Engineering Commons^™

Bs News November/December

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Nutrient Transport In Runoff As Affected By Diet, Tillage, And Manure Application Rate, John E. Gilley, Lisa M. Durso, R.A. Eigenberg, David B. Marx, Brian L. Woodbury

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Feedlot operators may increase profitability by including distillers grains in finishing diets. However, the nutrients remaining in the by‐product are concentrated by about a factor of three during the distillation process. Manure can be applied to meet single‐ or multiple‐year crop nutrient requirements. The water quality effects of the use of distillers grains in feedlot diets and multiple‐year manure application have not been well quantified. The objectives of this study were to (1) compare the runoff water quality effects resulting from the application of manure derived from corn and distillers grain diets, (2) examine the effects of till and no‐till …

Comparison Of Subsurface And Surface Runoff Phosphorus Transport Capacities In Alluvial Floodplains, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Derek M. Heeren, Daniel E. Storm, Garey A. Fox, M. J. White, R. B. Miller

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

There have been numerous studies on phosphorus (P) contributions from surface runoff, but studies comparing the contribution of surface versus subsurface P are limited, as subsurface transport is often considered negligible. Previous work has shown that the transport of P in the gravelly subsurface at two sites in northeast Oklahoma can be significant, especially in preferential flow paths (PFPs), hypothesized to be buried gravel bars. The objective of this project was to quantify subsurface P losses based on field data, and compare with surface runoff P losses derived from Pasture Phosphorus Management Calculator (PPM Plus) simulations. Ozark ecoregion study sites …

Pendulum Testing As A Means Of Assessing The Crash Performance Of Longitudinal Barrier With Minor Damage, Doug Gabauer, Kristofer D. Kusano, Dhafer Marzougui, Kenneth Opiela, Martin Hargrave, Hampton C. Gabler

Faculty Journal Articles

Longitudinal barriers such as w-beam guardrails are subjected to a series of full-scale crash tests to determine their impact performance before being considered acceptable for use on the nation’s highways. Once longitudinal barriers are installed along a roadway, however, they often sustain minor damage in various ways. Since barriers are exclusively tested in an undamaged condition, there is very little known regarding the crash performance of barriers that have sustained minor damage. Transportation agencies responsible for deploying and maintaining these barrier systems need a better understanding of damaged barrier performance to make timely and cost-effective barrier maintenance decisions under the …

Designing A Photovoltaic System Hybrid For A Health Clinic In Camilo Ortega, Nicaragua, Jeremy Holliman

Electrical Engineering

As developing nations continue to foster the development of their technologies and economies, industrialized nations have taken an active approach in providing green and sustainable alternatives for them to consider. Non-profit organizations like Engineers Without Borders holds sustainable international development as paramount to all international projects that their student and professional chapters undertake. The Cal Poly Engineers Without Borders student chapter has implemented a variety of projects from slow sand filters to compressed earth blocks, and the Nicaragua team is in the process of designing a health clinic for the Camilo Ortega community. In order to power the health clinic, …

An Analytical Model Of A Thermally Excited Microcantilever Vibrating Laterally In A Viscous Fluid, Stephen M. Heinrich, Rabin Maharjan, Isabelle Dufour, Fabien Josse, Luke A. Beardslee, Oliver Brand

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

To achieve higher quality factors (Q) for microcantilevers used in liquid-phase sensing applications, recent studies have explored the use of the lateral (in-plane) flexural mode. In particular, we have recently shown that this mode may be excited electrothermally using integrated heating resistors near the micro cantilever support, and that the resulting increase in Q helps to make low-ppb limits of detection a possibility in liquids. However, because the use of electrothermally excited, liquid-phase, microcantilever-based sensors in lateral flexure is relatively new, theoretical models are lacking. Therefore, we present here a new analytical model for predicting the vibratory response of these …

Geometrical Optimization Of Resonant Cantilevers Vibrating In In-Plane Bending Modes, Luke A. Beardslee, Assim M. Addous, Kemal S. Demirci, Oliver Brand, Stephen M. Heinrich, Fabien Josse

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The influence of the beam geometry on the quality factor and resonance frequency of resonant silicon cantilever beams vibrating in their fundamental in-plane flexural mode has been investigated in air and water. Compared to cantilevers vibrating in their out-of-plane flexural mode, utilizing the in plane mode results in reduced damping and reduced mass loading by the surrounding fluid. Quality factors as high as 4,300 in air and 67 in water have been measured for cantilevers with a 12 μm thick silicon layer. This is in comparison to Q factors up to 1,500 in air and up to 20 in water …

Evaluation Of The Stress-Energy Methodology To Predict Transmitted Shock Through Expanded Foam Cushions, J. Singh, L. Ignatova, E. Olsen, P. Singh

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Mechanical stresses experienced by packages in the distribution environment include shock and vibration amongst several others. The destructive effects of these hazards can typically be restricted by using cushioning materials to help protect fragile goods during distribution. ASTM D1596 is the conventional standard used to determine shock absorbing performance of a cushioning material for a given combination of static loading, thickness, and drop height. This industry-accepted standard, however, requires significant amounts of transmitted shock data and can be expensive with respect to costs associated with testing and materials amongst others. Alternate stress-energy-based methodologies, developed in the past decade, recommending a …

Image Guided Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Of Breast Tissue In Vivo Using Boundary Element Method, Subhadra Srinivasan, Colin M. Carpenter, Hamid R. Ghadyani, Senate J. Taka, Peter A. Kaufman, Roberta M. Diflorio-Alexander, Wendy A. Wells, Brian W. Pogue, Keith D. Paulsen

Dartmouth Scholarship

We demonstrate quantitative functional imaging using image-guided near-infrared spectroscopy (IG-NIRS) implemented with the boundary element method (BEM) for reconstructing 3-D optical property estimates in breast tissue in vivo. A multimodality MRI-NIR system was used to collect measurements of light reflectance from breast tissue. The BEM was used to model light propagation in 3-D based only on surface discretization in order to reconstruct quantitative values of total hemoglobin (HbT), oxygen saturation, water, and scatter. The technique was validated in experimental measurements from heterogeneous breast-shaped phantoms with known values and applied to a total of seven subjects comprising six healthy individuals …

Impact Investigation Of Reactor Fuel Operating Parameters On Reactivity For Use In Burnup Credit Applications, Tanya N. Sloma

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

When representing the behavior of commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF), credit is sought for the reduced reactivity associated with the net depletion of fissile isotopes and the creation of neutron-absorbing isotopes, a process that begins when a commercial nuclear reactor is first operated at power. Burnup credit accounts for the reduced reactivity potential of a fuel assembly and varies with the fuel burnup, cooling time, and the initial enrichment of fissile material in the fuel. With regard to long-term SNF disposal and transportation, tremendous benefits, such as increased capacity, flexibility of design and system operations, and reduced overall costs, provide …

A Parallel Histogram-Based Particle Filter For Object Tracking On Simd-Based Smart Cameras, Henry Medeiros, Germán Holguín, Paul J. Shin, Johnny Park

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

We present a parallel implementation of a histogram-based particle filter for object tracking on smart cameras based on SIMD processors. We specifically focus on parallel computation of the particle weights and parallel construction of the feature histograms since these are the major bottlenecks in standard implementations of histogram-based particle filters. The proposed algorithm can be applied with any histogram-based feature sets—we show in detail how the parallel particle filter can employ simple color histograms as well as more complex histograms of oriented gradients (HOG). The algorithm was successfully implemented on an SIMD processor and performs robust object tracking at up …

Developing Proactive Methods For General Aviation Data Collection, Scott Shappell, Carla Hackworth, Kali Holcomb, John Lanicci, Massoud Bazargan, Jaclyn Baron, Rebecca Iden, Daniel Halperin

Publications

Introduction. Over the last 20 years, nearly 40,000 general aviation (GA) aircraft were involved in accidents, roughly 20% of which were fatal. To address this safety concern, scientists have often relied on accident data. Because of the rare nature of accidents, commercial aviation incident and near miss data may prove to be useful sources of safety information. In one such study, the National Transportation Safety Board interviewed GA pilots that were flying near a weather-related accident in pursuit of a different perspective than that of the accident pilot. Interviewing GA pilots about their own weather-related event may provide similar …

Distribution Of Capillary Transit Times In Isolated Lungs Of Oxygen-Tolerant Rats, Madhavi Ramakrishna, Zhuohui Gan, Anne V. Clough, Robert C. Molthen, David L. Roerig, Said H. Audi

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Rats pre-exposed to 85% O₂ for 5–7 days tolerate the otherwise lethal effects of 100% O₂. The objective was to evaluate the effect of rat exposure to 85% O₂ for 7 days on lung capillary mean transit time (t¯c) and distribution of capillary transit times (h _c(t)). This information is important for subsequent evaluation of the effect of this hyperoxia model on the redox metabolic functions of the pulmonary capillary endothelium. The venous concentration vs. time outflow curves of fluorescein isothiocyanate labeled dextran (FITC-dex), an intravascular indicator, and coenzyme Q₁ hydroquinone …

Mas Pole Location And Effective Spatial Bandwidth Of The Scattered Field, James Richie

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The concept of effective spatial bandwidth (EBW) is introduced for periodic domains. The EBW is applied to the incident and scattered fields along the boundary of an infinite circular cylinder. The scattered field is formulated using the method of auxiliary sources (MAS). In MAS, monopoles on an auxiliary surface (AS) are used to model the scattered field. It is shown that the EBW of the incident field can provide some insight regarding the placement of poles for the MAS scattered field model. Example simulations are provided to demonstrate the usefulness of EBW with respect to monopole placement rules in MAS.

Modeling And Numerical Investigation Of Hot Gas Defrost On A Finned Tube Evaporator Using Computational Fluid Dynamics, Oai The Ha

Master's Theses

Defrosting in the refrigeration industry is used to remove the frost layer accumulated on the evaporators after a period of running time. It is one way to improve the energy efficiency of refrigeration systems. There are many studies about the defrosting process but none of them use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The purpose of this thesis is (1) to develop a defrost model using the commercial CFD solver FLUENT to simulate numerically the melting of frost coupled with the heat and mass transfer taking place during defrosting, and (2) to investigate the thermal response of the evaporator and the …

Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership Case Studies - 2010, Florida Solar Energy Center, Janet Mcilvaine

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This document is a compilation of 14 separate case studies of home builders who have adopted Building America principles of high performance as standard construction. This work was compiled by the Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership (www.baihp.org ) for the U.S. Department of Energy to serve as a model for other housing providers. BAIHP is led by the Florida Solar Energy Center of the University of Central Florida.

Three-Dimensional Stereoscopic Exploration System For The Heart, Thomas Wischgoll

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Gap Between The Industrial Environment And The Classroom Via Project-Based Learning, Michael W. Martin

Presentation

Recent engineering education research has concluded that most engineering curricula do not promote attainment of many characteristics desired in practicing engineers. Methods to attain these characteristics include both project-based learning (PBL) and simulation of workplace situations in the educational environment. The presenter will outline the use of both PBL and workplace simulation through the implementation of a semester-long project in a senior-level Data Acquisition course taught out of the Department of Engineering Technology at Northern Michigan University. A typical undergraduate experimental analysis or data acquisition course will review topics including; sensoring, hardware requirements, testing techniques, computer integration, software use, and …

Plasma Mediated Molecular Delivery, Richard J. Connolly

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-viral delivery of plasmid DNA has traditionally relied upon physical forces applied directly to target tissues. These physical methods typically involve contact between an applicator and the target tissue and often cause transient patient discomfort. To overcome the contact-dependent limitations of such delivery methodologies, an atmospheric direct current plasma source was developed to deposit ionized gas molecules onto localized treatment sites. The deposition of charged species onto a treatment site can lead to the establishment of an electric field with strengths similar to those used for traditional electroporation. In vitro experiments proved that this technology could transiently permeabilize cell membranes …

Modeling And Predicting Taxi Times At Airports, Arjun Chauhan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research aims at providing methods in analyzing and estimating the taxi times of aircraft at airports, which are expected to be an important element for reducing taxiing delay and consequent excess fuel consumption and environmental costs. The proposed model involves a set of regression equations to model the taxi-out and taxi-in times at airports. The estimated results can be used to calculate the nominal taxi times, which are essential measures for evaluating the taxiing delays at airports. Given the outcomes of the regression model, an iterative algorithm is developed to predict taxi times. A case study at LGA shows …

A Single-Chip Ultra-Wideband Based Wireless Sensor Network Node, Nathan R. Schemm

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation presents the design of a next-generation wireless sensor network node. The node incorporates many new and innovative technologies such as an ultra-wideband radio which allows very low-energy communication, a low-power radiation detection front end, and an efficient implementation of dynamic voltage scaling which improves the energy efficiency of the integrated processor. The complete design is integrated on a single chip for maximum power savings and minimal size.

The ultra-wideband transceiver includes many novel techniques to produce a receiver with low power consumption and fast and accurate packet acquisition and reception. These include the use of a standard symmetric …

Descent Systems For An Improved And Reusable Gemini Capsule, Heather Pitts

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Lunar Wormbot--A Robotic Tunneling Worm For Operation In Harsh Environments, Josh Johnson

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Nasa X-Toolss Design Optimization, David Keeton, Cheryl Rose, Daniel Cervantes, Kelly Green, Justin Chism

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Promoting Stem Education Via The Design And Fabrication Of A Simulated Lunar Vehicle, Henrique Casagrande

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Analysis And Simulations Of Z-Source Inverter Control Methods, B. Y. Husodo, M. Anwari, S. M. Ayob, Taufik

Electrical Engineering

In this paper, two different control methods for Z-source inverter are examined. The Simple Boost and the Maximum Boost control methods of the inverter are analyzed and compared each other using simulation with MATLAB/Simulink. The Simple Boost control with independence relation between modulation index and shoot-through duty ratio is also simulated and analyzed. The selection of high modulation index and shoot-through duty ratio can reduce the inverter’s dc link voltage overshoot and increasing power delivery capacity of the inverter.

Development Of Stem Tools Using Nasa's Systems Engineering Design Approach, J Chevallier, D Hamilton, B Landers, W Landers, B Setayesh

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Aethon Research Rocket, Charger Rocket Works, Daniel Cavender, Diana Alsbrook, Leonard French, Jarred Green, Andrew Hiatt, Jarrod Mosteller, Brandon Setayesh, Nathan Toy

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Mars Sample Return Utilizing The Capabilities Of The Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle, Matt White

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of Nasa's System Engineering Design Process In The Development Of An Optical Guitar Pickup, Stephanie Buckner, Jared Nelson, Ben Fowler, Samuel Hobbs, Chris Kirchner

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.