Engineering Commons^™

Uv Radiation Energy Consumption In Curing Process Of Epoxidized Sunflower Oil-Organoclay Hybrid Coatings, N Jiratumnukul, R Intarat

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

Epoxidized sunflower oil (ESO) can be cured with ultraviolet radiation using either cationic or hybrid initiation. The organoclay was prepared by the cationic exchange process, in which sodium ions were replaced by alkyl ammonium ions. Organoclay was incorporated into epoxidized sunflower oil UVcurable systems. The effects of diluents and types of photo initiators were studied. It was found that the formulations with a hybrid photoinitiator required less energy in the curing process than those with a cationic photoinitator. Moreover, the formulations without diluent can be cured with lower radiation energy than those with diluent.

Electrochemical Oxidation Process For Mineralization Of Solvent, A Charoensri, F Kobayashi, A Kimura, J Ishii

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

A silver mediated electrochemical oxidations is a promising technique for the destruction of organic compounds. The destruction of 30%tributyl phosphate in dodecane in a nitric acid medium containing electrogenerated Ag(II) to carbon dioxide was studied by using a laboratory scale electrochemical oxidation cell. The electrolyte used in this system was 0.5 M AgNO3 in the range of 3 - 7 M HNO3, at operating temperatures of 60ºC ± 5ºC, under ultrasonic agitation and the output of a DC power supply at constant the current was 60 A, respectively. Electrolysis was carried out for 5 hours. The results show that, in …

Neural Network Solution For Fixed-Final Time Optimal Control Of Nonlinear Systems, Tao Cheng

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

In this research, practical methods for the design of H2 and H-Infinity optimal state feedback controllers for unconstrained and constrained input systems are proposed. The dynamic programming principle is used along with special quasi-norms to derive the structure of both the saturated and optimal controllers in feedback strategy form. The resulting Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) and Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs (HJI) equations are derived respectively. Neural networks are used along with the least-squares method to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi differential equations in the H2 case, and the cost and disturbance in the H-Infinity case. The result is a neural network unconstrained or constrained feedback controller that …

Performance Analysis And Design Of Space-Time Codes, Chen Liao

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

In this dissertation, performance and design of space-time codes have been studied. The main objective of this dissertation has been to improve the performance of space-time codes. This dissertation covers a wide range of topics in space-time codes. It involves theoretical analysis, design, and implementation for space-time trellis codes, space-time turbo codes, and orthogonal space-time codes. We begin with the study of performance analysis of upper bound of pair-wise error probability (PEP) and exact PEP. The exact PEP is derived using a straightforward method. The exact PEP provides a better understanding of the performance behavior to the other range of …

Scalar Equilibria For N-Person Games, Narakorn Engsuwan

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

In this dissertation we develop a scalarization approach for one-shot, n-person games by defining the notion of Scalar Equilibria. We first show that existing solution concepts can be represented as Scalar Equlibria. For example, Regret, Disappointment, and Joint Equilibrium can be determined by defining Regret, Disappointment, and Joint Scalar Equilibria. These scalar equilibria are useful for finding pure strategies when pure Regret, Disappointment, and Joint Equilibria do not exist. Next, we present the Maximin Scalarization Equilibrium to yield maximin solution concept. In addition, we propose other Scalar Equilibria for various notions of rationality. The Aspiration Scalar Equilibrium is developed for …

Dynamic Stability Analysis Of Large-Scale Power Systems Using A Fast Investigation Method, Ming-Tse Kuo

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Following power market deregulation and the proposed standard market design, the activities of cross boundary power transactions are increased significantly. Traditional company based stability analysis can not satisfy today's operating environment. However, simulating the entire interconnection power system may exceed the capacity of existing commercial stability analysis software. Fortunately, most of the stability problems are started from the local level. One will be able to avoid most of the system wide stability issues by mitigating the problems in the early stage. Based on eigenvector decompositions of the Jacobian, this dissertation proposes a new algorithm for performing the dynamic stability problem …

Fabrication, Characterization And Hall Mobility Analysis Of Mos Devices With Low-K And High-K Dielectric Materials, Rakshit Agrawal

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Scaling of MOSFETS has led to leakage current problems in SiO2 dielectric based MOSFETS. This has led to the introduction of high-k dielectric materials which can afford greater physical thickness and achieve the same capacitance with lesser equivalent oxide thickness. But the high-k devices have certain limitations like channel mobility degradation. Mobility degradation in high-k MISFETS is discussed in this work using Hall measurements. The MOS devices were fabricated with SiO2 and HfSiO, on p-type silicon substrate. The fabrication process flow used for both type of MOS devices is explained. Characterization and analysis was performed for the determination of various …

Acuta Enews December 2006, Vol. 35, No. 12

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

From the President.................. Carmine Piscopo, Providence College

Board Report............... Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego State Univ., ACUTA Sec./Treasurer

DC Update.................. Jeanne Jansenius, Sewanee, The University of the South

FYI: Useful Information from the Campus...................... Student Monitor

Pumping Up PoE............................ GaryAudin, Delphi, Inc.

Site to See

Web Tip: Website Recognition Program........... Aaron Fuegrer, ACUTA Information Technology Manager

Info Links................. Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern Iowa

Thanks to Exhibitors for 2006

Welcome New Member

Experimental And Finite Element Based Investigations Of Shear Behavior In Reinforced Concrete Box Culverts, Anil Kumar Garg

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This study evaluates the shear behavior and capacity of the precast concrete box culverts subjected to HS 20 truck wheel load. The most critical culvert behavior was considered by studying culverts subjected to zero depth fill and placed on rigid laboratory floor without bedding material. Three major phases were considered to complete the study, which included: (1) experimental program; (2) finite element modeling; and (3) development of distribution width and the determination of shear capacity. A full-scale experimental testing program was undertaken to perform tests on 24 typical precast concrete box culverts designated as per ASTM C 1433-05 with and …

Investigation Of Soft Failure Of Small Form Factor Hdd Under Forced Vibration, K. T. Chua, A. Yudhanto, E. H. Ong, J. Q. Mou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

As small form factor hard disk drives (HDD) are increasingly used in portable consumer devices, the performance of the HDD in daily activity is highly concerned. In this paper, the soft failure of the hard disk drive under forced vibration is investigated. To investigate the cause of the soft failure, experimental frequency analysis was conducted. Modal analysis of HDD was completed by experiment and verified by FEM simulations and the result was compared to the frequency response result. Studies show that the vibration modes of head suspension assembly (HSA) and disk platter at higher resonant frequencies do not directly relate …

Correlation Of Numerical Ability And Quality Technician Best Performers In Manufacturing Quality Control Applications, Charles Wesley Shelton

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The occupation of Quality Technician has many duties requiring numerical operations. Business and industry place considerable emphasis on numerical ability when evaluating the performance of a Quality Technician. In this study, the numerical ability and performance classification of Quality Technicians were analyzed using a correlation analysis. lll A single case study was used to investigate this relationship. A modified Delphi Method was used to determine characteristics of a Quality Technician. Quality Technicians were evaluated by their direct supervisor and completed a standardized numerical ability test. The evaluations by the supervisor were used to classify each technician based on their performance. …

Determining The Probability Of The Visual Detection Of Sink Marks On Differently Textured Injection Molded Products, Kurt Frederick Hayden

Dissertations

The injection molding segment of the plastics industry has historically exhibited an environment of intense competition. To remain competitive, manufacturers must ensure that molds will produce defect-free parts without multiple design revisions. Designers often use computer simulations to predict design problems before the construction of tooling. These sophisticated software applications will soon have the ability to simulate the final appearance of products. However, the effects of aesthetic defects such as sink marks and splay are often difficult to simulate accurately and effectively.

It is understood that surface textures can conceal minor aesthetic defects. A well-known example is the concealment of …

Sustainable Barrier Sbs Paperboard Coatings Using Co-Polymerized Shape Engineered Pigments, Lokendra Pal

Dissertations

This study concentrates on the development, application, characterization and optimization of shape engineered pigments and co-polymerized sustainable coatings to provide solid bleached sulfate (SBS) board with a barrier against water, water vapor, and gasses. In contrast to off-line extrusion coating with unsustainable petroleum based products, conventional and co-polymerized shape engineered pigmented dispersion coatings were used to improve barrier, surface, optical and mechanical properties of an SBS board.

It is very important for package and quick-service wares made from coated SBS board to maintain barrier and mechanical properties at high humidity and temperature applications. The coated SBS board package should protect …

Decision Support Systems In Product Development: A Batesian Network Approach For Injection-Molded Products, Jason S. Trahan

Dissertations

Attribute defects cause a majority of the scrap for many manufacturers injection-molding aesthetic parts, yet these defects receive little attention duringproduct development. Methods for preventing attribute defects have been hampered by the inability to quantify complex cause-effect relationships. However, the qualities of a burgeoning branch of knowledge-based systems, called Bayesian networks, have benefited various fields faced with similar circumstances.Bayesian networks have the capability of presenting causal relationships between variables in a graphical structure and quantitatively explaining their effects throughout that structure. These effects can be characterized by probabilities derived from sources, such as equations, historical data, rules-of-thumb or expert knowledge. …

Robust Estimation Of Mahalanobis Distance In Hyperspectral Images, Eduardo C. Meidunas

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation develops new estimation methods that fit Johnson distributions and generalized Pareto distributions to hyperspectral Mahalanobis distances. The Johnson distribution fit is optimized using a new method which monitors the second derivative behavior of exceedance probability to mitigate potential outlier effects. This univariate distribution is then used to derive an elliptically contoured multivariate density model for the pixel data. The generalized Pareto distribution models are optimized by a new two-pass method that estimates the tail-index parameter. This method minimizes the mean squared fitting error by correcting parameter values using data distance information from an initial pass. A unique method …

Vacuum Chamber Construction And Contamination Study Of A Micro Pulsed Plasma Thruster, Jacob H. Debevec

Theses and Dissertations

The micro pulsed plasma thruster (micro-PPT) is a simple and versatile electric thruster capable of performing multiple missions, from precise attitude control on standard satellites to primary propulsion for nanosatellites. In order to fill this role as both industry and government move toward utilizing smaller satellites, micro-PPTs first need to be thoroughly tested on the ground. This study examines the deposition profile and rate of particle emission from the thruster so that satellite designers understand any potential contamination issues with sensitive instruments and solar panels. Employing a newly assembled vacuum chamber system, four tests were completed with the micro-PPTs, and …

Integrated Conceptual Design Of Joined-Wing Sensor Craft Using Response Surface Models, Josh E. Dittmar

Theses and Dissertations

A multidisciplinary conceptual design and analysis of Boeing's joined-wing SensorCraft has been conducted. This analysis was completed using geometrical optimization, aerodynamic analyses, and response surface methodology on a composite structural model. Phoenix Integration's Model Center was used to integrate the sizing and analysis codes found in Raymer's text, "Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach" as well as those from the NASA derived conceptual design tool AirCraft Synthesis (ACSYNT), and a modified Boeing Finite Element Model (FEM). This research demonstrated the utility of integrated low-order models for fast and inexpensive conceptual modeling of unconventional aircraft designs.

Marquette Interchange Installation Report, Marquette University, Transportation Research Center

Transportation Research Center: Marquette Interchange Instrumentation

Task three of the Perpetual Pavement Instrumentation Plan for the Marquette Interchange Project called for the installation of the various pavement sensors, data acquisition system, and various other components of the system outlined in the project proposal. The MU-TRC research team has successfully completed the installation of these various components of the system. This report fulfills the requirement of the installation report from task three in the project plan. This report is organized to describe in detail each specific component of the system. Most, but not all, of these details are written in the order they were completed.

Not every …

Computer Model To Select Leed Certification For Building Projects, Ruba Mirghani Mohammed

Masters Theses

According to the US Green Building Council (USGBC) residential and commercial buildings in the United State consume huge amounts of natural resources; pollute the environment, and generate large amounts of waste, all of which affect the environment, economy, public health, and productivity. As a result, USGBC committees developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system to help professionals improve the quality of buildings and lessen their impact on the environment.

The (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a point-based system for certifying the level of a building's sustainability. There are four LEED certification categories: (1) Certified, (2) …

Simulation Based Evaluation Of Parking Facilities, Niru Tiwari

Masters Theses

Transportation facility has emerged as one of the main indicators of a national's prosperity at the advent of 21^st century and is the backbone of American commerce and industry. There are over 600 million motor vehicles that are driven in the world today and the number of cars in use is expected to be doubled in next 30 years. As the number increases, more parking spaces should also be provided; however, it is difficult to supply sufficient parking space due to space limitations. To meet the need, new types of parking and new parking technologies have been introduced. However, …

Reliability-Based Optimization Of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composite Bridge Deck Panels, Michel D. Thompson, Christopher D. Eamon, Masoud Rais-Rohani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research Publications

A reliability-based optimization (RBO) procedure is developed and applied to minimize the weight of eight fiber-reinforced polymer composite bridge deck panel configurations. The method utilizes interlinked finite element, optimization, and reliability analysis procedures to solve the weight minimization problem with a deterministic strength constraint and two probabilistic deflection constraints. Panels are composed of an upper face plate, lower face plate, and a grid of interior stiffeners. Different panel depths and stiffener layouts are considered. Sensitivity analyses are conducted to identify significant design and random variables. Optimization design variables are panel component ply thicknesses while random variables include load and material …

Design And Optimization Of Heat Spreaders And Selection Of Fan In Laptop, Kranthi Kumar Manne Sambaiah

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Technical advancements lead to the need for faster processors and reduced sizes in electronic systems. The urge for faster and compact systems leads to two major problems. Firstly over heating of chips which degrade the chip performance and secondly formation of heat spots on the surface which makes the user uncomfortable. Thermal management engineers, as a result have a major challenge in improving the cooling systems. In this research project simulation using the thermal modeling tool selected is Icepak. The prototype model of the laptop is designed, boundary conditions are applied and analysis is done. The results so obtained in …

A Simple Numerical Method Of Cycle Jumps For Cyclically Loaded Structures, D. Cojocaru, Anette M. Karlsson

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

A method for accelerated numerical simulations of structures subjected to cyclic loading is investigated. Of particular interest is a class of structures where the structural properties evolve with time. The proposed method is based on conducting detailed finite element analysis for a set of cycles to establish a trend line, extrapolating the trend line spanning many cycles, and use the extrapolated state as initial state for additional FEA simulations. This includes a control function that automatically monitors the length of the cycle jump to ensure a realistic solution. We compare the proposed method to a reference calculation, where all incremental …

Arribot- An Enabler For Studying Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks, Jaymala Suresh Ghadigaonkar

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

The objective of this thesis is to structure a mobile wireless sensor network using low cost, custom made robotic platforms. Over the years, several projects have proved that the performance of a static wireless sensor network (WSN) is greatly enhanced by using mobile WSN for applications like adaptive exploration or in search and rescue missions where the network topology changes with changes in the environment. A low cost, mobile wireless sensor node known as the ARRI BOT has been designed to contribute along with other robotic platforms in structuring an ingenious mobile wireless sensor network (MSWN). The ARRI BOT has …

Physical Layer And Application Layer Issues Of Wireless Sensor Networks, Lingming Wang

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The potential for collaborative, robust networks of wireless sensors has attracted a great deal of research attention. For the most part, this is due to the compelling applications that wireless sensor networks will enable. Location sensing, environmental observation and surveillance, medical monitoring and a lot other applications are all gaining interest. However, wireless sensor network poses a large number of challenges. Among all, one of the most important challenges is design sensor networks that have long network lifetime, which will become especially difficult due to the energy-constrained nature of the sensor nodes. In this thesis, we focus on physical and …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Multifunctional Oxides For Force And Gas Sensors, Vaneet Sharma

Material Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

In this research work, the piezoresistivity phenomena in multifunctional oxides of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSMO) and composites of LSMO - (Ce0.12Zr0.88)O2 has been investigated for force and gas sensor applications in harsh environments including automobile and aerospace industry. In these applications, there is a need of material with high mechanical strength with multi sensing capabilities. The inherent sensing capabilities allow the material to be implemented at variety of platforms. Previously, LSMO polycrystalline ceramics have been studied as a cathode material in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). Owing to its colossal magnetoresistance properties, this material has also been extensively studied for use in …

Branch-And-Cut-And-Price Methods For Logistics Problems With Limited Risk, Hee-Su Hwang

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

There exist many uncertainties in a logistics system, such as unknown demand, unsteady fuel cost, machine breakdowns, and accidents to name a few. Logistics management is difficult because logistics managers must solve a global optimization problem, which includes eliminating as much uncertainty as possible, finding effective methods of managing uncertainty, and operating the entire logistics system effectively. To cope with uncertainty, many efforts have been made for vehicle routing problems. On the contrary, traditional ship-scheduling models ignore uncertainty, even in highly volatile markets. We present a set-packing model that limits risk using a quadratic variance constraint. After generating first-order linear …

Material Selection And Design Consideration For Moisture Damage Of Asphalt Pavement, Jamilla Emi Sudo Lutif, Yong-Rak Kim

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Reheat Treated Microstructures And Gamma Prime Particle Coarsening Behaviour At 900˚C Of Cast Nickel Based Superalloy In-738, S Polsilapa, P Sopon, N Panich, N Chuankrerkkul, A Thueploy

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

Long-term isothermal exposure tests were conducted on IN-738 alloy to evaluate the variation of gamma prime particle coarsening behavior after different rejuvenated heat treatment conditions. The longterm thermal exposure tests (up to 2,500 hours) were conducted at 900˚C to assess gamma prime particle coarsening behavior. Metallographic work had been performed on isothermally aged samples to characterize gamma prime coarsening as a function of heating time. At all investigated heating times, the gamma prime particles in all tested specimens were coarser than the initial reheat treated ones. The gamma prime particles appeared to coarsen more into a round shape or agglomerated …

The Influence Of The Strain Rate On The Material Properties Of The Zinc-Coated Sheet, Z Vadasová, M Mihaliková

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

In this paper the influence of the strain rate on the material properties of the zinc-coated sheet of the thickness (1; 1.5; 1.8) mm made from low-alloyed steel ZINKODUR 340 was analyzed. Increasing the strain rate is one of the possible ways to increase cold mechanical work in products. The tensile test is the most useful method for determining the material characteristic such as ductility. This contribution analyzes the influence of loading rate in range from 1 to 1000mm/min on material characteristics of tested steel during the tensile test. Strain rate is one of the most significant factors, which affected …