Engineering Commons^™

Swarm Engineering, S. Kazadi '90

Doctoral Dissertations

Swarm engineering is the natural evolution of the use of swarm-based techniques in the accomplishment of high level tasks using a number of simple robots. In this approach, one seeks not to generate a class of behaviors designed to accomplish a given global goal, as is the approach typically found in mainstream robotics. Once the class of behaviors has been understood and decided upon, specific behaviors designed to accomplish this goal may be generated that will complete the desired task without any concern about whether or not the final goal will actually be completed. As long as the generated behaviors …

A Hybrid Finite Element-Finite Difference Method For Thermal Analysis In A Double-Layered Thin Film, Teng Zhu

Doctoral Dissertations

Thin film technology is of vital importance in microtechnology applications. For instance, thin films of metals, of dielectrics such as SiO2, or Si semiconductors are important components of microelectronic devices. The reduction of the device size to the microscale has the advantage of enhancing the switching speed of the device. The reduction, on the other hand, increases the rate of heat generation that leads to a high thermal load on the microdevice. Heat transfer at the microscale with an ultrafast pulsed-laser is also a very important process for thin films. Hence, studying the thermal behavior of thin films or of …

Orthogonal Grid Generation, Non-Reflecting Boundary Condition, And Parallel Computation For Fluid Flow, Shaopeng Sun

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate one of the most interesting areas in computational fluid dynamics. The content of this paper is divided into three parts. The first part is the orthogonal grid generation. The second part is the non-reflecting boundary condition in curvilinear coordinates. The third part is parallel computation by Message Passing Interface.

The grid generation method is presented by solving elliptic partial difference equations. The elliptic grid generation method is based on the use of composite mapping, which consists of a non-linear algebraic transformation and an elliptic transformation. The elliptic transformation is based on the …

Bulk Micromachining Of Silicon For Moems Prototype, Sung-Dong Suh

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, the optical application of silicon micromachining technology was investigated in order to create the three-dimensional microstructures that can be used as the components for the MOEMS prototype. These microstructures were designed and fabricated by utilizing corner compensation techniques and silicon bulk micromachining technologies. The fabricated microstructures are silicon mirror arrays that have a 1250 μm etch depth and through-holes across the OE-MCM substrate that has sixteen-fan-out OCDN on front side and a 1mm thickness.

Guided-wave OCDN on MCMs are designed and fabricated to meet the high-speed clocking requirements of next-generation digital systems through a realization of superior …

Kinetics Of Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition Of Carbon And Refractory Metals, Feng Gao

Doctoral Dissertations

Three-dimensional laser chemical vapor deposition (3D-LCVD) has been used to grow rods of carbon, tungsten, titanium, and hafnium from a variety of hydrocarbons and metal halide-based precursors. A novel computerized 3D-LCVD system was designed and successfully used in the experiments. A focused Nd:Yag laser beam (λ = 1.06 μm) was utilized to locally heat up a substrate to deposition temperature. The rods, which grew along the axis of the laser beam, had a typical diameter of 30–80 μm and a length of about 1 mm. The precursors for carbon deposition were the alkynes: propyne, butyne, pentyne, hexyne, and octyne. Propyne …

Computational Investigation Of Stress, Contact Conditions, And Buckling Of Thin-Walled Pipe Liners, Meihuan Zhu

Doctoral Dissertations

Thin walled polymeric liners are often used to rehabilitate deteriorated pipe lines. The host pipes into which these liners are installed are typically assumed to be structurally sound, and the liner is only expected to carry the external pressure exerted by the groundwater. This external pressure will induce creep deformation and radial deflections that may eventually result in collapse of the liner within the host pipe. The aim of this work is use computational modeling to better understand the evolution of conditions leading up to collapse so that improved liner design models can be developed. Emphasis is placed on a …

Cramer-Rao Bound And Optimal Amplitude Estimator Of Superimposed Sinusoidal Signals With Unknown Frequencies, Shaohui Jia

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses optimally estimating the amplitudes of superimposed sinusoidal signals with unknown frequencies. The Cramer-Rao Bound of estimating the amplitudes in white Gaussian noise is given, and the maximum likelihood estimator of the amplitudes in this case is shown to be asymptotically efficient at high signal to noise ratio but finite sample size. Applying the theoretical results to signal resolutions, it is shown that the optimal resolution of multiple signals using a finite sample is given by the maximum likelihood estimator of the amplitudes of signals.

Efficient Algorithms And Implementations For Signal Processing, Changbai Xiao

Doctoral Dissertations

A scheme is presented to regain a finite number of lost samples from a Nyquist-rate-sampled band-limited signal f of finite energy by replenishing new sample values of the same number. The result can also be viewed as the solution to a special non-uniform sampling problem.

A scheme is also presented to recover a band-limited function f of finite energy from its sampling values on real sequences with an accumulation point. The result given here can also be viewed as an approach to the extrapolation problem of determination a band-limited function in terms of its given values on a finite interval. …

Bottom-Up Design Of Artificial Neural Network For Single-Lead Electrocardiogram Beat And Rhythm Classification, Srikanth Thiagarajan

Doctoral Dissertations

Performance improvement in computerized Electrocardiogram (ECG) classification is vital to improve reliability in this life-saving technology. The non-linearly overlapping nature of the ECG classification task prevents the statistical and the syntactic procedures from reaching the maximum performance. A new approach, a neural network-based classification scheme, has been implemented in clinical ECG problems with much success. The focus, however, has been on narrow clinical problem domains and the implementations lacked engineering precision. An optimal utilization of frequency information was missing. This dissertation attempts to improve the accuracy of neural network-based single-lead (lead-II) ECG beat and rhythm classification. A bottom-up approach defined …

Integration Of Battery Energy Storage With Flexible Ac Transmission System Devices, Zhiping Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation, consisting of five papers, presents the results of research on the incorporation of battery energy storage into a Static Synchronous Compensator (StatCom). The main contribution of this body of work is the establishment of the modeling and control of the StatCom/BESS in power system dynamic applications. The first paper is focused on the steady state characteristics of the StatCom and StatCom/BESS. The characteristic curves of output voltage and output power were proposed and used in comparing the functionality of the StatCom and StatCom/BESS. In the second paper, a StatCom model was proposed and used in power flow analysis. …

A Thin-Film Micromanufactured Oxygen Microelectrode, James Clay Mcguyer Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

The methods for production of recessed oxygen microelectrodes developed by Whalen, et al. (1967) and improved upon by Linsenmeier, et al. (1987) are dated production methods by the standards of sensor production of the current time. The production process for this type of polarographic oxygen sensing electrode has remained unchanged for over 10 years, and is a time consuming, extremely low-yield process. The goal of this project has been to use the techniques of micromanufacturing available at the Institute for Micromanufacturing at Louisiana Tech University to construct a recessed oxygen microelectrode with a batch process that has higher yield than …

The Microchannel Flow Of A Micropolar Fluid, Guohua Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

Micro-channel flows have been computed to investigate the influence of Navier-Stokes formulation for the slip-flow boundary condition, and a micro-polar fluid model, respectively.

The results of the slip boundary condition show that the current methodology is valid for slip-flow regime (i.e., for values of Knudsen number less than approximately 0.1). Drag reduction phenomena apparent in some micro-channels can be explained by slip-flow theory. These results are in agreement with some computations and experiments.

An ad hoc micro-polar fluid model is developed to investigate the influence of micro effects, such as micro-gyration, in micro-scale flows. The foundation of the ad hoc …

Environmental Behavior Of Hafnium: The Impact On The Disposition Of Weapons-Grade Plutonium, Gary S. Cerefice '89

Doctoral Dissertations

Experimental and analytical studies were performed to examine the environmental behavior of hafnium and its utility as a neutron poison for the disposition of weapons-grade plutonium in Yucca Mountain. The hydrolysis of hafnium was investigated by potentiometric titration in solutions of varying ionic strength to determine the stability constants for the first four monomeric hydrolysis products. The specific ion interaction theory is used to extrapolate these results to infinite dilution. The solubility of hafnium hydroxide and a meta-stable hafnium carbonate solid phase are studied via solubility experiments using ICP-AES. An upper bound for the stability constant of the first carbonate …

Finite Element Simulation Of Creep Buckling Of Cipp Liners Under External Pressure, Qiang Zhao

Doctoral Dissertations

The problem of long-term structural behavior of CIPP liners under external hydrostatic pressure has been characterized as a structural instability problem which is induced by time-dependent material deformation or creep. It is also a contact problem since the liner deflection is externally constrained by the host pipe. The intrinsically nonlinear problem is investigated by means of finite element simulation, with emphases on (a) the essential structural behaviors and mechanisms of buckling, and (b) the influences of inelastic material properties (i.e. yield strengths and creep rates) and geometrical parameters on liner's buckling resistance.

A liner first deforms as a free pipe …

An Empirical Investigation On The Impacts Of Ground-Level Ozone Concentrations On National Ambient Air Quality Standards: The Case Of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Benedict Nweke Nwokolo

Doctoral Dissertations

This study presents information upon which the state of Louisiana can base its ozone State Implementation Plans (SIPs) designed to achieve planned emissions reduction that are required by the Clean Air Act (CAAA) of 1990. The research investigation included an assessment survey on a number of Transportation Control Measures (TCMs) and their degree of acceptability by the residents of Lake Charles area of Louisiana, the research target area. The TCMS were first ranked on the basis of people's perception of each TCM and four TCMs were later analyzed for cost-effectiveness using computer mathematical models. The Traffic Flow Improvements TCM was …

Cracking In Cycloaliphatic Epoxy/Aluminum Composite Electrical Bushings, Keith Alan Parker

Doctoral Dissertations

The problem of cracking in electrical apparatus bushings as a result of thermal stresses was investigated. The bushings were composed of cycloaliphatic epoxy insulators with embedded aluminum conductors. The problem is due to the difference in coefficients of thermal expansion of the two materials. A solution to the problem had been to coat the conductors before they were formed together with the epoxy insulators. The coating was assumed to prevent cracking by allowing movement between the two materials as their dimensions changed during thermal expansion and contraction. The contribution of the coating was to be established.

The hypothesis was that …

Multifield Spectral Analysis Of Human Respiratory Sounds, John William Ray Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Computer analysis of human respiratory sounds (phonopneumography) has been attempted since the 1960s with poor results. Steady research efforts by numerous researchers have failed to yield a practical diagnostic tool to replace the physician and the stethoscope. This has been the result of the high degree of variability in proposed analysis parameters from subject to subject.

The purpose of this research is to examine a new approach to phonopneumography by comparing multiple lung fields of the same subject for the same breath in order to develop the diagnostic parameters. This approach has the advantage of allowing the subject to provide …

Graphical Display And Data Structure For Virtual Prototyping, David William Manry

Doctoral Dissertations

One of the goals of engineering firms is to bring better products to market faster. Although concurrent engineering can aid in this endeavor, it requires that all areas of an organization work simultaneously. Thus, current product data must be accessible to everyone.

Virtual prototyping allows this simultaneous exchange of information. Virtual prototyping not only replaces the physical model in product development with a virtual model, but also it goes further by allowing data associated with each part of the model to be accessed. This data is not limited to just geometric properties but could contain other quantifiable properties, such as …

Sonar Three-Dimensional Image Formation For Underwater Vehicular Collision Avoidance, Gary Robert Boucher

Doctoral Dissertations

The last ten years have shown a marked increase in research into Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. A key component of this research is the ability to “look” ahead of the vehicle's projected path and translate active sonar returns into three-dimensional (3-D) computer data structures used to navigate and avoid obstacles. This need to avoid obstacles is also common to other underwater vehicles including submersibles.

Of special interest to this research is the “Occupancy Grid Framework.” This technique divides the forward looking sonar field into cells. These cells can be maintained either in spherical or cartesian coordinate systems.

This research demonstrates a …

Unbound Pavement Base Courses: Parallel Study Of Stiffness And Drainage Characteristics, Moussa Issa

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to study the effects of fines (minus #4 sieve) on permeability and stiffness characteristics of unbound base materials and to propose an optimumgradation that will satisfy these two parameters. One type of highway base material--crushed limestone--was used in the study. A total of 75 laboratory tests were conducted and distributed--25 respectively on permeability, resilient modulus and unconfined compression. The permeability test data were collected using a low-head permeameter. The resilient modulus and unconfined compression test data were collected by the mean of the MTS (Machine Testing System) with a load cell capacity of 22-kips. …

Displacement-Based Analysis And Design Of Rigid Retaining Walls During Earthquakes, Yingwei Wu

Doctoral Dissertations

"This research focused on the analysis and design of rigid retaining walls subjected to earthquakes and considered nonlinear foundation soil properties. The simultaneous sliding and rocking movements of retaining walls were considered. Seven field conditions, including moist, submerged, perched and saturated backfill with a sloping drain, were specified by design codes. A computer program capable of computing displacement using real time history records or equivalent sinusoidal motions was developed. Finally, a dynamic design procedure was proposed for practicing engineers.

The study revealed that maximum shear modulus in foundation soil, maximum ground acceleration, and soil nonlinearity had significant effect on the …

Machine Tool Accuracy Characterization, Error Modeling And Compensation Using Telescopic Ballbar And Laser Interferometer, Yalcin M. Ertekin

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation presents the results of the research investigation on the machine tool accuracy characterization, error modeling and error compensation using telescopic ballbar and laser interferometer. Increasing demand for both higher machine tool accuracy and machining tolerances has resulted in a great need to measure and characterize the accuracy of NC machine tools and minimize machine tool induced errors on machined components before manufacturing parts, instead of inferring it from parts already machined. Using a telescopic magnetic ballbar, the results of the accuracy assessment of an old Bridgeport Series I CNC 2 1/2 axes vertical machining center are presented in …

Gas-Viscous Liquid Behavior And Its Implications For Pressure-Relief Design, Ahmad H. Alramadneh

Doctoral Dissertations

The two-phase flow system is a multifaceted engineering task with many industrial applications. The accurate prediction of the behavior of such systems is of special importance.

This study is directed toward improving and integrating what is known about the gas-viscous liquid flow behavior during vessel depressurization, specifically, visually characterizing the top venting of saturated-viscous fluids. The experimental results are needed to improve the design methodologies for pressure-relief systems.

Lab-scale vessel depressurization experiments with initially saturated fluids were performed. In particular, a problem arose when sodium tetraborate decahydrate solution (model fluid) saturated with carbon dioxide gas is vented from a 5.3-liter …

Development And Realization Of A Single-Mode Optical Fiber Ferrule Mold Insert With Twelve Channels, Hsiharng William Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

A manufacturing process for an optical fiber ferrule mold insert with twelve channels has been established. This research project presents mask design, mask fabrication, deep X-ray lithography exposure, resist developing, nickel electroforming, as well as surface finishing to attain the final result. Deep X-ray mask fabrication methods are explored, including mechanically machined masks, micro-EDM masks, and E-beam written masks. The exposures to pattern resists and electroforming to fabricate nickel molds up to 500 $\mu$m thickness are reported in this study. Nickel structures for the optical fiber ferrule insert with twelve channels made by electroforming are the final products. A practical …

The Optimized Electrostatic Motor, Christopher Lee Rambin

Doctoral Dissertations

The most common means of electrically activated actuation is the electromagnetic motor. All electromagnetic motors have a low output to weight ratio and low energy efficiency. The motor's weight is due to the coils and magnets used to generate propulsion. The energy loss is mainly the result of Joule heating that is inherent with any current driven device. An electrostatic motor offers the potential of significantly less weight and higher energy efficiency. This lower weight characteristic is due to the epoxide material used to construct the major components of its propulsion unit. Greater efficiency results from the reduced Joule heating …

Fuzzy Logic Applied To System Control To Enhance Commercial Appliance Performance, Glenn Moffett

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to determine the usefulness of fuzzy logic and fuzzy control when applied to a commercial appliance. Fuzzy logic is a structured, model-free estimator that approximates a function through linguistic input/output associations. Fuzzy rule-based systems apply these methods to solve many types of "real-world" problems, especially where a system is difficult to model, is controlled by a human operator or expert, or where ambiguity or vagueness is common.

This dissertation presents fuzzy sets, fuzzy systems, and fuzzy control, with an example conveying the use of fuzzy control of a consumer product and an overview of …

The Effect Of Pipe Bursting On Nearby Utilities, Pavement, And Structures, Alan Atalah

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation has involved field and analytical studies of ground movements, ground vibrations and other design issues associated with trenchless pipe replacement (or pipe bursting, as it is commonly known). The process is used to replace an existing underground service pipe with a completely new pipe but without the disturbance and cost of excavating a trench from the surface. The process typically involves the insertion of a tool into the existing pipe that has a maximum diameter that is slightly larger than the existing pipe. This tool is used to break the existing pipe into pieces and to displace the …

Total Quality Management And Corporate Financial Performance: An Analysis Of The Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Criteria, Alice Brigid Beechner

Doctoral Dissertations

"The impact of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) Performance Excellence Criteria on corporate financial performance is examined. Three independent studies were performed to assess this relationship. The first included Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) winners. The second study involved 69 firms identified as Total Quality Management (TQM) firms and for the final study a sample of large American corporations who completed surveys which provided an estimate of the score the companies would have received on a MBNQA assessment were examined. The method for assessing the financial strength for all three studies was the metric Market Value Added …

Two-Phase Flow In Microchannels, Roger Scott Stanley

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate fluid mechanic and heat transfer characteristics of two-phase two-component flow in rectangular microchannels. Experiments were conducted using rectangular aluminum channels with hydraulic diameters ranging between 56 $\mu$m and 256 $\mu$m and aspect ratios which varied from 0.5 to 1.5. Both single- and two-phase tests were conducted using water and gaseous argon, helium, and nitrogen as the working fluids. The Reynolds number for both types of experiments ranged from approximately 50 to nearly 10,000. The Nusselt number ranged between 0.0002 and 70. The single- and two-phase experimental data were empirically correlated, using parameters …

Immobilization Of Radioactive Materials In Iron Phosphate Glass, Melissa G. Mesko

Doctoral Dissertations

"The current study investigates the feasibility of using iron phosphate glass for the immobilization of radioactive wastes considered incompatible with borosilicate glass. Wastes may be incompatible with borosilicate glass due to high phosphorus content (Hanford tank sludges), the presence of halides (CsCl and SrF₂ capsules), or large amounts of uranium (SNF).

Between 20 and 60 wt% Hanford tank sludge was vitrified with an iron phosphate glass at ≤ 1200°C in 1 hour. The chemical durability of iron phosphate glassy wasteforms was as good as, or better than a reference borosilicate glass (10^-9 g/cm²/min) in distilled water …