Engineering Commons^™

A Hybrid-Climbing Robot For Steel Bridge Inspection, Thanh Son Nguyen

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

No abstract provided.

Human Collaborative Haptic-Based Mobile-Manipulating Uavs, Dongbin Kim

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

No abstract provided.

Uav Aerodynamics Simulation: Model Building And Analysis, Pu Jiao

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

No abstract provided.

Simulation Training And Control System For Bridge Inspection, Rahul Dubey

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

No abstract provided.

Integrated Sensing System Of Fe-C Coated Long Period Fiber Gratings For Mass Loss Measurement Of Steel Bars With Strain And Temperature Compensation, Chuanrui Guo

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

No abstract provided.

A Training Framework Of Robotic Operation And Image Analysis For Decision-Making In Bridge Inspection And Preservation, Ruwen Qin

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Inspection and preservation of existing transportation infrastructure to extend their service life is an effective way of mitigating the pressure of steadily growing transportation demands on the aging infrastructure. Their current practice, though, represents one of the most costly operations in state departments of transportation.

The INSPIRE University Transportation Center will develop a remotely-controlled robotic platform that helps with these labor-intensive tasks and allows engineers to focus on decision-making processes. An important mission of INSPIRE is to leverage users’ capability of implementing, and interacting with, the robotic platform. Therefore, a long-term plan has been made to create a framework of …

Developing A Robotic Simulator And Video Games For Professional And Public Training, Sushil Louis

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Civil engineers are not educated with robotics. They need to be trained on the job with effective tools. The most recent simulation trainer that the PI has built is currently being used by the United States Navy to train surface warfare officers in decision making under stress. In a crowded in-port environment, the crew on a ship’s bridge is trained to probe and identify suspicious boat behavior within the port’s traffic pattern. Officers in charge of the simulation training lesson use software for high-level control of dozens of other ships, boats, and aircrafts that quickly react and adapt to the …

Quantitative Bridge Inspection Ratings Using Autonomous Robotic Systems, Anil Agrawal

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

The 2001 study sponsored by FHWA raised serious concern on the consistency and reliability of visual inspection. Although consistent ratings can be obtained with a good QA/QC program, based on a recent study by the PI, the concern for reliability of defect detection remains. With the adoption of the recent AASHTO Manuel for Bridge Element Inspection, the new inspection approach not only requires rating for bridge elements, but also the location and extent of deterioration. Since autonomous robotic systems generate an enormous amount of inspection data, deducing from the data to a simple rating along with the location and extent …

3d Microwave Camera For Concrete Delamination And Steel Corrosion Detection, R. Zoughi

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Corrosion of embedded steel reinforcement in concrete leads to concrete cracking and delamination, followed by increased salt and moisture permeation and further damage. Invisibility of the embedded rebar in combination with physical inaccessibility in elevated bridges presents a challenge in the assessment of RC bridge elements. Wideband (3D) microwave synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging techniques that can be integrated into a UAV offer a practical solution to overcome this challenge.

This project aims to develop and optimize a 3D microwave camera for bridge inspection on a UAV platform, quantify its performance for steel corrosion evaluation and concrete delamination detection in …

Hyperspectral Image Analysis For Mechanical And Chemical Properties Of Concrete And Steel Surfaces, Genda Chen

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths from approximately 400 to 700 nm. A hyperspectral camera can extend the wavelength to as high as 2500 nm. This extension will allow engineers to find objects, identify materials, and detect processes on structural surface, which cannot be done with visual inspection.

This project aims to develop an open-source catalogue of concrete and steel surfaces and their spectral/spatial features (discoloration, characteristic wavelength, roughness, texture, shape, etc.), extract spatial/spectral features of hyperspectral images, and develop/train a multi-class classification or regression classifier through machine learnings (supervised and/or semi-supervised), and validate the classifier as a …

Autonomous Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement By A Magnet-Wheeled Robot, Yang Wang

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

A wireless sensing device recently developed by PI Wang’s group has demonstrated various structural sensing capabilities for bridge applications. In the meantime, a latest robot platform developed by Dr. La’s group at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) demonstrates promising performance navigating on steel bridge members. Marrying the two state-of-the-art developments, this project will produce a magnet-wheeled robot capable of autonomous nondestructive measurement on steel bridge structures. Both laboratory and field validations will be performed.

This project will integrate advanced wireless sensing technologies to the UNR robot platform. At first, the functionality of ultrasonic thickness measurement will be developed on …

In-Line Long Period Grating And Brillouin Scattering Fiber Optic Sensors For Strain, Temperature, Chloride Concentration, And Steel Mass Loss Measurement In Bridge Applications, Chuanrui Guo

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Corrosion is the main reason for costly maintenance of aging transportation infrastructure in the U.S. Since 2008, the PI’s group has developed long period fiber grating (LPFG) sensors for point strain and steel mass loss measurements. When attached on a steel bar, a LPFG sensor doped with nano iron/silica particles and polyurethane can monitor the corrosion process of steel. However, the coating of particles with polyurethane was not robust. In addition, chloride concentration is important for the prediction of early corrosion in practice. Compared to grating sensors, Brillouin scattering based sensors have lower spatial resolution but offer a cost-effective solution …

2020 Technical Program, Inspire - University Transportation Center

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

INSPIRE University Transportation Center 2020 Annual Meeting
August 3-4, 2020

A Comparison Study Using Particle Swarm Optimization Inversion Algorithm For Gravity Anomaly Interpretation Due To A 2d Vertical Fault Structure, Neil Lennart Anderson, Khalid S. Essa, Mahmoud Elhussein

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A new approach to the inversion of gravity data utilizing the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to model 2D vertical faults. The PSO algorithm is stochastic in nature; its development was motivated by the communal in-flight performance of birds looking for food. The birds are represented by particles (or models). Individual particles have a location and a velocity vector. The location vectors represent the parameter value. PSO is adjusted with random particles (models) and searches for targets by updating generations. Herein, the PSO algorithm is applied to three synthetic data sets (residual only with and without noise, residual …

Quantitative Analysis Of The Impacts Of Out-Of-Sequence Work On Project Performance, Michael W. Ibrahim, Awad S. Hanna, Jeffrey S. Russell, Ibrahim S. Abotaleb, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Although out-of-sequence work (OOS) is often cited as a recurring challenge that impacts project performance, it has not been fully addressed in the existing literature as a standalone topic. This paper addresses this gap, defining OOS work as an activity or series of activities that was not performed according to baseline planned logical productive sequencing. By developing a project-based survey and contacting 300 professionals, extensive data were gathered from 42 projects. Using these data, the impacts of OOS were examined. It was found that, on average, approximately 15% of project activities are performed as OOS, resulting in 33% growth in …

Effects Of Clay Creep On Long-Term Load-Carrying Behaviors Of Bored Piles: Aiming At Reusing Existing Bored Piles, Lin Li, Weibing Gong, Jingpei Li, Jingpei Li

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An analytical procedure is presented for assessing the long-term load-carrying behavior of bored piles in clay, where the plastic volumetric strain of surrounding clay caused by creep is estimated by an advanced elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model. Two key soil parameters, the undrained shear strength and the shear modulus, which govern the load-carrying behavior of bored piles in clay, are determined from the definition of the quasi-over consolidation ratio and the concept of the critical state theory-based Cam-clay model. The long-term load-carrying capacity of bored piles is evaluated based on the total stress method. Hyperbolic load-transfer models are developed with proper incorporation …

Effect Of Calcination Time On The Physicochemical Properties And Photocatalytic Performance Of Carbon And Nitrogen Co-Doped Tio2 Nanoparticles, Emile Salomon Massima Mouele, Mihaela Dinu, Franscious Cummings, Ojo O. Fatoba, Myo Tay Zar Myint, Htet Htet Kyaw, Anca C. Parau, Alina Vladescu, M. Grazia Francesconi, Sara Pescetelli, Aldo Di Carlo, Antonio Agresti, Mohammed Al-Abri, Sergey Dobretsov, Mariana Braic, Leslie F. Petrik

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The application of highly active nano catalysts in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) improves the production of non-selective hydroxyl radicals and co-oxidants for complete remediation of polluted water. This study focused on the synthesis and characterization of a highly active visible light C–N-co-doped TiO2 nano catalyst that we prepared via the sol-gel method and pyrolyzed at 350 °C for 105 min in an inert atmosphere to prevent combustion of carbon moieties. Then we prolonged the pyrolysis holding time to 120 and 135 min and studied the effect of these changes on the crystal structure, particle size and morphology, electronic properties and …

Evaluating The Crosstalk Current And The Total Radiated Power Of A Bent Cable Harness Using The Generalized Mtl Method, Yansheng Wang, Ying S. Cao, Dazhao Liu, Richard W. Kautz, Nevin Altunyurt, Jun Fan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a general formulation of the generalized multiconductor transmission line (GMTL) method to model a parallel cable harness including straight and bent wires. The parallel cable harness here indicates the uniform cross-sectional wire distribution. The GMTL equations are solved recursively based on the perturbation theory. This GMTL method facilitates an accurate evaluation of the current distributed on a cable harness. On top of that, the current obtained in a radiation problem is decomposed into two traveling currents, i.e., the positive-going and the negative-going currents, based on the least-squares method. With the decomposed currents, the steepest descent method is …

The Kinetic Study Of Dpt Using Mathematica As An Efficient Optimization Tool, M. H. El Dewaik, Mamdouh Gadalla, M. A. Radwan, M. A. Sadek, Hany A. Elazab

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Mathematica is a powerful program for computing both numeric and algebraic calculations as well as graphing two- and three-dimensional curves and surfaces. It is used increasingly in many fields of science now such as physics, engineering, chemistry and even biology because of the fast interaction of mathematics with almost the fields of science nowadays. Synthesis of Cyclotetramethylene Tetramine through the action of nitrating mixture formed of ammonium nitrate and fuming nitric acid on hexamine in presence of acetic acid, acetic anhydride and p-formaldehyde has been proven. The pathway is relatively long and Hexamine Dinitrate and Dinitro Pentamethylene Tetramine (DPT) are …

Laser Metal Deposition Of An Alcocrfeniti₀.₅ High-Entropy Alloy Coating On A Ti6al4v Substrate: Microstructure And Oxidation Behavior, Wenyuan Cui, Wei Li, Wei Ting Chen, Frank W. Liou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Ti6Al4V has been recognized as an attractive material, due to its combination of low density and favorable mechanical properties. However, its insufficient oxidation resistance has limited the high-temperature application. In this work, an AlCoCrFeNiTi_0.5 high-entropy alloy (HEA) coating was fabricated on a Ti6Al4V substrate using laser metal deposition (LMD). The microstructure and isothermal oxidation behaviors were investigated. The microstructure of as-deposited HEA exhibited a Fe, Cr-rich A2 phase and an Al, Ni, Ti-enriched B2 phase. Its hardness was approximately 2.1 times higher than that of the substrate. The oxidation testing at 700⁰C and 800⁰C suggested that the HEA coating …

A Review On Metallic Alloys Fabrication Using Elemental Powder Blends By Laser Powder Directed Energy Deposition Process, Yitao Chen, Xinchang Zhang, Mohammad Masud Parvez, Frank W. Liou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The laser powder directed energy deposition process is a metal additive manufacturing technique, which can fabricate metal parts with high geometric and material flexibility. The unique feature of in-situ powder feeding makes it possible to customize the elemental composition using elemental powder mixture during the fabrication process. Thus, it can be potentially applied to synthesize industrial alloys with low cost, modify alloys with different powder mixtures, and design novel alloys with location-dependent properties using elemental powder blends as feedstocks. This paper provides an overview of using a laser powder directed energy deposition method to fabricate various types of alloys by …

Lateral Migration Of A Ferrofluid Droplet In A Plane Poiseuille Flow Under Uniform Magnetic Fields, Md Rifat Hassan, Cheng Wang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The lateral migration of a two-dimensional (2D) viscous ferrofluid droplet in a plane Poiseuille flow under a uniform magnetic field is studied numerically by using the level set method. Focusing on low droplet Reynolds number flows (Re_d ≤ 0.05), several numerical simulations are carried out to analyze the effects of magnetic field direction and strength, droplet size, and viscosity ratio on the lateral migration behavior of the droplet. The results indicate that the magnetic field direction plays a pivotal role in the trajectory of lateral migration of the droplet and the final equilibrium position in the channel. When the …

Improved Ballistic Limit Equations For High-Speed Non-Aluminum Projectiles Impacting Aluminum Dual-Wall Spacecraft Systems, William P. Schonberg

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

One of the major design considerations of earth-orbiting spacecraft is the damage that might occur from an impact by a micrometeoroid or orbital debris particle. Ballistic limit equations (BLEs), which predict the response of spacecraft components under impact, are one of the key components of any micrometeoroid / orbital debris risk assessment calculation. However, given that a limited number of BLEs have been developed, analysts will sometimes use a BLE to assess the impact projectile made of a material that was not used in the development of that BLE. This paper presents the results of a two-part study that focused …

Mismatch In Ebg Common-Mode Filters Implemented On Pcbs, Marina Y. Koledintseva, Sergiu Radu, Joseph Nuebel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this article, impedance mismatch effects on the characteristics of common-mode (CM) electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) filters are studied using three-dimensional (3-D) full-wave numerical simulations. The CM EBG filters considered herein are designed using standard printed circuit board technology and contain either microstrip (MS) differential pairs running above the EBG plane, or strip line (SL) differential pairs running on one of the layers next to the EBG plane. First, the terminations are fixed at 50 Ω, and the effects of the differential line impedance variations on the EBG filter parameters are studied. Overall, the considered variations in the widths of the …

Measurement Techniques To Identify Soft Failure Sensitivity To Esd, Jianchi Zhou, Yuandong Guo, Satyajeet Shinde, Ahmad Hosseinbeig, Abhishek Patnaik, Omid Hoseini Izadi, Chen Zeng, Jun Shi, Junji Maeshima, Hideki Shumiya, Kenji Araki, David Pommerenke

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Electrostatic discharge (ESD)-induced soft failures are a critical issue for electronic systems as the failures are mostly found after the hardware design is completed. Any changes applied to the hardware may delay the project. Diagnostic tools capable of identifying soft failure-induced malfunctions in an early stage of product design help to reduce the risk of late stage ESD-induced project delays. In many cases, soft failures can be directly observed by the user interface, system crash, or other obvious indicators. However, in an early product design stage the operation system may be marginal, and applications may not be available. To improve …

Automated Detection And Characterization Of Esd-Induced Soft Failures Using Image-And Audio-Based Methods, Omid Hoseini Izadi, Javad Meiguni, Kenji Araki, Hideki Shumiya, David J. Pommerenke

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Audio-and image-based soft failure detection methods are developed, which can detect both severe failures (such as system hang) and subtle ones (such as glitch or a momentary disturbance on display). Incorporating the developed detection methods with a robotic ESD (electrostatic discharge) tester, we developed a fully automated soft failure investigation tool. Using this fully automated tool, we obtained failure-specific susceptibility maps for a camera (our target device). These susceptibility maps not only illustrated the sensitive locations of the device, but they also showed what type of soft failure is correlated with which locations.

On The Effect Of Interfacial Patterns On Energy Dissipation In Plastically Deforming Adhesive Bonded Ductile Sheets, Arturo Pascuzzo, Arief Yudhanto, Marco Alfano, Gilles Lubineau

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Toughening of brittle adhesive joints is a topic of great interest for the fabrication of layered structures. Recent experimental work by the authors indicated that spatially varying interface properties (i.e., patterned interfaces obtained using laser irradiation) could tune energy dissipation in plastically deforming adhesive joints. In this study, we use a cohesive zone approach to ascertain the interplay between fracture process zone size and pattern geometry on the overall work of separation. The analysis is carried out in the context of the elasto-plastic peeling response of adhesive bonded ductile thin sheets. The mating surfaces of the adherents feature alternating strips …

A Novel Data-Driven Analysis Method For Electromagnetic Radiations Based On Dynamic Mode Decomposition, Yanming Zhang, Lijun Jiang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Electromagnetic radiations in complex electronic systems such as cell phones and computers are complex spatial oral correlations signals. Decomposing the electromagnetic radiation measured in the spatial oral domain is useful to gain physical insights into the process that generates radio frequency interference and the radiated spurious emission. In this article, a novel data-driven characterization method is proposed to analyze the electromagnetic radiations of both linear and nonlinear circuits. It employs the dynamic mode decomposition to simultaneously extract the temporal patterns and their corresponding dynamic modes. The temporal patterns show high-order harmonics generated by the nonlinearity. Then, these spatial oral coherent …

Cable Harness Modeling Using Mtl Parameters Derived From Integral Equations, Muqi Ouyang, Xu Wang, Nevin Altunyurt, Varittha Sanphuang, Nitin Parsa, Jun Fan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A method to calculate equivalent Multiconductor Transmission-Line (MTL) parameters through integral equations is proposed in this paper. In the mixed-potential integral equations (MPIE), the elements of harness part are converted to MTL parameters based on the relations between MTL parameters and partial elements of 1-D wire segments. Then, to include the effects of reference metal plane nearby, the equivalent MTL parameters can be derived from the MPIE equations with modified harness elements by keeping the solutions on harness part the same. The current distributions on wires calculated using the equivalent MTL parameters have good correlations with the results from the …

Calibration Loop Antenna For Multiple Probe Antenna Measurement System, Yuming Zheng, Zibin Weng, Yihong Qi, Jun Fan, Fuhai Li, Zhiping Yang, James L. Drewniak

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In order to achieve high accuracy in measurements of the multiple probe antenna measurement system (MPAMS), an omnidirectional calibration antenna with a small gain variation in the horizontal polarization (named calibration loop antenna, in convention) is required. This article presents such an antenna design. The proposed calibration loop antenna consists of four arc-folded dipoles with dimensions of 52 mm x52 mm x 1 mm, balun structures for suppressing common mode current, and four parasitic strips for impedance matching on each of the top and bottom planes. The experimental results show that the proposed calibration loop antenna has a small gain …