Engineering Commons^™

Generalized Ultrasonic Scattering Model For Arbitrary Transducer Configurations, Andrea P. Arguelles, Joseph A. Turner

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Ultrasonic scattering in polycrystalline media is directly tied to microstructural features. As a result, modeling efforts of scattering from microstructure have been abundant. The inclusion of beam modeling for the ultrasonic transducers greatly simplified the ability to perform quantitative, fully calibrated experiments. In this article, a theoretical scattering model is generalized to allow for arbitrary source and receiver configurations, while accounting for beam behavior through the total propagation path. This extension elucidates the importance and potential of out-of-plane scattering modes in the context of microstructure characterization. The scattering coefficient is explicitly written for the case of statistical isotropy and ellipsoidal …

Multiscale Modeling Of Fracture In Quasi-Brittle Materials Using Bifurcation Analysis And Element Elimination Method, Keyvan Zare Rami

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

Analyzing the fracture of heterogeneous materials is a complex problem, due to the fact that the mechanical behavior of a heterogeneous material is strongly dependent on a variety of factors, such as its microstructure, the properties of each constituent, and interactions between them. Therefore, these factors must be effectively taken into account for accurate analysis, for which the multiscale method has been widely used. In this scheme, the computational homogenization method is used to obtain the effective macroscopic properties of a heterogeneous material based on the response of a Representative Volume Element (RVE). The growth of damage in an RVE …

Generalized Ultrasonic Scattering Model For Arbitrary Transducer Configurations, Andrea P. Arguelles, Joseph A. Turner

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Ultrasonic scattering in polycrystalline media is directly tied to microstructural features. As a result, modeling efforts of scattering from microstructure have been abundant. The inclusion of beam modeling for the ultrasonic transducers greatly simplified the ability to perform quantitative, fully calibrated experiments. In this article, a theoretical scattering model is generalized to allow for arbitrary source and receiver configurations, while accounting for beam behavior through the total propagation path. This extension elucidates the importance and potential of out-of-plane scattering modes in the context of microstructure characterization. The scattering coefficient is explicitly written for the case of statistical isotropy and ellipsoidal …

Magnetic Properties Of Nd-Fe-B Permanent Magnets Under Thermal Experimentation, Géraldine Houis

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

Neodymium-Iron-Boron (Nd-Fe-B) magnets were developed in the 1980s, and since then, they have appeared as a common component in many fields. From the industry to consumers or defense applications, from turbines, computers, cellphones to most audio systems, Nd-Fe-B magnets are present everywhere. But when Nd-Fe-B magnets are applied to the motors of electric vehicles and wind-turbine generators, their temperature rises, therefore Nd-Fe-B-Dy magnets are used. However, while the use of these magnets is common at low temperatures, their properties decrease dramatically with the increase of temperature. In this paper, the Nd-Fe-B-based samples used were prepared by using arc melting, melt …

Extending Mission Duration Of Uas Multicopters: Multi-Disciplinary Approach, Marc Lussier

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

Multicopters are important tools in industry, the military, and research but suffer from short flight times and mission durations. In this thesis, we discuss three different ways to increase flight times and therefore increase the viability of using multicopters in a variety of missions. Alternate fuel sources such as hydrogen fuel and solar cells are starting to be used on multicopters, in our research we simulate modern fuel cells and show how well they currently work as the power source for multicopters and how close they are to becoming useful in Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) technology. Increasing the efficiency in …

Bioresorbable Composite Stents For Enhanced Response Of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells, Hozhabr Mozafari

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

Formation of arterial plaque and stenosis is one of the main cardiovascular disease risk factors. Stenting is a popular approach to increase the inner diameter of the artery and provide an acceptable lumen gain. This is achieved by applying internal pressure to the arterial wall. Despite the desirable outcomes of this procedure, there are complexities and challenges that are being discussed among scholars in this area. Restenosis is one of these complications, in which smooth muscles cell start proliferation and remodeling in response of induced mechanical stresses. Another important issue is the placement of the stent and possible migration due …

Nanothermomechanical Logic Gates For Thermal Computing, Ahmed Hamed

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

Limited performance and reliability of electronic devices at extreme temperatures, intensive electromagnetic fields, and radiation found in space exploration missions (i.e., Venus & Jupiter planetary exploration, and heliophysics missions) and earth-based applications require the development of alternative computing technologies. Thermal computing, data processing based on heat instead of electricity, is proposed as a practical alternative and opens a new scientific area at the interface between thermal and computational sciences.

We successfully developed thermal AND, OR and NOT logic gates, achieved through the coupling between near-field thermal radiation and MEMS thermal actuation. In the process, we developed two novel non-linear thermal …

Multi-Scale Modeling Of The Lamellar Unit Of Arterial Media, Hozhabr Mozafari, Lulu Wang, Yuguo Lei, Linxia Gu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The heterogeneity of the lamellar unit (LU) of arterial media plays an important role in the biomechanics of artery. Current two-component (fibrous component and a homogenous matrix) constitutive model is inappropriate for capturing the micro-structural variations in the LU, such as contraction/relaxation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), fragmentation of the elastin layer, and deposition/disruption of the collagen network. In this work, we developed a representative volume element (RVE) model with detailed micro-configurations, i.e., VSMCs at various phenotypes, collagen fibers, and elastin laminate embedded in the ground substance. The fiber architecture was generated based on its volume fraction and orientations. …

Double-Sided Corrugated Composite Tube And Axle Protective Mechanism For Railway Vehicles, Hozhabr Mozafari

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

Structural elements in transportation vehicles are exposed to different types of dynamic loadings and impact scenarios. Protecting passengers against injury and providing mechanisms to avoid impact induced damages to the critical components are the two hot topics in crashworthiness engineering. The presented research work includes two parts. The first part is about designing a novel double-sided composite corrugated tube that can be implemented in front chassis rail of ground vehicles to improve their crashworthiness against collision and car accidents. To maximize the controllable energy absorption of corrugation troughs as observed in the single sided corrugated (SSC) tube, we proposed and …

The Business Case For Industrial Safety: Revealing The Comprehensive Value Of Ergonomic Investments For Manufacturing Enterprises In Industry 4.0, Shane Stan

Honors Theses

How can today’s manufacturing enterprises construct, implement, and optimize modern safety initiatives in a manner that will present maximum return on investment and facilitate enterprise growth? Furthermore, how can these manufacturers assure individual ergonomic investments become part of a larger strategy to facilitate organizational change in safety? This work addresses these questions by placing industrial ergonomics in a business improvement context which comprehensively presents the financial returns and growth opportunities poised by modern safety initiatives. Additionally, to further strengthen the business case for industrial safety, an ergonomic action planning framework is established to guide the creation of holistic safety programs …

Beyond The Toolpath: Site-Specific Melt Pool Size Control Enables Printing Of Extra-Toolpath Geometry In Laserwire-Based Directed Energy Deposition, Brian T. Gibson, Bradley S. Richardson, Tayler W. Undermann, Lonnie J. Love

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A variety of techniques have been utilized in metal additive manufacturing (AM) for melt pool size management, including modeling and feed-forward approaches. In a few cases, closed-loop control has been demonstrated. In this research, closed-loop melt pool size control for large-scale, laser wire-based directed energy deposition is demonstrated with a novel modification, i.e., site-specific changes to the controller setpoint were commanded at trigger points, the locations of which were generated by the projection of a secondary geometry onto the primary three-dimensional (3D) printed component geometry. The present work shows that, through this technique, it is possible to print a specific …

Effect Of Silica Fume In Concrete On Mechanical Properties And Dynamic Behaviors Under Impact Loading, Shijun Zhao, Qing Zhang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The effect of silica fume (SF) in concrete on mechanical properties and dynamic behaviors was experimentally studied by split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) device with pulse shaping technique. Three series of concrete with 0, 12%, and 16% SF as a cement replacement by weight were produced firstly. Then the experimental procedure for dynamic tests of concrete specimens with SF under a high loading rate was presented. Considering the mechanical performance and behaviors of the concrete mixtures, those tests were conducted under five different impact velocities. The experimental results clearly show concrete with different levels of SF is a strain-rate sensitive …

Smart Additive Manufacturing: In-Process Sensing And Data Analytics For Online Defect Detection In Metal Additive Manufacturing Processes, Mohammad Montazeri

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

The goal of this dissertation is to detect the incipient flaws in metal parts made using additive manufacturing processes (3D printing). The key idea is to embed sensors inside a 3D printing machine and conclude whether there are defects in the part as it is being built by analyzing the sensor data using artificial intelligence (machine learning). This is an important area of research, because, despite their revolutionary potential, additive manufacturing processes are yet to find wider acceptance in safety-critical industries, such as aerospace and biomedical, given their propensity to form defects. The presence of defects, such as porosity, can …

System And Method For Sensing Wind Flow Passing Over Complex Terrain, Saleh Nabi, Piyush Grover, Mithu Debnath

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A wind flow sensing system determines a first approximation of the velocity field at each of the altitudes by simulating computational fluid dynamics ( CFD ) of the wind flow with operating parameters reducing a cost function of a weighted combination of errors , determines a horizontal derivative of vertical velocity at each of the altitudes from the first approximation of the velocity fields , and determines a second approximation of the velocity fields using geometric relationships between a velocity field for each of the altitudes , projections of the measurements of radial velocities on the three - dimensional axes …

Multi-Agent Control System And Method, Piyush Grover, Karthik Elamvazhuthi

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Motion of multiple agents with identical non - linear dynamics is controlled to change density of the agents from the initial to the final density . A first control problem is formulated for optimizing a control cost of changing density of the agents from the initial density to the final density subject to dynamics of the agents in a density space . The first control problem , which is a non - linear non - convex problem over a multi - agent control and a density of the agents , is trans formed into a second control problem over the …

3d Printing Of Silk Fibroin-Based Hybrid Scaffold Treated With Platelet Rich Plasma For Bone Tissue Engineering, Liang Wei, Shaohua Wu, Mitchell Kuss, Xiping Jiang, Runjun Sun, Reid Patrick, Xiaohong Qin, Bin Duan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

3D printing/bioprinting are promising techniques to fabricate scaffolds with well controlled and patient-specific structures and architectures for bone tissue engineering. In this study, we developed a composite bioink consisting of silk fibroin (SF), gelatin (GEL), hyaluronic acid (HA), and tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and 3D bioprinted the silk fibroin-based hybrid scaffolds. The 3D bioprinted scaffolds with dual crosslinking were further treated with human platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to generate PRP coated scaffolds. Live/Dead and MTT assays demonstrated that PRP treatment could obviously promote the cell growth and proliferation of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (HADMSC). In addition, the treatment of PRP …

3d Printing Of Silk Fibroin-Based Hybrid Scaffold Treated With Platelet Rich Plasma For Bone Tissue Engineering, Liang Wei, Shaohua Wu, Mitchell Kuss, Xiping Jiang, Runjun Sun, Reid Patrick, Xiaohong Qin, Bin Duan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

3D printing/bioprinting are promising techniques to fabricate scaffolds with well controlled and patient-specific structures and architectures for bone tissue engineering. In this study, we developed a composite bioink consisting of silk fibroin (SF), gelatin (GEL), hyaluronic acid (HA), and tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and 3D bioprinted the silk fibroin-based hybrid scaffolds. The 3D bioprinted scaffolds with dual crosslinking were further treated with human platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to generate PRP coated scaffolds. Live/Dead and MTT assays demonstrated that PRP treatment could obviously promote the cell growth and proliferation of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (HADMSC). In addition, the treatment of PRP …

Experimental Evaluation Of Self-Expandable Metallic Tracheobronchial Stents, Yanli Wang, Pengfei Dong, Jingyao Ke, Xiang Shen, Zongming Li, Kewei Ren, Xinwei Han, Linxia Gu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The self-expandable metallic stents have been widely used in tracheobronchial obstruction or fistulation, including the J-shaped and Y-shaped stents, named after the shape of the branch-stem junction of the stent. However, there is scarce data on the mechanical performance of these tracheobronchial stents, which is essential for optimal stent implantation. In this work, eight self-expandable metallic tracheobronchial stents in three types (i.e., straight, J-shaped, and Y-shaped), with or without cover, were characterized. The compression resistance of the stems was investigated through both compression and indentation tests. The bending resistance of the branches in the J-shaped and Y-shaped stents was assessed …

Interface Effects On He Ion Irradiation In Nanostructured Materials, Wenfan Yang, Jingyu Pang, Shijian Zheng, Jian Wang, Xinghang Zhang, Xiuliang Ma

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

In advanced fission and fusion reactors, structural materials suffer from high dose irradiation by energetic particles and are subject to severe microstructure damage. He atoms, as a byproduct of the (n) transmutation reaction, could accumulate to form deleterious cavities, which accelerate radiation-induced embrittlement, swelling and surface deterioration, ultimately degrade the service lifetime of reactor materials. Extensive studies have been performed to explore the strategies that can mitigate He ion irradiation damage. Recently, nanostructured materials have received broad attention because they contain abundant interfaces that are efficient sinks for radiation-induced defects. In this review, we summarize and analyze the current understandings …

The Linc Complex, Mechanotransduction, And Mesenchymal Stem Cell Function And Fate, Tasneem Bouzid, Eunju Kim, Brandon D. Riehl, Amir Monemian Esfahani, Jordan Rosebohm, Ruiguo Yang, Bin Duan, Jung Yul Lim

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) show tremendous promise as a cell source for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and are understood to be mechanosensitive to external mechanical environments. In recent years, increasing evidence points to nuclear envelope proteins as a key player in sensing and relaying mechanical signals in MSCs to modulate cellular form, function, and differentiation. Of particular interest is the Linker of Nucleoskeleton and Cytoskeleton (LINC) complex that includes nesprin and SUN. In this review, the way in which cells can sense external mechanical environments through an intact nuclear envelope and LINC complex proteins will be briefly described. Then, …

On The Measurement Of Energy Dissipation Of Adhered Cells With The Quartz Microbalance With Dissipation Monitoring, Amir Monemian Esfahani, Weiwei Zhao, Jennifer Y. Chen, Changjin Huang, Ning Xi, Jun Xi, Ruiguo Yang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

We previously reported the finding of a linear correlation between the change of energy dissipation (ΔD) of adhered cells measured with the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and the level of focal adhesions of the cells. To account for this correlation, we have developed a theoretical framework for assessing the ΔD-response of adhered cells. We rationalized that the mechanical energy of an oscillating QCM-D sensor coupled with a cell monolayer is dissipated through three main processes: the interfacial friction through the dynamic restructuring (formation and rupture) of cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) bonds, the interfacial viscous damping by the liquid …

Design And Evaluation Of Sensor Housing For Atmospheric Boundary Layer Profiling Using Multirotors, Ashraful Islam

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

Traditional configurations for mounting Temperature–Humidity (TH) sensors on multirotor Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) often suffer from insufficient radiation shielding, exposure to mixed and turbulent air from propellers, and inconsistent aspiration while situated in the wake of the UAS. Consequently, atmospheric boundary layer profiles that rely on such configurations are bias-prone and unreliable in descent. This thesis describes the evolution of a novel sensor housing design over three iterations. The sensor housing is designed to shield airborne sensors from artificial heat sources and artificial wet-bulbing while pulling air from outside the rotor wash influence. The housing is mounted above the propellers …

Computational Studies Of Thermal Properties And Desalination Performance Of Low-Dimensional Materials, Yang Hong

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

During the last 30 years, microelectronic devices have been continuously designed and developed with smaller size and yet more functionalities. Today, hundreds of millions of transistors and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor cells can be designed and integrated on a single microchip through 3D packaging and chip stacking technology. A large amount of heat will be generated in a limited space during the operation of microchips. Moreover, there is a high possibility of hot spots due to non-uniform integrated circuit design patterns as some core parts of a microchip work harder than other memory parts. This issue becomes acute as stacked microchips get …

Observations Of Shear Stress Effects On Staphylococcus Aureus Biofilm Formation, Erica Sherman, Kenneth W. Bayles, Derek Moormeir, Jennifer Endres, Timothy Wei

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria form biofilms and distinctive microcolony or “tower” structures that facilitate their ability to tolerate antibiotic treatment and to spread within the human body. The formation of microcolonies, which break off, get carried downstream, and serve to initiate biofilms in other parts of the body, is of particular interest here. It is known that flow conditions play a role in the development, dispersion, and propagation of biofilms in general. The influence of flow on microcolony formation and, ultimately, what factors lead to microcolony development are, however, not well understood. The hypothesis being examined is that microcolony structures form …

Modeling Thermal And Mechanical Cancellation Of Residual Stress From Hybrid Additive Manufacturing By Laser Peening, Guru Madireddy, Chao Li, Jingfu Liu, Michael P. Sealy

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Additive manufacturing (AM) of metals often results in parts with unfavorable mechanical properties. Laser peening (LP) is a high strain rate mechanical surface treatment that hammers a workpiece and induces favorable mechanical properties. Peening strain hardens a surface and imparts compressive residual stresses improving the mechanical properties of a material. This work investigates the role of LP on layer-by-layer processing of 3D printed metals using finite element analysis. The objective is to understand temporal and spatial residual stress development after thermal and mechanical cancellation caused by cyclically coupling printing and peening. Results indicate layer peening frequency is a critical process …

Method For Fabrication Of A Soft-Matter Printed Circuit Board, Carmel Majidi, Tong Lu, Eric J. Markvicka

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A fabrication process for soft - matter printed circuit boards is disclosed in which traces of liquid - phase Ga - In eutectic ( eGaIn ) are patterned with UV laser micromachining ( UVLM ) . The terminals of the elastomer - sealed LM circuit connect to the surface mounted chips through vertically aligned columns of eGaIn - coated ferromagnetic micro spheres that are embedded within an interfacial elastomer layer .

Biomethane Production From Distillery Wastewater, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Distillery wastewater treatment is a great ecological problem, for example, India produces 2.7 billion liters of alcohol that results in 40 billion liters of wastewater. However, this material can be seen as a resource since 11 million cubic meters of biogas at 60% methane could be produced in addition to cleaning the water. The distillery has two options of what to do with the biogas. The first is to use the biogas to fuel the distillery making the production plant more energy efficient and removing some of the need to buy natural gas. The other is to upgrade the biogas …

Wearable Devices For Single-Cell Sensing And Transfection, Lingqian Chang, Yu-Chieh Wang, Faheem Ershad, Ruiguo Yang, Cunjiang Yu, Yubo Fan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Wearable healthcare devices are mainly used for biosensing and transdermal delivery. Recent advances in wearable biosensors allow for long-term and real-time monitoring of physiological conditions at a cellular resolution. Transdermal drug delivery systems have been further scaled down, enabling wide selections of cargo, from natural molecules (e.g., insulin and glucose) to bioengineered molecules (e.g., nanoparticles). Some emerging nanopatches show promise for precise single-cell gene transfection in vivo and have advantages over conventional tools in terms of delivery efficiency, safety, and controllability of delivered dose. In this review, we discuss recent technical advances in wearable micro/nano devices with unique capabilities or …

Influence Of Metal Additives On Microstructure And Properties Of Amorphous Metal–Sioc Composites, Kaisheng Ming, Qing Su, Chao Gu, Dongyue Xie, Yongqiang Wang, Michael Nastasi, Jian Wang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Strong, ductile, and irradiation-tolerant structural materials are in urgent demand for improving the safety and efficiency of advanced nuclear reactors. Amorphous ceramics could be promising candidates for high irradiation tolerance due to thermal stability and lack of crystal defects. However, they are very brittle due to plastic flow instability. Here, we realized enhanced plasticity of amorphous ceramics through compositional and microstructural engineering. Two metal–amorphous ceramic composites, Fe-SiOC and Cu-SiOC, were fabricated by magnetron sputtering. Iron atoms are preferred to form uniformly distributed nano-sized Fe-rich amorphous clusters, while copper atoms grow non-uniformly distributed nano-crystalline Cu particles. The Fe-SiOC composite exhibits high …

Biomechanical Foot Guidance Linkage, Carl Nelson, Cale J. Stolle, Judith M. Burnfield

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A gait replication apparatus can include a scalable mechanical mechanism configured to replicate different gaits . The scalable mechanical mechanism can include , for example , a four - bar linkage , a pantograph , a cam / Scotch - yoke mechanism , and so forth . In some embodiments , the mechanical mechanism includes a beam rotating about an axis passing proximate to its center , with a foot pedal slidably coupled with the beam , and a timing chain / belt or cable pulley - pair coupled with the foot pedal and looped about the beam . A …