Engineering Commons^™

Usu Civil Engineering Student Wins Prestigious National Scholarship | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

A senior in USU’s Civil and Environmental Engineering department is one of 18 people nationwide to receive a major scholarship from the American Society of Civil Engineers, known as ASCE.

The Investigation Of Silica Removal In Reverse Osmosis Concentrate By Changing Design Parameters, John M. Stomp Iv

Civil Engineering ETDs

Silica at high concentrations can precipitate and polymerize, forming scales on heat exchangers, boilers and turbines in industrial equipment, and on the feed side of the semi-permeable membranes in Reverse Osmosis (RO). Silica scale can cause decreased efficiency, increased treatment costs and, in some cases, irreversible damage. The removal of silica scale is challenging because it requires the handling of dangerous and hazardous chemicals. Therefore, much research has gone into the removal of soluble silica. The purpose of this research was to compare the overall effectiveness of silica removal in RO concentrate water with freshly precipitated Mg(OH)₂ and Fe(OH) …

The Performance Of Syngas-Fueled Sofcs Predicted By A Reduced Order Model (Rom): Temperature And Fuel Composition Effects, Xinfang Jin, Anthony Ku, Atul Verma, Brandon Ohara, Kevin Huang, Surinder Singh

Faculty Publications

An electrochemical reduced order model (ROM) has been developed in this study to simulate the performance of syngas-fueled anode-supported SOFCs with coupled bulk chemical reactions and multi-species gas diffusion in the electrodes. Experimental V-I curves with syngas fuel were used to validate the model to ensure its high fidelity. The model was used to investigate the effects of fuel composition and temperature on the electrochemical performance of the cell, chemical reaction rate and concentration distributions of gaseous species across the anode. The results show that H₂ electro-oxidation dominates the overall cell performance, and that CO contributes to the performance …

Optimal Multidimensional Droop Control For Wind Resources In Dc Microgrids, Kaitlyn J. Bunker, Wayne Weaver

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The inclusion of electricity generation from wind in microgrids presents an important opportunity in modern electric power systems. Various control strategies can be pursued for wind resources connected in microgrids, and droop control is a promising option since communication between microgrid components is not required. Traditional droop control does have the drawback of not allowing much or all of the available wind power to be utilized in the microgrid. This paper presents a novel droop control strategy, modifying the traditional approach and building an optimal droop surface at a higher dimension. A method for determining the optimal droop control surface …

Validating The Accuracy Of Neatwork, A Rural Gravity Fed Water Distribution System Design Program, Using Field Data In The Comarca Ngöbe-Bugle, Panama, Maria Briones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the sustainable development goals to increase access to improved water there are still 884 million people in the world without access to an improved water source (WHO, 2017). One method to improve access to water in rural, mountainous areas, is through construction of gravity fed water distribution systems. These systems should be designed based upon fundamental principles of hydraulics. One method of doing so in a time efficient manner with minimal engineering knowledge is to utilize a downloadable computer program such as Neatwork, which aids in design of rural, gravity fed water distribution systems and has been used by …

Short-Term Tracking Of Orientation With Inertial Sensors, Golriz Sedaghat

Dissertations and Theses

In the past several years, IMU's have been widely used to measure the orientation of a moving body over a continuous period of time. Although, inertial navigation is a common approach for estimating the orientation, it greatly suffers from the accumulation of error in the orientation estimation. Most of the current common practices apply zero velocity update as a calibration method to address this problem and improve the estimation accuracy. However, this approach requires the sensors to be stationary frequently.

This thesis introduces a novel method of calibration for estimating the elevation and bank angles of the orientation over a …

Novel Compact Narrow-Linewidth Mid-Infrared Lasers For Sensing Applications, Behsan Behzadi

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

The mid-infrared (2-14 μm) spectral region contains the strong absorption lines of many important molecular species, which make this region crucial for several well-know applications such as spectroscopy, chemical and biochemical sensing, security, and industrial monitoring. To fully exploit this region through absorption spectroscopic techniques, compact and low-cost narrow-linewidth (NLW) mid-infrared (MIR) laser sources are of primary importance.

This thesis is focused on three novel compact NLW MIR lasers: demonstration and characterization of a new glass-based spherical microlaser, investigation of the performance of a novel fiber laser, and the design of a monolithic laser on a silicon chip. Starting with …

Survey Results On Adults And Cybersecurity Education, Frank Breitinger, Joseph Ricci, Ibrahim Baggili

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Cyberattacks and identity theft are common problems nowadays where researchers often say that humans are the weakest link in the security chain. Therefore, this survey focused on analyzing the interest for adults for ‘cyber threat education seminars’, e.g., how to project themselves and their loved ones. Specifically, we asked questions to understand a possible audience, willingness for paying / time commitment, or fields of interest as well as background and previous training experience. The survey was conducted in late 2016 and taken by 233 participants. The results show that many are worried about cyber threats and about their children exploring …

Non-Gnss Smartphone Pedestrian Navigation Using Barometric Elevation And Digital Map-Matching, Daniel Broyles, Kyle J. Kauffman, John F. Raquet, Piotr Smagowski

Faculty Publications

Pedestrian navigation in outdoor environments where global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are unavailable is a challenging problem. Existing technologies that have attempted to address this problemoften require external reference signals or specialized hardware, the extra size,weight, power, and cost of which are unsuitable for many applications. This article presents a real-time, self-contained outdoor navigation application that uses only the existing sensors on a smartphone in conjunction with a preloaded digital elevation map. The core algorithm implements a particle filter, which fuses sensor data with a stochastic pedestrian motion model to predict the user’s position. The smartphone’s barometric elevation is then …

Near-Field Heat Transfer Enabled Nanothermomechanical Memory And Logic Devices, Sidy Ndao, Mahmoud Elzouka

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A thermomechanical memory / logic device is disclosed . In embodiments , the thermomechanical device includes a first thermally controlled terminal ( e . g . , hot terminal ) ; a second thermally controlled terminal ( e . g . , cool terminal / base ) ; a stem or other structure that can be thermally expanded connected to the cool terminal ; and a thermal conductive head coupled to the stem . The head can exchange heat with the hot terminal . The stem and head are between the first thermally controlled terminal and the second thermally controlled …

Developing Droplet Based 3d Cell Culture Methods To Enable Investigations Of The Chemical Tumor Microenvironment, Jacqueline Alexandria De Lora

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Adaptation of cancer cells to changes in the biochemical microenvironment in an expanding tumor mass is a crucial aspect of malignant progression, tumor metabolism, and drug efficacy. In vitro, it is challenging to mimic the evolution of biochemical gradients and the cellular heterogeneity that characterizes cancer tissues found in vivo. It is well accepted that more realistic and controllable in vitro 3D model systems are required to improve the overall cancer research paradigm and thus improve on the translation of results, but multidisciplinary approaches are needed for these advances. This work develops such approaches and demonstrates that new droplet-based cell-encapsulation …

Adaptive Virtual Impedance Droop Control Based On Consensus Control Of Reactive Current, Zhilin Lu, Qing Wei, Yiyi Zhang, Junhui Zhao, Emad Manla

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

It is difficult to achieve accurate distribution of reactive power based on conventional droop control due to the line impedance mismatch in an islanded microgrid. An adaptive virtual impendence method based on consensus control of reactive current is proposed in this paper. A distributed control structure without the central controller has been established. In this structure, each distributed generation unit (DG) is an independent agent, one-way communication is used between the adjacent DGs, and the reactive power sharing is equivalent to a problem of reactive power current consensus. It has been proven that the system is asymptotically stable under the …

Collaborative Research: Proofing A Basic Systems Engineering Model Through Empirically-Based Cognitive Testing, Kurt Becker

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Forewarned Is Forearmed: Review Of Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards And Risk Reduction In The Modern World By Timothy H. Dixon (2017), Jason Makansi

Numeracy

Timothy H. Dixon. 2017. Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards and Risk Reduction in the Modern World. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press) 300 pp. ISBN 978-1108113663.

Curbing Catastrophe for the most part lives up to what is claimed in the foreword: “…a compelling account of recent and historical disasters, both natural and human-caused, drawing on common themes and providing a holistic understanding of hazards, disasters, and mitigation for anyone interested in this important and topical subject.” This is a pretty thorough treatment of an extraordinarily complex subject, and the gaps identified in this review should be considered explications more than …

Usu Engineering Students Take First At Air Force Design Challenge | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

United States Air Force officials are taking a close look at a USU student design that may help the planet’s growing space junk problem.

Multirate Frequency Transformations: Wideband Am-Fm Demodulation With Applications To Signal Processing And Communications, Wenjing Liu

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The AM-FM (amplitude & frequency modulation) signal model finds numerous applications in image processing, communications, and speech processing. The traditional approaches towards demodulation of signals in this category are the analytic signal approach, frequency tracking, or the energy operator approach. These approaches however, assume that the amplitude and frequency components are slowly time-varying, e.g., narrowband and incur significant demodulation error in the wideband scenarios. In this thesis, we extend a two-stage approach towards wideband AM-FM demodulation that combines multirate frequency transformations (MFT) enacted through a combination of multirate systems with traditional demodulation techniques, e.g., the Teager-Kasiser energy operator demodulation (ESA) …

Prototype Of A Fish Inspired Swimming Silk Robot, Cassandra M. Donatelli, Sarah A. Bradner, Juanita Mathews, Erin Sanders, Casey R. Culligan, David Kaplan, Eric D. Tytell

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Elongate fishes have evolved hundreds of times throughout the tree of life. They occupy many aquatic environments, from streams and ponds to the deepest parts of the ocean. Due to their long body and numerous vertebrae, they are also highly flexible animals, which makes them useful as bioinspiration for designs in the field of soft robotics. We present a biodegradable soft robot prototype, inspired by elongate fishes. The robot's body is primarily composed of a silk hydrogel with embedded fibers to mimic the structure of natural fish skin. When actuated at the front, the flexible gel prototype mimics the undulatory …

Nonlinear Fatigue Damage Of Cracked Cement Paste After Grouting Enhancement, Zhi Wang, Long Li, Shuaicheng Guo, Qingli Dai

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Grouting reinforcement is an important part of modern engineering and has grown in popularity due to the benefits of grouting enhancement on cyclic loading. Understanding the fatigue mechanism of grouting-enhanced structures is vital to the design and the long-term stability analysis of such structures. In this study, the fatigue mechanical properties of cracked cement paste after epoxy resin grouting enhancement under different cyclic conditions were investigated in the laboratory and an inverted S-shaped curve was proposed to describe the damage accumulation. The test results indicated that the fatigue axial deformation can be divided into three stages: the initial stage, constant …

Investigating The Pavement Vibration Response For Roadway Service Condition Evaluation, Zhoujing Ye, Yang Lu, Linbing Wang

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dynamic response of pavement provides service condition information and helps with damage prediction, while limited research is available with the simulation of pavement vibration response for evaluating roadway service condition. +is paper presents a numerical model for the analysis of the pavement vibration due to the dynamic load created by a passing vehicle. A quarter vehicle model was used for the determination of the vehicle moving load. Both random and spatial characteristics of the load were considered. The random nonuniform moving load was then introduced in a 3D finite element model for the determination of the traffic-induced pavement vibration. The …

Modeling Soot Formation From Solid Complex Fuels, Alexander J. Josephson, Rod R. Linn, David O. Lignell

Faculty Publications

A detailed model is proposed for predicting soot formation from complex solid fuels. The proposed model resolves two particle size distributions, one for soot precursors and another for soot particles. The precursor size distribution is represented with a sectional approach while the soot particle-size distribution is represented with the method of moments and an interpolative closure method is used to resolve fractional methods. Based on established mechanisms, this model includes submodels for precursor coagulation, growth, and consumption, as well as soot nucleation, surface growth, agglomeration, and consumption. The model is validated with comparisons to experimental data for two …

Increasing Spaceflight Analogue Mission Fidelity By Standardization Of Extravehicular Activity Metrics Tracking And Analysis, Ryan L. Kobrick, Nicholas Lopac, Jenifer Schuman, John French, Tatsunari Tomiyama

Publications

Spaceflight analogues include human simulations that attempt to match as many variables of a real mission as possible, but here on Earth and at a fraction of the cost each having limitations. The goal of this Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) Spacesuit Utilization of Innovative Technology Laboratory (S.U.I.T. Lab) research is to improve simulation fidelity through Extravehicular Activity (EVA) data collection, analysis, and feedback, which will help humanity prepare for destinations such as the Moon or Mars. Investigated EVA metrics, physical and biomedical, are based on the identified NASA Human Research Roadmap research gaps related to the risk of injury and …

Breaking Down Traditional Classroom Walls And Studying Spacesuits Abroad, Ryan L. Kobrick, Jessica Mckee Ph.D., Sue A. Macchiarella, Angelica Gould

Publications

The spacesuit curriculum under development by the Spacesuit Utilization of Innovative Technology Laboratory (S.U.I.T. Lab) in the Spaceflight Operations program of the Applied Aviation Sciences Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has the unique challenge of educating non-engineering students about extremely technical space systems, highlighted by spacesuits. CSO 399: “Spacesuits and Human Spaceflight Operations” course, taught in Greece each summer, introduces students to human spaceflight topics. This unique offering takes advantage of the clear water visibility in the Aegean Sea with practical underwater demonstrations of space operations. Students live in confined quarters on a sailboat for two weeks to simulate operations …

Spacesuit Range Of Motion Investigations Using Video And Motion Capture Systems At Spaceflight Analogue Expeditions And Within The Erau S.U.I.T. Lab, Ryan L. Kobrick, Nicholas Lopac, Jenifer Schuman, Chase Covello, John French, Angelica Gould, Maximilian Meyer, Theodore Southern, Jazmyne Lones, Joshua W. Ehrlich

Publications

The Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) Spacesuit Utilization of Innovative Technology Laboratory (S.U.I.T. Lab) is dedicated to the pursuit of advancing human spaceflight by contributing to spacesuit and operations research with experiential programs for students. A significant portion of the S.U.I.T. Lab’s portfolio is dedicated to the design and execution of spacesuit range of motion (ROM) investigations using video and motion capture systems. ROM biomechanical angles were measured using these techniques in conjunction with developing protocols for both simulated extravehicular activity suits at spaceflight analogue expeditions, and on ERAU campus with Final Frontier Design (FFD) intravehicular activity pressure suits. Designing protocols …

A Comparison Of The Strengths And Weaknesses Of Small-Format Aerial Photography Platforms, Jeremy W. Aber, Tyler A. Babb, Douglas E. Campbell, Kevin M. Corns

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The demand for small-format aerial photography continues to grow in large part due to the rapid adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Prior to the explosion of UAV use, this kind of photography was collected using older technologies such as tethered kites and blimps. Due to the increased demand for aerial imagery, this article looks at four platforms commonly used to collect small-format aerial imagery: multi-rotor UAVs, fixed-wing UAVs, kites, and blimps. Practical use considerations are explored, including characteristics of flight and operation, atmospheric and site factors, imaging sensors and costs, and regulatory limitations.

Each of the four categories of …

Moving Target Defense For Securing Scada Communications, Vahid Heydari

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

In this paper, we introduce a framework for building a secure and private peer to peer communication used in supervisory control and data acquisition networks with a novel Mobile IPv6-based moving target defense strategy. Our approach aids in combating remote cyber-attacks against peer hosts by thwarting any potential attacks at their reconnaissance stage. The IP address of each host is randomly changed at a certain interval creating a moving target to make it difficult for an attacker to find the host. At the same time, the peer host is updated through the use of the binding update procedure (standard Mobile …

Design For Maintainability In Developing Communities—A Case Study On The Uros Islands, Thomas Barlow

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Designing products for developing communities has exposed many of the underlying assumptions that engineers from developed nations have during the design process. There has been much written about these underlying assumptions in order to create a better framework for designing for developing communities. One unexplored, yet important area is the universality of common maintainability principles used in developed countries when designing products used in developing communities. Such principles include: simplicity, diagnosability, standardization of parts, modular subassemblies, minimizing assembly and disassembly parts, labeling components, increased life of moving parts, manuals, and simplifying tools needed for repairs [1]–[3]. The purpose of this …

Selective Sensing In Hybrid Imagers With Vertically Integrated Perovskite Pixels, Fatemeh Rahimi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The rise of organometal halide perovskite materials with extremely intriguing properties have opened a new horizon in the design of high speed and low price optoelectronic devices. The bandgap in the crystalline structure of these materials can be easily tuned for various applications and their dominant non-excitonic dynamics eliminate the requirement of a bulk or heterostructure for charge carrier separation. These unique properties increase the photo-sensitivity of perovskite-based optoelectronics and provide them with a low time constant, resulting in high precision fast devices. Realization of perovskite-based devices translates directly to inexpensive and simplified architectures of optoelectronic systems.

In perovskite-based devices, …

Artificial Gravity As A Countermeasure To The Cardiovascular Deconditioning Of Spaceflight: Gender Perspectives, Joyce M. Evans, Charles F. Knapp, Nandu Goswami

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Space flight-induced physiological deconditioning resulting from decreased gravitational input, decreased plasma volume, and disruption of regulatory mechanisms is a significant problem in returning astronauts as well as in normal aging. Here we review effects of a promising countermeasure on cardiovascular systems of healthy men and women undergoing Earth-based models of space-flight. This countermeasure is produced by a centrifuge and called artificial gravity (AG). Numerous studies have determined that AG improves orthostatic tolerance (as assessed by various protocols) of healthy ambulatory men, of men deconditioned by bed rest or by immersion (both wet and dry) and, in one case, following spaceflight. …

Lab Scale Analysis Of Anaerobically Digested Municipal Wastewater Treatment, Leila Ahmadi, Ryan Dupont

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Finding alternative sources of energy for the growing world’s demand is a challenging task being considered by many scientists and engineers. Various types of renewable energy alternatives are being investigated by researchers around the world. In addition to their capacity for nutrient, metal and pharmaceutical and personal care product contaminant removal from wastewater, the abundance of duckweed (i.e., Lemna and Wolfia sp.) in wetlands and wastewater lagoons, and their rapid growth and need for biomass harvesting suggests their potential as an inexpensive source of biomass for Biofuel production. Two lab-scales, 10 L anaerobic digesters initially seeded with municipal wastewater digester …

Mathematical And Numerical Modeling Of Hybrid Adsorption And Biological Treatment Systems For Enhanced Nitrogen Removal, Karl A. Payne

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High nutrient loading into groundwater and surface water systems has deleterious impacts on the environment, such as eutrophication, decimation of fish populations, and oxygen depletion. Conventional onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) and various waste streams with high ammonium (NH4+) concentrations present a challenge, due the inconsistent performance of environmental biotechnologies aimed at managing nutrients from these sources.

Biological nitrogen removal (BNR) is commonly used in batch or packed-bed reactor configurations for nitrogen removal from various waste streams. In recognition of the need for resource recovery, algal photobioreactors are another type of environmental biotechnology with the potential for simultaneously treating wastewater …