Engineering Commons^™

Development And Validation Of Wireless Sensors For Applications To Human Head Angular And Mechanical Motions, Karthick Natesan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this project, we programmed a 9 degree of freedom Razor sensor, which incorporates an accelerometer and gyroscope to measure the head linear and angular motions produced by activities of daily living (ADL). The majority of studies concentrate on linear accelerations, so the purpose of this study is to determine the importance of both linear and angular components of acceleration in everyday activities and find interlinked relation between them. The sensor was validated using another calibrated and validated system. The general size and wireless nature make this sensor very suitable for use with human subjects. After obtaining informed consent, we …

Heuristic Dynamic Programming For Adaptive Virtual Synchronous Generators, Sepehr Saadatmand, Mohamad Saleh Sanjari Nia, Pourya Shamsi, Mehdi Ferdowsi, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper a neural network heuristic dynamic programing (HDP) is used for optimal control of the virtual inertia-based control of grid connected three-phase inverters. It is shown that the conventional virtual inertia controllers are not suited for non-inductive grids. A neural network-based controller is proposed to adapt to any impedance angle. Applying an adaptive dynamic programming controller instead of a supervised controlled method enables the system to adjust itself to different conditions. The proposed HDP consists of two subnetworks: critic network and action network. These networks can be trained during the same training cycle to decrease the training time. …

On Waves Propagating Through An Emergent Poroelastic Medium, Yuan-Jyh Lan

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This paper describes a theoretical study of the problem of linear waves propagating over an emergent poroelastic medium. Lan-Lee’s poro-elastomer theory is extended to derive a new analytical solution for describing this problem, with the free surface boundary condition discussed in the context of a poroelastic medium, a topic that has rarely been covered by previous studies. In the present approach, the problem domain is divided into three subregions and a negligible water-exposed region. Using general solutions for each region and the matching dynamic and kinematic conditions for neighboring regions, a set of simultaneous equations is developed and numerically solved. …

Case Study For The Ground Motion Analyses And Seabed Soil Liquefaction Potential Of Chang-Bin Offshore Wind Farm, Yu-Shu Kuo, Chi-Sheng Lin, Juin-Fu Chai, Yu-Wen Chang, Yu-Hsiu Tseng

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Evaluating seismic forces and soil liquefaction potential during the development of offshore wind farms in Taiwan is crucial. Wang et al. (2016) conducted a seismic hazard analysis and proposed a design earthquake response spectrum for the bedrock at the Changbin offshore wind farm. In this study, the recommended acceleration response spectrum was used to generate two design earthquakes (BH01_EW and BH01_NS) at the bedrock level that were compatible to the seismic characteristics of the Changbin offshore wind farm. The original soil data of borehole BH01(TORI) at the site were used to conduct a ground motion analysis and obtain design seismic …

Dual Heuristic Dynamic Programing Control Of Grid-Connected Synchronverters, Sepehr Saadatmand, Mohamad Saleh Sanjari Nia, Pourya Shamsi, Mehdi Ferdowsi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A new approach to control a grid-connected synchronverter by using a dual heuristic dynamic programing (DHP) design is presented. The disadvantages of conventional synchronverter controller such as the challenges to cope with nonlinearity, uncertainties, and non-inductive grids are discussed. To deal with the aforementioned challenges a neural network–based adaptive critic design is introduced to optimize the associated cost function. The characteristic of the neural networks facilitates the performance under uncertainties and unknown parameters (e.g. different power angles). The proposed DHP design includes three neural networks: system NN, action NN, and critic NN. The simulation results compare the performance of the …

Gelatine Cavity Dynamics Of High-Speed Sphere Impact, Akihito Kiyama, Mohammad M. Mansoor, Nathan B. Spiers, Yoshiyuki Tagawa, Tadd T. Truscott

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

We investigate the impact and penetration of a solid sphere passing through gelatine at various impact speeds up to 143.2 m s^-1 Tests were performed with several concentrations of gelatine. Impacts for low elastic Froude number Fr_e a ratio between inertia and gelatine elasticity, resulted in rebound. Higher Fr_e values resulted in penetration, forming cavities with prominent surface textures. The overall shape of the cavities resembles those observed in water-entry experiments, yet they appear in a different order with respect to increasing inertia: rebound, quasi-seal, deep-seal, shallow-seal and surface-seal. Remarkably, similar to the We – Bo phase …

Multi-Objective Optimization Of Transferable Water For Cascade Reservoirs In The Upper Yellow River, Tao Bai, Ming Zhang, Xia Liu, Qiang Huang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Artificially controlled floods generated by cascade reservoirs upstream have been applied to regulate the suspended river formed in the main stream of Ningxia–Inner Mongolia reach, China. The presence of sufficient transferable water in reservoirs is the most important limiting factor for the successful implementation of water and sediment regulation schemes. In this study, the conception and four modes of transferable water are proposed. Taking Longyangxia (LYX) and Liujiaxia (LJX) upper the Yellow River for example, a multi-objective optimal operation model of cascade reservoirs is established and solved by Feasible Search Space Optimal Particle Swarm Optimization (FSSO-PSO). Based on long-term time …

Nonlinear Dynamic Response Of A Fluid-Conveying Pipe With A Y-Type Manifold Under Different End Conditions, Xu Liang, Ti-Tao Wang, Chen-Wei Chen, Yu Deng, Yong-Du Ruan

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This article addressed the discussion on the nonlinear dynamic response of a fluid-conveying pipe with a Y-type manifold under different end conditions. In which, the pipe element was regarded as an Euler-Bernoulli beam and the control volume of the flowing fluid was simplified as a jet. The governing equation of such a nonlinear dynamic problem was derived using Hamilton’s principle and the momentum equation for the steady flow condition. The Galerkin method and the RungeKutta method with fourth-order truncation were used for solving the governing equation. To validate the numerical model, the numerical results were compared with the existing literature …

Pressure Effect On An Ocean-Based Humidification-Dehumidification Desalination Process, Yingchen Yang

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

A new humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination process is proposed and analyzed. Being ocean based, the process does not produce any brine. It is largely powered jointly by solar energy, wind energy, and various types of ocean energies in a nearly natural way. A vacuum pump is employed to drive the air circulation throughout the HDH process. It is the only unit that consumes electricity. The HDH process is analyzed under various conditions, including using a low pressure (as low as to 0.2 atm) for humidification and the ambient pressure for dehumidification, running the entire HDH process around a low pressure (as …

Performance Evaluation Of Ce3+ Doped Flexible Pvdf Fibers For Efficient Optical Pressure Sensors, Carlos Hernandez, Santosh K. Gupta, Jose P. Zuniga, Jorge Vidal, Rene Galvan, Misael E. Martinez, Hector Guzman, Lilian N. Chavez, Yuanbing Mao, Karen Lozano

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Highlights

• Centrifugally spun cerium doped nonwoven fibrous mat are explored as a non-contact optical pressure sensor.

• The developed sensor depicted wide linear dynamic range and good pressure sensitivity.

• The sensor properties are based on the spectral shift, broadening and intensity enhancement.

• β-phase in doped fibers increases when compared to undoped PVDF.

• Cerium nitrate doped fiber exhibits a high-pressure sensitivity (dλ/dP ≈ 0.28 nm/GPa) with no luminescence quenching.

Abstract

This work proposes a highly novel centrifugally spun lanthanide doped nonwoven fibrous mat as a non-contact optical pressure sensor with a wide linear dynamic range and good pressure sensitivity. The sensor …

Forcespun Polydiacetylene Nanofibers As Colorimetric Sensor For Food Spoilage Detection, Marisol Valdez, Santosh K. Gupta, Karen Lozano, Yuanbing Mao

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Highlights

• PDA nanofiber mats are fabricated by Forcespinning® technique.

• The PDA nanofibers can monitor and assess meat deterioration and freshness.

• The PDA nanofibers possess fast response, excellent sensitivity and long shelf life.

• PDA nanofibers made from ECDA monomer have superior performance.

Abstract

Due to health and economic concerns, increasing attention has been attracted to the safety and quality control of food, particularly meat and seafood. Ammonia and biogenic amines (BAs), such as trimethylamine, putrescine and cadaverine, are released during the decomposition of meat protein. Therefore, the sensitive detection of the released BAs is crucial to the assessment of the safety …

Vibration Propagation On The Skin Of The Arm, Valay A. Shah, Maura Casadio, Robert A. Scheidt, Leigh A. Mrotek

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Vibrotactile interfaces are an inexpensive and non-invasive way to provide performance feedback to body-machine interface users. Interfaces for the upper extremity have utilized a multi-channel approach using an array of vibration motors placed on the upper extremity. However, for successful perception of multi-channel vibrotactile feedback on the arm, we need to account for vibration propagation across the skin. If two stimuli are delivered within a small distance, mechanical propagation of vibration can lead to inaccurate perception of the distinct vibrotactile stimuli. This study sought to characterize vibration propagation across the hairy skin of the forearm. We characterized vibration propagation by …

Droop Control In Dq Coordinates For Fixed Frequency Inverter-Based Ac Microgrids, Mohamed Toub, Mehrzad Mohammadi Bijaieh, Wayne Weaver, Rush D. Robinett Iii, Mohamed Maaroufi, Ghassane Aniba

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

This paper presents a proof-of-concept for a novel dq droop control technique that applies DC droop control methods to fixed frequency inverter-based AC microgrids using the dq0 transformation. Microgrids are usually composed of distributed generation units (DGUs) that are electronically coupled to each other through power converters. An inherent property of inverter-based microgrids is that, unlike microgrids with spinning machines, the frequency of the parallel-connected DGUs is a global variable independent from the output power since the inverters can control the output waveform frequency with a high level of precision. Therefore, conventional droop control methods that distort the system frequency …

“I Was An Aggie And Dang Proud Of It” | College Of Engineering, Utah State University

College of Engineering News

Jim Nottingham was on the fence about whether college life was a good fit for him. He dreamed of playing football, but life as a newlywed and new father was quickly changing his focus.

Open Source Waste Plastic Granulator, Arvind Ravindran, Sean Scsavnicki, Walker Nelson, Peter Gorecki, Jacob Franz, Shane Oberloier, Theresa K. Meyer, Andrew Barnard, Joshua M. Pearce

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

In order to accelerate deployment of distributed recycling by providing low-cost feed stocks of granulated post-consumer waste plastic, this study analyzes an open source waste plastic granulator system. It is designed, built, and tested for its ability to convert post-consumer waste, 3D printed products and waste into polymer feedstock for recyclebots of fused particle/granule printers. The technical specifications of the device are quantified in terms of power consumption (380 to 404 W for PET and PLA, respectively) and particle size distribution. The open source device can be fabricated for less than $2000 USD in materials. The experimentally measured power use …

Assessment Of Various Parametric Effects On The Performance Of A Commercial Grade Photovoltaic Solar Panel, Susanta K. Das, David Frank

Mechanical Engineering Publications

This paper presents the implementation of an integrated photovoltaic solar panel model which includes all the necessary parameters in order to simulate and analyze using Matlab/Simulink software. The integrated photovoltaic model is validated with Matlab/Simulink simulation for a commercially available 100W photovoltaic solar panel module. Using the commercial solar panel specifications, such as solar irradiation, panel temperature, etc. the integrated model solved with Matlab/Simulink returns an I-V and PV performance characteristics under various conditions which enabled detailed analysis, assessment of parametric effect on the performance of the solar panel. According to the model simulation results for a commercial RNG-100D solar …

Diagnostic Sequence Detection Against A Complex Background Using A Dna Molecular Computation Framework, Adan Leon Myers Y Gutierrez

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Diagnostic assays are designed to detect a unique analyte profile in a disease of interest. Nucleic acids contain an information-dense sequence, and thus are ideal candidates for unique analytes. The gold-standard of nucleic-acid-based detection is PCR which has high sensitivity, but involves time, expertise, and cost. DNA molecular logic technology holds much promise as an alternative molecular detection method due to the potential to save cost and expertise, while also achieving a high sensitivity. However, nucleic acid detection in biomedical applications carries with it the difficulty of choice of appropriate sequence and potential biological sample background.

This work describes the …

Automated Reverse Engineering Of Automotive Can Bus Controls, Charles Barron Kirby, Bryson Payne

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

This research provides a means of automating the process to reverse engineer an automobile’s CAN Bus to quickly recover CAN IDs and message values to control the various systems in a modern automobile. This approach involved the development of a Python script that uses several open-source tools to interact with the CAN Bus, and it takes advantage of several vulnerabilities associated with the CAN protocol. These vulnerabilities allow the script to conduct replay attacks against the CAN Bus and affect various systems in an automobile without the operator’s knowledge or interaction.

These replay attacks can be accomplished by capturing recorded …

A Study Of Brain Neuronal And Functional Complexities Estimated Using Multiscale Entropy In Healthy Young Adults, Sreevalsan S. Menon, K. Krishnamurthy

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Brain complexity estimated using sample entropy and multiscale entropy (MSE) has recently gained much attention to compare brain function between diseased or neurologically impaired groups and healthy control groups. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rfMRI) blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signals in a large cohort (n = 967) of healthy young adults, the present study maps neuronal and functional complexities estimated by using MSE of BOLD signals and BOLD phase coherence connectivity, respectively, at various levels of the brain’s organization. The functional complexity explores patterns in a higher dimension than neuronal complexity and may better discern changes in brain functioning. …

Optimization Of Geometry Parameters Of Inkjet-Printed Silver Nanoparticle Traces On Pdms Substrates Using Response Surface Methodology, Jumana Abu-Khalaf, Loiy Al-Ghussain, Ahmad Nadi, Razan Saraireh, Abdulrahman Rabayah, Safwan Altarazi, Ala’Aldeen Al-Halhouli

Mechanical Engineering Graduate Research

Inkjet printing is an emerging technology with key advantages that make it suitable for the fabrication of stretchable circuits. Specifically, this process is cost-effective and less complex compared to conventional fabrication technologies. Inkjet printing has several process and geometry parameters that significantly affect the electromechanical properties of the printed circuits. This study aims to optimize the geometry parameters of inkjet-printed silver nanoparticle traces on plasma-treated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates. The optimization process was conducted for two printed shapes, namely straight line and horseshoe patterns. The examined input factors for the straight line traces were: the number of inkjet-printed layers and line …

A Next-Generation Aerospace Pioneer | College Of Engineering, Utah State University

College of Engineering News

Early in her academic experience, Grace Graham learned the secret to success. The young aerospace engineering and economics double major from St. George, Utah, jumped into university life eager to get involved and meet new people. Her optimistic attitude and warm personality are a recipe for achievement that’s already yielding positive results.

Novel Green Micro-Synthesis Of Graphene-Titanium Dioxide Nano- Composites With Photo-Electrochemical Properties, Nourwanda M. Serour, Ahmed S.E. Hammad, Ahmed H. El-Shazly, Dina A. El-Gayar, Shaaban A. Nosier

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Publications

Background: Graphene-Titanium dioxide nano-composite forms a very promising material in the field of photo-electrochemical research.

Methods: In this study, a novel environment-friendly synthesis method was developed to produce well-distributed anatase nano-titanium dioxide spherical particles on the surface of graphene sheets. This novel method has great advantages over previously developed methods of producing graphenetitanium dioxide nanocomposites (GTNCs). High calcination temperature 650°C was used in the preparation of nano titanium dioxide, and chemical exfoliation for graphene synthesis and GTNC was performed by our novel method of depositing titanium dioxide nanoparticles on graphene sheets using a Y-shaped micro-reactor under a controlled pumping rate …

Organizational Criteria To Assess Adaptive Capacity In Complex Systems, Abdulrahman Alfaqiri

October 11, 2019: Measuring and Evaluating Resilience

No abstract provided.

Estimation Of Gait Kinematics And Kinetics From Inertial Sensor Data Using Optimal Control Of Musculoskeletal Models, Eva Dorschky, Marlies Nitschke, Ann-Kristin Seifer, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert, Bjoern M. Eskofier

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Inertial sensing enables field studies of human movement and ambulant assessment of patients. However, the challenge is to obtain a comprehensive analysis from low-quality data and sparse measurements. In this paper, we present a method to estimate gait kinematics and kinetics directly from raw inertial sensor data performing a single dynamic optimization. We formulated an optimal control problem to track accelerometer and gyroscope data with a planar musculoskeletal model. In addition, we minimized muscular effort to ensure a unique solution and to prevent the model from tracking noisy measurements too closely. For evaluation, we recorded data of ten subjects walking …

Size Matters: The Impact Of Training Size In Taxonomically-Enriched Word Embeddings, Alfredo Maldonado, Filip Klubicka, John D. Kelleher

Articles

Word embeddings trained on natural corpora (e.g., newspaper collections, Wikipedia or the Web) excel in capturing thematic similarity (“topical relatedness”) on word pairs such as ‘coffee’ and ‘cup’ or ’bus’ and ‘road’. However, they are less successful on pairs showing taxonomic similarity, like ‘cup’ and ‘mug’ (near synonyms) or ‘bus’ and ‘train’ (types of public transport). Moreover, purely taxonomy-based embeddings (e.g. those trained on a random-walk of WordNet’s structure) outperform natural-corpus embeddings in taxonomic similarity but underperform them in thematic similarity. Previous work suggests that performance gains in both types of similarity can be achieved by enriching natural-corpus embeddings with …

Chemical Structure Of Fe–Ni Nanoparticles For Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalysis, Prashant Acharya, Zachary J. Nelson, Mourad Benamara, Ryan H. Manso, Sergio I. Perez Bakovic, Mojtaba Abolhassani, Sungsik Lee, Benjamin Reinhart, Jingyi Chen, Lauren F. Greenlee

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bimetallic iron–nickel-based nanocatalysts are perhaps the most active for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline electrolytes. Recent developments in literature have suggested that the ratio of iron and nickel in Fe–Ni thin films plays an essential role in the performance and stability of the catalysts. In this work, the metallic ratio of iron to nickel was tested in alloy bimetallic nanoparticles. Similar to thin films, nanoparticles with iron–nickel atomic compositions where the atomic iron percentage is ≤50% outperformed nanoparticles with iron–nickel ratios of >50%. Nanoparticles of Fe20Ni80, Fe50Ni50, and Fe80Ni20 compositions were evaluated and demonstrated to have overpotentials of …

Argument-Driven Engineering In Middle School Science: An Exploratory Study Of Changes In Engineering Identity Over An Academic Year, Lawrence Chu, Victor Sampson, Todd L. Hutner, Stephanie Rivale, Richard H. Crawford, Christina L. Baze, Hannah S. Brooks

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The goal of this study was to examine how the use of a new instructional model is related to changes in middle school students’ engineering identity. The intent of this instructional model, which is called argument-driven engineering (ADE), is to give students opportunities to design and critique solutions to meaningful problems using the core ideas and practices of science and engineering. The model also reflects current recommendations found in the literature for supporting the development or maintenance of engineering identity. This study took place in the context of an eighth-grade science classroom in order to explore how middle school students’ …

Hydrothermal Preparation Of Palladium Supported On Magnetite For Catalysis Applications, Hany A. Elazab, S. A. Hassan, M. A. Radwan, M. A. Sadek

Chemical Engineering

Herein, versatile, and reproducible method to prepare Pd/Fe3O4 via hydrothermal synthesis. The vital role of this catalyst is in its potential use in CO oxidation catalysis. The Pd/Fe3O4 shows a distinctive activity. TEM images confirmed that Pd nanoparticles of 8-12 nm have a well dispersion on the surface of magnetite (Fe3O4). Moreover, the prepared catalyst is recycled with remarkable catalytic activity. This outstanding activity is mainly a direct result of the strong metal-support interaction. The defect sites in the reduced iron oxide act as nucleation centers that enable anchoring of Pd nanoparticles leading to prevention of agglomeration.

Thermal Management Using Microelectromechanical Systems Bimorph Cantilever Beams, Ronald A. Coutu Jr., Robert S. Lafleur, John P. K. Walton, Laverne A. Starman

AFIT Patents

A cooling structure for a heat source, where the cooling structure includes a beam having a first end and a second end and a length disposed therebetween. The beam is formed at least in part of a first material having a first thermal coefficient of expansion and a second material having a second thermal coefficient of expansion, where the first thermal coefficient of expansion is different from the second thermal coefficient of expansion. The first end of the beam is thermally connected to the heat source, such that heat generated by the heat source is conducted along the length of …

Unmanned Aircraft System (Uas) Technology And Applications In Agriculture, Samuel C. Hassler, Fulya Baysal-Gurel

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Numerous sensors have been developed over time for precision agriculture; though, only recently have these sensors been incorporated into the new realm of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). This UAS technology has allowed for a more integrated and optimized approach to various farming tasks such as field mapping, plant stress detection, biomass estimation, weed management, inventory counting, and chemical spraying, among others. These systems can be highly specialized depending on the particular goals of the researcher or farmer, yet many aspects of UAS are similar. All systems require an underlying platform—or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)—and one or more peripherals and sensing …