Engineering Commons^™

Subsurface Drainage Of Highway Pavements, David Q. Hunsucker, Bobby W. Meade

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Properly designed and constructed drainage layers can be used for effective control of surface water infiltration. Former pavement design methods often have resulted in base courses that have not drained well, thereby resulting in some premature failures of the pavement structure. The Kentucky Department of Highways is currently reviewing proposed guidelines for design of highway pavements. The guidelines propose the use of open graded, free draining, aggregate bases for controlling infiltrated surface water. However, interim design guidelines do not specifically address the design of aggregate drainage blankets. The purpose of this study was to develop recommendations relating to the specification, …

Design Improvement Using Reverse Analysis In Design For Quality Manufacturability, Vikram V. Datla

Theses

The competitive needs of modern manufacturing demands that innovative approaches be used to gain an edge over the competitors. least Product design is one of the key dimensions wazzu in which companies can excel. Shortening the product design cycle so as to rapidly launch defect free products, is the goal of most companies. Design for Quality Manufacturability (DFQM) is a technique used to evaluate the quality manufacturability of a product at the design stage, so as to eliminate quality problems during production.

DFQM provides a means for relating the activities of quality improvement, product design and manufacturability analysis. The basis …

Super-Heterodyne C-Probe Design And Implementation, Scott A. Heritsch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Modern advances in chip design and implementation have provided atmospheric scientists with the tools needed to advance the evolution of atmospheric probes, especially the impedance probe. The impedance probe measures the in-phase and out-of-phase components of the antenna's current with respect to the applied sinusoidal steady-state voltage. Through the integration of super-heterodyne circuitry with previous impedance probe designs, I was able to transfer the in-phase and out-of-phase components of an antenna's impedance in a plasma from 3 MHz to 23.25 KHz. By reducing the frequency of the information signal, it was easier to detect the in-phase and out-of-phase components. The …

Design And Characterization Of An Optical Proximity Correction (Opc) Mask, Sumir Varma

Journal of the Microelectronic Engineering Conference

A normal binary chrome mask is designed with optical proximity correction features to test their effect on the lithographic image formed. A significant image improvement is seen due to the addition of the OPC features.

Novel High-Speed Architecture For Machine Vision Applications, Bassam S. Farroha, Raghvendra G. Deshmukh

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

This paper focuses on producing a state-of-the-art technique for designing an image recognition system for machine vision applications. The motivation behind the new system design is to provide a unique methodology, using strategic design techniques, to implement a system that addresses real-world image recognition applications. The introduction of application-specific, massively parallel array of processors, where low-level processing is accomplished on reconfigurable hardware structures, highlights the scheme. The system was built and simulated on a VLSI chip and results were verified using Electric Rules Check and Harris Timing Analysis examination tools. The system is composed of there functional layers and a …

An Expert System Approach To Emc Modeling, Todd H. Hubing, James L. Drewniak, Thomas Van Doren, Navin Kashyap

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Existing computer software for EMC analysis can be divided into three categories. Analytical modeling codes employ closed form expressions to solve problems of general interest to EMC engineers or circuit designers. Numerical modeling codes use numerical techniques to solve Maxwell's equations subject to specific boundary conditions. EMC rule checkers search a design for features that violate basic EMC design guidelines. This paper outlines the relative advantages and limitations of each of these three approaches and describes an expert system EMC modeling approach. The new approach combines analytical models, numerical models, and EMC rule-checking in order to evaluate designs in much …

Cost Estimating And Forecasting For Highway Work In Kentucky [1996], James D. Stevens, Jennifer R. Walton

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

There is a need for better cost estimating and forecasting for highway work in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. KRS45.245 grants the Interim Joint Committee on Transportation oversight of the biennial highway plan, including a review of all authorized highway project phases that exceed their estimates by 15%. In recent years, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has suffered the loss of many resources necessary to produce good cost estimates.

Estimates developed using current methods are not sufficiently accurate to preclude cost overruns in excess of 15%. Over the 1992 and 1994 bienniums, 362 overruns totaling $162,487,511 have been submitted to the Committee. …

Design, Modeling, And Characterization Of Fet-Seed Smart Pixel Transceiver Arrays For Optical Backplanes, David V. Plant, Alain Z. Shang, Marcos R. Otazo, David R. Rolston, Brian Robertson, Harvard Scott Hinton

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The design, modeling, and characterization of FET-SEED smart pixel transceiver arrays fabricated for application in optical backplanes are presented. Results of digital and analog measurements on 4×4 transmitter arrays and 4×4 receiver arrays, packaged at the printed circuit-board level, will be presented. In addition, these results will be compared to device and circuit models developed for these optoelectronics. Finally, the description of the successful application of these optoelectronics to interconnect two printed circuit boards will be described.

Best Practices For Commercial Vehicle Monitoring Facilities Design, Nikiforos Stamatiadis, R. Clark Graves, John E. Schmidt

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The great technological advances that were made over the last decade in monitoring traffic and the increased emphasis on highway safety for truck traffic have prompted a need to determine more effective ways to monitor and inspect truck traffic. Commercial Vehicle Monitoring (CVM) facilities provide the highway community with the means of supervising truck traffic. However, in an era with limited funds and space for roadway expansion. some consideration must be given to the types of facilities needed and the most efficient way to spend the available funds. Hence, a research study was initiated to determine the successful practices for …

Design For Quality Manufacturability Analysis Of Missing/Misplaced Parts And Part Interference, Altaf Yusuf Tamboo

Theses

Design for Quality Manufacturability (DFQM) is an approach that addresses the issue of quality manufacturability (QM) - the likelihood that defects will occur during manufacture of a product in a standard plant. The DFQM methodology is based on the premise that defects found in assembled products are often influenced by some features of the design and/or assembly process (influencing factors). These influencing factors cause defects in the presence of certain error catalysts.

One of the influencing factors is geometrical features such as shape and symmetry. A classification scheme for part shape and symmetry is developed. This scheme is summarized in …

Design And Construction Of An Active Alignment Demonstrator For A Free-Space Optical Interconnect, G. C. Boisset, B. Robertson, Harvard Scott Hinton

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

An x-y active alignment system based on Risley beam steerers is described. The demonstrator features a quadrant detector which detects the misalignment error between the center of a spot of light and the center of the quadrant detector. This misalignment error is then used by a new algorithm to calculate the rotational displacement required for the two Risley beam steerers to steer the spot of light to the center of the quadrant detector. The experimental results indicate that any spot misaligned by up to 160 μm on the quadrant detector will be systematically centered by the demonstrator system.

Auger Design For Uniform Unloading Of Granular Material: I. Rectangular Cross-Section Containers, David D. Jones, Michael F. Kocher

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Design equations were developed for two auger configurations that for practical purposes generate uniform vertical flow of granular material through containers or boxes having a rectangular cross-section. Both configurations have uniform outside diameters so the simple geometry of the conventional U-trough housings could be used with these augers. One configuration had a uniform pitch for the auger flighting and decreasing inside diameter. The other had a uniform inside diameter and a decreasing pitch of the flighting with distance from the outlet end of the auger. Both configurations dramatically improved the uniformity of flow over the conventional auger. However, confidence intervals …

Auger Design For Uniform Unloading Of Granular Material: Ii. Cylindrical Containers, Michael F. Kocher, David D. Jones

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The analysis presented can be used to determine the design equations for augers that produce uniform vertical flow of granular material through containers with cylindrical cross-sections. The augers so designed have a constant outside diameter and a variable root or shaft diameter. Installed in cylindrical grain bins they could be used to convert a batch-in-bin dryer to a continuous flow dryer. The analysis is an extension of the work of Jones and Kocher (1995) who designed and tested such an auger for containers of rectangular cross-section, and determined flow to be uniform for practical purposes. The analysis follows the same …

Review Of: Richard 0. Gamble Ii, How To Reduce Professional Liability For Engineers And Architects, Erik C. Swanson

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Review of Richard 0. Gamble II, How to Reduce Professional Liability for Engineers and Architects (Noyes Data Corporation 1987) Foreword, references, index, table of cases. LC: 87-12256; ISBN: 0-8155-1128-0. [102 pp. Cloth $36.00. Mill Road, Park Ridge NJ 07656.]

The Design Of An Augmentative Communications Device, Darren Blaser, Scott Sorenson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

There is an extremely large number of people in the modem world who have difficulty communicating. Among these are approximately 25 million people with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a disability that is usually caused during, or shortly after birth. Cerebral palsy usually affects a person's motor skills and sense of balance, often rendering them incapable of speaking clearly enough to be understood well. Because this group of people cannot communicate as effectively as other individuals, many uninformed people suppose they do not have as great a need to speak, to say things like, "How are you?", ''I'm Hungry", "Thank …

Design And Evaluation Of Stepped Spillways For High Dams, Jeffrey Scott Rau

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research was to investigate the hydraulic performance of stepped spillways. A thorough investigation was made of all printed material on stepped spillways, and a summary of this material is presented in the text. Data from experiments in the laboratory were used to develop a design procedure for stepped spillways and hydraulic jump stilling basins. The experimental study was conducted at Utah State University - Utah Water Research Laboratory in Logan, Utah. Four models were built and tested in the laboratory under various flowrates.

The crest of the model spillway was constructed in the shape of a …

Modification Of Highway Soil Subgrades, Tommy C. Hopkins, Tony L. Beckham, David Q. Hunsucker

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Major study objectives were to develop highway pavement subgrade stabilization guidelines, examine long-term benefits of chemical stabilizers, such as cement, hydrated lime, and two byproducts from industrial processes, and to establish a subgrade stabilization program in Kentucky. In developing a program, a number of design and construction issues had to be resolved. Factors affecting subgrade behavior are examined. Changes in moisture content and CBR strengths of untreated and chemically treated subgrades at three experimental highway routes were monitored over a 7- year period. CBR strengths of the untreated subgrades decreased dramatically while moisture contents increased. CBR strengths of subgrade sections …

Selection Of Design Strengths Of Untreated Soil Subgrades And Subgrades Treated With Cement And Hydrated Lime, David Q. Hunsucker, Tony L. Beckham

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Selection of design strengths of soil subgrades and subgrades treated with cement or hydrated lime is a problem in pavement design analysis and construction because a variety of different types of soils may exist in a highway corridor and a wide range of different strengths may exist after the soils are compacted to form the pavement subgrade. The selected subgrade strength will largely affect the pavement thickness obtained from the design analysis, the future pavement performances, and the overall bearing capacities of the subgrade during construction and the pavement structure after construction. In developing the proposed selection scheme, a newly …

Route Fatality Risk As A Measure Of Travel Death Risk, Kopl Halperin, Jim Redman

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors examine the route fatality Risk of routes in Erie County, PA and show that some pose a disproportionately high-Risk to users. They argue that transportation safety could be greatly increased by relatively small expenditures and suggest that the most cost-effective Risk amelioration is speed limit control.

Design Of Distortion-Invariant Correlation Filters Using Supervised Learning, Samuel Peter Kozaitis, Rufus H. Cofer, Wesley E. Foor

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

We designed binary phase-only filters from a training set of images using a statistical approach. We forced images into clusters and designed filters to recognize objects from that cluster. We report on results obtained by computer simulation comparing the performance of filters to recognize objects from clusters of one and two classes.

Photovoltaic-Powered Water Pumping-Design, And Implementation: Case Studies In Wyoming, Badrul H. Chowdhury, S. Ula, K. Stokes

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A photovoltaic-powered water pumping project comprising of several rural electric cooperatives and their customers is described in detail. A number of remote water pumping installations in the state of Wyoming, USA, are currently operating as a result of this project. The design, installation and performance monitoring of these systems are discussed. In general, it can be stated that PV-powered water pumping in this state has been a cost-effective alternative to distribution line extension or other conventional means of water pumping. Customer satisfaction, in terms of functional adequacy and low maintenance requirements of these systems, is high. The benefit for the …

Micro-Sprinkler And Fan Cooling For Dairy Cows: Practical Design Considerations, Larry W. Turner, Richard C. Warner, John P. Chastain

Agricultural Engineering Extension Publications

Research and on-farm demonstrations have shown that micro-sprinklers, spray jets and fan cooling systems can be effective in relieving heat stress in dairy cows under hot, humid conditions. Based on these results, many dairymen are considering installing sprinkler and fan cooling. Several Kentucky dairymen have already installed sprinkler cooling systems, but they could improve their performance by modifying them to take into account the principles involved and the components used in sprinkler and fan cooling.

Bearing Capacity Analysis Of Pavements, Tommy C. Hopkins

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

A multilayered, mathematical model for analyzing the ultimate bearing capacity of soil subgrades and asphalt pavements is presented. Theoretical considerations and mathematical derivations of limit equilibrium equations, based on plasticity principles, for analyzing the ultimate bearing capacity of soil subgrades and partially completed asphalt pavements, and the extension of these equations to the analyses of asphalt pavements composed of multiple layers, are presented. The model is unique since shear strength parameters, Φ and c, (the angle of internal friction and cohesion, respectively) are used to describe each layer of material of the pavement structure and a factor of safety against …

Design For Manufacturability, Kocherlakota Sreedhar

Theses

Design for Manufacturability represents a new awareness of the importance of design as the first manufacturing step. It recognizes that a company cannot meet all its objectives with isolated design and manufacturing operations. The Design for Manufacturability approach embodies certain underlying imperatives that help maintain communication between all components of the Manufacturing and Design system and permit flexibility to adopt and to modify design during each stage of the product realization. Design for Manufacturability cannot be bought or sold and it should be implemented by management. Complete support of management to the implementation is very important to the success of …

Design For Manufacturability : Re-Design Of Pencil Sharpener For The Ease Of Assembly, Amit R. Rathod

Theses

A Design For Manufacturability (DFM) approach is used to analyze the existing design of a pencil sharpener, and to reduce and re-design the parts of pencil sharpener for the ease of assembly. The procedure for the selection of a suitable and economical assembly method is based on the Boothroyd and Dewhurst methods. Analysis of the initial design for manual assembly and re-design for automatic as well as manual assembly is presented. An algorithmic approach for simplified generation of all mechanical assembly sequences and selection of the assembly sequences is presented using De Fazio and Whitney approach.

Design And Construction Of A Noncontact Resistivity Measurement Instrument, William R. Hamilton

Journal of the Microelectronic Engineering Conference

An Eddy—Current Gauge was fabricated from the design of G. L. Miller, D. A. H. Robinson and T. D. Wiley Cl]. The electronics involved was mounted on a printed circuit board and the header assembly was successfully machined and housed in Lucite. The calibration and testing confirmed the instrument’s linear properties for measuring conductivity.

Design Considerations For 1-3 Composites Used In Transducers For Medical Ultrasonic Imaging, Wayne Huebner, Kuiming Liang, Clyde G. Oakley

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Ceramic polymer piezoelectric composites with 1-3 connectivity have become an important tool in the design and manufacture of thickness-mode transducers for medical diagnostic ultrasonic imaging. The authors compare annular array transducers made from ceramics alone to those made with these composites to demonstrate the advantages of composites. They examine some of the trade-offs involved in optimizing composite designs for this application. The effects of varying Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of the polymer phase on the coupling coefficient and high-frequency lateral resonances of the composite are presented

Mathematical Model Of A Lithium/Polypyrrole Cell, Taewhan Yeu, Ralph E. White

Faculty Publications

A mathematical model to simulate the charge/discharge behavior of a lithium/lithium perchlorate-propylene carbonate/polypyrrole(Li/LiClO₄-PC/PPy) secondary battery cell is presented. The model can be used to gain a better understanding of the behavior of this cell and to provide guidance toward the design of new secondary batteries which utilize an electronically conductive polymer such as polypyrrole (PPy) as the cathode. The model includes the capability of handling charge and discharge behavior and is used to study the effect of various design parameters on the performance of the cell.

Automatic Meshing Of Free-Form Deformation Solids, Ssuta S. Hsu

Theses and Dissertations

Development of computer models and subsequent finite element analysis, are important aspects of modern engineering design. In this process, the geometry creation and finite element analysis software are well developed; however, the process of discretizing a geometry into a proper finite element model is time consuming and tedious. The work presented here uses the free-form deformation method to create smooth solid models, and invokes a solid subdivision and transition method to generate the hexahedron finite elements. The combination of these two techniques provides an automatic mesh generator that is easy to use, creates acceptable hexahedron elements for finite element analysis, …

Excessive Beam Deflections On The Ky-52 Bridge Over Dix River (Boyle-Garrard County Line), Theodore Hopwood Ii, Vishwas G. Oka, David Q. Hunsucker, James H. Havens

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Upon rehabilitation, beams and deck of the Ky 52 bridge over Dix River were observed to have excessive deflections. An investigation of the problem included field inspections, structural analyses, and interviews with relevant KYDOH and other personnel.

Field measurements were made of the beam deflections. Those were compared to construction field measurements and dead-load calculations.

The beam deflection problem is attributed to 1) a failure to provide for sufficient camber in the beams to accommodate for construction dead loads, and 2) pre-existing sags in the beams when placed prior to casting the deck. Part of the deck deflection problem can …