Engineering Commons^™

Backflow Relief Valve Test Stand, Olivia Mcnulty, Wiill Halvorsen, Ryan Dubois, David Leaman

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Review (FDR) document details the final design, manufacturing, testing, and results of the Zurn Wilkins Backflow Relief Valve Test Stand Project under the sponsorship of Brian Yale and Rueben Westmoreland. This project involves simulating real-world conditions of static pressure and water hammer cycling. The stand will give Zurn Wilkins’ engineers a method by which to test their relief valves prior to a rigorous, yearlong University of Southern California (USC) testing procedure. Our design involves using city water, a pump, a Zurn backflow preventer, and a control system to apply specific pressures to each end of the relief …

Saver: Surface Autonomous Vehicle For Emergency Rescue, Lucas Je Sandsor, Michelangelo Coltelli, Brian Wong, Sebastion Rivero, Kobe Hayashi

Mechanical Engineering

The design, fabrication, and testing of an unmanned surface vehicle for the NASA Micro-G NExT SAVER challenge. This device features a radio direction finding phase array to autonomously navigate to an emergency distress beacon to deliver emergency supplies.

Practical Podcasting: A Technical Guide To Producing Studio-Quality Podcasts, Jacob Sarmiento

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

Podcasting exists at the intersection of the technical aspects of audio engineering and disciplines such as journalism and story-telling. Podcasts at KCPR, the student radio station, cover a wide range of topics including the soundscape of the DIY music scene in San Luis Obispo (SLO) on SLO-Fi, the intricacies of navigating SLO on Cal Poly 101, the best of Cal Poly Athletics on The Gallop, and the voices of underrepresented populations on campus on Different Matters. KCPR utilizes podcasts to entertain and inform its audience of the various experiences possible as a Cal Poly student. As a student-run entity, KCPR …

Enhancing Telecom Churn Prediction: Adaboost With Oversampling And Recursive Feature Elimination Approach, Long Dinh Tran

Master's Theses

Churn prediction is a critical task for businesses to retain their valuable customers. This paper presents a comprehensive study of churn prediction in the telecom sector using 15 approaches, including popular algorithms such as Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, Random Forest, and AdaBoost.

The study is segmented into three sets of experiments, each focusing on a different approach to building the churn prediction model. The model is constructed using the original training set in the first set of experiments. The second set involves oversampling the training set to address the issue of imbalanced data. Lastly, the third set …

Board 342: Moving Toward Transdisciplinary Learning Around Topics Of Convergence: Is It Really Possible In Higher Education Today?, Greg Strimel, Douglas Edward Pruim, Deana Lucas, Todd R. Kelley, Jung Joo Sohn

Technology Leadership and Innovation Faculty Publications

There have been numerous demands for enhancements in the way undergraduate learning occurs today, especially at a time when the value of higher education continues to be called into question. One type of demand has been for the increased integration of subjects/disciplines around relevant issues/topics—with a more recent trend of seeking transdisciplinary learning experiences for students. Transdisciplinary learning can be viewed as the holistic way of working equally across disciplines to transcend their own disciplinary boundaries to form new conceptual understandings as well as develop new ways in which to address complex topics or challenges. This transdisciplinary approach can be …

Multi-Hazard Socio-Physical Resilience Assessment Of Hurricane-Induced Hazards On Coastal Communities, Omar M. Nofal, Kooshan Amini, Jamie E. Padgett, John W. Van De Lindt, Nathanael Rosenheim, Yousef M. Darestani, Amin Enderami, Elaina J. Sutley, Sara Hamideh, Leonardo Duenas-Osorio

Michigan Tech Publications

Hurricane-induced hazards can result in significant damage to the built environment cascading into major impacts to the households, social institutions, and local economy. Although quantifying physical impacts of hurricane-induced hazards is essential for risk analysis, it is necessary but not sufficient for community resilience planning. While there have been several studies on hurricane risk and recovery assessment at the building- and community-level, few studies have focused on the nexus of coupled physical and social disruptions, particularly when characterizing recovery in the face of coastal multi-hazards. Therefore, this study presents an integrated approach to quantify the socio-physical disruption following hurricane-induced multi-hazards …

Wave Energy Converters With Rigid Hull Encapsulation: A Review, Mahmodul Hasan Maheen, Yingchen Yang

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Highlights

• WECs with rigid hull encapsulation are water-tight and robust.

• Diverse internally embedded power take-off designs are summarized.

• Various mechanisms and strategies for frequency tuning are formulated.

• Typical WEC testing methods are discussed.

• Some future research considerations are suggested.

Abstract

Ocean wave energy has a great potential in mitigating energy and sustainability crises of the 21st century. The lack of mature and cost-competitive wave energy converter (WEC) technologies, however, has become a major roadblock for WEC products entering the marketplace. A harsh ocean environment, which includes extreme waves, strong biological activities, and chemical transformations, adds to the maintenance cost and …

Residual Vulnerabilities To Power Side Channel Attacks Of Lightweight Ciphers Cryptography Competition Finalists, Aurelien Mozipo, John M. Acken

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The protection of communications between Internet of Things (IoT) devices is of great concern because the information exchanged contains vital sensitive data. Malicious agents seek to exploit those data to extract secret information about the owners or the system. Power side channel attacks are of great concern on these devices because their power consumption unintentionally leaks information correlatable to the device's secret data. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of authenticated encryption with advanced data, in protecting communications with these devices. A comprehensive evaluation of the seven (out of 10) algorithm finalists of the National Institute of Standards and Technology …

An Examination Of The Stiffness Terms Needed To Model The Dynamics Of An Eddy Current Based Maglev Vehicle, Colton W. Bruce, Jonathan Bird

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper re-examines the basis for each eddy current stiffness term computed from prior published steady-state eddy current models. The paper corrects prior analysis work by confirming, through the use of 2-D and 3-D dynamic finite element analysis modelling, that when a magnetic source is moving over an infinite-wide and infinite-long conductive sheet guideway the steady-state lateral and translational stiffness terms will be zero and only the vertical coupled stiffness terms need to be modelled. Using these observations, a much simplified 6 degrees-of-freedom (DoF) linearized eddy current dynamic force model can be used to compute the steady-state force changes in …

Clinical Utility Of Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells In Regenerative Medicine And Cellular Therapy, Vitali V. Maldonado, Neel H. Patel, Emma E. Smith, C. Lowry Barnes, Michael P. Gustafson, Raj R. Rao, Rebekah M. Samsonraj

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have been carefully examined to have tremendous potential in regenerative medicine. With their immunomodulatory and regenerative properties, MSCs have numerous applications within the clinical sector. MSCs have the properties of multilineage differentiation, paracrine signaling, and can be isolated from various tissues, which makes them a key candidate for applications in numerous organ systems. To accentuate the importance of MSC therapy for a range of clinical indications, this review highlights MSC-specific studies on the musculoskeletal, nervous, cardiovascular, and immune systems where most trials are reported. Furthermore, an updated list of the different types of MSCs used in …

Influence Of Organics And Gas Mixing On Hydrogen/Brine And Methane/Brine Wettability Using Jordanian Oil Shale Rocks: Implications For Hydrogen Geological Storage, Amer Alanazi, Nurudeen Yekeen, Mujahid Ali, Muhammad Ali, Israa S. Abu-Mahfouz, Alireza Keshavarz, Stefan Iglauer, Hussein Hoteit

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The substitution of fossil fuel with clean hydrogen (H₂) has been identified as a promising route to achieve net zero carbon emissions by this century. However, enough H₂ must be stored underground at an industrial scale to achieve this objective due to the low volumetric energy density of H₂. In underground H₂ storage, cushion gases, such as methane (CH₄), are required to maintain a safe operational formation pressure during the withdrawal or injection of H₂. The wetting characteristics of geological formations in the presence of H₂, cushion gas, …

Enhanced Hardness-Toughness Balance Induced By Adaptive Adjustment Of The Matrix Microstructure In In Situ Composites, Mingjuan Zhao, Xiang Jiang, Yumeng Guan, Haichao Yang, Longzhi Zhao, Dejia Liu, Haitao Jiao, Meng Yu, Yanchuan Tang, Laichang Zhang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

With the development of high-speed and heavy-haul railway transportation, the surface failure of rail turnouts has become increasingly severe due to insufficient high hardness-toughness combination. In this work, in situ bainite steel matrix composites with WC primary reinforcement were fabricated via direct laser deposition (DLD). With the increased primary reinforcement content, the adaptive adjustments of the matrix microstructure and in situ reinforcement were obtained at the same time. Furthermore, the dependence of the adaptive adjustment of the composite microstructure on the composites’ balance of hardness and impact toughness was evaluated. During DLD, the laser induces an interaction among the primary …

Saudi Arabian Basalt/Co2/Brine Wettability: Implications For Co2 Geo-Storage, Muhammad Ali, Nurudeen Yekeen, Amer Alanazi, Alireza Keshavarz, Stefan Iglauer, Thomas Finkbeiner, Hussein Hoteit

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The geological sequestration of carbon dioxide, including mineralization in basaltic formations, has been identified as a promising method of attaining a low-carbon economy. However, successful CO₂ storage depends on both the CO₂ wettability of the basaltic rocks and the basalt rock-fluid interfacial interactions. The contact angles of brine/CO^₂ systems for Western Australian (WA) and Iceland basalts have been recently reported in the literature. However, contact angle datasets for evaluating the CO₂ wettability of Saudi Arabian (SA) basalt have not been previously reported. Moreover, there is limited information on the impact of organic acids on the wettability …

Patient Movement Monitoring Based On Imu And Deep Learning, Mohsen Sharifi Renani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of disability among the aging population in the United States and is frequently treated by replacing deteriorated joints with metal and plastic components. Developing better quantitative measures of movement quality to track patients longitudinally in their own homes would enable personalized treatment plans and hasten the advancement of promising new interventions. Wearable sensors and machine learning used to quantify patient movement could revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of movement disorders. The purpose of this dissertation was to overcome technical challenges associated with the use of wearable sensors, specifically Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), as a …

Solving Supersonic Flows Using The Method Of Integral Relations In Python, Eddie Hsieh

Master's Theses

This thesis presents a modern approach to the Method of Integral Relations implemented in the Python programming language. This work is based on South's reports on solving supersonic conical flows and Belotserkovskii's publications on solving supersonic flows over blunt bodies. The Python SciPy library is extensively used in this thesis. A root finder module is used to perform South's solution process, and the Runge-Kutta ODE solver with dense output is implemented to replicate Belotserkovskii's solution process. The implementation of Python makes the development efficient and serves as an open-source framework for future work to build on. This work focuses on …

Design And Implementation Of A Prototype Pendulum Platform For Aerospace Controls Education, Zachary A. Wright

Master's Theses

This thesis presents a modular, low-cost, prototype inverted pendulum platform for undergraduate Aerospace control theory research and education. The platform's default configuration integrates a propeller and reaction wheel as its actuators, with multiple sensors available to measure the pendulum's states. The platform utilizes open-source software and hardware to power the actuators, and uses MATLAB/Simulink to streamline data collection. System identification techniques are applied to the platform, and the mathematical model of the pendulum is verified. Momentum exchange between the reaction wheel and propeller during closed-loop stabilization of the pendulum is demonstrated.

Programmable Vibration Table Retrofit With Eagle Medical, Jonathan Ilagan, Madhav Asok, Max Lewter

Biomedical Engineering

This project aimed to repair and upgrade a vibration table used for package testing for the sponsor, Eagle Medical - a medical packaging and sterilization company based in Paso Robles, California. The current vibration table is not programmable and lacks circuit diagrams, making it difficult to repair. In addition, it is not functional due to internal circuitry issues and power requirements. To address these issues, the team will implement several upgrades to improve the product and allow for better random cyclic vibration testing. A full assessment of the existing vibration table will be conducted to ensure the viability of these …

Neuroevolution Application To Collaborative And Heuristics-Based Connected And Autonomous Vehicle Cohort Simulation At Uncontrolled Intersection, Frederic Jacquelin, Jungyun Bae, Bo Chen, Darrell Robinette

Michigan Tech Publications

Artificial intelligence is gaining tremendous attractiveness and showing great success in solving various problems, such as simplifying optimal control derivation. This work focuses on the application of Neuroevolution to the control of Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) cohorts operating at uncontrolled intersections. The proposed method implementation’s simplicity, thanks to the inclusion of heuristics and effective real-time performance are demonstrated. The resulting architecture achieves nearly ideal operating conditions in keeping the average speeds close to the speed limit. It achieves twice as high mean speed throughput as a controlled intersection, hence enabling lower travel time and mitigating energy inefficiencies from stop-and-go …

Integration Of Environmental Sustainability And Decision Making: Case Studies Of Civil Infrastructure, Sussan Moussavi

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sustainable development is important in the planning and design of critical civil infrastructure systems. However, decision making related to these systems currently lacks meaningful sustainability considerations. To fill this gap, this research explores the life cycle impacts of wastewater and energy infrastructure using case studies, life cycle assessment methodologies, and stakeholder discussions. Environmental and economic impacts, which are more commonly quantified, as well as more difficult to quantify societal factors, are explored. The goal of this research is to help inform decision making and facilitate the consideration of the three pillars of sustainability (e.g., economic, environmental, and social) during the …

Experimental Assessment Of Thermal And Acoustics Interactions On Occupant Comfort In Mixed-Mode Buildings, Yuzhen Peng, Nogista Antanuri, Siu-Kit Lau, Bahador Jebelli, Kardinal Steve Jusuf, Clayton Miller, Ting Yi Teo, Xuan Yun Chua, Adrian Chong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Mixed-mode buildings use natural ventilation (NV) through operable building envelopes (e.g., windows) and mechanical air-conditioning (AC) systems to condition indoor spaces with the goal of energy savings without compromising occupant comfort requirements. As a result, occupants within such buildings experience different thermal and acoustic conditions. In mixed-mode buildings, however, there is no clear guideline on assessing or predicting occupants’ thermal perception (e.g., thermal sensation and acceptability) and the interaction effects between thermal and acoustic comfort. This study investigates thermal and acoustic comfort as well as their interaction effects in mixed-mode buildings under NV and AC modes. A field study was …

Pavement Condition Survey Using Drone Technology, Lerose Lane, Dingxin Cheng

Mineta Transportation Institute

Timely repairs of pavement defects are essential in protecting both public road and highway systems. Identification of pavement distresses is necessary for planning pavement repairs. This has previously been performed by engineers surveying the roadways visually in the field. As drone usage has progressed, it has become clear that drones are a valuable tool to enhance visual documentation, improve project communication, and provide various data for processing. The use of drone technology has improved both the speed and accuracy of capturing data. Available software has allowed the data to be processed and analyzed in an office environment. This report summarizes …

A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming Reduction Of Disjoint Bilinear Programs Via Symbolic Variable Elimination, Jihwan Jeong, Scott Sanner, Akshat Kumar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A disjointly constrained bilinear program (DBLP) has various practical and industrial applications, e.g., in game theory, facility location, supply chain management, and multi-agent planning problems. Although earlier work has noted the equivalence of DBLP and mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) from an abstract theoretical perspective, a practical and exact closed-form reduction of a DBLP to a MILP has remained elusive. Such explicit reduction would allow us to leverage modern MILP solvers and techniques along with their solution optimality and anytime approximation guarantees. To this end, we provide the first constructive closed-form MILP reduction of a DBLP by extending the technique of …

Ocapo: Occupancy-Aware, Pdc Control For Open-Plan, Shared Workspaces, Anaradha Ravi, Archan Misra

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Passive Displacement Cooling (PDC) has gained popularity as a means of significantly reducing building energy consumption overheads, especially in tropical climates. PDC eliminates the use of mechanical fans, instead using chilled-water heat exchangers to perform convective cooling. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of different parameters affecting occupant comfort in a 1000m2 open-floor area (consisting of multiple zones) of a ZEB (Zero Energy Building) deployed with PDC units and tackle the problem of setting the temperature setpoint of the PDC units to assure occupant thermal comfort. We tackle two key practical challenges: (a) the zone-level (i.e., occupant-experienced) temperature differs …

Feasibility Assessment Of An All-Electric, Narrow-Body Airliner, Ariel Sampson

Master's Theses

Combustion emissions from aviation operations contribute significantly to climate change and air pollution. Accordingly, there is increasing interest in advancing battery-powered propulsion for aviation applications to reduce emissions. As batteries continue to improve, it is essential to recognize breakthroughs in battery specific energy in the context of air transport vehicles. Most electric aircraft designs and programs have focused on small aircraft because of restrictive battery performance. This work presents a feasibility assessment for an all-electric airliner based on an Airbus A220-100 with turbofan engines replaced by electric motors and propellers. The analysis compares the performance characteristics of the electric airliner …

Parameter Measurement Of 0.33 Hp Synchronous Machine Using Itech Digital Power Supply, Andrew Kargol

Master's Theses

The classical methodologies for synchronous machine modeling provide a solid estimation for synchronous machine behavior but are limited in terms of accuracy due to the assumptions made in the modeling process. The equivalent circuit model developed by the classical approach breaks down the entire machine into a singular impedance component. This allows the model to be generated more quickly but limits its accuracy. In the pursuit of developing a more realistic model, this thesis outlines the parameter measurement of a Hampden SM-100 synchronous machine. In determining the SM-100’s experimental parameters, this thesis executes and analyzes new experimental approaches to synchronous …

Efficiency Study Of A Hybrid Ac/Dc House, Eunice Dominique Solomon Santiago

Master's Theses

With the proliferation of residential-scale renewable energy sources and DC loads, it has become attractive to use residential DC electrical system that could offer benefits over the legacy residential AC electrical system. The Hybrid AC/DC house provides a sustainable alternative to preexisting residential electrical system by having both AC and DC buses. The DC bus facilitates the connection from DC sources to DC loads, whereas the AC bus interfaces AC sources to AC loads. The study develops the equations to calculate losses based on a model consisting of four main components: Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) converter, AC-DC converter, inverter, and DC-DC …

Statistical Uncertainty Of The Ignition Time, Burning Rate, And Extinction Characteristics Of Engineered Timber Products, Jacob David

Master's Theses

The characterization of flammability parameters such as time to ignition, mass loss rate (MLR), and extinction criteria is critical for understanding ignition and burning behavior of timber products. These parameters, often determined with bench scale experiments, have previously been presented in literature. However, standard test methods generally use relatively low trial quantities (e.g., n=3) which can potentially cause large variation in reported values. This study investigates the influence of trial quantity on observed statistical variation in key flammability metrics for timber products (e.g., ignition time, peak MLR, MLR at extinction). Using a conical heater, 100 repeat trials were conducted …

Design Of Class F-Based Doherty Power Amplifier For S-Band Applications, Kyle Chang

Master's Theses

Modern RF and millimeter-wave communication links call for high-efficiency front end systems with high output power and high linearity to meet minimum transmission requirements. Advanced modulation techniques, such as orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) require a large power amplifier (PA) dynamic range due to the high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). This thesis provides the analysis, design, and experimental verification of a high-efficiency, high-linearity S-band Doherty power amplifier (DPA) based on the Class F PA. Traditional Class F PAs use harmonically tuned output matching networks to obtain up to 88.4% power-added efficiency (PAE) theoretically, however the amplifier experiences poor linearity performance due …

Estimating The Impact Of Infill Housing On Reduction In Vehicle Miles Traveled, Peyton Marie Ratto

Master's Theses

Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and its relationship with the built environment has been extensively studied. Most notably, five D variables of the built environment including density, diversity, design, destination accessibility, and distance to transit are the key variables included in this research to explain VMT generation from housing developments. This thesis uses prior research that developed robust statistical models and findings to create a framework to estimate VMT reduction affected by infill housing developed using incentives provided by the state compared to a regional comparator. The regional comparator is typically a suburban single-family housing development in the region. The models …

Development Of A Low-Cost Acoustic Gauge For Simultaneous Tide And Wave Measurement, Alexander Kalman Dunn

Master's Theses

High-quality tide and wave data are essential in a variety of fields including coastal engineering, climate science, disaster response, and recreational activities. Accurate data are publicly accessible from government organizations such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), however the high costs associated with deploying and maintaining their high accuracy gauges results in a deficit of localized data. Commercial gauges available starting at $2,000 are still expensive for local agencies and individual users to deploy and maintain. These commercial options can also be limited in their scope, accuracy, or ease of use. In this thesis, a low-cost acoustic gauge …