Engineering Commons^™

Real Time Condition Monitoring Of Chemical Batteries, Anahita Banaei

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Li-Ion batteries are suitable rechargeable choices for electric and hybrid electric vehicle (EV/HEV) applications due to their relatively high level of energy and power density. One of the important issues in automotive batteries is to monitor their online state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH).Hence, development of an efficient method for monitoring their online state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH) is of high importance for vehicular applications. Open circuit voltage, as one parameter used for predicting the SOC of the battery, is not readily available during charge and discharge cycles. A wide variety of research has been done on SOC and SOH estimation …

Multi-Wavelength All-Optical 2r Regeneration, Pallavi Govind Patki

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

We experimentally demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, simultaneous all-optical 2R regeneration of multiple WDM channels. In the recent work [1], our group has proposed an all-optical 2R regeneration scheme capable of handling multiple WDM channels simultaneously. Our proposed multi-channel regenerator is a modified configuration of Mamyshev's 2R regenerator [2], in which a conventional highly-nonlinear-fiber (HNLF) is replaced by a novel dispersion-managed nonlinear medium. The proposed multi-channel regeneration scheme uses multiple concatenated dispersion-managed sections, where each dispersion-managed section contains a piece of HNLF and a periodic-group-delay device (PGDD). For the proof-of-principle demonstration of the regenerator we have built …

Adaptive Methods For Realistic And Intuitive Human-Robot Interaction, Jartuwat Rajruangrabin

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Due to the advancement in robotics and computer technology, having access to sophisticated robot hardware is becoming common. An increase in the number of robots allows one to achieve different kind of tasks by exploiting cooperation, such as: robot swarms, object manipulation using multiple degrees of freedom of different robots. It is quite challenging for the human operator to coordinate multiple robots to achieve a task in an efficient manner. The channels available to receive feedback information from the robot system can vary from simple encoder reading to video stream acquisition of the robot system performing tasks. It is important …

Photonic Crystal Cavities For Spectrally-Selective Optoelectronic Devices, Hongjun Yang

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Photonic crystal (PC) structures exhibit unconventional dispersion and refractive properties making possible hitherto not realizable optical and optoelectronic devices with high spectral selectivity. Functional PC devices (e.g., optical filters, reflectors, and photo detectors and light emitters) on both Si and III-V semiconductor material systems were fabricated via E-Beam lithography (EBL). The device layer can be further transferred onto foreign substrates such as glass or plastic (PET), using a low-cost "wet nanomembrane transfer technique" developed in this study.The broadband membrane reflectors (MR) based on Fano resonances in patterned silicon nanomembranes have been demonstrated. Resonance control of the reflectors was realized either …

Neuro Adaptive Control For Aerospace And Distributed Systems, Abhijit Das

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Nonlinear and adaptive control is generally considered one of the most effective techniques for stabilizing complex nonlinear systems, where linear control techniques may fail completely. Thousands of research papers are published on either theory or applications of nonlinear and adaptive control. But often one obvious question arises how to implement these techniques in real life model? The best answer that one can think of is to develop simple nonlinear control laws which are easy to implement. Moreover for controlling multi-agent systems, it is often required to distribute the control laws based on limited information available among the agents. This research …

Wavelet Based Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization And Mass Spectrometry Data Analysis, Nha Nguyen

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

As a highly efficient technique, array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) methods allow the simultaneous measurement of genomic DNA copy number at hundreds or thousands of loci and the reliable detection of local one-copy-level variations. The identification of these DNA copy number changes provides insights to facilitate both the basic understanding of cancer and its diagnosis. In order to effectively analyze aCGH data, various techniques have been proposed to help researchers smooth the DNA copy number data and subsequently to quantify the alterations. In this thesis, many wavelet based methods are proposed to smooth and segment the aCGH data that is …

A Tutorial On Functionality Of Wimax And It's Performace Evaluation, Amay Dhirendra Umradia

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Recently, there have been tremendous developments on wireless communication technology which have predicted to replace the wirelined system and provide incredible bandwidth to the consumers. The IEEE standard for this technology is known as 802.16e (Mobile WiMAX) which was officially published in the year 2006. WiMAX would provide broadband access to rural and developing countries where the option of DSL, cable and Wi-Fi is unavailable. This Thesis provides a tutorial overview of 802.16. The information for this article is gathered from The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) website, the WiMAX forum website and other resources on the internet. …

A Planar Cavity Backed Slot Antenna Array For Ultra-Wideband Monopulse Radars, Vinay Magadi Vikram

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

In this thesis, a wideband cavity backed slot antenna is designed for automotive-borne monopulse radar applications. A rectangular slot is used to realize broad bandwidth; the slot is backed by a cavity and vertical walls of the cavity are implemented by discrete vias; and the slot is fed by an inverted microstrip line. The antenna in this letter is compact, robust, fully planar, and easy to integrate. A two-element array is fabricated and tested. Measured input impedance is matched to 50-ohm within band [2.61 GHz, 3.44 GHz] (27.5% bandwidth); and monopulse beam-scanning is successfully demonstrated.

Dispersion Engineering With Leaky-Mode Resonance Structures, Xin Wang

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

In the thesis, a numerical method for the analysis of optical pulses propagation through leaky-mode/guided-mode resonance (GMR) structures is implemented by integrating a Fourier decomposition technique and the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) method. Dispersion properties of several GMR structures such as single-grating-layer GMR filters, coupled GMR filters, and cascaded GMR filters are studied and their interaction with optical pulses investigated. For device applications, a high-Q transmission filter is formed by coupling GMR reflection filters which can withstand typical attenuation in silicon. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) filters are proposed by cascading a number of GMR transmission filters. Generally, a N channel …

Multiplexing Of Avs China Video With Aac Audio Bit Streams & De-Multiplexing With Lip Synchronization During Playback, Swaminathan Sridhar

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

AVS China is the latest digital video coding standard released by the AVS working group of China which has been proven superior to the other video coding standards such as H.261, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 in terms of coding efficiency and reduced complexity. AVS standard employs the latest video coding tools which mainly target standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) video compression and aim to achieve a similar coding efficiency of H.264/AVC but with reduced complexity. AVS video standard was developed in order to target broadcast and storage media applications such as digital video television, digital video disk (DVD and …

Analysis And Improvement Of Multiple Optimal Learning Factors For Feed-Forward Networks, Praveen Jesudhas

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

The effects of transforming the net function vector in the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) are analyzed. The use of optimal diagonal transformation matrices on the net function vector is proved to be equivalent to training the MLP using multiple optimal learning factors (MOLF). A method for linearly compressing large ill-conditioned MOLF Hessian matrices into smaller well-conditioned ones is developed. This compression approach is shown to be equivalent to using several hidden units per learning factor. The technique is extended to large networks. In simulations, the proposed algorithm performs almost as well as the Levenberg Marquardt (LM) algorithm with the computational complexity …

The Development And Application Of A Novel Free-Damage Fracturing Fluid (Ph<2), Jin Zhang, Yan Zhang, Yongfu Wu, Xiuqing He, Xinzhu Zhang

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

At present, water-Based fracturing fluid systems are mainly polymer (macromolecule) and visco-elastic surfactant (micro molecule). Because of polymer properties and incomplete gelout, the damage to matrices and conductivity of artificial fractures will be inevitable. the surfactant-Based fracturing fluid system is a micro-molecule system not to damage artificial fractures. However, it is difficult to eliminate the damages from rock debris moving and clay swelling information. a novel free-damage fracturing fluid system (FDFF), a cationic surfactant derived from a long chain fatty acid, has been developed and applied in Daqing oil field. FDFF can crosslink in a wide range from a strong …

Condition Assessment Of Bill Emerson Memorial Cable-Stayed Bridge Under Postulated Design Earthquake, Dongming Yan, Wenjian Wang, Genda Chen, Bryan A. Hartnagel

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this study, a three-dimensional finite element model of the Bill Emerson Memorial cable-stayed bridge was developed and validated with the acceleration data recorded during the M4.1 earthquake of May 1, 2005, in Manila, Arkansas. The model took into account the geometric nonlinear properties associated with cable sagging and soil-foundation-structure interaction. The validated model was used to evaluate the performance of a seismic protective system, the behavior of cable-stayed spans, and the accuracy of two simplified bridge models that have been extensively used by the structural control community. The calculated natural frequencies and mode shapes correlated well with the measured …

Characteristic Dynamic Increment For Extreme Traffic Loading Events On Short And Medium Span Highway Bridges, Eugene J. Obrien, Daniel Cantero, Bernard Enright, Arturo González

Articles

More accurate assessment of safety can prevent unnecessary repair or replacement of existing bridges which in turn can result in great cost savings at network level. The allowance for dynamics is a significant component of traffic loading in many bridges and is often unnecessarily conservative. Critical traffic loading scenarios are considered in this paper with a model that allows for vehicle-bridge interaction and takes into account the road surface condition. Characteristic dynamic allowance values are presented for the assessment of mid-span bending moment in a wide range of short to medium span bridges for bi-directional traffic.

Goal Approach To Risk Scenario Identification In Systems Development, Cesar Ariel Pinto, Andreas Tolk, Rafael Landaeta

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The scope of this paper is the exploration of fundamental issues in identifying risk scenarios during systems development. Systems development refers to a series of processes which span conceptualization, designing the architecture, obtaining the elements, and eventually integrating all these elements into the fully developed final system. For truly sustainable and green systems, identifying risk scenarios early and continuously over the system development processes is vital. This paper contains various descriptions of risk from the project (i.e. programmatic) and technical perspectives, an exploration of the generally accepted risk management process, and how these relate to systems development through system goals. …

Nebraska Blueprint- Winter 2010

Nebraska Blueprint (Student Publication)

Table of Content:

3 From the Editor

4 Early Learning to Understand Engineering

6 Whittier Hall

8 The Engineering Library: A Special Resource

10 Engineering Fees

12 Student Accomplishments

High Temperature Tolerant Optical Fiber Inline Microsensors By Laser Fabrication, Tao Wei

Doctoral Dissertations

"Fiber sensors are particularly attractive for harsh environment defined by high temperature, high pressure, corrosive/erosive, and strong electromagnetic interference, where conventional electronic sensors do not have a chance to survive. However, the key issue has been the robustness of the sensor probe (not the fiber itself) mostly due to the problems stemmed from the traditional assembly based approaches used to construct fiber optic sensors. For example, at high temperatures (e.g., above 500°C), the thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between different composited parts has a high chance to lead to sensors' malfunction by breaking the sensor as a result of the excessive …

Laboratory Performance Of A Mass Flow Sensor For Dry Edible Bean Harvesters, Rodrigo S. Zandonadi, Timothy S. Stombaugh, Scott A. Shearer, Daniel M. Queiroz, Michael P. Sama

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Due to the importance of yield monitoring, researchers have been developing systems for crops such as tomatoes, forage, sugar cane, citrus, and coffee. A yield monitoring system for pull type dry edible beans harvester has not yet been developed. The goal of this project was to design and test a drive torque measurement device on a clean grain bucket elevator of a dry bean harvester, and evaluate its potential to be used as a mass flow sensor. Tests were conducted in the Yield Monitor Test Facility (YMTF) of University of Kentucky following the recommendation of ASABE Standard S578 (2007) The …

Adaptive Resource Allocation For Cognitive Wireless Ad Hoc Networks, Behdis Eslamnour

Doctoral Dissertations

"Widespread use of resource constrained wireless ad hoc networks requires careful management of the network resources in order to maximize the utilization. In cognitive wireless networks, resources such as spectrum, energy, communication links/paths, time, space, modulation scheme, have to be managed to maintain quality of service (QoS). Therefore in the first paper, a distributed dynamic channel allocation scheme is proposed for multi-channel wireless ad hoc networks with single-radio nodes. The proposed learning scheme adapts the probabilities of selecting each channel as a function of the error in the performance index at each step.

Due to frequent changes in topology and …

Alkyl Polyglycoside/1-Naphthol Formulations With Ultra-Low Interfacial Tensions Against N-Octane For Enhanced Oil Recovery, Stefan Iglauer, Yongfu Wu, Patrick Shuler, Yongchun Tang, William Goddard

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present Alkyl polyglycoside (APG)/1-naphthol formulations which show ultra-low interfacial tensions (IFT) against n-octane. We demonstrate that 1-naphthol is very efficient as a cosolvent in terms of reducing IFT. These formulations are therefore potentially suitable as agents for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). an increasing APG concentration strongly increased viscosity, and the formulations showed shear-thinning behavior. in a core flood EOR test we showed that this type of formulation significantly increased oil production. © 2010, European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers.

Handbook Of Bioentrepreneurship (Book Review), Joseph R. Bell

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Book review by Joseph R. Bell.

Patzelt, Holger and Thomas Brenner, eds. Handbook of Bioentrepreneurship. New York: Springer, 2008. ISBN 9780387483436

The Handbook of Bioentrepreneurship represents volume 4 in the International Handbook Series on Entrepreneurship.This book is a collection of articles covering the rapidly evolving biotechnology industry.

Theory Of Breakup Of Core Fluids Surrounded By A Wetting Annulus In Sinusoidally Constricted Capillary Channels, Igor A. Beresnev, Wen Deng

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Analysis of core-annular dynamics in the presence of base flow for arbitrary fluid viscosities leads to an equation describing the temporal evolution of the fluid/fluid interface. The equation follows from the conservation of mass in the "small-slope" approximation. Its useful applications occur, for example, in chemical engineering and petroleum recovery. The nonlinear equation allows inexpensive numerical analysis. For sinusoidally constricted pores, a purely geometric criterion exists that enables or prohibits the core-fluid breakup in the necks of the constrictions. The geometrically favoring condition sets up capillary-pressure gradients that ensure a continuous outflow of the core fluid from the necks into …

Integration Of Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide Distresses With Local Performance Indices, Scott Schram, Magdy Abdelrahman

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The pavement management system (PMS) is the organizational entity within a state highway agency responsible for the condition of the pavement network. Visual distress surveys are typically combined into an index to provide an overall measure of performance. Decision makers use these familiar indices in a number of facets. A recent survey suggests every state highway agency has implemented or plans to implement the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). As they do so, maintaining the role these local indices play is critical for upholding the system's continuity. However, using the MEPDG output directly in calculating performance indices becomes problematic because …

Integrated, Multi-Attribute Decision Support System For The Evaluation Of Underground Utility Construction Methods, John C. Matthews

Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation research work described herein is comprised of three primary objectives: (1) the development of a rehabilitation method selection software (TAG-R) for the National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO) and its subsequent validation and combination with TAG (a sister decision support system (DSS) software developed by the author in an earlier work); (2) the development of a social cost calculator (SCC) and its validation; and (3) the development of a proposed framework for multi-segment optimization for construction methods selection using the tools developed in the first two objectives as well as additional project related data.

The selection of …

T-6a Texan Ii Systems Engineering Case Study, Air Force Center For Systems Engineering, Bill Kinzig, Dave Bailey

AFIT Documents

No abstract provided.

Chemistry Of Coal And Coal Combustion Products From Kentucky Power Plants: Results From The 2007 Sampling, With Emphasis On Selenium, James C. Hower, Thomas L. Robl, Gerald A. Thomas, Shelley D. Hopps, Margaret Grider

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

Kentucky produced over 8 Mt of coal combustion products (CCPs) in 2006, with 30% of the CCPs being utilized, a significant increase from our 1996 and 2001 surveys. As much of the increase is related to increased utilization of flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum, the increased production of FGD gypsum coincident with the commissioning of new FGD units and the saturation of the (currently) weak market for new construction, the percentage of utilization may decrease by the time of the next planned survey (2011). The concentration of volatile trace elements in the feed coal and in the pulverizer reject, while associated …

An Investigation Of The Behavior Of Raw Calcareous Fly Ash In Mortar Mixtures, Ioanna Papayianni, Eleftherios K. Anastasiou

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

The behavior of unprocessed calcareous fly ash in cement mortar mixtures is often questionable and unpredictable and that is one of the difficulties in confining these fly ashes within the limits of standards. This work aims at correlating the material characteristics with its behavior in mortar mixtures. An effort is made to understand how three of the reactive constituents; lime (CaO), silica (SiO2), and sulfates (SO3), affect strength and volume stability. Two raw calcareous fly ashes of different composition emanating from the Ptolemaida area, Greece, were systematically tested to define their profile as cementitious agents that could be incorporated in …

Coal Fired Power Station Ash Products And Eu Regulation, Lindon K.A. Sear

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

The UK has a long history of the use of coal fired power station ash products in a range of applications in construction. These range from use in concrete as a cementitious material through to its use as a fill material in embankments. While there have been no environmental problems associated with these uses, environmental regulations emanating from the European Union (EU) are increasingly impacting on the use of these materials. Unfortunately it is not a single set of regulations that are being applied, but three separate and apparently disconnected initiatives; these are Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH), …

Enriched Coal Ash Utilization For Augmenting Production Of Rice Under Acid Lateritic Soil, S. Karmakar, B.N. Mittra, B.C. Ghosh

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

The use of industrial wastes such as fly ash (FA) or rice husk ash (RHA), along with paper factory sludge (PFS), farmyard manure (FYM), and chemical fertilizers (CF), under integrated nutrient management, was studied in acid lateritic soil on rice. Application of combined fertilization sources increased growth, yield attributes, and yield (up to 92.3 and 9.7% over control and CF, respectively) of wet season rice. The uptake of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, and Co was increased under combined fertilization sources. The study also indicated that such integrated plant nutrition system improved physico-chemical properties of soil …

Erosive Wear In Pipelines At Pneumatic Conveying Of Fine Silicon-Containing Materials, Viacheslav Y. Putilov, Vijay K. Agarwal, Irina V. Putilova

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

Erosive wear is a major operational problem in conveying of hard abrasive bulk materials like silica sand, fly ash, coal dust, etc., in pneumatic conveying systems. Erosion results in emergency downtime of pneumatic conveying installations of ash and slag removal and dust-preparation systems at TPPs caused by holes in pipelines. That leads to worsening of technical, economic, and ecological parameters of thermal power plants as a whole. In MPEI, a model of estimating erosion of rectilinear and curvilinear sections of pneumatic conveying pipelines has been developed. To validate the estimating model developed in the MPEI, experimental investigations in the Indian …