Engineering Commons^™

Analytical Content Vulnerability Assessment Methodology For Earthquake Catastrophe Models, Keivan Rokneddin, Amir Safiey, Mohammad Javanbarg, Vijay Manghnani, Weichiang Pang

Publications

The scarcity of detailed claims data for building contents (Coverage C) from historical earthquake events poses a significant challenge for property insurance catastrophe models to reliably estimate the losses associated to building contents. To develop content vulnerability functions empirically, one would need to have access to data from a multitude of historical events; however, loss disaggregation by coverage is rarely reported even when claims data become available from recent significant events such as Maule (2010) and Tohoku (2011). While damage to the building structure (Coverage A) can be estimated analytically using simulation-based fragility functions to amend sparse historical observations, the …

Multi-Stage Axial Compressor With Counter-Rotation, Vinod Gehlot, Magdy S. Attia, Divyam Garg

Publications

A multi-stage axial compressor incorporating a counter-rotational movement is provided with a series of rotors mounted along and driven by a driveshaft, and a geared counter-rotating outer casing. A planetary gear system is assembled along a static casing, which can be assembled as a forward or aft casing for the compressor. The bearings of the planetary gear system typically will be aligned concentrically with a center rotor drum assembly mounted along the single driveshaft. The counter-rotating drum assembly will be assembled over the rotor drum assembly and will be engaged by the forward and aft casings so as to provide …

Role Of Ground Glass Fiber As A Pozzolan In Portland Cement Concrete, Hassan Rashidian-Dezfouli, Prasad Rao Rangaraju

Publications

Millions of tons of fiberglass are produced annually for a variety of applications. Because of stringent quality requirements and operational characteristics of the manufacturing plants, a significant quantity of fiberglass that does not meet required specifications of the industry ends up as waste in landfills. This study investigated the use of ground glass fiber (GGF) that had been discarded by plants because it did not meet prescribed standards, as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) for portland cement. Three replacement levels (10%, 20%, and 30% by mass) for portland cement in paste, mortar, and concrete mixtures were studied. Mechanical and durability …

Towards Deadline Guaranteed Cloud Storage Services, Guoxin Liu, Haiying Shen, Lei Yu

Publications

More and more organizations move their data and workload to commercial cloud storage systems. However, the multiplexing and sharing of the resources in a cloud storage system present unpredictable data access latency to tenants, which may make online data-intensive applications unable to satisfy their deadline requirements. Thus, it is important for cloud storage systems to provide deadline guaranteed services. In this paper, to meet a current form of service level objective (SLO) that constrains the percentage of each tenant's data access requests failing to meet its required deadline below a given threshold, we build a mathematical model to derive the …

Demisting Using An Ultrasonic Standing Wave Field, T. M. Merrell, John Saylor

Publications

Removing drops from an air flow can be challenging, particularly, for small drops. Herein a method for demisting is presented that employs ultrasonics to force small drops to combine. Specifically, a cylindrical ultrasonic standing wave field is established in a tube, forming pressure nodes that take the form of cylinders located within the tube and having the same axis as the tube. Droplets are driven toward these pressure nodes by the acoustic radiation force, forcing smaller drops to combine to form larger drops, which eventually fall due to gravity, thereby demisting the flow. Experiments presented herein show that, for the …

Supplying Bio-Compressed Natural Gas To The Transport Industry In Ireland: Is The Current Regulatory Framework Facilitating Or Hindering Development?, Niamh Power, Daniel Goulding, Dan Fitzpatrick, Rodger O'Connor, James D. Browne

Publications

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and biomethane when blended as a transport fuel (bio-CNG) have significant potential in Europe. However, this alternative fuel has not been developed in several European countries. One of the barriers to market penetration is the absence of a coherent regulatory framework to eliminate the disparity between European and national legislation. Using Ireland as a test case, this paper examines how conflicting policies can be aligned to ensure effective bio-CNG market development. A key barrier is the regulatory ambiguity placed on transport fuel suppliers and investors who wish to connect to the network to supply bio-CNG. For …

Increased System Fidelity For Navy Aviation Hypoxia Training, Beth. F. Wheeler Atkinson, Janet Marnane, Daniel L. Immeker, Jonathan Reeh, John Zbranek, Ashwin K. Balasubramanian, David M. Mcettrick, W. Tyler Scheeler

Publications

In 2009, the Naval Aviation Survival Training Program (NASTP) Trainer Management Team (TMT) identified a need for a next-generation normobaric mask-on hypoxia trainer with enhanced capabilities due to the lack of positive air pressure provided by existing capabilities. The lack of a positive pressure-on-demand airflow delivery for current mask-on hypoxia training has been cited as a potential training gap wherein 44% of students experience air hunger (Artino, Folga, & Vacchiano, 2009). As a result, it is unclear whether students are able to recognize more subtle symptoms of hypoxia or if they are masked by air hunger. To address this, researchers …

Trustworthiness Requirements For Manufacturing Cyber-Physical Systems, Radu F. Babiceanu, Remzi Seker

Publications

Distributed manufacturing operations include cyber-physical systems vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Long time not considered a priority, cybersecurity jumped to the forefront of manufacturing concerns due to the need to network together legacy, newer equipment, and entire operation centers. This paper proposes trustworthiness solutions for integrated manufacturing physical-cyber worlds, where trustworthiness is defined to complement system dependability requirements with cybersecurity requirements, such that the resulting manufacturing cyber-physical system delivers services that can justifiably be trusted. Acknowledging the inevitability of cyber-attacks, the paper models the cybersecurity component using the resilient systems framework, where system resilience is viewed as preservation of a required state …

A Safety Management Model For Far 141 Approved Flight Schools, Flavio A. C. Mendonca, Thomas Q. Carney

Publications

The Safety Management Annex (Annex 19), which became applicable in November 2013, consolidates safety management provisions previously contained in six other International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annexes, and will serve as a resource for overarching state safety management responsibilities. Through Annex 19, ICAO has required that its member states develop and implement safety management systems (SMS) to improve safety. This mandate includes an approved training organization that is exposed to aviation safety risks. In 2015, the FAA published AC 120-92B to provide guidance material for certificate holders operating under FAR 121, to implement and maintain an SMS. This AC may …

Get Rid Of Your Student's Fear And Intimidation Of Learning A Programming Language, Christina Frederick, Matt B. Pierce, Andrew Calvin Griggs, Lulu Sun, Li Ding

Publications

Knowledge of computer programming is very beneficial and often required for engineering students. Unfortunately, students frequently experience fear and intimidation regarding introductory programming courses. Second language acquisition (SLA) techniques have shown promise as a means of content delivery in programming courses. Blended learning environments are also becoming increasingly popular in course frameworks. This workshop will discuss the application of second language acquisition in a blended learning environment (SLA-aBLe) and will examine the effectiveness of using SLA techniques to teach introductory programming. The proposed workshop will also share instructor experience(s), provide course materials, and review student outcomes from this two year …

Small Wins - Big Impact: Narratives From Behind The Scenes, Kelsey Joy Rodgers, James J. Pembridge, Leroy L. Long Iii, Matthew A. Verleger, Heidi Steinhauer

Publications

All instructors, administrators, and researchers that have engaged in the endeavor to teach, oversee, and/or transform first-year engineering courses have a story to tell about their successes and struggles. In this workshop, we use narrative inquiry to listen to participants’ stories about first-year engineering programs. Based on the analyses of these stories and deduced patterns, a few key struggles will be teased out to guide this interactive workshop. All participants will then further tell their stories of relevant experiences. Our goal is to address struggles and disseminate successes with first-year engineering programs for adoption and adaptation. Our goal is that …

A Human Factors Perspective On Learning Programming Languages Using A Second Language Acquisition Approach, Rebecca Rohmeyer, Paula Sanjuan Espejo, Lulu Sun, Christina Frederick

Publications

In this day and age, knowing a programming language is an essential skill to have for those pursuing a career in any of the STEM fields. In most colleges and universities around the world, engineering and computer science students are required to take an introductory course in a programming language. However, many students find these courses intimidating and too challenging. This paper explores a psychological perspective on learning programming languages using Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories. The paper also describes the basic function of how learning works and how SLA aids in the learning process. This paper also briefly discusses …

Cabin Depressurization As A Hijacking Mitigation Tactic: A Consumer Perceptions Study, Rian Mehta, Stephen Rice, Scott R. Winter, Paul Buza

Publications

The security of a commercial airline flight is the primary concern of all parties involved in the aviation industry. The policies and strategies of dealing with terrorist threats have evolved since the attacks of September 11, 2001. The current policy requires that the cockpit door be locked so that the hijackers have no access to the flight controls. A new method has been discussed whereby the pilots depressurize the cabin so as to eliminate the hijacking threat since all the cabin crew and passengers will be rendered unconscious. While there is a risk of possible negative impact on brain cells …

Multi-Site Simultaneous Time-Resolved Photometry With A Low Cost Electro-Optics System, Forrest Gasdia, Aroh Barjatya, Sergei Bilardi

Publications

Sunlight reflected off of resident space objects can be used as an optical signal for astrometric orbit determination and for deducing geometric information about the object. With the increasing population of small satellites and debris in low Earth orbit, photometry is a powerful tool in operational support of space missions, whether for anomaly resolution or object identification. To accurately determine size, shape, spin rate, status of deployables, or attitude information of an unresolved resident space object, multi-hertz sample rate photometry is required to capture the relatively rapid changes in brightness that these objects can exhibit. OSCOM, which stands for Optical …

Lessons Learned From Successful Black Male "Buoyant Believers" In Engineering And Engineering-Related Fields, Leroy L. Long Iii, Trevion Henderson

Publications

In high-demand fields like science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), more success strategies are needed to effectively recruit and retain college students. One-size fits-all approaches (i.e., those that are supposed to work for all students) often neglect the unique needs of underrepresented populations. Although some strategies exist for helping minority students succeed in STEM, the present investigation uncovered detailed information about how Black male students in engineering and engineering-related fields develop important academic traits such as confidence and resilience. To add to the limited body of literature on Black males in STEM, interview data from 27 Black male students majoring …

Work In Progress: Using Second Language Acquisition Techniques To Teach Programming - Results From A Two-Year Project, Christina Frederick, Lulu Sun

Publications

This WIP paper presents two years of findings for an NSF funded project under the Research Initiation Grant in Engineering Education (RIGEE) program. The project (SLA-aBLe) is currently in the second year of implementation and assessment. Final results from the project will be presented and discussed at the annual ASEE conference. The project used second language acquisition (SLA) theory and techniques to facilitate learning in an introductory programming language class. The project was developed by a multi-disciplinary team and involved multiple instructors and sections of an introductory programming language class using MATLAB. Each semester, instructors trained in SLA techniques taught …

The Application Of Second Language Acquisition To Programming Language Study, Lulu Sun, Christina Frederick, Li Ding, Rebecca Rohmeyer

Publications

This paper describes a design and implementation of a Second Language Acquisition in a Blended Learning (SLA-aBLe) project that aims to examine the efficacy of SLA approaches for teaching programming language. The project, which has been running for three semesters, modifies specific learning modules in a programming language class using a series of shorter videos with subtitles, online quizzes with tiered questions and comments, and a topic specified discussion board with Q&A sections. The SLA aspect of the SLA-aBLe study is emphasized through the use of strategies defined as best-practice SLA techniques, such as the inclusion of self-testing tired questions …

Infographic: Academic And Social Barriers To Black And Latino Male Collegians' Success In Engineering And Related Stem Fields, Terrell Lamont Strayhorn, Joseph Allen Kitchen, Meg E. Stenz, Leroy L. Long Iii, Michael Steven Williams, William Wanyagah

Publications

Infographic about academic and social barriers to Black and Latino male collegians' success in engineering and related STEM fields.

Infographic: Black Male "Bouyant Believers" In Engineering And Engineering-Related Fields, Leroy L. Long Iii, William Wanyagah

Publications

An infographic about "Black male 'buoyant believers' in engineering and engineering-related fields."

Infographic: Lessons Learned From Successful Black Male "Buoyant Believers" In Engineering And Engineering-Related Fields, Leroy L. Long Iii, William Wanyagah

Publications

Infographic about lessons learned from successful black male "buoyant believers" in engineering and engineering-related fields.

Wave Motion Induced By Turbulent Shear Flows Over Growing Stokes Waves, Shahrdad Sajjadi, Serena Robertson, Rebecca Harvey, Mary Brown

Publications

The recent analytical of multi-layer analyses proposed by Sajjadi et al. (J Eng Math 84:73, 2014) (SHD14 therein) is solved numerically for atmospheric turbulent shear flows blowing over growing (or unsteady) Stokes (bimodal) water waves, of low-to-moderate steepness. For unsteady surface waves, the amplitude a(t)∝ekcita(t)∝ekcit, where kcikci is the wave growth factor, k is the wavenumber, and cici is the complex part of the wave phase speed, and thus, the waves begin to grow as more energy is transferred to them by the wind. This will then display the critical height to a point, where the thickness of the inner …

Power System Distributed Dynamic State Prediction, Md Ashfaqur Rahman, Ganesh Kumar Venayagamoorthy

Publications

The security of the power system can be enhanced with the prediction of the dynamic state variables. To increase the security, a distributed predictor is developed based on the Elman Recurrent Neural Network (ERNN) in this study. To develop a scalable distributed predictor, the whole network is divided in a number of ERNNs. They take the current and the previous actual states from its own and its neighbors to predict the near future values of the states. The concept is inspired from the Cellular Computational Network (CCN) framework. Each ERNN is a cell in the CCN framework. Through simulation, the …

A Real-Time Programmable Pulsatile Flow Pump For In Vitro Cardiovascular Experimentation, Rahul Raj Mechoor, Tyler Schmidt, Ethan Kung

Publications

Benchtop in vitro experiments are valuable tools for investigating the cardiovascular system and testing medical devices. Accurate reproduction of the physiologic flow waveforms at various anatomic locations is an important component of these experimental methods. This study discusses the design, construction, and testing of a low-cost and fully programmable pulsatile flow pump capable of continuously producing unlimited cycles of physiologic waveforms. It consists of a gear pump actuated by an AC servomotor and a feedback algorithm to achieve highly accurate reproduction of flow waveforms for flow rates up to 300 ml/s across a range of loading conditions. The iterative feedback …

Accident Rates, Phase Of Operations, And Injury Severity For Solo Students In Pursuit Of Private Pilot Certification (1994–2013), Douglas Boyd, Peter Dittmer

Publications

Flight training accidents constitute 14% of general aviation accidents. Herein we determined the rates, injury severity, and phase of flight for primary student solo accidents/incidents (mishaps) in Cessna 172 aircraft. Mishaps over the period spanning 1994–2013 were identified from the NTSB database. Student population data were from the FAA. Statistics employed proportion tests, Poisson distribution, and Mann-Whitney tests. Across the study period, 598 mishaps were identified. While the mishap rate increased nearly two-fold between 1994/1997 and 2002/ 2005, a 35% decline was evident thereafter. Nevertheless, no statistical difference in mishap rates was evident between the initial and current periods. Over …

Emerging Business Models For Commercial Spaceports: Current Trends From The Us Perspective, Janet K. Tinoco, Chunyan Yu

Publications

Agenda for Presentation:

• US Commercial/Government Active Launch Sites
• Why Commercial Spaceports?
• Spaceport Business Model Drivers
• Spaceport Multi-Modal Facility and Infrastructure Requirements
• Emerging Spaceport Business Models
• Summary and Concluding Remarks

Ultra Large Scale Manufacturing Challenges Of Silicon Carbide And Gallium Nitride Based Power Devices And Systems, Rajendra Singh, Amir A. Asif

Publications

The potential of wide band gap (WBG) semiconductors for manufacturing ultra-high performance power devices and systems is well known [1]. Historically, silicon carbide research is as old as is the discovery of transistors [2]. In recent years, significant progress has been made in reducing the bulk crystal defects. As a result, for niche applications some SiC and GaN products are currently in the market. However, silicon dominates the power devices and systems market. In an earlier publication [3] we pointed out that bulk crystal defects and process induced defects are still the major road blocks in creating a SiC and …

Obstacle Filtering Alogrithm For Control Of An Autonomous Road Vehicle In Public Highway Traffic, Qian Wang, Beshah Ayalew

Publications

This paper presents an obstacle filtering algorithm that mimics human driver-like grouping of objects within a model predictive control scheme for an autonomous road vehicle. In the algorithm, a time to collision criteria is first used as risk assessment indicator to filter the potentially dangerous obstacle object vehicles in the proximity of the autonomously controlled vehicle. Then, the filtered object vehicles with overlapping elliptical collision areas put into groups. A hyper elliptical boundary is regenerated to define an extended collision area for the group. To minimize conservatism, the parameters for the tightest hyper ellipse are determined by solving an optimization …

Selecting Effective Examples To Train Students For Peer Review Of Open‐Ended Problem Solutions, Matthew Verleger Dr., Kelsey J. Rodgers Dr., Heidi Diefes-Dux

Publications

Background Students conducting peer review on authentic artifacts require training. In the training studied here, individual students reviewed (score and provide feedback on) a randomly selected prototypical solution to a problem. Afterwards, they are shown a side-by-side comparison of their review and an expert’s review, along with prompts to reflect on the differences and similarities. Individuals were then assigned a peer team’s solution to review.

Purpose This paper explores how the characteristics of five different prototypical solutions used in training (and their associated expert evaluations) impacted students’ abilities to score peer teams’ solutions.

Design/Method An expert rater scored the prototypical …

Evaluating The Mechanisms Of Erosion For Coarse-Grained Materials, Maureen K. Corcoran, Ghada Ellithy, Michael K. Sharp, Johannes L. Wibowo

Publications

Efforts are currently underway by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to perform a risk assessment of all dams and levees within their portfolio. The vast majority of that portfolio is earthen structures. Findings from the assessments have shown that the major risk drivers for these earth structures are related to erosion (internal and external), overtopping, poorly designed and constructed intrusions (such as pipe crossings), and other factors to a lesser degree (such as burrowing animals). Therefore, the USACE is currently investigating several of these failure modes with emphasis on internal and external erosion. This paper will highlight efforts …

2016 General Aviation Flight Training Metrics, Steven Hampton, Ken Byrnes, Troy Techau

Publications

The study evaluates training at a collegiate flight training program (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University) providing metrics for time and costs from zero time to a Commercial certificated Pilot with Instrument and Multi-Engine add-ons. Training times for flights and activities are pulled from a sophisticated database used at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) and matched with flight and ground school lessons and then further subdivided to determine the amount of time spent training in areas of operation that are prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration in the published Practical Test Standards and Airman Certification Standards for those seeking pilot licenses and ratings.

Provided …