Engineering Commons^™

Kindly Foods: Reimagining Organic Food Packaging, Camille Hart

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

In my Package Design class, we were tasked with creating packaging for the four basics: milk, bread, eggs, and butter. I created the fictitious brand Kindly Foods. Kindly Foods is an organic plant-based brand focused on clean ingredients right from the earth. The deliverables for this project included designed and prototyped packaging for the four products, and a website to go along with the brand. The packaging and branding are very colorful, standing out against other organic packaging on the shelves. Each product packaging is unique to its product, complete with hand-drawn elements. Kindly Foods is kind to the earth …

Love Bash Event Branding For Potter League, Shea Lambert, Julia Schiels

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

As part of a Directed Experiential Education course, we worked with Potter League for Animals to design new branding for their 2025 Love Bash event. The Love Bash event is a premier spring fundraiser that takes place at the Wyndham Newport Hotel in Middletown, Rhode Island. We were responsible for designing a logo and defining brand standards for this event that aligned with Potter League’s existing brand. We were given extensive creative freedom with limited constraints. These constraints consisted of incorporating the logo mark and brand colors so that the brand identity was recognizable. Our designs for the new Love …

M.A.R.T.I.A.N Construction Robot, Michael Dattolo

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

The Martian is a pioneering initiative in extraterrestrial construction focused on developing habitats on Mars. Central to this project is a highly sophisticated robot uniquely tailored for Mars' challenging environment. It integrates advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), Depth Cameras, and a specialized construction mechanism. The AI enables autonomous decision-making, optimizes resource allocation, and executes complex building strategies. LIDAR technology allows for precise 3D mapping of Martian terrain, vital for site assessment and construction integrity. The depth camera provides detailed spatial awareness which is crucial for meticulous construction tasks. This robot will make it …

Drive Clean - Vehicle Care Products, Christopher Hammond

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

Drive Clean is brand that specializes in selling higher-end vehicle care products. Drive Clean was created for my Fall 2023 Packaging Design class, where a project was assigned to create a brand from several different categories (dairy, cleaning products, food, etc.) and then create packaging for that brand's products. I created Drive Clean as part of the cleaning products category, with the twist of products being meant for vehicles. I designed packaging for: Tire Shine Foam, UV Protectant Spray, Interior Cleaning Wipes, and Glass Cleaning Wipes. Each package features original imagery that pertains to each product's purpose, with the Tire …

Large-Scale Wayfinding Design At Boston Convention, Abram Kempner

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

I took part in this design project during my summer internship with Willwork Global Event Services, a trusted partner in event solutions. The objective of this design project was to create large-scale, dynamic environmental and wayfinding graphics. The design was to be used on signage and booths that attendees would interact with throughout the 2023 American Speech Hearing Association Convention in Boston, in accordance with the theme and brand outlines provided by ASHA. The event consisted of 3 core elements: Igniting Innovation, Education and Boston Culture. For the membership services booth and speaker-ready room entrance, illustrations of iconic Boston landmarks …

Cyberjack, Logan Daubel

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

The objective of this handcrafted design project was to design and construct wearable storage, using that prompt a jacket with unlimited customization was idealized. Inspired by the ethos of Tech-wear, the jacket was built for those who always have everything they need on them, like tools, pencils, laptop, phones, snacks, books, headphones, etc. There were many key aspects that were learned in the Iteration studio that were able to be utilized in the making of the jacket, such as many iterative sketches to hone in a design, rapid prototyping to flush out any issues that arise during the building process …

Compact Cutlery, Mathew Hartung

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

A folding kitchen knife serves as a versatile and practical tool for both campers and culinary students alike. Its compact design makes it highly portable and easy to carry during outdoor expeditions or culinary classes. For campers, it offers a convenient solution for food preparation while minimizing bulk in their gear. Its foldable nature ensures safety during transport and storage, reducing the risk of accidents in outdoor environments. Similarly, culinary students can benefit from its functionality in various kitchen settings, allowing them to practice their culinary skills with a reliable and portable utensil. The folding feature also promotes safety in …

Phobos - A Visual Dictionary Of Fears, J Roan

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

Phobos, a handcrafted accordion book and package, focuses on common fears, with an expressive quality that elicits a sense of unease. Each panel features an illustration representing a specific phobia and incorporates multiple design elements and principles. Emphasis was placed on prototyping and refinement in all phases of the design. The mixed-media illustrations showcase a variety of techniques, including improvisation. The black, white, and red color palette was inspired by classic horror. The brown paper provides contrast and gives the impression of age. While unified by color, each panel is unique and meticulously detailed. Three-dimensional collaged elements, contrasting ultra-matte and …

Achieveing Success, But At What Cost?, Alexis Shylanski

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

The purpose of this project was to emphasize the struggles of having an unhealthy addiction to success. In order to spread awareness of this topic, I created a photo essay with a total of 8 photos. A photo essay is a form of visual storytelling that can present a narrative through images. Within the photo essay, I touch upon what can become of someone’s emotions when they are tunnel-focused on achieving a goal. Although photography doesn’t use the use of words, the emotions portrayed through the images tell a story in hopes of expressing an overarching theme. Moreover, I wanted …

Les Pratiques Professionnelles Des Pomiculteurs Exposés Aux Pesticides : Des Savoir-Faire De Métier Aux Pratiques Stratégiques, Caroline Jolly, Alain Garrigou, Elise Ledoux

Études primaires

Dans les très petites entreprises pomicoles, le propriétaire assume majoritairement seul la préparation et la pulvérisation des pesticides. Le respect des mesures de prévention prescrites n’élimine pas l’exposition, pouvant occasionner des effets à la santé. L’objectif est de décrire les pratiques professionnelles développées par les pomiculteurs. Elles visent à limiter l’exposition aux pesticides tout en produisant des fruits de qualité, contribuant ainsi à l'essor de leur entreprise. La recherche-intervention mobilisant l’ergotoxicologie a été réalisée auprès de pomiculteurs au Québec. La diversité des pratiques professionnelles présentées s’inscrit dans les domaines d’activités de la gestion stratégique (p. ex. : développement de l’entreprise) …

Responses To A Century Of Housing Crisis: Problem, Politics And Policy, Paul Umfreville

Doctoral

The Irish housing system is reportedly in crisis. Homelessness, a lack of affordable housing to rent or buy, and limited security of tenure mean that the housing opportunity available to previous generations is not available to many of the current one. Problems with housing in Ireland are not, however, purely recent phenomena. Reports of inquiry and Census data have catalogued recurring housing crises and failings in housing policy over the last century, but whilst systemic shocks provided the impetus for historic housing policy transformation, inertia in the political system now appears to dampen momentum for effective change. Significant events seemingly …

Modelling The Operational Energy Demands And Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Non-Domestic Building Stocks Applied To A German Case Study, Julian H. Bischof

Doctoral

This work is centred around the global shift towards a post-fossil-fuel era, driven by climate change. The research is motivated by the urgent need to facilitate this transition, specifically focusing on the non-domestic building sector, which contributes in the order of 10 % [233] of global greenhouse gas emissions. The study aims to bridge the research gap in openly available, commonly accepted, simple-to-understand, validated and/or verified models and representative data sets of non-domestic building stocks that can be used to guide policymakers towards achieving climate neutrality. The main research objective is to create a life-cycle methodology and tool for modelling …

Assessing The Condition Of Pavements (Road Surfaces) Using Computer Vision & Machine Learning, Syed Ibrahim Hassam

Doctoral

Regular inspections of pavements are conducted by civil infrastructure departments to evaluate the surface condition. Pavement surfaces are subject to deterioration caused by several factors such as traffic, weather, and sunlight. This deterioration becomes evident through various distresses, including potholes, rutting, cracking, bleeding, patching, and ravelling, which gradually affects the surface layer over time. It is essential to assess the condition of pavements as it not only ensures their usability but also maximises public safety. Effective pavement maintenance requires substantial resources and capital investment to carry out the most suitable maintenance treatments at the optimal time. Furthermore, the outcomes of …

Building Integration Of A Solar Air Heating System, Fernando Guerreiro

Doctoral

In order to achieve the global carbon emission target, the high fraction of locally available renewable energy sources will become necessary to meet energy demand. Solar energy is one of the most important renewable sources locally available for use in space heating, cooling, hot water supply and power production. Building integrated solar thermal systems (BISTS) can be a potential solution towards the enhanced energy efficiency and reduced operational cost in built environment. The current research aimed at developing an active solar air heating collector for building integration. This system consisted of several asymmetric compound parabolic concentrating collectors with inverted transpired …

Designing Ris-Assisted Uav 3d Trajectory Using Deep Reinforcement Learning, Linsong Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly employed as temporary base stations or access points to facilitate data transfer between ground terminals (GTs). However, in urban environments, UAV-GT communication links often face challenges due to obstructions from buildings and other obstacles, resulting in reduced data transfer efficiency. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) provide a promising solution by reflecting signals to enhance communication quality between UAVs and GTs. This thesis addresses the critical challenge of responsive UAV trajectory optimization in RIS-assisted communication networks. A novel approach is proposed, integrating federated learning with reinforcement learning techniques, specifically Double Deep Q-Network (DDQN) and Deep Deterministic …

Molecular Modeling Of Phenolic Resin For Carbon-Carbon Composites, Ivan Gallegos

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

One of the most difficult challenges associated with space exploration is terrestrial atmospheric reentry due to the high thermal loads generated. Carbon carbon (C/C) composites have been used as heat shielding materials due to their high strengthto- weight ratio and thermal properties and their applications include heat shielding for various high temperature environments. C/C composites are manufactured by polymer-infiltration pyrolysis (PIP) via cycles of curing and pyrolysis of a prepreg which can be costly and take up to several days. Thus, C/C composites ideal candidates for computationally-driven optimization techniques, such as a multiscale Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) approach, by …

F-Temper Vs O-Temper Brazing Of 3003 Aluminum Return Bends, Mieka R. Clark

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

As-extruded (F-temper) 3003 return bends can provide cost savings over annealed (O-temper) return bends in aluminum heat exchangers. To assess if F-temper return bends are an alternative to the baseline O-temper bends, the grain structure, bending performance, and melting behavior were assessed through:

• Quantifying the effect of dispersoids on recrystallization
• Tracking bending behavior through grain morphology and surface texture
• Measuring the number and volume fraction of the α-Al(Mn,Fe)Si intermetallic
• Inducing incipient melting through high temperature thermal exposure.

When homogenized at 620°C and 630°C, the F-temper bends had no orange peel texture, the grain size was equivalent to the annealed product, …

Improving Cast Steel Rail Coupler Fatigue Resistance Through Local Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing, Andrew M. Bunge

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Every year, thousands of cast-steel railcar couplers suffer from corrosion-initiated fatigue cracking in similar areas of the coupler’s knuckle; between 2015 and 2018 about 90,000 knuckles were replaced, otherwise these couplers would have been at risk for unexpected failures. These types of couplers have been common in industrial use as early as 1932, hence it is desirable for a countermeasure to the fatigue cracking that does not involve significantly altering the geometry or casting process. Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAM) is a developing technology which boasts the ability to produce complex near-net-shape components; however, less attention has been paid to …

A Physical Test Artifact For Evaluating Edge Cases Of Individual And Fused Automated Driving Perception Sensors, Colin Schaefer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

With the advent of technologies to support autonomous vehicles (AVs), the number of different AV models from a variety of companies and organizations has proliferated. With this increase in options comes the need to physically evaluate their perception systems. However, there is a lack of standard methods to physically evaluate these perception systems. A set of test artifacts can be used to compare the performances of perception systems, but the artifacts must be usable with different types of perception sensors and various sensor fusion systems. This thesis presents the development of an artifact that injects edge case scenarios into the …

High Temperature Strength Reduces Soldering In Aluminum High Pressure Die Casting, Jacob A. Belke

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Die soldering, an adhesion defect in high pressure die casting (HPDC), is a symptom of localized sticking where a localized portion of the cast material is adhered to the tooling surface causing build up over time. This requires the tooling to be serviced which incurs additional costs to the process that gets passed on to the parts. Historically, soldering has been mitigated using lubricants, coatings, and alloy chemistry modifications but solder persists.

The Tresca friction thermomechanical model suggests soldering occurs when the local interfacial shear stress between the casting and die surface exceeds the local shear strength of the casting. …

Machine Learning For Electronic Structure Prediction, Shashank Pathrudkar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Kohn-Sham density functional theory is the work horse of computational material science research. The core of Kohn-Sham density functional theory, the Kohn-Sham equations, output charge density, energy levels and wavefunctions. In principle, the electron density can be used to obtain several other properties of interest including total potential energy of the system, atomic forces, binding energies and electric constants. In this work we present machine learning models designed to bypass the Kohn-Sham equations by directly predicting electron density. Two distinct models were developed: one tailored to predict electron density for quasi one-dimensional materials under strain, while the other is applicable …

Forecasting Of The Next Three (3) Decades Global Lithium Demand And Pricing Using Multivariate Stochastic Model., Enoch Nii- Okai

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is pivotal in achieving global climate goals, with nations aiming to integrate a significant portion of new passenger vehicles as electric by 2030. This shift towards electric mobility includes a notable rise in battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel-cell electric vehicles to curb carbon emissions and foster sustainable transportation. Central to this transition is the critical role of lithium, often referred to as the "white gold of the 21st century," in electric vehicle batteries, especially rechargeable lithium-ion batteries renowned for their high energy efficiency, density, and durability. While lithium has historically found extensive use across …

Study Of Nanoparticle Dispersed Phase Change Materials And The Impact Of Temperature Gradient On The Potential For Particle Migration, Udit Sharma

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Supercooling in phase change materials (PCMs) and the associated challenges in enhancing thermal conductivity through nanoparticle dispersion prompted this investigation. Existing literature exhibits inconsistencies in thermal conductivity improvements, suggesting a potential correlation with nanoparticle migration induced by thermophoresis. To address this, a novel temperature-dependent scaling parameter, \(\xi\), was introduced to predict particle migration propensity. A strong association was observed between higher \(\xi\) values and diminished thermal conductivity enhancements, indicating a significant influence of nanoparticle movement on heat transfer.

To further elucidate this relationship, a Nanoparticle Interaction Parameter \(N_\text{{pl}}\) was developed, incorporating critical fluid properties and interfacial effects. The derived critical …

An Elasto-Plastic Constitutive Model With Phase-Field Fracture For Additively Manufactured Metallic Materials, Nolan Ruble

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The advent of additive manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing, has revolutionized the production of metallic components across various industries. This technology, which builds objects layer by layer, has shifted paradigms in manufacturing, allowing for unprecedented design freedom, material efficiency, and rapid prototyping. Metal additive manufacturing, in particular, has shown remarkable promise due to its ability to produce complex geometries that are difficult or impossible to achieve with traditional subtractive methods. In addition, additively manufactured (AM) materials are gaining popularity in thanks to their often superior and controllable properties in comparison to their wrought counterparts. In the present work, …

Performance Characterization And Optimization Of A Point-Cloud-Based Path Planner In Off-Road Terrains, Casey D. Majhor

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this dissertation, I present a multifaceted study on the generation of artificial terrains using a multifractal method, and their use in autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) planning and navigation performance characterization in high-fidelity simulations, and automated parameter optimization.

My first contribution is a multifractal artificial terrain generation method leveraging the 3D Weierstrass-Mandelbrot function to control terrain roughness. We generate 60 unique off-road terrains while varying the fractal dimension and test the impact on vehicle traversal difficulty. Results show that increasing the fractal dimension decreases low-roughness areas, increases semi-rough and high-roughness areas, and decreases vehicle success rates while increasing vertical accelerations, …

Modeling Pulsatile Flows Using Truly Incompressible Finite Volume Lattice Boltzmann Model, Akshay S. Dongre

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The present study addresses the compressibility error inherent in the standard Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) and LBM’s restriction to uniform Cartesian meshes. To mitigate the compressibility error, an incompressible LBM (iLBM) model has been incorporated into the finite volume framework using a cell-centered finite volume approach, leveraging the simplicity of the LBM algorithm for irregularly shaped flow domains with unstructured meshes. Monotonic Upstream-centered Scheme for Conservation Laws (MUSCL) and linear reconstruction (LR) schemes have been used to compute convective fluxes across the cell interfaces with boundary conditions implemented using the second-order accurate Non-Equilibrium Extrapolation (NEE) method.

The finite volume iLBM …

Sustainable Materials For Environment − Multifunctional Material Made From Dead Leaves And Nanostructured Materials For Antibiotic Degradation, Siyuan Fang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

As environmental pollution from industrial processes and human activities continues to rise, finding efficient approaches to recycle waste materials and degrade persistent contaminants becomes increasingly critical. Dead leaves, an abundant but underutilized biomass, present an opportunity for creating value-added materials if their biocomponents can be preserved and transformed. Simultaneously, antibiotics such as tetracycline are widely found in water bodies but pose serious ecological and health risks, necessitating effective degradation methods. This dissertation addresses these challenges by leveraging natural and nanostructured materials to develop multifunctional products and advanced photocatalytic processes.

Chapter 3 of this dissertation addresses the challenge of converting waste …

Phase Field Modeling Of Fracture And Phase Separation Using Numerical Methods And Machine Learning, Revanth Mattey

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Phase field modeling is a crucial tool in scientific and engineering disciplines due to its ability to simulate complex phenomena like phase transitions, interface dynamics, and pattern formation. It plays a vital role in understanding material behavior during processes such as solidification, phase separation, and fracture mechanics. Particularly in fracture mechanics, phase field modeling can be utilized to predict the crack path in complex materials. Understanding the failure behavior is vital for applications of any material. The specific contributions to the field of phase field fracture mechanics, are, Firstly, we propose a novel phase field fracture model to simulate the …

Effective Data Augmentation Techniques For Time Series Classification: An Empirical Evaluation, Pongpanod Sankosik

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Time series classification is crucial in fields such as healthcare, finance, and industrial processes, but it faces challenges like temporal data ordering, class im-balance, noise, and limited data. This research explores data augmentation techniques to improve classification performance, focusing on the MiniRocket classifier across 85 UCR datasets. The study identifies conditions under which augmentation techniques, like wDBA, enhance accuracy, though overall performance may vary. A dataset-specific approach is essential for effective augmentation. The research also examines the impact of augmentation on datasets with different characteristics, providing insights into when specific strategies are most benefi-cial. Future work includes optimizing augmentation methods …

Exploring Market Segmentation For Autonomous Ferries, Ashari Fitra Rachmannullah, Taih Cherng Lirn, Kuo Chung Shang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This study aims to investigate the determinants that underlie psychographic segmentation in the domain of autonomous ferries (AFs) by using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as a guiding theoretical construct. The paper focuses on Indonesian individuals who had previously utilised conventional ferry services. TPB was applied as a catalyst to identify possible market segmentation among potential AF passengers. In this study, cluster analysis is used to differentiate passengers by their perception of using AFs. The results identified three market segments through cluster analysis based on passengers’ perceptions of using AFs: Resource-Limited, Resource-Capable, and Value-Optimistic. Among these segments, the Resource-Capable …