Engineering Commons^™

Surgical And Medical Applications Of Drones: A Comprehensive Review, Brent Terwilliger, James C. Rosser Jr., Vudatha Vignesh, Brett C. Parker

Publications

Drones have the ability to gather real time data cost effectively, to deliver payloads and have initiated the rapid evolution of many industrial, commercial, and recreational applications. Unfortunately, there has been a slower expansion in the field of medicine. This article provides a comprehensive review of current and future drone applications in medicine, in hopes of empowering and inspiring more aggressive investigation.

Seismic Vulnerability Assessment Of Buildings Using A Statistical Method Of Response Prediction, Ershad Ziaei, Amir Safiey, Weichiang Pang, Keivan Rokneddin, Mohammad Javanbarg, Mengzhe Gu

Publications

The seismic vulnerability functions for portfolio-level loss estimation are typically developed for general classes of buildings which may not be suitable to assess building-specific risks. Performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) provides the means to conduct building-specific seismic risk assessments. However, such assessments often rely on computationally-intensive analytical frameworks such as incremental dynamics analysis (IDA) which poses a challenge for many types of risk assessment projects. To expand its accessibility, FEMA P-58 outlines a simplified method to predict the nonlinear responses of buildings in which the scope is limited to lower levels of inter-story drifts (less than 4%). This limitation restricts its …

Influence Of Irreparability Fragility On Seismic Vulnerability Assessment Of Buildings, Amir Safiey, Ershad Ziaei, Mengzhe Gu, Weichiang Pang, Keivan Rokneddin, Mohammad Javanbarg

Publications

The probability that a building is sanctioned to demolition following an earthquake depends on several geotechnical, structural, strategic and financial decision variables. This paper explores the literature on post-earthquake reparability assessment of buildings focusing on structural characteristics and evaluates their approaches for four midrise code-compliant structural systems, namely, steel moment frame, reinforced concrete moment frame, light frame wood, and steel braced frame. The structural responses are estimated using incremental dynamics analysis (IDA) in accordance with FEMA P-695 provisions and the IDA results are relayed to a building-specific loss assessment framework to estimate their seismic vulnerability in terms of monetary losses. …

Static Performance Results Of Propellers Used On Nano, Micro, And Mini Quadrotors, Robert W. Deters, D. Dantsker, S.C. Kleinke, Narcrisha Norman, Michael S. Selig

Publications

An increase in the number of small quadrotors has created the interest in having performance data on the propellers used by these aircraft. With an aircraft size less than 5 in and propellers diameters less than 3 in, these quadrotors are typically referred to mini, micro, or nano by hobbyists and manufacturers. The size of the propellers used on these aircraft operate at low Reynolds numbers that are typically less than 50,000 for diameters up to 3 in and less than 20,000 for diameters up to 2 in. Static performance testing of the propellers used on 11 small quadrotors was …

Cure History Dependent Viscoelastic Modeling Of Adhesively Bonded Joints Using Mat_277 In Ls-Dyna®, Akshat Agha, Fadi Abu-Farha, Rakan Alturk, Tim Welters, Georges Romanos

Publications

The effects of Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) mismatch in multi-material adhesive joints, induced during the manufacturing process, are expected to hinder the peak performance of the adhesive in the service life of the vehicle. With a goal to estimate these effects, this paper attempts to model the curing phenomenon of an adhesive and predict its mechanical properties using MAT_277 material model available in LS-DYNA, which serves as a good starting point towards modeling the cure history dependent viscoelastic behavior of adhesives. The adhesive is used to join two substrates of dissimilar metals and tested to capture the relative displacement …

Multi-Task Learning Framework For Mining Crowd Intelligence Towards Clinical Treatment, Shweta Yadav, Asif Ekbal, Sriparna Saha, Pushpak Bhattacharyya, Amit Sheth

Publications

In recent past, social media has emerged as an active platform in the context of healthcare and medicine. In this paper, we present a study where medical user’s opinions on health-related issues are analyzed to capture the medical sentiment at a blog level. The medical sentiments can be studied in various facets such as medical condition, treatment, and medication that characterize the overall health status of the user. Considering these facets, we treat analysis of this information as a multi-task classification problem. In this paper, we adopt a novel adversarial learning approach for our multi-task learning framework to learn the …

Determination Of Erosion Parameters Of Coarse-Grained Materials Using A Small Flume, Ghada S. Ellithy, Johannes L. Wibowo, Maureen K. Corcoran

Publications

Overtopping is one of the major causes of dams and levees failure. There is uncertainty in estimation of the erosion parameters especially for coarse- grained materials that comprise the outer shell layer of dams as well as homogenous levees that are constructed of such materials. In this paper, results from a box test performed on three coarse grained materials in a 0.3-meter wide flume are discussed. The three materials share the same median grain size D50 of 2 mm, however, they vary in fines content between zero to 20%. The box measured 0.3 m wide x 0.6 m long x …

Reimagining Icarus: Ethics, Law And Policy Considerations For Commercial Human Spaceflight, Sara M. Langston

Publications

Commercial human spaceflight presents an area for engaging novel human activity and objectives, to include space exploration, entertainment, transportation and extraterrestrial resource acquisition. The inherent dangers and lack of scientific and medical certainty involved however raise interrelated questions of ethics, bioethics, law and public policy. This is particularly the case with spaceflight participant (SFP) screening, selection, and commercial human spaceflight activities where regulations are currently silent or lacking. In the absence of established law, ethics can play an important role by informing industry standards, policies and best practices. Understanding the fundamental ethical values at stake in the application of new …

Us Airline Stock Market Performance And Change In Investor Behavior Over The Great Recession Of 2008, Rebecca Wood, Jayendra Gokhale

Publications

We study the relationship of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil returns and the stock market returns with the US airline stocks before, during and after the 2008 financial crisis. We confirm the positive relationship of the airline stock returns with the overall market and the negative relationship with WTI. However, we find that the crisis led to a structural change in this relationship. Our results differ for low-cost airlines which absorb the oil price shock better as compared to legacy airlines. We also find that there is a difference in the relationship between the airline stock returns and WTI …

Assessing Subjectivity In Environmental Sensor Data Post Processing Via A Controlled Experiment, Amber Spackman Jones, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, David P. Eiriksson

Publications

Collection of high resolution, in situ data using environmental sensors is common in hydrology and other environmental science domains. Sensors are subject to drift, fouling, and other factors that can affect the quality of the measurements and their subsequent use for scientific analyses. The process by which sensor data are reviewed to verify validity often requires making edits in post processing to generate approved datasets. This quality control process involves decisions by technicians, data managers, or data users on how to handle problematic data. In this study, an experiment was designed and conducted where multiple participants performed quality control post …

Mitigating The Structural Vibrations Of Wind Turbines Using Tuned Liquid Column Damper Considering Soil-Structure Interaction, Tadhg Buckley, Phoebe Watson, Paul Cahill, Vesna Jaksic, Vikram Pakrashi

Publications

This paper considers the potential of using a Tuned Liquid Column Damper (TLCD) to reduce structural vibrations of a wind turbine tower. The effect of TLCD on wind turbine towers, including the soil-structure interactions for a monopile foundation was modelled theoretically and scaled laboratory experiments were carried out to validate these results. The tower of the turbine is represented as a Euler beam with a set of springs at the boundary to simulate the soil-structure interaction. TLCD design was carried out using such a model and the reduction in tower vibrations due to the deployment of TLCD was then examined …

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Training Programs Through The Lens Of A Traditional Flight Training University, David Thirtyacre, C. Woodyard

Publications

According to CFR 14 Part 107, an RPC is issued strictly on the results of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) knowledge test and background security check. This leaves commercial sUAS operators on their own to determine the training and proficiency required to fly safely and effectively. Regardless of the learning method, the question becomes, what knowledge and maneuvers should be learned, and to what proficiency level? This paper explores specific knowledge and skills which should be mandatory for all sUAS commercial pilots and recommends a probation period to gain experience before receiving an unrestricted RPC.

Ph-Responsive Mercaptoundecanoic Acid Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles And Applications In Catalysis, Siyam M. Ansar, Saptarshi Chakraborty, Christopher L. Kitchens

Publications

Mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNP-MUA) were synthesized and demonstrated to possess pH-triggered aggregation and re-dispersion, as well as the capability of phase transfer between aqueous and organic phases in response to changes in pH. The pH of aggregation for AuNP-MUA is consistent with the pK_a of MUA (pH ~4) in solution, while AuNP-MUA phase transition between aqueous and organic phases occurs at pH ~9. The ion pair formation between the amine group in octadecylamine (ODA), the carboxylate group in MUA, and the hydrophobic alkyl chain of ODA facilitates the phase transfer of AuNP-MUA into an organic medium. …

Thermal Removal Of Carbon Dioxide From The Atmosphere: Energy Requirements And Scaling Issues, Ted Von Hippel

Publications

I conduct a systems-level study of direct air capture of CO2 using techniques from thermal physics. This system relies on a combination of an efficient heat exchanger, radiative cooling, and refrigeration, all at industrial scale and operated in environments at low ambient temperatures. While technological developments will be required for such a system to operate efficiently, those developments rest on a long history of refrigeration expertise and technology, and they can be developed and tested at modest scale. I estimate that the energy required to remove CO2 via this approach is comparable to direct air capture by other techniques. The …

Algal Biofuel: The Future Of Green Jet Fuel In Air Transportation, Rajee Olaganathan

Publications

The aviation industry is one of the major contributors for the greenhouse gases. As air travel has become inevitable in this modern era, and fossil fuel usage is not sustainable, it is essential to produce renewable fuel and commercialize it to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. In order to produce an alternate aviation biofuel a lot of industrial and academic collaborations have been developed worldwide. The main concern of this collaborative research is to produce aviation biofuel from renewable resources with low environmental impacts, and which is sustainable at an economically viable price. This mini-review briefly discusses the biotechnological approaches …

Simulation Of The Behavior Of Corrosion Damaged Reinforced Concrete Beams With/Without Cfrp Retrofit, Masoud Zabihi-Samani, Mohsenali Shayanfar, Amir Safiey, Amir Najari

Publications

Harsh environmental conditions along with aggressive chemical agents are known as one of the main reasons behind damages observed in reinforced concrete members. Corrosion of reinforcement worldwide is one of the leading causes of damages occurred in reinforced concrete over the lifespan. There are many critical energy and transportation infrastructures located on coastal regions exposed to high humidity and chloride content where they are highly prone to reinforcement corrosion. This calls for retrofit methods, which safeguard not only the strength but also the durability of corrosion deteriorated reinforced concrete structures. Carbon fiber polymers considering their mechanical and chemical properties are …

Airline Customer Satisfaction 2015-2017 Results, Michelle M. Bennett, Brent D. Bowen, Erin E. Bowen, Z. Bowen, Dean Headley, Timothy B. Holt, Jacqueline R. Luedtke

Publications

Previous research on perceptions, satisfaction, and attitudes regarding the major commercial air carriers in the United States has provided little more than an interesting descriptive representation of the average air traveler. This study moves beyond basic descriptive information of air travelers to identify attitudinal patterns and relationships in the way consumers at varying levels of travel frequency view the commercial air industry. The Airline Passenger Survey (APS) elements developed via the utilization of rigorous scientific methodology, with the intention of capturing the most important data from passengers while reducing confusion or variability in comprehension of questions. APS items are a …

Building Small Commercial Airport Clusters To Increase Marketing Capability, Dixie Button Phd, Rachel M. Vigness, Patti Clark

Publications

Building Small Commercial Airport Clusters to Increase Marketing Capability was presented at MBAA International, Chicago, IL in April, 2018.

Safety Analysis Of Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (Ads-B) System, Rajee Olaganathan

Publications

ADS-B is one of the significant implementation systems of NextGen, to help pilots and air traffic controllers to create a safer, and more efficient National Airspace System (NAS). First, this research paper will briefly describe the ADS-B system, its design structure, ADS-B In and ADS-B Out systems, its efficiency both in pilot applications and in air traffic control applications, and then discuss about the system safety analysis. The preliminary hazard analysis and fault tree analysis will be done for the identified and selected hazards, and will be briefly discussed. The paper will conclude by providing recommendations to prevent/mitigate the hazards …

Discovering The Data Of Safety: Embry-Riddle’S Aviation Safety And Security Archives, Melissa Gottwald, Michelle M. Bennett, Brent D. Bowen, Erin E. Bowen, Jordan I. Brown, Ed J. Coleman, Timothy B. Holt, William D. Waldock

Publications

The path to the sky and beyond has not been simple or obstacle-free, but dedicated dreamers have worked to overcome obstacles, learn from mishaps, and develop new technologies to achieve their goals. As the leading university for aviation and aerospace education, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University maintains a firm commitment to the practice and study of safety. As part of this mission, the university has established the Aviation Safety and Security Archives (ASASA) which is a national treasure of aviation safety history and information.

Task 10: Research An Alternative Instructional Design Model, Steven Hampton, Jan G. Neal, Luis A. Ramirez, Dustin R. Talkington, Jma Solutions, Inc.

Publications

Under authority of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Center of Excellence (COE) Technical Training Human Performance (TTHP) Task 10 research team has prepared a comprehensive technical report and an executive summary for the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) concerning the instructional development (ID) of occupational education and training for Air Traffic (AT) controllers and Technical Operations (TO) technicians. Research included:

• Front-end analysis of available FAA courses and government furnished information (GFI), including course-development documentation and associated guidance, policies, and regulations.

• Structured and semi-structured data-gathering techniques in cooperation with Instructional Systems Specialists (ISS), ISS Managers, and Requirements personnel.

• …

Poster: Institutional Barriers To Black And Latino Male Collegians' Success In Engineering And Related Stem Fields, Leroy L. Long Iii, Trevion S. Henderson

Publications

Diverse people and perspectives are needed to spur innovation and tackle societal problems. A wealth of untapped intellectual and economic potential exists among historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups –including Blacks and Latinos–who have not had equitable access to engineering and related STEM fields. For Blacks and Latinos who are accepted into engineering and related STEM fields, they face a number of barriers to their success which lead to low retention and graduation rates. In historically male-dominated fields such as engineering and related STEM disciplines, Black and Latino men have remained underrepresented at the student and faculty ranks. To uncover and tackle …

Fatigue Life Of Pitch- And Stall-Regulated Composite Tidal Turbine Blades, Ciaran R. Kennedy, Vesna Jaksic, Sean B. Leen, Conchúr M. Ó Brádaigh

Publications

Tidal turbine blades are subject to harsh loading and environmental conditions, including large thrust and torsional loadings, relative to wind turbine blades, due to the high density of seawater, among other factors. The complex combination of these loadings, as well as water ingress and associated composite laminate saturation, have significant implications for blade design, affecting overall device design, stability, scalability, energy production and cost-effectiveness. This study investigates the effect of seawater ingress on composite material properties, and the associated design and life expectancy of tidal turbine blades in operating conditions. The fatigue properties of dry and water-saturated glass fibre reinforced …

Numerical Simulation Of Energy Localization In Dynamic Materials, Arkadi Berezovski, Mihhail Berezovski

Publications

Dynamic materials are artificially constructed in such a way that they may vary their characteristic properties in space or in time, or both, by an appropriate arrangement or control. These controlled changes in time can be provided by the application of an external (non-mechanical) field, or through a phase transition. In principle, all materials change their properties with time, but very slowly and smoothly. Changes in properties of dynamic materials should be realized in a short or quasi-nil time lapse and over a sufficiently large material region. Wave propagation is a characteristic feature for dynamic materials because it is also …

Research Benefits For Scholarly Authors Being Published On A Public Forum, Hunter M. Watson, Brent D. Bowen, Timothy B. Holt, Jacqueline R. Luedtke

Publications

The previous construct of research was focused on social media platforms as a benefactor in broadcasting towards a global audience with non-academic professions. Following along the same ideology, this research directs the attention to a pertained audience in academic profession.

•Embry-Riddle is the host of Scholarly Commons which collects the research of authors (faculty members), and assists in developing a digital portfolio. This portfolio creates metric measurements on a dashboard to indicate where downloads are occurring, and aids in providing current information pertaining to the authors’ publication. •In this case, the publication of the National Airline Quality Rating (AQR) ( …

A Longitudinal Analysis On The Cyclical Pattern Of The U.S. Airline Industry, Michelle M. Bennett, Brent D. Bowen, Jacqueline R. Luedtke, Dean Headley, Timothy B. Holt

Publications

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) is the nation’s most comprehensive study of airline performance and quality for over two decades. AQR provides consumers and industry watchers a means to compare performance quality among different US airlines using objective performance-based data. This research looks to analyze the cyclical patterns present in AQR in order to identify trends and factors contributing to the changes in these results each year. This research utilizes the application of a longitudinal analysis methodology which will provide the correlation between factors identified and the indicators affected.

Aerodynamic Analysis Of Low Speed Wing Design Using Taguchi L9 Orthogonal Array, Kenneth Witcher, Ian Mcandrew, Elena Vishnevskaya

Publications

The study of aerodynamics has been preoccupied with understanding flight at increasing speeds and ultimately supersonic. Today, this pursuit has advanced the science for both Hypersonic and Transonic flight to near Mach 1 supporting economical commercial flight operations. This research presents the data from a Taguchi array on low speed with twin wing designs to establish the design parameters for their use in low speed and high altitude. Also presented is how aerodynamic advantages can be achieved through understanding the interactions of parameters and their use. This is compared to operational effectiveness when applied to remotely piloted aircraft that are …

Propeller Design Requirements For Quadcopters Utilizing Variable Pitch Propellers, Ian R. Mcandrew, Elena Navarro, Ken Witcher

Publications

Unmanned aerial vehicles, UAV, has increases in the drastically in these past several years since their costs reduced. This research is based and built upon previous research presented in a conference. With the advent of commercial Quadcopters, four propeller systems, are used, being designed and used to operate the advantages of both flight and hovering. The basic design of their propeller blades has not evolved from the early days of manned flight when wooden fixed blades were used. In this paper that expands upon previous findings and discussions it explores the historical developments. Furthermore, how the expansion and reduction in …

The Effects Of Isoprene And Nox On Secondary Organic Aerosols Formed Through Reversible And Irreversible Uptake To Aerosol Water, Marwa M. El-Sayed, Diana L. Ortiz-Montalvo, Christopher J. Hennigan

Publications

Isoprene oxidation produces water-soluble organic gases capable of partitioning to aerosol liquid water. The formation of secondary organic aerosols through such aqueous pathways (aqSOA) can take place either reversibly or irreversibly; however, the split between these fractions in the atmosphere is highly uncertain. The aim of this study was to characterize the reversibility of aqSOA formed from isoprene at a location in the eastern United States under substantial influence from both anthropogenic and biogenic emissions. The reversible and irreversible uptake of water-soluble organic gases to aerosol water was characterized in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, using measurements of particulate water-soluble organic carbon …

Mechanical And Electrical Characterization Of Carbon Fiber/Bucky Paper/Zinc Oxide Hybrid Composites, Suma Ayyagari, Marwan Al-Haik, Virginie Rollin

Publications

The quest for multifunctional carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRPs) expedited the use of several nano reinforcements such as zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Zinc oxide is a semi-conductor with good piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties. These properties could be transmitted to CFRPs when a nanophase of ZnO is embedded within CFRPs. In lieu of ZnO nanorods, Bucky paper comprising mat of CNTs could be sandwiched in-between composite laminae to construct a functionally graded composite with enhanced electrical conductivities. In this study, different configurations of hybrid composites based on carbon fibers with different combinations of ZnO nanorods and Bucky …