Engineering Commons^™

Relative Vectoring Using Dual Object Detection For Autonomous Aerial Refueling, Derek B. Worth, Jeffrey L. Choate, James Lynch, Scott L. Nykl, Clark N. Taylor

Faculty Publications

Once realized, autonomous aerial refueling will revolutionize unmanned aviation by removing current range and endurance limitations. Previous attempts at establishing vision-based solutions have come close but rely heavily on near perfect extrinsic camera calibrations that often change midflight. In this paper, we propose dual object detection, a technique that overcomes such requirement by transforming aerial refueling imagery directly into receiver aircraft reference frame probe-to-drogue vectors regardless of camera position and orientation. These vectors are precisely what autonomous agents need to successfully maneuver the tanker and receiver aircraft in synchronous flight during refueling operations. Our method follows a common 4-stage process …

New Models For Estimating Minimum Miscibility Pressure Of Pure And Impure Carbon Dioxide Using Artificial Intelligence Techniques, Attia Attia, Ahmed Ashraf Soliman Eng., John Shahat Eng., Sayed Gomaa Prof., Fares Ashraf El Salamony Prof.

Petroleum Engineering and Gas

CO2 miscible flooding stands out as one of the most-commonly employed and promising processes in enhanced oil recovery. The key factor for ensuring success in designing and executing CO2 injection projects lies in the precise determination of the Minimum Miscibility Pressure (MMP). Despite significant research endeavors in measuring and predicting the MMP through the use of empirical, analytical, numerical, and experimental approaches, the need for a comprehensive, accurate, efficient, and easy-to-use model remains. In response to this gap, our study developed various predictive models with 205 datasets, including well-established ones such as Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Random Forest (RF), and …

Increasing The Dissolution Rate Of Polystyrene Waste In Solvent-Based Recycling, Rita Kol, Ruben Denolf, Gwendoline Bernaert, Dave Manhaeghe, Ezra Bar Ziv, George W. Huber, Norbert Niessner, Michiel Verswyvel, Angeliki Lemonidou, Dimitris S. Achilias, Steven De Meester

Michigan Tech Publications

Solvent-based recycling of plastic waste is a promising approach for cleaning polymer chains without breaking them. However, the time required to actually dissolve the polymer in a lab environment can take hours. Different factors play a role in polymer dissolution, including temperature, turbulence, and solvent properties. This work provides insights into bottlenecks and opportunities to increase the dissolution rate of polystyrene in solvents. The paper starts with a broad solvent screening in which the dissolution times are compared. Based on the experimental results, a multiple regression model is constructed, which shows that within several solvent properties, the viscosity of the …

Machine Learning A Universal Harmonic Interatomic Potential For Predicting Phonons In Crystalline Solids, Huiju Lee, Yi Xia

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Phonons, as quantized vibrational modes in crystalline materials, play a crucial role in determining a wide range of physical properties, such as thermal and electrical conductivity, making their study a cornerstone in materials science. In this study, we present a simple yet effective strategy for deep learning harmonic phonons in crystalline solids by leveraging existing phonon databases and state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. The key of our method lies in transforming existing phonon datasets, primarily represented in interatomic force constants, into a force-displacement representation suitable for training machine learning universal interatomic potentials. By applying our approach to one of the largest …

Adsorption Of Crystal Violet Dye From Synthetic Wastewater By Ball-Milled Royal Palm Leaf Sheath, Neloy Sen, Nawrin Rahman Shefa, Kismot Reza, Sk Md Ali Zaker Shawon, Md. Wasikur Rahman

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The current study shows that using a batch approach to remove crystal violet dye from synthetic wastewater is feasible when using royal palm leaf sheath powder as an adsorbent. In order to investigate the effects of many parameters, including starting concentration, pH effect, dye concentration, adsorbent dose, contact time, and temperature, experiments were carried out under various operating conditions. Maximum removal was obtained at pH 6 and at a concentration of 100 ppm, which are considered as ideal values. The influence of pH and dye concentration was shown to be substantial. Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin isotherm models were fitted to …

Interpatient Differences In Neural Recruitment Patterns During Pudendal Nerve Stimulation – A Computational Investigation, Amolak S. Jhand, Luis C. Ruiz, Nystha Baishya, Ehsan Mirzakhalili, Gaurang Shah, Priyanka Gupta, Tim M. Bruns, Scott F. Lempka

Medical Student Research Symposium

Bladder dysfunction impairs the quality of life for millions of individuals around the world. Common causes of bladder dysfunction include aging, trauma, and neurological disorders. Due to inadequacies in conventional treatments, neuromodulation therapies to address bladder dysfunction, such as sacral nerve stimulation, have emerged. However, patient needs still remain unmet. Pudendal nerve stimulation (PNS) has recently gained clinical interest as a promising treatment for bladder dysfunction. While PNS has been extensively investigated in preclinical settings, there is a gap in our understanding of the mechanisms of action and efficacy of PNS as limited studies of PNS have been performed on …

Corrigendum To "Comparing Structure-Property Evolution For Pm-Hip And Forged Alloy 625 Irradiated With Neutrons To 1dpa" [Mater. Sci. Eng. A (2022) 144058], Caleb Clement, Sowmya Panuganti, Patrick H. Warren, Yangyang Zhao, Yu Lu, Katelyn Wheeler, David Frazer, Donna P. Guillen, David W. Gandy, Janelle P. Wharry

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The authors regret that after publication, they discovered that the dislocation loop number density was undercounted by a factor of 100 for both the PM-HIP and forged specimens. While this does not change the original major conclusions, this necessitates a change in the results presentation (Sections 3.2 and 4.1) and calculated hardening (Table 3, Fig. 5). Corrections to these affected sections are provided in this corrigendum.

Investigating Customer Churn In Banking: A Machine Learning Approach And Visualization App For Data Science And Management, Pahul Preet Singh, Fahim Islam Anik, Rahul Senapati, Arnav Sinha, Nazmus Sakib, Eklas Hossain

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Customer attrition in the banking industry occurs when consumers quit using the goods and services offered by the bank for some time and, after that, end their connection with the bank. Therefore, customer retention is essential in today’s extremely competitive banking market. Additionally, having a solid customer base helps attract new consumers by fostering confidence and a referral from a current clientele. These factors make reducing client attrition a crucial step that banks must pursue. In our research, we aim to examine bank data and forecast which users will most likely discontinue using the bank’s services and become paying customers. …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Quad-Component Bioinspired Hydrogels To Model Elevated Fibrin Levels In Central Nervous Tissue Scaffolds, Jennifer Steele, Dany J. Munoz-Pinto

Engineering Faculty Research

Multicomponent interpenetrating polymer network (mIPN) hydrogels are promising tissue-engineering scaffolds that could closely resemble key characteristics of native tissues. The mechanical and biochemical properties of mIPNs can be finely controlled to mimic key features of target cellular microenvironments, regulating cell-matrix interactions. In this work, we fabricated hydrogels made of collagen type I (Col I), fibrin, hyaluronic acid (HA), and poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) using a network-by-network fabrication approach. With these mIPNs, we aimed to develop a biomaterial platform that supports the in vitro culture of human astrocytes and potentially serves to assess the effects of the abnormal deposition of …

The Impact Of N-Doped Carbon Quantum Dots On Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Operating Under Diffused- And Low-Light Intensity, Mona Samir, Ahmed Agour, Zahraa Ismail, Hassan Nageh, Sameh O. Abdellatif

Electrical Engineering

This study investigates the double role of N-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) that operate under diffused- and low-light intensity conditions. We demonstrate that the incorporation of N-CQDs leads to a substantial improvement in the performance of DSSCs. Under standard one-sun illumination, the maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) achieved with N-CQDs is 2% higher than that of the bare cell. Moreover, we introduce two new metrics, the diffused-light coefficient and the low-light intensity coefficient, to evaluate the performance of DSSCs under nonideal illumination conditions. The diffused-light coefficient is recorded at 1.55, which indicates a notable enhancement …

Chatreview: A Chatgpt-Enabled Natural Language Processing Framework To Study Domain-Specific User Reviews, Brittany Ho, Ta'rhonda Mayberry, Khanh Linh Nguyen, Manohar Dhulipala, Vivek Krishnamani Pallipuram

All Faculty Articles - School of Engineering and Computer Science

We present ChatReview, a ChatGPT-enabled natural language processing framework that effectively studies domain-specific user reviews to offer relevant and personalized search results at multiple levels of granularity. The framework accomplishes this task using four phases including data collection, tokenization, query construction, and response generation. The data collection phase involves gathering domain-specific user reviews from public and private repositories. In the tokenization phase, ChatReview applies sentiment analysis to extract keywords and categorize them into various sentiment classes. This process creates a token repository that best describes the user sentiments for a given user-review data. In the query construction phase, the framework …

Modeling And Understanding Dispute Causation In The Us Public-Private Partnership Projects, Mohamad Abdul Nabi, Rayan H. Assaad, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The partnership between the public and private sectors has led to a new and innovative way of delivering infrastructure projects that is referred to as public-private partnership (PPP). There are various benefits associated with PPP delivery methods including risk sharing, access to private funding, innovation, and flexibility, among others. Despite the proved benefits, contract conflicts and disputes are very common in PPP projects. While previous research studies examined the risks and the potential causes of conflicts in PPP projects, little-to-no research efforts were directed to study and model the interconnectivities between the different causes of conflicts in PPP agreements. To …

Online Instructional Tools For Motor Carriers, Brian Howell, Jennifer Walton, Paul Ross, Andrew Martin

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Commercial motor carrier customers on Kentucky highways must register and pay taxes for licensing and credentialing requirements. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) provides an online Motor Carrier Portal that offers information and instructions on meeting these requirements, but customers have increasingly resorted to calling into KYTC’s motor carrier help desk, thereby straining limited personnel resources. The Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) coordinated with KYTC to develop a series of online instructional videos that can better assist customers with applying for and meeting credentialing requirements.

KTC researchers used a three-phase approach to determine the feasibility and requirements for instructional videos. First, they …

Advancement In Heavy Oil Upgrading And Sustainable Exploration Emerging Technologies, Youssef Yatimi, Jihane Mendil, Meena Marafi, Ahmed Alalou, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Upgrading heavy oil is a subject of high importance for fossil fuel industry due to the rapid depletion of light oil reservoirs and the consequent increased demand for upgrading heavy oil. In this review, the advancement made in heavy oil upgrading and the proposed sustainable emerging technologies dedicated to heavy oil processing have been discussed in a comprehensive and informative manner with consideration to the encountered associated with properties of heavy oil including its significant content of undesirable large molecular weight hydrocarbons, its high viscosity, and its elevated impurity level. The shortcomings of conventional crude oil upgrading technologies are outlined, …

Applications Of Plastics In The Automotive Industry: Current Trends And Future Perspectives, Hossein Abedsoltan

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Plastics have transformed the automotive industry, contributing substantially to automobile design, weight reduction, fuel efficiency, safety, and sustainability. This review paper examines the applications of plastics in the automotive sector, evaluates the present trends, and describes the future plastic consumption possibilities, emphasizing emerging technology and sustainable practices. The paper delineates how plastics have become an essential component of automotive innovation and illustrates the possibilities for additional breakthroughs in this dynamic industry. Highlights: Advances in plastics, bioplastics, and smart materials in the auto industry. Plastic role in design, safety, and sustainability in the auto industry. Recycling and the circular economy of …

Empathy, Education, And Awareness: A Vr Hackathon’S Approach To Tackling Climate Change, Noor Alqallaf, Dalia W. Elnagar, Sherif G. Aly, Khalil I. Elkhodary, Rami Ghannam

Faculty Journal Articles

Climate change education is crucial for fostering informed and engaged future generations. However, traditional pedagogies often fail to engage learners fully and provide real-world, experiential learning. This paper presents a novel approach to climate change education through a three-day virtual reality (VR) hackathon. The hackathon focused on four United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—Quality Education, Affordable and Clean Energy, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Climate Action. Using VR technology and game design software, engineering students worked in teams. They competed against each other in designing immersive environments that demonstrated their understanding of these SDGs and climate change. Our goal …

Hybrid Features Extraction For The Online Mineral Grades Determination In The Flotation Froth Using Deep Learning, Ahmed Bendaouia, El Hassan Abdelwahed, Sara Qassimi, Abdelmalek Boussetta, Intissar Benzakour, Abderrahmane Benhayoun, Oumkeltoum Amar, François Bourzeix, Karim Baïna, Mouhamed Cherkaoui, Oussama Hasidi

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

The control of the froth flotation process in the mineral industry is a challenging task due to its multiple impacting parameters. Accurate and convenient examination of the concentrate grade is a crucial step in realizing effective and real-time control of the flotation process. The goal of this study is to employ image processing techniques and CNN-based features extraction combined with machine learning and deep learning to predict the elemental composition of minerals in the flotation froth. A real world dataset has been collected and preprocessed from a differential flotation circuit at the industrial flotation site based in Guemassa, Morocco. …

Impact Of The New Context Functional Classifications For Kytc, Arlen Sandlin, Jill Asher, Nikiforos Stamatiadis, Jeff Jasper, Rachel Catchings, Chris Van Dyke

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

State transportation agencies are adopting an expanded context classification system to inform project development and delivery. This system classifies roadways into one of five categories based on factors such as level of development, building densities and setbacks, multimodal user patterns and requirements, network permeability, and speed. Compared to functional classification, context classification better captures the types of mobility, travel patterns, and user mixes observed in specific contexts. The expanded context classification system is found in AASHTO’s A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets (7^th Edition). The forthcoming 8^th edition will deepen integration of context classification throughout …

Pl 43 Traffic Forecasting Report 2023, Mei Chen, Xu Zhang, Eugene Antwi

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This document is the seventh edition of the Traffic Forecasting Report (TFR) for the state of Kentucky. TFR data are important for multiple engineering applications that involve analyzing temporal and spatial variability in traffic distributions and volumes. Most of the metrics discussed in the report were computed using data from 2019, 2021, and 2022 — excluded from consideration were 2020 data because they exhibited anomalous traffic patterns tied to shutdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Data summarized in this report include average daily traffic, annual average daily truck traffic, travel activity by vehicle type, weekday and weekend hourly volume percentages, …

Designing An Optical Router Based On A Multimode-Interference Silicon-On-Insulator Coupler With Tunable Power Transmittance, Dana S. Akil, Muhammad A. Othman, Sherif M. Sherif, Mohamed A. Swillam

Faculty Journal Articles

The demand on fast and high-bandwidth data transmission is in continuous increase. These demands are highly dependent on optical signal manipulation, including switching, modulation, and routing. We demonstrate a two-port silicon optical router based on the multimode interferometer (MMI) configuration. The same MMI structure was used for both inward and backward waveguiding to reduce the total length of the device. A phase shifter consisting of two ring-like waveguides made of silicon p-n junctions was used to introduce the phase shift needed for optical routing upon voltage application. Two designs for the MMI optical router were studied: Firstly, a conventional MMI …

Numerical Back Analysis Of An Underground Bulk Mining Operation Using Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors For Model Calibration, Samuel Nowak, Taghi Sherizadeh, Mina Esmaeelpour, Paul Brooks, Dogukan Guner, Kutay Karadeniz

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Numerical Modeling Of Complex Underground Engineering Projects Such As Caverns, Tunnels, And Bulk Mining Zones Is An Essential Part Of The Design Phase. Large-Scale Models Require Significant Reductions In Complexity From The Real-World Scenario, Which Often Leads To Low Confidence In The Model Output. In This Work, A Mine-Scale Numerical Model Is Developed To Simulate A Room And Pillar Extraction Mining Operation. The Model Inputs Are Calibrated Through The Comparison Of The Model Response To Pillar Extraction In An Analogous Mine Geometry With Measured Strain Values Collected Using A Novel Distributed Optical Fiber Strain Sensing Technique After Pillar Extraction. Calibration …

Dynamic Model Of Ac-Ac Dual Active Bridge Converter Using The Extended Generalized Average Modeling Framework, Kartikeya Jayadurga Prasad Veeramraju, Jonathan W. Kimball

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The ac-ac dual active bridge (DAB) converter is an advanced bidirectional two-port grid interface converter that facilitates active and reactive power flow control between two grids without a dc-link capacitor. This article presents a novel modeling approach for the ac-ac DAB converter using the extended generalized average modeling (EGAM) technique. Unlike the conventional generalized average modeling (GAM) framework, the ac-ac DAB converter's dynamic state variables, including the leakage inductor current and ac grid side LC filters, exhibit grid and switching frequency components, making the standard GAM framework unsuitable for dynamic modeling involving two distinct excitation frequencies. Furthermore, the 2-D GAM …

Multilayered Energy Management Framework For Extreme Fast Charging Stations Considering Demand Charges, Battery Degradation, And Forecast Uncertainties, Waqas Ur Rehman, Jonathan W. Kimball, Rui Bo

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

To achieve a cost-effective and expeditious charging experience for extreme fast charging station (XFCS) owners and electric vehicle (EV) users, the optimal operation of XFCS is crucial. It is, however, challenging to simultaneously manage the profit from energy arbitrage, the cost of demand charges, and the degradation of a battery energy storage system (BESS) under uncertainties. This article, therefore, proposes a multilayered Mult timescale energy flow management framework for an XFCS by considering long- and short-term forecast uncertainties, monthly demand charges reduction, and BESS life degradation. in the proposed approach, an upper scheduling layer (USL) ensures the overall operation economy …

A Novel And Enhanced Calibration Of The Tilting Weir As A Flow Measurement Structure, Joseph E. Pugh, S. Karan Venayagamoorthy, Timothy K. Gates, Céline Berni, Marie Rastello

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A large collection of laboratory measurements of piezometric head (h) and discharge (Q) were made over hydraulic models of a tilting weir at nine different angles, ranging from 25.7° to 90° within a 0.3-m-wide flume. These measurements were corroborated with additional laboratory data taken within a 1-m-wide flume across four inclination angles. The range of both inclination angle (θ) and flow scale examined in this study elucidate the nature of the head-discharge rating equation beyond previous work. Results show that as θ decreases under a constant Q, the h over the weir decreases in a monotonic fashion due to the …

Circular Economy Policies For Decarbonization Of Us Commercial Building Stocks: Data Integration And System Dynamics Coflow Modeling Approach, Radwa Eissa, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Despite the recognition of the built environment as a sector with high potential for reducing embodied emissions, there is a lack of national-level data on embodied carbon emissions attributed to the US commercial building stocks. Hence, there is a need to benchmark the current state of embodied emissions attributed to the commercial built environment and the impact of circular economy (CE) policies for their decarbonization to facilitate well-informed decision-making. This paper fills this knowledge gap through providing policy makers with a framework that estimates the current and future projections of embodied carbon emissions attributable to the US commercial building stocks …

Effect Of Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicles On Tire–Pavement Contact Forces, Jaime Hernandez, Angeli Jayme, Johann J. Cardenas Huaman, Imad L. Al-Qadi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Electric vehicles offer higher acceleration than conventional internal combustion engines due to larger engine torque. The design and placement of battery packs in heavy-duty electric vehicles are still being optimized, as they can affect axle load distributions and consequently impact pavement analysis and design. This study presents a finite element model of a dual tire assembly considering varying load and acceleration conditions to investigate the effect of conventional and electric heavy-duty vehicles on tire–pavement contact forces. Three scenarios for battery pack locations were examined, leading to six loading conditions for both internal combustion engines and electric trucks. The resulting 3D …

Dielectric Properties Of Polycrystalline And Single-Crystal Magnesium Oxide At High Temperatures, Alan Devoe, Hung Trinh, Fatih Dogan

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The electrical properties of high-purity magnesium oxide (MgO) samples sintered between 1500 and 1650°C were investigated up to 800°C. Dielectric constant, loss tangent and electrical conductivity were measured between 25 and 800°C. Optimum electrical properties were obtained for the sample sintered at 1600°C. The impurities in polycrystalline and single crystal MgO were discussed to understand their effect on electrical properties and the role of grain boundaries. Higher dielectric losses of polycrystalline samples as compared to the single crystal MgO were attributed to the presence of grain boundaries. MgO could be a useful dielectric material for capacitor applications up to 600°C.

A Priori Procedure To Establish Spinodal Decomposition In Alloys, Simon Divilov, Hagen Eckert, Cormac Toher, Rico Friedrich, Adam C. Zettel, Donald W. Brenner, William G. Fahrenholtz, Douglas E. Wolfe, Eva Zurek, Jon Paul Maria, Nico Hotz, Xiomara Campilongo, Stefano Curtarolo

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Spinodal decomposition can improve a number of essential properties in materials, especially hardness. Yet, the theoretical prediction of the onset of this phenomenon (e.g., temperature) and its microstructure (e.g., wavelength) often requires input parameters coming from costly and time-consuming experimental efforts, hindering rational materials optimization. Here, we present a procedure where such parameters are not derived from experiments. First, we calculate the spinodal temperature by modeling nucleation in the solid solution while approaching the spinode boundary. Then, we compute the spinodal wavelength self-consistently using a few reasonable approximations. Our results show remarkable agreement with experiments and, for NiRh, the calculated …

The Janssen Effect And The Chini Ordinary Differential Equation, Adam Rogers, George Dyck, Jitendra Paliwal, Kurt Hildebrand, Michael D. Montross, Aaron P. Turner

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The Janssen effect describes the increase in pressure with depth in granular materials. However, the original Janssen formulation treats the density as constant. In this work, we examine parametric density models that depend on both pressure and moisture content and allow for temperature dependence to be easily included. We focus on physically-motivated empirical models that are built on power-law terms. These power-law terms correspond to thermodynamic equations of state, such as the ideal gas law, and polytropic processes. When coupled with the Janssen ordinary differential equation (ODE), these power-law models have the form of a Chini ODE. We study the …

Protocol For Modeling And Simulating Lithiation-Induced Stress In Largely Deformed Spherical Nanoparticles Using Comsol, Yong Li, Yungpeng Guo, Yunhao Wu, Yin Rao, Kai Zhang, Dashun Liu, Fuqian Yang

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Here, we present a finite element method-based scheme for solving coupled par- tial differential equations (PDEs) for the analysis of lithiation-induced stress in largely deformed spherical nanoparticles via the PDE module in COMSOL. We describe steps for software installation and setting PDEs, initial/boundary condi- tions, and mesh parameters. We then detail procedures for dividing the mesh and analyzing lithium trapping during electrochemical cycling. This protocol can also be extended to analyze a wide range of problems involving diffusion-induced stress. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Li et al.