Engineering Commons^™

Increase Of Heat Transfer To Reduce Build Time In Rapid Freeze Prototyping, Ming-Chuan Leu, Sriram Praneeth Isanaka, Von Richards

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Reduction of part build time in the Rapid Freeze Prototyping (RFP) process, which fabricates a 3D ice part layer-by-layer by depositing and freezing water droplets, has been achieved by increase of heat transfer. Three mechanisms have been experimentally investigated: 1) cooling the substrate, 2) use of forced convection, and 3) use of a chilling plate. Cooling the substrate is effective for parts of small heights but becomes ineffective with increase in part height. Forced convection produced desirable reduction in part build time but with the undesirable formation of frost on the built ice part. The use of chilling plate to …

Functionally Graded Materials By Laser Metal Deposition, Syamala Rani Pulugurtha, Joseph William Newkirk, Frank W. Liou, Hsin-Nan Chou

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Fabrication of functionally graded materials (FGMs) by laser metal deposition (LMD) has the potential to offer solutions to key engineering problems over the traditional metal-working techniques. But the issues that need to be addressed while building FGMs are intermixing in the layers and cracking due to the residual stresses. This paper is to present the study of the effect of process parameters (laser power and travel speed) on the degree of dilution between the substrate (or, previous layer) and powder material for few metallurgical systems.

The Use Of A Tri-Axial Accelerometer To Measure Changes In Lower Extremity Fatigue During Functional Activity, Kristin Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

In 2004, the National Collegiate Athletic Association reported ankle sprain as the most frequent injury in soccer, basketball, and volleyball players. Further research found an increased likelihood with fatigue. Measuring fatigue during functional activities has been a longstanding problem. In this study, changes in ankle biomechanics were measured using a tri-axial accelerometer embedded in the shoe as subjects (n=12) performed a fatiguing activity. Data were collected from the accelerometer and from established devices that are considered the industry gold standard. Several kinetic and kinematic accelerometer derived variables were highly correlated with these standards (r2>0.90) and were associated with changes …

Development Of Extrusion-On-Demand For Ceramic Freeze-Form Extrusion Fabrication, Thomas Oakes, Parimal Kulkarni, Robert G. Landers, Ming-Chuan Leu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the Freeze-form Extrusion Fabrication (FEF) process, extrusion-on-demand (EOD) refers to the ability to control the start and stop of paste extrusion on demand and is vital to the fabrication of parts with complex geometries. This paper describes the development of EOD for ceramic FEF through modeling and control of extrusion force, selection of appropriate process parameters, and a dwell technique for start and stop of extrusion. A general tracking controller with integral action is used to allow tracking of a variety of reference forces while accounting for the variability in the paste properties. Experiments are conducted to model the …

Fuel Cell Development Using Additive Manufacturing Technologies -- A Review, Nikhil P. Kulkarni, Gargi Tandra, Frank W. Liou, Todd E. Sparks, Jianzhong Ruan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Fuel cells are being perceived as the future clean energy source by many developed countries in the world. The key today for clean power is the reliance of fuel cells not only to power automobiles but also for residential, small commercial, backup power etc. which calls for production on a large scale. Additive manufacturing is perceived as a way to develop cost effective fuel cells. It imparts flexibility to design different kinds of fuel cells along with reduction in material wastage. This paper deals with the review of additive manufacturing processes for research and development of fuel cell components, such …

I/Q Compensation Of Frequency Dependent Response Mismatch In A Pair Of Analog Low-Pass Filters, Peter Kiss, Vladimir I. Prodanov

Electrical Engineering

Frequency dependent I/Q imbalance in real I/Q filter pairs compensation may be performed using a simple compensation module, placed in the receiver/transmitter chain, with a gain adjustment coefficient and a delay adjustment coefficient. The gain adjustment coefficient may be determined by amplitude measurements conducted at a selected frequency near the center of the band-pass region of the filters. The delay adjustment coefficient may be determined by phase measurements conducted at a selected frequency near the edge of the band-pass region of the filters. Statistical analysis may be used to determine types of real filters that are better suited for the …

Towards A Universal Ultra-Thin Fluorinated Diamond-Like Carbon Coating For Nanoimprint Lithography Imprinters, Ryan Winfield Fillman

Theses and Dissertations

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has proven to achieve arbitrary, nanoscale features, over large areas, without the use of costly step-and-repeat UV lithography tools. The fidelity of the imprinted pattern depends on the elimination of the adhesion between the imprinted polymer and the imprinter upon withdrawal of the imprinter. The plasma deposition of a layer of fluorinated diamond-like carbon (F-DLC) has proven to be a successful anti-adhesion layer but in the past has required an entire diamond-like carbon (DLC) substrate. The requirement that the imprinter be made of DLC limits the imprinter processing and can limit the capabilities of NIL. DLC films …

Microsoft Silverlight Photography Framework: Comparing Component Based Designs In Adobe Flex And Microsoft Silverlight, David Roossien

Masters Projects

Flex and Silverlight provide large Application Programming Interfaces (API’s). Applications can be designed using a variety of architectures. The purpose of this paper is not to perform a complete comparison between Flex and Silverlight. To do such a comparison would require massive amounts of time and research. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and implementation of the Silverlight photography framework project. Along the way this paper compares the Silverlight project to the Adobe Flex project and discusses the goals of each product. During the comparison many important similarities and differences between Silverlight and Flex technologies are …

A Computer-Based Approach To Material And Process Selection Using Sustainability And Ecological Criteria, Manocher Djassemi

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Decision on selecting a material or process for a particular product is a common task in product engineering and facility planning. Such decision may have a significant impact on entire product life cycle including raw material acquisition, product manufacture, use, disposal, and environment. Traditional factors for decision making are economical, functional and aesthetical properties of the product. However, the issues of sustainability and environmental impact of materials and manufacturing processes have gained a growing attention in recent decade by general population as well as academicians and industrial practitioners. The objective of this study is to explore a software tool for …

Development Of A Low Cost Handheld Microfluidic Phosphate Colorimeter For Water Quality Analysis, Sean C. Kaylor

Master's Theses

This thesis describes the design, fabrication, and testing process for a microfluidic phosphate colorimeter utilized for water quality analysis. The device can be powered by, and interfaced for data collection with, a common cell phone or laptop to dramatically reduce costs. Unlike commercially available colorimeters, this device does not require the user to measure or mix sample and reagent. A disposable poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluid chip, powered by an absorption pumping mechanism, was used to draw water samples, mix the sample at a specific ratio with a molybdovanadate reagent, and load both fluids into an onboard cuvette for colorimetric analysis. A …

Acuta Enews August 2009, Vol. 38, No. 8

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

From the President..................Harvey "Buck" Buchanan, Florida State Univ., ACUTA President

Tech Talk: Technology and the Death of the Vacation............... Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

DC Update...................... Dove Ostrom, Washington State Univ. (retired)

ACUTA Online Learning Community Opportunity

Financial Crisis Activity in Washington Newsetter

Deadline for Video Relay & lP Relay Service Users

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

Board Report.......................George Denbow, Univ. of Texas-Austin, ACUTA Secretary/Treasurer

Catt for Presentations: Blaze New Traits in 2010

Getting the lCT Staff on the Same UC Page.........................Gary Audin, Delphi, Inc.

Welcome New Members

Check lt Out: Press Releases...Job Postings...RFls/RFPs...Special …

Symmetry Between True, False, And Uncertain: An Explanation, Eulalia Szmidt, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In intuitionistic fuzzy sets, there is a natural symmetry between degrees of truth and falsity. As a result, for such sets, natural similarity measures are symmetric relative to an exchange of true and false values. It has been recently shown that among such measures, the most intuitively reasonable are the ones which are also symmetric relative to an arbitrary permutation of degrees of truth, falsity, and uncertainty. This intuitive reasonableness leads to a conjecture that such permutations are not simply mathematical constructions, that these permutations also have some intuitive sense. In this paper, we show that each such permutation can …

Moisture Movement In Concrete During Drying, Niall Holmes

Other resources

The prediction of moisture distribution within concrete slabs has considerable practical importance as it affects the time at which coverings can be safely applied. Moisture in concrete affects creep, shrinkage, strength development, durability and must be present in sufficient quantities for full hydration to occur and for workability on site. However, an excess of moisture in concrete at the point of covering particularly can lead to a number of problems such as delamination and blistering of vinyl, buckling of timber floors and rising of tiles. Moisture migrates in concrete slabs as a diffusion-type process during drying and is lost to …

From Interval Computations To Constraint-Related Set Computations: Towards Faster Estimation Of Statistics And Odes Under Interval And P-Box Uncertainty, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

No abstract provided.

Short-Term Failure Analysis Of Aluminum Conducting Composite Core Transmission Lines, Brian Burks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recently the inefficiency and lack of capabilities of electric energy transmission have been put in the global spotlight; a transmission line design known as the Aluminum Conducting Composite Core Trapezoidal Wire (ACCC/TW^TM) attempts to eliminate the deficiencies. The ACCC core is comprised of a new hybrid composite material. The most probable causes of short-term damage to the ACCC core were investigated through a series of finite element models. It was found that excessive bending was the most likely cause of short-term damage to the core. During bending of the ACCC core, stresses are concentrated at the interface in …

Parametric Model Of Head Related Transfer Functions Based On Systematic Movements Of Poles And Zeros With Sound Location For Pole/Zero Models, Bahaa W. Al-Sheikh Hussein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Directional transfer functions (DTFs), the directional components of the Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs), are generally measured at finite locations in azimuth and elevation. Thus models are needed to synthesize DTFs at finer spatial resolution than the measured data to create complete virtual auditory displays. In this research, minimum-phase all-pole and all-zero models were used for modeling both human and cat DTFs. Real cepstrum analysis has been used to represent minimum phase HRTFs in the time domain. For the human DTFs, model orders were chosen to achieve specific objective error criteria published in previous studies that were based on subjective …

Using Conditional Inference Forests To Identify The Factors Affecting Crash Severity On Arterial Corridors, Abhishek Das, Mohamed Abdel-Aty, Anurag Pande

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Introduction

The study aims at identifying traffic/highway design/driver-vehicle information significantly related with fatal/severe crashes on urban arterials for different crash types. Since the data used in this study are observational (i.e., collected outside the purview of a designed experiment), an information discovery approach is adopted for this study.

Method

Random Forests, which are ensembles of individual trees grown by CART (Classification and Regression Tree) algorithm, are applied in numerous applications for this purpose. Specifically, conditional inference forests have been implemented. In each tree of the conditional inference forest, splits are based on how good the association is. Chi-square test statistics …

Flying Non-Precision Approaches Precisely, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

The Very Basics Of Sustainability - An Alternative Viewpoint, Jim Mcgovern

Other resources

This paper examines the context and meaning of the term ‘sustainability’, the factors that determine and govern climate on Earth, the population of the Earth and its trends and influencers, the requirements for sustaining life and the options that are available to humankind. Some viewpoints are presented that are alternative to ‘conventional alternative’ thinking. The author advocates keeping an open mind on all available options, including the use of oil, gas, coal, tar sands, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power etc., as well as the technologies that are more widely considered ‘green’ and also argues that humankind needs to face …

Reinvestigation Of Liquefaction And Nonliquefaction Case Histories From The 1976 Tangshan Earthquake, Robb E.S. Moss, Robert Kayen, Liyuan Tong, Songyu Liu, Guojun Cai, Jiaer Wu

Civil and Environmental Engineering

A field investigation was carried out to retest liquefaction and nonliquefaction sites from the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in the People's Republic of China (PRC). These sites were carefully investigated in 1978/1979 using standard penetration test (SPT) and cone penetration test (CPT) equipment; however the CPT measurements are obsolete because of the now nonstandard cone that was used at the time. In 2007 a modern cone was mobilized to retest 18 select sites that are particularly valuable because they experienced intense ground shaking, have high fines content, and are classified as nonliquefaction sites. Of the sites reinvestigated and carefully processed, 13 …

Developing Corridor-Level Truck Travel Time Estimates And Other Freight Performance Measures From Archived Its Data, Christopher M. Monsere, Michael Wolfe, Heba Alawakiel, Max Taylor Stephens

TREC Final Reports

The objectives of this research were to retrospectively study the feasibility for using truck transponder data to produce freight corridor performance measures (travel times) and real-time traveler information. To support this analysis, weigh-in-motion data from each of the twenty-two stations in Oregon were assembled, processed, and uploaded in the WIM data archive is housed under the Portland Transportation Archive Listing (PORTAL) umbrella at Portland State University’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab. Nearly 42,000,000 truck records were successful uploaded to the archive dating back to July 2005. Two separate algorithms necessary for this research were scripted, tested, and validated. The closest stations …

Scene-Based Nonuniformity Correction With Reduced Ghosting Using A Gated Lms Algorithm, Russell C. Hardie, Frank Orion Baxley, Brandon J. Brys, Patrick C. Hytla

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, we present a scene-based nouniformity correction (NUC) method using a modified adaptive least mean square (LMS) algorithm with a novel gating operation on the updates. The gating is designed to significantly reduce ghosting artifacts produced by many scene-based NUC algorithms by halting updates when temporal variation is lacking. We define the algorithm and present a number of experimental results to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method in comparison to several previously published methods including other LMS and constant statistics based methods. The experimental results include simulated imagery and a real infrared image sequence. We show that …

City Of London: Vulnerability Of Infrastructure To Climate Change, Hyung-Il Eum, Slobodan P. Simonovic

Water Resources Research Report

The climate is changing and these changes may induce severe impacts on both, global and local scales. The Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) established by Engineers Canada conducted an assessment of the vulnerability of Canadian Public Infrastructure to changing climatic conditions. The major conclusion of the assessment is that water resources infrastructure failures due to the climate change will be common across Canada. As a follow up, the City of London took an initiative to evaluate the impacts of climate change on its municipal infrastructure. An original systematic procedure is used to gather and examine available data in order …

Object-Oriented Building Extraction And Three-Dimensional Representation Of Building Temperatures In Indianapolis, U.S.A., Jing Han

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With a rapid development of world population, urbanization has become an important issue in the past century and generated great pressure on the environment. In order to assist urban decision-makers to present, analyze, and solve related issues, accurate and timely spatial information is n~eded in urban areas. This research focused on building information extraction and the relationship analysis of buildings and temperatures in the downtown Indianapolis, IN. Through object-oriented classification, the image derived from LiDAR data was segmented into objects, and spectral, spatial, and textual attributes of objects were measured and selected to extract buildings. Moreover, each building's surface temperature …

On The Use Of Abstract Workflows To Capture Scientific Process Provenance, Paulo Pinheiro Da Silva, Leonardo Salayandia, Nicholas Del Rio, Ann Q. Gates

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Capturing provenance about artifacts produced by distributed scientific processes is a challenging task. For example, one approach to facilitate the execution of a scientific process in distributed environments is to break down the process into components and to create workflow specifications to orchestrate the execution of these components. However, capturing provenance in such an environment, even with the guidance of orchestration logic, is difficult because of important details that may be hidden by the component abstractions. In this paper, we show how to use abstract workflows to systematically enhance scientific processes to capture provenance at appropriate levels of detail. Abstract …

Diagonalization Is Also Practically Useful: A Geometric Idea, Martine Ceberio, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

No abstract provided.

"Weird" Fuzzy Notations: An Algebraic Interpretation, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Traditionally, fuzzy logic used non-standard notations like m₁/x₁ + ... + m_n/x_n for a function that attains the value m₁ at x₁, ..., and the value m_n at x_n. In this paper, we provide an algebraic explanation for these notations.

Electrodeposition Of Nanocrystalline Ni-Based Alloys, Hanseung Park

All Theses

Nanocrystalline materials can often process superior properties, but they are generally unstable against grain growth. Addition of a dopant can stabilize nanocrystalline alloys by decreasing the excess grain boundary energy as the thermodynamic driving force for grain growth and reducing grain boundary mobility via a kinetic effect of solute drag. In this thesis study, eight Ni-based alloys (Ni-W, Ni-P, Ni-Mo, Ni-Cu, Ni-B, Ni-Mg, Ni-Zn and Ni-Co) and pure Ni were made using an electrodeposition method. It is concluded that the use of different dopant can drastically affect the deposition mechanism as well as the morphology of resultant films. Ni-W and …

On-Chip Intrinsic Evolution Methodology For Sequential Logic Circuit Design, Fan Xiong, Nader Rafla

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper focuses on the application of Virtual Reconfigurable Circuit (VRC) design methodology and intrinsic evolution for the design of small sequential circuits and their implementation on a single programmable chip with an embedded hardcore processor. The evolutionary algorithm is developed in software that runs on the embedded processor. Fitness function is calculated using hardware architecture and is used to guide the evolution process. This new method is applied to the development of a 3-bit sequence detector and the evolved architecture is implemented on a Xilinx™ Virtex-II pro device. Simulations were run on the evolved architecture and on the same …

Comparison Of The Energygauge Usa And Beopt Building Energy Simulation Programs, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Two hourly energy simulation software, BEopt and Energy Gauge USA, were compared to ensure accuracy and evaluate agreement on the impact of various energy efficiency improvements. Within the Building America program, these software aid design teams working toward the U.S. Department of Energy's goal to make Zero Energy Homes economically viable by 2025. Builders use the software to achieve the extensive energy savings (70%-80%) from various measures before adding solar electric power generation. The study found that in general, BEopt and EnergyGauge USA agree fairly well on the impact of energy efficiency improvements, while identifying several discrepancies that need further …