Engineering Commons^™

Modelling Of Highway Bridge Traffic Loading: Some Recent Advances, Bernard Enright, Colin C. Caprani, Eugene J. Obrien

Conference papers

The accurate estimation of site-specific lifetime extreme traffic load effects is an important element in the cost-effective assessment of bridges. In recent years, the improved quality and increasing use of weigh-in-motion technology has meant that better quality and larger databases of vehicle weights are now available. This has enabled measurements of the regular occurrence of extremely heavy vehicles, with weights in excess of 100 t. The collected measurements have been used as the basis for building and calibrating a Monte Carlo simulation model for bridge loading. The computer programs written to implement this model generate simulated traffic in two lanes …

Radar-Rainfall Estimation Algorithms Of Hydro-Nexrad, Bong Chul Seo, Witold F. Krajewski, Anton Kruger, Piotr Domaszczynski, James A. Smith, Matthias Steiner

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Hydro-NEXRAD is a prototype software system that provides hydrology and water resource communities with ready access to the vast data archives of the U.S. weather radar network known as NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar). This paper describes radar-rainfall estimation algorithms and their modular components used in the Hydro-NEXRAD system to generate rainfall products to be delivered to users. A variety of customized modules implemented in Hydro-NEXRAD perform radar-reflectivity data processing, produce radar-rainfall maps with user-requested space and time resolution, and combine multiple radar data for basins covered by multiple radars. System users can select rainfall estimation algorithms that range from …

Nebraska Summary: S806 New Holland T7.250, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Development Of Optimal Bubble-Seeding Microheaters To Study Nucleate Boiling Heat Transfer In Microgravity, Ryan Martineau

Reports and Proposals

No abstract provided.

Leg-Up: Helping Youth Apply Engineering, Tycho K. Fredericks, Steven E. Butt

Academic Leadership Academy

Leg-Up is a program that was designed to encourage youth to understand and apply math and engineering concepts they are taught in school. This program immerses middle school students in real world problem solving; it allows students to select a problem they deem important, and with the aid of mentors, determine a solution via the scientific method.

Heat Transfer And Friction Augmentation In A Narrow Rectangular Duct With Symmetrical And Non-Symmetrical Wedge-Shaped Turbulators, Michelle Valentino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The need for cleaner and more fuel efficient means to produce electricity is growing steadily. Advancements in cooling technologies contribute to the improvements in turbine efficiency and are used for gas turbines and for power generation in automotive, aviation, as well as in naval applications, and many more. Studies introducing turbulators on walls of internal cooling channels, which can be applied to hot gas components and in recuperative heat exchangers, have been reviewed for their ability to promote heat transfer in the channel while observing pressure loss caused by adding the features. Several types of turbulators have been studied; ribs, …

Development Of A Cognitive Work Analysis Framework Tutorial Using Systems Modeling Language, Wilfred Henry Wells

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At the present time, most systems engineers do not have access to cognitive work analysis information or training in terms they can understand. This may lead to a disregard of the cognitive aspect of system design. The impact of this issue is system requirements that do not account for the cognitive strengths and limitations of users. Systems engineers cannot design effective decision support systems without defining cognitive work requirements. In order to improve system requirements, integration of cognitive work requirements into the systems engineering process has to be improved. One option to address this gap is the development of a …

Harmony Oriented Architecture, Kyle A. Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents Harmony Oriented Architecture: a novel architectural paradigm that applies the principles of Harmony Oriented Programming to the architecture of scalable and evolvable distributed systems. It is motivated by research on Ultra Large Scale systems that has revealed inherent limitations in human ability to design large-scale software systems that can only be overcome through radical alternatives to traditional object-oriented software engineering practice that simplifies the construction of highly scalable and evolvable system. HOP eschews encapsulation and information hiding, the core principles of objectoriented design, in favor of exposure and information sharing through a spatial abstraction. This helps to …

Multilayered Planar Periodic Subwavelength Microstructures For Generating And Detecting Circularly Polarized Thermal Infrared Radiation, Samuel Lanning Wadsworth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Generation and detection of circularly-polarized (CP) radiation in the 8- to 12-μm band of the infrared (IR) spectrum is crucial for polarization sensing and imaging scenarios. There is very little naturally occurring CP radiation in the long-wave IR band, so that useful functionalities may be obtained by exploiting preferential radiation and transmission characteristics of engineered metamaterials. Conventional CP devices in the IR utilize birefringent crystals, which are typically bulky and expensive to manufacture. The operation of these devices is generally optimized at a single wavelength. Imaging in the long-wave IR is most often broadband, so that achromatic CP-device behavior is …

Optimal Attitude Control Management For A Cubesat, Michael James Develle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

CubeSats have become popular among universities, research organizations, and government agencies due to their low cost, small size, and light weight. Their standardized configurations further reduce the development time and ensure more frequent launch opportunities. Early cubesat missions focused on hardware validation and simple communication missions, with little requirement for pointing accuracy. Most of these used magnetic torque rods or coils for attitude stabilization. However, the intrinsic problems associated with magnetic torque systems, such as the lack of three-axis control and low pointing accuracy, make them unsuitable for more advanced missions such as detailed imaging and on-orbit inspection. Threeaxis control …

Enhancing Cnt-Composites With Raman Spectroscopy, Gregory J. Freihofer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) have been the subject of intense research for their potential to improve a variety of material properties when developed as nano-composites. This research aims to address the challenges that limit the ability to transfer the outstanding nano-scale properties of CNTs to bulk nano-composites through Raman characterization. These studies relate the vibrational modes to microstructural characterization of CNT composites including stress, interface behavior, and defects. The formulation of a new fitting procedure using the pseudo-Voigt function is presented and shown to minimize the uncertainty of characteristics within the Raman G and D doublet. Methods for optimization of manufacturing …

Structural Health Monitoring For Damage Detection Using Wired And Wireless Sensor Clusters, Thomas Terrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sensing and analysis of a structure for the purpose of detecting, tracking, and evaluating damage and deterioration, during both regular operation and extreme events, is referred to as Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). SHM is a multi-disciplinary field, with a complete system incorporating sensing technology, hardware, signal processing, networking, data analysis, and management for interpretation and decision making. However, many of these processes and subsequent integration into a practical SHM framework are in need of development. In this study, various components of an SHM system will be investigated. A particular focus is paid to the investigation of a previously developed damage …

Assessment Of Global And Regional Reanalyses Data For Hydro- Climatic Impact Studies In The Upper Thames River Basin, Tarana A. Solaiman, Slobodan P. Simonovic

Water Resources Research Report

This study evaluates NCEP-NCAR reanalyses hydro-climatic data as an initial check for assessment of climate change studies and hydrologic modeling on the basin scale. Reanalysis data set for daily precipitation, and temperature from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP-NCAR) (a) global (NNGR) and (b) regional (NARR) reanalysis project are used as input into the semi-distributed hydrologic model (HEC-HMS) during the period of 1980-2005. First, the precipitation and temperature data are interpolated to selected stations to check for their trends and similarity in means and variances. Although NARR shows some over-estimated values, mainly in estimating temperature …

Fusion And Visualization Of Intraoperative Cortical Images With Preoperative Models For Epilepsy Surgical Planning And Guidance., A Wang, S M Mirsattari, A G Parrent, T M Peters

Robarts Imaging Publications

OBJECTIVE: During epilepsy surgery it is important for the surgeon to correlate the preoperative cortical morphology (from preoperative images) with the intraoperative environment. Augmented Reality (AR) provides a solution for combining the real environment with virtual models. However, AR usually requires the use of specialized displays, and its effectiveness in the surgery still needs to be evaluated. The objective of this research was to develop an alternative approach to provide enhanced visualization by fusing a direct (photographic) view of the surgical field with the 3D patient model during image guided epilepsy surgery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We correlated the preoperative plan …

Furthering The Growth Of Cloud Computing By Providing Privacy As A Service, David S. Allison, Miriam Am Capretz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The evolution of Cloud Computing as a viable business solution for providing hardware and software has created many security concerns. Among these security concerns, privacy is often overlooked. If Cloud Computing is to continue its growth, this privacy concern will need to be addressed. In this work we discuss the current growth of Cloud Computing and the impact the public sector and privacy can have in furthering this growth. To begin to provide privacy protection for Cloud Computing, we introduce privacy constraints that outline privacy preferences. We propose the expansion of Cloud Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to include these privacy …

An Empirical Study Of Open Source Software Usability: The Industrial Perspective, Arif Raza, Luiz Fernando Capretz, Faheem Ahmed

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Recent years have seen a sharp increase in the use of open source projects by common novice users; Open Source Software (OSS) is thus no longer a reserved arena for software developers and computer gurus. Although user-centered designs are gaining popularity in OSS, usability is still not considered as one of the prime objectives in many design scenarios. In this paper, we analyze industry users’ perception of usability factors, including understandability, learnability, operability and attractiveness, on OSS usability. The research model of this empirical study establishes the relationship between the key usability factors and OSS usability from industrial perspective. In …

Pressure-Equalized Rainscreen Wall System: A Full-Scale Experiment, Samar D. Dernayka

Digitized Theses

The pressure equalized rainscreen wall, considered as the most effective building envelope against wind induced rain penetration, requires continuous investigations to reach better performance. This research seeks the optimum pressure equalization process under external pressure conditions and wall parameters that have not previously been studied in detail. For this purpose, a single compartment full-scale wall model was built in a controlled facility at the University of Western Ontario. The cavity pressure response to external fluctuations was experimentally examined with respect to the rainscreen venting area ratio, under two types of real wind pressure distributions generated mechanically at zero degree incidence: …

Lead Silicate Glass Microsphere Resonators With Absorption-Limited Q, Pengfei Wang, Genapathy Murugan, Timothy Lee, Xian Feng, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Wei Loh, Gilberto Brambilla, James Wilkinson, Gerald Farrell

Articles

We report the fabrication and characterization of a lead-silicate glass microsphere resonator. We show that at the wavelengths near 1555 nm high Q modes can be efficiently excited from a 109 μm diameter lead-silicate glass microsphere via evanescent coupling using a tapered silica fiber with a waist diameter of 2 μm. Resonances with Q-factors as high as 0.9×10⁷ were observed. This is very close to the theoretical material-limited Q-factor and is the highest Q-factor reported so far from a nonlinear glass microsphere.

Investigation Of Singlemode-Multimode-Singlemode And Singlemode-Tapered Multitmode-Singlemode Fibre Structures And Their Application For Refractive Index Sensing, Pengfei Wang, Gilberto Brambilla, Ming Ding, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

All-fiber in-line single-mode–multimode–single-mode (SMS) and single-mode–tapered-multimode–single-mode (STMS) fiber structures are investigated. A wide-angle beam propagation method in cylindrical coordinates is developed and employed for numerical simulations of the light propagation performance of such fiber devices. The effect of strong mode interference on the performance of the devices is studied and verified numerically; results indicate that the proposed STMS structure can be exploited for measuring a broad refractive index range with reasonable high resolution, compared with the conventional SMS structure.

Introduction: Advances In E-Business Engineering, Ling Li

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) E-business is more than just e-commerce. It is one of the most challenging areas for industry and research communities. E-business has evolved from business-to-business, business-to-customer, customer-to-business, customer-to-customer, and business-to-government systems to the integrated and collaborative business services among various information systems and e-marketplaces. In this evolving process, integrated e-business systems and their related supporting platforms have to be rapidly designed and developed in order to meet different requirements. A variety of e-business engineering paradigms and technologies have been developed to tackle these challenges. There are many research issues needed to be addressed. These issues include heterogeneous services integration, …

Design Principles For High School Engineering Design Challenges: Experiences From High School Science Classrooms, Christian Schunn

Publications

At the University of Pittsburgh, we have been exploring a range of approaches to design challenges for implementation in high school science classrooms (Apedoe, Reynolds, Ellefson, & Schunn, 2008; Ellefson, Brinker, Vernacchio, & Schunn, 2008; Schunn, Silk, & Apedoe, in press). In general, our approach has always involved students working during class time over the course of many weeks. So, our understanding of what works must be contextualized to that situation (i.e., without significant home support, by students enrolled in traditional classrooms, involving content that is connected to traditional science classrooms). However, our approach has been implemented with thousands of …

Infusing Engineering Design Into High School Stem Courses, Morgan Hynes, Merredith Portsmore, Emily Dare, Elissa Milto, Chris Rogers, David Hammer, Adam Carberry

Publications

Society is recognizing the need to improve STEM education and introduce engineering design concepts before college. In the recent National Academy of Engineers report, Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects, the authors suggest that the STEM disciplines not be treated as ―silos‖ and that engineering might serve as a motivating context to integrate the four STEM disciplines (Katehi, Pearson, & Feder, 2009). Recent research has suggested that integrated technology and engineering design curriculum can serve as a positive model for mathematics and science learning and retention (Ortiz, 2010; Wendell, 2011). The Tufts University Center for …

Engineering Design Challenges In A Science Curriculum, Arthur Eisenkraft

Publications

Create a light and sound show to entertain your friends. Design an improved safety device for a car. Develop a 2-3 minute voice-over for a sports clip explaining the physics involved in the sport. Modify the design of a roller coaster to meet the needs of a specific group of riders. Design an appliance package for a family limited by the power and energy of wind generator. Develop a museum exhibit to acquaint visitors with the atom and nucleus and create a product that can be sold at the museum store after visitors leave your exhibit. All of these challenges …

Engineering Design Challenges In High School Stem Courses A Compilation Of Invited Position Papers, Daniel L. Householder

Publications

Since its initial funding by the National Science Foundation in 2004, the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) has worked to understand the infusion of engineering design experiences into the high school setting. Over the years, an increasing number of educators and professional groups have participated in the expanding initiative seeking to acquaint all students with engineering design. While there is strong support for providing students with engineering design experiences in their high school STEM courses, the lack of consensus on purposes and strategies has become increasingly apparent as the work continues. Among the unsettled issues are the …

Design Of An Implant For First Metatarsophalangeal Joint Hemiarthroplasty, Atul Kumar

ETD Archive

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and it affects 27 million US adults. OA disease involves all of the tissues of the diarthrodial joint and ultimately, may lead to softening, ulceration, loss of articular cartilage, sclerosis and polished appearance of the subchondral bone, osteophytes, and subchondral cysts. The first metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ1) is affected in up to 42 cases of OA. Besides osteoarthritis, other conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and gout also affect the MTPJ1. Involvement of MTPJ1 with these conditions invariably leads to deformed toe such as hallux valgus and hallux rigidus. Over 150 surgical techniques …

Simplifying Embedded System Development Through Whole-Program Compilers, William Patrick Mccartney

ETD Archive

As embedded systems embrace ever more complicated microcontrollers, they present both new capability and new complexity. To simplify their development, some lessons of computer application development will translate with additional work. This thesis offers one such translation. It shows how whole-program compilers - those that broadly analyze a program's entire source code - can achieve performance gains and remove faults in embedded system applications. In so doing, this yields a novel stackless threading system named UnStacked C. UnStacked C enables cooperative multithreading without the risk of stack overflows in embedded system applications. We also propose a novel preemption system called …

Development Of A Muscle Force Optimization Algorithm To Improve Center Of Pressure During Simulated Walking, Lawrence Dean Noble

ETD Archive

The Universal Musculoskeletal Simulator (UMS) was developed at the Cleveland Clinic to facilitate general purpose orthopaedic research that allows investigators to study the in vitro forces applied to bones, tendons and ligaments during simulated exercise of cadaver joint systems. In its original state, the UMS hardware consisted of a rotopod (a specialized hexapod robot), a single rotary tendon actuator and custom LabVIEW software for coordinated control and operation of the system. The focus of this work was to 1) enhance the UMS with a multi-tendon actuator system, 2) develop a muscle force optimization algorithm and evaluate it with a static …

Free Space Optical Communications With High Intensity Laser Power Beaming, Daniel Edward Raible

ETD Archive

This research demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing high intensity laser power beaming (HILPB) systems as a conduit for robust free-space optical communications over large distances and in challenging atmospheric conditions. The uniqueness of vertical multi-junction (VMJ) photovoltaic cells used in HILPB systems in their ability to receive and to convert at high efficiency, very high intensity laser light of over 200 W/cm2, presents a unique opportunity for the development of the robust free space optical communication system by modulating information signals onto the transmitted high intensity photonic energy. Experiments were conducted to investigate and validate several optical communications concepts. A …

Partial-Data Interpolation During Arcing Of An X-Ray Tube In A Computed Tomography Scanner, Jaisingh Rajwade

ETD Archive

X-ray tubes are used in computed tomography (CT) scanners as the energy source for generation of images. These tubes occasionally tend to arc, an undesired phenomenon where high current surges through the tube. During the time that the x-ray tube recovers to full voltage after an arc, image data is being collected. Normally this data, acquired at less than full voltage, is discarded and interpolation is performed over the arc duration. However, this is not ideal and some residual imperfections in images, called artifacts, still remain. Proposed here is an algorithm that corrects for improper tube voltage, allowing previously discarded …

Dynamic Harmonic Domain Modeling Of Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System Controllers, Bharat Gnvsr Vyakaranam

ETD Archive

Flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) and multi-line FACTS controllers play an important role in electrical power transmission systems by improving power quality and increasing power transmission capacity. These controllers are nonlinear and highly complex when compared to mechanical switches. Consequently, during transient conditions, it is very difficult to use conventional time and frequency domain techniques alone to determine the precise dynamic behavior of the harmonics introduced into the system by these controllers. In particular, the time-varying nature of the harmonic components is not captured by these techniques. The contribution of this work to the state of power systems analysis …