Engineering Commons^™

Verification Of Tfit Code Numerical Method For Flow Excursion Simulation, Patrick S. Foster, Subash Sharma, Martin L. Bertodano

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

This research is aimed towards accurately modeling and predicting the onset of the two-phase flow excursion instability using the code TFIT (Two Fluid Interfacial Temperature). In order to do this we first had to show that the numerical diffusion of the code’s finite difference equations could be reduced to an insignificant level by decreasing the mesh size.

Understanding and being able to accurately model flow excursion can help us understand how to prevent the potential negative effects of this instability. We are using a two-fluid model with physics-based closure relations. The results will be validated against the experimental data available …

Personalized Decision Modeling For Intervention And Prevention Of Cancers, Fan Wang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Personalized medicine has been utilized in all stages of cancer care in recent years, including the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Since prevention and early intervention are particularly crucial in reducing cancer mortalities, personalizing the corresponding strategies and decisions so as to provide the most appropriate or optimal medical services for different patients can greatly improve the current cancer control practices. This dissertation research performs an in-depth exploration of personalized decision modeling of cancer intervention and prevention problems. We investigate the patient-specific screening and vaccination strategies for breast cancer and the cancers related to human papillomavirus (HPV), representatively. Three popular …

An Optimization Model For Operating Room Scheduling To Reduce Blocking Across The Perioperative Process, Amin Abedini, Wei Li, Honghan Ye

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Operating room (OR) scheduling is important. Because of increasing demand for surgical services, hospitals must provide high quality care more efficiently with limited resources. When constructing the OR schedule, it is necessary to consider the availability of downstream resources, such as intensive care unit (ICU) and post anaesthesia care unit (PACU). The unavailability of downstream resources causes blockings between every two consecutive stages. In this paper we address the master surgical schedule (MSS) problem in order to minimize blockings between two consecutive stages. First, we present a blocking minimization (BM) model for the MSS by using integer programming, based on …

Full Simulation For The Qweak Experiment At 1.16 And 0.877 Gev And Their Impact On Extracting The Pv Asymmetry In The N→Δ A Transition, Hend Abdullah Nuhait

Doctoral Dissertations

The Qweak project is seeking to find new physics beyond the Standard Model. It is aimed to measure the weak charge of the proton, which has never been measured, at 4% precision at low momentum transfer. The experiment is performed by scattering electrons from protons and exploiting parity violation in the weak interaction at low four-momentum transfer.

In this experiment, two measurements were considered: which are elastic and inelastic. The elastic is to measure the proton's weak charge. In addition, the inelastic asymmetry measurement, which will extract the low energy constant dΔ. That measurement works in the neutral current …

Small Uas Detect And Avoid Requirements Necessary For Limited Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (Bvlos) Operations, Mark Askelson, Henry Cathey, Ronald Marsh, Zachary P. Waller, Paul Snyder, Gary M. Ullrich, Chris Theisen, Naima Kaabouch, William Semke, Michael Mullins, Kyle Foerster, Rosa Brothman, Stephen B. Hottman, Kerry Williamson, Eric Johnson, Alexander Vanhoudt, Zachariah Larue

Aviation Faculty Publications

Potential small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operational scenarios/use cases and Detect And Avoid (DAA) approaches were collected through a number of industry wide data calls. Every 333 Exemption holder was solicited for this same information. Summary information from more than 5,000 exemption holders is documented, and the information received had varied level of detail but has given relevant experiential information to generalize use cases. A plan was developed and testing completed to assess Radio Line Of Sight (RLOS), a potential key limiting factors for safe BVLOS ops. Details of the equipment used, flight test …

On The Simulation And Mitigation Of Anisoplanatic Optical Turbulence For Long Range Imaging, Russell C. Hardie, Daniel A. Lemaster

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We describe a numerical wave propagation method for simulating long range imaging of an extended scene under anisoplanatic conditions. Our approach computes an array of point spread functions (PSFs) for a 2D grid on the object plane. The PSFs are then used in a spatially varying weighted sum operation, with an ideal image, to produce a simulated image with realistic optical turbulence degradation. To validate the simulation we compare simulated outputs with the theoretical anisoplanatic tilt correlation and differential tilt variance. This is in addition to comparing the long- and short-exposure PSFs, and isoplanatic angle. Our validation analysis shows an …

Numerical Simulation Of Metallic Uranium Sintering, Bruce Berry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Conventional ceramic oxide nuclear fuels are limited in their thermal and life-cycle properties. The desire to operate at higher burnups as is required by current utility economics has proven a formidable challenge for oxide fuel designs. Metallic formulations have superior thermal performance but are plagued by volumetric swelling due to fission gas buildup. In this study, we consider a number of specific microstructure configurations that have been experimentally shown to exhibit considerable resistance to porosity loss. Specifically, a void sizing that is bimodally distributed was shown to resist early pore loss and could provide collection sites for fission gas buildup. …

Productivity Improvement And Cost Optimization Of Small And Medium Scale Enterprises, Unmesh Vishwas Tamhankar

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Theses - Archive

Productivity improvement and cost optimization have been a topic of discussion for at least a century. The publication of Fredrick Taylor’s book ‘The Principles of Scientific Management’ in 1911 can be considered as the beginning of the Efficiency movement. Surprisingly, the awareness about the principles of Industrial Engineering is relatively low in many family-owned Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). According to a World Bank report, formal SMEs make up 45% of total employment and contribute 33% of GDP in emerging markets. In the USA, SMEs make up for more than 95% of all firms and employ 50% of private …

Performance Analysis Of Organizations As Complex Systems., William C. Harrington Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation provides a method for evaluating the difference in performance after an organization makes a change while considering the stochastic nature in which it operates. A procedure that uses simulation to estimate outcomes by adjusting controllable parameters and leaving uncontrolled parameters unadjusted is proposed. As healthcare organizations are considered as highly complex systems, a case study involving a scheduling tactic change in the mother-baby service line of a hospital is used to demonstrate application of this procedure. The goal in the case study was to reduce delays in transitioning care of mother patients from the labor and delivery unit …

Trim Tuning Of Sps-Series Dqw Crab Cavity Prototypes, S. Verdú-Andrés, J. Skaritka, Q. Wu, A. Ratti, S. Baurac, C. H. Boulware, T. Grimm, J. Yancey, W. Clemens, E. A. Mcewen, H. Park

Physics Faculty Publications

The final steps in the manufacturing of a superconducting RF cavity involve careful tuning before the final welds to match the target frequency as fabrication tolerances may introduce some frequency deviations. The target frequency is chosen based on analysis of the shifts induced by remaining processing steps including acid etching and cool down. The baseline fabrication of a DQW crab cavity for the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) envisages a first tuning before the cavity subassemblies are welded together. To produce a very accurate final result, subassemblies are trimmed to frequency in the last machining steps, using a clamped cavity assembly …

Applications Of Krylov Subspace And Balanced Truncation Model Order Reduction In Power Systems, Sebastian Emanuel Garrido

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic representations of power systems usually result in the order of hundreds or even thousands of buses. Therefore, reduction of these dynamic representations is convenient. Two applications of model order reduction in power systems are discussed in this thesis. First, Krylov subspace-based method is applied to the IEEE-123 Node Test Feeder in the context of distribution-level power systems simulation. Second, a Balanced Truncation-based model reduction is implemented in the 3-Machine 9-Bus system for designing a power system controller in the context of generation- and transmission-level power systems.

First, for the IEEE-123 Node Test Feeder, a two-sided Arnoldi algorithm is proposed …

Low Bandwidth Communication For Networked Power Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation, Sean Borgsteede

Theses and Dissertations

Power-Hardware-In-the-Loop (PHIL) simulations allow the design and validation of power hardware components in virtual power system schemas with near real-time operation. This technique is increasingly used in the development cycle of many products to reduce design costs and increase design fidelity. The Hardware under Test (HuT) interfaces with a simulation of the user’s choosing through a hardware interface (HI). The digitally simulated system (DSS) runs on the real-time simulator before sending a reference value to the hardware interface to enforce. In this virtual to real interface, closed-loop stability and the simulation accuracy are the two paramount criteria in regards to …

Optimizing The B.O.B., Valerie N. Washington, Douglas Starzec

KSU Journey Honors College Capstones and Theses

The Kennesaw State University Department of Transportation manages the Big Owl Bus (B.O.B.). The B.O.B. has 9 routes which provide transportation around and between the Kennesaw and Marietta campuses, as well as to select off-campus apartment complexes and shopping centers. We utilized a number of methodologies to recommend improvements to the efficiency and accessibility of the B.O.B. We first used the vehicle routing problem to develop a binary integer linear programming model. This allowed us to determine a new set of routes that minimize total travel time across the routes. Next, we developed an integer non-linear programming model to assign …

Simulation And Analysis Of A Drilling Fluid Using A Herschel-Bulkley Model, Daniel Powell

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

In the study, a drilling fluid with known properties is analyzed and simulated in the laminar regime through a pipe with dimensions of 1.5m in length and 0.02m in diameter. The purpose of the conducted analysis is to demonstrate the advantages of the Herschel-Bulkley model currently used in the oil and gas industry for analyzing non-Newtonian drilling fluids.

For comparison, the analysis is also performed using more simple models for non-Newtonian fluids such as the Bingham Plastic model and the Power Law model and for a Newtonian fluid (water). In addition to analytical models, computations are conducted using …

A Predictor Analysis Framework For Surface Radiation Budget Reprocessing Using Design Of Experiments, Patricia Allison Quigley

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Earth’s Radiation Budget (ERB) is an accounting of all incoming energy from the sun and outgoing energy reflected and radiated to space by earth’s surface and atmosphere. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) project produces and archives long-term datasets representative of this energy exchange system on a global scale. The data are comprised of the longwave and shortwave radiative components of the system and is algorithmically derived from satellite and atmospheric assimilation products, and acquired atmospheric data. It is stored as 3-hourly, daily, monthly/3-hourly, and monthly averages of 1°x1° …

Optimizing Control Of Shell Eco-Marathon Prototype Vehicle To Minimize Fuel Consumption, Chad Louis Bickel

Master's Theses

Every year the automotive industry strives to increase fuel efficiency in vehicles. When most vehicles are designed, fuel efficiency cannot always come first. The Shell Eco-marathon changes that by challenging students everywhere to develop the most fuel-efficient vehicle possible. There are many different factors that affect fuel efficiency, and different teams focus on different vehicle parameters. Currently, there is no straightforward design tool that can be used to help in Shell Eco-marathon vehicle design. For this reason, it is difficult to optimize every vehicle parameter for maximum fuel efficiency.

In this study, a simulation is developed by using basic vehicle …

Development Of An Atlas-Based Segmentation Of Cranial Nerves Using Shape-Aware Discrete Deformable Models For Neurosurgical Planning And Simulation, Sharmin Sultana

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Twelve pairs of cranial nerves arise from the brain or brainstem and control our sensory functions such as vision, hearing, smell and taste as well as several motor functions to the head and neck including facial expressions and eye movement. Often, these cranial nerves are difficult to detect in MRI data, and thus represent problems in neurosurgery planning and simulation, due to their thin anatomical structure, in the face of low imaging resolution as well as image artifacts. As a result, they may be at risk in neurosurgical procedures around the skull base, which might have dire consequences such as …

Using The Vehicle Routing Problem To Reduce Field Completion Times With Multiple Machines, Hasan Seyyedhasani, Joseph S. Dvorak

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is a powerful tool used to express many logistics problems, yet unlike other vehicle routing challenges, agricultural field work consists of machine paths that completely cover a field. In this work, the allocation and ordering of field paths among a number of available machines has been transformed into a VRP that enables optimization of completion time for the entire field. A basic heuristic algorithm (a modified form of the common Clarke-Wright algorithm) and a meta-heuristic algorithm, Tabu Search, were employed for optimization. Both techniques were evaluated through computer simulations in two fields: a hypothetical basic …

Heat And Water Transport In Soils And Across The Soil-Atmosphere Interface: 2. Numerical Analysis, Jan Vanderborght, Thomas Fetzer, Klaus Mosthaf, Kathleen M. Smits, Rainer Helmig

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications - Archive

In an accompanying paper, we presented an overview of a wide variety of modeling concepts, varying in complexity, used to describe evaporation from soil. Using theoretical analyses, we explained the simplifications and parameterizations in the different approaches. In this paper, we numerically evaluate the consequences of these simplifications and parameterizations. Two sets of simulations were performed. The first set investigates lateral variations in vertical fluxes, which emerge from both homogeneous and heterogeneous porous media, and their importance to capturing evaporation behavior. When evaporation decreases from parts of the heterogeneous soil surface, lateral flow and transport processes in the free flow …

Simulation Of Anisoplanatic Imaging Through Optical Turbulence Using Numerical Wave Propagation With New Validation Analysis, Russell C. Hardie, Jonathan D. Power, Daniel A. Lemaster, Douglas R. Droege, Szymon Gladysz, Santasri Bose-Pillai

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We present a numerical wave propagation method for simulating imaging of an extended scene under anisoplanatic conditions. While isoplanatic simulation is relatively common, few tools are specifically designed for simulating the imaging of extended scenes under anisoplanatic conditions. We provide a complete description of the proposed simulation tool, including the wave propagation method used. Our approach computes an array of point spread functions (PSFs) for a two-dimensional grid on the object plane. The PSFs are then used in a spatially varying weighted sum operation, with an ideal image, to produce a simulated image with realistic optical turbulence degradation. The degradation …

Venus Lander Design, Garon Morgan, Brian Rodrigues, Dhruv Sachani, Jason Scott

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The students designed an Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) system for a lander to reach the surface of Venus. The students used a combination of 3D modelling and programming to design the EDL within given constraints under specific tolerances. An EDL takes into consideration entry flight dynamics, aeroheating, and landing systems. The EDL was divided into three stages (see below). The separation of stages was designed to address unique challenges found at different points throughout the EDL. The primary objective of the first stage was to minimize the heat associated with the entry velocity to the payload. The second stage …

Introduction To Water Resources Systems - University Of Colorado Boulder, Joseph Kasprzyk

All ECSTATIC Materials

This is the introductory lecture to a Water Resource Systems and Management class from Spring 2017 at the University of Colorado Boulder, by Joseph Kasprzyk. Learning goals include (i) defining integrated water resources management, (ii) identifying Colorado water management issues (ii) identifying how RiverWare simulation and optimization can be used to develop water plans (iii) use the HyMod model to perform rainfall-runoff modeling (iv) generating random parameter samples and understanding how parameter uncertainty affects model results.

Investigating Students’ Perception Using Construction Management Simulations, Saeed Rokooei, James D. Goedert, Asregedew Woldesenbet

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Faculty Publications

Today, construction programs are incorporating a wide variety of active learning methods in their curricula to improve student learning outcomes and induce a more knowledge retention rate. Simulations and educational games are one of the fast growing and effective active learning methods that have been implemented in many programs. However, there are few instances of such learning methods applied in construction programs and a limited number of research projects have been conducted to investigate short-term and long-term outcomes of these methods and applications. This paper presents construction students’ perceptions of tested simulations with regards to the features, knowledge gained, level …

Horizontal Directional Drilling Pilot Bore Simulation, Paulius Tervydis, Ruta Jankuniene

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Various underground communications (water or gas supply systems, sewage, power lines) have been installed in recent years using trenchless technologies, i.e. horizontal directional drilling (HDD). This technique by its nature does not disturb the traffic and is environmentally friendly. One must be aware that, with HDD, pipeline building time is shortened. With respect to the above, HDD is especially effective in highly populated or industrial areas. However, it is necessary to ensure that HDD works, in order to prevent damage to installed underground facilities. The aim of this work is to propose a user-friendly and inexpensive simulation tool with required …

Impact Of A Localized Lean Six Sigma Implementation On Overall Patient Safety And Process Efficiency, Luvianca Gil, Pilar Pazos, Mamadou Seck, Rolando Delaguila

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Continuous quality improvement tools have caught the attention of the Health Care Industry as a solution to process efficiency, patient safety and cost reduction. This research explores the impact of a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) process improvement initiative in overall process efficiency and patient safety in two Labor and Delivery (L+D) units of two large hospital providers. This study focuses on the application of modeling and simulation methodology to investigate the influence of a localized process improvement intervention on the overall L+D unit output, by considering patient flow, system capacity and unit performance. The simulation models capacity profiles and patient …

Engineering Inpatient Discharges: Disposition Prediction And Day-Of-Discharge Planning, Nicholas A. Ballester

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Inpatient discharge planning is a critical decision point in patient care, with implications for the efficiency of the inpatient unit as well as other units of the acute care hospital. Inefficient discharge planning can cause patient boarding (waiting for beds) in the upstream units. While this is a poignant and well-known problem in healthcare, very little quantitative research exists that proposes approaches to alleviate it. To address this issue, we apply Systems Engineering methods with focus on three key challenges in inpatient discharge planning. First, to aid inpatient care providers in predicting discharge disposition (home vs. non-home) within 24-hours of …

Comparative Studies Of Diffusion Models And Artificial Neural Intelligence On Electrochemical Process Of U And Zr Dissolutions In Licl-Kcl Eutectic Salts, Samaneh Rakhshan Pouri

Theses and Dissertations

The electrorefiner (ER) is the heart of pyroprocessing technology operating at a high-temperature (723 K – 773 K) to separate uranium from Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) used metallic fuel. One of the most common electroanalytical methods for determining the thermodynamic and electrochemical behavior of elemental species in the eutectic molten salt LiCl-KCl inside ER is cyclic voltammetry (CV). Information from CV can possibly be used to estimate diffusion coefficients, apparent standard potentials, transfer coefficients, and numbers of electron transferred. Therefore, predicting the trace of each species from the CV method in an absence of experimental data is important for safeguarding …

Modeling And Studying The Effect Of Texture And Elastic Anisotropy Of Copper Microstructure In Nanoscale Interconnects On Reliability In Integrated Circuits, Adarsh Basavalingappa

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Copper interconnects are typically polycrystalline and follow a lognormal grain size distribution. Polycrystalline copper interconnect microstructures with a lognormal grain size distribution were obtained with a Voronoi tessellation approach. The interconnect structures thus obtained were used to study grain growth mechanisms, grain boundary scattering, scattering dependent resistance of interconnects, stress evolution, vacancy migration, reliability life times, impact of orientation dependent anisotropy on various mechanisms, etc. In this work, the microstructures were used to study the impact of microstructure and elastic anisotropy of copper on thermal and electromigration induced failure.

System Identification Of A Circulation Control Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Mohammed Agha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The advancement in automation and sensory systems in recent years has led to an increase the demand of UAV missions. Due to this increase in demand, the research community has gained interest in investigating UAV performance enhancing systems. Circulation Control (CC), which is an active control flow method used to enhance UAV lift, is a performance enhancing system currently studied. In prior research, experimental studies have shown that Circulation Control wings (CCW) implemented on class-I UAVs can reduce take-off distance by 54%. Wind tunnel tests reveal that CC improves aircraft payload capabilities through lift enhancement. Increasing aircraft payload capabilities causes …

Computational Ultrasound Elastography: A Feasibility Study, Yu Wang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Ultrasound Elastography (UE) is an emerging set of imaging modalities used to assess the biomechanical properties of soft tissues. UE has been applied to numerous clinical applications. Particularly, results from clinical trials of UE in breast lesion differentiation and staging liver fibrosis indicated that there was a lack of confidence in UE measurements or image interpretation. Confidence on UE measurements interpretation is critically important for improving the clinical utility of UE. The primary objective of my thesis is to develop a computational simulation platform based on open-source software packages including Field II, VTK, FEBio and Tetgen. The proposed virtual simulation …