Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A Cfd Model For The Drying Of Aluminum-Clad Spent Nuclear Fuel, Nathaniel Cooper

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) currently manages approxi- mately 2500 metric tons of heavy metal (MTHM) of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), pri- marily from naval sources and domestic research reactors, and has agreements in place to accept 10,000 MTHM of aluminum-clad SNF from foreign reactors by 2029. However, due to the closure and the Yucca Mountain site and difficulties in the vitrification process, the majority of this fuel is expected to be placed in intermediate dry storage.

Before being placed in interim storage, all assemblies must be subjected to a drying process, either by forced gas recirculation (FGR) …

Camera Placement Meeting Restrictions Of Computer Vision, Sara Aghajanzadeh, Roopasree Naidu, Shuo-Han Chen, Caleb Tung, Abhinav Goel, Yung-Hsiang Lu, George K. Thiruvathukal

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the blooming era of smart edge devices, surveillance cam- eras have been deployed in many locations. Surveillance cam- eras are most useful when they are spaced out to maximize coverage of an area. However, deciding where to place cam- eras is an NP-hard problem and researchers have proposed heuristic solutions. Existing work does not consider a signifi- cant restriction of computer vision: in order to track a moving object, the object must occupy enough pixels. The number of pixels depends on many factors (how far away is the object? What is the camera resolution? What is the focal length?). …

The Professional Constructor, Full Issue, Volume 45, Number 02

The Professional Constructor

No abstract provided.

Open Source Arc Analyzer: Multi-Sensor Monitoring Of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing, Adam M. Pringle, Shane Oberloier, Aliaksei Petsiuk, Paul G. Sanders, Joshua M. Pearce

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Low-cost high-resolution metal 3-D printing remains elusive for the scientific community. Low-cost gas metal arc wire (GMAW)-based 3-D printing enables wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) for near net shape applications, but has limited resolution due to the complexities of the arcing process. To begin to monitor and thus control these complexities, the initial designs of the open source GMAW 3-D printer have evolved to include current and voltage monitoring. Building on this prior work, in this study, the design, fabrication and use of the open source arc analyzer is described. The arc analyzer is a multi-sensor monitoring system for quantifying …

Mechanical Properties Of Direct Waste Printing Of Polylactic Acid With Universal Pellets Extruder: Comparison To Fused Filament Fabrication On Open-Source Desktop Three-Dimensional Printers, Arthur Alexandre, Fabio A. Cruz Sanchez, Hakim Boudaoud, Mauricio Camargo, Joshua M. Pearce

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is the most common and widespread additive manufacturing (AM) technique, but it requires the formation of filament. Fused granular fabrication (FGF), where plastic granules are directly three-dimensional (3D) printed, has become a promising technique for the AM technology. FGF could be a key driver to promote further greening of distributed recycling thanks to the reduced melt solidification steps and elimination of the filament extruder system. However, only large-scale FGF systems have been tested for technical and economic viability of recycling plastic materials. The objective of this work is to evaluate the performance of the FFF and …

Humans-As-A-Sensor For Buildings — Intensive Longitudinal Indoor Comfort Models, Prageeth Jayathissa, Matias Quintana, Mahmoud Abdelrahman, Clayton Miller

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Evaluating and optimising human comfort within the built environment is challenging due to the large number of physiological, psychological and environmental variables that affect occupant comfort preference. Human perception could be helpful to capture these disparate phenomena and interpreting their impact; the challenge is collecting spatially and temporally diverse subjective feedback in a scalable way. This paper presents a methodology to collect intensive longitudinal subjective feedback of comfort-based preference using micro ecological momentary assessments on a smartwatch platform. An experiment with 30 occupants over two weeks produced 4378 field-based surveys for thermal, noise, and acoustic preference. The occupants and the …

The Building Data Genome Project 2, Energy Meter Data From The Ashrae Great Energy Predictor Iii Competition, Clayton Miller, Anjukan Kathirgamanathan, Bianca Picchetti, Pandarasamy Arjunan, Young June Park, Zoltan Nagy, Paul Raftery, W. Brodie Hobson, Zixiao Shi, Forrest Meggers

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper describes an open data set of 3,053 energy meters from 1,636 non-residential buildings with a range of two full years (2016 and 2017) at an hourly frequency (17,544 measurements per meter resulting in approximately 53.6 million measurements). These meters were collected from 19 sites across North America and Europe, with one or more meters per building measuring whole building electrical, heating and cooling water, steam, and solar energy as well as water and irrigation meters. Part of these data was used in the Great Energy Predictor III (GEPIII) competition hosted by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and …

Cleanpage: Fast And Clean Document And Whiteboard Capture, Jane Courtney

Articles

The move from paper to online is not only necessary for remote working, it is also significantly more sustainable. This trend has seen a rising need for the high-quality digitization of content from pages and whiteboards to sharable online material. However, capturing this information is not always easy nor are the results always satisfactory. Available scanning apps vary in their usability and do not always produce clean results, retaining surface imperfections from the page or whiteboard in their output images. CleanPage, a novel smartphone-based document and whiteboard scanning system, is presented. CleanPage requires one button-tap to capture, identify, crop, and …

Immunity Enhancement Of The Power Distribution Network In Integrated Circuits With Coplanar Meander Lines In Package, Bo Pu, Jun Fan, Wansoo Nah

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Integrated circuits suffer from interference in frequency multibands in real scenarios, and this susceptibility allows them to easily malfunction. In this article, a novel miniature coplanar filter in package to enhance the immunity of integrated circuits is proposed. The coplanar structure of the filter can avoid cost issues of the multilayers and can also be implemented in the substrate or interposer of the package, and also in a flexible/foldable board, with normal board, fabrication process. Analysis of the filtering characteristics and design method of a miniature filter with the required stop bands are demonstrated in detail. The designed band-stop filter …

Systematic Power Integrity Analysis Based On Inductance Decomposition In A Multi-Layered Pcb Pdn, Biyao Zhao, Siqi Bai, Samuel Connor, Stephen Scearce, Matteo Cocchini, Brice Achkir, Albert E. Ruehli, Bruce Archambeault, Jun Fan, James L. Drewniak

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An approach is presented for power integrity analysis on multi-layer printed circuit boards in this paper. Two critical current paths are analyzed. Inductance decomposition is applied to identify the critical parameters that can influence the PDN input impedance. Two types of stack-ups are used to perform sensitivity analysis to illustrate the effectiveness of PDN design guidelines. Based on the analysis of the inductance contribution from different blocks in the PCB PDN, a systematic approach to obtain a complete understanding of PDN behavior is proposed. The approach can be used to provide design guidance in PDN design practice.

Finite Element Analysis Investigation Of Hybrid Thin-Ply Composites For Improved Performance Of Aerospace Structures, Alana M. Zahn

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Commercial and private aircraft have a need for strong yet light materials in order to have the most ideal performance possible. This study looks at the use of thin-ply composite materials to improve the performance of aircraft structures by means of weight savings and/or strength increase when compared to laminates that are composed of exclusively standard-ply materials. In order to perform an investigation based solely on finite element analysis, validation efforts were performed using test data from open hole tension, open hole compression, notched tension, and notched compression specimens. Once the models were validated sufficiently, the same modeling practices were …

Impacts Of Laboratory Vibrations And Laser Flicker Noise On Digital Holography, Douglas E. Thornton, Mark F. Spencer, Christopher A. Rice, Glen P. Perram

Faculty Publications

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate the impacts of laboratory vibrations and laser flicker noise on digital holography (DH). Specifically, we measure both the vibration efficiency and the coherence efficiency of our DH system at various focal-plane array integration times and path-length differences between the signal and reference. These efficiencies, in practice, contribute to the overall mixing efficiency, which is a measure for how well the detected signal and reference interfere. The results show that when the integration time is ≤1ms, the laboratory vibrations are negligible with a vibration efficiency of 100%; however, when the integration time equals 100 ms, …

United States Department Of Defense (Dod) Real Property Repair, Alterations, Maintenance, And Construction Project Contract Data: 2009–2020, Tyler Stout, Adam Teston, Brent T. Langhals, Justin D. Delorit, Carlton Hendrix, Steven J. Schuldt

Faculty Publications

Nearly one-half of all construction projects exceed planned costs and schedule, globally [1]. Owners and construction managers can analyze historical project performance data to inform cost and schedule overrun risk-reduction strategies. Though, the majority of open-source project datasets are limited by the number of projects, data dimensionality, and location. A significant global customer of the construction industry, the Department of Defense (DoD) maintains a vast database of historical project data that can be used to determine the sources and magnitude of construction schedule and cost overruns for many continental and international locations. The selection of data provided by the authors …

Multimodal Representation Learning And Set Attention For Lwir In-Scene Atmospheric Compensation, Nicholas M. Westing, Kevin C. Gross, Brett J. Borghetti, Christine M. Schubert Kabban, Jacob Martin, Joseph Meola

Faculty Publications

A multimodal generative modeling approach combined with permutation-invariant set attention is investigated in this paper to support long-wave infrared (LWIR) in-scene atmospheric compensation. The generative model can produce realistic atmospheric state vectors (T;H₂O;O₃) and their corresponding transmittance, upwelling radiance, and downwelling radiance (TUD) vectors by sampling a low-dimensional space. Variational loss, LWIR radiative transfer loss and atmospheric state loss constrain the low-dimensional space, resulting in lower reconstruction error compared to standard mean-squared error approaches. A permutation-invariant network predicts the generative model low-dimensional components from in-scene data, allowing for simultaneous estimates of the atmospheric state and TUD …

Practical Measurement Of Size Distribution Of Blasted Rocks Using Lidar Scan Data, Irfan C. Engin, Norbert H. Maerz, Kenneth J. Boyko, Robert Reals

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Majority of the world's mine production is made by surface mining facilities for various reasons. Use of explosives is the most economical way in loosening of the main rock where hard rock formations exist. The degree of fragmentation affects the subsequent excavation and loading operations as well as indicates the success of the blasting process. Although the most preferred method for the measurement of fragment size of blasted rock is digital image analysis, the method also includes some limitations and errors. In this study, size distribution of the blasted rock was measured directly using laser scanning-LiDAR technology and a new …

Inkjet-Printed Ti3c2tx Mxene Electrodes For Multimodal Cutaneous Biosensing, Abdulelah Saleh, Shofarul Wustoni, Eloise Bihar, Jehad K. El-Demellawi, Yizhou Zhang, Adel Hama, Victor Druet, Arief Yudhanto, Gilles Lubineau, Husam N. Alshareef, Sahika Inal

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Among the existing two-dimensional materials, MXenes, i.e. transition metal carbides, nitrides and/or carbonitrides, stand out for their excellent electrochemical properties. Due to their high charge storage capacity, metal-like conductivity, biocompatibility as well as hydrophilicity, Ti3C2Tx MXene-based inks hold great potential for scalable production of skin conformable electronics via direct printing methods. Herein, we develop an aqueous MXene ink and inkjet-print MXene films on freestanding, flexible, and conducting polymer-based substrates. These skin-adherent MXene electrodes detect electrocardiography signals with high signal-to-noise ratio while exhibiting preserved electrical performance after 1000 cycles of bending with a 50 d long shelf life in ambient conditions. …

A Centralised Multi-Objective Model Predictive Control For Biventricular Assist Devices, Vivian Koh Ci Ai

Student Works (2020-2029)

Heart failure is defined as failure of heart to deliver adequate blood flow rate to support tissue perfusion. Heart failure can be treated by implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) for left heart failure patients, or a biventricular assist device (BiVAD) for bi-heart failure patients. Since left heart failure predominates right heart failure, all commercial ventricular assist devices are LVADs. Therefore, two LVADs are frequently used as BiVAD for bi-heart failure patients. Clinically, the constant speed (CS) control of BiVAD fails to adapt pump flow rate according to physiological changes, thus putting patients at risk of ventricular suction …

The Influence Of Marking Methods On Mobility, Survivorship, And Field Recovery Of Halyomorpha Halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) Adults And Nymphs, Danielle M. Kirkpatrick, Kevin B. Rice, Aya Ibrahim, Shelby J. Fleischer, John F. Tooker, Amy Tabb, Henry Medeiros, William R. Morrison Iii, Tracy C. Leskey

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Halyomorpha halys (Stål), the brown marmorated stink bug, is an invasive and highly polyphagous insect that has caused serious economic injury to specialty and row crops in the United States and Europe. Here, we evaluated the effects of marking adult and nymphal H. halys with four different colors of fluorescent powder (Blaze Orange, Corona Pink, Horizon Blue, and Signal Green) on mobility and survivorship in laboratory bioassays. Adults and nymphs were marked using liquified fluorescent powder solutions and allowed to dry prior to bioassay. The presence of the marking solution had no significant effects on adult or nymphal mobility, adult …

Effect Of Additional Weight On Human Squat Exercise Stability: Ground Reaction Forces And Centers Of Pressure, Jose Galarza, Dumitru Carantu

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The main focus of this work is to investigate the effect of weight on the stability of human squat exercise. The squat exercise is a common daily activity. Experiments are conducted using one human subject. A VICON motion analysis system integrated with Force Plates is utilized for these experiments. An experimental protocol is developed and followed. This work analyzes the time series of the normal component of the ground reaction forces and each coordinate of the center of pressure. These time series are used to estimate the Lyapunov Exponents using Rosenstein method. MATLAB software package is used for this investigation. …

Review Of Multimode Space Propulsion, Joshua L. Rovey, Christopher T. Lyne, Alex J. Mundahl, Nicolas Rasmont, Matthew S. Glascock, Mitchell J. Wainwright, Steven P. Berg

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Multimode propulsion is the integration of two or more propulsive modes with shared propellant into a single spacecraft propulsion system. Multimode propulsion is emerging as an enabling technology that promises enhanced capabilities for spacecraft and space missions and can therefore play an important role in the future of in-space propulsion. Multimode propulsion has the potential to provide unprecedented flexibility and adaptability to spacecraft as a direct result of shared propellant and can provide mass savings for certain missions. These benefits can apply regardless of spacecraft size. Additional mass savings may be realized by sharing thruster hardware between modes, especially for …

Housing Occupants’ Motivational Drivers For Energy-Savings In The United Arab Emirates: An Exploratory Study, Monaya Muhammed Syam

Theses

The fast urbanization in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) accounts for 70% of energy consumption with the residential sector leading the way, urgently calling for mitigating strategies. Energy-efficient housing in hot climates has been extensively researched in terms of design, building materials and systems. However, an energy performance gap subsides as a direct result of occupants’ behaviour, catalyzing focused research. Moreover, understanding the housing occupants’ behaviour, motivation, and impetus to save energy proved to significantly increase energy savings. Exploring this topic in the UAE is vital given its distinctive specifics; fast-growing economy, harsh hot climate, and heterogeneous population. The latter …

A Simplified Method For Experimentally Quantifying Crude Oil Swelling During Immiscible Carbon Dioxide Injection, Sherif Fakher, Abdulmohsin Imqam

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Immiscible carbon dioxide (CO₂) injection is one of the highly applied enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods due to its high oil recovery potential and its ability to store CO₂ in the reservoir. The main mechanism of immiscible CO₂ injection is oil swelling. Generally, oil swelling is measured experimentally or measured using modeling methods. This research conducts oil swelling experiments using a simplified method in order to easily and accurately measure oil swelling and determines some of the most significant factors that may impact oil swelling during CO₂ injection. The impact of varying CO₂ injection …

Orphan Boy And Orphan Girl: Historical Information On Groundwater And Flooded Workings, Emelina Doucette

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Groundwater has historically, and still is, a concern within the mining industry due to the relationships between potential environmental and safety impacts. Montana Technological University uses a once operating silver mine, the Orphan Boy, to provide students with hands-on experience and is known as the Underground Mine Education Center (UMEC). The UMEC, and neighboring Orphan Girl mine located at the World Museum of Mining, have experienced increasing water levels the past few years. A compilation of known information pertaining to the Orphan Girl and Orphan Boy groundwater connections is presented using historical groundwater and mine data, stope books, hydrographs, and …

Analysis Of Semi-Arid Riparian Environments Using Satellite Imagery, Kira Overin

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Semi-arid riparian environments are at risk of being over-exploited or degraded due to increased water usage associated with growing housing demands. Trends surrounding these developments can be monitored using freely available Landsat satellite imagery in conjunction with seasonal stream discharge rates. This project focuses on a stream system located southwest of Ennis, Montana, where population is growing rapidly. It aims to characterize the connection between variable discharge rates in small-scale riparian environments and adjoining vegetation health, while considering possible implications of continued urbanization. Methods for preventing riparian ecosystem degradation and promoting resilience are also discussed.

Investigation Into The Effects Of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Exposure On Well-Bore Cement Integrity, Claude Boiteau

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Current subterranean injection of anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide (CO₂), or CO₂ resulting from human activity, is occurring at multiple locations in both the domestic United States and abroad. It involves the capture of CO₂ from stationary industrial sources such as power plants and processing facilities, and subsequent injection into suitable subsurface environments. Injection is an alternative to the release of CO₂ and reduces the environmental impact of increased atmospheric carbon levels. The three scenarios for CO₂ injection are: the sequestration of captured anthropogenic CO₂, the re-injection of produced CO₂, and the …

An Investigation Of The Effect Of Trunk Musculature On The Lumbar Spine Injury During A High-Speed Frontal Central Crash, Nan Lin

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Motor vehicle crashes have been a leading cause of fatalities and injuries worldwide. Owing to new protection systems, the occurrence of injuries has been decreasing in recent years. On the contrary, the incidence of lumbar spine injuries in frontal crashes has been increasing as a function of the vehicle model year. However, only a few studies focused on lumbar spine injuries in vehicle crashes. Therefore, the mechanism of lumbar spine injuries has not been understood thoroughly. Muscle contraction is one of the factors that influence the risk of lumbar spine injuries as occupants tend to brace their muscles during a …

Aerial Imaging Riverflow System Using Optical Flow, Jamir Shariar Jyoti

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Watershed models of extreme flooding events require accurate and reliablemeasurements of streamflow for calibration and validation. However, flow rate measurements during floods are inherently uncertain, and physical measurements of velocity during flood conditions are prohibitive in many cases. Therefore, novel methods to measure stream velocity during extreme floods must be considered. This work addresses this challenge through the development of the Aerial Imaging Riverflow System (AIRS), a novel system that utilizes drones, aerial imagery, and optical flow algorithm to measure velocity in rivers and streams. This system was applied at a case study location on the Menomonee River in Wauwatosa, …

Seasonal Hydrologic And Biogeochemical Drivers Of Nutrient Availability In Urban Green Spaces, Isabelle R. Horvath

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Humans dominate urban nutrient cycles – adding nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) through car exhaust, fertilizer over-use, and pet waste. N and P are transported to streams via stormwater runoff, where they create eutrophic conditions and reduced water quality. Urban green spaces, like green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), have potential to mitigate N and P pollution through retention in soils and plants. Nutrient retention is accomplished in urban green spaces through filtration, plant uptake, and biogeochemical processes. These processes are highly variable, due to the influence of varying environmental drivers, such as temperature, rainfall, soil moisture, and soil redox status. This …

Seasonal Hydrologic And Biogeochemical Drivers Of Nutrient Availability In Urban Green Spaces, Isabelle R. Horvath

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Humans dominate urban nutrient cycles – adding nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) through car exhaust, fertilizer over-use, and pet waste. N and P are transported to streams via stormwater runoff, where they create eutrophic conditions and reduced water quality. Urban green spaces, like green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), have potential to mitigate N and P pollution through retention in soils and plants. Nutrient retention is accomplished in urban green spaces through filtration, plant uptake, and biogeochemical processes. These processes are highly variable, due to the influence of varying environmental drivers, such as temperature, rainfall, soil moisture, and soil redox status. This …

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo Predictive Diagnosis From Patient-Facing Survey, Taiwo Fasae

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is a leading cause of dizziness and imbalance that is responsible for one-third of fall incidents. Diagnosis, however, is ridden with uncertainties and errors. This thesis explores various techniques for BPPV predictive diagnosis from a survey study and proposes measures for predictive performance improvement. Patient-facing surveys are established ways of acquiring medical history in clinical settings and, as this thesis demonstrates, are capable of conveying patterns distinguishable for accurate diagnosis. This work begins by discussing BPPV and vestibular disorders in general, and the risks associated with misdiagnosis or elusive diagnosis. Innovative efforts by medical professionals …