Engineering Commons^™

Intensification Of Clostridium Pasteurianum Fermentation Producing N-Butanol From Glycerol Using Microfiltration Cell Recycle, Colin W. Couper

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This work demonstrates lab scale intensification of the fermentation of glycerol to 1-butanol using Clostridum pasteurianum, starting with simulation and comparison of different cell recycle arrangements, development of a cell recycle apparatus with an existing bioreactor, and demonstration of fermentation with the final system. Fermentations performed with the completed system showed that the cell recycle system was not significantly inhibitory to fermentation, and achieved a maximum apparent cell dry weight of 3.14g/L and a maximum butanol productivity of 1.16g/Lh.

The Design And Validation Of A Uav Propeller Intended For Extremely Low Reynolds Number Environments, Benjamin Hebert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mars exploration and UAV development have both advanced significantly over the past century, and are now being considered in tandem. Currently needed are UAV propellers that can operate in the Martian atmosphere. Flow will be in the range of Re < 20,000, creating extreme conditions not typically examined. A Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) algorithm is developed using a variety of corrections designed specifically for low Reynolds number and rotational flows. Due to both the simplicity of the basic BEMT formulation, corrections are easy to put in place and often necessary to achieve accurate estimates. Aerodynamic coefficients are determined from XFOIL code, and have questionable accuracy in this regime. To account for this, a correction model is developed by comparing XFOIL results to experimental results of airfoils at low Re. This is all tested against a previous low Re propeller experiment. The results of this comparison are used to adjust the values in the correction, to produce more accurate results for theoretical design.

From here, a design philosophy for the propeller is developed using established methods and previous experimental data. High thrust is prioritized, with efficiency being a secondary concern. A hard mach limit of 0.7 is set to avoid major drag penalties, limiting the usable ranges of RPM and radius. Airfoil designs are then examined, based on previous designs, theoretical intuition, and …

Optical Properties Of Ultrathin In(Ga)As/Gaas And In(Ga)N/Gan Quantum Wells, Yurii Maidaniuk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recently, structures based on ultrathin quantum wells (QWs) began to play a critical role in modern devices, such as lasers, solar cells, infrared photodetectors, and light-emitting diodes. However, due to the lack of understanding of the formation mechanism of ultrathin QWs during the capping process, scientists and engineers cannot fully explore the potential of such structures. This study aims to investigate how structural parameters of ultrathin QWs affect their emission properties by conducting a systematic analysis of the optical properties of In(Ga)As/GaAs and In(Ga)N/GaN ultrathin QWs. Specifically, the analysis involved photoluminescence measurements combined with effective bandgap simulation, x-ray diffraction, and …

Development Of Reduced Order Models Using Reservoir Simulation And Physics Informed Machine Learning Techniques, Mark V. Behl Jr

LSU Master's Theses

Reservoir simulation is the industry standard for prediction and characterization of processes in the subsurface. However, simulation is computationally expensive and time consuming. This study explores reduced order models (ROMs) as an appropriate alternative. ROMs that use neural networks effectively capture nonlinear dependencies, and only require available operational data as inputs. Neural networks are a black box and difficult to interpret, however. Physics informed neural networks (PINNs) provide a potential solution to these shortcomings, but have not yet been applied extensively in petroleum engineering.

A mature black-oil simulation model from Volve public data release was used to generate training data …

Improved Analysis Techniques For Scatterometer Wind Estimation, Gregory Dallin Schachterle

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, three improved analysis techniques for scatterometer wind estimation are presented. These techniques build upon previous methods that help validate scatterometer data. This thesis examines the theory connecting the 1D and 2D kinetic energy spectra and uses QuikSCAT data to measure the 2D kinetic energy spectrum of ocean winds. The measured 2D kinetic energy spectrum is compared to the traditional 1D kinetic energy spectrum. The relationship between the 2D kinetic energy spectra and the 1D kinetic energy spectra confirms findings from previous studies that ocean winds modeled in 2D are isotropic and nondivergent. The 1D and 2D kinetic …

Thermal Modeling And Analysis Of Roadway Embedded Wireless Power Transfer Modules, Arden N. Barnes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wireless charging of electric vehicles is a developing technology which potentially increases efficiency and safety. It also allows for charging vehicles while they are moving by having charging stations embedded in the roadway. Because roadways are thermally insulating, it is important to know how the heat from the charging stations will move through the roadway, which will allow further research into whether the heat will cause damage to the components in the station or to the roadway. This thesis studies the way the heat moves through concrete with wireless charging coils embedded in it. This is accomplished by measuring the …

Investigation Of Optimization Targets For Predictive Simulation Of Human Gait With Model Predictive Control, Jessica Brianne Thayer

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The design and development of gait-related treatments and devices is inhibited by anabsence of predictive gait models. Understanding of human gait and what motivates walkingpatterns is still limited, despite walking being one of the most routine human activities. While asignificant body of literature exists on gait modeling and optimization criteria to achievesimulated, normal gait, particularly with neuromuscular models, few studies have aimed to applyoptimization targets which approximate metabolic cost to mechanical gait models. Even fewerhave attempted this predictively, with no joint angle data specified a priori. The Sunmodel [31], [32] is one such …

Design For Additive Manufacturing, Michael Charonnat, Leonardo Franco-Muñoz, Sam Noble, J.P. Purdom

Mechanical Engineering

This document outlines the critical design details and timeline for the Design for Additive Manufacturing Senior Project sponsored by Solar Turbines, Inc. The scope of this project encompasses the redesign of two of Solar Turbine’s cast parts for metal additive manufacturing in order to minimize lead time, cost, and weight. With the overall objective of performing in-depth analysis exploring affordability & feasibility, this redesign process will aid Solar Turbines in expanding their knowledge of Design for Additive Manufacturing principles and enable them to further incorporate the use of additive manufacturing into their production processes. The first part that the team …

Stability Analysis Of Systems With Time Delay Simulation Program, Matthew Carroll, Brandon Replogle

Electrical Engineering

A small company wants to develop a CAD tool, ideally as part of the MATLAB suite of tools, for system stability analysis of nonlinear control systems with time-delay. The program must allow the designer to input the system block diagram graphically, then using symbolic expansion, automatically generate the Laplace domain stability boundary and disturbance settling time. The stable regions are then to be graphically plotted as a set of 2- or 3-dimensional parametric stability boundaries. The designer can then input performance constraints on the system through the MATLAB console and a Simulink environment will automatically be generated.

This program is …

Uav 6dof Simulation And Kalman Filter For Localizing Radioactive Sources, John G. Goulet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) expand the available mission-space for a wide range of budgets. Using MATLAB, this project has developed a six degree of freedom (6DOF) simulation of UAV flight, an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), and an algorithm for localizing radioactive sources using low-cost hardware. The EKF uses simulated low-cost instruments in an effort to estimate the UAV state throughout simulated flight.

The 6DOF simulates aerodynamics, physics, and controls throughout the flight and provides outputs for each time step. Additionally, the 6DOF simulation offers the ability to control UAV flight via preset waypoints or in realtime via keyboard input.

Using …

Impact Of Magnetocaloric Material Properties On Performance Of A Magnetocaloric Heat Pump., Michael G. Schroeder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the field of magnetocaloric heat pumps much research has been performed around machine design and theoretical machines, but little has been researched around practical problems such as variability in material properties. The present work defines a simulation tool that has been proven with experimental data. Magnetocaloric material cascades were statistically analyzed and parameterized, such that they could be recreated parametrically using a split Lorentz function with normally distributed parameters. Correlated curve-defining values with standard deviations were used as input into the simulation tool to determine the effect of variation on cooling heat pump performance for a household refrigerator application. …

Efficient Elevator Algorithm, Sean M. Toll, Owen Barbour, Carl Edwards, Daniel Nichols, Austin Day

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A Simulation Approach To Evaluate The Impact Of Breast Cancer Overdiagnosis On Patient Outcomes, Sierra Wagner

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Breast cancer overdiagnosis risk is difficult to estimate and varies significantly across current research. This research establishes a simulation approach to examine the relationship between breast cancer overdiagnosis and patient outcome and understand the impact that the range of breast cancer overdiagnosis rate estimates in the current literature has on patient outcomes. Overdiagnosis is represented in this study by a set of disease regression probabilities. Using microsimulation, we evaluate patient outcome, measured by number of mammograms and lifetime breast cancer mortality risk, as a function of treatment policy and regression probability. We use numerical experiments to evaluate treatment policies and …

Optimization And Simulation Models To Improve Access To Organ Transplantation In The United States., Fatemeh Karami

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Organ allocation in the U.S. is administrated by the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS). UNOS’s mission is to ensure fair and equitable allocation of organs as stated in the Code of Federal Regulations, which reads "neither place of residence nor place of listing shall be a major determinant of access to transplant". Despite the regulations, there has been endless controversy surrounding the disparity in access to organ transplants. In this context, the primary research goal in this dissertation was to reduce geographic disparity in access to transplants in the U.S., with a focus on heart and kidney transplants. To …

Discrete Vortex Modeling Of Aerodynamic Flutter Of A Flat Plate With Damped Oscillations, Emma Chao

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Aerodynamic flutter is the unstable oscillation of a body caused by the interaction of aerodynamic forces, structural elasticity, and inertial effects induced by vortex shedding. Current models of this phenomenon require finite element analysis and extensive computational power and processing time. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a program that is faster and more efficient than existing approaches by using the discrete vortex method (DVM). By reducing the complexities of flutter to the shedding of vortices in an inviscid model of a two-dimensional flat plate with a torsional spring constant at its center, this phenomenon can …

Using A Systems Approach To Analyze The Operational Safety Of Dams, Leanna M. King

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Dam systems are arrangements of interacting components that store and convey water for beneficial purposes. Dam failures are associated with extreme consequences to human life, the environment and the economy. Existing techniques for dam safety analysis tend to focus on verifying system performance at the edge of the design envelope. In analyzing the events which occur within the design envelope, linear chain-of-events models are often used to analyze the potential outcomes for the system. These chain-of-events models require that combinations of conditions are identified at the outset of the analysis, which can be very cumbersome given the number of physically …

Multiscale Analysis Of Soil-Strap Interactions In Mechanically Stabilized Earth Retaining Walls, Max Willingham

Master's Theses (2009 -)

A numerical pullout test was built using the discrete element method (DEM) to model and capture the pullout response of steel reinforcements and soil in mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls. Through numerical modeling, microscale phenomena showing aggregate behavior in response to the reinforcement can be used to gain insight into the macroscale structure. The general setup of the simulation is a steel specimen encased in a rectangular apparatus filled with particles. A normal pressure is applied to the top layer of particles while the strap is slowly removed from the box until it reaches a prescribed displacement.The simulation was …

Validation Risk Across Hierarchical Models, John B. Young

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Modeling and simulation are applied in a great many methods across a variety of topics. Model developers and users alike have a professional duty to understand the complexities of the tools and methods they are used. Oftentimes, models that have been independently constructed and executed are used to inform one another for an analytic purpose and the compatibility of the models is not always addressed. In the literature, great attention has been paid to model validation. When using models constructively with one another, analysts must understand the bounds of model validity and ensure that the combination of models does not …

Flight Characteristic Verification Of The Variable Camber Compliant Wing, Sharee B. Acosta

Theses and Dissertations

Morphing wing technology gives aircraft the ability to change wing shape to control the aircraft and flight performance characteristics. AFIT, AFRL and USU Aero Lab have collaborated to design and test a variable camber compliant wing (VCCW) on a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Flight tests demonstrated the wing performance and provided data to refine a VCCW flight simulator. Work was completed with the USU AeroLab-generated MachUp and the actual flight data to improve the simulator to provide results close to those of the actual flight test. The research provides a tool to reduce time and cost for future flight …

Simulation And Design Tool For Supermileage Vehicle (Smv) Club Final Design Report, Kimberly Kodama, Sung Ho An, Justice Aragon

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to create a sensitivities tool and start an optimization tool to assist the Cal Poly SMV Team in designing their vehicle, developing a driving strategy for competition, and becoming a contender in endurance events. The development of a user-friendly vehicle simulation and design tool was proposed by Professor Joseph Mello who is the club’s advisor. The SMV Team competes in endurance events such as the Supermileage competition or the Shell Eco-marathon with the goal of achieving the best mileage possible.

This report will present the research that has been conducted to understand and define …

Virtual Experiments For Engineering Education, Amy P. Lebanoff

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In-person engineering instruction relies on the availability of equipment and space. Cost, safety, and scheduling may pose barriers to conducting in-person labs. Virtual experiments may be used to enhance the student experience by, for example, incorporating pre-labs for in-person experiments and providing access to equipment that cannot be safely used in-person. Virtual learning is used in many fields, but there remain questions as to how it should be employed in engineering, an area largely reliant on in-person lab and classroom setups. Earlier studies reviewed the advantages of virtual labs such as demonstrating hard-to-observe phenomena and allowing unlimited trials. This project …

Fórmula Sintética Para El Cálculo De La Reactancia De Dispersión En Transformadores De Núcleo Arrollado, Darwin Felipe Alcócer Torres, Cristian David Bermúdez Gutiérrez

Ingeniería Eléctrica

En este trabajo se presenta una fórmula sintética para el cálculo de la reactancia de dispersión en transformadores de núcleo arrollado. La fórmula propuesta en esta tesis tomó como base inicial la fórmula obtenida en el trabajo de maestría de Castañeda Hernández (2019). Los resultados calculados con la fórmula sintética mostraron una exactitud promedio superior a los obtenidos con la fórmula propuesta en Castañeda Hernández (2019). La fórmula sintética se obtuvo incluyendo más grados de libertad a la fórmula de Castañeda y realizando una regresión no lineal para determinar el valor de los grados de libertad. La regresión no lineal …

Assessing The Potential Of Public Transit Utility In Medium-Sized Cities Using Agent-Based Simulation, Taniya Sultana

All ETDs from UAB

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States was leading in the public transit sector, but following World War II, private car trips became more affordable and more popular, specially, in the last few decades. Transportation infrastructure investments that increased road capacity enabled the development of suburbs leading to urban sprawl and increase in automobile use at the expense of reduced public transit ridership. With the increase of dependency in automobiles and the continuing growth of private automobile ownership and use, various problems became major challenges in big cities of USA. These include traffic congestion, air pollution, road …

Optical Fiber Based Integrity Test Of Civil Engineering Materials: Numerical Analysis, Ruoyu Zhong

Masters Theses

“Major advancement in Civil Engineering cannot be accomplished without the help of sensors. Among different types of sensors, fiber-optic sensor is known for its light weight, high accuracy, resolution, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and resistance to harsh environment. This research mainly focuses on fiber-optic sensor application on concrete structures as temperature sensor. Thermal Integrity Profiling (TIP) is a non-destructive integrity testing method which makes use of the hydration heat from the concrete curing process to detect defects within a drilled shaft. Any defect of concrete could result in a temperature anomaly in a drilled shaft. The accuracy of the current …

Development Of A Computationally Inexpensive Method Of Simulating Primary Droplet Breakup, Brendon A. Cavainolo

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Liquid droplet impingement on aircraft can be problematic as it leads to ice accretion. There have been many incidents of aircraft disasters involving ice accretion, such as American Eagle Flight 4184. Understanding liquid droplet impingement is critical in designing aircraft that can mitigate the damages caused by icing. However, the FAA's regulations are only specified for "Appendix C" droplets; thus, aircraft designs may not be safe when accounting for droplets such as Supercooled Large Droplets. The assumptions of many models, such as the Taylor-Analogy Breakup (TAB) model, are no longer accurate for Supercooled Large Droplets, and the physics of those …

Energy Forensics Analysis, Rupa Das

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The energy consumed by a building can reveal information about the occupants and their activities inside the building. This could be utilized by industries and law enforcement agencies for commercial or legal purposes. Utility data from Smart Meter (SM) readings can reveal detailed information that could be mapped to foretell resident occupancy and type of appliance usage over desired time intervals. However, obtaining SM data in the United States is laborious and subjected to legal and procedural constraints. This research develops a user-driven simulation tool with realistic data options and assumptions of potential human behavior to determine energy usage patterns …

Generation Of Warm Dense Plasma On Solar Panel Infrastructure In Exo-Atmospheric Conditions, Harrison C. Wenzel

Theses and Dissertations

The use of a weaponized thermo-nuclear device in exo-atmospheric conditions would be of great impact on the material integrity of orbiting satellite infrastructure. Particular damage would occur to the multi-layered, solar cell components of such satellites. The rapid absorption of X-ray radiation originating from a nuclear blast into these layers occurs over a picosecond time scale and leads to the generation of Warm Dense Plasma (WDP). While incredibly difficult and costly to replicate in a laboratory setting, a collection of computational techniques and software libraries may be utilized to simulate the intricate atomic and subatomic physics characteristics of such an …

Simulation Of Lubricant Evaporation / Flow From A Nanoscale Film Under Laser Heating For Cloud-Storage Applications, Sean Anthony, Hannah Verbanac, Turki Alkhelaiwi

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The process known as heat-assisted magnetic recording is an advanced data storage technology which can be applied to develop higher data-density storage in next generation hard disk drives. Such drives are instrumental in the utility of server storage devices and the storage of large-data projects such as that of the Event Horizon Telescope array. During this process, data is written to a magnetic surface by means of laser heating; the coercivity of the magnetic medium is reduced by the heating of this surface, and within this heating period, data is able to be written to the disk in a smaller …

Using Systems Archetypes And Generic Structures To Support Water Resource Management Studies : The Case Of Cropping Pattern Change In New Mexico State, Babak Bahaddin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A wide range of managerial problems are similar in nature, and yet they continuously appear in different forms and in different geographical locations. Compared to other sciences, it seems that in the field of management, managers have a hard time facing these similar problems. Part of this issues is caused by the extreme complexity of the systems and another part is caused by the lack of a universal language with which managers can communicate their lessons. This dissertation offers a set of tools that have been previously manufactured in systems science, and more specifically in System Dynamics.

Geoaware - A Simulation-Based Framework For Synthetic Trajectory Generation From Mobility Patterns, Jameson D. Morgan

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Recent advances in location acquisition services have resulted in vast amounts of trajectory data; providing valuable insight into human mobility. The field of trajectory data mining has exploded as a result, with literature detailing algorithms for (pre)processing, map matching, pattern mining, and the like. Unfortunately, obtaining trajectory data for the design and evaluation of such algorithms is problematic due to privacy, ethical, dataset size, researcher access, and sampling frequency concerns. Synthetic trajectories provide a solution to such a problem as they are cheap to produce and are derived from a fully controllable generation procedure. Citing deficiencies in modern synthetic trajectory …