Engineering Commons^™

Computational Sodium Heat Pipe Simulation In Three Dimensions For Transient Nuclear Reactor Analysis With Variable Surface Heat Flux, Valerie Jean Lawdensky

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Heat pipes are used to transfer heat through phase change in a liquid/vapor contained in a metal tube. They are passive devices that require no pumps to circulate the fluid and can transfer heat far more efficiently than a solid copper rod of the same diameter. They are commonly used in laptop computers where copper heat pipes filled with water take heat away from the CPU and transfer the heat to air through a heat exchanger. Heat pipes were also used in the Kilopower nuclear reactor where higher temperatures required sodium as the working fluid with stainless steel tubes. Computer …

Monitored Compression Therapy: Using Smart Technology To Optimize The Treatment Of Lower Extremity Swelling, James Skelly

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI) and Venous Stasis Ulcers (VSUs) are symptoms which stem from diabetes – a disease effecting over 34 million people in the United States alone as of 2020. This Thesis details the design of a pressure-sensing garment used to enhance the treatment of CVI. The garment uses small force sensors (four levels: the insole of the foot, the lower leg, the lower calf, and the upper calf) to sense the pressure applied by a compression stocking. The sensed data is transmitted wirelessly via Bluetooth to a smartphone application that was developed to display the data and interface …

High-Magnification Digital Image Correlation Techniques For Aged Nuclear Fuel Cladding Testing, Robert Scott Hansen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nuclear fuel cladding in light water reactors, often made of zirconium alloys, is naturally made more brittle by exposure to the water coolant during normal reactor operation. However, this embrittlement by zirconium hydrides changes the mechanical behavior of the cladding material, affecting how it will deform and what may cause it to fail. Because the cladding already has different properties in different material directions, mechanical testing also needs to be direction specific. In addition, to understand the effects that these microscale hydride features have, measurements of deforming cladding need to be at a microscale. This dissertation describes several high-magnification innovations …

Ammonia Emission Assessment From Gasoline And Diesel Engines Under Utah Specific Conditions, Motasem Suleiman Abualqumboz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study aims to quantify ammonia (NH₃) emission rates from the on-road gasoline and diesel motor vehicles fleet of the Wasatch Front, Utah. For this purpose, a portable Pollution Emissions Monitoring System (PEMS) was used to estimate NH₃ emission rates from a representative fleet of 53 in-use light-duty (LD) gasoline and diesel vehicles over a total of 166 on-road Real Driving Emissions (RDE) tests. The post-catalyst concentrations of NH₃ precursors, nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and carbon monoxide (CO) were also measured. The outcomes of this study showed that a motor vehicle in the Wasatch Front …

Active Transportation Routes Using Canal Corridors: Decision Tools In Creating Successful Canal Trail Projects, Matthew Scott Crump

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The state of Utah has many canal corridors that offer potential opportunities for establishing public trails.In the past, concerns such as public safety and canal companies’ abilities to perform maintenance have inhibited the construction of canal trails. Recently, local governments and canal companies have worked to overcome these challenges which has led to the establishment of some canal trails. The purpose of this study is to provide valuable insights and tools that can be used in developing future canal trails. In order to accomplish this, the study documents various case studies of completed canal trail projects, interviews stakeholders for future …

Classical Venturi Meter Performance Downstream Of The Through Leg Of A Tee Junction, Matthew P. Day

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research was to analyze the accuracy of a Classical Venturi meter installed downstream of the through leg of a tee junction. A flowmeter that functions inaccurately due to improper installation may cause revenue loss for any company or organization involved in extraction, transportation, production, or purchasing of fluid resources and products. This research used physical data coupled with data produced by numerical models to determine how to correct the Classical Venturi meter’s inaccuracies created by this particular installation.

Results show the capability of measuring the flow rate accurately was greatly affected when most of the flow …

The Effect Of Bit Depth On High Temperature Digital Image Correlation Measurements, Steven Robert Jarrett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is a camera-based method of measuring mechanical displacement and strain which is commonly used in high-temperature experiments due to its ability to take contactless measurements. High-temperature DIC is challenging due to light emitted from the sample which can saturate the camera sensor. Blue-DIC and UV-DIC have been developed to minimize this effect, but the maximum sample temperature range of DIC remains a function of the camera and camera settings. Bit depth, also referred to as color depth or number of bits, is an important camera setting which affects the dynamic range of an image, but which …

Estimation Of High-Resolution Evapotranspiration In Heterogeneous Environments Using Drone-Based Remote Sensing, Ayman M. M. Nassar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key element of hydrological cycle analysis, irrigation demand, and for better allocation of water resources in the ecosystem. For successful water resources management activities, precise estimate of ET is necessary. Although several attempts have been made to achieve that, variation in temporal and spatial scales constitutes a major challenge, particularly in heterogeneous canopy environments such as vineyards, orchards, and natural areas. The advent of remote sensing information from different platforms, particularly the small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) technology with lightweight sensors allows users to capture high-resolution data faster than traditional methods, described …

Temperature Effect On The Mechanical Properties Of Steel Fiber Reinforced Ultra-High-Performance Concrete, Jenny Bernadette Gomes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The contemporary innovation in concrete technology is ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC). In this work, mechanical properties of UHPC are studied at ambient terrestrial temperature conditions. Specimens are prepared under laboratory environments maintaining the temperature of -25°C, -5°C, 15°C, 35°C, and 55°C. A freeze thaw chamber is utilized to condition the specimens at specified temperatures. Compressive strength, flexural strength, toughness, and modulus of elasticity are determined under varying temperature and steel fiber volume content. The results indicate that both temperature and steel fibers have effect on the mechanical properties of UHPC. The flexural and compressive strength show an opposite trend of strength …

Characteristic Of The Dynamics Of Disorder In Crystalline And Amorphous Materials, Amir Behbahanian

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This work provides the evidence to apply simulation methods that are applicable to systems with structural randomness to simulate crystalline materials at high temperatures. My work not only open the avenue to expand the simulation capability of materials but also provides insight to the physics of vibrations of atoms under different temperature and for different types of materials. I have also evaluated the reliability of Molecular Dynamics simulations at the frequency level and found that theses types of simulations, despite the previous belief, are reliable at low temperatures but up to a measurable frequency. In addition, the result of my …

Improvement Opportunities In The Two-Source Energy Balance Model For Et Using Uav Imagery And Point Cloud Information, Mahyar Aboutalebi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In recent years, satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide enormous amounts of spatially-distributed information for monitoring crop conditions by measuring crop’s reflected and emitted radiation at a distance. However, applications of high-resolution UAV imagery and its intermediate products for improving crop water use estimates are not well studied. In other words, the available approaches, methods and algorithms for determining how much water to apply for irrigation using remotely sensed data have been mostly developed at satellite spatial resolutions. High-resolution imageries that have been achieved by small UAVs open new opportunities for revisiting, re-evaluating, and revising available crop water use …

Low Power Reconfigurable Antenna With Continuous Beam Steering Capability, Glendyn Darryn King

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Each year, the number of wireless devices increases, and the size of the devices’ data is increases, 8k video streaming, for example. More and more bandwidth is needed for wireless networks to meet these growing demands. Higher frequencies allow for more bandwidth; however, using higher frequencies comes with some trade-offs. The higher the wireless signal frequency, the shorter the distance it can travel before the signal strength becomes too weak for the receiver to pick it up. One solution might be to increase the power of the signal provider, but that would waste a lot of energy. Most antennas radiate …

Sensitivity Study For Uav Gps-Denied Navigation In Uncertain Landmark Fields, Samantha D. Burton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This document provides two 2D simulation sensitivity analyses regarding a drone’s flight characteristic (state) errors within a GPS-denied region. The research focuses on a development and investigation of utilizing a camera to simultaneously determine a drone’s state while locating landmarks, where there is uncertainty in the landmarks’ exact positions prior to the mission (SLAM). This SLAM method is performed in regions with limited access to GPS. Furthermore, there is development and investigation of controlling the drone in conjunction with SLAM using potential error-reducing control parameters. Objectives are to quantitatively understand the UAV’s sensitivity of position errors to sensor grade and …

Impacts In Fluids: Forces, Scaling Laws And Bouncing Modes In Projectile Impacts On Water Pools And Droplets, Rafsan Rabbi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Projectile impacts in quiescent water pool are synonymous with intriguing splash phenomena and rich underwater physics. Depending on the material property, geometry and surface conditions of the impacting projectiles coupled with the geometric properties of the water pool (e.g., depth, width etc.), contrasting events like sub-surface cavity formation or bouncing of macro-droplets unfolds over millimetric timescales.

In this dissertation, I present four different studies that look at different aspects of impact events with the help of high-speed imaging techniques and implementation of other sensory data acquisition instruments. Firstly, I look at the force of impact associated with projectile water entry …

Network Management, Optimization And Security With Machine Learning Applications In Wireless Networks, Mariam Nabil

Theses and Dissertations

Wireless communication networks are emerging fast with a lot of challenges and ambitions. Requirements that are expected to be delivered by modern wireless networks are complex, multi-dimensional, and sometimes contradicting. In this thesis, we investigate several types of emerging wireless networks and tackle some challenges of these various networks. We focus on three main challenges. Those are Resource Optimization, Network Management, and Cyber Security. We present multiple views of these three aspects and propose solutions to probable scenarios. The first challenge (Resource Optimization) is studied in Wireless Powered Communication Networks (WPCNs). WPCNs are considered a very promising approach towards sustainable, …

Multi Stage Modified Solvay Process For Co2 Capture And Reject Brine Desalination, Ameera Fares Mohammad

Dissertations

Brine management is an environmental concern, as many desalination plants need to find suitable approaches for the treatment or disposal of the large amounts of concentrated brine that are produced. Many conventional methods are used such as disposal through deep well injection, but these methods still suffer from many drawbacks. An alternative approach is to further process the brine by extracting the salts through reactions with carbon dioxide. The chemical reactions of reject brine with high alkalinity products and carbon dioxide are postulated to constitute a new, effective, economic and environmentally friendly approach. On the other hand, a major challenge …

Industry Expo Program 2021, Allen E. Paulson College Of Engineering And Computing

Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering & Computing Industry Expo (2020-2021)

Program for the Industry Expo 2021

Evaluation Of Root-End Resection With Conventional And Ultrasonic Methods: A Single-Blind, Randomized In-Vitro Study, Mohammad Al Shammaa, Roula S. Abiad, Nayer Abo Elsaad

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

The root-end resection is considered critical endodontic surgical procedure. Three millimeters of the root tip is resected and root-end cavity with parallel walls and comparable depth is cut to receive a root-end filling. The literature discussed dentinal cracks after root canal instrumentation and/or root dentine cutting. The aim of the present study was to assess cracks at root ends after resection with conventional versus ultrasonic techniques. Material and Methodology: Thirty-two extracted human lower premolar teeth with single root were used. Their root canals were prepared and received gutta-percha. Sixteen roots Group 1 were resected using tungsten carbide fissure burs, while …

The Feasibility Of Using A Phenomenological Approach To Explicate The Experience Of Being-In-Community: Experience Of Reviving The Marine Heritage In Bahrain, Islam Hamdy Elghonaimy, Layal Tahsine Ahmed Channaa

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

The strategic location of Bahrain and its wealthy marine and coastal environment were the main drivers for the country’s flourishment before the discovery of oil. For a long time, Bahrain has functioned as a pioneer maritime trade center and represented a significant trade transit route between the east and west that transfers the affluent marine productions. This mainly formed an eminent cultural heritage for the country reflected within its inveterate maritime history and the authentic bond between the Bahraini grandparents and the sea. Unfortunately, along with the life evolution, this bond became weak and the biodiversity of the country’s marine …

The Role Of Theme Parks In Creating Sustainable Development, Islam Hamdy Elghonaimy, Salma Alsaeed

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Theme parks offer various types of entertainment that compete in both local and international markets. They include attractions, rides, arcade games, souvenir shops, and restaurants. Over the years, the industry has been growing due to the increasing tourism rates. Designing a project like an indoor theme park would increase tourism rates, leading to a boost in the country’s economic status. The success of a theme park depends highly on the demand and user’s selection of the theme. The setting and location also play a vital role in the success of the park. The purpose of this research is to introduce …

Extensive Descriptive Literature Review Revealing The Impact Of Banking Secrecy On Money Laundering: Prominence On The Lebanese Banking Sector, Nour Mohamad Fayad, Sara Karam Nassredine

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Worldwide financial institutions face complexity in balancing between business ethical standards on one hand, and the act of competitiveness on the other hand. Thus, while selecting their customers they seek customers that lead them to the optimum position of competitiveness in the market, taking into consideration the act of financial investigation to avoid money launderer customers. Money launderer customers seek to deal with financial institutions to proceed with operating their financial crimes. Therefore, this paper spots the light on “money laundering” alongside with the impact of banking secrecy on money laundering with prominence on the Lebanese banking sector. Thus, in …

Energy Efficient Configuration Or Perforated Solar Screens For Residential Desert Buildings, Rasha Arafa

Archived Theses and Dissertations

In hot arid desert environments, the solar radiation passing through windows increases the cooling loads and energy consumption of buildings. Shading of windows can reduce these loads. External perforated wooden solar screens were traditionally used for windowsâ shading. However, there is a lack in understanding their performance in a quantitative manner and unavailability of scientific means that could be used for developing new efficient designs that suit the harsh desert conditions. This thesis investigates the impact of changing screen configurations such as perforation percentage, depth, perforation openings aspect ratio and reflectivity on the energy loads, hence defining the most efficient …

Audio Representations For Deep Learning In Sound Synthesis: A Review, Anastasia Natsiou, Sean O'Leary

Articles

The rise of deep learning algorithms has led many researchers to withdraw from using classic signal processing methods for sound generation. Deep learning models have achieved expressive voice synthesis, realistic sound textures, and musical notes from virtual instruments. However, the most suitable deep learning architecture is still under investigation. The choice of architecture is tightly coupled to the audio representations. A sound’s original waveform can be too dense and rich for deep learning models to deal with efficiently - and complexity increases training time and computational cost. Also, it does not represent sound in the manner in which it is …

A Comparative Study Of Yokeless And Segmented Armature Versus Single Sided Axial Flux Pm Machine Topologies For Electric Traction, Narges Taran, David Klink, Greg Heins, Vandana Rallabandi, Dean Patterson, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

This article systematically compares two axial flux permanent magnet machines designed for a university student racing car application: a double-rotor single-stator yokeless and segmented armature (YASA) structure, and a single-stator single-rotor configuration. Both machines are optimized for minimum loss and active weight using three-dimensional finite element analysis and the highest performing candidate designs are compared in more detail. The studies indicate that the benefits offered by the YASA configuration over the single-stator single-rotor machine are achieved only for specific designs that are heavier. For the design space with lower mass, albeit with increased losses, the Pareto front designs overlap. In …

Let's Read: Designing A Smart Display Application To Support Codas When Learning Spoken Language, Katie Rodeghiero, Yingying Yuki Chen, Annika M. Hettmann, Franceli L. Cibrian

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Hearing children of Deaf adults (CODAs) face many challenges including having difficulty learning spoken languages, experiencing social judgment, and encountering greater responsibilities at home. In this paper, we present a proposal for a smart display application called Let's Read that aims to support CODAs when learning spoken language. We conducted a qualitative analysis using online community content in English to develop the first version of the prototype. Then, we conducted a heuristic evaluation to improve the proposed prototype. As future work, we plan to use this prototype to conduct participatory design sessions with Deaf adults and CODAs to evaluate the …

Deepfakes Generated By Generative Adversarial Networks, Olympia A. Paul

Honors College Theses

Deep learning is a type of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that mimics the workings of the human brain in processing data such as speech recognition, visual object recognition, object detection, language translation, and making decisions. A Generative adversarial network (GAN) is a special type of deep learning, designed by Goodfellow et al. (2014), which is what we call convolution neural networks (CNN). How a GAN works is that when given a training set, they can generate new data with the same information as the training set, and this is often what we refer to as deep fakes. CNN takes an input …

Dechlorination Apparatus For Treating Chloride Salt Wastes: System Evaluation And Scale-Up, Brian J. Riley, Saehwa Chong, Charmayne E. Lonergan

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper describes an apparatus used to remove chlorine from chloride salt-based nuclear wastes from electrochemical reprocessing and/or chloride-based molten salt reactors (MSRs) through dechlorination by reacting the salts with ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (NH₄H₂PO₄ or ADP) at temperatures up to 600 °C to produce NH₄Cl as a byproduct. The benefits of removing the Cl from these salts include ³⁷Cl recovery from Cl-based MSR salts, formation of UCl₃ from the NH₄Cl, as well as removal of Cl from the salts and conversion of the salt cations to oxides to allow …

Polarization-Resolved Extreme-Ultraviolet Second-Harmonic Generation From Linbo3, Can B. Uzundal, Sasawat Jamnuch, Emma Berger, Clarisse Woodahl, Paul Manset, Yasuyuki Hirata, Toshihide Sumi, Angelique Amado, Hisazumi Akai, Yuya Kubota, Shigeki Owada, Kensuke Tono, Makina Yabashi, John W. Freeland, Craig P. Schwartz, Walter S. Drisdell

Nevada Extreme Conditions Laboratory Faculty Research

Second harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy ubiquitously enables the investigation of surface chemistry, interfacial chemistry, as well as symmetry properties in solids. Polarization-resolved SHG spectroscopy in the visible to infrared regime is regularly used to investigate electronic and magnetic order through their angular anisotropies within the crystal structure. However, the increasing complexity of novel materials and emerging phenomena hampers the interpretation of experiments solely based on the investigation of hybridized valence states. Here, polarization-resolved SHG in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV-SHG) is demonstrated for the first time, enabling element-resolved angular anisotropy investigations. In noncentrosymmetric LiNbO3, elemental contributions by lithium and niobium are …

Wear Property Of Machined Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (Uhmwpe) Acetabular Liner Product With Cnc Milling, W D. Lestari, A T. Danaryanto, A Nugroho, R Ismail, J Jamari, A P. Bayuseno

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

UHMWPE has been used as a cushion in artificial hip joint for the last decades. The reliability of the components of a hip joint implant can be achieved by understanding their wear behavior. This study observed the tribological performance of the UHMWPE acetabular liner manufactured with a CNC milling machine on the femoral head made of SS 316L. Materials commonly used for tribo pairs in hip joint replacement. The wear tests were performed on a hip joint simulator in dry condition. The wear test is carried out by applying a constant load of 800N. Before and after the wear test, …

Characterization Of Bacterial Nanocellulose - Graphite Nanoplatelets Composite Films, Bili Darnanto Susilo, Heru Suryanto, Aminnudin Aminnudin

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Bacterial cellulose (BC) was synthesized from pineapple peel extract media with addition of fermentation agent bacteria Acetobacter xylinum. BC was disintegrated from the pellicle into bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) by using a high-pressure homogenizer (hph) machine, which has a three-dimensional woven nanofibrous network. The synthesis of composite films started when BNC, graphite nanoplatelets, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were homogenized using an ultrasonic homogenizer then baked on a glass mold at a temperature of 80 degrees Celcius for 14h. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to analyze its morphology. X-Ray diffraction spectra were used to analyze the composite films structure. The …