Engineering Commons^™

Developing A General Methodology For Evaluating Composite Action In Insulated Wall Panels, Jaiden Thomas Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Precast Concrete Sandwich Panel Walls (PCSPW’s) have been in use for over 60 years. They provide a very efficient building envelope for many buildings. Characteristic PCSPW’s comprise an outer and inner layer (or wythe) of concrete separated by an insulating material. To use all of the material as efficiently as possible, the layers are attached by connectors which penetrate through the insulating layer and are embedded in either concrete wythe. These connectors make it possible for both layers of the wall to work together when resisting loads. The connectors are made out of plastic, or FRP, to prevent heat transfer …

Statistical Models Of I-15 Bridge C-846: Changes In Natural Frequencies Due To Temperature, Gilbert Nichols

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Structural Health monitoring is to determine the condition of a bridge based on instrument measurements. The C-846 Bridge in Salt Lake City has such instrumentation. The bridge is located in Salt Lake City at about 2100 South and Interstate 15. This bridge has two kinds of instruments on it: accelerometers and thermocouples. The accelerometers measure the vibrations of the bridge. The accelerometers have been recording data on the bridge since 2001. The thermocouples, which measure temperature, were added as part of this thesis in April 2016.

In light of recent research, damage may be detected from measuring the change in …

Optimization Of Roadway Electrification Integrating Wireless Power Transfer: Technoeconomic Assessment And Lifecycle Analysis, Braden J. Limb

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Electric vehicles are the main technology currently being pursued to reduce dependence on fossil fuels in the transportation sector. These vehicles provide both reduced greenhouse gas emissions and decreased operating costs when compared to conventional internal combustion vehicles, while providing the flexibility to use both renewable and fossil energy. However, these vehicles have seen limited consumer adoption due to their large purchase prices and limited driving range. Both purchase price and driving range are related to the large onboard battery systems required for electric vehicle travel.

One solution to decrease dependence on large battery systems has focused on charging vehicles …

Integrated Life Cycle And Techno-Economic Assessment Of The Conversion Of High Productivity, Low Lipid Algae To Renewable Fuels, Chad R. De Mill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The production of alternative transportation fuels is imperative to meet future energy demands without contributing to global climate change. Advances in alternative processing techniques that have emerged due to interest in microalgae as a feedstock have led to a variety of potential processing pathways for the production of bio-based fuels. A major hurdle in the algal production process is maintaining a fast and stable algae culture. Monocultures, developed for their high lipid content, suffer from low productivity, are susceptible to crashes and require a constant supply of carbon dioxide to maintain productivity. In an effort to circumvent these obstacles, algal …

Uncertainty Of Stereo Piv Calibration And Self-Calibration, Braydon J. Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is a widely used fluid measurement technique. Three dimensional PIV data or stereo PIV is acquired using two cameras. Stereo cameras are calibrated from camera coordinates, pixels, to real world units such as millimeters using calibration models. Stereo calibration is fundamental to the accuracy of a PIV measurement. In this thesis, the accuracy of the stereo calibration is assessed. The mean error of stereo calibration was found to be 0.23%.

Comparing The Effect Of Carbon Sources, Lactate And Whey, On Biological Reductive Dechlorination Of Tce In Laboratory Flow Through Columns, Sarah M. Kissell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a chlorinated solvent most commonly used as an industrial degreaser for cleaning mechanical equipment. Historic improper management and disposal of TCE has resulted in contaminated soil and groundwater across the United States, including Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The abundance of TCE in the environment presents a public health risk because it is categorized as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The purpose of this study was to improve the bioremediation techniques of biostimulation and bioaugmentation. A continuous flow-through column study was performed where columns packed with aquifer material …

Prestress Losses And Temperature Effects On A Deck Bulb Tee Girder Bridge, Phillip Powelson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Utah Transportation Center (UTC), in partnership with the Mountain Plains Consortium (MPC), sponsored a study to investigate the differences in prestress losses and temperature gradients in a concrete deck bulb tee girder bridge. The Millville Bridge was built as an access point to the Ridgeline High School in Millville, Utah. The bridge was built in 2016 and presently supports two lanes of traffic.

Changes in prestress were measured with a total of 16 vibrating wire strain gauges located at four cross-sections. Temperature gradients were measured with a total of 50 thermocouples located at five cross-section locations, four of which …

Beam Steerable Reconfigurable Antenna With Smart Rf Switching On 3d Parasitic Level, Mohammad Ababil Hossain

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Traditional antennas have a lot of limitations as their performance is usually fixed by their initial geometry. On the other hand, modern communication systems are getting way to complicated compared to their earlier counterparts. This necessitates some special types of smart or reconfigurable antennas, which can dynamically adapt to the requirements of the communication systems more effectively. Using conventional single functional antennas is therefore not an efficient approach in these sort of communication systems. Considering all these factors, in this thesis, a beam steerable reconfigurable antenna system is presented that can yield the radiation patterns of multiple antennas with a …

Production Of Phenol-Formaldehyde Adhesives From Catalytic Pyrolysis Oil, Angela M. Akude

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Phenol-formaldehyde adhesives conventionally synthesized from fossil fuel resources pose two major concerns: sustainability issues and environmental concerns. The sustainability issues arise from the inevitable depletion of fossil fuel resources while
the environmental concerns, primarily, stem from the emission of volatile organic compounds. Thus, opting for alternative raw materials from renewable resources reduces the dependence on fossil fuels as well as promote the production of environmentally-friendly products.

The successful commercialization of bio-adhesives requires that the substitution of phenol with bio-oil during resin synthesis should be above 40%. In this study, catalytic pyrolysis oil produced from pinyon-juniper biomass and red mud alumina …

Multifunctional Reconfigurable Antennas And Arrays Operating At 60 Ghz Band, Abdurazag Mohamed Khalat

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this digital era, the demand for faster, reliable, and adaptive wireless communication systems is increasing. Various factors can affect the signal propagation in the wireless medium, such as weather, broadcast environment, physical obstructions, etc. This study aims to improve the antenna performance by means of dynamically altering its properties so that it can adapt to different environments and communication scenarios. This study is not resorting in a traditional antenna design, but rather explores an alternative approach known as the multifunctional reconfigurable antennas (MRAs). Unlike its predecessor, i.e., legacy antennas, MRAs can dynamically change its operation frequency, radiation pattern, and …

Autonomous Highway Systems Safety And Security, Imran Sajjad

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis aims to address question of safety and security in autonomous highway systems. Chains of multiple self-driving vehicles (platoons) give rise to inherent vulnerabilities to attacks resulting from their control algorithms. These weaknesses can possibly result in collisions or decreased traffic flow.

This work first provides an overview of these vulnerabilities analyzed from a control systems perspective. The capabilities and extent of damage that an attack can cause are analyzed. Then some possible mitigation strategies are presented that can defend against these attacks.

Simulation results are provided to support the effectiveness of these controllers and an experimental validation is …

Anaerobic Digestion Of Wastewater: Effects Of Inoculants And Nutrient Management On Biomethane Production And Treatment, Jason Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to population expiation and the increased awareness of the impact on the environment by wastewater treatment, improved wastewater treatment systems are needed to treat municipal and agricultural wastewater. Treating wastewater with oxygen decreases carbon compounds at the expense of energy to move carbon and oxygen to be in contact with each other. Anaerobic digestion of wastewater can reduce the cost by utilizing microbes to treat high amounts of carbon in wastewater without the need for extensive oxygen requirement. With a proper balance of nutrients, microbes also produce methane, a renewable energy source.

It has been suggested that microalgae be …

Effects Of Computer Simulation And Animation (Csa) On Students’ Problem Solving In Engineering Dynamics: What And How, Seyed Mohammad Tajvidi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Previous studies have shown that in many fields, computer simulation and animation (CSA) improve students’ learning and problem solving. However, despite the massive body of research on the role of computers in education, little research has been conducted to qualitatively examine how they affect the learning of engineering students. The purpose of this study was to explore how learning and problem solving were affected by computer modules and what similarities and differences existed between computer representations and paper-based examples.

An analysis of collected data, observations of participants’ problem-solving activities, and interviews revealed that computers can enhance students’ analytical thinking, organizing, …

Role Of Dispersion And Functionalization On Mechanical Properties In Carbon Nanotube - Polymer Composite, Medisetti Sai Praveen Kumar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Polymer composites with carbon nanotubes (CNT) as filler material is an exciting research area, having a huge potential of offering better mechanical properties. One of the main challenges of using CNT as a filler material is mixing of CNTs within the matrix material, as this mixing determines the strength of the composite. Some of the methods being researched for improving mixing are chemical, mechanical and surfactants. Many studies have suggested high frequency mechanical stirring as the preferred way for better mixing, but challenges exist with finding the proper solvent which can be used for stirring and at the same time …

Ultra-Wideband Transceiver With Error Correction For Cortical Interfaces In Nanometercmos Process, Yi Luo

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The wireless data transmission in the application of cortical interfaces requires a minimum of 27.0 Mbps for high-resolution visual functions within a very tight power constraint (< 10 mW). Most of the published designs for this application deploy narrow band techniques and have the throughput from several Mbps to tens of Mbps up to date. This work proposed a wideband solution with the use of Error-correction codes that can realize a throughput more than 100 Mbps within a power of 10 mW.

Algae-Based Biofilm Productivity And Treatment Of Dairy Wastewater: Effects Of Temperature And Organic Carbon Concentration, Zachary T. Fica

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Production of dairy and associated products is a source of millions of gallons of wastewater every year. Water used in cleaning feeding stalls as well as the liquid component of the animal waste are two of the major volumetric components of this wastewater. This water is nutrient rich, often limiting the viability as a land applied fertilizer. However, these same nutrients could be used as an inexpensive feedstock for the cultivation of algae, which can then be used to produce downstream products including animal feed and aquaculture.

As part of this study, algal biomass was cultivated on dairy wastewater from …

Exploiting Self-Organization In Bioengineered Systems: A Computational Approach, Delin Davis, Anna Doloman, Gregory J. Podgorski, Elizabeth Vargis, Nicholas S. Flann

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

The productivity of bioengineered cell factories is limited by inefficiencies in nutrient delivery and waste and product removal. Current solution approaches explore changes in the physical configurations of the bioreactors. This work investigates the possibilities of exploiting self-organizing vascular networks to support producer cells within the factory. A computational model simulates de novo vascular development of endothelial-like cells and the resultant network functioning to deliver nutrients and extract product and waste from the cell culture. Microbial factories with vascular networks are evaluated for their scalability, robustness, and productivity compared to the cell factories without a vascular network. Initial studies demonstrate …

Darcie Christensen Wins Robins Award | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

College of Engineering undergraduate Darcie Christensen is among the winners of this year's Robins Awards.

Engineering Students Organize First Annual Soapbox Derby | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Students from Utah State University’s student chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) are gearing up to host the 1^st annual Soapbox Derby on April 22.

How To Engage Students Both Inside And Outside The Classroom | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

The S-STEM project team held a teaching seminar on April 4, 2017, for faculty and graduate students in the College of Engineering who are interested in how to engage students in active learning both inside and outside the classroom.

Usu Alumnus Makes Generous Contribution To College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Utah State University alumnus Bhupesh Parikh is sharing a gift that will impact future engineering students for many years to come.

Mechanical Engineering Students Win Big In Las Vegas | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Mechanical engineering students from Utah State University competed against 23 other teams and won 2^nd place overall in the 2017 Human Powered Vehicle Challenge.

Biological Engineering Students Showcase Research At Industry Meeting | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Biological engineering students from Utah State University helped welcome the world to Utah earlier this month at the Institute of Biological Engineering’s (IBE) annual meeting held in Salt Lake City.

Mechanical Engineering Students Sweep Technical Writing Contest | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Students from the Department of Mechanical Engineering swept the Technical Writing Competition held in February.

Defining Engineering: Usu Researcher Tackles A Profession’S Identity Crisis | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Engineering education in the U.S. is not keeping up with the rapidly-evolving paradigm of today’s engineering profession, giving some students an incomplete perspective about what their future careers will actually be.

Faculty Promotions 2017 | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

The College of Engineering at Utah State University extends its congratulations to seven newly-promoted faculty members.

Congratulations A-Pin Recipients | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Interim College of Engineering Dean Dr. Jagath Kaluarachchi and department heads from across the College of Engineering on Thursday recognized eight students for receiving the prestigious A-Pin award.

Electrospun Spiderskin Bandage For Epidermal Protection And Recovery, Michael David Paskett

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Spider silk is one of nature's most promising biomaterial s for a variety of applications, however, due to the inability to farm spiders, transgenic hosts are required for large-scale production. With the unique combination of strength, elasticity, and biocompatibility, spider silk has an incredible potential for use in the human body. This study was conducted to merge two major applications of spider silk for the creation of a novel bandaging product. Electrospinning technology was utilized to create a spider silk/polymer bandage matrix to be applied with an aqueous spider silk skin adhesive.

In designing the bandaging matrix , the mechanical …

Amending Phb With Algal Biomass To Enhance Biodegradability, Amanda R. Stoudt

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Pollution due to petroleum-based plastic is a growing problem all over the world. Petroleum-based plastics that fill landfills and oceans take hundreds of years to degrade. One possible solution to this growing problem is to increase the use of bioplastics. Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a widely studied bioplastic that is biodegradable in both soil and marine environments. However, PHB use is limited due to its poor mechanical properties. Past researchers have investigated the use of natural additives, primarily different types of plant fibers, to enhance both the mechanical properties and degradation rates of bioplastics. The purpose of this project was to …

Bear Lake Telescope Helps Usu Researchers Track Orbital Debris | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Researchers at Utah State University recently completed the installation of a specially-constructed telescope designed to monitor space debris.