Engineering Commons^™

Great Western Rv Park, Jairus Anderson, Clark Brown, Brennan Rees, Ty Rees

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Royal Developments LLC has requested the development of a parcel in a rural community in Wayne County. The proposed property is located between Bicknell and Torrey alongside Highway 24. The economic growth requires a need for more capacity of overnight stay. Within the rural area, it is home to diverse scenery that attracts millions of visitors every year around the world. Royal Developments plans to develop an RV park and cabins with JCR Engineering in the Bicknell area for visitors to stay.

North Davis Sewer District Wastewater Treatment Plant Additions, Amy Carmellini, Jessica Cooper, Kailey Jorgensen, Madeline Tennant, Nikki Vause, Travis Whitfield

Civil and Environmental Engineering

North Davis Sewer District (NDSD) wastewater treatment plant must alter their treatment process to reduce total phosphorus (TP) and total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) in their effluent. NDSD treats ~19 MGD using biotowers and trickling filters then discharges final effluent to Farmington Bay (FB) of the Great Salt Lake (GSL) (Figure 1).

Alterations to NDSD’s treatment process must meet lower TIN and TP standards by year 2020 while planning for population increases through year 2050. Relocation of NDSD’s outfall from FB to Gilbert Bay (GB) would allow NDSD to meet less stringent standards.

NDSD plant operators prioritize reliability (40%), cost (30%), …

Fish Lake Recreation Area And Fishing Pier, Jesse Mott, Collin Pace, Matthew Crump, Matthew Day, Elliot Naulu

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Fish Lake, located in Fishlake National Forest, has restricted access to shoreline fishing opportunities because of an invasive weed called Eurasian Milfoil. The National Forest Service plans to address this issue by providing fishing opportunities to visitors beyond the weed line, which requires access 100 feet out from the shoreline.

In addition to providing improved fishing access, the Forest Service wants to develop the site with a parking lot, sidewalk, and restroom. The parking lot needs to accommodate at least 26 vehicles and fit in the narrow strip of land between the existing highway and Fish Lake.

San Rafael Swell Recreational Vehicle Campground Design, Emily Fica, Aaron Olney, Tyler Kendall, Paola Muñoz, Devin Shelley

Civil and Environmental Engineering

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) hired Starry Night Engineering to design a campground North of exit 131 on I-70. The site is located near the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area and is open for public use. BLM is concerned about insufficient traffic regulations and harm to vegetation and other natural resources due to the recent surge of recreational use in the San Rafael Swell area. RVs and off-road vehicles are the predominate source in the area.

Figure 1 shows landscape destruction at the site due to insufficient roads and lack of traffic regulations. BLM asked Starry Night Engineering to …

Garley Canyon Recreation Area, Kathryn Margetts, Kyler Olsen, Mariah Rasmussen, Caitlin Roundy, Matthew Solomon, C. Jack Tousley

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Carbon County, UT has commissioned Jones & DeMille Engineering (JDE) to design and construct a reservoir at the mouth of Garley Canyon. To attract people from around Utah to visit Garley Reservoir, JDE has partnered with Trail Blazing Development Engineering (TBD) to design an outdoor recreation area. To accommodate diversity, plans for the recreational area included a road connecting a day-use area, a traditional campground, and an RV campground. Amenities considered included access to clean drinking water, pavilions in the day-use area, and restroom facilities. TBD Engineering analyzed alternative options and designed the recreational area with the best combination of …

Box Elder Creek Trail And Bridge Design, Turky Al-Osaimi, Braiden Amata, Spencer Nielson, Michael Ruiz-Leon, Devon Vigil

Civil and Environmental Engineering

There is a light footpath that begins at Mayors pond in Brigham City and follows the Box Elder Creek north to the surrounding neighborhoods. The path is marked with faded pink utility ribbons. The footpath crosses through difficult terrain and twice through a dry creek bed. There is not a stable creek crossing. Residents seeking to use the current path are potentially exposing themselves to difficult crossings and unstable terrain.

The Brigham City Trails Task Force desires to construct a pedestrian trail for the community to safely recreate. The trail will connect residential areas to Mayors Pond. The proposed trail …

Viking Engineering Design Of Norse Code For The Usu Concrete Canoe Club, Paul Consalvo, Morgan Stewart, Josephine Bennion, Lihan Zhu, Hunter Payne

Civil and Environmental Engineering

This project provides the USU Concrete Canoe (USUCC) team a design for a concrete canoe to submit to the ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition (NCCC). The competition requires a design provided through a technical proposal and prototype. Viking Engineering (ViE) provides canoe design, concrete mix design, technical assistance for the competition’s proposal, and prototype construction, which includes demolding. Viking Engineering proposes a Viking- themed, Shallow-Vee hull canoe design with a prototype titled Norse Code for submission.

Application Of A Self-Disinfecting Surface For Hemodialysis, Jace Parkinson, Katelyn Parkinson, Alice Pack, Tara Pendleton, Andrew Gagon

Biological Engineering

Hemodialysis mimics kidney function for patients with chronic kidney failure (Figure 1). Infection is the second leading cause of death in patients with end stage renal disease and sepsis accounts for more than 75% of these infectious deaths. In order to treat dialysis patients with bacterial infection, TiO₂ nanoparticles (Degussa P25, 25 nm diameter) may be incorporated into the hollow fiber membrane, in the vascular access, or be suspended in the dialysate. TiO₂ nanoparticles combined with UVA light are used to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Design Of A Mobile Dialysis Kit For Use In Emergency Situations, Nate Barney, Rachel Israelsen, James Vandermeyden, Norah Visker

Biological Engineering

Without hemodialysis (HD), water and waste quickly build up in a renal patient’s bloodstream. HD is typically performed 3 times a week for 3-5 hours per session and consumes large amounts of power and water. Emergencies put strain on an already difficult schedule. There may be a struggle to provide the resources and locations necessary for dialysis treatments in these situations. Our solution to this problem is a mobile, self-sufficient, hemodialysis kit. It requires a battery capable of storing power for multiple dialysis sessions, a water purifying system, the NxStage System One home-dialysis unit, and a vehicle to transport everything. …

Fabric Hip Brace For Hip Replacement Postoperative Use, Jacob Barney, Laurel Hendricksen, Evan Perez

Biological Engineering

A well-recognized complication associated with hip replacement surgery is the dislocation of the hip joint following surgery. The risk of dislocation is highest in the first few months following surgery. To reduce risk of dislocation, the patient is required to wear a metal hip abduction brace. The function of the brace is to regulate flexion, extension, and abduction (forward, backward, and sideway) movements in the hip.

The aim of this project is to develop an alternative design to current post-operative hip braces, presented in the form of a mockup. The main specifications were to remove the metal pieces and replace …

Martian Fertilizer - Analysis Of The Nitrogen Fixing Capabilities Of Rhodopseudomonas Palustris, Aj Walter, Caleb Walker, Drew Porter, Kade Derrick

Biological Engineering

A significant barrier to human survivability on Mars is becoming self-sufficient on in situ resources. To this end, a process must be developed to fix nitrogen from atmospheric gasses into usable materials for agriculture. Rhodopseudomonas palustris has the capacity to fix nitrogen gas into ammonium (NH₄⁺) under anaerobic photoheterotrophic conditions.

Kinetic Modeling Of Ammonium Removal In Heterotrophic Nitrifying Bacteria, Alcaligenes Faecalis, Tyler Ayers, Cassie Bahe, Derek Tuttle, Kirsten Sims, Bryce Myers, Mark Biesinger

Biological Engineering

Excess nitrogen in wastewater effluent leads to harmful environmental effects, including eutrophication of reservoirs which causes harmful algal blooms. In traditional wastewater treatment, autotrophic nitrifiers are used in biological nutrient removal processes to convert nitrogen-containing ammonium to nitrate. In a second step, denitrifying bacteria convert nitrate to nitrogen gas, which exits the waste stream and enters the atmosphere. Heterotrophic nitrifiers are of interest due to their resilience, ability to outperform autotrophic nitrifiers, and function in low temperatures. While this is a promising new area of study, little is known about the kinetics of heterotrophic nitrification.

Membrane Bioreactor For Urea Removal, Jake Accordino, Morgan Bishop, Mitchel Heap, Banner Wald

Biological Engineering

Background

• Dialysis is a system designed to remove impurities from blood through filtration

• Peritoneal dialysis pumps dialysate into the peritoneal cavity and utilizes the peritoneal membrane as a natural membrane to achieve this filtration

• Patients who receive peritoneal dialysis are prone to infection and discomfort as the dialysate must be replaced 3-5 times a day to ensure continuous removal of waste

Objectives

• This research will develop a secondary membrane designed to remove 20 grams of urea from the dialysate per day

• The secondary filtration will decrease the need to change the dialysate more than once …

Microcarrier Separation For Continuous In-Line Bioprocessing, Tessa Burrows, Ryan Cowley, Nathan Crook, Kyle Jackson, Joshua Jenkins

Biological Engineering

Bioreactors are an efficient way to generate cell-related product and viral particles; and with the use of microcarriers, adherent cells can be grown in bulk without taking up lab space.

Currently, media changes in bioreactors require microcarriers to settle for 30-45 minutes, resulting in:

• Lack of supplemental oxygen and nutrients

• Product loss

• A daily, time-intensive process

Bioreactors in the range of 50-2000 L could have major product loss and inefficiency with current media exchange methods.

N.A.S.A Life Detection S.C.O.P.E (Sonicator Cell For Organics Prospecting And Evaluation), Bailey Mcfarland, Lindsey Bach, Michael Einreinhof

Biological Engineering

Although life on Mars has yet to be proven, the concept of extraterrestrial life detection is an extremely prominent question within the astrobiology and aerospace industry. In support of this search, this project utilizes a multi-step system prototype that sonicates regolith samples which is then filtered and fed in a downstream process for further analysis. This senior design project is focused on the development of a proof of concept prototype of the sonication cell, with the attention centered on sample extraction, drillbit interface, and its ability to seal.

Novel Bio-Adhesives From Recombinant Hagfish Proteins 𝛂 & 𝛄, Thomas Burton, Siarra Freuler, Eryn Hanson, Caleb Thomson

Biological Engineering

The aim of this project is to create a biologically-based adhesive that is “green”, cost effective, and mechanically viable. Outcomes, in line with the aims, will be to produce hydrogel adhesives that are environmentally friendly, less expensive than current available bio-adhesives, and at equal or better strength than currently available bio-/traditional adhesives in industrial applications. This project will be significant in that it is an entirely novel concept involving recombinant hagfish proteins and a novel application of them that can address current issues in industrial waste and cost of bio-adhesives. The result of this product will be environmentally clean, economically …

Control Of Voltage-Source Converters Considering Virtual Inertia Dynamics, Tri Nguyen

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Controlling power-electronic converters in power systems has significantly gained more attention due to the rapid penetration of alternative energy sources. This growth in the depth of penetration also poses a threat to the frequency stability of modern power systems. Photovoltaic and wind power systems utilizing power-electronic converters without physical rotating masses, unlike traditional power generations, provide low inertia, resulting in frequency instability. Different research has developed the control aspects of power-electronic converters, offering many control strategies for different operation modes and enhancing the inertia of converter-based systems. The precise control algorithm that can improve the inertial response of converter-based systems …

Actively Balanced Battery Pack, Dan Bosco, Jordan Johnston, John Mermigas, Quincy Williams

Electrical and Computer Engineering

We report on the modification of a combustion engine F-150 to a hybrid-electric F-150. This project represents the first stage in an experiment to actively balance a battery pack to provide faster charging rates and longer driving ranges. This project also represents the first stage in an experiment to replace the alternator with a 10-kilowatt motor for additional horsepower and emission free driving mode

Alternative Upper Configurations During Agility-Based Movements: Part 1, Biomechanical Performance, Bradley S. Davidson, Kevin B. Shelburne, Moira Pyrhoda, Rachel Wathen, Nick Nelson, Sean Higinbotham, Jay Dicharry, Daniel Feeney, Kate Harrison

Alternative Upper Configurations During Agility-Based Movements

The objective of this research was to determine if three alternative shoe closures improve biomechanical performance measures compared to a standard lace closure in agility-based movements. NCAA Division 1 and club-level male athletes recruited from lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and rugby performed four court-based movements: Lateral Skater Jump Repeats (LSJ), Countermovement Jump Repeats (CMJ), Triangle Drop Step Drill (TDS), and Anterior-Posterior Drill (AP). Each athlete performed the movements in four shoe upper closures: Standard Closure, Lace Replacement, Y Wrap, and Tri Panel. Movement completion time, Ground contact time, peak eccentric rate of force development (RFD), peak concentric GRF, peak concentric COM …

Alternative Upper Configurations During Agility-Based Movements: Part 2, Joint-Level Biomechanics, Bradley S. Davidson, Kevin B. Shelburne, Moira Pyrhoda, Rachel Wathen, Nick Nelson, Sean Higinbotham, Jay Dicharry, Daniel Feeney, Kate Harrison

Alternative Upper Configurations During Agility-Based Movements

The objective of this research was to determine if three alternative shoe closures improve biomechanical performance measures compared to a standard lace closure in agility-based movements. NCAA Division 1 and club-level male athletes recruited from lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and rugby performed four court-based movements: Lateral Skater Jump Repeats (LSJ), Countermovement Jump Repeats (CMJ), Triangle Drop Step Drill (TDS), and Anterior-Posterior Drill (AP). Each athlete performed the movements in four shoe upper closures: Standard Closure, Lace Replacement, Y Wrap, and Tri Panel. Movement completion time, Ground contact time, peak eccentric rate of force development (RFD), peak concentric GRF, peak concentric COM …

A Four-Port Dc-Dc Converter For A Hybrid Wind/Solar Energy System, Jiahong Ning

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

With the increasing demand for clean and hybrid energy in the last decades, more and more attentions are paid to the renewable energy, e.g., wind and solar energy. According to the International Energy Agency, solar power was growing-fastest source in the world. In a hybrid wind/solar system, power converters play an important role in in power management and the voltage regulation. Gradually, power systems have undergone a paradigm shift from centralized generation to distributed generation. Smart grid, which is a combination of power systems and communication networks, was proposed to allow power systems to fit the future system challenge. However, …

Virtual Impedance Based Decentralized Control For A Microgrid System, Ramkrishna Mishan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

As greenhouse gases produced from the conventional power plant causes global climate change, using renewable energy sources (RESs) in the future power system is inevitable. To minimize greenhouse gases emission, the interest in renewable grid or micro-grid is growing nowadays. In the microgrid, especially in AC microgrids, converters play an important role in many areas, including microgrid integration, uninterrupted power supply, and flexible alternating current transmission systems. Inverter plays an essential role in grid integration because it serves the interface between the energy source and the power grid. The important aspect of the inverter is control. This thesis studies several …

Design And Visual Servo Control Of A Mechanical Gripper For Autonomous Strawberry Harvesting, Jonah Mapes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

With rising labor costs and high consumer demand, economic conditions are becoming increasingly favorable for mechanization in the strawberry industry. However, virtually all strawberry crops are still picked by hand because the harvesting process is very challenging to automate, and strawberries are susceptible to bruising. For these reasons, the development of a harvester which can avoid damaging the fruit is of interest. Conventional designs for robotic grippers are less than ideal, as precise positioning or force feedback capabilities are required to reduce the risk of bruising. As an alternative, a novel "camera-in-hand" gripper design is presented which effectively avoids bruising …

Mechanical Properties Of Boron Carbide (B4c), Ruslan Kuliiev

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Boron carbide (B4C) is one of the most important opaque boride ceramics that has high hardness and Young's modulus that along with low density lead to a significant resistance to ballistic impact and, thus, B4C is broadly used as a protective material. B4C has also high neutron capturing cross section; therefore, it is used as control rods and neutron absorption shielding in nuclear reactors. In this work thermal, electrical and mechanical properties of dense B4C ceramics (99%) sintered using Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) were investigated. The Young's modulus of B4C measured by three different techniques – IE, RUS, and nanoindentation …

Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study On Thermal Conduction Of Cnt-Cu/Al Composites With New Meam Potentials Between C And Cu/Al, Luyang Ren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been a promising material for thermal management applications including micro/nano-electromechanical system (MEMS/NEMS) due to their extremely high thermal conductivity values. CNTs-reinforced Cu/Al (CNT-Cu/Al) composites are attractive to meet all-around requirements on high thermal performance materials to be applied in many areas, such as aerospace, automotive and electronic packaging. However, the experimental results on resultant thermal conductivity of these composites are far from expectation due to the law of mixture. In this research, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is used to study the thermal conduction of CNT-Cu/Al composites. Before the simulation is conducted, new inter-atomic potentials for the …

Production And Elastomer Compatibility Of Renewable Fuels, Alan Felix

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Hydrocarbon fuel plays an essential role in modern day society and significant research effort is put forth for fuel characterization, performance optimization, and new procedures for synthesis. Despite the eventual and inevitable shift away from hydrocarbon fossil fuels to more renewable energies, investigations into liquid hydrocarbons remain useful while governments slowly adopt and integrate alternative energies. Many hydrocarbon fuel alternatives can potentially bridge the gap between today's heavy reliance on fossil fuels and future complete adaptation of clean energy. One such alternative is biofuel, which is still hydrocarbon based but is made from bio-materials, most notably plants. Widespread use of …

Exploring Delphi Method Generated Synthetic Natural Environment (Sne) Visual Aesthetic Quality (Vaq) Factor Forecasts And Preferences Through Conjoint Analysis Of End User Assessments, Thomas Kehr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Traditional techniques used for verification, validation, and accreditation (VV&A) of Synthetic Natural Environments for military applications are time consuming, subjective, and often costly. Due to varying levels of common visual factors, Synthetic Natural Environments (SNE) vary widely in appearance and use case. Early identification of these factors in the SNE life cycle may improve its Visual Aesthetic Quality (VAQ) while reducing VV&A issues downstream and informing future development. This research explores supplementing existing VV&A techniques with the Delphi Method during the conceptualization phase of an interoperable SNE development in order to identify the level of importance of SNE VAQ factors …

Modeling Of Incident Type And Incident Duration Using Data From Multiple Years, Sudipta Dey Tirtha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

We develop a model system that recognizes the distinct traffic incident duration profiles based on incident type. Specifically, a copula-based joint framework with a scaled multinomial logit model (SMNL) system for incident type and a grouped generalized ordered logit (GGOL) model system for incident duration to accommodate for the impact of observed and unobserved effects on incident type and incident duration. The model system is estimated using traffic incident data from 2012 through 2017 for the Greater Orlando region, employing a comprehensive set of exogenous variables – incident characteristics, roadway characteristics, traffic condition, weather condition, built environment and socio-demographic characteristics. …

Enhancement Of Absorptance By Ultrafast Laser Pulse Shaping For Efficient Laser Processing Of Thin Polymers, Arifur Rahaman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Ultrashort-pulsed lasers have been used for high precision processing of a wide range of materials including dielectrics, semiconductors, metals, and polymers/polymer composites, enabling numerous applications ranging from micromachining, photonics to life sciences. However, there are challenges when applying this technology in the industry, which requires scale and throughput different from lab use. The goal of this research is to understand how ultrafast laser pulses interact with thin polymers/polymer composite materials and develop a method that is efficient for ultrafast laser processing of these materials. It is a common practice in industrial applications to run the laser at a high repetition …

Instructions To Authors, Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.