Engineering Commons^™

Comprehensively Improved Electrochemical Performance Of Lithium-Sulfur Batteries By “Chemical Anchors” And Lithium Anode Modification, Zhipeng Zeng

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Lithium-sulfur battery is considered to be one of the most promising contenders for the next generation high-energy storages due to their high theoretical energy density (~2600 W h kg^-1). However, a series of issues, especially for the dissolution of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) with their “shuttle effect” and dendrite formation on the lithium anode, greatly limit their widely commercial applications. Starting from a brief overview of conventional methods to solve these problems, the achievements spotlighted in this research work mainly focus on the structure design of cathode materials by employing “chemical anchors” to effectively suppress the diffusion of LiPSs, …

Modulation Of Semiconductor Photoconversion With Surface Modification And Plasmon, Joeseph Martin Bright

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Semiconductor devices are the basis of modern technology. Semiconductor-based photoconversion devices that convert light into electrical signals have shown potential for light energy harvesting and conversion, environmental remediation, and sensors for detection of light, chemicals, and biological substances. Despite this potential for use in many applications, semiconductor photoconversion devices need further improvement in the photoconversion performance. This photoconversion improvement may be manifested as increased photoconversion efficiencies for light harvesting devices for power generation such as photovoltaics and photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells or improved photoconversion modulation to increase the sensitivity of semiconductor photoconversion-based sensors. In addition, alternative semiconductor materials to semiconductors that …

Potential Benefits From Practices In Construction Waste Material Controls, Abdulaziz Alwadhenani

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Construction waste is generated from the various construction activities of building, maintaining, renovating, and demolishing infrastructure facilities. These materials include, but are not limited to, concrete, rubble, fiberglass, asphalt, bricks, wood, and scrap metals. In the last few decades, there has been a significant increase in the volume of construction and demolition (C&D) waste materials in the United States (U.S.). Between 1990 and 2017, the total increase in debris generation has surpassed 320%. According to U.S. solid waste management statistics, more than 50% of C&D waste has been and continues to be transported to landfills. The disposal of C&D waste …

Investigation Of Particle Measurement In Different Dilution Ratios With Gasoline Direct Injection And Port Fuel Injection, John Adam Phillips

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ambient air quality has been a concern in the United States since the mid-1900’s, forcing legislations like the Air Pollution Control Act and Clean Air Act necessary to bring focus on air pollution and quality. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to update the requirements for more efficient vehicles and emissions sampling methods. Today the EPA has implemented regulations on modern spark ignited engines without any major focus on the type of injection technologies being used. While particle matter (PM) is a requirement to measure for a vehicle certification, more research should focus on the particle number (PN) measurements that …

Programming Of Floating-Gate Transistors For Nonvolatile Analog Memory Array, Haifa Abulaiha

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Since they were introduced, floating-gate (FG) transistors have been used as non-volatile digital memory. Recent research has shown that floating-gate transistors can be successfully used as analog memory, specifically as programmable voltage and current sources. However, their proliferation has been limited due to the complex programming procedure and the complex testing equipment. Analog applications such as field-programmable analog arrays (FPAAs) require hundreds to thousands of floating-gate transistors on a single chip which makes the programming process even more complicated and very challenging. Therefore, a simplified, compact, and low-power scheme to program FGs are necessary. This work presents an improved version …

Selective Precipitation And Recovery Of Rare Earth Elements From Acid Mine Drainage, Robyn Lauren Christoferson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The ability to secure rare earth elements (REEs) in the United States is of concern due to the rapid growth in demand and the monopolistic supply chain. The demand for REEs has skyrocketed in recent years due to the development of many green technologies. The United States and many other countries are currently reliant on China for REEs, who currently control greater than 90% of the global supply. Due to the severe impact of previous Chinese export quotas, it is important to lessen the reliance on importation and explore methods of recycling REEs from secondary sources. A secondary REE source …

Adaptation Of Coal Mine Floor Rating (Cmfr) To Eastern U.S. Coal Mines, Sena Cicek

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Floor heave—the excessive deformation and failure of floor strata—is a serious problem for many underground coal mining operations in the U.S. There is an accepted floor heave design methodology developed for the Illinois basin coal mines (Gadde, 2009). However, for Eastern U.S. coal mines in the Appalachian region, there is not any systematic design method to assess floor heave potential. In order to prevent stability problems associated with floor failure and to ensure the safety of the miners in this region, a systematic and proactive method to assess the potential of floor stability that also takes the floor failure mechanisms …

Solution Tool To Predict Filter Cake Formation For Acid Mine Drainage (Amd) Slurries, Roberto Ecuador Martinez Ochoa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), also known as alkaline mine drainage resulted from abandoned and active coal mining areas has been a major water pollutant in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States affecting aquatic life, recreational areas, tourism, etc. AMD results from during and post mining activities all around the US and the world containing high levels of acidic materials such as sulfate and other heavy metals.

The United States Environmental Protecting Agency (EPA) has recommended the use of different mechanisms for mitigation purposes due to considerable existing and potential damage generated by AMD. This report focuses on the usage …

Low-Cost Skewed Redundant Imu Configuration For State-Space Recovery In A Saturated Environment, Levi S. Hubbard

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Low-cost sensors for state space determination can be used successfully for ground vehicles, robots, unmanned aerial vehicles, and Internet-of-Things applications. When a high fidelity Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) cannot be obtained for state space determination, low-cost sensors can be used to satisfactory standards, despite their limitations in capabilities, by using various implementation techniques. The research group was experimentally investigating state space information of an unstable flying vehicle for motion simulation validation. The high fidelity motion capture system would intermittently lose track of the flight vehicle which lost critical flight data.

The goal was to determine the potential of low-cost off-the-shelf …

Large-Scale Modeling And Assessments Of Climate, Land Cover, And Sea Level Change Impacts On Stormwater Runoff In Coastal Urban-Natural Environments, Erfanul Huq

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation investigated the potential impacts of changing climate, land cover, and sea level on the future stormwater budget and extreme runoff in coastal urban-natural environments. Two large-scale basins, namely Florida Southeast Coasts Basin (7117 km2) and Saint Johns River Basin (24928 km2), were selected for this study. The basins represented gradients in climate, land cover, and hydrology across the Atlantic coasts of Florida and the southeast U.S. Two mechanistic hydrologic models were developed for the basins using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA)’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) 5.1. The models were calibrated and validated with observed historical streamflow …

Scaling-Based Robust Predictions Of Periodic Stream Water Quality Variables Across The Contiguous U.S., Mohammad Abu Zafer Siddik

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Stream water quality is at the core of the biological and ecological health of streams and rivers. Subject to the environmental variation and in-stream metabolic activities, key water quality indicators such as dissolved oxygen (DO), water temperature (Tw), and chlorophyll a (Chl a, an indicator of primary productivity) typically follow a concave-shaped diurnal cycle. Variation and changes in climatic drivers (e.g., solar radiation, air temperature, and pressure), land uses, and hydrologic variables lead to a high spatiotemporal variability in stream water quality. The spatiotemporal variation challenges the development of robust models for predictions across large scales (e.g., county, state, country), …

Using Ai And Machine Learning To Indicate Shale Anisotropy And Assist In Completions Design, Cole E. Palmer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Operating companies in the unconventional Marcellus shale play have all faced a similar and problematic issue, while attempting to produce natural gas over the last decade. Companies have quickly realized that not every perforation along their horizontal wells are producing gas. In fact, producing perforations are only ranging from 15%-70% of the total perforations along the horizontal wellbore [1]. This unexplained issue results in millions of dollars in lost revenue per well, in addition to the sunk cost of paying for completions that are not actually yielding any produced gas.

What is causing these perforations to have no produced gas? …

Energy Forensics Analysis, Rupa Das

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The energy consumed by a building can reveal information about the occupants and their activities inside the building. This could be utilized by industries and law enforcement agencies for commercial or legal purposes. Utility data from Smart Meter (SM) readings can reveal detailed information that could be mapped to foretell resident occupancy and type of appliance usage over desired time intervals. However, obtaining SM data in the United States is laborious and subjected to legal and procedural constraints. This research develops a user-driven simulation tool with realistic data options and assumptions of potential human behavior to determine energy usage patterns …

Development, Analysis And Case Studies Of Impact Resistant Steel Sets For Underground Roof Fall Rehabilitation, Dakota D. Faulkner

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Underground mines often experience roof falls in entries, crosscuts, and intersections of active mining sections, main travel ways, and belt entries. Roof fall heights greater than 20 ft (6 m) make re-bolting of the newly exposed roof dangerous and impractical. To protect mine personnel, belts, moving vehicles, and other equipment, mine operators typically install steel structures such as square or arch sets in the roof fall areas. Wood lagging is usually installed between the steel-sets to enclose the area and protect the entry from recurring falls. Usually the void space above the steel-sets and wood lagging is backfilled. However, backfilling …

Impacts Of Bike Sharing On Transit Ridership, Moathe Salah Aljeri

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Biking is an active, environmentally friendly, and sustainable transportation mode that facilitates short utilitarian and recreational trips. As such, cities around the world have been implementing bicycle sharing/renting programs at stations in a wide network so that a traveler can mount one close to their origins and drop it off at a station nearest to their destinations. In addition, bike sharing programs can solve the first-mile and last-mile connectivity problems of transit modes. Such programs also enable short trips that were previously impossible without using transit modes. This research investigated the relationship between New York City (NYC) subway ridership and …

Effects Of Supplementary Cementitious Materials On Early-Age Tensile Creep And Shrinkage Of Concrete, Lucas James Bucklen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Determination of early-age tensile creep properties is critical for the performance of mass concrete structures at an early age. Due to the stress relaxation that tensile creep induces in concrete structures, accurate quantification of creep deformation is needed to determine the stress profile of the structure. Conventional methods of measuring tensile creep include the direct tension test where the concrete is subject to constant tensile stress. This method requires large quantities of concrete with embedded strain gauges which can only be used once. In this paper, the tensile creep parameters of concrete are found by using the restrained concrete ring …

Assessment Of Unmanned Aerial Systems And Lidar For The Utility Vegetation Management Of Electrical Distribution Rights-Of-Ways, Matthew R. Walker

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Utility Vegetation Management (UVM) is often the largest maintenance expense for many utilities. However, with advances in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS; or more commonly, “drones”) and lidar technologies, vegetation managers may be able to more rapidly and accurately identify vegetation threats to critical infrastructures. The goal of this study was to assess the utility of Geodetics’ UAS-lidar system for vegetation threat assessment for 1.6 km of a distribution electric circuit. We investigated factors which contribute to accurate tree crown detection and segmentation of trees from within an UAS-lidar derived point cloud, and the factors which contribute to accurate tree risk …

Investigation Of Phonon Polaritons In An Hbn Gan Heterostructure, Catherine G. O'Hearn

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

There have been many great advances in the generation and manipulation of optics in the visible and near infrared (IR) range over the past decade. This is largely due to plasmonic enhancement, which has led to new technology in biosensing and molecule detection, solid-state lighting, and solar energy harvesting. The field of plasmonics uses quanta of plasma oscillations, plasmons, formed from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free electrons to enhance optical near field magnitudes. However, there is still a large region of the electromagnetic spectrum, covering the mid-infrared (MIR) and terahertz (THz) regions, ranging from 3 μm to 1 …

Improving The Biological Control Of Persicaria Perfoliata (Polygonaceae) Using Rhinoncomimus Latipes Korotyaev (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Jaewon Kim

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Persicaria perfoliata (L.) H. Gross (Polygonaceae; Mile-a-minute weed) is a rapid-growing invasive vine introduced from eastern Asia to northeastern United States in the 1930s. This vine has been invaded in disturbed areas and reforestation sites in 15 states in the U.S. and forms dense, monocultural patches that may inhibit natural forest regeneration. To control this weed, a host-specific biocontrol agent, Rhinoncomimus latipes Korotyaev (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) has been released in the P. perfoliata invaded states in the U.S. during the past 15 years. Currently, R. latipes is released by hand to the invaded area where the presence of the weed is …

Risk Assessment Of Architecture Technical Debt, Mrwan Omar Kh. Ben Idris

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Technical Debt (TD) is a metaphor that refers to short-term solutions in software development that may affect the software development life cycle cost. Researchers have found many TD types. These TD types include but are not limited to code debt (CD), design debt (DD), and architecture technical debt (ATD). Several methods have been used to detect technical debt, such as bad smells, software metrics, and code comments. Although TD has received many researchers’ attention, ATD has received less attention compared with CD and DD. We found a lack of tools to deal with ATD in contrast to CD and DD. …

A Study On The Hydrodynamics Of A Bench-Scale Top-Fed Bubbling Fluidized Bed Gasifier Using Biomass And Coal As Feedstocks, Ali Can Sivri

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The production of synthetic gas (syngas) from renewable or carbon-neutral sources can significantly reduce greenhouse and other emissions associated with conventional fuels. One of the most promising technologies to efficiently convert carbonaceous feedstocks such as biomass, coal, or municipal waste into syngas for transportation, power, heat, electricity generation, and or production of added-value chemicals is the bubbling fluidized-bed gasifier (BFBG). However, the gasification process inside a BFBG is a very complex high-temperature multiphase flow phenomena still not well understood, particularly when binary mixtures are investigated. As a result, despite the numerous correlations in the literature developed to predict the hydrodynamics …

Implementation Of Radial Basis Function Artificial Neural Network Into An Adaptive Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy For Optimized Control Of A Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Thomas P. Harris

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Continued increases in the emission of greenhouse gases by passenger vehicles has accelerated the production of hybrid electric vehicles. With this increase in production, there has been a parallel demand for continuously improving strategies of hybrid electric vehicle control. The goal of an ideal control strategy is to maximize fuel economy while minimizing emissions. The design and implementation of an optimized control strategy is a complex challenge. Methods exist by which the globally optimal control strategy may be found. However, these methods are not applicable in real-world driving applications since these methods require a priori knowledge of the upcoming drive …

Evaluation Of Fitts’ Throughput As A Possible Performance Measure For Manual Assembly Tasks, Pradyumna Bettagere Jagadish

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Assembly lines are the backbone of the manufacturing sector. Workers at the assembly lines are expected to perform fast pace hand-arm exertions with precision and accuracy. To protect the workers from injuries, OSHA mandates the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) including gloves. Certain assembly operations require the use of special gloves. Some of these gloves can inhibit hand performance, further increasing the task difficulty. The Index of Difficulty (ID) is a metric measured in ‘bits’ quantifies task difficulty through the quotient of target width and target motion, i.e., distance travelled. The time required to complete the target motion is …

Development Of Software-Only Simulation Test Beds (Sost) For Spacecraft And Smallsats, Scott Alan Zemerick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Software-only-Simulation Test Beds (SoST) are beginning to become more popular among aircraft, spacecraft, and smallsat embedded system developers due to the high cost of duplicating hardware test beds.

SoSTs provide a software-only, or virtual test bed, that creates a “digital twin” that contains software models of the ETUs and often includes modeled components such as flight computers, busses (e.g., MIL-STD-1553, SPI, I2C), compact PCI (cPCI) backplane cards, sensors, and actuators. The ultimate goal of a SoST is for it to run the native system software compiled-binary on its native CPU architecture (e.g., PowerPC, LEON3/4, ARM) on a standard X86 personal …

Application Of Flowing Material Balance In Unconventional Reservoirs, Salem Alharbi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The application of the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to unconventional reservoirs, such as Marcellus Shale, has resulted in a significant increase in gas production in the United States. The estimation of the original hydrocarbons in place is an essential element for evaluating the economic success of any reservoir. There are a number of techniques available for estimating the original hydrocarbon in place such as decline curve analysis, volumetric method, and the material balance equation. Flowing Material Balance (FMB) is a more advanced techniques which has become popular in recent years because it does not require static (shut-in) pressure data …

Design And Optimization Of Dynamic System For A One-Kw Free Piston Linear Engine Alternator-Gensets Program, Nima Zamani Meymian

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In power/energy systems, free-piston linear machines are referred to as a mechanism where the constrained crank motion is eliminated and replaced with free reciprocating piston motion. Depending on the application, the piston motion can be converted into other types of energy and includes compressed air/fluid, electricity, and high temperature/pressure gas. A research group at West Virginia University developed a free-piston linear engine alternator (LEA) in 1998 and have achieved significant accomplishment in the performance enhancement of the LEAs to date. The present LEA design incorporates flexure springs as energy restoration components and as bearing supports. The advantages of using flexure …

Exploration Of Unknown Environments Using A Tethered Mobile Robot, Danylo Shapovalov

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Exploration with mobile robots is a well known field of research, but current solutions cannot be directly applied for tethered robots. In some applications, tethers may be very important to provide power or allow communication with the robot. This thesis presents an exploration algorithm that guarantees complete exploration of arbitrary environments within the length constraint of the tether, while keeping the tether tangle-free at all times. While a generalized algorithm that can be used with several exploration strategies is also proposed, the presented implementation uses a modified frontier-based exploration approach, where the robot chooses its next goal in the frontier …

High Tech, High Risk: Tech Ethics Lessons For The Covid-19 Pandemic Response, Emanuel Moss, Jacob Metcalf

Publications and Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has, in a matter of a few short months, drastically reshaped society around the world. Because of the growing perception of machine learning as a technology capable of addressing large problems at scale, machine learning applications have been seen as desirable interventions in mitigating the risks of the pandemic disease. However, machine learning, like many tools of technocratic governance, is deeply implicated in the social production and distribution of risk and the role of machine learning in the production of risk must be considered as engineers and other technologists develop tools for the current crisis. This paper …

Micromechanical Prediction Model Of Viscoelastic Properties For Asphalt Mastic Based On Morphologically Representative Pattern Approach, Zhichen Wang, Naisheng Guo, Xu Yang, Shuang Wang

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

This paper is devoted to the introduction of physicochemical, filler size, and distribution effect in micromechanical predictions of the overall viscoelastic properties of asphalt mastic. In order to account for the three effects, the morphologically representative pattern (MRP) approach was employed. The MRP model was improved due to the arduous practical use of equivalent modulus formula solution. Then, a homogeneous morphologically representative model (H-MRP) with the explicit solution was established based on the homogenization theory. Asphalt mastic is regarded as a composite material consisting of filler particles coated structural asphalt and free asphalt considering the physicochemical effect. An additional interphase …

The Impact Of Stress Shadowing With Variations In Cluster Spacing On The Production For Wells Completed In The Marcellus Shale, Joshua R. Dietz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The design of the well stimulation treatment has significantly changed over the last decade because of the advancement of hydraulic fracturing. The cluster and stage spacing design component of hydraulic fracturing has been a key factor in enhancing the production from the horizontal wells. Recently, the treatment designs are moving towards lower cluster spacing. The reduction of the spacing alters the in-situ stresses in the formation and begin to impact the propagation of next set of future fractures and the properties of previous fractures. These stress alterations from hydraulic fracturing is referred to as stress shadowing.

The objective of study …