Engineering Commons^™

Flow Meter Test Rig, Cory Davis, Emily Guss, Michael Swartz

Mechanical Engineering

As part of a fluid mechanics laboratory, there should be an experiment that demonstrates the proper use of flow meters, devices that are necessary and relevant in many fluids-related industries. In order to provide students with exposure to these types of devices and how they work, a test rig was developed with the ability to interchange a variety of flow meters in order to broaden the students’ knowledge of the different types of measuring devices. This report was also written to outline the steps taken to ensure the test rig would match a laboratory and industry setting. Additionally, it was …

Metals Am Design For Manufacturing, Maren Cosens, Ben Wong, Kevin Hale

Mechanical Engineering

We are looking to improve upon the current post processing techniques for metal additive manufacturing (AM). This project, sponsored by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), will investigate ways to improve the design of stainless steel 316 parts made by AM, and how these designs will help with post processing techniques. We hope that the findings regarding stainless steel will apply to to improve the AM and post processing handshake in general. In particular, the project will focus on including different features in different basic part design shapes to aid in fixturing and post-processing of the part made by AM. This …

Efficiency Testing Of An Electronic Speed Controller, Grace Cowell, Matthew Hudson, Marcus Pereira

Mechanical Engineering

This project required the development of a rig that could experimentally determine the efficiency of an Electronic Speed Controller (ESC). The selected design focuses on measuring the losses due to heat from the device and comparing this to its input power. The selected design is a flow rig that utilizes the heat equation q=ṁcpΔT. The rig provides a steady state measurement of the ESC heat output by passing a known mass flow rate of air across the ESC and measuring the temperature difference. It uses a flowmeter to determine ṁ, thermocouples to determine ΔT, and a table lookup to determine …

Grain Orientation Effects On The Rotating-Bending Fatigue Properties Of Forged 7050-T7452 Aluminum Alloy, Matt Cristler, Jonas Zhang

Materials Engineering

In order to investigate the effects of grain orientation on the high cycle fatigue properties of 7050-T7452 aerospace grade aluminum, rotating-bending fatigue tests were performed on longitudinal (LG) and short transverse (ST) specimens taken from two sample sets (Method A and Method B) of open die forged 7050 aluminum. The fatigue specimens were machined to a 0.2" gage diameter and 4" length and subsequently hand polished to a mirror finish to minimize potential crack initiation sites. The tests were conducted on a Fatigue Dynamics RBF-300 HT tester in the fully reversed loading condition, with stress levels varying from 20 ksi …

Life Cycle Assessment Of Paper Versus Electronic Assignment Submission In Cal Poly's Materials Engineering, Patrick Mcdonnal

Materials Engineering

Both hard and soft copy submission of assignments make an impact on the environment to produce the final product in terms of energy consumption and carbon emissions; an investigation was conducted as to which method is less environmentally impactful. Student disposition towards each assignment submission method was also investigated because it is associated with learning efficacy. A survey was conducted in Cal Poly’s Materials Engineering Department to determine the contributing components to the environmental impact of paper and electronic assignments, as well as the students’ disposition towards each of them. Contributing components are man-made products used by a student to …

Life Cycle Assessment And Comparison Of Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles Prepared By Aqueous And Microwave Synthesis Methods, Jesse Cartland

Materials Engineering

Abstract: Magnesium oxide nanoparticles are being used increasingly as catalysts for organic synthesis, fuel oil additives, and CO₂ adsorbents. There are many ways to produce magnesium oxide nanoparticles, but there is little information available regarding the environmental costs of production. As demand for environmentally friendly materials increases, it is important to understand environmental impact differences between various production methods. This study will compare the differences in embodied energy and global warming potential (GWP) between two synthesis methods: microwave combustion synthesis (microwave synthesis) and oxidation of magnesium hydroxide (aqueous synthesis). The resulting nanoparticles were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), …

Manufacturing And Characterization Of Poly (Lactic Acid)/Carbon Black Conductive Composites For Fdm Feedstock: An Exploratory Study, Dylan Fitz-Gerald, Justin Boothe

Materials Engineering

This exploratory study developed methods of manufacturing and characterizing the electrical properties of small batches of conductive composite feedstock for the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) manufacturing process, commonly known as 3D printing. We utilized a solution casting process of Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) (Grade 4043D, NatureWorks, LLC.) and Carbon Black (CB) (Vulcan® XC72, Cabot Corp.) in chloroform. The resulting composite precursor was cryogenically treated with liquid nitrogen and milled in a coffee grinder in order to achieve particles that could be fed into the extruder. Composite precursors were dried in a vacuum oven at an elevated temperature of 38°C. Filaments were …

Office High Rise Building- Fire Protection And Life Safety Analysis, Fabio Renato Zocal Mazza

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This project developed the traditional prescriptive-based design analysis of the fire protection features of an existing office high rise building in the city of Sao Paulo, in Brazil. The analysis was then complemented by performance-based analysis of the building. The building is a high rise office located in a metropolitan area, provided also with underground car parking garages and a small theater. The fire protection analysis was conducted based on the local Sao Paulo state fire codes, mainly the Sao Paulo State enactment (Decreto Nº56.819/2011) and Sao Paulo Fire Department Technical Instructions; and, in addition to the local codes, the …

3-Bay Aircraft General Maintenance Hangar- United States Air Force, Zach Ataiyan

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This report contains a prescriptive design analysis and a performance based design analysis for a newly constructed United States Air Force 3-Bay Aircraft General Maintenance Hangar and support spaces.

The prescriptive design analysis reviews the code requirements for fire suppression, fire alarm, life safety, and structural fire protection. Additionally, the hydraulic demands of the fire suppression system, and the voltage drop and power supply requirements of the fire alarm systems were calculated. The results of the analysis portray a compliant prescriptive design of the fire protection systems.

The performance based design analysis evaluates the hazards in the 3-bay facility for …

Monticello Office Building- Fire And Life Safety Analysis, Mark James Masciarelli

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

A Fire and Life Safety analysis was performed on the existing Monticello Office Building located in Delaware, USA. The Monticello Office Building is a mixed use building that contains office space to support a population of 700 people, dining facilities to accommodate approximately 400 people, and a conference area for up to 125 people. The building is composed of two major components; a five (5) story office wing and a one (1) and two (2) story amenities wing that mainly houses the food service, dining, kitchen, retail and conference areas. A prescriptive analysis of this building was performed to determine …

Facility Redesign For Increased Throughput And Improved Product Flow Of Shark Rack Products Final Assembly At Paris Precision, Karina Hromyak, Julia Remnant

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Paris Precision is a metal fabrication company that fabricates metal components for various companies, one of which is Shark Rack, which creates high end server racks. Shark Rack has plans for a dramatic increase in demand over the next two years. Paris Precision’s Final Assembly area is currently not conducive to produce such a large increase in demand. A redesign of the Final Assembly facility is needed to handle the increase in production and to improve product flow through the space. The project team’s objectives are to:

● Study current Final Assembly production process

● Analyze the production flow

● …

Ymca Operations Manual Development, Devlin Stewart

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The San Luis Obispo YMCA sports department was losing money and overworking their employees due to lack of processes and organizational issues. To address this, a plan was made with the sports director to begin organizing the sports department. This would be done by creating an operations manual for them to organize and consolidate all of their relevant information.

The project was scoped to develop a plan for the YMCA to implement an operations manual. By delivering a work breakdown structure, a gantt chart, and a plan for continuous improvement, the YMCA could use these tools to develop their operations …

Zero Waste Campus Dining, Jenny Caudillo, Sarah Dahel, Youlen Ghazalian

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Cal Poly Campus Dining has a goal of becoming a zero waste entity by providing their customers with alternative methods of disposing their trash. Their current operations produce waste, specifically their methods of packaging the food. Campus dining plans to be more sustainable by providing their customers with reusable containers. The objective of this implementation is to reduce waste produced from one-time use, disposable food containers. The success criteria for the desired system is based around the ability to track and measure the reusable containers to prevent further waste, while providing the user an accommodating environment to ensure they will …

Adapting Lean Six Sigma For A Non-Profit Organization, Jocelyn De Leon

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement practice most commonly used in large scale manufacturing and health care industries to improve performance and efficiency. The goal of Lean Six Sigma is to improve efficiency, consistency, and focus on value added elements. Over the years, Lean Six Sigma has evolved from being primarily a manufacturing practice to serving more service based industries such as healthcare and government. However, Lean Six Sigma has yet to be implemented in the non-profit sector. This technical report outlines the importance of identifying the unique characteristics of the organization you wish to improve and then adapting …

Metals Additive Manufacturing Powder Aging Characterization, Thomas Russell Lovejoy, Nicholas Karl Muetterties, David Takeo Otsu

Mechanical Engineering

The metallic additive manufacturing process known as selective laser melting requires highly spherical, normally distributed powder with diameters in the range of 10 to 50 microns. Previous observations have shown a degradation in powder quality over time, resulting in unwanted characteristics in the final printed parts. 21-6-9 stainless steel powder was used to fabricate test parts, with leftover powder recycled back into the machine. Powder samples and test specimens were characterized to observe changes across build cycles. Few changes were observed in the physical and mechanical properties of the specimens, however, there were indications of chemical changes across cycles. Potential …

Computational Nutrition: An Algorithm To Generate A Diet Plan To Meet Specific Nutritional Requirements, Thomas Pikes, Robert Adams

Open Access Publishing Support Funded Articles

Many methods have been proposed to generate meal plans, but most of them only consider proximates. However, the human body requires a combination of proximates and several macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Furthermore, the models designed to generate these meal plans do not take into account an individual’s specific nutritional needs. These needs are often expressed as a combination of lower bound amount (LBA), ideal amount (IA), and upper bound amount (UBA) necessary for the human body to thrive. The aim of this project is to generate an algorithm to produce a list of food items that will meet specific …

Dynamic Liquefied Natural Gas (Lng) Processing With Energy Storage Applications, Farhad Fazlollahi

Theses and Dissertations

The cryogenic carbon capture™ (CCC) process provides energy- and cost-efficient carbon capture and can be configured to provide an energy storage system using an open-loop natural gas (NG) refrigeration system, which is called energy storing cryogenic carbon capture (CCC-ES™). This investigation focuses on the transient operation and especially on the dynamic response of this energy storage system and explores its efficiency, effectiveness, design, and operation. This investigation included four tasks.The first task explores the steady-state design of four different natural gas liquefaction processes simulated by Aspen HYSYS. These processes differ from traditional LNG process in that the CCC process vaporizes …

Purdue Mission To Mars: Recruiting High School Students To A Polytechnic College, Matthew Turner, Rustin Webster, Danielle Reynolds, Timothy Cooley, Andrew Mccart, Joseph F. Dues Jr.

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the development and implementation of an integrative half-day recruiting event targeting high school students that combines elements of four degree programs: Organizational Leadership, Electrical Engineering Technology, Mechanical Engineering Technology, and Computer Graphics Technology. During the workshop, students engage in active learning: NAME REDACTED is transformed into an aerospace design think tank and high school students are transformed into Polytechnic interns. The interns are then presented with a challenge: A new form of bacteria has possibly been identified on Mars and soil samples must be collected for analysis. However, the next shuttle launch is in 3 hours and …

Systematic Review Of Engineering Technology Education Literature, Anne M. Lucietto, Eddy Efendy

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Few engineering technology education research publications exist; those that do are often viewed through the lens of the engineering education researcher. More specifically, engineering technology education is examined in the same manner as engineering education. The lack of rigorous research focusing on the education of engineering technology students may be the result of diverse engineering technology programs, and smaller research populations as compared to engineering and other STEM fields. Educators in engineering technology programs are challenged by this lack of discipline-specific rigorous research. The lack of engineering technology education research may be attributed to smaller numbers of engineering technology students …

Investigation Of Structural Capacity Of Geogrid-Reinforced Aggregate Base Materials In Flexible Pavements, Eric J. Sweat

Theses and Dissertations

The installation of geogrid as a means of extending the service life of a roadway or reducing the required base course thickness of a pavement structure has become increasingly popular. The realization of these benefits depends largely on the degree to which the geogrid reinforcement leads to an increase in the stiffness of the aggregate base course layer. The objective of this research was to investigate the structural capacity of geogrid-reinforced aggregate base materials in flexible pavements through full-scale testing. The scope involved field testing at two sites in northern Utah that each included five different geogrid-reinforced sections and five …

Quantifying Computer Vision Model Quality Using Various Processing Techniques, Samantha Anna Ruggles

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has increased in popularity across several industries. Most notable, however, is the impact that this technology has had in research at academic institutions worldwide. As the technology for UAVs has improved, with that comes easier to operate, more accessible equipment. UAVs have been used in various types of applications and are quickly becoming a preferred method of studying and analyzing a site. Currently, the most common use of a UAV is to monitor a location of interest to a researcher that is difficult to gain access to otherwise. The UAV can be …

Nerve Regeneration Using Lysophosphatidylcholine And Nerve Growth Factor, Ryan Lavar Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Peripheral nerve damage affects hundreds of thousands of people every year. This study tested the effectiveness of using lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) in combination with nerve growth factor (NGF) to increase the healing rate of damaged left sciatic nerves in female rats. The rats were randomly divided into eight groups: Sham, Right Sciatic, Crush, LPC, LPC-NGF, Crush- LPC, Crush-NGF, and Crush-LPC-NGF. The healing of the nerves was measured by monitoring gait, electrophysiological parameters (compound muscle action potential amplitudes and nerve conductance velocities) and morphological parameters (total fascicular area, total myelinated fiber counts, fiber densities, fiber diameters, and g-ratio). Gait and electrophysiological parameters …

Psychological Health Outcomes Within Usaf Remotely Piloted Aircraft Support Career Fields, Kris Anthony Ostrowski

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Remotely piloted aircraft are now commonplace in modern warfare. Enlisted intelligence personnel in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) who support these activities have reported personal accounts of posttraumatic stress and fatigue, possibly due to viewing high-definition, full-motion-video, remote warfare. Rates of mental health diagnoses and counseling are unknown in this population. Incidence rates of 12 specific mental health outcomes were calculated for all enlisted active duty USAF Intelligence Specialists in the 1N1 and 1N0 career fields from 1 January 2006 through 31 December 2010, while considering various demographic and military variables. The incidence rates were compared to RPA sensor operators …

A Multi-Carrier Collaborative Solution To Minimize Connectivity-Loss, Michael Wong

Master's Theses

Nearly two-thirds of Americans own a smart phone, and 19% of Americans rely on their smartphone for either accessing valuable information or staying connected with their friends and family across the globe [15]. Staying always-on and always-connected to the Internet is one of the most important and useful features of a smartphone. This connection is used by almost every single application on the device including web browsers, email clients, messaging applications, etc. Unfortunately, the cellular networks on our smartphones are not perfect and do not always have cellular signal. Our devices often lose Internet connection when users are on the …

Analysis Of Electromagnetic Launcher Design And Modeling, Garrett Ross Germany

Master's Theses

This thesis derives working expressions from electromagnetic physical laws to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of railguns. The expressions are refined for ease of use and then compared to electromagnetic simulators that solve complex equations that arise from different rail geometry. Further simplifications lead to an expression for the final velocity of the projectile and showcase the importance of the system resistance to projectile flux gain ratio. A Simulink simulation then incorporates the resulting non-linear differential equations and approximates the projectile velocity over time based on physical dimensions and material properties. Some equations derived can be found in …

Autonomous Formation Flying And Proximity Operations Using Differential Drag On The Mars Atmosphere, Andres Eduardo Villa

Master's Theses

Due to mass and volume constraints on planetary missions, the development of control techniques that do not require fuel are of big interest. For those planets that have a dense enough atmosphere, aerodynamic drag can play an important role. The use of atmospheric differential drag for formation keeping was first proposed by Carolina L. Leonard in 1986, and has been proven to work in Earth atmosphere by many missions. Moreover, atmospheric drag has been used in the Mars atmosphere as aerobraking technique to decelerate landing vehicles, and to circularize the orbit of the spacecraft. Still, no literature was available related …

Design, Manufacture, Dynamic Testing, And Finite Element Analysis Of A Composite 6u Cubesat, Yanina Soledad Hallak

Master's Theses

CubeSats, specially the 6U standard, is nowadays the tendency where many developers point towards. The upscaling size of the standard and payloads entail the increase of the satellite overall mass. Composite materials have demonstrated the ability to fulfill expectations like reducing structural masses, having been applied to different types of spacecraft, including small satellites.

This Thesis is focused on designing, manufacturing, and dynamic testing of a 6U CubeSat made of carbon fiber, fiberglass, and aluminum.

The main objective of this study was obtaining a mass reduction of a 6U CubeSat structure, maintaining the stiffness and strength. Considering the thermal effects …

Empirical Validation Of An In Silico Model Predicting The Fluid Dynamics Of An Iliac Artery Aneurysm, Rachel E. Willis

Master's Theses

Iliac artery aneurysms are considered rare and difficult to detect and treat. Prompt diagnosis and timely intervention are essential, because the incidence of rupture is as high as 50%. The reported mortality rate for patients who undergo surgery for ruptured iliac artery aneurysm ranges from 50% to 70%. This study developed an in-vitro mechanical model of an iliac artery aneurysm to verify the accuracy of computer simulation software. Both the in vitro model and the in silico model can be used for further research to develop better treatment technology. This study also looks at the different types of iliac artery …

A Study Of Constant Voltage Anemometry Frequency Response, Alex D. Powers

Master's Theses

The development of the constant voltage anemometer (CVA) for the boundary layer data system (BLDS) has been motivated by a need for the explicit autonomous measurement of velocity fluctuations in the boundary layer. The frequency response of a sensor operated by CVA has been studied analytically and experimentally. The thermal lag of the sensor is quantified by a time constant, M_CVA. When the time constant is decreased, the half-amplitude cut-off frequency, f_CVA, is increased, thereby decreasing the amount of attenuation during measurements. In this thesis, three main approaches have been outlined in theory and tested experimentally …

Continuum Modeling Of The Densification Of W-Ni-Fe During Selective Laser Sintering, Connor M. West

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to effectively model the time history of the temperature distribution during the selective laser sintering process and use this information to investigate the resulting relative density. The temperature is a critical parameter of the process because it directly effects the overall quality of the part. First, an efficient, affordable, and reliable simulation was developed within the finite element software, Abaqus. Next, the results from the simulations were compared to the experimental results performed by Wang et al. (2016). The FEA model consisted of a 3 layer simulation. Multiple simulations at various laser recipes were …