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Theses and Dissertations

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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Predicting The Wear Of High Speed Rocket Sleds, Lauren B. Wuertemberger Dec 2012

Predicting The Wear Of High Speed Rocket Sleds, Lauren B. Wuertemberger

Theses and Dissertations

Holloman Air Force Base houses the 10 mile long Holloman High Speed Test Track (HHSTT) in New Mexico and can run hypersonic experiments at speeds up to 10,000m/s. Tested objects are loaded onto sleds, which are connected to the track by slippers that slide along the rails. The payload sled is propelled down the track by a series of rocket sleds. The ability to predict the wear that will occur on the slippers during these experiments is important for slipper design and preventing catastrophic failure. However, high speeds complicate wear prediction as there additional contributing factors, including inconsistent surface contact, …


Model Development And Application Of Molecular Simulations For The Study Of Proton Transport In Bulk Water And For The Prediction Of Dipole Moments Of Organic Compounds, Abhishek Asthana Dec 2012

Model Development And Application Of Molecular Simulations For The Study Of Proton Transport In Bulk Water And For The Prediction Of Dipole Moments Of Organic Compounds, Abhishek Asthana

Theses and Dissertations

The present work demonstrates the application of molecular simulations (MD) in two different areas: proton transport in bulk water and estimation of the dipole moment of polar organic compounds. In both areas, relatively few successful and robust methodologies exist. In the first part, a new polarizable water model is developed for MD simulations of the proton transport process. The model was parametrized from a combination of quantum chemical calculations and experimental water properties. The model was implemented in MD simulation studies of liquid water at room temperature, as well as with excess protons. For pure water the model gave good …


Effective Collaboration Through Multi User Cax By Implementing New Methods Of Product Specification And Management, Vonn L. Holyoak Dec 2012

Effective Collaboration Through Multi User Cax By Implementing New Methods Of Product Specification And Management, Vonn L. Holyoak

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a new design process in which design specifications and task distribution are determined from a parallel multi user prospective. Using this method, projects are more easily decomposed into tasks that can be performed concurrently, thus decreasing the design time. Also, a framework is provided to determine the correct distribution of available talent and stakeholders that can be utilized on a given project. The research suggests that by involving the necessary stakeholders in a multi user setting, changes can be made quickly and without additional approval wait time. By including individuals from the various areas of required talent, …


Seismic Response Of Stiffening Elastic Systems, Andrew Scott Morgan Dec 2012

Seismic Response Of Stiffening Elastic Systems, Andrew Scott Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

Traditional seismic load resisting systems in buildings are designed to undergo inelastic deformations in order to dissipate energy, resulting in residual displacements. This work explores an approach to eliminate these residual displacements. The systems investigated have low initial stiffness which increases at a predefined displacement, and are therefore called stiffening elastic systems. This thesis begins with an examination of single-degree-of-freedom stiffening elastic systems. A case study is presented which suggests that the benefits from stiffening elastic behavior may be limited to systems which would have long periods if designed traditionally. A thorough parameter study is also presented which indicates the …


The Role Of Zinc Particle Size And Loading In Cathodic Protection Efficiency, Qiang Wang Dec 2012

The Role Of Zinc Particle Size And Loading In Cathodic Protection Efficiency, Qiang Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Metallic additives, also known as anticorrosive pigments, can provide sacrificial cathodic protection and complement the barrier protection afforded by heterogeneous organic coatings to metallic substrates. The unique systematic study of the corrosion resistance of an epoxy coating reinforced with different sizes (80nm, 500nm, 10um) and continuous multiple pigment volume concentration (0, 2%, 10%, 20%, 45%) below global critical pigment volume concentration of zinc particles were studied. The thesis is developing the fundamental understanding to optimize corrosion protection and predicting the protection with time. The properties of these cathodic coatings were investigated by a single-frequency electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and open …


Dynamic Modeling, Trajectory Generation And Tracking For Towed Cable Systems, Liang Sun Dec 2012

Dynamic Modeling, Trajectory Generation And Tracking For Towed Cable Systems, Liang Sun

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we focus on the strategy that places and stabilizes the path of an aerial drogue, which is towed by a mothership aircraft using a long flexible cable, onto a horizontally flat orbit by maneuvering the mothership in the presence of wind. To achieve this goal, several studies for towed cable systems are conducted, which include the dynamic modeling for the cable, trajectory generation strategies for the mothership, trajectory-tracking control law design, and simulation and flight test implementations. First, a discretized approximation method based on finite element and lumped mass is employed to establish the mathematical model for …


Passive Ranging Using A Dispersive Spectrometer And Optical Filters, Jacob A. Martin Dec 2012

Passive Ranging Using A Dispersive Spectrometer And Optical Filters, Jacob A. Martin

Theses and Dissertations

Monocular passive ranging using atmospheric oxygen absorption has been demonstrated in the past using an FTS. These instruments are very sensitive to vibration making them di cult to use on an airborne platform. This work focuses on whether passive ranging can be done with instruments that are easier to deploy. Two potential instruments are tested and compared: a diffraction grating spectrometer and optical filters. A grating spectrometer was able to estimate range to within 5% for a static solid rocket motor ring at a distance of 910 m using the NIR absorption band of oxygen. Testing at shorter ranges produced …


Stable Fluorinated Antimicrobial Coatings, Asima Chakravorty Nov 2012

Stable Fluorinated Antimicrobial Coatings, Asima Chakravorty

Theses and Dissertations

Contact antimicrobials for use in the medical device industry are being studied extensively to minimize the risk of hospital acquired infections, which are among the top ten leading causes of death in the US. Surfaces modified with quaternary ammonium containing side chains have been known to demonstrate excellent antimicrobial properties. Prior work has indicated that polyurethane surfaces with copolyoxetane soft blocks consisting of fluorinated and quaternary ammonium side chains can act as good antimicrobials. However, stabilizing the positive charge on the surface has been a challenge. The dissertation is aimed at creating a surface modifier that would confer a stable …


Filtering Techniques For Pose Estimation With Applications To Unmanned Air Vehicles, Bryce Benson Ready Nov 2012

Filtering Techniques For Pose Estimation With Applications To Unmanned Air Vehicles, Bryce Benson Ready

Theses and Dissertations

This work presents two novel methods of estimating the state of a dynamic system in a Kalman Filtering framework. The first is an application specific method for use with systems performing Visual Odometry in a mostly planar scene. Because a Visual Odometry method inherently provides relative information about the pose of a platform, we use this system as part of the time update in a Kalman Filtering framework, and develop a novel way to propagate the uncertainty of the pose through this time update method. Our initial results show that this method is able to reduce localization error significantly with …


Development Of A Closed-Loop Force Reduction Mechanism In A Gait Rehabilitation Device, Jeffrey Frankart Nov 2012

Development Of A Closed-Loop Force Reduction Mechanism In A Gait Rehabilitation Device, Jeffrey Frankart

Theses and Dissertations

Elliptical trainers are prescribed in rehabilitative exercise but difficult to implement in populations with significant functional gait deficits. Typical elliptical machines do not mimic normal gait and therefore require modifications for clinical rehabilitation. This research builds on previous modifications of an elliptical trainer designed to simulate level-surface walking. This design differed from a commercial version. It included articulated footplates and an electromechanically-driven virtual-cam to control footplate position. Ankle dorsiflexion elicited lower-extremity muscle spasticity which produced an unwanted gait variant during stroke patient testing. Spasticity is a hyperexcitable stretch reflex causing inefficient gait. This project’s purpose was to develop an autonomous …


Novel Shear-Thinning Of Aged Pdms/Fumed Silica Admixtures And Properties Of Related Silicone Elastomers, Wayne Brooke-Devlin Nov 2012

Novel Shear-Thinning Of Aged Pdms/Fumed Silica Admixtures And Properties Of Related Silicone Elastomers, Wayne Brooke-Devlin

Theses and Dissertations

Fumed silica filler has long been used to structurally reinforce silicone elastomers. Unfortunately, the combination of as little as a few weight percent of untreated fumed silica nanoparticles [uFSN] with a siloxane polymer, such as PDMS, forms a difficult to process waxy solid admixture that even long periods of high shear mixing will not thin. In the course of the current work it was noted that after a period of storage certain solid admixtures would become viscous liquids when subjected to additional high shear mixing. It was further found that the required aging period could be decreased if the admixture …


Site-Specific Metallization Of Multiple Metals On A Single Dna Origami Template, Bibek Uprety Nov 2012

Site-Specific Metallization Of Multiple Metals On A Single Dna Origami Template, Bibek Uprety

Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the selective deposition of two different metals on the same DNA origami template for nanofabrication. DNA, with adjustable size and shape serves as a suitable template for fabricating metal junctions in the nanometer domain via bottom-up assembly. Bottom-up assembly utilizes the recognition capability of molecules like DNA to self-assemble and form structures. In this regard, DNA origami provides a useful means for forming nanostructures by folding single-stranded DNA into different two and three dimensional shapes. Selective deposition of metal on specific locations of a DNA template is essential for making DNA-templated electronic circuits.Site-specific metallization of DNA origami …


An Optimization-Based Method Of Traversing Dynamic S-Pareto Frontiers, Patrick K. Lewis Nov 2012

An Optimization-Based Method Of Traversing Dynamic S-Pareto Frontiers, Patrick K. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

The use of multiobjective optimization in identifying systems that account for changes in customer needs, operating environments, system design concepts, and analysis models over time is generally not explored. Providing solutions that anticipate, account for, and allow for these changes over time is a significant challenge to manufacturers and design engineers. Products that adapt to these changes through the addition and/or subtraction of modules can reduce production costs through product commonality, and cater to customization and adaptation. In terms of identifying sets of non-dominated designs, these changes result in the concept of dynamic Pareto frontiers, or dynamic s-Pareto frontiers …


Measurement Of Thermal Diffusivities Using The Distributed Source, Finite Absorption Model, James B. Hall Nov 2012

Measurement Of Thermal Diffusivities Using The Distributed Source, Finite Absorption Model, James B. Hall

Theses and Dissertations

Thermal diffusivity in an important thermophysical property that quantifies the ratio of the rate at which heat is conducted through a material to the amount of energy stored in a material. The pulsed laser diffusion (PLD) method is a widely used technique for measuring thermal diffusivities of materials. This technique is based on the fact that the diffusivity of a sample may be inferred from measurement of the time-dependent temperature profile at a point on the surface of a sample that has been exposed to a pulse of radiant energy from a laser or flash lamp. An accepted standard approach …


Evaluation Of The Degree Of Blending Of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (Rap) Binder For Warm Mix Asphalt, Luis Gaitan Nov 2012

Evaluation Of The Degree Of Blending Of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (Rap) Binder For Warm Mix Asphalt, Luis Gaitan

Theses and Dissertations

The paving industry in recent years has seen the emergence of a plethora of warm mix asphalt (WMA) technologies and application. With most states incorporating a recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) limit, it is necessary for WMA to not only serve as a greener technology but to work in conjunction with current RAP practices. Presently, most agencies assume a full blending condition in their mixtures which may lead to under asphalted mixtures. The purpose of this study is to develop a methodology for quantifying the degree of blending that occurs in WMA RAP mixtures at higher percentages of RAP. In addition …


Improve The Performance And Scalability Of Raid-6 Systems Using Erasure Codes, Chentao Wu Nov 2012

Improve The Performance And Scalability Of Raid-6 Systems Using Erasure Codes, Chentao Wu

Theses and Dissertations

RAID-6 is widely used to tolerate concurrent failures of any two disks to provide a higher level of reliability with the support of erasure codes. Among many implementations, one class of codes called Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) codes aims to offer data protection against disk failures with optimal storage efficiency. Typical MDS codes contain horizontal and vertical codes. However, because of the limitation of horizontal parity or diagonal/anti-diagonal parities used in MDS codes, existing RAID-6 systems suffer several important problems on performance and scalability, such as low write performance, unbalanced I/O, and high migration cost in the scaling process. To …


Fpga Floor-Planning Impact On Implementation Results, Jaren Tyler Lamprecht Nov 2012

Fpga Floor-Planning Impact On Implementation Results, Jaren Tyler Lamprecht

Theses and Dissertations

The field programmable gate array (FPGA) is an attractive computational platform for many applications because of its customizable nature and modest development cost, in terms of both time and money. As FPGAs scale to increased logical capacities, designers have increased flexibility. However, the FPGA placement problem becomes more difficult at increased sizes. Increasingly, designers are encouraged to structure designs hierarchically and floor-plan. Floor planning is a manual process which maps specified design submodules to selected physical regions of the FPGA device fabric. This thesis explores several of the effects that floor-planning has on submodules and the designs they comprise. A …


Ultrasound-Induced Phase Change Of Emulsion Droplets For Targeted Gene And Drug Delivery, James R. Lattin Nov 2012

Ultrasound-Induced Phase Change Of Emulsion Droplets For Targeted Gene And Drug Delivery, James R. Lattin

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the potential of using perfluorocarbon emulsion droplets to add an ultrasound-sensitive element to drug delivery systems. These emulsion droplets may be induced to vaporize with ultrasound; during the rarefactional phase of an ultrasound wave, the pressure around the droplets may fall below the vapor pressure of the liquid forming the emulsion, providing a thermodynamic potential for vaporization. This ultrasound-induced phase change of the emulsion droplet could release therapeutics attached to the droplet surface or aid in drug delivery due to mechanical effects associated with vaporization and expansion, similar to the ability of cavitating bubbles to aid in …


Developing A Guidance Law For A Small-Scale Controllable Projectile Using Backstepping And Adaptive Control Techniques And A Hardware System Implementation For A Uav And A Ugv To Track A Moving Ground Target, Kevin Christopher Meier Nov 2012

Developing A Guidance Law For A Small-Scale Controllable Projectile Using Backstepping And Adaptive Control Techniques And A Hardware System Implementation For A Uav And A Ugv To Track A Moving Ground Target, Kevin Christopher Meier

Theses and Dissertations

The work in this thesis is on two topics. The first topic focuses on collaboration between a UAV and a UGV to track a moving ground target. The second topic focuses on deriving a guidance law for a small-scale controllable projectile to be guided into a target. For the first topic, we implement a path planning algorithm in a hardware system for a UAV and UGV to track a ground target. The algorithm is designed for urban environments where it is common for objects to obstruct sensors located on the UAV and the UGV. During the hardware system's implementation, multiple …


A Hybrid Bishop-Hill Model For Microstructure Sensitive Design, Ribeka Takahashi Nov 2012

A Hybrid Bishop-Hill Model For Microstructure Sensitive Design, Ribeka Takahashi

Theses and Dissertations

A method is presented for adapting the classical Bishop-Hill model to the requirements of elastic/yield-limited design in metals of arbitrary crystallographic texture. The proposed Hybrid Bishop-Hill (HBH) model, which will be applied to ductile FCC metals, retains the `stress corners' of the polyhedral Bishop-Hill yield surface. However, it replaces the `maximum work criterion' with a criterion that minimizes the Euclidean distance between the applicable local corner stress state and the macroscopic stress state. This compromise leads to a model that is much more accessible to yield-limited design problems. Demonstration of performance for the HBH model is presented for an extensive …


Functionalization Of In-Plane Photonic Microcantilever Arrays For Biosensing Applications, Stanley J. Ness Oct 2012

Functionalization Of In-Plane Photonic Microcantilever Arrays For Biosensing Applications, Stanley J. Ness

Theses and Dissertations

Microcantilevers have been investigated as high sensitivity, label free biosensors for approximately 15 years. In nearly all cases, a thin gold film deposited on the microcantilevers is used as an intermediate attachment layer because of the convenience of thiol-gold chemistry. Unfortunately, this attachment chemistry can be unstable when used with complex sample media such as blood plasma. The Nordin group at BYU has recently developed an all-silicon in-plane photonic microcantilever (PMCL) technology to serve as a platform for label-free biosensing. It has the advantage of being readily scalable to simultaneous readout of many PMCLs in array format, and allows integration …


Syngas Impurity Effects On Cell Growth, Enzymatic Activities And Ethanol Production Via Fermentation, Deshun Xu Oct 2012

Syngas Impurity Effects On Cell Growth, Enzymatic Activities And Ethanol Production Via Fermentation, Deshun Xu

Theses and Dissertations

A syngas compositional database with focus on trace impurities was established. For this work, ammonia (NH3) and benzene (C6H6) effects on cell growth, enzymatic activities of hydrogenase and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), and product formation were studied. NH3, after entering media, will be converted rapidly to NH4+, which will raise the total osmolarity of the media. NH3, as a common nutrient for the cell growth, is not the real culprit for cell growth inhibition. In essence, it is the high osmolarity resulting from the accumulation of NH4+ in the media which disrupts the normal regulation of the cells. It was concluded …


Thermodynamic Kinetics And Efficiency Analysis Of Methyl Viologen, Chang Chen Oct 2012

Thermodynamic Kinetics And Efficiency Analysis Of Methyl Viologen, Chang Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Methyl Viologen (MV) is an electron mediator that has great possibilities to be used with an electrode system in which the electrode system provides electrons towards reducing MV species. MV has three redox states and they can be converted to each other via redox reactions on the surface of the electrode. The concentration of the three species of MV was related to the voltage potential applied to the system through a thermodynamic model. With the thermodynamic model the concentration of the three species can be predicted with different applied voltage potentials towards providing guidance for controlling the redox state of …


Wcet Optimizations And Architectural Support For Hard Real-Time Systems, Yiqiang Ding Oct 2012

Wcet Optimizations And Architectural Support For Hard Real-Time Systems, Yiqiang Ding

Theses and Dissertations

As time predictability is critical to hard real-time systems, it is not only necessary to accurately estimate the worst-case execution time (WCET) of the real-time tasks but also desirable to improve either the WCET of the tasks or time predictability of the system, because the real-time tasks with lower WCETs are easy to schedule and more likely to meat their deadlines. As a real-time system is an integration of software and hardware, the optimization can be achieved through two ways: software optimization and time-predictable architectural support. In terms of software optimization, we fi rst propose a loop-based instruction prefetching approach …


Force Optimization And Flow Field Characterization From A Flapping Wing Mechanism, Nathaniel Stephen Naegle Oct 2012

Force Optimization And Flow Field Characterization From A Flapping Wing Mechanism, Nathaniel Stephen Naegle

Theses and Dissertations

Flapping flight shows promise for micro air vehicle design because flapping wings provide superior aerodynamic performance than that of fixed wings and rotors at low Reynolds numbers. In these flight regimes, unsteady effects become increasingly important. This thesis explores some of the unsteady effects that provide additional lift to flapping wings through an experiment-based optimization of the kinematics of a flapping wing mechanism in a water tunnel. The mechanism wings and flow environment were scaled to simulate the flight of the hawkmoth (Manduca sexta) at hovering or near-hovering speeds. The optimization was repeated using rigid and flexible wings …


Minimization Of Collateral Damage In Airdrops And Airstrikes, Steven P. Dillenburger Sep 2012

Minimization Of Collateral Damage In Airdrops And Airstrikes, Steven P. Dillenburger

Theses and Dissertations

Collateral damage presents a significant risk during air drops and airstrikes, risking citizens' lives and property, straining the relationship between the United States Air Force and host nations. This dissertation presents a methodology to determine the optimal location for making supply airdrops in order to minimize collateral damage while maintaining a high likelihood of successful recovery. A series of non-linear optimization algorithms is presented along with their relative success in finding the optimal location in the airdrop problem. Additionally, we present a quick algorithm for accurately creating the Pareto frontier in the multi-objective airstrike problem. We demonstrate the effect of …


Effect Of Accessory Power Take-Off Variation On A Turbofan Engine Performance, Anis Faidi Sep 2012

Effect Of Accessory Power Take-Off Variation On A Turbofan Engine Performance, Anis Faidi

Theses and Dissertations

Engine fuel efficiency of aerospace vehicles can be reached by different techniques. One way to do that is to reduce aircraft subsystems power supply effects on the engine performance. Previous research work has showed that extracting bleed air from the high pressure compressor exit is more efficient than extracting the equivalent amount of energy from the low pressure spool shaft. A high bypass turbofan engine was modeled using the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS). The baseline engine performance was evaluated at different flight conditions of Mach number and altitude. To better understand the effect of air bleed take-off and shaft …


Application Of Seawinds Scatterometer Data To The Study Of Antarctic Icebergs, Keith Mitchell Stuart Sep 2012

Application Of Seawinds Scatterometer Data To The Study Of Antarctic Icebergs, Keith Mitchell Stuart

Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge of iceberg location and size is important for safety reasons as well as for understanding many geophysical and biological processes. This dissertation analyzes large tabular icebergs in the Southern Ocean using the SeaWinds scatterometer. SeaWinds is a spaceborne radar designed to measure the microwave backscatter from the Earth's surface. Using resolution-enhancement techniques, backscatter measurements are processed into backscatter images in which icebergs can be observed. An iceberg detection methodology is formalized using daily scatterometer images. Radar profiles from common Antarctic scatterers are quantified and an iceberg detection methodology is formalized using daily scatterometer images. Iceberg positions are determined in …


Liquid Jet Impingement Experiments On Micro Rib And Cavity Patterned Superhydrophobic Surfaces In Both Cassie And Wenzel States, Michael G. Johnson Sep 2012

Liquid Jet Impingement Experiments On Micro Rib And Cavity Patterned Superhydrophobic Surfaces In Both Cassie And Wenzel States, Michael G. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Experiments were performed to characterize hydraulic jumps that form due to liquid jet impingement on superhydrophobic surfaces with alternating micro-ribs and cavities. If the surface is unimmersed, a surface tension based transition into droplets occurs, so a known depth of water was imposed downstream from the hydraulic jump to ensure the existence of a hydraulic jump. The surfaces are characterized by the cavity fraction, which is defined as the width of a cavity divided by the combined width of a cavity and an adjoining rib. Four different surface designs were studied, with respective cavity fractions of 0 (smooth surface), 0.5, …


Effects Of Haptic And 3d Audio Feedback On Pilot Performance And Workload For Quadrotor Uavs In Indoor Environments, Robert Mark Philbrick Sep 2012

Effects Of Haptic And 3d Audio Feedback On Pilot Performance And Workload For Quadrotor Uavs In Indoor Environments, Robert Mark Philbrick

Theses and Dissertations

Indoor flight of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has many applications in environments in which it is undesirable or dangerous for humans to be, such as military reconnaissance or searching for trapped victims in a collapsed building. However, limited visual feedback makes it difficult to pilot UAVs in cluttered and enclosed spaces. Haptic feedback combined with visual feedback has shown to reduce the number of collisions of UAVs in indoor environments; however, it has increased the mental workload of the operator. This thesis investigates the potential of combining novel haptic and 3D audio feedback to provide additional information to operators of …