Engineering Commons^™

The Short And Long-Term Effects Of Temperature And Strain On A Concrete Bulb-Tree Girder Bridge, Ethan Pickett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Utah Transportation Center (UTC) as well as the Mountain Plains Consortium, sponsored a study to investigate the long-term performance of a deck bulb tee girder bridge. The bridge in question is located in Nibley, Utah and was erected in early 2016. Temperature and prestress losses were analyzed from embedded instrumentation placed within two of the bridge girders before casting. These two girders contained a total of 50 thermocouples and 16 vibrating wire strain gauges. These instruments were placed at the mid-span and end of an exterior girder and the mid-span, quarter-span, and end of a center girder in order …

Pharmaceuticals And Personal Care Products In An Effluent-Dominated Stream: Seasonal Variability And Downstream Fate, Bradley R. Buswell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) consist of a large group of compounds including medicines, lotions, soaps, shampoos, and even flame retardants and insect repellants. After use, PPCPs often enter waste streams that are directed to municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Due to inefficient removals in conventional wastewater treatment processes, WWTP discharges into streams and rivers are a major source of PPCPs to the environment.

The East Canyon Water Reclamation Facility (ECWRF) is a WWTP in Park City, Utah. After treatment, the ECWRF effluent is discharged into a small constructed wetland area before it enters East Canyon Creek. Due to …

Determining Natural Frequencies Using Embedded And Placed Sensors Under Ambient And Shaker Excitation, Tyson Scott Alder

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) includes methods of detecting damage to structures over their lifespan. Using the structure’s dynamic characteristics, internal damage and other changes can be detected and defined. Dynamic characteristics are affected by many operational parameters, particularly temperature effects. By defining the operational condition of a healthy structure, changes from the baseline condition can be detected and defined as damage. Defining the operational characteristics of the structure are imperative to detecting damage.

This study focused on defining the baseline dynamic properties of the recently constructed Nibley Bridge using embedded sensors. Multiple tests were performed to provide a range of …

Maximum Likelihood Temperature/Emissivity Separation Of Hyperspectral Images With Gaussian Distributed Downwelling Radiance, David A. Neal

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hyperspectral images are made up of energy measurements at different wavelengths of light. The case is considered where these measurements are dependent on temperature, the self-emitted energy (emissivity), and reflected energy (downwelling radiance) from the surroundings. The process where the downwelling radiance is fixed and the temperature and emissivity are estimated is referred to as temperature/emissivity separation.

Due to the way these terms mix, for a given set of measurements, there exist many pairs of temperatures and emissivities that satisfy the model. This creates ambiguity in the solution that must be resolved for the result to have any significance.

A …

Alternative Treatment Technologies For Low-Cost Industrial And Municipal Wastewater Management, Alan J. Hodges

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Roughly the same volume of water that rushes over the Niagara Falls is produced as wastewater in North America. This wastewater is treated through a variety of means to ensure that it can be safely returned to the natural ecosystem. This thesis examines two novel means for this treatment, one biological and one physical-chemical in nature, namely, Rotating Algae Biofilm Reactor treatment and expanded shale augmented coagulation-flocculation.

Rotating algae biofilm reactors (RABRs) support biofilm algae growth, and in turn, the algae take up harmful contaminants from the wastewater. This system was tested in wastewater from petroleum refining operations. The efficacy …

Applications Of Relative Motion Models Using Curvilinear Coordinate Frames, Alex C. Perez

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A new angles-only initial relative orbit determination (IROD) algorithm is derived using three line-of-sight observations. This algorithm accomplishes this by taking a Singular Value Decomposition of a 6x6 matrix to arrive at an approximate initial relative orbit determination solution. This involves the approximate solution of 6 polynomial equations in 6 unknowns. An iterative improvement algorithm is also derived that provides the exact solution, to numerical precision, of the 6 polynomial equations in 6 unknowns. The initial relative orbit algorithm is also expanded for more than three line-of-sight observations with an iterative improvement algorithm for more than three line-of-sight observations. The …

The Role Of Ceramic And Glass Science Research In Meeting Societal Challenges: Report From An Nsf-Sponsored Workshop, Katherine T. Faber, Tewodros Asefa, Monika Backhaus-Ricoult, Richard K. Brow, Julie Y. Chan, Shen Dillon, William Fahrenholtz, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Under the sponsorship of the U.S. National Science Foundation, a workshop on emerging research opportunities in ceramic and glass science was held in September 2016. Reported here are proceedings of the workshop. The report details eight challenges identified through workshop discussions: Ceramic processing: Programmable design and assembly; The defect genome: Understanding, characterizing, and predicting defects across time and length scales; Functionalizing defects for unprecedented properties; Ceramic flatlands: Defining structure-property relations in free-standing, supported, and confined two-dimensional ceramics; Ceramics in the extreme: Discovery and design strategies; Ceramics in the extreme: Behavior of multimaterial systems; Understanding and exploiting glasses and melts under …

Intensity Control Of Individual Dbd Plasma Filament. I. Experiment With A Needle Electrode, M. C. Paliwoda, J. L. Rovey

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Filamentary volume dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) produces patterned plasma structures that are currently being explored for reconfigurable metamaterial applications. In this work, the presence and intensity of a single filament (within an array of filaments) are controlled by biasing a low voltage needle electrode by less than 7% of the driving voltage. The current, voltage, and time-averaged normalized light intensity were measured while varying the needle voltage through self-biasing resistors. For a 7.5 kV, 3.2 kHz DBD in air, the needle-controlled filament intensity varies from 80% to 0% of the light intensity of surrounding filaments. When the biased voltage prevents …

Infrared Metasurfaces Created With Off-Normal Incidence Microsphere Photolithography, Chuang Qu, Edward C. Kinzel

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Fabricating metasurfaces over large areas at low costs remains a critical challenge to their practical implementation. This paper reports on the use of microsphere photolithography (MPL) to create infrared metasurfaces by changing the angle-of-incidence of the illumination to steer the photonic jet. The displacement of the photonic jet is shown to scale with the diameter of the microsphere while the exposure dose scales with the square of the microsphere diameter. This process is robust in the presence of local defects in the microsphere lattice. The paper demonstrates patterning split ring resonators and tripole based metasurfaces using MPL, which are fabricated …

Multi-Objective Dynamic Economic Dispatch With Demand Side Management Of Residential Loads And Electric Vehicles, Mohammad Rasoul Narimani, Fnu Maigha, Jhi-Young Joo, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a multi-objective optimization method based on the normal boundary intersection is proposed to solve the dynamic economic dispatch with demand side management of individual residential loads and electric vehicles. The proposed approach specifically addresses consumer comfort through acceptable appliance deferral times and electric vehicle charging requirements. The multi-objectives of minimizing generation costs, emissions, and energy loss in the system are balanced in a Pareto front approach in which a fuzzy decision making method has been implemented to find the best compromise solution based on desired system operating conditions. The normal boundary intersection method is described and validated.

Detection Of Leukocytes Stained With Acridine Orange Using Unique Spectral Features Acquired From An Image-Based Spectrometer, Courtney J. Hunter

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

A leukocyte differential count can be used to diagnosis a myriad blood disorders, such as infections, allergies, and efficacy of disease treatments. In recent years, attention has been focused on developing point-of-care (POC) systems to provide this test in global health settings. Acridine orange (AO) is an amphipathic, vital dye that intercalates leukocyte nucleic acids and acidic vesicles. It has been utilized by POC systems to identify the three main leukocyte subtypes: granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes. Subtypes of leukocytes can be characterized using a fluorescence microscope, where the AO has a 450 nm excitation wavelength and has two peak emission …

Characterization Of The Response Of Trpv4 To Chemical Stimulation, Jacob V. Schluns

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a source of acute and chronic health issues for many patients. One of the components of the brain’s response to injury is astrogliosis, in which astrocytes that normally function to repair the brain instead form scar tissue that halts repair processes. Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid Type 4 (TRPV4) is a trans-membrane calcium channel involved in astrogliosis. Through Fura-2AM based calcium imaging, the base activity of this channel in mouse astrocyte cells was recorded. The cells were then subjected to TRPV4 agonist and antagonist stimulation and their subsequent activity levels were recorded. The data showed that …

Models For Pedestrian Trajectory Prediction And Navigation In Dynamic Environments, Jeremy N. Kerfs

Master's Theses

Robots are no longer constrained to cages in factories and are increasingly taking on roles alongside humans. Before robots can accomplish their tasks in these dynamic environments, they must be able to navigate while avoiding collisions with pedestrians or other robots. Humans are able to move through crowds by anticipating the movements of other pedestrians and how their actions will influence others; developing a method for predicting pedestrian trajectories is a critical component of a robust robot navigation system. A current state-of-the-art approach for predicting pedestrian trajectories is Social-LSTM, which is a recurrent neural network that incorporates information about neighboring …

Protective Relaying Student Laboratory, Kenan W. Pretzer

Master's Theses

Facing a rapidly-changing power industry, the electrical engineering department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo proposed Advanced Power Systems Initiatives to better prepare its students for entering the power industry. These initiatives call for the creation of a new laboratory curriculum that uses microprocessor-based relays to reinforce the fundamental concepts of power system protection. This paper summarizes a laboratory system fit for this task and presents a set of proposed laboratory experiments to establish a new laboratory course at Cal Poly. The experiments expose students to the capabilities of industry-standard microprocessor-based relays through hands-on procedures that demonstrate common power system …

On The Effect Of Design Tolerances On The Performance Of Synchronous Pm Machines Evaluated According To The Ieee Std 1812, Narges Taran, Vandana Rallabandi, Dan M. Ionel, Ping Zhou

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

In the process of designing an electric machine, the systematic study of tolerances for the design variables and material properties is of the utmost importance. This paper proposes a method by which possible variations of the design variables and material properties can be distinguished. The design of experiments (DOE) technique, open-circuit and short-circuit tests, with minimum instrumentation requirements, have been employed. Virtual tests are conducted based on the recently approved IEEE 1812 testing guide for PM synchronous machines. As a case study, a 100 hp 16-pole 18-slot spoke-type PM machine is discussed. It is shown that variation in magnet remanence, …

Axial-Flux Pm Synchronous Machines With Air-Gap Profiling And Very High Ratio Of Spoke Rotor Poles To Stator Concentrated Coils, Vandana Rallabandi, Narges Taran, Dan M. Ionel, Ion G. Boldea

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Permanent magnet machines including a magnetic gearing effect are attractive for low-speed high-torque applications. This paper proposes a dual-stator axial-flux machine topology with a high ratio for the number of rotor poles to concentrated stator coils. The stator consists of a relatively small number of teeth, with each tooth including multiple smaller/auxiliary teeth. The rotor employs spoke-type permanent magnets, which result in high flux concentration, thereby further improving the torque density. The paper discusses the principle of operation of the proposed machine topology. Finite element results on example designs with 6 stator teeth, each having 2 and 3 auxiliary teeth, …

An Industrial Process For The Production Of Nylon 6 6 Through The Step-Growth Reaction Of Adipic Acid And Hexamethylenediamine, David Wallace Jacobson

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

A continuous, two stage, four reactor system process is presented here for the proposed purpose of nylon 6 6 manufacture at the rate of 85 million lbs per year. Report components include: process descriptions, simulation methods and results, economic analysis, EH&S considerations, process control descriptions, and a general recommendation for how to proceed with plans enclosed. The general design of the plant is a two stage system composed of one PFR used for the formation of nylon salt and low molecular weight nylon chains, followed by three CSTR’s used for increasing nylon molecular weight. The overall process has been found …

Effect Of Single Dead End Entry Inclination On Dpm Plume Dispersion, Yi Zheng, Hai Lan, Magesh Thiruvengadam, Jerry C. Tien, Ying Li

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Diesel particulate matter (DPM) is a by-product from operating diesel engines. Since diesel powers are one of the major sources of energy for mobile underground mining equipment, the adverse health effects of DPM are of a great concern. This paper used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method to study the effect of entry inclination on DPM plume distribution in a dead-end entry. An upward mining face and a downward mining face were built with a truck and a loader in loading operation close to the face area. A species transport model with incorporated buoyancy effect was used to examine the DPM …

Modular House Revival, Kevin Chiang, Spencer Dilley, Sarah Dowthwaite, Trevor Houghton, Ryan Lefebvre, Michele Leung, Cameron Lober, Chris Martinez, Katie Mayer

Architectural Engineering

The Modular House, located in Poly Canyon, has seen extensive damage since the last caretaker left nearly ten years ago. To prevent further damage and improve the safety and appeal of the structure, we are proposing a renovation of the existing building that removes the existing cladding and partitions. By the end of Spring Quarter 2017, the Modular House will have a guardrail system replacing the wood paneling on the walls and a new steel composite deck to replace the current flooring system. The structural steel framing system will remain as is.

Bias And Other Error In Gridded Weather Data Sets And Their Impacts On Estimating Reference Evapotranspiration, Philip A. Blankenau

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

Gridded weather data sets are increasingly used in a variety of hydrologic and agricultural applications due to their complete spatial and temporal coverage. One application of gridded data sets is the estimation of evapotranspiration (ET). Several operational remote sensing (RS) approaches for estimating ET, such as the SEBAL, METRIC and EEFlux models, require estimates of reference ET (ETref), where ETref is expected ET from a hypothetical reference crop of clipped grass or alfalfa. Gridded weather data provide for the computation of ETref in all areas of a remote sensing image, and therefore potentially remove the need for dense weather station …

The Biomechanics Of Music Performance, Rachel F. Bellisle, Jessika Decker

Senior Honors Projects

When first learning to play a wind instrument, beginner musicians are taught how to hold their instrument and correctly position their body. They are taught how to sit, where to put their hands and fingers on the keys, and how to hold their arms. This initial lesson on posture and hand positioning is often short, as one quickly moves on to learn the embouchure and breathing techniques that allow sound to be produced. As a musician progresses in skill, positioning is emphasized more, and they learn that it can affect their risk of strain or injury and improve their sound …

Genetically Engineered Organisms: Progress Or Poison, Melina Sansi

Senior Theses

Genetically engineered organisms are a part of almost everything we put into our bodies. More than any other time in history, humans are manipulating plants and organisms on an advanced level. Scientists are able to genetically alter food so that it precisely fills a specific dietary need, or increase crop yields to feed the growing global population expected to reach 9 billion people by the year 2050. Currently 250 million acres worldwide are used to grow genetically modified organisms. Many consumers don’t fully understand the use and impact of genetically engineered organisms for lack of accessible and straightforward information. Federal …

Investigating Process-Structure Relations Of Zno Nanofiber Via Electrospinning Method, Ehsan Ghafari, Yining Feng, Yao Liu, Ian T. Ferguson, Na Lu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

1D ZnO nanofibers were fabricated in this study using the electrospinning method through sol-gel approach. The effects of fabrication processing parameters on the nanofibers size have been systematically investigated. The higher concentration of the polymer resulted in a broader distribution of the nanofibers diameter due to non-uniform ejection of the fluid jet. The results indicated that an increase in annealing temperature resulted in a lower diameter size and more uniformity of the nanofiber due to decomposition of PVA. The DSC result confirms that an annealing temperature higher than 480 °C is required to remove the PVA and fully decompose the …

Temporal Evaluation Of Corn Respiration Rates Using Pressure Sensors, Gagandeep Singh Ubhi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High respiration rate of a grain indicates faster degradation of its dry matter. Proper grain management requires chronological and precise measurements of carbon dioxide evolved from grain respiration during the postharvest storage duration. Therefore the main goal of this research was to develop a new technique that evaluates temporal corn respiration rate using pressure sensors. It was based on measuring pressure drop associated with the grain respiration in a closed container and using it to calculate the grain respiration rates.

Dry corn (Zea Mays L.) was procured from a local farmer and stored at 4ºC. Corn rewetting technique was applied …

Modeling And Validation Of 4h-Sic Low Voltage Mosfets For Integrated Circuit Design, Shamim Ahmed

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon Carbide is a promising wide bandgap material and gradually becoming the first choice of semiconductor for high density and high efficiency power electronics in medium voltage range (500-1500V). SiC has also excellent thermal conductivity and the devices fabricated with the material can operate at high temperature (~ 400 ⁰C). Thus, a power electronic system built with SiC devices requires less cooling requirement and saves board space and cost. The high temperature applications of SiC material can also be extended to space exploration, oil and gas rigging, aerospace and geothermal energy systems for data acquisition, sensing and instrumentation and power …

Fast Monostatic Scattering Analysis Based On Bayesian Compressive Sensing, Huan Huan Zhang, Wei E.I. Sha, Li (Lijun) Jun Jiang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In conjugation with the method of moments, the Bayesian compressive sensing algorithm is utilized to fast analyze the monostatic electromagnetic scattering problem. Different from the orthogonal matching pursuit based compressive sensing approach that cannot determine the required measurement times, the proposed method overcomes the difficulty by adopting the Bayesian framework to recover the underlying signal. Error bars of the signal can be obtained in the recovery procedure, which offers a way to adaptively determine the number of compressive-sensing measurements.

Load Characteristics Of Wireless Power Transfer System With Different Resonant Types And Resonator Numbers, Yiming Zhang, Zhengming Zhao, Kainan Chen, Jun Fan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) has been the research focus and applied in many fields. Normally power is transferred wirelessly to charge the battery, which requires specific load characteristics. The load characteristics are essential for the design and operation of the WPT system. This paper investigates the load characteristics of the WPT system with different resonant types and resonator numbers. It is found that in a WPT system with series or LCL resonance under a constant voltage source, the load characteristic is determined by the number of inductors. Even number of inductors results in a constant current characteristic and odd number …

Creating A Zero + Energy Building Model, Ashley N. Thompson

Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to create an accurate representation of a zero + energy home both for physical experimentation and for numerical modeling. This means that the home does not rely on power from the grid, but only on alternative energy sources such as solar. The project consists of two major subcategories. The electrical portion of the project consists of implementing the energy source and control system, and the mechanical portion of the project consists of thermal analysis, thermal flow simulations, and physical construction. A 50 W solar panel was chosen as an energy source, which directs power …

Assessment Of Kinematics And Electromyography Following Arthroscopic Single-Tendon Rotator Cuff Repair, Jessica M. Fritz, Ryan R. Inawat, Brooke A. Slavens, John R. Mcguire, Dean W. Ziegler, Sergey S. Tarima, Steven I. Grindel, Gerald F. Harris

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Background

The increasing demand for rotator cuff (RC) repair patients to return to work as soon as they are physically able has led to exploration of when this is feasible. Current guidelines from our orthopedic surgery clinic recommend a return to work at 9 weeks postoperation. To more fully define capacity to return to work, the current study was conducted using a unique series of quantitative tools. To date, no study has combined 3-dimensional (3D) motion analysis with electromyography (EMG) assessment during activities of daily living (ADLs), including desk tasks, and commonly prescribed rehabilitation exercise.

Objective

To apply a quantitative, …

Segmental Kinematic Analysis Of Planovalgus Feet During Walking In Children With Cerebral Palsy, Karen M. Kruger, Katherine A. Konop, Joseph Krzak, Adam Graf, Haluk Altiok, Peter A. Smith, Gerald F. Harris

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Pes planovalgus (flatfoot) is a common deformity among children with cerebral palsy. The Milwaukee Foot Model (MFM), a multi-segmental kinematic foot model, which uses radiography to align the underlying bony anatomy with reflective surface markers, was used to evaluate 20 pediatric participants (30 feet) with planovalgus secondary to cerebral palsy prior to surgery. Three-dimensional kinematics of the tibia, hindfoot, forefoot, and hallux segments are reported and compared to an age-matched control set of typically-developing children. Most results were consistent with known characteristics of the deformity and showed decreased plantar flexion of the forefoot relative to hindfoot, increased forefoot abduction, and …