Engineering Commons^™

Micromechanics Of Hot Mix Asphalt Material Formulation And Numerical Simulation, Kuo-Neng G. Chang

Dissertations

Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA), a highway and airfield pavement material, is heterogeneous, granular, and composite. It is traditionally modeled as a homogeneous material using continuum mechanics or semi-empirical methods. As a result, the above models either neglect or over-simply component reactions, failing to predict field performance problems resulting from particle segregation. This research presents micromechanical modeling, a novel approach that accounts for the components.

A micromechanical model is developed for HMA by modeling it as an assembly of asphalt cement coated particles. The asphalt cement is modeled as a viscoelastic material. To represent asphalt cement, several viscoelastic elements (i.e. Maxwell, …

Experimental And Numerical Determination Of Fluid Velocity Profiles And Turbulence Intensity In Mixing Vessels, Chun-Chiao Chou

Dissertations

In this study, both a laser-Doppler velocimeter (LDV) and a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software package (FL UENI) were used to experimentally determine and numerically predict the velocity distribution of an unbaffled and a baffled mixing vessel. Two types of impellers were employed, namely a flat blade turbine (FBT) and a pitched blade turbine (PBT). These impellers were studied in a single-impeller or multiple-impeller configuration in the unbaffled and baffled vessels. The flow characteristics in the impeller regions were measured by LDV and used as boundary conditions in the numerical computation. Turbulence effects were numerically simulated using either the k-c …

A Petri-Net Based Methodology For Modeling, Simulation, And Control Of Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Venkatesh Kurapati

Dissertations

Global competition has made it necessary for manufacturers to introduce such advanced technologies as flexible and agile manufacturing, intelligent automation, and computer-integrated manufacturing. However, the application extent of these technologies varies from industry to industry and has met various degrees of success. One critical barrier leading to successful implementation of advanced manufacturing systems is the ever-increasing complexity in their modeling, analysis, simulation, and control. The purpose of this work is to introduce a set of Petri net-based tools and methods to address a variety of problems associated with the design and implementation of flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). More specifically, this …

Theory, Design And Applications Of Linear Transforms For Information Transmission, Adil Benyassine

Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to study the common features of block transforms, subband filter banks, and wavelets, and demonstrate how discrete uncertainty can be applied to evaluate these different decomposition techniques. In particular, we derive an uncertainty bound for discrete-time functions. It is shown that this bound is the same as that for continuous-time functions, if the discrete-time functions have a certain degree of regularity.

This dissertation also deals with spectral modeling in filter banks. It is shown, both theoretically and experimentally, that subspectral modeling is superior to full spectrum modeling if performed before the rate change. The …

Robust Approach To Object Recognition Through Fuzzy Clustering And Hough Transform Based Methods, Tianxiong Fu

Dissertations

Object detection from two dimensional intensity images as well as three dimensional range images is considered. The emphasis is on the robust detection of shapes such as cylinders, spheres, cones, and planar surfaces, typically found in mechanical and manufacturing engineering applications. Based on the analyses of different HT methods, a novel method, called the Fast Randomized Hough Transform (FRHT) is proposed. The key idea of FRHT is to divide the original image into multiple regions and apply random sampling method to map data points in the image space into the parameter space or feature space, then obtain the parameters of …

Design And Micro-Fabrication Of Tantalum Silicide Cantilever Beam Threshold Accelerometer, Chang Joo Kim

Dissertations

Microfabricated threshold accelerometers were successfully designed and fabricated following a careful analysis of the electrical, mechanical, and fabrication issues inherent to micron-sized accelerometers. A uniform cantilever beam was chosen because of the simplicity of design and fabrication. New models for the electrostatic force exerted on the cantilever beam were developed and calculations were made that accurately predicted the electrical characteristics of the accelerometer. The calculations also provided design guidelines for optimizing the accelerometer dimensions. Computer simulation demonstrated that the error of the electrostatic force, calculated using the most accurate model, was within 2% of the actual force which was obtained …

Combustion Of Methyl Chloride, Monomethyl Amine, And Their Mixtures In A Two Stage Turbulent Flow Reactor, Fuhe Mao

Dissertations

The feasibility of converting fuel-bound chlorine and nitrogen into HCl and N₂ with reduced pollutant emissions of CO, NO, and unburned hydrocarbons was investigated in a two-stage turbulent flow reactor. The study consists of four segments: completion and validation of the experimental facility, experimental and modeling studies of methyl chloride (CH₃Cl) combustion, similar studies on monomethyl amine (CH₃NH₂), and finally studies on simultaneous CH₃Cl and CH₃NH₂ combustion.

Validation of the experimental facility was made by combustion of ethylene (C₂H₄) and air under both fuel-lean …

Electrical Characteristics Of Novel Heterojunction Diodes Of Thin Relaxation Semiconductors/P-Si/, Hyung Joo Lee

Dissertations

The relaxation semiconductor is defined as one in which the dielectric relaxation time (τd;resistivity times permittivity) is greater than lifetime (τo). Non-hydrogenated amorphous Silicon Carbide (SiC) and KrF excimer laser induced disordered Si were used for the relaxation semiconductors. Both semiconductors have high resistivity, wide energy gap, and numerous defects. A novel diode, consisting of those semiconductors on p-type crystalline Silicon (c-Si), was fabricated. In the diode structure, an injecting contact was made on the relaxation material and a Schottky barrier contact was made on the c-Si.

Electrical characteristics of both diodes were found to have interesting …

Analysis Of Plates And Reinforced Concrete Columns By Cubic B-Spline Function, Gang Wang

Dissertations

Applying spline functions to numerical structural analysis has been more common in recent years. The recent increase use of spline functions is mainly due to their excellent characteristics, such as sectionalized continuity, linear combination, flexibility, and easy use for various boundary conditions. The whole deformed shape of some structures or substructures can be described with one displacement function constructed by a series of spline functions. By doing this, the mesh generation and the huge computer memory space are no longer needed because only one single superelement can be used in the whole process. The choice of spline functions as displacement …

On Adaptive Code Division Multiple Access Detectors, Wenping Chen

Dissertations

Several variations of adaptive CDMA synchronous receiver schemes which can automatically adjust to the system parameters, are studied in this dissertation. Unlike their non-adaptive counterparts, these adaptive detectors require no knowledge of the received signals' energies and have similar or better performance.

Minimum energy and decorrelating criterion are used to update the weights. Since weights are updated according to the changes of the detector's outputs, hence no training sequence is required. The convergences of some of the aforementioned adaptive detectors are also disscussed.

The detectors proposed in this dissertation are near-far resistant,thus rendering the high-precision power control unnecessary. Among them, …

Heart Rate Variability Studies On Ambulatory Subjects Using Ekg Derived Respiration, Xiaorui Tang

Theses

Power spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) provides a powerful non-invasive too] for exploring the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic components of the autonomic nervous system. In the spectrum of HRV, there are three distinct peaks. The high frequency (HF) band (0.15 to 0.4 Hz) is correlated with parasympathetic activity and this is the band of interest 'in the study.

Two OTOUPS Of SL113jeCtS were considered in this work, stroke survivors and subjects performing an oral presentation in front of an audience. Data were collected with a Holter monitor to allow for ambulatory recording. Respiration was derived from the …

Simulation Study Of Particle Tracking System, Prashant B. Patel

Theses

A particle tracking system is being developed in the Particle Technology Laboratory of the Mechanical Engineering Department, at NJIT, In this thesis, an attempt is made to understand the effect of various parameters on the errors in the computed position and orientation of the sphere being tracked. Simulation results for a single transmitter assembly as well as a three transmitter assembly with 6, 9 and 17 antennae are presented. The effects of the level of noise in the voltages on the solution for the single transmitter assembly and three transmitter assembly are discussed. The concept of virtual antenna is introduced …

A Three Stage Large Dynamic Range Automatic Transimpedance Control Amplifier, Karim Joseph Sikias

Theses

Long haul fiber optic communication systems require extremely sensitive, low noise amplification of the weak photo diode currents generated by the received light power. Two types of amplifiers have been used for this application: a high input impedance integrating amplifier/differentiating equalizer combination or a transimpedance amplifier. Optical receivers designed with integrating amplifiers exhibit severe low frequency drift and overload problems and are not generally used in wide dynamic range receiver design. This thesis will describe an extremely wide dynamic range transimpedance amplifier incorporating unique methods to maintain stability, wide bandwidth low pulse width distortion during overload conditions.

Stress-Strain Behavior Of High Strength Concrete Cylinders, Danqing Chen

Theses

Due to the recent development of high strength concrete in engineering and construction, it has become more important to study the behavior of materials in structures.

No results have been previously published in the literature regarding the influence of aspect ratio in plain high strength concrete cylinders on stress-strain behavior under uniaxial compression.Thus at present study, compression tests were conducted on 3x6 in., 3x9 in., and 3x12 in. plain high strength concrete cylinders to study their stress-strain behavior. Plain normal strength concrete cylinders were also tested and used for comparative study.

Based on the present investigations, attempting to obtain a …

Aeration And Operation Of An Immobilized Cell Oxidative Bioreactor, James Joseph Woods

Theses

The primary purpose of this work is to help define the optimum window of operations for an immobilized cell oxidative bioreactor. The analytical technique employed requires no outside verification (such as G.C. analysis) and is independent of liquid flow rate. Method of aeration has been determined to be an important parameter for optimizing bioreactor efficiency, and optimization of the quantity of hydrogen peroxide added to provide oxygen during bio-oxidation has been investigated. Ammonium hydroxide as a fixed nitrogen source can be used to restore the vitality of the bioreactor under certain conditions.

The effects of several different methods of providing …

Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Of Copper Films From Cu(I)(Hfac)(Tmvs), Wei-Shang King

Theses

Recently, copper has been found as a possible substitute for Al alloys because of its low resistivity (1.67 μΩ • cm) and potentially improved resistance to electromigration. Conventional physical vapor deposition (PVD) method do not provide the conformal deposition profile for the high density integrated circuit, therefore, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has become the most promising method for the resulting conformal profile.

In this work, a cold wall, single wafer, CVD tungsten reactor was used for the deposition of copper with Cu(I)(hfac)(tmvs). Film growth rates were between 100 to 800 A/min depending on processing conditions, and an Arrhenius type activation …

Volatilization Of Volatile Organic Compounds From Complex Wastewaters, Syed Sikandar Qadry

Theses

A variety of volatile organic solvents used in the pharmaceutical and specialty chemical industries end up in wastewater collection and treatment systems. EPA has classified these VOCs into groups depending on their potential to volatilize from the wastewaters. In making this classification, Henry's Law, which is valid at very low concentrations, has been used to describe the vapor-liquid equilibrium. But, in reality the concentrations observed in the wastewaters are often too high for Henry's Law to be valid and it is inappropriate to assume that equilibrium has been achieved for every compound.

This project evaluates the volatilization rates, both experimental …

Preoperative Risk Assessment For Cardiac Surgery Using Piecewise Linear Regression Model, Arifa Zafar

Theses

In the present climate of quality assurance policies, rigorous requirements for informed consent, and a constantly changing patient population, a system of preoperative risk assignment for cardiovascular surgery was developed to monitor and evaluate surgical outcomes. The goal of this work is to estimate the preoperative risk associated with cardiac bypass surgery for patients in different risk categories. These risk categories are determined by the Parsonnet model which is based upon studying the severity of illness. The Parsonnet model assigns a risk value to a range of risk factors consisting of patient attributes and disease parameters. The aggregate of these …

Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Of Silicon Nitride Films From Tridimethylaminosilane, Xin Lin

Theses

In this study amorphous stoichiometric silicon nitride films were synthesized by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) using tri(dimethylamino) silane (TDMAS) and ammonia (NH₃). The growth kinetics were determined as a function of temperature in the range of 650 - 900 °C, total pressure in the range of 0.15 - 0.60 Torr, and NH₃/TDMAS flow ratio in the range of 0 - 10. At constant condition of pressure (0.5 Torr), TDMSA flow rate (10 sccm) and NH₃ flow rate (100 sccm), the deposition rate of as-deposited silicon nitride films was found to follow an Arrehnius …

The Photolithographic Patterning Of Porous Silicon Using Silicon Nitride And Silicon Carbide Films As Masks, Hong Wang

Theses

In this study, a simple photolithographic pattern process for porous silicon is described. The process utilizes silicon nitride or silicon carbide coated on the top of silicon wafer as a masks. Then a test pattern was projected on the sample by illumination during anodic etching in HF:ethanol solution which produced microcracks in regions illuminated during anodization. Creation of these microcracks resulted in formation of porous silicon in the underlying regions. The cracking is related to the stress in the thin film. The films with tensile stress exhibit cracking while compressive stress samples do not. Compared to silicon carbide films, silicon …

Laborconsult : An Expert System For Evaluating Fetal Heart Rate And The Progress Of Labor, Wendy Raymond-Fink

Theses

LaborConsult is a rule-based expert system designed to aid the non-expert practitioner in monitoring the progress and fetal tolerance of labor. The expert system obtains from the user the values of the following labor variables: cervical dilatation, fetal station, and the time between and duration of uterine contractions. The rates of cervical dilatation and fetal descent are then calculated and compared to labor standards. Additionally, the consultation assists the user in the analysis of electronic fetal monitor tracings.

The expert system development tool VP-Expert allows the interfacing of the consultation with the spreadsheet Lotus 1-2-3. This enables the creation of …

Design Of A Lapd Interface Using The T7130 Multichannel Lapd Controller And The T715a Synchronous Protocol Data Formatter, Hopeton Saint John Walker

Theses

As the ISDN telecommunications standard gains acceptance, there is an ever increasing need for intelligent interfaces to implement the L2 protocol known as LAPD. The T7130 MLC, the T7115A SPYDER-T and the MC68020 microprocessor were used to design a LAPD Interface that conforms to the LAPD protocol as specified by CCITT.

The LAPD Interface utilizes a Shared Memory Array which is attached to the Data Link Processors in a single bus configuration. The SMA Arbitration Control allows access to the SMA on a prioritized basis and was implemented as a state machine using PAL's. L2 drivers and L3 management software …

Design For Quality Manufacturability Analysis For Common Assembly Process, Suriyanarayanan Ramachandra

Theses

The globalization of market economy has precipitated a dramatic increase in competition necessitating the need for higher quality products at lower cost in shorter time periods. Shorter life cycles and proliferation of products has made companies integrate all the phases of manufacturing to bring about a superior design. Design for Quality Manufacturability (DFQM) provides a technique to invoke manufacturing and assembly considerations while designing a product. The DFQM architecture identifies factors consisting of several variables that are influenced by certain error catalysts to cause one or more specific defects. A methodology is suggested to identify and quantify these error catalysts …

Soft Decision Adaptive Multiuser Cdma Detector For Asynchronous Awgn Channels, Frank Viehofer

Theses

A multiuser detector in an asynchronous, additive white Gaussian noise, codedivision multipleaccess (CDMA) channel is proposed and analyzed. It employs a combination of a decorrelator and a nonlinear multiuser interference canceler that utilizes soft tentative decisions. The weights of the canceler are adaptively adjusted, in a manner that renders the knowledge of received signal energies and the use of training sequences unnecessary. The steady state error performance of the detector is obtained and found to be superior to the performance of the same detector that utilizes hard tentative decisions.

Design For Quality Manufacturability Analysis Of Missing/Misplaced Parts And Part Interference, Altaf Yusuf Tamboo

Theses

Design for Quality Manufacturability (DFQM) is an approach that addresses the issue of quality manufacturability (QM) - the likelihood that defects will occur during manufacture of a product in a standard plant. The DFQM methodology is based on the premise that defects found in assembled products are often influenced by some features of the design and/or assembly process (influencing factors). These influencing factors cause defects in the presence of certain error catalysts.

One of the influencing factors is geometrical features such as shape and symmetry. A classification scheme for part shape and symmetry is developed. This scheme is summarized in …

Am/Fm Digital Audio Broadcasting In-Band On-Channel Transmission, Michael Meyer

Theses

This thesis examines the in-band on-channel transmission of digital audio data for application in Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). The premise is to use the existing FM channels for transmission of DAB. For the FM channel used for analog audio transmission, two different scenarios are suggested and investigated.

In the first scenario, to enable overlay of the new DAB and current FM transmissions, the digital data is modulated by a direct sequence spread spectrum signal to bring the average transmitted power below that of the FM signal using the same channel. The FM signal interferes with the digital transmission and it …

Statistical And Finite Element Analysis Of The Effects Of Random Input Parameters On The Mechanical Characteristics Of Sheetmetal Forming Processes Using Quadrature Method, Yu Quan

Theses

In this thesis, the computer aided finite element analysis is implemented in the analysis of sheetmetal forming process. To rationalize the experimentation and analysis, the statistical method is introduced to study the variability of sheetmetal deformation process and final shape with respect to the variation of different parameters.

In Chapter 2, the basic characteristics and considerations of deep drawing operation is described with emphasis on the study of geometrical and physical variables of the forming process.

Chapter 3 discussed the three phases which are encountered in the computer aided finite element analysis. As a typical representative of professional finite element …

Measurement Of The Reaction To Stress And Meditation Using Brain Wave Coherence And Heart Rate Variability, Christopher B. King

Theses

Measurement of physiological parameters associated with the stress response and the relaxation response caused by various forms of meditation can provide valuable information about the reaction of the body to the mind and to the external environment.

This study used two different techniques to evaluate physiological parameters. The first part examined the meditation response by recording the EEG and calculating the coherence between brain waves originating from different parts of the brain. It was found that high levels of coherence in the alpha portion of the EEG frequency band coincided with a restful state associated with the relaxation response. In …

A Pharmacokinetic Model Of The Liver, Samirbhai Rameshbhai Patel

Theses

The liver is the major organ where chemical breakdown of organic and inorganic compounds takes place. A pharmacokinetic heterogeneous model was developed for the local anesthetic and antiarrhythmic drug lidocaine. It was assumed that transport and elimination of lidocaine and its metabolites are linear with concentration. Simulations were done using VisSim software on a 486 based personal computer to obtain concentration profiles for hepatic clearance and for step input of the drug and its metabolites. It was found that the rate of uptake and rate of breakdown were 0.48 min^-1 and 0.49 min^-1 respectively for lidocaine. The results …

Wear And Friction Of Hylamer And Polyethylene Against Cobalt Chromium A Pin-On-Disc Study, Jerry D'Alessio, Ii

Theses

Understanding friction and wear of biomaterials is essential to the success of any prosthetic joint. A pin-on-disc wear tester is used to find the friction and wear of pins of one material on a coupon of medical grade cobalt chrome. In this experiment six pins of UHMWPe (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) and six pins of Hylamer® from Du Pont Manufacturing were tested. Four separate runs were made. The tests were performed for ten million cycles, stopping every one to one and a half million cycles for data acquisition. Volumetric wear, wear rate, and coefficients of friction were measured. Both …