, Carmeron Hunter Shew, Joe Yu

Civil and Environmental Engineering

With aging infrastructure and declining purchasing power of tax receipts new mechanisms of financing transportation alternatives are gaining increasing interest. Fuel taxes are and have been for some time the primary source of transportation finance in United States. Fuel taxes are fixed amounts that rarely change and which lose purchasing power over time as prices escalate. In addition, improvements in fuel economy can further erode the revenue stream from the gas tax. This study explores the public’s attitude about user based fees collected through tolls that are directed at specific infrastructure projects using the Inland Empire region of California as …

Effect Of Gold Content On The Reliability Of Snagcu Solder Joints, Jianbiao Pan, Julie Silk, Mike Powers, Patrick Hyland

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Electroplated Ni/Au over Cu is a popular metallization for PCB finish as well as for component leads, especially wire-bondable high frequency packages, where the gold thickness requirement for wirebonding is high. The general understanding is that less than 3 wt% of Au is acceptable in SnPb solder joints. However, little is known about the effect of Au content on the reliability of SnAgCu solder joints. The purpose of this study is to determine the acceptable level of Au in SAC305 solder joints. Three different package platforms with different Au thicknesses were assembled on boards with two different Au thicknesses using …