Engineering Commons^™

Understanding The Strain Localization And Progressive Damage Growth At The Free-Edge Of Composite Laminates Using Digital Image Correlation, Addis Tessema

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the mechanics of Fiber Reinforced Composites (FRC) that guide the design and optimization of laminate structures, have attracted numerous researchers. For the last five decades, various analytical and numerical models have been developed to understand the damage and failure mechanisms in FRC. For long, Classical laminate plate theory (CLPT) has majorly been used as a theoretical guide in the design of composite structures. The CLPT framework is developed based on the consideration of an infinitesimal wide plate that depicts a planar stress condition. Thus, as it considers only the planar stresses, the out of plane interlaminar stresses are absent …

Energy Analysis And Orbit Simulation Of Actuating Cubesat Solar Arrays, Justin T. Ehren

Honors Theses

CubeSats are used in space research to explore new technologies and detect data to gain a better understanding of various areas of research and subjects affecting human life. CubeSats rely on a solar array to generate energy from the sun and perform their various functions in space. This research studies the energy capturing potential of various solar array configurations and positioning devices for CubeSats. The location and orientation of a CubeSat is simulated with MATLAB for both geo-synchronous and sunsynchronous orbits. Two degree-of-freedom (DoF) positioning devices are sufficient to continuously adjust the photovoltaic array to face towards the sun. Lower …

Generation Of Silver Nanoparticle Pharmacokinetic Profiles In A Lung Model, Rachel Galaska

Honors Theses

Nanomaterial technologies are becoming increasingly prevalent in consumer and industrial applications, including drug delivery, energy harvesting, environmental applications, and medicine due to their unique physiochemical properties. As nanomaterial use increases, so too does human exposure. This has made it progressively more important to understand the toxicological effects of nanomaterials and their interactions with the human body. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are one of the most commonly used nanomaterials due to their antibacterial properties. As inhalation is one of the most common exposure routes, understanding the toxicity of these AgNPs on lung tissue was studied. Using A549 cells for a lung tissue …

Effect Of Activated Carbon On The Performance Of A Solar Thermal Adsorptive Refrigerator (Star) Using Activated Carbon-Ethanol, Joshua Romo

Honors Theses

The Solar Thermal Adsorptive Refrigerator (STAR) project at the University of Dayton seeks to bridge sustainability and the need for reliable refrigeration in developing communities. Cost-effective construction, operation, and maintenance as well as the use of a sustainable adsorption pair, activated carbon-ethanol, give STAR great potential in the realm of humanitarian engineering. This project explores the effect of using two activated carbon brands, 8x16 and CocoPlus, on the cyclic performance of the STAR system. Although both brands have similar specifications given by the manufacturer, one (8x16) inhibited successful performance while the other (CocoPlus) enabled it. This project highlights both the …

Aerial Base Station Deployment For Post-Disaster Public Safety Applications, Jose Antonio Matamoros Vargas

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Earthquakes and floods are constant threats to most of the countries in the world. After such catastrophes, a rapid response is needed, which includes communications not only for first responders but also for local civilians. Even though there are technologies and specialized personnel for rapid deployment, it is common that external factors will hinder the arrival of help while communication requirements are urgently required. Such communication technologies would aid tasks regarding organization and information dissemination from authorities to the civilians and vice-versa. This necessity is due to protocols and applications to allocate the number of emergency resources per location and …

Analysis Of Local Anti-Islanding Detection Methods For Photovoltaic Generators In Distribution Systems, Milad Kahrobaee

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In the current decade, technology innovations and cost reduction of inverter-based Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) have led to higher integration of distributed energy storage and photovoltaic (PV) solar power systems. Increasing growth in PV penetration to the distribution system can raise operational and safety concerns especially in case of an unintended islanding.

In general, standards require distributed generators (DGs) to detect islanding from the main grid and cease to energize the local system. Multiple methods have been introduced in the literature to detect these islands reliably and quickly. In order to connect an inverter to distribution system, inverter should pass …

Ultrashort Cross-Correlation In The Middle Infrared: A Novel Approach To Standoff Detection, William Conner Thomas

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Lasers are a common tool in standoff detection because of their small divergence, large amount of power, and multiple wavelengths available for optical interaction. Optical signatures of targets can be composed of but are not limited to absorption, fluorescence, backscatter, polarization manipulation, and plasma spectra. This work was an investigation of a new signature phenomenon: Dispersion of middle infrared ultrashort laser pulses through gas and vapor phase molecules. Vibrational and rovibrational absorption lines of molecular species affect the spectral phase and spectral amplitude of ultrashort light pulses leading an inititally gaussian temporal profile to become distorted. This dissertation is an …

Gaindroid: General Automated Incompatibility Notifier For Android Applications, Bruno Vieira Resende E Silva

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With the ever-increasing popularity of mobile devices over the last decade, mobile apps and the frameworks upon which they are built frequently change. This rapid evolution leads to a confusing jumble of devices and applications utilizing differing features even within the same framework. For Android apps and devices, representing over 80% of the market share, mismatches between the version of the Android operating system installed on a device and the version of the app installed, can lead to several run-time crashes, providing a poor user experience.

This thesis presents GAINDroid, an analysis approach, backed with a classloader based program analyzer, …

Feasibility And Security Analysis Of Wideband Ultrasonic Radio For Smart Home Applications, Qi Xia

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Smart home Internet-of-Things (IoT) accompanied by smart home apps has witnessed tremendous growth in the past few years. Yet, the security and privacy of the smart home IoT devices and apps have raised serious concerns, as they are getting increasingly complicated each day, expected to store and exchange extremely sensitive personal data, always on and connected, and commonly exposed to any users in a sensitive environment. Nowadays wireless smart home IoT devices rely on electromagnetic wave-based radio-frequency (RF) technology to establish fast and reliable quality network connections. However, RF has its limitations that can negatively affect the smart home user …

Scale Interactions Within A Perturbed Plane Wall Jet, Shibani Bhatt

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The current work focuses on exploiting this behavior to manipulate wall turbulence by targeting the large-scales of the flow. In wall turbulence the large-scales of the flow interact with the smaller scales in a non-linear manner including through a process of amplitude and frequency modulation. A plane wall jet (PWJ) is chosen as the model flow field for this work as its unique geometry allows for the controlled introduction of large-scale perturbations through acoustic forcing. The corresponding interactions because of forcing are characterized using single hot-wire measurements. The nearwall response of the PWJ over a range of large-scale forcing showed …

Austere Location Wind Turbine Energy System Analysis, Lukas Cowen, Douglas S. Dudis, Torrey J. Wagner

Faculty Publications

One promising technology to combat an energy shortage in austere locations is wind energy. In combination with battery storage and generator backup, we explore the feasibility of using a hybrid energy system to reduce the volume of diesel fuel required. Modeling the energy demands in austere locations will enable missions in remote settings to optimize their energy costs, increased their energy resiliency and assure their supply. For a modeled time-series energy requirement that varied between 2.4 MW and 5.1 MW, the optimal wind system size was 9.9 MW of installed wind power paired with a 741 kWh battery. Assuming an …

Wavelet Transform On Digital Rainbow Hologram Based On Spectral Compression For Quality Enhancement In 3d Display Media, Ucuk Darusalam, Panca Dewi Pamungkasari

Makara Journal of Technology

A digital rainbow hologram (DRH) is a potential next-generation three-dimensional display media for the development of modern and smart electronics devices. It is one of the methods that can support the characteristic whereby a realistic display media occupies the space that the real object would have occupied. Since a rainbow hologram records a large amount of spatial or temporal frequency component from the object that represents the rainbow spectrum, a large amount of information needs to be decoded digitally. In this paper, to reconstruct a DRH, we propose a novel method based on the modulation of red, green, and blue …

Transformation Of Char Carbon During Bubbling Fluidized Bed Gasification Of Biomass, Kevin Timmer, Robert C. Brown

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

This study focuses on the fate of carbon in the char generated by devolatilization of biomass during fluidized bed gasification. A carbon balance model was developed to distinguish between char transformed to carbon-bearing gases and its comminution and elutriation as fine char during gasification. The model accurately predicts the transient accumulation of char carbon in the reactor. Experiments revealed steady state reactor char carbon loadings were achieved after multiple hours of gasification. The model formed the basis of an experimental methodology that assesses the transformation of char carbon based on collection of elutriated solids from the reactor and assessment of …

The Pedagogy Of Design And Technology At Xavier University Of Louisiana, New Orleans, Shayna Tova Blum

Faculty and Staff Publications

Abstract. Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) university located in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a Historically Black University (HBCU), the university serves a diverse community of students in which many are first-generation, college graduates. Students enrolled in Design courses at XULA are studying in Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Art programs and majoring in subjects such as Computer Science, Physics, Mass Communication, Art, Business, and Science. The interdisciplinary student environment offers a unique opportunity for collaboration and peer learning, whereby students are able to share diverse perspectives on a topic by relating …

Application Of An Intuitive, Glove-Type Remote Control With Haptic Feedback To Quadcopters, Luke M. Stacey

Senior Honors Theses

Although remote controllers for drones, based upon a classic two-joystick architecture, are unwieldy, they still see widespread use. As a replacement, we propose a remote control with a glove-based architecture that utilizes haptic feedback from the quadcopter. The proposed controller should be far more intuitive, making drone flight easier and more intuitive. Additionally, since the pilot will have one hand free, he or she can use maps, electronics, and other aids much more straightforwardly than with a two-handed controller. While our technology is designed for drones, it also could see further usage in a wide variety of civilian and military …

The Timber Buckling Restrained Brace Frame, Jessica Resta

Architectural Engineering

With the increasing awareness on the topic of earthquake resistance, efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly solutions in the structural field are on the rise. The purpose of this report is to investigate the Timber Buckling Restrained Brace (TBRB), a new lateral-resisting element made of steel and lumber, applicable in residential and small commercial units. In addition to the TBRBs’ materials being readily available, the braces are easy to manufacture, reducing overall costs of production and transportation. The brace, made partly of wood, has also a low environmental impact when compared to other lateral force resisting elements like concrete shearwalls or …

Machine Learning Solution To Organ-At-Risk Segmentation For Radiation Treatment Planning, Brie Goo, Katrina May, Haobo Zhang, James Olivas

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

In the treatment of cancer using ionizing radiation, it is important to design a treatment plan such that dose to normal, healthy organs is sufficiently low. Today, segmentation requires a trained human to carefully outline, or segment, organs on each slice of a treatment planning computed tomography (CT) scan but it is laborious, time-consuming, and contains intra- and inter-rater variability. Currently, existing clinical automation technology relies on atlas-based automation, which has limited segmentation accuracy. Thus the auto-segmentations require post process editing by an expert. In this paper, we propose a machine learning solution that shortens the segmentation time of organs-at-risk …

Global Opportunities To Increase Agricultural Independence Through Phosphorus Recycling, Stephen M. Powers, R. B. Chowdhury, G. K. Macdonald, A, H.W. Beusen, A. F. Bouwman, S. E. Hampton, Brooke K. Mayer, M. L. Mccracklin, D. A. Vaccari

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Food production hinges largely upon access to phosphorus (P) fertilizer. Most fertilizer P used in the global agricultural system comes from mining of nonrenewable phosphate rock deposits located within few countries. However, P contained in livestock manure or urban wastes represents a recyclable source of P. To inform development of P recycling technologies and policies, we examined subnational, national, and global spatial patterns for two intersections of land use affording high P recycling potential: (a) manure‐rich cultivated areas and (b) populous cultivated areas. In turn, we examined overlap between P recycling potential and nation‐level P fertilizer import dependency. Populous cultivated …

Comment On “Patented Blunderings, Efficiency Awareness, And Self-Sustainability Claims In The Pyrolysis Energy From Waste Sector”, Patrick J. Mcnamara, Daniel Zitomer, Zhongzhe Liu

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Field Obstacle Identification For Autonomous Tractor Applications, Caleb Lindhorst

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

New technologies are being developed to meet the growing demand for agricultural products. Autonomous tractors are one of the many solutions to address this demand. Obstacle detection and avoidance is an important consideration for safe operation of any autonomous machine. Three field obstacles were chosen to be identified in this thesis work: tractors, round bales, and center pivots. Limited research work was found on the identification of center pivot detection.

Feasibility of using low cost LIDARs was considered for the detection of tractors, bales, and agricultural center pivots. Performance of LIDARs in different lighting conditions, different colors of obstacles, accuracy …

Initial Development Of Advanced, High-Rate Treatment Process For Wet Weather Flows, Paige Elyse Peters

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Billions of gallons of untreated water are discharged into lakes and rivers every year due to combined and sanitary sewer overflows during high-intensity precipitation events. Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) pose both environmental and public health risks due to potential human contact with contaminated water. To address the overflow issue, a novel, advanced, high-rate wet weather treatment process was investigated. The high-rate treatment process combined chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) with an advanced oxidation process (AOP) using ozone to rapidly remove total suspended solids (TSS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), inactive E. coli, and oxidize the …

Sensor Intrusion Detection In Control Systems Using Estimation Theory, Jiayi Su

Master's Theses (2009 -)

In this thesis, two different approaches to sensor intrusion detection are presented. In the first approach, an estimation algorithm using a bank of Kalman Filters is designed that is capable of estimating the intrusion signal when sensors are affected in control systems. The mathematical models of the control system will be established and the system measurement will be shown and after that, various false signals, such as constant-type and ramp-type signal, will be selected as the intrusion signal to affect the system output mentioned above. The system measurement will be tested based on a bank of Kalman Filters. The probabilities …

State Estimation For Various Systems With Partially Unknown Dynamics, Abdulelah Rajeh Alshareef

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis is on state estimation for various system and measurement models with uncertain dynamics. The uncertain dynamics may be due to imprecise system modeling or change in parameters due to varying environmental conditions. Uncertainty may be a result of malicious acts such as hacking of sensors or actuators in the system. Uncertainty may also be a result of external disturbances whose waveforms, magnitudes and arrival times may not be known. These types of model uncertainties will be considered and different estimators will be implemented to deal with such uncertainties in state estimation. In this thesis, for linear stochastic systems …

Detection And Characterization Of Actuator Attacks Using Kalman Filter Estimation, Yuqin Weng

Master's Theses (2009 -)

In this thesis, two discrete-time control systems subject to noise, are modeled, analyzed and estimated. These systems are then subjected to attack by false signals such as constant and ramp signals. In order to find out how and when the control systems are being attacked by the false signals, several detection algorithms are applied to the systems. This work focuses on actuator attack detection. To detect the presence of false actuator signals, a bank of Kalman filters is set up which uses adaptive estimation and conditional probability density functions for detecting the false signals. The individual Kalman filters are each …

The Characterization Of Char Particle Morphology And Its Effects On Combustion, Scott Jorgensen

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Char particle combustion typically occurs under internal diffusion control, which results in inter-particle reactant gradients. Reactant concentrations throughout the char’s carbon structure must be known in order to predict overall particle reaction rates. These concentrations can be predicted by analytical models; however, effects of char morphology are typically ignored within these simplified models. In order to incorporate these effects, the morphology of Illinois coal #6 was studied by visualizing their structure in three-dimensions through the use of micro-computed tomography. Morphological characteristics of macro-porosity, macro-porosity location, and wall thickness were then measured for the sampled char particles. The sampled char particles …

Shock Compaction Of Graphene Doped Yttria Stabilized Zirconia: An Experimental And Computational Study, Christopher Rueben Johnson

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is a broadly used ceramic due to its impeccable hardness and thermal stability. Limitations of the material, however, subsist within its fracture toughness. Literature indicates that shock consolidation may enable production of composite YSZ and graphene mixtures with improved fracture toughness and other material properties while maintaining the material’s nanostructure dimensionality. Therefore, investigation of the compaction phenomena at non-equilibrium states will provide informative results to be used in the fabrication of bulk graphene-YSZ composites. Computational molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and impact experiments are conducted to explore and characterize the dynamic response of the YSZ variants. Molecular …

Liquid Flowmeter Using Thermal Measurement; Design And Application, Woojae Chung

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis presents flowmeter devices which can measure flowrate, pressure and temperature offlowing liquid samples using thermal measurement method. Typical thermal mass flowmeter usesthermal properties of materials to obtain flow features only for gases. We designed and fabricatedflowmeter devices with various functionalities such as: measuring properties of flowing liquid andidentifying the type of liquid samples.Thermal measurement methods using temperature sensor is a key of our flowmeter’s workingprinciple. The thermal mass flowmeter consists of a glass capillary, a tungsten wire heater, and aresistance temperature detector (RTD) sensor. The heater and sensors are integrated on …

Correlations Between Shoulder Rotational Motion, Strength Measures And Throwing Biomechanics In Collegiate Baseball Pitchers, Austin William Higgins

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Pitching involves high stresses to the arm that may alter soft tissue responsible for controlling biomechanics. It has been hypothesized that imbalances in strength and flexibility of the dominant shoulder lead to decreased performance and increased injury risk, but it is not fully known what specific pitching biomechanics are altered. There is a critical need to determine correlations between shoulder rotational strength, range of motion and pitching kinetics. Without such knowledge, identifying potential for injury from shoulder imbalances will likely remain difficult and invasive. The goal of this study was to determine correlations between shoulder rotational strength and range of …

Electrocoagulation-Electrooxidation For Mitigating Trace Organic Compounds In Model Source Waters, Donald R. Ryan

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Conventional coagulation and oxidation are well suited for many drinking water operations to meet regulatory requirements for safe drinking water. However, these processes require auxiliary chemicals and materials that must be transported from off-site, which increases complexity of operations, and can pose difficulties for small treatment systems. Electrochemistry offers an innovative method to induce coagulation and oxidation processes for water treatment. Electrocoagulation (EC) together with electrooxidation (EO) is an attractive option for drinking water treatment systems because these processes generate iron coagulants using iron EC electrodes and oxidants (e.g., free chlorine and reactive oxygen species) using boron-doped diamond EO electrodes. …

Kinetic Analysis Of Biosolid Pyrolysis, William Regan Kreutter

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Waste reduction and energy recovery have been an environmental focus. Many of these solutions involve the thermal degradation of waste, such as household garbage or organic waste. To help reduce the negative environmental impact associated with processes like incineration, methods have been developed to utilize the carbonaceous material and energy contained in waste. Wastewater treatment plants are responsible for collecting and cleaning billions of gallons of sewage and stormwater each year. The water collected goes through multiple cleaning stages before being discharged into surface water. Sewage sludge, commonly referred to as biosolids, are produced during the process. Biosolids are carbon …