Engineering Commons^™

International Junior Researcher And Engineer Workshop On Hydraulic Structures Session 4, Gonzalo Duró, Mitch Dabling, Josh Mortensen, Boris Rodriguez, Fadi Wakim

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

No abstract provided.

Hazards At Low-Head Dams, Riley J. Olsen, Michael C. Johnson

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

ABSTRACT: Low-head dams are small structures that are built for many purposes, the most common being to impound small amounts of water for various uses. At certain flow conditions, a dangerous countercurrent, known as a roller, can form downstream of a low-head dam. This current possesses an upstream directed surface velocity that can effectively trap debris, as well as unsuspecting humans, at the downstream side of the dam. It is this current that is responsible for the deaths of many individuals that have ventured too close to these structures over the years. It is the objective of this study to …

International Junior Researcher And Engineer Workshop On Hydraulic Structures Session 1, Adam Witt, Fadi Wakim, Nathan Christensen

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

No abstract provided.

Staged And Notched Labyrinth Weir Hydraulics, Mitchell R. Dabling, Brian M. Crookston

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

ABSTRACT: Replacement spillways are frequently required to pass revised and larger design storm events. Generally matching the outflow hydrograph of the existing spillway is also a common design requirement. Labyrinth spillways can increase spillway discharge capacity. Staged and notched sections of crest have been used in design to satisfy discharge hydrograph requirements. However, inadequate hydraulic design information is available specific to staged and notched labyrinth weirs. In this study, the flow characteristics of multiple staged and notched labyrinth weir configurations (laboratory-scale) were tested. Head-discharge relationships were evaluated experimentally and compared with computed results using superposition (predicting the discharge over the …

Cavitation In Hydraulic Structures-Bridging The Gap Between The Laboratory And The Real World, K. Warren Frizell

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

ABSTRACT: Recollections of a thirty-five-year career at the hydraulic laboratory of the Bureau of Reclamation are presented within the context of using all the tools at your disposal to reach the best possible answer to your research questions. Cavitation in hydraulic structures will be the main topic used to illustrate this premise, using historic examples and current research to demonstrate study approaches, testing techniques, and applied solutions to real world problems.

Physical Modeling And Cfd Comparison: Case Study Of A Hydro-Combined Power Station In Spillway Mode, Gonzalo Duró, Mariano De Dios, Alfredo López, Sergio O. Liscia

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

ABSTRACT: This study presents comparisons between the results of a commercial CFD code and physical model measurements. The case study is a hydro-combined power station operating in spillway mode for a given scenario. Two turbulence models and two scales are implemented to identify the capabilities and limitations of each approach and to determine the selection criteria for CFD modeling for this kind of structure. The main flow characteristics are considered for analysis, but the focus is on a fluctuating frequency phenomenon for accurate quantitative comparisons. Acceptable representations of the general hydraulic functioning are found in all approaches, according to physical …

International Junior Researcher And Engineer Workshop On Hydraulic Structures Session 5, Mohanad Khodier, Adam Witt, Maria Trujillo, Iordanis Moustakidis, Francois Rulot

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

No abstract provided.

Predicting Timing Violations Through Instruction-Level Path Sensitization Analysis, Sanghamitra Roy, Koushik Chakraborty

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, we present a novel technique for early prediction of timing violations in high-performance pipelined microprocessors. We show that a static instruction in a microprocessor, identified by its Program Counter (PC), is an excellent predictor of an upcoming timing violation. Our analysis combines architectural data collected from real program execution with gate level logic analysis. Exploiting this PC based timing violation predictability, we propose a robust system design that predicts and tolerates timing violations seamlessly in a pipelined microprocessor. Under two different faulty environments, we show 20.9-89.8% and 14.6-80.6% average performance improvements in real programs over other state-of-the-art …

Towards Graceful Aging Degradation In Nocs Through An Adaptive Routing Algorithm, Kshitij Bhardwaj, Koushik Chakraborty, Sanghamitra Roy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Continuous technology scaling has made aging mechanisms such as Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) and electromigration primary concerns in Network-on-Chip (NoC) designs. In this paper, we model the effects of these aging mechanisms on NoC components such as routers and links using a novel reliability metric called Traffic Threshold per Epoch (TTpE). We observe a critical need of a robust aging-aware routing algorithm that not only reduces power-performance overheads caused due to aging degradation but also minimizes the stress experienced by heavily utilized routers and links. To solve this problem, we propose an aging-aware adaptive routing algorithm and a router …

A Calibration-And-Error Correction Method For Improved Texel (Fused Ladar/Digital Camera) Images, Scott E. Budge

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The fusion of imaging ladar information and digital imagery results in 2.5-D surfaces covered with texture information. Called "texel images," these datasets, when taken from dierent viewpoints, can be combined to create 3-D images of buildings, vehicles, or other objects. These 3-D images can then be further processed for automatic target recognition, or viewed in a 3-D viewer for tactical planning purposes. This paper presents a procedure for calibration, error correction, and fusing of ladar and digital camera information from a single hand-held sensor to create accurate texel images. A brief description of a prototype sensor is given, along with …

Directed Cell Phone Antenna, Benjamin Carroll

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project is to design a Yagi-­‐Uda antenna with a very high forward directivity. This antenna will be built to the parameters of the Motorola Razr v3 cellular phone. The designed antenna will have a much higher forward gain than the internal antenna in the phone. This means that when the antenna is connected it will have an improved range of reception as long as the antenna is pointing in the direction of a cell tower. The impact of this project is that the signal reception of a popular model of cell phone will be drastically improved. …

Re-Configurable Putting Green, Matthew Ralphs

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report discusses the design of a prototype transformable putting green that can be programmed to recreate the topography of any putting green. The goal of the design was to give a realistic putting experience with real topography in an indoor environment. This report discusses the design of a pair of 4’x4’ module prototypes; a commercial implementation of this design would utilize a number of modules to create putting greens on a more realistic scale (example 12’x32’). The design of a full size transformable putting green necessitates a topographical range of up to 30”. After initial concepts and preliminary designs …

Evaluation Of Pedestrian Risk On 700 N On Utah State University Campus, Kirk Jackson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

One of the biggest concerns that highway designers face when designing roadways is how to safely design the interface between highway users and pedestrians. This is never truer than on the Utah State University campus where pedestrian use is much higher than on an average road. Utah State University purchased 700 N, the main collector road which runs through the heart of USU’s campus, from the City of Logan in the summer of 2010. Since then, pedestrian safety on 700 N has become the first priority of USU Facilities in regards to their efforts to improve it. It has come …

Concrete Design For Traffic Application, Marc Shields

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Inductive charging of electronic devices is a newer technology that is capable of transferring electrical power without physical contact through wiring. Research is currently being done to find and improve ways to implement this technology on electric cars. If this type of technology pas implemented on a large scale throughout much of the country, electrical or hybrid cars could travel across counties and states without depleting their batteries.

The current problem with electric cars is that they have a limited range of travel. Even with larger batteries with much more capacitance, the range of pure electric cars usually does not …

Effect Of Deposition From Static Rocket Test Fires On Corn And Alfalfa, Scout Mendenhall

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

A greenhouse study was conducted to determine the effects of deposition from static rocket test fires on corn and alfalfa. Seeds were germinated in a wide concentration range of depositional material, called test fire soil (TFS). Additionally, the impact of chloride and aluminum, two major components of test fire soil, on germination was also evaluated. Furthermore, plants were grown in packed columns and exposed to test fire soil, either in the root zone or on foliage. Tissue was weighed and analyzed to compare biomass production and plant composition.

Corn and alfalfa exposed to test fire soil in the root zone …

Streambed Thermal Property Instrument (Spi), James Alwel Dayie

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this research, the Streambed thermal Property Instrument (SPI) is to determine the applicability of this instrument for in situ thermal (conductivity and diffusivity) and porous flow (magnitude and direction) measurements. Currently, no such thermal instrument exists for such in situ measurements and the reason for developing this unique instrument, the SPI to fill the technology gap in sediment thermal property measurement devices. Prior to testing the instrument under controlled laboratory conditions to determine its functionality through a series of static and flow tests, the instrument was designed and built. A lab-sized version of an actual river called …

Multi-National River Basin Cooperation And Management Case Study: Senegal River Basin, Patricia Ayaa

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

With increasing populations, urbanization and thus increasing demand for water, conflict on International River basins has been increasing over the years which has necessitated formation of International River frameworks to devise means of cooperation among the countries sharing the river basins. The main modes of cooperation in international river basins include allocating the waters of the river to the sharing countries such that each country manages its own water resources, or treating the river basin as one system and jointly managing and sharing the costs and benefits from the various services or use-sectors of the river.

This research was aimed …

Procedures For Correcting Digital Camera Imagery Acquired By The Aggieair Remote Sensing Platform, Shannon R. Clemens

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Developments in sensor technologies have made consumer-grade digital cameras one of the more recent tools in remote sensing applications. Consumer-grade digital cameras have been the imaging sensor of choice by researchers due to their small size, light weight, limited power requirements, and their potential to store hundreds of images (Hardin 2011). Several studies have focused on the use of digital cameras and their efficacy in remote sensing applications. For satellite and airborne multispectral imaging systems, there is a well established radiometric processing approach. However, radiometric processing lines for digital cameras are currently being researched.

The goal of this report is …

Heater Geometry And Heat Flux Effects On Subcooled, Thin Wire, Nucleate Pool Boiling In Microgravity, Troy Munro

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this thesis is to study the effects of microgravity, surface geometry, and heat dissipation per unit area (heat flux) on boiling heat transfer. Boiling is able to move a significant amount of heat for a small area in comparison to other heat transfer methods. Space systems could benefit from the development of thermal management systems that use boiling heat transfer because they would be smaller, more robust, and less expensive. However, boiling is an extremely complicated process which has no comprehensive models to predict its behavior. Multiple correlations have been developed which relate heat transfer efficiencies to …

A Parametric Study Of Embankments On Clay Soils During Earthquake Shaking, Karla I. Reynoso

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study is a parametric evaluation of reduction in undrained shear strength of fine grained soils required to cause failure beneath embankments during earthquake loading. The evaluated parameters are: crust thickness, normalized undrained strength, maximum past pressure, and embankment height. Both finite element and limit equilibrium analyses were used to determine strength reductions that would lead to embankment failure. It was found that reductions of undrained strengths of 55% to 65% would lead to failure during earthquake loading.

The method proposed by Idriss and Boulanger was also used to predict strength reductions for each model over a range of earthquake …

Synthetic Aperture Radar Tool And Libraries: A Framework For Geo-Referenced Data Processing And Algorithm Prototyping, Nathan R. Crookston

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Creating a system for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image formation can be a huge undertaking as it requires knowledge of several disparate domains. Researchers may be prevented from applying interesting techniques in a particular domain due to hurdles in working with those areas outside their area of interest. This paper presents the SyntheTic Aperture Radar Tool and Libraries (STARTAL) framework for SAR processing that simplifies adding new data formats and prototyping algorithms.

STARTAL provides a user interface for viewing the full data region on ground geometry, selecting sub-regions to process, and viewing processed results. Many common, difficult tasks are provided …

The Equine Distress Monitor Project, Luke B. Peacock

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Colic is a very common symptom that effects many horses. Sometimes colic is an indicator of some very serous medical conditions that, if left untreated, could result in the death of the horse. A cast horse is a horse trapped in a prone position Cast horses are also at risk of serous injury or even death. The causes of these two conditions are so numerous that a horse's risk of being affected, while preventable, is significant. This illustrates a need for constant monitoring of high-risk, high-sentimnet, or high-cost horses.

The Equine Distress Monitor (EDM) system is non-evasive electronic long-term monitoring …

Investigation Of Relative Importance Of Some Error Sources In Particle Image Velocimetry, Jeff R. Harris

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is an optical technique used to measure fluid velocity. PIV measurements have many sources that create uncertainty in the velocity results. The objective of this report is to investigate some commonly cited uncertainty sources and to show methods than can be used to find the value of the uncertainty sources. These sources are: magnification, calibration, perspective, resolution and the computation scheme. Experiments were conducted to find the impact that sources have on the velocity measurements. Several methods are presented to demonstrate how to measure the uncertainty of error for a PIV experiment. Some error quantities are …

Finite Element Modeling Of Full Depth Precast Concrete Bridge Deck Connections In Bending And Shear, Patrick H. James

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The need for reduced construction times of highway bridges has become more important recently. Precast concrete panels used for the bridge deck replacements are being used more frequently in order to achieve this reduced construction time and to also reduce the cost of the construction. Bridges can also be repaired quickly and with less cost if individual panels can be replaced when needed instead of replacing the entire bridge deck. The problem at hand is the structural integrity of these individual precast bridge deck panels. The joints in-between these panels often crack due to service stresses. These cracks expose the …

Effect Of Orifice Shape On Synthetic Jet Efficiency, David J. Nani

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

A synthetic jet is formed by periodic oscillation of a fluid through an orifice. The oscillatory motion is driven by diaphragm or other driver. Previous studies have demonstrated that synthetic jet formation and time-averaged cavity pressure are a function of the orifice shape. Traditionally, the performance of the jet is evaluated with varying configurations of fixed driver input voltage or fixed driver displacement. Neither of these measures accurately reflect the efficiency of the actuator. Defining efficiency as "desired output divided by required input," these traditional measures may not account for increase in required driving current or force.

A sharp inside …

In Situ Method Of Measuring Atmosphere Neutral Winds With A Rigid Falling Sphere, Joshua F. Martineau

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The new falling sphere instruments will measure lower E-region winds and density, which are critical for many of the electrodynamics and plasma physics studies that are carried out as part of the NASA suborbital rocket program. The new falling sphere design will take advantage of modern commercially available electronic components and materials. Of primary importance, it is proposed to fly an in-situ instrument that targets the measurement of neutral wind profiles over the altitude range from 80 to 150 km, with accuracy better than that achieved in previous implementations of the falling sphere technique and those typically obtained with the …

A Validation And Comparison About Vabs-Ide And Vabs-Gui, Teng Hu

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Variational Asymptotic Beam Section (VABS) analysis is a computer code for design and analysis of slender structure such as rotor blades, wind turbine blades, missiles, and rockets more efficiently than a full three-dimensional finite element analysis. VABS enables a rigorously a dimensional reduction of the original three-dimensional nonlinear analysis into a one-dimensional nonlinear beam analysis and a two-dimensional linear cross-sectional analysis. The VABS code has been extensively used in academia and industry for comput- ing the sectional properties and recovering three-dimensional fields of composite slender structures. Recently two graphic user interface, namely VABS-IDE and VABS-GUI, have been developed to automatic …

On-Farm Water Management Game With Heuristic Capabilities, Mohammed Z. Shaban

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Improved on-farm irrigation practices can result in more economical farming, and better productivity. Very little has been done with regard to improved training tools that can be used to promote better and more effective on-farm irrigation practices. Games considered as an effective decision support tools in which players are able to test alternatives, and demonstrate the effects of their decisions, in a short time, and without being afraid of making mistakes. Training tools in the form of games promotes what is called “learning based on experience” through a schematic version of reality, and observing the effects.

The WaterMan game was …

An Investigation Into Delta Wing Vortex Generators As A Means Of Increasing Algae Biofuel Raceway Vertical Mixing Including An Analysis Of The Resulting Turbulence Characteristics, Aaron H. Godfrey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Current standards of living and future prosperity are closely tied to the availability of sufficient and inexpensive energy resources. Currently society is fueled primarily by some form of fossil fuel. By their very nature these fuel sources are non-renewable, thus our current energy habits are unsustainable. Among the various renewable energy technologies is the capability to produce diesel fuel by colonies of algae. While this technology has many positive features it remains too expensive to be a realistic fuel source. The current work performed analysis using computer simulation of an aquatic environment commonly used to grow algae for the purposes …

Utilizing Correct Prior Probability Calculation To Improve Performance Of Low-Density Parity-Check Codes In The Presence Of Burst Noise, David A. Neal

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Error correcting codes help correct errors in transmitted data. These errors are caused by noise and distortion that are introduced during transmission. In some cases, there is more noise on some portions of a transmitted message than on others. This extra noise is referred to as burst noise and causes bursts of errors.

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are a family of error correcting codes. They provide excellent performance in many cases, but perform poorly when burst noise is present. Methods have been developed that help compensate for bursts of errors. In most cases, these do not completely account for the …