Engineering Commons^™

General Response Of Kneading-Compacted Unsaturated Silty Sand Under Drained And Undrained True Triaxial Testing, Sangchul Pyo

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

A comprehensive series of 36 drained and 36 undrained true triaxial tests was accomplished to investigate the stress-strain-strength behaviour of kneading-compacted unsaturated silty sand (SP-SM) under multi-axial stress states. Test specimens were prepared at three different initial moist contents (6, 8, 10%) to achieve different compaction-induced suction conditions prior to testing. All samples were then subjected to either a drained or undrained multi-axial stress paths, including conventional triaxial compression (CTC), triaxial compression (TC), triaxial extension (TE), or simple shear (SS) stress path. Initial compaction-induced matric suction was assessed via the SWCC of test soil. The experimental program focuses on soil …

Photocatalytic Degradation Of Vocs, Toxics And Odors From Air Emissions Of Wastewater Treatment Plants And Municipal Solid Waste Landfills, Mita Suresh Upadhyay

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) require more stringent controls of sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Air quality managers at the state level are responsible for developing State Implementation Plans (SIPs) to improve regional air quality. Both wastewater treatment and landfills facilities are sources of VOCs, HAPs and odors. This research examines the effectiveness of photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) in treating emissions from wastewater and landfill facilities. PCO rate constants of compounds such as methane, o-xylene, m-xylene, p-xylene and carbonyl sulfide are determined over titanium dioxide (TiO2) catalyst in a continuous mixed-batch reactor. The …

Evaluation Of Resilient Modulus Of Cement And Cement-Fiber Treated Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (Rap) Aggregates, Ajay Potturi

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Natural aggregates derived from a variety of source rocks have been used as a road base material. But the extraction of natural aggregates resources is increasingly being constrained by urbanization, increased costs and environmental concerns. Thus, increased amounts of reclaimed materials are being used to supplement natural aggregates in road construction. The 1993 EPA report mentioned that approximately 73 million tons of asphalt pavement material was recycled annually, which amounts to about 80% of the asphalt removed from pavements each year. The use of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) materials in road construction reduces both the amount of construction debris disposed …

Ccfss News Fall 2006, Wei-Wen Yu Center For Cold-Formed Steel Structures

CCFSS Newsletters (1999 - 2008)

No abstract provided.

Recirculating Loop Testbed For All Optical 2r Regeneration, Pallavi Govind Patki

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

This Master's thesis deals with building a recirculating loop testbed intended for proof-of-principle demonstration of multichannel all-optical 2R regenerator proposed in [1]. The proposed multichannel 2R regeneration scheme uses multiple highly-nonlinear-fiber (HNLF) sections separated by dispersion-compensating periodic-group-delay devices (PGDDs). The high cost and limited availability of these devices restrict us to working with just one PGDD, instead of 16 required by the scheme. Thus, for the proof-of-principle demonstration of the regenerator we have to put a single PGDD and a piece of HNLF into a recirculating loop through which light will circulate for required number of times. In this thesis, …

Optimization Models For Leishmaniasis Control: A Case For Bihar, India, Kaushik Gorahava

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Leishmaniasis, is a family of infectious diseases, which mostly affects poor and developing countries. The highest prevalence and mortality rate of Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) the world over occurs in Bihar state of India. Many disease control methods are available; however, procedures aimed at reducing sandfly population by spraying insecticide have been the most effective for controlling VL in Bihar. In this dissertation, optimization models for the control of Leishmaniasis are developed and analyzed. Novel optimization models are built and analyzed to identify the optimal amount of insecticide allocated for controlling the spread of VL in Bihar. Since the vector (disease …

Rf Mems And Integrated Manufacturing For Miniaturized Millimeter-Wave Systems, Ying Cai

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Recently millimeter-wave systems have attracted more attentions in applications owing to their short wavelengths, high resolutions, broad bandwidths and high environmental tolerance. However, the great challenges of high fabrication and assembly costs, bulky volume, and heavy weight of millimeter-wave systems call for new integrated manufacturing techniques and novel architectures. The micro hot embossing technique integrated with other microfabrication techniques could address these challenges. In this dissertation, the micro plastic hot embossing technique was presented for the fabrication of miniaturized millimeter-wave systems. The micro hot embossing on plastic materials demonstrated its advantages on significant costs, volume, and weight reduction, while maintaining …

Electromagnetic Wave Scattering From Vegetation, Xiaoyan Huang

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation contains the theoretical study of microwave scattering from vegetated media and the development of microwave scattering models with applications to these media. A vegetation canopy may consist of deciduous or coniferous leaves, branches, and trunks with certain size and orientation distributions. The formulation of the scattering model for each element of the canopy is carried out and its scatter patterns versus its size and orientation for like and cross polarizations are computed and presented. In particular, an extension is made where vegetation with a compound-leaf pattern is considered. For this type of vegetation, several leaves that form a …

Device Level Vacuum Packaged Microbolometers On Flexible Substrates, Aamer Mahmood

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Micromachined microbolometers on flexible substrate have been fabricated and characterized. Liquid polyimide PI5878G made by HD Microsystems has been used to form the flexible substrate. Semiconducting Yttrium-Barium-Copper-Oxide (commonly referred to as YBCO) is the temperature sensitive material. These detectors are supported by thin micromachined layers of silicon nitride on flexible polyimide PI5878G. The devices were characterized for temperature dependent resistance (R(T)), the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR, ), responsivity , detectivity (D*) and thermal conductance (Gth). A typical device had a resistance of 3.76 MI and a TCR of -2.63 %/K at 301 K. The measured thermal conductance was W/K. …

Nonlinear Control Of Microelectromechanical Systems (Mems) Devices, Kwadwo Osei Owusu

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Different actuation principles have been developed for MEMS but electrostatic actuators are the most common. A significant drawback in the use of electrostatic actuators for some applications is their nonlinear voltage to position characteristics. Analog operation of these devices requires the use of feedback to stabilize and linearize them. Controlling and optimizing the operation of electrostatic controllers using feedback requires the establishment of the complete and accurate dynamical model of the device. In this thesis, we show how an optical switch driven by a MEMS electrostatic comb drive is controlled to guarantee its performance, stability and reliability for use in …

3d Interconnects For Die And Wafer Stacks, Rachita Dewan

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

3D integration results from the ever demanding trend towards smaller and lower-profile, lighter and lower cost packaged devices requires further package miniaturization. With the present System-on-chip (SOC) technology reaching its limitation in terms of functionality and cost, effort are being concentrated on exploring the third dimension, i.e. 3D integration. It provides a volumetric packaging solution for higher integration and performance and results in size and weight reduction. Approaches to achieve 3D integration are die and wafer stacking. A key technology to realize the potential of stacking is implementation of vertical electrical interconnects between die and wafer stacks. This thesis discusses …

The Design And Analysis Of Optical Scanners For Optical Coherence Tomography, Naresh Dhaubanjar

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

A miniature fiber optic scanner capable of two-dimensional scanning for medical imaging is designed and developed. The scanner is actuated externally using an electromagnet. Nickel gel, a soft ferromagnetic material, is coated on the optical fiber. The performance of the scanner is characterized. Finite element analysis is performed to validate the theoretical and experimental results. A design and analysis of a cantilever type electrostatic zipping actuator and a bidirectional vertical thermal actuator are presented. The actuation principle, lumped modeling analysis, experimental results, and finite element analysis of both actuators are presented. The actuators are characterized statically and dynamically using the …

Modeling And Performance Evaluation Of A Power Electronic-Based Controlled Fuel Cell System, Yashar Ehsan Kenarangui

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

In fuel cell applications, design of an appropriate controller and selection of an Ultra-Capacitor require a suitable model of fuel-cell-systems that can adequately represent the significant characteristics of the system. Such a model, using lumped circuit elements, was developed in this thesis via a simple method without requiring fuel cell design parameters. To validate the model, simulation results from the model were compared against the results from experimental setups and satisfactory results were obtained. Later, this model was used in order to design a controller that meets the control objectives, namely, regulation of output voltage and attenuation of load current …

Acuta Enews August 2006, Vol. 35, No. 8

ACUTA Newsletters

In This lssue

Report from the 35th Annual ACUTA Conference

From the President: Generations X and Y.............. Carmine Piscopo, Providence College

Tech Talk: TWAMP Will Help Track lP Network Performance............... Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

lnfo Links.................... Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern lowa

Web Tip: Conference Audio/Video Available Aaron Fuehrer, ACUTA lnformation Tech. Mgr.

ACUTA One-Day Workshop: Making Convergence Work

FYI: Useful lnformation from Campus............... Student Monitor

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

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

Network Redundancy Options..................... Rick Cunningham, PAETEC Communications

Welcome New Members

Committee Profile: Publications Committee

Experimental Investigations On Small-Strain Stiffness Properties Of Partially Saturated Soils Via Resonant Column And Bender Element Testing, Phayak Takkabutr

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

A comprehensive series of resonant column (ASTM D 2325-68), bender element (ASTM C 778), pressure plate (ASTM D 4015-92), and filter paper (ASTM D 5298) tests were conducted on compacted specimens of poorly graded sand (SP) and high plasticity clay (CH) in order to assess the influence of key environmental factors, namely compaction-induced matric suction and Ko stress state, on small-strain stiffness properties of partially saturated soils. Compaction-induced matric suction in all test specimens was estimated via soil-water characteristic curves (SWCC) for each type of soil. The research work was accomplished in six broad stages. During Stage I, a modified …

Mode Choice Models For Long Distance Travel In Usa, Isaradatta Rasmidatta

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The influences of technology and economic development on human activity are increasingly taking place on larger spatial scales. As a consequence, complementary interactions between urban regions are getting stronger, which causes urban regions to change. In order to stimulate the integration between regions and states level, policy makers need increased knowledge of the factors that influence long distance travel. From an environmental perspective, long distance trips can be very important because most of the trips are made in personal vehicles or airplanes that affect emissions and fuel consumption. Mode choice alternatives for long distance travel include: personal vehicle, air, and …

Statistical Modeling Approach To Airline Revenue Management With Overbooking, Sheela Siddappa

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

A Revenue Management (RM) method in the airline industry plays a very important role in maximizing revenue under various uncertainty issues, like customer demand, the number of seats to be maintained in inventory, the number of seats to be overbooked, etc. In this dissertation, a Markov decision process (MDP) based approach using statistical modeling is presented. Prior versions of this statistical modeling approach have employed remaining seat capacity ranges from zero to the capacity of the aircraft. In reality, actual remaining capacities are near capacity when the booking process begins and near zero when the flights depart. Thus, our modified …

Matched Filter Detection And Identification Of Electronic Circuits Based On Their Unintentional Radiated Emissions, Ahmed Shaik, Haixiao Weng, Xiaopeng Dong, Todd H. Hubing, Daryl G. Beetner

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper describes a method for detecting electronic circuits based on their unintentional electromagnetic emissions. This concept can be applied to help find hidden electronic devices such as video cameras, active microphones, timers and computers.

Microwave Quantitative Nde Technique For Dielectric Slab Thickness Estimation Using The Music Algorithm, Mohamed A. Abou-Khousa, R. Zoughi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Non-invasive monitoring of dielectric slab thickness is of great interest in various industrial applications. This paper focuses on estimating the thickness of dielectric slabs, and consequently monitoring their variations, utilizing wideband microwave signals and the MUtiple SIgnal Characterization (MUSIC) algorithm. The performance of the proposed approach is assessed by validating simulation results with laboratory experiments. The results clearly indicate the utility of this overall approach for accurate dielectric slab thickness evaluation.

Numerical Analysis Of Sandwiched Composite-Fss Structures, Rui Qiang, Ji Chen, Jingyu Huang, Marina Koledintseva, Richard E. Dubroff, James L. Drewniak, Fan Yang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A numerical technique to analyze shielding effectiveness of sandwiched FSS-composite structures is proposed. This technique is based on using a dispersive FDTD method in conjuncture with a novel periodic boundary condition to model sandwiched FSS-composite elements. Results show that by inserting single or multilayered FSS elements into composite materials, better shielding effectiveness can be achieved.

Characterizing Package/Pcb Pdn Interactions From A Full-Wave Finite-Difference Formulation, Shishuang Sun, David Pommerenke, James L. Drewniak, Kai Xiao, Sin-Ting Chen, Tzong-Lin Wu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel approach of equivalent circuit model extraction is developed for modeling of integrated package and PCB power distribution networks (PDN). The integrated PDNs are formulated from a full-wave finite-difference algorithm, and the resulting matrix equations are converted to equivalent circuits. The equivalent circuits, as well as the decoupling capacitors and the attached circuit components, can be analyzed with a SPICE-like solver in both the time and frequency domains. The modeling of dielectric loss is also addressed. The method is used to model three PDN problems including a simple power bus, a BGA package mounting on a PCB, and a …

Common-Mode Radiation Resulting From Hand-Assembled Cable Bundles On Automotive Platforms, Shishuang Sun, James L. Drewniak, David Pommerenke

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A statistical cable harness model is developed to account for the random disturbance of the wire positions along hand-assembled bundles. The non-uniform random bundles are modeled as n-cascaded segments of uniform multi-conductor transmission line. At each section, all wire positions are disturbed with random numbers obeying a Gaussian distribution. In addition, a spline interpolation function is used to improve the smoothness of wires winding along the bundle. The common-mode current distribution along the bundle calculated with SPICE is injected into a full-wave tool, e.g., FDTD, as impressed current sources. Thus, the full-vehicle electromagnetic emissions from the automotive harness can …

A Compact Digitally Controlled Fuel Cell/Battery Hybrid Power Source, Zhenhua Jiang, Roger A. Dougal

Faculty Publications

A compact digitally controlled fuel cell/battery hybrid power source is presented in this paper. The hybrid power source composed of fuel cells and batteries provides a much higher peak power than each component alone while preserving high energy density, which is important and desirable for many modern electronic devices, through an appropriately controlled dc/dc power converter that handles the power flow shared by the fuel cell and the battery. Rather than being controlled to serve only as a voltage or current regulator, the power converter is regulated to balance the power flow to satisfy the load requirements while ensuring the …

2006 Safety Belt Usage Survey In Kentucky, Kenneth R. Agent, Eric R. Green

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of this study was to establish 2006 safety belt and child safety seat usage rates in Kentucky. The 2006 survey continues to document the results after enactment of the original “secondary enforcement” statewide mandatory safety belt law in 1994 and the change to “primary enforcement” which was enacted in 2006. Data were collected at 200 randomly selected sites spread across Kentucky. Data from the individual sites were combined into a statewide percentage considering roadway functional classification, geographic region, and vehicle miles traveled. The data show that the usage rate in 2006 (67.2 percent) was slightly higher than that …

An Analysis Of The Direct And Indirect Costs Of Utility And Right-Of-Way Conflicts On Construction Roadway Projects, Paul M. Goodrum, Fady Kari, Adam Smith, Ben Slaughter, Chris N. Jones

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Utility conflicts are unfortunately a common occurrence on many roadway projects. This report examines the frequency and severity of utility conflicts both within and outside of Kentucky. Understanding which type of utility conflicts most likely occur and the potential magnitude of their costs when will help the Cabinet better understand the risk of utility conflicts on future projects. The report details a series of five case studies that quantified the direct and indirect costs of utility conflicts on previous projects. The report also reports on the result a national survey of 45 state utility directors (out of a possible of …

Selection Of Attractor Sounds For An Audio-Based Navigation System For The Visually Impaired, Brad Salisbury

Masters Theses

Research in to human hearing has been very ‘laboratory’ oriented in the sense that the test environments do not replicate most ‘real world’ situations [J.C. Middlebrooks and D.M. Green, Ann. Rev. of Psychology, 42, 135-159 (1991)]. While very useful information is gained from these types of tests, it is difficult to see how ‘real world’ situations affect sound source localization, recognition, and navigation (walking/way finding) performance. Such information is especially important to people who are visually impaired and dependent on prior knowledge of the environment or audio cues for travel. The research reported here was conducted during the development of …

Parameters Affecting Critical Heat Flux Of Nanofluids: Heater Size, Pressure Orientation And Anti-Freeze Addition, Madhav Rao Kashinath

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

This research aims at investigating the effect, heater size, pressure, heater orientation and effect of anti-freeze addition on critical heat flux of nanofluids which have shown large potentials as coolants for high power generating uses. Nanofluids have shown about ~180 - 200% enhancement in the critical heat flux values. The effect of heater size employing three different sized heaters yielded about ~180% enhancement over pure water. The effect of pressure on critical heat flux investigated by testing nanofluids at three pressures showed ~240% increase in critical heat flux. Surface orientation effect on critical heat flux carried out for a 2 …

Microwave Reflectometry As A Novel Diagnostic Tool For Detection Of Skin Cancers, Pratik Mehta, Kundan Chand, Deepak Narayanswamy, Daryl G. Beetner, R. Zoughi, William V. Stoecker

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

More than 1 000 000 people are diagnosed with skin cancer each year in the United States, and more than 10 000 people die from the disease. Methods such as visual inspection and dermoscopy are available for early detection of skin cancers, but improvement in accuracy is needed. This paper investigates the use of microwave reflectometry as a potential diagnostic tool for detection of skin cancers. Open-ended coaxial probes were used to measure microwave properties of skin. The influences of measurement parameters such as probe application pressure, power level, and variation in reflection properties of skin with location and hydration …

Application Of Chip-Level Emc In Automotive Product Design, Kuifeng Hu, H. Weng, Daryl G. Beetner, David Pommerenke, James L. Drewniak, K. Lavery, Jason Whiles

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Integrated circuits (ICs) are often the source of the high-frequency noise that drives electromagnetic emissions from electronic products. A case study is presented where emissions from a printed circuit board containing an automotive microcontroller are reduced significantly through analysis of the coupling mechanisms from the chip to the board and attached cables. Noise generated by the IC is explored through measurements in a semi-anechoic chamber and TEM cell, through near-field scans, and through modifications to the printed circuit board. Noise is driven by the IC through both power and I/O connections. Results show that a ferrite in series with I/O …

High Resolution Millimeter Wave Detection Of Vertical Cracks In The Space Shuttle External Tank Spray-On-Foam Insulation (Sofi), Sergey Kharkovsky, R. Zoughi, F. L. Hepburn

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Space Shuttle Columbia's catastrophic failure, the separation of a piece of spray-on-foam insulation (SOFI) from the external tank (ET) in the Space Shuttle Discovery's flight in 2005 and crack detected in its ET foam prior to its successful launch in 2006 emphasize the need for effective nondestructive methods for inspecting the shuttle ET SOFI. Millimeter wave nondestructive testing methods have been considered as potential and effective inspection tools for evaluating the integrity of the SOFI. This paper presents recent results of an investigation for the purpose of detecting vertical cracks in SOFI panels using a focused millimeter wave (150 GHz) …