Engineering Commons^™

Sequential Methods For Non-Parametric Hypothesis Testing, Prashant Khanduri

Dissertations - ALL

In today’s world, many applications are characterized by the availability of large amounts of complex-structured data. It is not always possible to fit the data to predefined models or distributions. Model dependent signal processing approaches are often susceptible to mismatches between the data and the assumed model. In cases where the data does not conform to the assumed model, providing sufficient performance guarantees becomes a challenging task. Therefore, it is important to devise methods that are model-independent, robust, provide sufficient performance guarantees for the task at hand and, at the same time, are simple to implement. The goal of this …

Homeostatic Elastic States And The Stability Of Elastic Arteries, Xinyu Zhang

Dissertations - ALL

Vascular mechanics has undergone significant growth within the last 50 years owing to the rapid development of nonlinear continuum mechanics occurring roughly within the same period and motivated primarily by rubber materials. However, one important distinction of blood vessels, in contrast to typical engineering materials is that, through a variety of physiological mechanisms, they seek to maintain constant a preferred mechanical state (mechanical homeostasis) thereby exhibiting a remarkable mechanical stability in response to temporal evolution and alterations in blood pressure, vessel tethering forces and geometry and material properties. The mechanical state experienced by blood vessels plays a critical role in …

Two Clamped Pipe Support Connections For Oil And Gas Brownfield Projects, Helen M. Claycomb

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the oil and gas industry, brownfield projects focus on the modification of or addition to an existing production facility that is fully operational and operating. Welding is typically avoided on these projects. The drilling of holes in existing primary structural elements is also prohibited. Clamped connections are often used when adding additional services in a brownfield project. There are different types of clamped connections utilized when a new structural support must be attached to an existing vertical structural pipe. The short bolt clamped connection is a well-established connection and typically used on offshore projects. The U-bolt clamped connection is …

An Experimental And Numerical Study Of High Temperature Gaseous Flow Through An Open Cell Silicon Carbide Foam Heater, Denis Pansolin

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Novel Shape Memory And Multi-Shape Memory Polymers For Biomaterial Applications, Shelby Lois Buffington

Dissertations - ALL

Biomaterial platforms have been used to probe how cells respond to chemical, topographical or mechanical changes in their environments. However, these traditionally static biomaterial platforms have not enabled the study of how cells respond to dynamic changes in their environment. Driven by a need to better understand cell behavior and its role it disease, development and tissue regeneration recent efforts have focused on designing dynamic biomaterial platforms to better mimic a cell’s natural environment. In this work, advanced shape memory polymers (SMPs) that respond to non-thermal triggers and multi-shape memory materials capable of multiple topographical transitions were developed for advanced …

Numerical Investigation Of Laser-Induced Ignition Phenomena, Deshawn Coombs

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis investigates various aspects of laser-ignition. Laser ignition is a form of combustion initiation by means of a focused laser pulse in a combustible mixture. The ignition process consists of a chain of processes with varying degrees of importance to the prediction of a successful flame propagation. Some of these processes include plasma formation, induced shock wave, emergence of a flame kernel, and successful transition to a self-sustained flame or flame quenching. This thesis will explore various aspects of this process using computational fluid dynamics and model analysis with the aim of identifying the controlling processes and simplified ways …

Network Sampling Through Crawling, Katchaguy Areekijseree

Dissertations - ALL

In recent years, researchers have increasingly used OSN data to study human behavior. Before such a study can begin, one must first obtain appropriate data. A platform, e.g, Facebook or Twitter, may provide an API for accessing data, but such APIs are often ratelimited, restricting the amount of data that an individual collects in a given amount of time. In order for the data collector to efficiently collect data, she needs to make intelligent use of her limited budget. Therefore, when collecting data, efficiency is extremely important. We consider the problem of network sampling through crawling, in which the data …

Locating People Of Interest In Social Networks, Pivithuru Wijegunawardana

Dissertations - ALL

By representing relationships between social entities as a network, researchers can analyze them using a variety of powerful techniques. One key problem in social network analysis literature is identifying certain individuals (key players, most influential nodes) in a network. We consider the same problem in this dissertation, with the constraint that the individuals we are interested in identifying (People of Interest) are not necessarily the most important nodes in terms of the network structure. We propose an algorithm to find POIs, algorithms to collect data to find POIs, a framework to model POI behavior and an algorithm to predict POIs …

Fft Phase Shift Of Water Wave Analysis, Chu-Kuan Lin, Shih-Yu Hsu, Jaw-Guei Lin

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The fast Fourier transform (FFT) has been accepted as a tool for signal processing. This study conducted a series of numerical experiments using Matlab. By conducting FFT analysis on designated wave trains, the FFT results revealed that an extra phase shift of ��ሺ2�� ��⁄ ሻ , with N representing the number of data points for an i-th wave component, was implicitly added to the analyzed phases during the analysis. When extra phase shifts were subtracted from the analyzed phases of each component, signals could be completely reconstructed in the time domain with an acceptable difference. This study tested component and …

Dynamic Response Analysis Of The Lifting Load System Of A Crane Ship In Irregular Waves, Xiao-Rong Yang, Qiu-Ming Gan, Yan-Hong Wang, Guang-Dong Wang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In this paper, the indirect time domain method is adopted to analyze the dynamic responses of a mooring crane ship. The motion equations of its lifting load system are derived from Lagrange's equations and the features of the coupling motion between the crane ship and its lifting load system are presented. The hydrodynamic coefficients of the crane ship are calculated on the base of 3D potential flow theory. The lumped-mass model is used to analyze the dynamic features of its mooring lines. The nonlinear features of the motion equations being taken into account, the displacements of the crane ship and …

Numerical Analysis Of Deep-Water Pipeline Abandonment And Recovery, Pan Gao, Bo-Wen Jin, Ji Zeng, Yi-Ting Zhan, Hui Zhou

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Pipeline abandonment and recovery (A&R) is of great importance in offshore pipeline installation. A mathematical model of the A&R process is proposed based on the large deflection beam theory. To solve the model, an iteration process is adopted. The initial guess of the solution is obtained through the two-catenary approach, which significantly accelerates the iteration. A moving boundary technique is used to solve the governing equation of the suspended pipeline. With the proposed approach, the effects of the dominant parameters in the A&R process are studied. The cable length increases, and the maximum bending moment decreases, as the vessel moves …

An In-Vitro Model To Understand Osteoblast Mediated Bone Mineralization, Vaikhari Abhay Marathe

Theses - ALL

Musculoskeletal diseases are widespread, and they affect hundreds of millions of people all around the world. Bone defects occurs due to various reasons such as surgeries, fracture and diseases. These bone defects need a surgical intervention and are generally treated with state-of-the-art grafting techniques such as natural bone grafts and implants. However, even the best available corrective treatments have several limitations such as availability, disease transfer, donor site scarcity, and immune rejection. Bone remodeling techniques which would support natural bone regeneration upon graft implantation, can be used to maximize the efficiency of current grafting techniques. In this study, our goal …

Status And Remediation Of Mercury In Fish And Aquatic Ecosystems, Geoffrey Dean Millard

Dissertations - ALL

Mercury is a known neurotoxin which can bioaccumulate and biomagnify as methylmercury, causing significant human and ecological impacts. New York State and the surrounding region is impacted by mercury in complex ways as some areas are recovering from the effects of acidic deposition while the entire region is increasingly influenced by climate change. In order to better understand the drivers and trends of mercury dynamics in New York State, my research was conducted in three phases: 1) the impact of lime (calcium carbonate) additions on mercury cycling in small acid-sensitive headwater streams of the Adirondack State Park; 2) applied advanced …

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 …

Wintertime Spatial Distribution Of Ammonia And Its Emission Sources In The Great Salt Lake Region, Alexander Moravek, Jennifer G. Murphy, Amy Hrdina, John C. Lin, Christopher Pennell, Alessandro Franchin, Ann M. Middlebrook, Dorothy L. Fibiger, Caroline C. Womack, Erin E. Mcduffie, Randy S. Martin, Kori D. Moore, Munkhbayar Baasandorj, Steven S. Brown

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Ammonium-containing aerosols are a major component of wintertime air pollution in many densely populated regions around the world. Especially in mountain basins, the formation of persistent cold-air pools (PCAPs) can enhance particulate matter with diameters less than 2.5 µm (PM_2.5) to levels above air quality standards. Under these conditions, PM_2.5 in the Great Salt Lake region of northern Utah has been shown to be primarily composed of ammonium nitrate; however, its formation processes and sources of its precursors are not fully understood. Hence, it is key to understanding the emission sources of its gas phase precursor, ammonia …

Incorporation Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) Point Cloud Products Into Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration Models, Mahyar Aboutalebi, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, Mac Mckee, William P. Kustas, Héctor Nieto, Maria Mar Alsina, Alex White, John H. Prueger, Lynn Mckee, Joseph Alfieri, Lawrence E. Hipps, Calvin Coopmans, Nick Dokoozlian

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

In recent years, the deployment of satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has led to production of enormous amounts of data and to novel data processing and analysis techniques for monitoring crop conditions. One overlooked data source amid these efforts, however, is incorporation of 3D information derived from multi-spectral imagery and photogrammetry algorithms into crop monitoring algorithms. Few studies and algorithms have taken advantage of 3D UAV information in monitoring and assessment of plant conditions. In this study, different aspects of UAV point cloud information for enhancing remote sensing evapotranspiration (ET) models, particularly the Two-Source Energy Balance Model (TSEB), over …

Reconstruction Of Propeller And Complex Ship Hull Surface Based On Reverse Engineering, Guan Guan, Wen-Wen Gu1

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

To quickly obtain the digital model of ship surface for detection and redesign, a reconstruction method for propeller and ship surface is proposed. Three-dimensional point cloud data of ship hull was obtained by laser scanning technology and the cloud data was preprocessed by iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm and chord deviation method. Then the surface was reconstructed with traditional surface modeling method and fast surface modeling method. By comparing the reconstructed surface with the initial point cloud data, the error of the reconstructed model was obtained. The result shows that the reconstructed surface gains good smoothness and small error. With …

Sampling And Characterizing Evolving Communities In Social Networks, Humphrey Appiah Mensah

Dissertations - ALL

One of the most important structures in social networks is communities. Understanding communities is useful in many applications, such as suggesting a friend for a user in an online friendship network, recommending a product for a user in an e-commerce network, etc. However, before studying anything about communities, researchers first need to collect appropriate data. Getting complete access to the data for community studies is unrealistic in most cases. In this work, we address the problem of crawling networks to identify community structure. Firstly, we present a network sampling technique to crawl the community structure of dynamic networks when there …

Copula-Based Multimodal Data Fusion For Inference With Dependent Observations, Shan Zhang

Dissertations - ALL

Fusing heterogeneous data from multiple modalities for inference problems has been an attractive and important topic in recent years. There are several challenges in multi-modal fusion, such as data heterogeneity and data correlation. In this dissertation, we investigate inference problems with heterogeneous modalities by taking into account nonlinear cross-modal dependence. We apply copula based methodology to characterize this dependence.

In distributed detection, the goal often is to minimize the probability of detection error at the fusion center (FC) based on a fixed number of observations collected by the sensors. We design optimal detection algorithms at the FC using a regular …

Tracked Vehicle Physics-Based Energy Modelling And Series Hybrid System Optimisation For The Bradley Fighting Vehicle, Travis E. Mcwhirter, Torrey J. Wagner, John E. Stubbs, Denise M. Rizzo, Jada B. Williams

Faculty Publications

A hybrid electric tracked ground vehicle (HETGV) can reduce military fuel usage, however a review of current tools determined they are not suitable to estimate HEGTV performance. Based on topographic data and vehicle attributes, this research developed an estimation tool by creating a model to determine tracked vehicle energy and fuel requirements, and using these requirements, created a HEGTV cost and performance optimisation for the Bradley fighting vehicle energy system. The optimised design reduced fuel consumption by 15%, and met the vehicle's peak power requirement of 365 kW, with a recommended configuration of a 135 kW generator and 100 kWh …

Acoustic Design Optimization With Isogeometric Analysis And Differential Evolution, Garrett W. Dodgen

Mechanical Engineering Theses

The objective of this study is to utilize shape optimization to enhance the performance of devices relying on acoustic wave propagation. Particularly, the shape of a horn speaker and an acoustic energy harvester were optimized to enhance their performance at targeted frequencies. High order Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) was performed to estimate the acoustic pressure with minimum geometry and pollution errors [1]. The analysis platform was then combined with Differential Evolution (DE) to optimize the geometry of the horn speaker and energy harvester at a given frequency. These cases effectively demonstrate two applications of Isogeomtric shape optimization for devices relying on …

An Analysis Of Energy Consumption And The Use Of Renewables For A Small Drinking Water Treatment Plant, Saria Bukhary, Jacimara Batista, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

One of the pressing issues currently faced by the water industry is incorporating sustainability considerations into design practice and reducing the carbon emissions of energy-intensive processes. Water treatment, an indispensable step for safeguarding public health, is an energy-intensive process. The purpose of this study was to analyze the energy consumption of an existing drinking water treatment plant (DWTP), then conduct a modeling study for using photovoltaics (PVs) to offset that energy consumption, and thus reduce emissions. The selected plant, located in southwestern United States, treats 0.425 m3 of groundwater per second by utilizing the processes of coagulation, filtration, and disinfection. …

System And Method For Determining Operating Deflection Shapes Of A Structure Using Optical Techniques, Javad Baqersad

Mechanical Engineering Patents

A system for measuring total operating deflection shapes of a structure includes one or more imagers, each including two cameras spaced apart from one another and each oriented and positioned to have corresponding fields of view of a different corresponding section of the structure, with the corresponding sections that may include overlap area of the structure within each of the different sections of the structure. Each of the cameras generates a corresponding data stream, which is communicated to a controller, which is configured to measure the response of the structure to an excitation, such as a vibration or an impulse. …

Impact Of Isolated Atmospheric Aging Processes On The Cloud Condensation Nuclei Activation Of Soot Particles, Franz Friebel, Prem Lobo, David Neubauer, Ulrike Lohmann, Saskia Drossaart Van Dusseldorp, Evelyn Mühlhofer, Amewu A. Mensah

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The largest contributors to the uncertainty in assessing the anthropogenic contribution in radiative forcing are the direct and indirect effects of aerosol particles on the Earth's radiative budget. Soot particles are of special interest since their properties can change significantly due to aging processes once they are emitted into the atmosphere. Probably the largest obstacle for the investigation of these processes in the laboratory is the long atmospheric lifetime of 1 week, requiring tailored experiments that cover this time span. This work presents results on the ability of two types of soot, obtained using a miniCAST soot generator, to act …

Concentrations, Sources, And Health Risks Of Particulate Matter In Southeast Us.: Current Status And Future Changes, Fenglin Han

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Evaluation of long-term air quality trends and prediction of future air quality may help to design and demonstrate effectiveness of control strategies and guide future air quality management. As one of the six criteria air pollutants (CAPs) regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm or less (PM_2.5) is of great interests since it has adverse effects on human health, visibility and climate. This study aims to understand the current status and future changes in concentrations, sources, and health risks of PM_2.5 in Southeast US. Firstly, observations were analyzed …

Effect Of Recycled Concrete Aggregates On The Long-Term, Elastic, Total Deflection And Strength Of Precast Prestressed Hollow Core Concrete Slabs, Lizeth Marisol Gomez Santana

Civil Engineering Theses

Concrete constitutes the largest portion of construction and demolition waste generated each year in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the total production of construction and demolition of concrete waste during 2015 was 381.8 million tons. In order to reduce the economic and environmental effects of waste concrete, researchers have begun to incorporate it into concrete mixtures. However, the inherent variability in mechanical properties between RCA sources makes it difficult to quantify the maximum permissible replacement of natural aggregate and the end-result properties of concrete. This project investigates the use of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) obtained …

Electroanalytical Investigation Of The Electrode –Electrolyte Interface Of Quaternary Ammonium Ionic Liquids: Impact Of Alkyl Chain Length And Ether Functionality, Jeffrey M. Klein, Henry Squire, Burcu E. Gurkan

Faculty Scholarship

The influence of ionic associations and potential-dependent interactions on the electrode-electrolyte interfacial structure of ionic liquids (ILs) is studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for a variety of asymmetric quaternary ammonium ILs. Specifically, the impact of cation alkyl chain length (C = 4, 8 and 16) and ether functionality on the interfacial structuring of ILs at the glassy carbon electrode surface is examined. Ammonium cations with alkyl chain length of 8 and 16 carbons are found to stabilize the formation of the bis(trifluorosulfonyl)imide, [TFSI], anion dense Stern layer at positive electrode potentials leading to larger …

Protocol Efficiently Measuring The Swelling Rate Of Hydrogels, Katherine Zhang, Wuxiang Feng, Congrui Jin

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Hydrogels are polymeric materials which can swell in water and retain a significant fraction of water within their structure without dissolving in water. Swelling rate is one of the most important properties of hydrogels. To measure the swelling rate, the profile of swelling capacity versus time of a hydrogel sample is obtained by performing free-absorbency capacity measurements at consecutive time intervals. Traditionally, either the tea-bag method, the sieve method, or the filtration method is used for the free-absorbency capacity measurements depending on the amount of the available sample and the desired precision. However, each method has its own systematic drawbacks. …

Rheological Models For Non-Newtonian Viscosity Of Modified Asphalt Binders And Mastics, Aboelkasim Diab, Zhanping You, Xuelian Li, Jorge Carvalho Pais, Xu Yang, Siyu Chen

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

This paper is aimed at providing a comprehensive experimental work on the viscosity behavior of different modified asphalt binders and mastics, as well as exploring mathematical representations of the results in attempts to predict the viscosity and flow behaviors according to Vinogradov-Malkin and Phillips-Deutsch models. The modified asphalt binders were prepared in the unaged and aged states using styrene-butadienestyrene (SBS), ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), and crumb rubber (CR); while the hydrated lime (HL) and fly ash (FA) were selected to produce the binder-filler mastics. To widen the study findings, the additives (polymers, rubber, and fillers) were applied at different possible levels …

Application Development For Goods Management System Towards Waste Minimization Options, Wan Ahmad Nadzim

Student Works (2020-2029)

Waste is a global concern. Increasing waste generation levels are causing the increase of waste management costs. In fact, the greatest costs of waste are measured by its impacts to the environment, society and economy. Prevention is better than cure—since all wastes come from goods, thus the best way to manage wastes is to manage goods. An application model of goods management system has been developed using GIS (Geographic Information System) and app prototyping. The primary purpose of goods management is to maximize goods and minimize waste by promoting reduction and reuse. GIS was used to perform spatial analyses on …