Engineering Commons^™

Tire Log™, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

The Tire Log™ is a patented innovation made from waste tires with a unique and energy efficient approach to recycling tires. Re-Tread Products (RTP) process takes full advantage of the embedded energy in tires that is wasted in conventional tire recycling that primarily involves the grinding, burying or burning of waste tires.

Bubbledeck, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Conventional horizontal concrete slabs are heavy that limit their spans. Enhancement of span results in addition of beams that increases the cost of the structure. Thus, there is a need for a technology that will help in increasing the span by reducing weight of the span. BubbleDeck is a revolutionary construction method that virtually eliminates concrete from the middle of a floor slab between columns that does not perform any structural function, thereby dramatically reducing structural dead weight. BubbleDeck is based on a patented technique - the direct way of linking air and steel.

Thermoelectric Properties Of Epitaxial Scn Films Deposited By Reactive Magnetron Sputtering Onto Mgo(001) Substrates, Polina V. Burmistrova, Jesse Maassen, Tela Favaloro, Bivas Saha, Shuaib Salamat, Yee Rui Koh, Mark S. Lundstrom, Ali Shakouri, Timothy D. Sands

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Epitaxial ScN(001) thin films were grown on MgO(001) substrates by dc reactive magnetron sputtering.The deposition was performed in an Ar/N2 atmosphere at 2 x 10−3 Torr at a substrate temperature of 850 °C in a high vacuum chamber with a base pressure of 10−8 Torr. In spite of oxygen contamination of 1.6 +/- 1 at. %, the electrical resistivity, electron mobility, and carrier concentration obtained from a typical filmgrown under these conditions by room temperature Hall measurements are 0.22 mΩ cm, 106 cm2 V−1 s−1, and 2.5 x 1020 cm−3, respectively. These films exhibit remarkable thermoelectric power factors of 3.3–3.5 …

A Computational Study Of The Thermoelectric Performance Of Ultrathin Bi2te3 Films, Jesse Maassen, Mark S. Lundstrom

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The ballistic thermoelectric performance of ultrathin films of Bi2Te3, ranging in thickness from 1 to 6 quintuple layers, is analyzed using density functional theory combined with the Landauer approach. Our results show that the thinnest film, corresponding to a single quintuple layer, has an intrinsic advantage originating from the particular shape of its valence band, leading to a large power factor and figure-of-merit exceeding bulk Bi2Te3. The interaction between the top and bottom topological surface states is key. The thinnest film yields a six-fold increase in power factor compared to bulk.

On The Use Of Rau’S Reciprocity To Deduce External Radiative Efficiency In Solar Cells, Xufeng Wang, Mark S. Lundstrom

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Rau’s reciprocity relation has been used to deduce the external radiative efficiency of a wide variety of solar cells using just standard solar cell measurements, but it is based on a number of assumptions, some of which may not be valid for typical thin-film solar cells. In this paper, we use rigorous optical simulations coupled with carrier transport simulations to examine some common thin film solar cells. The results provide guidance on when the Rau relation can be used, why it can fail, and on the magnitude of the errors that can be expected in practice.

Compact Models And The Physics Of Nanoscale Fets, Mark S. Lundstrom, Dimitri A. Antoniadis

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The device physics of nanoscale MOSFETs is reviewed and related to traditional compact models. Beginning with the Virtual Source model, a model for nanoscale MOSFETs expressed in traditional form, we show how a Landauer approach gives a clear, physical interpretation to the parameters in the model. The analysis shows that transport in the channel is limited by diffusion near the virtual source both below and above threshold, that current saturation is determined by velocity saturation near the source, not by the maximum velocity in the channel, and that the channel resistance approaches a finite value as the channel length approaches …

Fiber Reinforcement Compaction In Resin Injection Pultrusion Process, Neerad Shakya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Resin injection pultrusion is a cost-effective continuous manufacturing process to produce composites of constant cross-section. In this process, fiber reinforcements are continuously pulled through the injection chamber where liquid resin is injected to cause complete wetout of the fibers before exit. The fiber-resin combination obtained from the injection chamber is then cured to obtain the desired pultruded composite. There are various processing and geometric parameters affecting the wetout process. The main objective of this study is to present a numerical model to simulate the resin flow through the fiber reinforcement when compaction of the fibers is also taken into account. …

The Case For Interposed Abdominal Compression Cpr In Hospital Settings, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Interposed abdominal compression (IAC)-CPR includes all steps of standard external CPR with the addition of manual mid-abdominal compressions in counterpoint to the rhythm of chest compressions. IAC-CPR can increase blood flow during CPR about two fold compared to standard CPR without IAC, as shown by multiple studies in computer and animal models. The technique increases the rate return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) for in-hospital resuscitations from roughly 25% to 50%. Improved survival to discharge is demonstrated in two in-hospital trials. IAC as an adjunct technique is quickly taught and is less complex than most other basic life support maneuvers. A …

Theoretical Foundations For Effective Stem Learning Environments, Aran W. Glancy, Tamara J. Moore

School of Engineering Education Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Pre-Breakdown Evaluation Of Gas Discharge Mechanisms In Microgaps, Abbas Semnani, Ayyaswamy Venkattraman, Alina A. Alexeenko, Dimitrios Peroulis

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

The individual contributions of various gas discharge mechanisms to total pre-breakdown current in microgaps are quantified numerically. The variation of contributions of field emission and secondary electron emission with increasing electric field shows contrasting behavior even for a given gap size. The total current near breakdown decreases rapidly with gap size indicating that microscale discharges operate in a high-current, low-voltage regime. This study provides the first such analysis of breakdown mechanisms and aids in the formulation of physics-based theories for microscale breakdown

Frequency Response Of Atmospheric Pressure Gas Breakdown In Micro/Nanogaps, Abbas Semnani, Ayyaswamy Venkattraman, Alina A. Alexeenko, Dimitrios Peroulis

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

In this paper, we study gas breakdown in micro/nanogaps at atmospheric pressure from low RF to high millimeter band. For gaps larger than about 10 lm, the breakdown voltage agrees with macroscale vacuum experiments, exhibiting a sharp decrease at a critical frequency, due to transition between the boundary- and diffusion-controlled regimes, and a gradual increase at very high frequencies as a result of inefficient energy transfer by field. For sub-micron gaps, a much lower breakdown is obtained almost independent of frequency because of the dominance of field emission

Structure Borne Noise Analysis Using Helmholtz Equation Least Squares Based Forced Vibro Acoustic Components, Logesh Kumar Natarajan

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation presents a structure-borne noise analysis technology that is focused on providing a cost-effective noise reduction strategy. Structure-borne sound is generated or transmitted through structural vibration; however, only a small portion of the vibration can effectively produce sound and radiate it to the far-field. Therefore, cost-effective noise reduction is reliant on identifying and suppressing the critical vibration components that are directly responsible for an undesired sound. However, current technologies cannot successfully identify these critical vibration components from the point of view of direct contribution to sound radiation and hence cannot guarantee the best cost-effective noise reduction.

The technology developed …

Maximizing Resource Utilization In Video Streaming Systems, Mohammad A. Alsmirat

Wayne State University Dissertations

Video streaming has recently grown dramatically in popularity over the Internet, Cable TV, and wire-less networks. Because of the resource demanding nature of video streaming applications, maximizing resource utilization in any video streaming system is a key factor to increase the scalability and decrease the cost of the system. Resources to utilize include server bandwidth, network bandwidth, battery life in battery operated devices, and processing time in limited processing power devices. In this work, we propose new techniques to maximize the utilization of video-on-demand (VOD) server resources. In addition to that, we propose new framework to maximize the utilization of …

Emerging Design Methodology And Its Implementation Through Rns And Qca, Omar Dajani

Wayne State University Dissertations

Digital logic technology has been changing dramatically from integrated circuits, to a Very Large Scale Integrated circuits (VLSI) and to a nanotechnology logic circuits. Research focused on increasing the speed and reducing the size of the circuit design. Residue Number System (RNS) architecture has ability to support high speed concurrent arithmetic applications. To reduce the size, Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata (QCA) has become one of the new nanotechnology research field and has received a lot of attention within the engineering community due to its small size and ultralow power.

In the last decade, residue number system has received increased attention due …

Induced Damping And Its Relationship To Beneficial Energy Harvesting In Dielectric Elastomers With Application To Walking, Heather L. Lai

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation presents a novel, interdisciplinary research which addresses the potential of applying soft polymeric materials to strategically harvest biomechanical energy in a beneficial manner for use as a viable, low power source for on-board electronics. Of particular interest are electroactive polymers (EAP), which unlike other types of electromechanical smart materials such as piezoelectric ceramics, which are often brittle, have low elastic modulus and can exhibit large strains without substantial stress generations. One type of EAP, the dielectric elastomer (DE), which utilizes electrostatic forces built up across the dielectric polymer to convert between electrical and mechanical energy, is employed in …

Visual Exploration And Information Analytics Of High-Dimensional Medical Images, Darshan Pai

Wayne State University Dissertations

Data visualization has transformed how we analyze increasingly large and complex data sets. Advanced visual tools logically represent data in a way that communicates the most important information inherent within it and culminate the analysis with an insightful conclusion. Automated analysis disciplines - such as data mining, machine learning, and statistics - have traditionally been the most dominant fields for data analysis. It has been complemented with a near-ubiquitous adoption of specialized hardware and software environments that handle the storage, retrieval, and pre- and postprocessing of digital data. The addition of interactive visualization tools allows an active human participant in …

Simulations And Experiments Of Fuel Injection, Mixing And Combustion In Di Gasoline Engines, Yi Zheng

Wayne State University Dissertations

Direct Injection (DI) has been known for its improved performance and efficiency in gasoline spark-ignition engines. In order to take all the advantages of the GDI technology, it is important to investigate in detail the interactions of fuel spray and combustion system, such as air-fuel mixing, in-cylinder flow development, surface wetting, and turbulence intensity. The characterizations of the internal nozzle flow of DI injector are first studied using the multidimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation. In the meanwhile the numerical and experimental studies are carried out to observe the external spray and wall impingements in an optical constant volume vessel. …

Enhanced Spontaneous Emission And Spectral Analysis Using Waveguide Based Devices., Pradeep Kumar

Wayne State University Dissertations

We will put abstract in here.

Impact Damage Analysis Of Balsa Wood Sandwich Composite Materials, Suof Abdalslam

Wayne State University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Modeling Of Mouse Eye And Errors In Ocular Parameters Affecting Refractive State, Gurinder Bawa

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

MODELING OF MOUSE EYE AND ERRORS IN OCULAR PARAMETERS AFFECTING REFRACTIVE STATE

by

GURINDER BAWA

September 2013

Advisor: Dr. Ivan Avrutsky

Major: Electrical Engineering

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Rodents eye are particularly used to study refractive error state of an eye and development of refractive eye. Genetic organization of rodents is similar to that of humans, which makes them interesting candidates to be researched upon. From rodents family mice models are encouraged over rats because of availability of genetically engineered models. Despite of extensive work that has been performed on mice and rat models, still no one is able …

Autonomic Management And Performance Optimization For Cloud Computing Services, Xiangping Bu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Cloud computing has become an increasingly important computing paradigm. It offers three levels of on-demand services to cloud users: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) . The success of cloud services heavily depends on the effectiveness of cloud management strategies. In this dissertation work, we aim to design and implement an automatic cloud management system to improve application performance, increase platform efficiency and optimize resource allocation.

For large-scale multi-component applications, especially web-based cloud applica- tions, parameter setting is crucial to the service availability and quality. The increas- ing system complexity …

Experimental Investigation And Development Of An Extended Two Color Method (Etcm) With Application To Internal Combustion Engines, Elena Florea

Wayne State University Dissertations

The internal combustion engine is on a continuous path of improvement to reduce exhaust gaseous emissions and improve fuel economy. While recent trends in diesel engine development have lowered the EGR requirements, future regulatory pressure will likely result in a reversed trend in the future.

Given this, it is of interest to improve the application range of diagnostic tools such as the two color method (TCM) typically used in evaluating the properties of engine soot, such as temperature and volume fraction. This optical diagnostic method relies on the use of the light emitted by the soot particles along with a …

The Manufacturing And Ballistic Testing Of Tri-Axial Quasi Three Dimensional Woven Composites Layered In Polyurea, Brandon Saint

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The protection of important infrastructure and vital resources of the United States is essential to the Nation's security. Attacks using the Nation's infrastructure as weapons of mass destruction could have a disturbing physical and psychological consequences. Work needs to be done to enhance the protection of the Nation's infrastructure to prevent, deter, or mitigate the effects of deliberate attacks by terrorist. Toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) chemicals such as chlorine gas and anhydrous ammonia are very dangerous hazardous materials. Rail transportation of TIH creates risk that exposes highly populated areas across the country to this threat. This study investigates the ballistic …

Subsurface Discontinuity Analysis & Modeling For The Federal Waste Disposal Facility And Compact Waste Disposal Facility Landfills, Shuang Cao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research considers discontinuities mapped by Waste Control Specialists LLC to support the site conditions and performance analysis of the Compact Waste Disposal Facility and the Federal Waste Disposal Facility excavations constructed near Andrews, Texas. Discontinuities observed in excavation walls contain a limited number of discontinuities shoevidence of previous fluid movement. While no networks of such discontinuities were observed in the field, the potential for such networks may exist. This research is significant in understanding the performance of these waste facilities by modeling multiple realizations of possible fracture configurations in three-dimensional spatial models of the type of discontinuities observed in …

Effects Of Reverberation And Noise On Speech Comprehension By Native And Non-Native English-Speaking Listeners, Z. Ellen Peng, Lily M. Wang, Siu-Kit Lau, Adam M. Steinbach

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Previous studies have demonstrated the negative impact of adverse signal-to-noise-ratios on non-native English-speaking listeners' performance on speech recognition using recall tasks, as well as implied that comprehension skills were more impaired than recognition skills under reverberation and noise. The authors have themselves previously conducted a pilot study on three native and three non-native Englishspeaking listeners to examine the effects of reverberation and noise using speech comprehension tasks. Those results suggested that speech comprehension performance is worse under longer reverberation times (RT), and that a longer RT is more detrimental to speech comprehension by non-native listeners than native listeners. This paper …

Acoustic Tweets And Blogs: Using Social Media In An Undergraduate Acoustics Course, Lily M. Wang

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Each fall, the author teaches an undergraduate architectural acoustics course to around 40 third-year architectural engineering students at the University of Nebraska. Beginning in 2011, a social media component was introduced to explore the use of this technology and how it may supplement the students' learning experience. Students were given an opportunity to receive extra credit by using Twitter and/or blogging about course material using a set hashtag (#AE3300) or through the course website. Results were positive, and the author will discuss pros and cons that she has experienced in adding this social media component. Suggestions for future implementations and …

Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis Of Lignocellulosic Biomass Using Infrared Techniques: A Mini-Review, Feng Xu, Jianming Yu, Tesfaye Tesso, Floyd Dowell, Donghai Wang

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Current wet chemical methods for biomass composition analysis using two-step sulfuric acid hydrolysis are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and unable to provide structural information about biomass. Infrared techniques provide fast, low-cost analysis, are non-destructive, and have shown promising results. Chemometric analysis has allowed researchers to perform qualitative and quantitative study of biomass with both near-infrared and mid-infrared spectroscopy. This review summarizes the progress and applications of infrared techniques in biomass study, and compares the infrared and the wet chemical methods for composition analysis. In addition to reviewing recent studies of biomass structure and composition, we also discuss the progress and prospects for …

Mode-Division Multiplexed Transmission In Few-Mode Fibers, Neng Bai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a promising candidate to break the single-mode fiber capacity limit, mode-division multiplexing (MDM) explores the spatial dimension to increase transmission capacity in fiberoptic communication. Two linear impairments, namely loss and multimode interference, present fundamental challenges to implementing MDM. In this dissertation, techniques to resolve these two issues are presented. To de-multiplex signals subject to multimode interference in MDM, Multiple-InputMultiple-Output (MIMO) processing using adaptive frequency-domain equalization (FDE) is proposed and investigated. Both simulations and experiments validate that FDE can reduce the algorithmic complexity significantly in comparison with the conventional time-domain equalization (TDE) while achieving similar performance as TDE. To further …

Development Of Thulium Fiber Lasers For High Average Power And High Peak Power Operation, Robert Sims

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High power thulium fiber lasers are useful for a number of applications in both continuous-wave and pulsed operating regimes. The use of thulium as a dopant has recently gained interest due to its large bandwidth, possibility of high efficiency, possibility of high power and long wavelength ~1.8 – 2.1 μm. The longer emission wavelength of Tm-doped fiber lasers compared to Yb- and/or Er-doped fiber lasers creates the possibility for higher peak power operation due to the larger nonlinear thresholds and reduced nonlinear phase accumulation. One primary interest in Tm-doped fiber lasers has been to scale to high average powers; however, …

Investigating The Universality And Comprehensive Ability Of Measures To Assess The State Of Workload, Julian Abich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Measures of workload have been developed on the basis of the various definitions, some are designed to capture the multi-dimensional aspects of a unitary resource pool (Kahneman, 1973) while others are developed on the basis of multiple resource theory (Wickens, 2002). Although many theory based workload measures exist, others have often been constructed to serve the purpose of specific experimental tasks. As a result, it is likely that not every workload measure is reliable and valid for all tasks, much less each domain. To date, no single measure, systematically tested across experimental tasks, domains, and other measures is considered a …