Engineering Commons^™

Determination Of Takeoff And Landing Distances Using An Ipad Performance Application For The Diamond Da40, Tyler A. Babb, Christina Hiers

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

All pilots are required to calculate aircraft performance parameters prior to flight. This includes takeoff and landing distances. Traditionally, pilots in training have planned for takeoff and landing performance using paper charts provided by the manufacturer. However, professional pilots use devices such as Flight Management Systems (FMS), Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) applications, or on-board performance computers (OPC) to make such calculations. During primary flight training, student pilots could make performance calculations with proper software, similar to the method they will typically use at the professional level. Recently an iPad application was released which can calculate numerous performance parameters for specific …

General Aviation Pilots’ Strategies To Mitigate Bird Strikes, Flavio A. C. Mendonca Ph.D., Thomas Q. Carney Ph.D.

Publications

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has partnered with the FAA since 1995.

USDA has assisted the FAA with production of yearly and special reports on wildlife hazards to aviation:

• Develop or enhance existing wildlife hazard management programs (including pilots)
• Create refinements in the development and implementation of integrated research and operational efforts to mitigate the risk of bird strikes

Modelling The Financial Effects Of Naïve Neutral Zone Limits On Energy Storage Systems Participating In Midwest Iso Energy Markets Under Frequency Regulation Prioritization Policies, Patrick J. Mccarthy

Masters Theses

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) participating in frequency regulation services in MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator) energy markets do so by charging from and discharging to the bulk electrical grid to satisfy power demands. Frequency regulation can demand a high energy throughput from a BESS, causing electrochemical aging. The aging of a BESS must be controlled to within financially feasible limits. MISO has proposed new frequency regulation prioritization policies that enable a BESS to manage its own aging by setting its acceptable State of Charge (SOC) range, called its neutral zone. MISO will seek to prioritize a BESS’ regulation so …

Permeability Characterization And Fluorescent Void Flow Monitoring For Processing Simulation, John Caleb Lystrup

Theses and Dissertations

Liquid composite molding (LCM) is growing in importance alternative to traditional prepreg-autoclave methods for manufacture aerospace composites. The most significant roadblock to industry's implementation of LCM is the optimization of resin flow to ensure high quality parts. This study developed process optimization tools to foster the adaptation of LCM. The following dissertation characterized the permeability of reinforcement fabrics under various processing conditions, and investigated in-situ bubble flow with carbon fiber. The purpose of this research is to extend the understanding of LCM and push forward the state of the art via sub-studies captured in five chapters, or manuscripts. Research from …

Evaluation And Development Of Cpt Based Pile Design In Nebraska Soils, Alex Silvey

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

Cone penetration testing (CPT) is a well established geotechnical subsurface investigation technique commonly used for site characterization and soil classification. The CPT gives real time end resistance, side friction, and pore pressure readings. Axially loaded piles also share these two resistance mechanisms, suggesting the cone can be considered similar to a miniature pile. This study focused on evaluating eight CPT methods prediction of pile bearing capacity. The Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) conducts dynamic load tests (PDA) of driven pile to verify pile capacity for bridge foundations. 91 comparisons of CPT logs and PDA data were evaluated. CPT prediction methods …

Design Of Parallel Robot For Dental Articulation And Its Optimization, Abulimiti Delimulati

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

A dental articulator is a mechanical device used to simulate the relative position and motion between the upper and lower jaw when constructing and testing dental prostheses. Typically, it can be adjusted to approximate patient-specific jaw kinematics in order to analogue the static relationship and specific motions of a patient’s mandible to maxilla. However, the use of dental articulators is essentially a trial-and-error method in order to fine-tune fit and function of a dental prosthesis. Some of the most advanced current dental articulators can reproduce the position and the motion passively; furthermore, dentists need special training for measuring patients’ maxillofacial …

Split Latency Allocator: Process Variation-Aware Register Access Latency Boost In A Near-Threshold Graphics Processing Unit, Asmita Pal

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Over the last decade, Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have been used extensively in gaming consoles, mobile phones, workstations and data centers, as they have exhibited immense performance improvement over CPUs, in graphics intensive applications. Due to their highly parallel architecture, general purpose GPUs (GPGPUs) have gained the foreground in applications where large data blocks can be processed in parallel. However, the performance improvement is constrained by a large power consumption. Likewise, Near Threshold Computing (NTC) has emerged as an energy-efficient design paradigm. Hence, operating GPUs at NTC seems like a plausible solution to counteract the high energy consumption. This work …

Apple Flower Detection Using Deep Convolutional Networks, Philipe A. Dias, Amy Tabb, Henry P. Medeiros

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

To optimize fruit production, a portion of the flowers and fruitlets of apple trees must be removed early in the growing season. The proportion to be removed is determined by the bloom intensity, i.e., the number of flowers present in the orchard. Several automated computer vision systems have been proposed to estimate bloom intensity, but their overall performance is still far from satisfactory even in relatively controlled environments. With the goal of devising a technique for flower identification which is robust to clutter and to changes in illumination, this paper presents a method in which a pre-trained convolutional neural network …

Experiments Of Propeller-Induced Flow Effects On A Low-Reynolds-Number Wing, Gavin K. Ananda, Robert Deters, Michael S. Selig

Publications

Novel findings are discussed in this paper that will be especially beneficial to designers and modelers of small-scale unmanned air vehicles and high-altitude long-endurance vehicles that both operate at low Reynolds numbers (Re = 50,000-300,000). Propeller-induced Oow effects in both tractor and pusher configurations on a recta ngular wing using the Wortmann FX 63-137 airfoil (a common low-Reynolds-number high-lift airfoil) are presented in this paper . Significant performance benefits can be found for a wing in the tractor configuration. Experiments, including trip tests and upper-surface oil Dow visualization, show and verify that the propeller slipstream induces early transition to turbulent …

Application Of Fractal Dimension For Quantifying Noise Texture In Computed Tomography Images, P. Khobragade, Jiahua Fan, Franco Rupcich, Dominic J. Crotty, Taly Gilat Schmidt

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

Evaluation of noise texture information in CT images is important for assessing image quality. Noise texture is often quantified by the noise power spectrum (NPS), which requires numerous image realizations to estimate. This study evaluated fractal dimension for quantifying noise texture as a scalar metric that can potentially be estimated using one image realization.

Methods

The American College of Radiology CT accreditation phantom (ACR) was scanned on a clinical scanner (Discovery CT750, GE Healthcare) at 120 kV and 25 and 90 mAs. Images were reconstructed using filtered back projection (FBP/ASIR 0%) with varying reconstruction kernels: Soft, Standard, Detail, Chest, …

Screen Printed Moisture Sensor On Barrier Coated Sbs Board: The Characterizations Of The Hemicellulose-Based Biofilms And Their Applications For Smart Packaging, Ruoxi Ma

Dissertations

Fiber-based packaging materials have many advantages over their petroleum-based plastic competitors, such as sustainability, recyclability and stiffness/weight ratio. However, the poor barrier properties and sensitivity towards moisture are the main challenges for their extended use. Therefore, there has been a need to provide a biodegradable and biocompatible biopolymer packaging material with improved barrier properties for food and pharmaceutical packaging. Also, the moisture loss/gain problem causes a lot of waste every year. Therefore, there is a need of better tracking and sensing methods attached to the package in order to control the moisture level along the supply chain. To accomplish these …

Design And Control Of Series Resonant Converters For Dc Current Power Distribution Applications, Hongjie Wang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

With the growth of renewable energy usage and energy storage adoption in recent decades, people have started to reevaluate the possible roles of dc systems in current and future electrical systems. The dc voltage distribution has been applied in various applications, such as data centers and aircraft industry, for high efficiency and power density. However, for some applications such as subsea gas and oil fields, and ocean observatory systems, the dc current distribution is preferred over dc voltage distribution for its low cost and robustness against cable faults. Design and control of dc power distribution systems for different applications is …

An Experimental Comparison Of Student Motivation Between Two Computational Thinking-Based Stem Activities: Vex-Based Automation And Robotics And A Quadcopter Activity, Cory J. Ortiz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to compare student motivation between two junior high level computational thinking based STEM curricular activities. These two activities were a newly developed quadcopter based curriculum and a VEX based curricular activity developed for Project Lead the Way’s Gateway to Technology – Automation and Robotics course. Student motivation was assessed using an assessment called My Class Activities which broke motivation into four constructs: interest, challenge, choice, and enjoyment.

This study assessed students in three schools in a northern Utah school district. Students were assessed after receiving each curriculum. Assessment responses were then coded and analyzed. …

Si-Based Germanium Tin Photodetectors For Short-Wave And Mid-Wave Infrared Detections, Thach Pham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The demand of light-weight and inexpensive imaging system working in the infrared range keeps increasing for the last decade, especially for civil applications. Although several group IV materials such as silicon and germanium are used to realize detectors in the visible and near infrared region, they are not the efficient approach for imaging system in the short-wave infrared detection range and beyond due to bandgap limit. On the other hand, this market is heavily relied upon mature technology from III-V and II-VI elements over years, which are costly to growth and incompatible with available Si complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) foundries. This …

Studying The Applicability Of Biostimulated Calcite Precipitation In Stabilizing Expansive Soils, Md Touhidul Islam

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Of the four types of soils, clays are often associated with issues related to low bearing capacity, high compressibility, swelling and shrinking nature. For example, expansive soils swell and shrink with moisture ingress and digress and are prevalent in several parts of the world causing billions of dollars in damages annually to various civil infrastructures. Several ground improvement techniques such as chemical stabilization, deep soil mixing, moisture barriers, and others were employed to counteract these soils. However, these methods are impractical in certain situations and unsustainable in others due to their economic and environmental impacts. Microbiological treatment of soils could …

The Effects Of Atmospheric Heat Treatments On Tio2 Nanotube Anodes For Lithium-Ion Batteries, Andreas Savva

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The effects of various heat treatments on the physical and electrochemical properties of anatase TiO₂ nanotubes were studied in this work. Well-ordered TiO₂ nanotubes were grown via electrochemical anodization and annealed at 450°C to induce a phase transformation to anatase. The heat treatments were conducted under atmospheres of O₂, Ar, N₂, and water vapor (WV) to create different point defects. The oxygen-deficient atmospheres were used to generate oxygen vacancies in the TiO₂ nanotubes, while the water vapor treatment was used to create Ti vacancies by stabilizing them via the protonation of O sites. …

Irradiation Effects On Titanium Dioxide Electrodes For Lithium Ion Batteries, Kassiopeia Ann Smith

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the mechanisms of irradiation induced defects and the resulting electrochemical response of TiO₂ anode for _­lithium-ion-batteries. The objective is to realize pathways by which irradiation could be used to enhance the energy density of rechargeable lithium ion batteries in order to provide power to applications under extreme environments. Recent studies suggest that the presence of structural defects (e.g. vacancies and interstitials) in metal oxides may enhance the electrochemical charge storage capacity in electrode materials. One approach to induce defect formation in electrode materials is to use ion irradiation, which has been proven to produce point …

Improving And Augmenting The Anm Model For Three-Dimensional Virtual Concrete, Stephen Thomas

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Anm model used for creating virtual concrete consisting of irregular shapes has been improved by integrating two existing algorithms: the extent overlap box (EOB) method for detecting contact between two irregular shapes and the uniform thickness shell algorithm. The EOB method has been compared with the previously used Newton-Raphson method and shown to be able to detect inter-particle contact with better accuracy and with less computational cost. Two parameters that define the balance between accuracy and performance of the EOB method have been identified and studied. The uniform thickness shell has been used to specify the minimum inter-particle distance …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Enhanced Hands-On Intervention Versus Textbook Interventions To Understand Student Misconceptions In Particle Dynamics, Gang Liu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The present dissertation research examined the effects of applying the enhanced hands-on intervention to reveal and correct student misunderstandings of the concepts in engineering dynamics, especially particle dynamics. We involved 36 student volunteers for three different research topics. The student participants were divided into two groups in each research topic: enhanced hands-on intervention and pure textbook groups. An interview and intervention was conducted with each participant individually.

The author introduced the “Think-Aloud” method with two kinds of interventions mentioned above. The participants were required to speak out their thought process loud as they worked on the two sets of assessment …

Quantifying Dominant Heat Fluxes In An Arctic Alaskan River With Mechanistic River Temperature Modeling, Tyler V. King

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Temperatures strongly affect physical, chemical, and biological processes in rivers and streams. The processes that influence river temperatures are known across most geographic regions, but the relative importance varies significantly. Little is known about what controls water temperature Arctic rivers, limiting our ability to understand the impacts of climate change. This dissertation addresses this knowledge gap by incorporating field measurements with river temperature modeling to estimate the relative importance of key factors that affect Arctic river temperatures. Results indicate that shortwave radiation (e.g., sunlight) and net longwave radiation are significant throughout an Arctic watershed in all flow conditions. In areas …

Development And Optimization Of A Produced Water, Biofilm Based Microalgae Cultivation System For Biocrude Conversion With Hydrothermal Liquefaction, Benjamin L. Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Extraction of oil and gas in Utah’s Uintah Basin results in large quantities of wastewater, or produced water, with nutrients and residual organic chemical that represent a significant resource for producing energy-related and value-added products. Produced water was obtained as a biomass producing nutrient source from industries operating in Utah’s Uintah Basin. Within the Uintah Basin (defined as Uintah and Duchesne Counties within Utah) approximately 93 million barrels of water were produced in 2013 while only 11% of the water was disposed of through evaporation, with the national average at 2%. The rest is reinjected into the subsurface.

The goal …

Efficient Algorithms For Reconfigurable Antenna Systems, Mehedi Hasan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The main goal of this research is to develop algorithms to facilitate the use of a new type of antenna, called multifunctional reconfigurable antenna (MRA). Traditional antennas have fixed radiation properties which cannot be changed to adapt to different environments. To solve this problem, MRAs, which can dynamically change its operation frequency, radiation patter, and polarization, has gained a significant interest recently. Such antennas can support multiple radio access technologies with different sets of operational requirements. Reconfigurable antennas are considered smart antennas. The efficient use of smart antennas requires efficient and smart underlying algorithms. This dissertation focuses on developing efficient …

Novel Methods To Produce Large Recombinant Spider Silk Proteins Via Polymerization, Nathan L. Hebert

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider silk has long been a subject of scientific research due to its remarkable mechanical properties. Until recently, there has been no way to effectively obtain spider silk except by harvesting it from individual spiders. With advances in technology, the genes that code for the individual spider silk proteins have been isolated and genetically engineered into other hosts to produce recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSp) of varying sizes, Larger rSSp have correspondingly greater mechanical properties in any resulting materials. Using current production methods, larger rSSp cannot be produced in commercially viable quantities while simultaneously being economically viable. The current production …

Development And Characterization Of Aqueous-Based Recombinant Spider Silk Protein Biomaterials With Investigations Into Potential Applications, Thomas I. Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider silks are incredible natural materials that possess desirable combinations of strength, elasticity, weight, and robustness. Other properties such as biocompatibility and biodegradability further increase the worth of these materials. The possibility of farming spiders is impractical due to spiders’ natural behaviors. Modern biotechnologies have allowed for recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSps) to be produced without the use of spiders. However, the features responsible for spider silks impressive properties can cause difficulties with producing silk materials. A recently developed water-based and biomimetic solvation method has provided a solution to such difficulties and has also led to novel silk biomaterials. Most …

Uncertainty Quantification And Sensitivity Analysis Of Multiphysics Environments For Application In Pressurized Water Reactor Design, Cole David Blakely

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The most common design among U.S. nuclear power plants is the pressurized water reactor (PWR). The three primary design disciplines of these plants are system analysis (which includes thermal hydraulics), neutronics, and fuel performance. The nuclear industry has developed a variety of codes over the course of forty years, each with an emphasis within a specific discipline. Perhaps the greatest difficulty in mathematically modeling a nuclear reactor, is choosing which specific phenomena need to be modeled, and to what detail.

A multiphysics computational environment provides a means of advancing simulations of nuclear plants. Put simply, users are able to combine …

Attracting Secondary Students To Stem Using A Summer Engineering Camp, Murad Mahmoud

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research was to study the benefits of having middle school students attend a summer camp focused on the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). A lot of research funding is being used in such camps to help get more students into STEM fields as there is a lack of graduates in those fields. Therefore, it is important to understand the benefits and effectiveness of such camps.

Students, teachers and parents were involved in this research. Students and teachers attended a one-week engineering camp at Utah State University while parents were involved via a blog …

Plume Contamination Measurements Of An Additively-Printed Gox/Abs Hybrid Thruster, David A. Brewer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis examines the impact of the physical contamination on optical surfaces of spacecraft by an ABS/GOX thruster. Plume contamination presents a significant operational hazard for spacecraft solar arrays and thermal control surfaces can lead to decreased power production and increased spacecraft temperatures. Historically, due to the lack of a reliable, on-demand, and multiple-use ignition methodology, hybrid rockets have never been previously considered for in-space propulsion. Recent advancements in hybrid rocket technologies, have made hybrid systems feasible for in space propulsion. However, prior to this study no research had ever been performed with regard to plume contamination effects due to …

Biomass And Phycocyanin From Oil And Natural Gas Extraction Produced Water Utilizing A Cyanobacteria Dominated Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactor (Rabr), Jonathan L. Wood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The production of cyanobacterial biofilm biomass and phycocyanin from Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactors utilizing undiluted produced water from oil and natural gas extraction as a culture medium was investigated in this study. Produced water is the largest waste stream generated by the oil and natural gas industries and represents a large volume of non-potable water that may be available for algae culture with minimal impact on freshwater resources. Combining the use of produced wastewater as culture medium with the production of high value algal pigments, such as phycocyanin, may increase the economic viability of algae culture and wastewater purification. High …

The Effects Of Geometric And Stoichometric Change In Nanoparticles And Materials On Lattice Thermal Conductivity, W. Tanner Yorgason

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Thermal transport properties are critical for applications ranging from thermal management to energy conversion. Passive thermal management has been an area of study for over a century and has only grown as technology has advanced because it requires no additional energy to remove heat. Changing the nanostructure of the materials involved in passive heat transfer methods, either by geometric changes or stoichiometric changes, can greatly improve the effectiveness of this heat transfer method. In order to explore this further, this work employs LAMMPS molecular dynamics (MD) simulation software to calculate the lattice thermal conductivity (λ_p) of a …

Gps Denied Localization Using Ultra-Wideband Radios, Joshua P. Vanfleet

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

GPS denied environments cause each unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) in an autonomous convoy to lose positional accuracy which can lead to inoperability, or even damage. In order for autonomous convoy systems to fill the needs of any particular field, a well-performing system must be designed such that a convoy can operate in any environment. Ultra-wideband (UWB) radios are a proposed solution to GPS denied localization. The main objective of this research is to use UWB radios to localize a leader vehicle within a convoy situation while in a GPS denied environment.