Engineering Commons^™

Influence Of Unstable Soil Movement On Pile-Founded Concrete Floodwalls And A Resulting Design Methodology, Richard James Varuso

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Efforts are underway in the New Orleans area to raise the elevations of its levee system to combat the effects of hurricane storm surge. When complete, the majority of the system will be comprised of a combination of levees, sheet pile I-Walls, floodgates, and pile-supported concrete floodwalls, commonly referred to as T-Walls. Given the magnitude of the hydrostatic forces associated with storm surge, global instability is failure mechanism that must be considered in the design of T-Walls. In the past, it was assumed that these forces would be resisted by the T-Wall’s sheet pile cut-off wall. Recent literature review and …

Macroinstability And Perturbation In Turbulent Stirred Tank Flows, Somnath Roy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Impeller stirred tank reactors (STRs) are commonly used in the chemical processing industries for a variety of mixing and blending technologies. In this research, a numerical study of flow and mixing inside turbulently agitated STRs are carried out. An immersed boundary method (IBM) is utilized to represent moving impeller geometries in the background of multi-block structured curvilinear fluid. The IBM This curvilinear-IBM methodology is further combined with the large eddy simulation (LES) technique to address the issue of modeling unsteady turbulent flows in the STR. Verification of the combined IBM-LES implementation strategy in curvilinear coordinates is done through comparisons with …

Designing A Whey Protein Based Material As A Scaffold For Bone Regeneration, Mia Dvora

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A novel gel material was designed and optimized for use as a bone tissue regeneration scaffold. Whey protein isolate (WPI), the primary component of the material, underwent considerable testing for conformity to a set of known material characteristics required for application in bone regeneration. WPI gels of different compositions were fabricated by thermally inducing gelation of high-concentration protein suspensions, and characterized for compressive strength and modulus, hydration swelling and drying properties, mechanical behavior change due to polysaccharide additives, and intrinsic pore network structure. The gels were also tested for their compatibility with MC3T3-E1 cells, and interactions such as cell adhesion, …

Frustrated Drift Of An Anchored Scroll-Wave Filament And The Geodesic Principle, Marcel Wellner, Christian W. Zemlin, Arkady M. Pertsov

Bioelectrics Publications

We investigate anchored scroll-wave filaments in an excitable medium whose diffusivity matrix, including its determinant, is spatially nonuniform. The study is motivated by cardiological applications where scroll-wave behavior in the presence of diffusivity gradients is believed to play an important role in the development of severe arrhythmias. A diffusivity gradient is expected to make the filament drift, unless drift is prevented ("frustrated") by anchoring to localized defects in the propagation medium. The resulting stationary filament is a geodesic curve, as demonstrated here in the case of a nonzero but constant gradient. That is, the diffusivity matrix has a determinant that …

Evaluation Of Rumble Stripes, Kenneth R. Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Lane departure has been shown to be a major cause of serious traffic crashes. Installing a rumble strip on the shoulders of two lane roads provide drivers with an audible warning that they are leaving their lane of travel. Painting the edge line on the rumble strip has the possible benefit of providing more wet, nighttime delineation through the portion of the edge line painted on the sloped portion of the groove. The objectives of this study were to: a) monitor the initial installations of rumble stripes and b) evaluate the results of rumble stripe installations.

Ten rural, two-lane road …

Electroporation-Mediated Delivery Of A Naked Dna Plasmid Expressing Vegf To The Porcine Heart Enhances Protein Expression, W. G. Marshall Jr., B. A. Boone, J. D. Burgos, S. I. Gografe, M. K. Baldwin, M. L. Danielson, M. J. Larson, D. R. Caretto, Y. Cruz, B. Ferraro, L. C. Heller, K. E. Ugen, M. J. Jaroszeski, R. Heller

Bioelectrics Publications

Gene therapy is an attractive method for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. However, using current strategies, induction of gene expression at therapeutic levels is often inefficient. In this study, we show a novel electroporation (EP) method to enhance the delivery of a plasmid expressing an angiogenic growth factor (vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF), which is a molecule previously documented to stimulate revascularization in coronary artery disease. DNA expression plasmids were delivered in vivo to the porcine heart with or without coadministered EP to determine the potential effect of electrically mediated delivery. The results showed that plasmid delivery through EP significantly …

Analysis Of Large Scale Spatial Variability Of Soil Moisture Using A Geostatistical Method, Tarendra Lakhankar, Andrew S. Jones, Cynthia L. Combs, Manajit Sengupta, Thomas H. Vonder Haar, Reza Khanbilvardi

Publications and Research

Spatial and temporal soil moisture dynamics are critically needed to improve the parameterization for hydrological and meteorological modeling processes. This study evaluates the statistical spatial structure of large-scale observed and simulated estimates of soil moisture under pre- and post-precipitation event conditions. This large scale variability is a crucial in calibration and validation of large-scale satellite based data assimilation systems. Spatial analysis using geostatistical approaches was used to validate modeled soil moisture by the Agriculture Meteorological (AGRMET) model using in situ measurements of soil moisture from a state-wide environmental monitoring network (Oklahoma Mesonet). The results show that AGRMET data produces larger …

Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute Annual Technical Report Fy 2009, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

KWRRI Annual Technical Reports (USGS’s 104b Grant Program)

The 2009 Annual Technical Report for Kentucky consolidates reporting requirements of the Section 104(b) base grant award into a single document that includes: 1) a synopsis of each research project conducted with grant funds during the period, 2) citations for related publications, reports, and presentations, 3) a description of information transfer activities, 4) a summary of student support during the reporting period, and 5) notable awards and achievements during the year.

Residential Energy Monitoring: Missouri S&T Solar Village Development, Christopher David Wright

Masters Theses

"As energy costs are rising, public and private sector groups are searching for improved energy efficiency technology. Research tools for predicting residential energy usage are lagging behind commercial developments. Missouri S&T has a unique and strong opportunity to strengthen its involvement in the development of residential energy research and knowledge. The S&T Solar Village, a collection of homes designed for energy efficiency and renewable energy, is poised to support this research. This thesis develops a design for residential energy evaluation and data collection of the four solar homes in the Village. The energy evaluation system identifies over 300 sensors and …

An Uncertainty Quantification Of The Variation Of Internal Heat Transfer Coefficients And The Effect On Airfoil Life, Jan H. Marsh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Uncertainty in accurately knowing applied internal heat transfer coefficients inside of a cooling passage can lead to variability in predicting low cycle fatigue life of a turbine vane or blade. Under-predicting a life value for a turbine part can have disastrous effects on the engine as a whole, and can negate efforts in innovative design for advanced cooling techniques for turbine components. Quantification of this fatigue life uncertainty utilizing a computational framework is the primary objective of this thesis. Through the use of probabilistic design methodologies a process is developed to simulate uncertainties of internal heat transfer coefficient, which are …

Transmitter Optimization In Multiuser Wireless Systems With Quality Of Service Constraints, Danda B. Rawat

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In this dissertation, transmitter adaptation for optimal resource allocation in wireless communication systems are investigated. First, a multiple access channel model is considered where many transmitters communicate with a single receiver. This scenario is a basic component of a. wireless network in which multiple users simultaneously access the resources of a wireless service provider. Adaptive algorithms for transmitter optimization to meet Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements in a distributed manner are studied. Second, an interference channel model is considered where multiple interfering transmitter-receiver pairs co-exist such that a given transmitter communicates with its intended receiver in the presence of interference from other …

Solution Approximation For Atmospheric Flight Dynamics Using Volterra Theory, Ashraf Mohammed Kandeel Omran

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation introduces a set of novel approaches in order to facilitate and enrich Volterra theory as a nonlinear approximation technique for constructing mathematical solutions from the governing relationships describing aircraft dynamic behavior. These approaches reconnect Volterra theory and flight mechanics research, which has not been addressed in the technical literature for over twenty years. Volterra theory is known to be viable in modeling weak nonlinearities, but is not particularly well suited for directly describing high performance aircraft dynamics. In order to overcome these obstacles and restrictions of Volterra theory, the global Piecewise Volterra Approach has been developed. This new …

Analysis Of Wake Vortices Of A Medium Range Twin-Propeller Military Cargo Aircraft Using Statistically Designed Experiments, Burhan Sahin

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

An experimental study was initiated to analyze the trajectories of the streamwise vortices behind the wing tip and flap of a medium range and propeller driven twin-engine military cargo aircraft. The model used for the experimental study was a generic, high wing and half model of a propeller driven aircraft and mounted within Old Dominion University's Low Speed Wind Tunnel where the wind tunnel flow speed was set to constant value of 9 m/sec. The main purpose of the study was to reach regression models for the motion and vorticity strength of both vortices under varying factors such as angle …

Tapping Environmental History To Recreate America’S Colonial Hydrology, Christopher L. Pastore, Mark B. Green, Daniel J. Bain, Andrea Muñoz-Hernandez, Charles J. Vörösmarty, Jennifer Arrigo, Sara Brandt, Jonathan M. Duncan, Francesca Greco, Hyojin Kim, Sanjiv Kumar, Michael Lally, Anthony J. Parolari, Brian Pellerin, Nira Salant, Adam Schlosser, Kate Zalzal

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

To properly remediate, improve, or predict how hydrological systems behave, it is vital to establish their histories. However, modern-style records, assembled from instrumental data and remote sensing platforms, hardly exist back more than a few decades. As centuries of data is preferable given multidecadal fluxes of both meteorology/climatology and demographics, building such a history requires resources traditionally considered only useful in the social sciences and humanities. In this Feature, Pastore et al. discuss how they have undertaken the synthesis of historical records and modern techniques to understand the hydrology of the Northeastern U.S. from Colonial times to modern day. Such …

Overnight Atmospheric Transport And Chemical Processing Of Photochemically Aged Houston Urban And Petrochemical Industrial Plume, Rahul A. Zaveri, Paul B. Voss, Carl M. Berkowitz, Edward Fortner, Jun Zheng, Renyi Zhang, Ralph J. Valente, Roger L. Tanner, Daniel Holcomb, Thomas P. Hartley, Leslie Baran

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Overnight atmospheric transport and chemical evolution of photochemically aged Houston urban and petrochemical industrial plume were investigated in July 2005. We report here on the 26 July episode in which the aged plume was tagged 1.5 h before sunset with a pair of free-floating controlled meteorological balloons, which guided quasi-Lagrangian aircraft sampling in the plume as it was advected 300 km to the north over 8 h. The aged plume around sunset was well mixed within a 1600 m residual layer, and was characterized by enhanced levels of aerosol, O3, CO, olefins, acetaldehyde, total odd nitrogen compounds (NOy), and relatively …

Chemical Evolution Of Volatile Organic Compounds In The Outflow Of The Mexico City Metropolitan Area, E. C. Apel, L. K. Emmons, T. Karl, F. Flocke, A. J. Hills, S. Madronich, J. Lee-Taylor, A. Fried, P. Weibring, J. Walega, D. Richter, X. Tie, L. Mauldin, T. Campos, A. Weinheimer, D. Knapp, B. Sive, L. Kleinman, S. Springston, R. Zaveri, J. Ortega, Paul Voss, D. Blake, A. Baker, C. Warneke, D. Welsh-Bon, J. De Gouw, J. Zheng, R. Zhang, J. Rudolph, W. Junkermann, D. D. Riemer

Engineering: Faculty Publications

The volatile organic compound (VOC) distribution in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) and its evolution as it is uplifted and transported out of the MCMA basin was studied during the 2006 MILAGRO/MIRAGE-Mex field campaign. The results show that in the morning hours in the city center, the VOC distribution is dominated by non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) but with a substantial contribution from oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs), predominantly from primary emissions. Alkanes account for a large part of the NMHC distribution in terms of mixing ratios. In terms of reactivity, NMHCs also dominate overall, especially in the morning hours. However, …

Cleveland : An Inventory Of Historic Engineering And Industrial Sites, Daniel M. Bluestone

Cleveland Memory

"As part of the Office of Archeology and Historic preservation, Department of Interior, the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documents historic engineering and industrial sites throughout the Nation. This inventory is the first step in the documentation process." -- from the Introduction

Uncertainty Analysis And Instrument Selection Using A Web-Based Virtual Experiment, Praveen Malali, Pooja Bais, Robert Choate, Sushil Chaturvedi

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

A methodology has been developed and successfully implemented for transforming physical experiments in an undergraduate thermo-fluids laboratory at Old Dominion University (ODU), a doctoral university, into web-based virtual experiments while the Mechanical Engineering (ME) faculty at Western Kentucky University (WKU), an undergraduate university, have developed and implemented a Design of Experiments (DOE) Plan to assure that graduates of their program have acquired the skills necessary to design and conduct experiments and analyze experimental results. This paper presents details about a web-based virtual experiment designed to teach students about selection of instruments based on the uncertainty estimated from the virtual experiment. …

Infrared Thermography-Driven Flaw Detection And Evaluation Of Hot Mix Asphalt Pavements, Yong K. Cho, Yong-Rak Kim, Thaddaeus Bode

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This research was conducted to study more realistic explanations of how variables are created and dealt with during hot mix asphalt (HMA) paving construction. Several paving projects across the state of Nebraska have been visited where sensory devices were used to test how the selected variables contribute to temperature differentials including density, moisture content within the asphalt, material surface temperature, internal temperature, wind speed, haul time, and equipment type. Areas of high temperature differentials are identified using an infrared camera whose usefulness was initially confirmed with a penetrating thermometer. A non-nuclear density device was also used to record how the …

Analysis Of Periodic Structures Using Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method, Khaled Elmahgoub

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Periodic structures are of great importance in electromagnetics these days due to their wide range of applications such as frequency selective surfaces (FSS), electromagnetic band gap, periodic absorbers, metamaterials and many others. The aim of this work is to develop several algorithms to analyze different types of electromagnetic periodic structures using the constant horizontal wavenumber finite-difference time-domain periodic boundary condition (FDTD/PBC). A new FDTD/PBC approach is introduced to analyze the scattering properties of general skegrid periodic structures. The approach is simple to implement and efficient in terms of both computational time and memory usage. In addition, an efficient hybrid FDTD …

Formula Sae Impact Attenuator Testing, Chad Abrahamson, Bill Bruns, Joseph Hammond, Josh Lutter

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this paper is to validate the impact attenuator designed by SDSU Formula SAE team according to 2010 Formula SAE rules. The impact attenuator is made of Plascore PCGA-XR1-5.2-1/4-P-3003 aluminum honeycomb that is pre-crushed to 245 psi. The test was dynamically performed using a 661 lb mass dropped 8.3 ft onto the material sample at 23 ft/sec, and data was measured with an Olympus i-SPEED 3 high speed camera. The impact attenuator must have an average deceleration equal to or less than 20 G’s and a peak deceleration equal to or less than 40 G’s. Two specimens were …

The Journal Of Undergraduate Research: Volume 08

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

This is the complete issue of the South Dakota State University Journal of Undergraduate Research, Volume 8.

State Variable Distributed-Parameter Representation Of Transmission Line For Transient Simulations, Mehmet Sali̇h Mami̇ş, Asim Kaygusuz, Muhammet Köksal

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this paper, a distributed-parameter state variable approach is used to calculate transients on transmission lines based on the concept of travelling waves. The method of characteristics for lossless line is used and the state equations are derived for the system. These equations are converted to a set of difference equations using the trapezoidal rule of integration and solved in time domain using LU decomposition. Single- and multi-phase transmission lines with various linear and non-linear terminations are considered in the illustrative examples. State-space modeling of transposed lines using modal decomposition is introduced and the effects caused by lumped parameter approximation …

Passive Attitude Stabilization For Small Satellites, Samir Ahmed Rawashdeh

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This thesis addresses the problem of designing and evaluating passive satellite attitude control systems for small satellites. Passive stabilization techniques such as Gravity Gradient stabilization, Passive Magnetic Stabilization, and Aerodynamic stabilization in Low Earth Orbit utilize the geometric and magnetic design of a satellite and the orbit properties to passively provide attitude stabilization and basic pointing. The design of such stabilization systems can be done using a high fidelity simulation of the satellite and the environmental effects in the orbit under consideration to study the on-orbit behavior and the effectiveness of the stability system in overcoming the disturbance torques. The …

Tartaric Acid Modified Rice Hull As A Sorbent For Methylene Blue Removal, Siew Teng Ong, Pei Sin Keng, Ai Wen Chong, Siew Ling Lee, Yung Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Problem statement: Improper dye discharge from various industries such as textile, paper, cosmetic and plastics into receiving streams can be one of the sources towards water pollution. The release of these effluents not only causes various disruptions in the ecosystems, but also poses hazard effect as most of the dyes are highly toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic in nature. Approach: To prepare an inexpensive and efficient sorbent by chemically modifying rice hull for the removal of Methylene Blue (MB) which is predominantly used in coloring acrylic fiber. Batch experiments were carried out for the removal of MB from aqueous solution by …

High-Strength Selfconsolidating Concrete Girders Subjected To Elevated Compressive Fiber Stresses, Part 1: Prestress Loss And Camber Behavior, Jared E. Brewe, John J. Myers

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The design of prestressed concrete members is restricted by the requirement that the extreme compressive fiber stress at midspan of simply supported members be less than 60% of the concrete compressive strength at release of prestressing. the purported purpose of this limit is to address serviceability performance, but it places unnecessary limits on the capability of the materials. for this research program, six prestressed concrete girders were produced with high-strength self-consolidating concrete and subjected to compressive fiber stress levels ranging from 65% to 84% of the concrete compressive strength at release of prestressing. Time dependent concrete surface strains were measured …

Accidents Will Happen. Do Safety Systems Improve Warehouse Safety Performance?, Rene B. M. De Koster, B. M. Balk, I Davelaar, M. Martens

11th IMHRC Proceedings (Milwaukee, Wisconsin. USA – 2010)

Safety is becoming more and more an issue in warehouses. In the literature, effective measures leading to increased occupational health and safety have hardly been researched. Most research focuses on the impact of perceived safety-related leadership of managers and worker safety consciousness on ‘safety climate’ and workers’ safe behavior. We have carried out exploratory research into which measures really improve the safety performance of a warehouse. We particularly focus on the effects of (1) safety-related work procedures, (2) safety leadership, and (3) workers’ safety consciousness. Based on a survey we show that safety leadership and safety-related work procedures significantly drive …

Optimizing The Rearrangement Process In A Dedicated Warehouse, Hector J. Carlo, German E. Giraldo

11th IMHRC Proceedings (Milwaukee, Wisconsin. USA – 2010)

Determining the optimal storage assignment for products in a dedicated warehouse has been addressed extensively in the Facility Logistics literature. However, the process of implementing a particular storage assignment given the current location of products has not received much attention in the existing literature. Typically, warehouses use downtime or overtime to remove products from their current location and move them to the suggested location. This work presents the Rearrange-While-Working (RWW) policy to optimize the process of rearranging a dedicated warehouse. The RWW policy seeks to relocate products in a warehouse from the initial arrangement to the optimal arrangement while serving …

A New Milp Approach For The Facility Layout Design Problem With Rectangular And L/T Shaped Departments, Yossi Bukchin, Michal Tzur

11th IMHRC Proceedings (Milwaukee, Wisconsin. USA – 2010)

In this paper we propose a new approach for the facility layout problem (FLP) and suggest new mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulations. The proposed approach considers simultaneously the location of the departments within the facility and the internal arrangement of the machines. Two models are suggested, where the first addresses the rectangular department case and the second allows nonrectangular departments defined by an L/T shape. New regularity constraints are developed to avoid irregular department shapes.

Strategic Design Of A Robust Supply Chain, Marc Goetschalckx, Edward Huang

11th IMHRC Proceedings (Milwaukee, Wisconsin. USA – 2010)

The strategic design of a robust supply chain has as goal the configuration of the supply chain structure so that the performance of the supply chain remains of a consistently high quality for all possible future scenarios. We model this goal with an objective function that trades off the central tendency of the supply chain profit with the dispersion of the profit as measured by the standard deviation for any value of the weights assigned to the two components. However, the standard deviation, used as the dispersion penalty for profit maximization, has a square root expression which makes standard maximization …