Engineering Commons^™

Structural Analysis And Optimization Of Skyscrapers Connected With Skybridges And Atria, Amy Jean Taylor Mccall

Theses and Dissertations

Skybridges and atria between buildings are becoming more and more popular. Most current skybridge connections are either roller or rigid-connections. This dissertation presents an investigation of the structural analysis and optimization of skyscraper systems with hinge-connected skybridges, and compares the results to skyscraper systems with roller-connected skybridges and to skyscraper systems without skybridges altogether. Also presented is an investigation of the structural analysis and optimization of skyscrapers both with and without atria between the buildings. It was assumed that the atria envelope was constructed with cushions made from lightweight, transparent, and flexible Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE). A simplified skyscraper skybridge model …

Cfx Analysis Of The Heat And Mass Transfer During The Chilling Of A Lamb Carcass Using A 3d Model, Joseph Hannon, Garrett Keane, Micheal O'Flaherty

Presentations

Lamb meat is a popular red meat which must go through a complex refrigeration process before being served at the dinner table to reduce bacterial growth and retain meat quality. A major disadvantage of chilling is the drip losses which are losses in weight by evaporation of water contained within the meat. The aim of this work is to simulate the conventional chilling process of a lamb carcass using a three dimensional model.

Comparison Of Finite Difference And Finite Element (Telemac) Models Of Dublin Bay, Garrett Keane, Zeinab Bedri, John O'Sullivan

Presentations

A number of hydrodynamic and solute mathematical models of Dublin Bay have been developed in the Centre for Water Resources Research in University College Dublin. One of these was an Eulerian-Langrangian finite difference Extended Dublin Bay model named SW2D which was developed by Hussey (1996). It was used in various studies such as the Dublin Bay Water Quality Management Plan and the Howth Outfall Study to predict the effect of the proposed upgrades at the sewage treatment plants on the water quality in these areas. The finite element TELEMAC modelling system developed by the French EDF group was used in …

Cooperative Target Tracking Enhanced With The Sequence Memoizer, Everett A. Bryan

Theses and Dissertations

Target tracking is an important part of video surveillance from a UAV. Tracking a target in an urban environment can be difficult because of the number of occlusions present in the environment. If multiple UAVs are used to track a target and the target behavior is learned autonomously by the UAV then the task may become easier. This thesis explores the hypothesis that an existing cooperative control algorithm can be enhanced by a language modeling algorithm to improve over time the target tracking performance of one or more ground targets in a dense urban environment. Observations of target behavior are …

A Neural Network Based Outlier Identification And Removal Scheme, H. Ferdowsi, S. Jagannathan, M. Zawodniok

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Identifying and removing the outliers is important in order to make the data more trustworthy and improve the reliability of fault detection, since outliers in the measured data can cause false alarms. An online outlier identification and removal (OIR) scheme, suitable for nonlinear dynamic systems, is proposed in this paper. A neural network (NN) is utilized to estimate the actual outlier-free system states using only the measured system states which involve outliers. Outlier identification is performed online by finding the difference between measured and estimated states and comparing it with its median and standard deviation over a dynamic time window. …

A Decentralized Fault Accommodation Scheme For Nonlinear Interconnected Systems, H. Ferdowsi, S. Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a novel decentralized detection and accommodation (FDA) methodology is proposed for interconnected nonlinear continuous-time systems by using local subsystem states alone in contrast with traditional distributed FDA schemes where the entire measured or the estimated state vector is needed. First, the detection scheme is revisited where a network of local fault detectors (LFD) is proposed. A fault is detected by generating a residual from the measured and estimated state vectors locally and the fault dynamics are estimated by using an online approximator upon detection. Subsequently, a fault accommodation scheme is initiated in the subsystem by using a …

Cmos Smart Camera With Focal Plane Neighborhood-Parallel Image Processing, Joseph A. Schmitz

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

A neighbhorhood-based smart camera architecture is designed and implemented in a 0.13 μm CMOS technology. Each 8 × 8 region of pixels contains a small processor with local memory, which are tiled to form a full-resolution camera. Each processor operates in parallel, enabling high-speed image processing suitable for tracking and recognition tasks. The architecture features the programming flexibility of designs us- ing chip-level and row-level processors while preserving the scalability of pixel-parallel processing elements. The neighborhood processors are implemented physically be- tween the pixel photodiodes, creating multiple design challenges that are discussed in detail.

Advisors: Sina Balkir and Michael W. …

Physical Design Of A Smart Camera With Integrated Digital Pixel Sensors Using A 0.13Μm 8-Layer Metal Cmos Process, Mahir K. Gharzai

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

The design of cameras has historically kept imagery and computational circuitry isolated in an attempt to maximize image quality by improving pixel pitch and routing density. Although this technique has worked in creating high density arrays of pixels for large resolution imagers, it has never been able to achieve high framerate computational operations.

A radical approach is introduced to solve this dilemma by creating compact, low- power pixel elements with built-in analog-to-digital converters that directly interface with digital logic. These pixels are capable of integrating alongside logic cells and to create an array of pixels inside the processor that can …

Narrow Grass Hedge Effects On The Transport Of Antimicrobials And Antimicrobial Resistance Genes Following Land Application Of Swine Slurry, Bhavneet Soni

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of manure amendment and narrow grass hedges on the fate and transport of antimicrobials and ARGs in runoff and in soil following the land application of swine manure slurry. Swine manure slurry was land applied to 0.75m wide by 4.0m long plots established on an Aksarben silty clay loam soil located in southeast Nebraska. The treatment factor manure amendment consisted of two levels: no manure application and manure application to meet the 3 year nitrogen (N) requirements for corn. The treatment factor of grass hedge was established for half of …

Stability Of Silk And Collagen Protein Materials In Space, Xiao Hu, Waseem K. Raja, Bo An, Olena Tokareva, Peggy Cebe, David L. Kaplan

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

Collagen and silk materials, in neat forms and as silica composites, were flown for 18 months on the International Space Station [Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE)-6] to assess the impact of space radiation on structure and function. As natural biomaterials, the impact of the space environment on films of these proteins was investigated to understand fundamental changes in structure and function related to the future utility in materials and medicine in space environments. About 15% of the film surfaces were etched by heavy ionizing particles such as atomic oxygen, the major component of the low-Earth orbit space environment. Unexpectedly, …

2013 Fall Engr333 Vehicle Poster, 2013 Fall Engr333

ENGR 333

Waste vegetable oil (WVO) was chosen by the class as the best fuel source for the Calvin Biofuel Vehicle Project. The class then considered vehicle options and selected a lawnmower to be powered by WVO.

2013 Fall Engr333 Fuel And Facilities Poster, 2013 Fall Engr333

ENGR 333

The objective of the project was to answer the question: “What would it take for Calvin College to operate a biofuel vehicle from campus resources.” The class split into 3 teams:

• Fuel/Feedstock
• Facilities/Infrastructure
• Vehicle

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2013, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Patient-Specific Modeling Of Adult Acquired Flatfoot Deformity Before And After Surgery, Edward Meade Spratley

Theses and Dissertations

The use of computational modeling is an increasingly commonplace technique for the investigation of biomechanics in intact and pathological musculoskeletal systems. Moreover, given the robust and repeatable nature of computer simulation and the prevalence of software techniques for accurate 3-D reconstructions of tissues, the predictive power of these models has increased dramatically. However, there are no patient-specific kinematic models whose function is dictated solely by physiologic soft-tissue constraints, articular shape and contact, and without idealized joint approximations. Moreover, very few models have attempted to predict surgical effects combined with postoperative validation of those predictions. Given this, it is not surprising …

Exploring Hybrid Spm-Cache Architectures To Improve Performance And Energy Efficiency For Real-Time Computing, Lan Wu

Theses and Dissertations

Real-time computing is not just fast computing but time-predictable computing. Many tasks in safety-critical embedded real-time systems have hard real-time characteristics. Failure to meet deadlines may result in the loss of life or in large damages. Known of Worst Case Execution Time (WCET) is important for reliability or correct functional behavior of the system. As multi-core processors are increasingly adopted in industry, it has become a great challenge to accurately bound the worst-case execution time (WCET) for real-time systems running on multi-core chips. This is particularly true because of the inter-thread interferences in accessing shared resources on multi-cores, such as …

Drainage Structure Datasets And Effects On Lidar-Derived Surface Flow Modeling, Ruopu Li, Zhenghong Tang, Xu Li, Jessie Winter

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

With extraordinary resolution and accuracy, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-derived digital elevation models (DEMs) have been increasingly used for watershed analyses and modeling by hydrologists, planners and engineers. Such high-accuracy DEMs have demonstrated their effectiveness in delineating watershed and drainage patterns at fine scales in low-relief terrains. However, these high-resolution datasets are usually only available as topographic DEMs rather than hydrologic DEMs, presenting greater land roughness that can affect natural flow accumulation. Specifically, locations of drainage structures such as road culverts and bridges were simulated as barriers to the passage of drainage. This paper proposed a geospatial method for producing …

Mechanical Properties Of Hydrated Acoustically Sensitive Alginate-Based Microcapsules Confined In A Microfluidic Device As A Function Of Size And Composition, Maryam Mobed-Miremadi, Mallika Keralapura, Tiffany Fong, Rogel Camba

Bioengineering

Understanding the mechanical properties of alginate-based microcapsules according to size and chemical composition allows researchers to zero in on the treatment and methods required to engineer optimized implantable alginate-based artificial cells for chemotherapy. Cross-linked medium viscosity alginate capsules ranging from 1.1% (w/v)-1.8% (w/v) in composition and 200 μm-1200 μm in size, encapsulating ultrasound contrast agents and blue dextran were compressed within a 40 μm high polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic device and subsequently examined using 2D microscopy for strain deformation aimed at the calculation of poisson ratios and volume loss postcompression. Results indicate a decrease in Poisson ratio as a function of alginate …

Nd–Fe–B Nanoparticles Through Surfactant Assisted Mechanical Milling And Alloy Design, Jordann M. Bornhoft

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Surfactant-assisted mechanical milling has been used to produce discrete nanoparticles of both Nd-Fe-B and Sm-Co amenable for bottom-up production of nanostructured or nanocomposite permanent magnets. However, in Nd-Fe-B the comminution of the material proceeds by transgranular fracture, which influences both the morphology of the nanoparticles and the magnetic properties. This paper utilizes alloy design to alter the fracture behavior from transgranular fracture to intergranular fracture. Nd-rich Nd₂Fe₁₄B alloys were produced by melt spinning in an overquenched state. The melt spun ribbons were annealed at 700°C and 800°C to ensure complete crystallization and to form different grain …

Situational Awareness/Triage Tool For Use In A Chemical, Biological, Radiological Nuclear Explosive (Cbrne) Environment, John N. Scarlett, Heather L. Gallup, David A. Smith

AFIT Patents

A method of managing patient care and emergency response following a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, or Nuclear Explosive (CBRNE) attack and maintaining compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The method including identifying each patient with a unique patient identifier, the identifier based upon the geospatial location of the patient, the geospatial location including at least the latitude and longitude of the patient when first treated, the unique patient identifier being part of patient data. Providing a collection point of patient data to form a patient data database where in the patient location data may be used to …

An Efficiently Preconditioned Eigenanalysis Of Inhomogeneously Loaded Rectangular Cavities, Qi I. Dai, Yat Hei Lo, Weng Cho Chew, Li (Lijun) Jun Jiang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this letter, we demonstrate an efficient preconditioning scheme for the eigenanalysis of inhomogeneously loaded rectangular cavities. Modeling the entire structure with the finite-difference frequency-domain (FDFD) method yields a large sparse eigenvalue problem. The desired interior eigen-spectrum is sought for by Arnoldi iterations with the shift-and-invert operation, where the inversion can only be performed iteratively in large-scale applications. A preconditioner is constructed to speed up the inversion. It can effectively shrink the spectrum of the governing matrix and can be solved for by using fast discrete sine and cosine transforms (DSTs and DCTs). Several numerical examples are included to illustrate …

On Relay Node Placement Problem For Survivable Wireless Sensor Networks, Changyong Jung

Theses and Dissertations

Wireless sensor networks are widely applied to many fields such as animal habitat monitoring, air traffic control, and health monitoring. One of the current problems with wireless sensor networks is the ability to overcome communication failures due to hardware failure, distributing sensors in an uneven geographic area, or unexpected obstacles between sensors. One common solution to overcome this problem is to place a minimum number of relay nodes among sensors so that the communication among sensors is guaranteed. This is called Relay Node Placement Problem (RNP). This problem has been proved as NP-hard for a simple connected graph. Therefore, many …

Microgrid Development Using A Grid Tie Inverter, Hartono Budi Santoso, Budiyanto Budiyanto

Makara Journal of Technology

The use of renewable energy sources (RES), especially photovoltaic (PV), to meet the demand of electrical energy has been getting a great deal of attention as an alternative solution to electrical energy deficit problems. RES are being applied in power systems in a variety of configurations including microgrid systems. One of the characteristics of a microgrid is capability to supplying power to grid when there is an excess power to supply local load. This research examines the chances of saving power consumption from grid using power converters grid tie inverter (GTI) in a microgrid configuration. The test is done by …

Surface Treatment Of Fly Ash For Improving The Tensile Strength Of Fly Ash/Unsaturated Polyester Composites, Sugiman Sugiman, Paryanto Dwi Setyawan

Makara Journal of Technology

The paper presents the surface treatment of fly ashes using acid and alkali solution on the tensile strength of the fly ash/unsaturated polyester (UP) composites. Sulfuric acid (H2SO4), hydrofluoric acid (HF) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution with concentration of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% (by weight) were used for surface treatment of fly ashes. Generally, the tensile strength of the treated fly-ash/UP composites shows a significant increase compared to the untreated fly ash. Of all surface treatments studied, the optimum tensile strength was obtained at a concentration of 10%. At this concentration, at a fly ash content of 30% …

Recycling Roof Tile Waste Material For Wall Cover Tiles, Ambar Mulyono, Silfia Mona Aryani, Joko Lulut

Makara Journal of Technology

Prior research on roof tile waste treatment has attempted to find the appropriate technology to reuse old roof tile waste by create wall cladding materials from it. Through exploration and experimentation, a treatment method has been discovered to transform the tile fragments into artificial stone that resembles the shape of coral. This baked clay artificial stone material is then processed as a decorative element for vertical surfaces that are not load-bearing, such as on the interior and exterior walls of a building. Before applying the fragments as wall tiles, several steps must be taken: 1) Blunting, which changes the look …

Synthesis Of Tungsten Oxide Nanowires Onto Ito Glass Using T-Cvd, Tomy Abuzairi, Bohr-Ran Huang, Tzu-Ching Lin

Makara Journal of Technology

Tungsten oxide is an n-type semiconductor with interesting physical and chemical properties that make it suitable for various technological applications. Tungsten oxide nanowires were synthesized not only at low temperature but also without the use of any catalysts. The tungsten oxide nanowires were synthesized at 550 °C with tungsten layers onto the ITO glass using thermal chemical vapor deposition (T-CVD). The SEM image shows that the tungsten oxide nanowires are effectively grown with the 200 nm tungsten film. The Raman spectra shoulder at ~690 cm-1 proves the synthesized of tungsten oxide nanowires.

Semiconductor Thermal Neutron Detector, Toru Aoki, Aki Miyake, Takayuki Nakano, Akifumi Koike, Hisashi Morii, Hidenori Mimura

Makara Journal of Technology

The CdTe and GaN detector with a Gd converter have been developed and investigated as a neutron detector for neutron imaging. The fabricated Gd/CdTe detector with the 25 mm thick Gd was designed on the basis of simulation results of thermal neutron detection efficiency and spatial resolution. The Gd/CdTe detector shows the detection of neutron capture gamma ray emission in the 155Gd(n, g)156Gd, 157Gd(n, g)158Gd and 113Cd(n, g)114Cd reactions and characteristic X-ray emissions due to conversion-electrons generated inside the Gd film. The observed efficient thermal neutron detection with the Gd/CdTe detector shows its promise in neutron radiography application. Moreover, a …

Radiation Characteristics Of A Planar Strip Dipole Antenna And A Slot Dipole Antenna For Thz Applications, Catur Apriono, Eko Tjipto Rahardjo

Makara Journal of Technology

The development of a THz system often requires a device that is used to radiate or detect THz waves. One way to fulfill this requirement is to use an antenna. Therefore, we need to consider the radiation characteristics of an antenna working in the THz region. In this paper, we present simulation study of two dipole antennas, i.e. a planar strip dipole antenna and a slot dipole antenna. The simulation results show that a planar strip dipole antenna has a better radiation efficiency (more than 95%) compared to the slot dipole. It also shows that an efficiency of more than …

The Effect Of Pressing Temperature And Time On The Quality Of Particle Board Made From Jatropha Fruit Hulls Treated In Acidic Condition, Apri Heri Iswanto, Fauzi Febrianto, Yusuf Sudo Hadi, Surdiding Ruhendi, Dede Hermawan

Makara Journal of Technology

The high of pH of jatropha fruit hulls causes the negative properties of particleboard made from this material. Adjusting the particle acidity and pressing conditions (temperature and time) is among the technical modifications available to improve this particleboard’s properties. Particle acidity has been adjusted in a previous research project, and immersing the particles in acetic acid was found to be the best treatment in this preliminary research. In order to improve the particleboard’s properties, an experiment was conducted to determine the best pressing temperature and time. The objective of the research was to evaluate the influence of pressing temperature and …

Intensity-Demodulated Fiber-Ring Laser Sensor System For Acoustic Emission Detection, Ming Han, Tongqing Liu, Lingling Hu, Qi Zhang

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a fiber-optic ultrasonic sensor system based on a fiber-ring laser whose cavity consisting of a regular fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and a tunable optical band-pass filter (TOBPF). The FBG is the sensing element and the TOBPF is used to set the lasing wavelength at a point on the spectral slope of the FBG. The ultrasonic signal is detected by the variations of the laser output intensity in response to the cold-cavity loss modulations from the ultrasonicallyinduced FBG spectral shift. The system demonstrated here has a simple structure and low cost, making it attractive for acoustic …

Passivization Of Em Peec Solutions In The Frequency And Time Domain, Albert E. Ruehli, Giulio Antonini, Lijun Jiang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The stability issues for time domain integral equations is well known and it has been investigated for a long time. In this paper, we pursue an approach for the stabilization and even passivization of the electromagnetic solutions in the time and frequency domain using the PEEC circuit techniques. We aim to enhance the passivity by adding more passivization to the EM solution rather than using a post-processing technique which have to be used in the EM solver is not available. © 2013 IEEE.