Engineering Commons^™

Direct Determination Of The Dynamic Elastic Modulus And Poisson's Ratio Of Timoshenko Prisms And Rods, Guadalupe Leon

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In this study, the exact solution of the Timoshenko beam vibration frequency equation under free-free boundary conditions was determined with an accurate shear shape factor. The exact solution was compared with a 3-D finite element calculation using ABAQUS program, and the difference between the exact solution and the 3-D FEM was within 0.15% for both the transverse and torsional modes. Furthermore, relationships between the resonance frequencies and Poisson’s ratio were proposed that can directly determine the elastic constants, unlike the equations provided by ASTM C215. The frequency ratio between the 1^st bending mode and the 1^st torsional mode, …

Design Of Experiment And Analysis Techniques For Fuel Consumption Data Using Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles And On-Road Testing, Sarah Ann Mills

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Chassis dynamometer and on-road testing are usually employed to test vehicle operation. Testing on a chassis dynamometer reduces data variability compared to on-road testing due to the controlled environment but it does not account for other important variables that affects real-world vehicle operation. This study used on-road testing to investigate the differences between two test fuels under real-world conditions. Three heavy-duty diesel vehicles were driven on different routes for a period of three months. Each vehicle was instrumented with flow meters to gather fuel consumption data, which was then compared to the fuel rate broadcasted by the engine control unit …

Evaluating Design Criteria For High Hazard Dams In A Changing Climate, Aaron Read Sutton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

With changes in climate, there is the potential for future flooding events to vary in frequency and magnitude. These changes may stress the 432 high hazard dames in West Virginia. The 100-year flowrate is an important design criterion for emergency spillways of high hazard dams. Emergency spillways are designed to be reached only by 100-year flow and above. This work quantified how changes in the 100-year flowrate may affect emergency spillway activation. Peakflow data from the Central Appalachian Ecoregion in WV, taken from 24 USGS gages, were used to analyze changes in the 100-year flowrate.

Flow frequency analysis revealed that …

Development Of A Task Analysis Tool To Estimate Shoulder Strain During A Lifting Task, Christopher Wayne Moore

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Musculoskeletal disorders of the shoulder have a huge impact on the workplace and employees. Due to the complexity and high mobility of the shoulder, developing a task analysis tool with a focus on the shoulder is difficult, and while there are some ergonomic analysis tools that do consider the shoulder to varying degrees in the analysis, none focus purely on the shoulder. Therefore, this research was undertaken in an attempt to develop a shoulder-based task analysis tool for the shoulder. However, since the scope of work involving the shoulder is so vast, the tool in this research focuses on unobstructed, …

Pharmaceutical Scheduling Using Simulated Annealing And Steepest Descent Method, Bryant Jamison Spencer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In the pharmaceutical manufacturing world, a deadline could be the difference between losing a multimillion-dollar contract or extending it. This, among many other reasons, is why good scheduling methods are vital. This problem report addresses Flexible Flowshop (FF) scheduling using Simulated Annealing (SA) in conjunction with the Steepest Descent heuristic (SD).

FF is a generalized version of the flowshop problem, where each product goes through S number of stages, where each stage has M number of machines. As opposed to a normal flowshop problem, all ‘jobs’ do not have to flow in the same sequence from stage to stage. The …

Computational Design Of Staged Pressurized Oxy-Coal Combustion, Gideon Ozioma Udochukwu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Staged pressurized oxy-coal combustion (SPOC) is nowadays a promising technology to be used for low-cost, low-emission, high-efficiency power generation. The objective of this thesis is to compliment the experiments ongoing at the Washington University, St. Louis (WUSTL) by means of numerical simulations, thereby providing better understanding of the fluid flow, turbulence, combustion characteristics, particle dynamics and heat transfer. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is injected alongside the coal, for its carriage. A small amount of methane (CH4) is also injected alongside the coal to maintain a steady flame. The simulations are performed for a 3D geometry with the following energy source distribution: …

Towards A Framework For Smart Manufacturing Adoption In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Sameer Mittal

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Smart Manufacturing (SM) paradigm adoption can scale production with demand without compromising on the time for order fulfillment. A smart manufacturing system (SMS) is vertically and horizontally connected, and thus it can minimize the chances of miscommunication. Employees in an SME are aware of the operational requirements and their responsibilities. The machine schedules are prepared based on the tasks a machine must perform. Predictive maintenance reduces the downtime of machines. Design software optimizes the product design. Production feasibility is checked with the help of simulation. The concepts of product life cycle management are considered for waste reduction. Employee safety, and …

Dynamic Discrepancy Reduced Order Modeling For Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis Over Cobalt-Based Catalyst, Jose Miguel Bohorquez

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Advances in carbon capture techniques and demands in alternative fuel sources have increased over the past couple of decades. The Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) provides a viable way to produce hydrocarbons from natural gas, coal, CO₂, or biomass. However, current comprehensive models for FTS encompass large number of reacting species, readsorption and conversion of primary products, surface intermediates, and coverage-dependent reaction rates. To accurately predict the products obtained through the process a reduced order model has been developed. By reducing the number of parameters of an existing comprehensive model, uncertainty is introduced. The uncertainty can be quantified by using …

An Empirical Analysis Of An Algorithm For The Budgeted Maximum Vertex Cover Problem In Trees, Mujidat Abisola Adeyemo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Covering problems are commonly studied in fields such as mathematics, computer science, and engineering. They are also applicable in the real world, e.g., given a city, can we build base-stations such that there is network availability everywhere in the city. However, in the real world, there are usually constraints such as cost and resources. The Budgeted Maximum Vertex Cover is a generalization of covering problems. It models situations with constraints. In this thesis, we empirically analyze an algorithm for the problem of finding the Budgeted Maximum Vertex Cover in undirected trees (BMVCT). The BMVCT problem is defined as follows: Given …

Utilization Of Scale In Keypoint Detection And Feature Description, Andrew P. Rhodes

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Ubiquitous availability of inexpensive three dimensional (3D) sensors has led to an abundance of keypoint detection and feature description techniques for point-clouds. While some recent methods utilize color along with geometric information, most only implicitly discuss -- if not completely disregard -- the information provided by scale. Scale is an inherent characteristic of any keypoint or feature that describes its physical size or region of support.

Exploiting information provided by scale facilitates the processes of keypoint detection and feature description. A 3D scale-space, extended from robust and popular 2D methods, is constructed to diffuse a signal on triangulated meshes. Methods …

Intelligent Transportation Systems, Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Powertrain Control, Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control, Model Predictive Control, Hadi Kazemi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Information obtainable from Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) provides the possibility of improving the safety and efficiency of vehicles at different levels. In particular, such information has the potential to be utilized for prediction of driving conditions and traffic flow, which allows us to improve the performance of the control systems in different vehicular applications, such as Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) powertrain control and Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC). In the first part of this work, we study the design of an MPC controller for a Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) system, which is an automated application that provides the drivers …

Development Of A Sustainability Evaluation And Control Framework For Chemical Processes, Shuyun Li

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Industry, government, and society have begun to shift from economic stand-alone focus to the inclusion of sustainability in the decision-making process. This shift can be attributed to the growing environmental and social awareness that makes consumers and stakeholders not only care about product quality and cost, but also products and processes that minimize the environmental impact and conserve natural resources. As a result, some progress has been made in recognizing and understanding the challenges of sustainable development, which helps evaluating the sustainability performance of a specific process/product. In particular, sustainability assessment tools and methodologies have been developed to help the …

Low-Power Reconfigurable Sensing Circuitry For The Internet-Of-Things Paradigm, Alexander Dilello

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

With ubiquitous wireless communication via Wi-Fi and nascent 5th Generation mobile communications, more devices -- both smart and traditionally "dumb" -- will be interconnected than ever before. This burgeoning trend is referred to as the Internet-of-Things. These new sensing opportunities place a larger burden on the underlying circuitry that must operate on finite battery power and/or within energy-constrained environments. New developments of low-power reconfigurable analog sensing platforms like field-programmable analog arrays (FPAAs) present an attractive sensing solution by processing data in the analog domain while staying flexible in design. This work addresses some of the contemporary challenges of low-power wireless …

Minimizing Trihalomethane Formation Through Source Water Monitoring And Optimizing Treatment Practices, Nashid Mirza

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Trihalomethanes, a family of halogenated disinfection byproducts, are prevalent in finished drinking water. According to USEPA’s Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rules (DBPRs), the regulatory standard of the total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) is 80 μg/L, and water treatment plant operators are required to closely monitor TTHMs in the finished water on a quarterly basis. Although total organic carbon (TOC) has been identified as a precursor for the TTHMs, knowledge gaps still exist in how specific water and treatment related factors (e.g., intake water quality, seasonal variation, contact time, and treatment train) affect TTHMs formation. Focusing on water treatment plants in southwestern Pennsylvania, …

Review Of Water Allocation Models For West Virginia, Madison Lee Alexis Thompson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Modeling river basins started gaining in popularity and usage in the western part of the United States in large part due to its extreme droughts. Planning is necessary to sustain the population, industries, and recreational water use year-round. Water allocation modeling is a tool used to aid in the issues that come from managing water resources. This work considers the continuous models that synthesized the hydrologic processes that occur and provides a simulation of past, current, or future conditions.

West Virginia, located on the eastern side of the United States, does not have an extreme drought problem as seen in …

Evaluation Of Ultra Fine Cigarette Smoke Particles Penetration On 3m 6200 Half Mask Respirators With P-100 Filters, Selcuk Elhan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This study was aimed to investigate the effectiveness of half mask respirator with double P-100 filters by determining the penetration of cigarette smoke particles. In this study, faceseal leakage of a breathing manikin donned a 3M 6200 half mask elastomeric respirator with double P-100 filters was determined at various test conditions. A full factorial test conditions of 4 sealing conditions (Non-sealed, only nose sealed, nose and chin sealed, and fully sealed), 2 inspiratory breathing types (Constant, cyclic), 4 flowing rates (15, 30, 50, 85 L/min for cyclic; 15, 30, 50, 80 L/min for constant) were employed and each test condition …

Structural Behavior Of Steel Plate Embedded Hybrid Gfrp Shapes, Piyush R. Soti

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The civil infrastructure industry has been dominated by traditional materials such as steel, timber, and concrete. Although these materials offer great advantages, they have major durability issues in terms of corrosion, decaying, and cracking. Traditional material-based structures deteriorate frequently and require regular-interval repairs with huge expenditures. To resolve these maintenance and durability issues associated with traditional materials, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have gained some popularity in the past few decades because of their superior mechanical properties and durability. Carbon-FRPs (CFRPs) and glass-FRP (GFRPs) are the most commonly used FRPs in the market. However, in civil engineering applications, CFRPs are …

Optimizing The Production And Injection Wells Flow Rates In Geothermal Field Using Artificial Intelligence, Muhammet Salih Ariturk

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In a geothermal field, power plants are designed for long-term electricity generation. Therefore, it is crucial to predict the future production and injection flow rates of the wells to determine the capacity of a power plant. In the designing of such power plants, calculations and estimations are based on the current future production, and injection flow rates and pressures in the geothermal field. Prediction of future production and injection flow rates also assist in building surface facilities with cost-efficient power plants. The most common problem in a power plant in geothermal fields is the inability to accurately estimate future expected …

Short Beam Shear Strength Evaluations Of Gfrp Composites: Correlations Through Accelerated And Natural Aging, William Todd Barker

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) composites have been materials of interest in replacing or reinforcing steel, wood, and concrete, but lack of understanding of degradation under physical and chemical aging is a main concern. Through many years of research, the understanding of aging or durability of GFRPs has improved. To be able to evaluate aging related degradation rates, an accelerated aging methodology under varying environments is introduced. Accelerated aging is a concept used to age composites in a lab controlled environment under varying pH conditions (2 to 13) and temperatures (~ -20° to +160°F). Once acceleratedly aged testing is completed, Arrhenius …

Retaining Wall System With Soldier Pile And Composite Resin Infused Lagging Elements, Shane Phillip Moore

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Retaining walls are used as an alternative to installing drainage and soil reinforcement, depending on site conditions. This report discusses the design of a retaining wall with steel soldier piles and lagging elements for rocky slopes. The design consists of six different options, three options with a span of eight feet and three options with a span of ten feet between soldier piles. The three options for both spans are the same concept but designed for different load conditions. These options include: timber with glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) wraps, reinforced concrete with GFRP wraps, and an FRP Prodeck system …

Evaluation Of A Marketing Strategy Based On The Concept Of Virtual Energy Audit, Goutham Kumar Reddy Challa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

With the growing world population and efforts to bring better energy access to the people, energy needs of the world are expected to grow in the coming years. Given the limited availability of non-renewable resources, there has been a mounting consensus among the users and the stakeholders to utilize the available energy in the most efficient way by implementing various methods like use of advanced technologies, source reduction, behavioral changes, etc. Energy efficiency in general is considered as a win-win scenario for all the users and/or stakeholders involved as it not only lowers the base load for power generating companies, …

Impact Of Natural Fracture Induced Elastic Anisotropy On Completion And Hydraulic Fracturing Designs, Emre Can Dundar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Shale has been usually recognized as a transverse isotropic (TI) medium in conventional geomechanical log interpretation due to its laminated nature. However, when natural fractures (NFs) exist in the rock body, additional elastic anisotropy can be introduced, converting Shale to an orthorhombic (OB) medium. Previous study illustrates that treating the naturally fractured shale rock as a TI medium by ignoring the NF-induced anisotropy can cause the erroneous estimation of the geomechanical properties (i.e. Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, brittleness index, and etc.) and in-situ stress. In this paper, the study is extended to quantify the impact of NF-induced elastic anisotropy on …

Bending Response Of Timber Mortise And Tenon Joints Reinforced With Filler-Modules And Frp Gussets, Andrew Robert Pacifico

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In 2013, the California Bay Area (CBA) passed a set of ordinances to ensure that their 10,000 plus timber soft-story buildings were prepared for seismic events, through nondestructive evaluation methods. Many property owners are searching for an affordable retrofitting system that will also meet CBA’s new laws focusing on installations by the mandated deadlines in 2020. Over the past three to four decades, Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites have found their way into the civil infrastructure sector for rehabilitation. The objective of this study is to evaluate the bending behavior retrofitted mortise and tenon timber joints reinforced with engineered wood …

Development Of A Dynamic Model And Control System For Load-Following Operation Of Supercritical Pulverized Coal Power Plants, Parikshit S. Sarda

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Thermal power plants that have been designed to operate at their rated capacity are being forced to cycle their load and operate under low-load condition to meet changing load demands due to the increased penetration of renewables into the electric grid. The rapid load-following operation is leading to challenging control problems. The goal of this research is to develop dynamic model and control system for efficient load-following operation. The focus of this work is on supercritical pulverized coal (SCPC) power plants. The steady-state model is developed using Aspen Plus and Aspen Custom Modeler and then converted to a pressure-driven Aspen …

Can Fitts' Throughput Be A Predictor Of Muscle Fatigue – A Study Based On Metacarpal Gloves?, Sachin Sah

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In this study, Fitts’ throughput was used to estimate throughput for metacarpal gloves. Fitts’ throughput combines speed and accuracy during target transfer/movement tasks into a single performance index. It was hypothesized that the throughput will be affected by the glove condition and it will exhibit a relationship with the physiological response of hand muscles and perceived exertions. Fifteen healthy participants (10 males, 5 females) were recruited for data collection. Each participant performed a series of target transfer tasks using four glove conditions: (1) a pigskin leather (glove 1); (2) a synthetic fiber glove (glove 2); (3) a goat-grain leather glove …

Field Performance And Rating Evaluation Of A Modular Press-Brake-Formed Steel Tub Girder With A Steel Sandwich Plate Deck, Nicole Marie Hegele Underwood

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance (SSSBA) is a group of bridge and culvert industry leaders (including steel manufacturers, fabricators, service centers, coaters, researchers, and representatives of related associations and government organizations) who have joined together to provide educational information on the design and construction of short span steel bridges in installations up to 140 feet in length. The SSSBA technical working group has developed a shallow press-brake-formed tub girder, a trapezoidal cold bent girder, to address the demand in the short span steel bridge market for rapid infrastructure replacement solutions.

Following extensive experimental testing and design work at West …

Impact Of Implementing A Dedicated Outdoor Air System In Parallel With A Multi-Zone Variable-Air Volume System On Energy Consumption, Thermal Comfort, And Life Cycle Cost, Khaled Alghamdi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Heating, Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning systems (HVAC) consume more than 40% of energy in commercial buildings, according to the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey in 2012. Therefore, efforts to reduce HVAC energy consumption would be significant in coping with energy-related issues. In that context and in order to enhance the indoor air quality without compromising for energy consumption, the concept of Dedicated Outdoor Air systems (DOAS) emerged.

The literature shows that the integration of DOAS with other HVAC systems has been studied widely, yet the impact of integrating DOAS in parallel with multi-zone Variable-Air Volume systems (multi-zone VAV) for an application …

Lignocellulosic Biomass Derived Activated Carbon For Energy Storage And Adsorption, Changle Jiang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Lignocellulosic biomass has been converted to hierarchical porous carbon materials which possess macro-, meso- and micro-pores. The natural structure of porous lignocellulosic structure was preserved during activation with further developed porosity by the activation. The activated carbon can be well applied to electrochemical double layer capacitor for transportation storage of ions as well as adsorbent materials for metal ion removal from wastewater.

The first chapter of this dissertation presents an introduction of biomass derived carbon and its applications. In the second chapter, both direct and indirect activation methods using carbon dioxide were adopted in this study. The results show that …

Roadnet: Robust Adaptive Network For Information Diffusion In Vanet, Priyashraba Misra

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The automotive industry has changed more in the last one decade than ever before. Rapid advancements in autonomous driving have opened up opportunities for CAVs (Connected and Automated Vehicles). Vehicles today rely on a sensor-suite to map the surrounding and use that information for safety and navigation. The sensor's view is limited to its line of sight and this drawback can be tapered off by using Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I), generally referred to as Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communication. In this thesis, we specifically focus on utilizing V2V communication using on-board Dedicated Short Range Communication …

Investigation Of Various Factors Affecting Quantification And Characterization Accuracy Of Nox Measurement At Near Zero Level In A Cvs Sampling Set-Up, Samuel Abimbola Ogunfuye

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Accurate measurement of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) concentrations at near-zero levels using the constant volume sampling (CVS) system is a critical consideration in emissions quantification for engine and vehicle research and certification purposes. Various technological efforts and research are being implemented to ensure emissions from automobile and on-road transportation sources tend towards lower concentrations. This development has resulted in NOx concentration measurements to shift towards near-zero and thus, reach the detection limits of traditional measurement approaches and methods. There are several factors that might deter achieving measurement accuracy at this level, as their effect becomes significant at low NOx concentrations. …