Engineering Commons^™

Drainage Of Sandplain Seeps For Salinity Control And Stock Water Supplies, Richard George, Peter Frantom

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Sandplain seeps are derived from a shallow groundwater system which flows from the deep sandplain soils upslope. Seeps result in small areas of salinity and waterlogging, which can be the focus of soil erosion. Sandplain seeps may represent as much as 10 per cent of Western Australia's salt problem in the drier agricultural area. Several drainage experiments conducted between 1986 and 1989 determined the best methods of reclaiming sandplain seeps.

This article discusses the results of these drainage experiments. It comments on the most suitable method for reclaiming sandplain seeps and developing them for stock water supplies.

Whole-Farm Planning : Success At Wilgi Creek, Kevin Shanhun

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Ian and Bev Lynch own Wilgi Creek, a 376 ha mixed farming property at West Mount Barker in the 700 mm rainfall zone. In 1983, they started a whole-farm plan to overcome the problems of declining production caused by waterlogging (their biggest problem), salinity and deterioration of the remnant native vegetation. Today, their property is an example of a successful, wholefarm land conservation plan based on agroforestry, timber production, water harvesting and improved pastures.

Combined Photolasticity And Elastostatic Boundary Element Method In Solid Mechanics Applications, Troy Duane Jensen

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

Considerable efforts have recently been made on combining experimental and numerical techniques in a so called "hybrid" method for stress analysis. One of these techniques is combining photoelastic "experimental" data with the boundary element "numerical" method. Most of this work has centered on using the boundary element method to solve the potential problem (i.e., Laplace's equation) where external boundary conditions must be specified. The results are combined with the photoelastic isochromatic information to separate the principal stresses at any desired interior location. This thesis, however, concentrates on combining the photoelastic data with the elastostatic boundary element method. This is advantageou~ …

Impulse, Carey Crouse, Dee Feickert

Impulse (Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering Publication)

Features:
[Page 2] EROS and SDSU join hands in international research
[Page 3] New aerospace project begins at SDSU
[Page 4] Energy Watch - Energy awareness committee's goal
[Page 5] Chamber gets message to alumni
[Page 5] New Agricultural Extension Network installed at SDSU
[Page 6] EED: Light up your future
[Page 7] Entrepreneur Award
[Page 8] John Kappenman - Alumnus leads effort to deploy 'watchdog' satellite
[Page 8] Russ Christiansen - A caring approach to management, engineering
College of Engineering Research and Outreach: 1-16 Center Section
Departments:
Students:
[Page 25] Pi Tau Sigma elects officers, welcomes members
[Page 25] …

Subsoiling, Contouring, And Tillage Effects On Erosion And Runoff, Paul J. Jasa, Elbert C. Dickey

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

A study to evaluate the effectiveness of subsoiling on reducing soil erosion and water runoff from continuous com production was conducted. A rotating boom rainfall simulator was used on replicated treatments having either preplant in-row subsoiling or postplant between-row subsoiling used in both tilled and untilled surface conditions. Tilled and untilled treatments without subsoiling were used as checks. These six treatments were used up-and-downhill and on the contour.

Subsoiling reduced the rate of water runoff but did not significantly reduce the soil erosion rate after equilibrium had been reached between water application and runoff rates. Surface condition and farming direction …

Analysis Of A Coordination Framework For Mapping Coarse-Grain Applications To Distributed Systems, Linda Ruth Schaefer

Dissertations and Theses

A paradigm is presented for the parallelization of coarse-grain engineering and scientific applications. The coordination framework provides structure and an organizational strategy for a parallel solution in a distributed environment. Three categories of primitives which define the coordination framework are presented: structural, transformational. and operational. The prototype of the paradigm presented in this thesis is the first step towards a programming development tool. This tool will allow non-specialist programmers to parallelize existing sequential solutions through the distribution, synchronization and collection of tasks. The distributed control, multidimensional pipeline characteristics of the paradigm provide advantages which include load balancing through the use …

Knowledge-Based Support For Management Of Concurrent, Multidisciplinary Design, Raymond E. Levitt, Yan Jin, Clive L. Dym

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Artificial intelligence (AI) applications to design have tended to focus on modeling and automating aspects of single discipline design tasks. Relatively little attention has thus far been devoted to representing the kinds of design 'metaknowledge' needed to manage the important interface issues that arise in concurrent design, that is, multidisciplinary design decision-making. This paper provides a view of the process and management of concurrent design and evaluates the potential of two AI approaches—blackboard architectures and co-operative distributed problem-solving (CDPS)—to model and support the concurrent design of complex artifacts. A discussion of the process of multidisciplinary design highlights elements of both …

Uplift Capacity Of Z-Purlins, Roger A. Laboube

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Roof systems constructed using cold-formed steel components, i.e., Z-shaped purlins and interconnected roof panels, have become a very popular form of construction. This roof system is used extensively for single-story commercial and industrial buildings in the United States. The popularity of cold-formed steel members is due in part to their superior gravity load strength-to-weight ratio; however, because of their relatively light weight, a cold-formed member is very susceptible to wind uplift loading. The design specification in the United States for cold-formed steel construction does not provide a comprehensive analytical solution to the problem of wind uplift strength of a cold-formed …

Transportation Synthetic Modeling For New Villages In Northeast Florida Using Fsutms, Yazan Kamal Haddad

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

The Villages of Seminole Forest is a fifty-eight-thousand acre developnent located between Clay arrl Putnam Counties in Northeast Florida and is proposed to have a build-out year in 2043. As required by the Florida Deparbnent of Conmunity Affairs (OCA) , a Developnent of Regional Irn:Pact {DRI) was prepared to study the impact that this developnent might exert on nunerous elements, such as wetlands, wildlife, water, soils, flood-plains, air, and transportation. The Florida Standard Urban Transportation M::>del Structure {FSU'IMS) was utilized in preparing the transportation elanent of the DRI. A roadway network for the project was developed, and FSU'IMS was …

The Enhancemnt Of N-Heptane Vapor Incineration Using Ozone And Hydrogen Peroxide, Michael William Hewett

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

Using a narrow bore quartz tube reactor set inside a three zone Lindburg furnace, a measured air stream with a known concentration of n-heptane was heated to temperatures between 637°C and 687°C. A separate measured air stream with known concentrations of ozone was injected just prior to the thermal zone of the reactor. The differences in heptane concentration entering and exiting the reactor under varying time, temperature, and ozone conditions were monitored with a gas chromatograph in an effort to generate kinetic data. The reactor was modeled as a first order plug flow reactor. The constants in the Arrhenius equation …

Acuta Enews January 1991, Vol. 20, No. 1

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

ECCI founder honored

Pocket phone test at UGA

Giving pays off for Emory

Digitizing X-rays

Illicall lists rates

Party Line

Toughening Mechanisms In Weak Matrix Ceramic Composites, Jowoong Ha

Doctoral Dissertations

"Tough behavior of ceramic matrix composites is closely related to the weak interface between fiber and matrix. The weak interfaces in composites have been provided by reducing the chemical bonding and the residual thermal stresses between constituents. A new way to introduce the weak interface by induced porosity or damaged zones, so called porosity toughening or damage toughening respectively, was proposed in this study to provide the rationale for guiding development of oxide/oxide composites. The existence of porosity toughening was examined by qualitative theoretical consideration and experiments. Porous oxide/oxide composites were fabricated using alumino-silicate fibers (Nextel 440) and magnesium alumino-silicate …

Enhancing Soil Conservation Practice Adoption With Targeted Educational Programs, Elbert C. Dickey, David P. Shelton, Paul J. Jasa

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Two independent, but closely related, grant funded educational programs were developed and implemented to reduce soil erosion in selected areas of eastern Nebraska. Traditional extension programming methods as well as other more non-traditional approaches were used extensively to enhance soil conservation practice adoption. In one program, encompassing 220 000 ha (540,000 acre) of cropland, annual soil erosion was reduced by 2.3 million t (2.5 million ton) and annual fuel savings of 1.5 million L (390,000 gal) were achieved through a reduction in the number of tillage operations. In the second project, more than 93 000 m (305,000 ft) of terraces …

Full-Wall Ventilation For Dairy Free Stall Barns, Larry M. Turner, John P. Chastain

Agricultural Engineering Extension Updates

Heat stress should be a greater concern than winter cold for dairymen in Kentucky. Heat stress can cause drops in milk production and breeding efficiency, which result in lower profits for the dairyman. The use of an open sidewall free stall barn can help relieve heat stress by allowing improved ventilation of the barn in summer. The benefits of full-wall ventilation include both improved air movement and some potential increase in evaporative cooling. The increased airflow through the barn increases convective cooling of the cows and carries off a greater amount of excess heat and moisture than conventional barns with …

Center For Computer And Information Sciences Master Of Science In Computer Information Systems Fall Courses 1991, Nova Southeastern University

College of Engineering and Computing Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Properties Of Ruthenium Oxide Coatings, Roger M. Hawk, Kamesh V. Gadepally, David N. Patangia

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Ruthenium oxide coatings have been deposited on titanium substrates using a flood coating process. These films were heat treated for varying times and temperatures. The resulting films subsequently were characterized by performing resistivity and SEM analyses. Resistivity of the ruthenium oxide coating was found to be extremely dependent upon the firing temperature. Effect of the process conditions and formulations of the coatings on the morphology with respect to their electrical characteristics is presented. Capacitors were fabricated using plates coated with ruthenium oxide coatings. Capacitance versus heat treatment temperatures are discussed and at one firing temperature (480'C), the capacitance was 50 …

Simple Synchronous Detector For Spectroscopic Studies, Mokhtar Mofidi, M. Keith Hudson, Reagan Cole, James D. Wilson

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Lock-in-amplifiers are used in many applications for signal processing and offer the ability to discriminate high levels of noise. While these instruments are very powerful and offer many features, they are not portable and are expensive. An economical and easy to use alternative circuit is presented which incorporates pre-amplification, reference, and synchronous detection on one circuit board. The design can be used in laboratory or process control situations where its small size and low cost are advantageous. The circuit was successfully applied to moderate and high level signals as seen in flame infrared emission detection and in a portable radiometer …

Linear Interpolation Lattice, Cameron K. Coursey, John A. Stuller

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Well-Known Analysis and Synthesis Filters of Linear Prediction Theory Are Extended Here to Include Linear Interpolation. © 1991 IEEE

Defect Structure, Nonstoichiometry, And Phase Stability Of Ca-Doped Ycro3, G. F. Carini, Harlan U. Anderson, M. M. Nasrallah, Don M. Sparlin

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The dependence of the defect structure of Ca-doped YCrO₃ on oxygen activity and temperature was investigated by high temperature thermogravimetric measurements. Defect models developed from electrical conductivity data obtained in a previous study were used to interpret the thermogravimetric data. A correlation was found between the electrical conductivity and the thermogravimetric data which suggested that these data were concomitantly dependent on the acceptor dopant and oxygen vacancy dependance of the thermodynamic parameters. Kröger-Vink type diagrams showing the regions of stability with respect to oxygen activity and temperature were constructed. The TGA data show that Ca-doped YCrO₃ is even …

Decoupled Dynamics For Control And Estimation, S. N. Balakrishnan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Decoupling of the dynamical equations in polar coordinates is used to develop a control scheme for use in target-intercept problems with passive measurements. By defining a pseudo control variable in the radial coordinate, the radial dynamics is made independent of the transverse dynamics. After solving for the radial control, the transverse control is determined through solutions to a two-point boundary value problem. Numerical results from a six degree-of-freedom simulation which used the decoupled control indicate that it is better than the completely Cartesian coordinate control for most of the cases considered. Decoupled control, though, is obtained iteratively through a two-point …

Disintegration Of Wood, Marian Mazurkiewicz

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Disintegration of a body of organic material involving subjecting the body to liquid jet action with the energy of the liquid as it impacts on the body such as to effect disintegration of the body into particles.

Unreachable Roots For Global Homotopy Continuation Methods, Soo Hyoung Choi, Neil L. Book

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Cold-Formed Steel Z-Sections With Sloping Edge Stiffness Under Axial Load, Roger A. Laboube

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

A Nuclear Fragmentation Energy Deposition Model, John W. Wilson, D. M. Ngo, T. N. Forgarty, W. W. Buck

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A formalism for target fragment transport is presented with application to energy loss spectra in thin silicon devices. A nuclear database is recommended that agrees well with the measurements of P.J. McNulty et al. (1980) using surface barrier detectors. High-energy events observed by P.J. McNulty et al. (1981), which are not predicted by intranuclear cascade models, are well represented by this work

Design Of Robust Controllers For Gas Turbine Engines, D. E. Moellenhoff, Vittal S. Rao, C. A. Skarvan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper describes robust controller design methodologies for gas turbine engines. A linear state variable model for the engine is derived using partial derivatives. The Linear Quadratic Gaussian with Loop Transfer Recovery (LQG/LTR) and the Parameter Robust Linear Quadratic Gaussian (PRLQG) robust controller design methodologies have been used to design a controller for gas turbine engines. A new method is proposed by combining the features of LQG/LTR and PRLQG methods and yields good robustness properties with respect to both unstructured uncertainties in the frequency domain and structured parameter variations in the time domain. The new procedure is illustrated with the …

Adaptive Gain Control And Contrast Improvement For Medical Diagnostic Ultrasound B-Mode Imaging System Using Charge-Couples Devices, Alan W. Bryant, Thomas J. Herrick

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A B-mode ultrasound imaging system operates by transmitting a high-frequency sound pulse and measuring the strength and time of flight of the reflected signal. The ultrasound signal may be attenuated as much as 60 dB in its round trip to a target and must be normalized so that contrast is not lost in the far field. Manual controls for adjusting receiver gain versus depth are common in many clinical uses but are impractical in most surgical applications. The goal of this project was to design a circuit to automatically adjust the gain. A two-dimensional low-pass filter is used to approximate …

Electric Field Induced Emission As A Diagnostic Tool For Measurement Of Local Electric Field Strengths, A. N. Dharamsi, K. H. Schoenbach

Bioelectrics Publications

The phenomenon of electric field induced (EFI) emission is examined in several diatomic and polyatomic molecules. The possibility of using this phenomenon as a diagnostic tool to measure, nonintrusively, the strength and direction of local electric fields in plasmas is discussed. An estimate of the EFI signal emitted in a typical application plasma is given. This yields a lower bound on the detector sensitivity necessary to exploit EFI emission in practical applications. It is concluded that, at present, the EFI signal could be measured by some very sensitive infrared detection schemes available. Current progress in infrared detector technology, if maintained, …

Continuum Modeling Methodology For Dynamic Behavior Of Towers, Khaled A. Obeid

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A very common problem in Civil Engineering is the analysis and design of lattice structures. These types of structures generally consist of repetitive sections and have been utilized in the erection of transmission and communication towers, space roof trusses, solar energy collectors, and space platforms. Since lattice structures consist of a significantly large number of members and subsequently a large number of nodes, the classical discrete technique of analysis can be very expensive even on today's modern computers. This study applies a rational approach which capitalizes on the repetitive nature of towers to develop the equivalent continuum model for the …

Numerical Modeling Of Flame Lift-Off Phenomenon And Calculation Of Thermal Loads On A Methane Fuel Injector With Complex Geometry, Taj O. Mohieldin

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A numerical study has been conducted to analyze a fuel injector with three in-line cylinder geometry that has been adopted as a model for investigating the combustion phenomenon in the 8-Foot High Temperature Tunnel (HTT) combustor at the NASA Langley Research Center. The primary objective here is to analyze the flame lift-off phenomenon in the three cylinder fuel injector geometry in two-dimensions. The fluid mechanics model used in the analysis includes time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations that are employed in conjunction with a two-equation k-$\epsilon$ model for predicting the effects of turbulence. Calculations were performed with three chemistry models, namely fast chemistry, …

Information Technology And Wealth: Cybernetics, History And Economics, Elin Whitney-Smith

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Capitalism developed where and when it did because there was high information access. There was high information access because of a major advance in information technology--the press. Where the technology was not controlled by the "powers that be" there was economic growth and a shift in the entire social structure. Where it was controlled there was no structural change and there was economic ruin. The development of capitalism is a major step change in economic growth. It is also a major change in the way people organize themselves into groups.

Major step changes in the growth and in the organization …