Engineering Commons^™

Optimal Control Of Wave Energy Converters, Ossama Abdelkhalik, Rush D. Robinett Iii, Shangyan Zou, Giorgio Bacelli, David G. Wilson, Umesh Korde

Michigan Tech Patents

A wave energy converter and method for extracting energy from water waves maximizes the energy extraction per cycle by estimating an excitation force of heave wave motion on the buoy, computing a control force from the estimated excitation force using a dynamic model, and applying the computed control force to the buoy to extract energy from the heave wave motion. Analysis and numerical simulations demonstrate that the optimal control of a heave wave energy converter is, in general, in the form of a bang-singular-bang control; in which the optimal control at a given time can be either in the singular …

Performance Test On Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (Sbs) Modified Asphalt Based On The Different Evaluation Methods, Chen Zhang, Hainian Wang, Zhanping You, Junfeng Gao, Muhammad Irfan

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Publications

To uniform the evaluation indicators of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) modified asphalt, the SK70# and SK90# matrix asphalt were modified by different SBS modifier dosage in this study. The test methods in China and Superpave were used to test the performance of each SBS-modified asphalt respectively, from which the appropriate evaluation index of SBS-modified asphalt was determined. The results showed that the addition of SBS modifier improved the high temperature performance and lowered the temperature sensitivity of asphalt binder, while it increased the viscosity of asphalt binder in high temperatures. Due to the variability that appeared in the results of the penetration …

Mechanical Vibration For The Control Of Membrane Fouling In Direct Contact Membrane Distillation, Frank Y.C. Huang, Carolyn Medin, Allie Arning

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Publications

One of the biggest challenges for direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) in treating wastewater from flue gas desulfurization (FGD) is the rapid deterioration of membrane performance resulting from precipitate fouling. Chemical pretreatment, such as lime-soda ash softening, has been used to mitigate the issue, however, with significant operating costs. In this study, mechanical vibration of 42.5 Hz was applied to lab-scale DCMD systems to determine its effectiveness of fouling control for simulated FGD water. Liquid entry pressure and mass transfer limit of the fabricated hollow fiber membranes were determined and used as the operational constraints in the fouling experiments so …

Satellite-Based Assessment Of The August 2018 Flood In Parts Of Kerala, India, C. L. Vishnu, K. S. Sajinkumar, Thomas Oommen, R. A. Coffman, K. P. Thrivikramji, V. R. Rani, S. Keerthy

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

From 1 June to 29 August 2018, Kerala, a state in southwestern India, recorded 36% excess rainfall than normal levels, leading to widespread floods and landslides events and resulting in 445 deaths. In this study, satellite-based data were used to map the flood inundation in the districts of Thrissur, Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Idukki and Kottayam. Specifically, flood delineation was enabled with Sentinel-1A radar data of 21 August 2018 and was compared with an average pre-flood, water-cover map based on Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) that was developed using a January and February 2018 Sentinel-2A dataset. A 90% increase in water …

Integration Of Pretreatment With Simultaneous Counter-Current Extraction Of Energy Sorghum For High-Titer Mixed Sugar Production, Daniel L. Williams, Rebecca Ong, John E. Mullet, David B. Hodge

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) offers substantial potential as a feedstock for the production of sugar-derived biofuels and biochemical products from cell wall polysaccharides (i. e., cellulose and hemicelluloses) and water-extractable sugars (i.e., glucose, fructose, sucrose, and starch). A number of preprocessing schemes can be envisioned that involve processes such as sugar extraction, pretreatment, and densification that could be employed in decentralized, regional-scale biomass processing depots. In this work, an energy sorghum exhibiting a combination of high biomass productivity and high sugar accumulation was evaluated for its potential for integration into several potential biomass preprocessing schemes. This included counter-current …

Landslides Near Enguri Dam (Caucasus, Georgia) And Possible Seismotectonic Effects, Alessandro Tibaldi, Paolo Oppizzi, John S. Gierke, Thomas Oommen, Nino Tsereteli, Zurab Gogoladze

Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Publications

The Enguri dam and water reservoir, nested in the southwestern Caucasus (Republic of Georgia), are surrounded by steep mountain slopes. At a distance of 2.5 km from the dam, a mountain ridge along the reservoir is affected by active deformations with a double vergence. The western slope, directly facing the reservoir, has deformations that affect a subaerial area of 1.2 km². The head scarp affects the Jvari–Khaishi–Mestia main road with offsets of man-made features that indicate slip rates of 2–9 cm yr⁻¹. Static, pseudostatic and Newmark analyses, based on field and seismological data, suggest different unstable …

Assessment Of Post-Wildfire Debris Flow Occurrence Using Classifier Tree, Priscilla Addison, Thomas Oommen, Qiuying Sha

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Besides the dangers of an actively burning wildfire, a plethora of other hazardous consequences can occur afterwards. Debris flows are among the most hazardous of these, being known to cause fatalities and extensive damage to infrastructure. Although debris flows are not exclusive to fire affected areas, a wildfire can increase a location’s susceptibility by stripping its protective covers like vegetation and introducing destabilizing factors such as ash filling soil pores to increase runoff potential. Due to the associated dangers, researchers are developing statistical models to isolate susceptible locations. Existing models predominantly employ the logistic regression algorithm; however, previous studies have …

Comprehensive Parameters Identification And Dynamic Model Validation Of Interior-Mount Line-Start Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors, Luqman S. Maraaba, Zakariya M. Al-Hamouz, Absulaziz S. Milhem, Ssennoga Twaha

School of Technology Publications

The application of line-start permanent magnet synchronous motors (LSPMSMs) is rapidly spreading due to their advantages of high efficiency, high operational power factor, being self-starting, rendering them as highly needed in many applications in recent years. Although there have been standard methods for the identification of parameters of synchronous and induction machines, most of them do not apply to LSPMSMs. This paper presents a study and analysis of different parameter identification methods for interior mount LSPMSM. Experimental tests have been performed in the laboratory on a 1-hp interior mount LSPMSM. The measurements have been validated by investigating the performance of …

Mechanical Engineering Technology Newsletter 2019, Department Of Manufacturing And Mechanical Engineering Technology, Michigan Technological University

Department of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology Newsletters

Table of Contents

• Where Racing Will Take Him
• Irwin Wins Center for Teaching and Learning Instructional Award
• Five MET Students Inducted into Epsilon Pi Tau Honor Society
• 2018 and 2019 Scholarship Awards
• 2018 Bob Mark Business Model Competition
• Senior Design Projects
• What's New?

Special Edition: Surveying Engineering Newsletter, Department Of Civil And Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Newsletters

Table of Contents

• Student News
• 2018 and 2019 Program Scholar Awards
• Alumni Notes
• Program News
• New Geospatial Data Act That Will Bring Changes to America and the World
• National Society of Professional Surveyors

2019 Civil And Environmental Engineering Department News, Department Of Civil And Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Newsletters

Table of Contents

• PCA
• Department Awards
• Faculty Awards
• Faculty Features
• New Faculty
• Student Features
• Alumni Features
• Lifetime Donors
• Student Orgs
• Outreach

Me-Em 2018-19 Annual Report, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Annual Reports

Table of Contents

• Faculty Research
• Enrollment & Degrees
• Department News
• Graduates
• Faculty & Staff
• Alumni
• Donors
• Contracts & Grants
• Patents & Publications

Application Of Sensor Fusion For Si Engine Diagnostics And Combustion Feedback, Fnu Muralidhar Nischal

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Shifting consumer mindsets and evolving government norms are forcing automotive manufacturers the world over to improve vehicle performance and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A critical aspect of achieving future fuel economy and emission targets is improved powertrain control and diagnostics.

This study focuses on using a sensor fusion based approach to improving control and diagnostics in a gasoline engine. A four cylinder turbocharged engine was instrumented with a suite of sensors including ion sensors, exhaust pressure sensors, crank position sensors and accelerometers. The diagnostic potential of these sensors was studied in detail. The ability of these sensors to detect …

Optimization And Comparison Of Over-Expanded And Other High Efficiency Four-Stroke Spark-Ignited Boosted Engines, Zhuyong Yang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Recent fuel economy and emission regulations are the major concern of the research and development of modern internal combustion engine. Such technologies include variable valve timing (VVT), direct injection (DI), turbocharging, downsizing, and over-expanded cycle are used by many manufacturers to improve engine fuel economy or increase power density.

Current Atkinson cycle technology in the production engine is mainly realized by an advanced valvetrain system to reduce the effective compression ratio while maintaining the same expansion ratio. Another approach to realize over-expanded cycle engine is to utilize a multi-link cranktrain mechanism. Although the Atkinson cycle was originally patented in the …

Optimal Power Flow Control Of Networked Dc Microgrids, Eddy H. Trinklein

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The US military is moving toward the electrification of many weapon systems and platforms. Advanced weapon systems such as high energy radar, electro-magnetic kinetic weapons and directed energy pose significant integration challenges due to their pulsed power electrical load profile. Additionally, the weapons platforms, including ships, aircraft, and vehicles can be studied as a mobile microgrids with multiple generation sources, loads, and energy storage. There is also a desire to extend the mission profile and capabilities of these systems. Common goals are to increase fuel efficiency, maintaining system stability, and reduce energy storage size as typically required to enable pulsed …

Scalable Honeycomb Top Contact To Increase The Light Absorption And Reduce The Series Resistance Of Thin Film Solar Cells, Mehdi Sadatgol, Nupur Bihari, Joshua M. Pearce, Durdo O. Guney

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

This paper presents a novel design for the top contact of thin film photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. The new top contact is formed by fabricating a 20nm thin honeycomb shaped silver mesh on top of an ultra-thin 13nm of indium tin oxide. The new top contact offers the potential to reduce the series resistance of the cell while increasing the light current via plasmonic resonance. Using the nano-bead lithography technique the honeycomb top contact was fabricated and electrically characterized. The experimental results verified the new contact reduces the sheet resistance by about 40%. Numerical simulations were then used to analyze …

Modeling Chevy Volt Gen Ii Supervisory Controller In Charge Sustaining Operation, Saurabh Bhasme

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This report is focused on the development of Chevy Volt Gen II powertrain supervisory controller modeling for charge sustaining operation of the vehicle. The modeling process incorporated vehicle parameters and maps provided. The overall powertrain model along with the supervisory controller is developed in MAT- LAB/SIMULINK programming platform. The powertrain model includes all components which are the IC engine, two electric motors & associated TPIM, Battery, transmission auxiliary pump and spin-losses. The supervisory controller includes the vehicle drive mode selection model, the torque blending logic for charge sustaining along with friction brake modeling. The model has been developed to perform …

Experimental And Numerical Simulation Of Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar Test On Borosilicate Glass, Mayank K. Bagaria

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study is an extension to the design of ceramic materials component exposed to bullet impact. Owing to the brittle nature of ceramics upon bullet impact, shattered pieces behave as pellets flying with different velocities and directions, damaging surrounding components. Testing to study the behavior of ceramics under ballistic impact can be cumbersome and expensive. Modeling the set-up through Finite Element Analysis (FEA) makes it economical and easy to optimize. However, appropriately incorporating the material in modeling makes laboratory testing essential. Previous efforts have concentrated on simulating crack pattern developed during 0.22 caliber pellet impact on Borosilicate glass. A major …

Automotive Driveline Backlash State And Size Estimator Design For Anti-Jerk Control, Kaushal Kumar Darokar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Vehicle drivability is an important factor which more and more customers have started assessing before buying a vehicle. Customers carry out this assessment based on both vehicle reviews/ratings and based on the test drives. One of common maneuver which a customers perform during the test drive is sudden accelerator pedal tip-in or tip-out to accelerate or coast the vehicle. Clunk and shuffle are the phenomena that usually occur during this scenario causing driver discomfort. The clunk and shuffle are caused by the backlash and compliance physical properties of the driveline. Consequently, control strategy needs to be developed which can provide …

Pathogen And Indicator Organism Inactivation And Quantification For Low-Cost Low-Tech Biosolids Treatment, Karina Eyre

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Biosolids are a by-product of municipal wastewater treatment which, when treated to reduce pathogens, can be land applied as a fertilizer. Class A biosolids must contain low pathogen levels and are unrestricted in their use. This thesis describes methods to identify pathogen and indicator organism (PIO) inactivation mechanisms and PIO inactivation rates for use in low-cost low-tech Class A processes. Procedures to control the levels of spiked bacteria and viruses, total solids, volatile fatty acids, pH, and temperature in biosolids are described for their use in laboratory experiments. Methods for coliphage in biosolids as a surrogate for total enteric viruses …

Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (Icme) Investigation Of Electrical Conductivity And Thermodynamic Stability For Precipitation Strengthened Al-Zn-Zr And Al-Zn-Ni Ternary Alloys, Oladeji Fadayomi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

High electrical conductivity Al-Zn-TM (TM=Transition metals) alloys with improved mechanical properties and thermal resistance are developed with an integrated computational material engineering (ICME) strategy. From a series of ab initio density functional theory (DFT) simulations assessing combinations of ternary alloys, Al-Zn-Ni and Al-Zn-Zr are determined as alloys with relatively high electrical conductivity compared to several other ternary Al alloy combinations. The zero-temperature stable structure of precipitates formed in these alloys are determined from computed enthalpy of formation as L1₂, with particular focus of examining the influence of Zn on stabilizing the desired L1₂ precipitate phase.

Scanning transmission …

The Role Of Ephemeral Stratification, Anoxia, And Entrainment In Mediating Spatiotemporal Trophic State Dynamics In A Lake Michigan Drowned River Mouth System (Mona Lake, Mi), Hayden Henderson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Mona Lake, MI (a drowned river mouth system) has become eutrophic as result of cultural eutrophication. The integrated monitoring effort and subsequent modeling (LAKE2K) reported on here has shifted the management focus to internal phosphorus loads (60 percent of annual load, 90 percent of load during the stratified and anoxic period) as a necessary precursor to trophic state change. Sediment phosphorus release can yield extreme elevations (> 1 mgSRP/L) of bottom water soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), with blooms of potentially toxic cyanobacteria (largely Microcystis) occurring annually. Such blooms are ascribable to stochastic mixing and phosphorus entrainment to the surface waters, …

A Hybrid-Powered Wireless System For Multiple Biopotential Monitoring, Shawn Li

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Chronic diseases are the top cause of human death in the United States and worldwide. A huge amount of healthcare costs is spent on chronic diseases every year. The high medical cost on these chronic diseases facilitates the transformation from in-hospital to out-of-hospital healthcare. The out-of-hospital scenarios require comfortability and mobility along with quality healthcare. Wearable electronics for well-being management provide good solutions for out-of-hospital healthcare. Long-term health monitoring is a practical and effective way in healthcare to prevent and diagnose chronic diseases. Wearable devices for long-term biopotential monitoring are impressive trends for out-of-hospital health monitoring. The biopotential signals in …

Closed Loop Energy Maximizing Control Of A Wave Energy Converter Using An Estimated Linear Model That Approximates The Nonlinear Froude-Krylov Force, Yaqzan Mohd Yaqzan

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Wave energy converters (WECs) exploit ocean wave energy and convert it into useful forms such as electricity. But for WECs to be successful on a large scale, two primary conditions need to be satisfied. The energy generated must satisfy the network requirements, and second, energy flow from waves to the grid needs to be maximized. In this dissertation, we address the second problem. Most control techniques for WECs today use the Cummins' linear model to simulate WEC hydrodynamics. However, it has been shown that under the application of a control force, where WEC motions are amplified, the linear model diverges …

Influence Of Micro-Nucleate Boiling On Annular Flow Regime Heat Transfer Coefficient Values And Flow Parameters – For High Heat-Flux Flow Boiling Of Water, Soroush Sepahyar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Analysis of results from steady and steady-in-the-mean high heat-flux (15 - 70 W/cm², with water as working fluid) shear driven annular flow-boiling experiments presented here - and low heat-flux (0.1- 1 W/cm², with FC-72 as working fluid) experiments presented elsewhere – together lead to a key conclusion. The conclusion is that heat carrying nucleation rates go often undetected by the typically used visualization approaches for flow boiling – as such flows often involve µm- to sub- µm scale bubble diameters in millimeter-scale ducts. These nucleation rates play a significant role in most of the so-called convective …

Community Detection In Complex Networks And Application To Dense Wireless Sensor Networks Localization, Sakineh Yazdanparast

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Complex network analysis is applied in numerous researches. Features and characteristics of complex networks provide information associated with a network feature called community structure. Naturally, nodes with similar attributes will be more likely to form a community. Community detection is described as the process by which complex network data are analyzed to uncover organizational properties, and structure; and ultimately to enable extraction of useful information. Analysis of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is considered as one of the most important categories of network analysis due to their enormous and emerging applications. Most WSN applications are location-aware, which entails precise localization of …

Characterization Of Hydraulic Interactions Between Torque Converter And Transmission During Transient Events, Mark Woodland

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A torque converter was instrumented with 29 pressure transducers to measure the torus, clutch plate, and torque converter cavities using telemetry to transfer the data. The torque converter was placed in a six-speed front wheel drive transmission and a test cell was built to drive and load the transmission to mimic in-vehicle performance.

Steady state tests were completed to establish a baseline for pressure performance of the torque converter. The transient events tested include back drive and gear shifting. Back drive showed how the pressure fluctuates across the speed ratios above 1 as well as identifying the stator speed. Gear …

Experimental Characterization Of Hydraulic System Sound, Ben Kolb

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The purpose of this research was to establish test methods for characterizing the interaction between the hydraulic fluid and hydraulic hose at clipping points in mobile heavy equipment hydraulic systems. A simple hydraulic circuit test bench was developed and the laboratory axial piston pump was characterized using ISO 10767-1. A direct relationship between the fluidborne noise and structureborne noise present at each hose clip location was observed for a specific operating condition using operating deflection shapes and structureborne noise measurements. This result shows that optimal hose clip placement can be a viable solution to structureborne noise reduction. Additionally, a modal …

Multi-Scale, Capillary Assisted Copper Surfaces For Enhanced Pool Boiling Heat Transfer Processes, Chetan Agarwal

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Phase-change heat transfer through pool boiling process offers a promising thermal management solution in applications wherein conventional air or single-phase liquid-based cooling methods prove inefficient such as for high-power electronics. Pool boiling process, which utilizes the latent heat of evaporation, provides a robust and efficient way to efficiently dissipate the excessive heat generated in a small footprint area in particular as seen in CPUs (Central Processing Units), GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes), radars, and other demanding computing, sensing and surveillance electronics. Although boiling process has been studied for over five decades, it has not been yet adapted …

Estimation And Prediction Of The Human Gait Dynamics For The Control Of An Ankle-Foot Prosthesis, Guilherme Aramizo Ribeiro

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

With the growing population of amputees, powered prostheses can be a solution to improve the quality of life for many people. Powered ankle-foot prostheses can be made to behave similar to the lost limb via controllers that emulate the mechanical impedance of the human ankle. Therefore, the understanding of human ankle dynamics is of major significance. First, this work reports the modulation of the mechanical impedance via two mechanisms: the co-contraction of the calf muscles and a change of mean ankle torque and angle. Then, the mechanical impedance of the ankle was determined, for the first time, as a multivariable …