Engineering Commons^™

Screening Guidelines And Data Analysis For The Application Of In-Situ Polymer Gels For Injection Well Conformance Improvement, Munqith Naeem Rashak Aldhaheri

Doctoral Dissertations

"Excessive water production represents a major industry challenge because of its serious economic and environmental impacts. Polymer gels have been effectively applied to mitigate water production and extend the productive lives of mature oilfields. However, selecting a proper gel technology for a given reservoir is a challenging task for reservoir engineers because of the associated geological and technical complexities and the absence of efficient screening tools.

A comprehensive review for the worldwide gel field projects was conducted to develop an integrated systematic methodology that determines the applicability of three injection well gel technologies including bulk gels, colloidal dispersion gels, and …

Additive Manufacturing Of Glass Using A Filament Fed Process, Junjie Luo

Doctoral Dissertations

"There are many scientific and engineering applications of glass including optics, communications, electronics, and hermetic seals, there has been minimal research towards the Additive Manufacturing (AM) of transparent glass parts. The special thermal and optical properties of glasses make them hard to be printed using conventional AM techniques. In this dissertation, two different AM techniques for glass AM were developed, Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and filament fed process.

Semi-transparent parts were printed with SLM process. However, the filament fed process was found to be more robust and promising for printing optically transparent glass parts. Therefore, this dissertation is focused on …

Optimal Electric Vehicle Scheduling : A Co-Optimized System And Customer Perspective, Maigha

Doctoral Dissertations

"Electric vehicles provide a two pronged solution to the problems faced by the electricity and transportation sectors. They provide a green, highly efficient alternative to the internal combustion engine vehicles, thus reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Secondly, they bear the potential of supporting the grid as energy storage devices while incentivizing the customers through their participation in energy markets. Despite these advantages, widespread adoption of electric vehicles faces socio-technical and economic bottleneck. This dissertation seeks to provide solutions that balance system and customer objectives under present technological capabilities. The research uses electric vehicles as controllable loads and resources. The …

Pillar Design For St. Peter Sandstone Formation, Francis Anohomah Arthur

Doctoral Dissertations

"Silica sands produced primarily from St. Peter Sandstone are used for hydraulic fracturing in the petroleum industry, glassmaking, chemicals, ceramics, filtration and the foundry industry in the US. The recent high demand for silica sands for hydraulic fracturing has triggered increased production and commissioning of new silica sand mines to support natural gas production from shale and tight gas deposits in the US. Most mines use surface mining methods to extract St. Peter Sandstone. The room and pillar mining method has been successfully used for St. Peter Sandstone mining in a few US locations, however, no one has proposed a …

Towards A Better Understanding Of Indoor Exposure To Air Pollutants: Window Opening Occurrence In U.S. Residences, Gauri Dilip Date

Masters Theses

"Opening a window dramatically alters how we are exposed to air pollutants. Online questionnaire surveys were deployed to assess window-opening occurrence of the occupants of US homes. This information will be used to better quantify population exposure to pollutants of indoor and outdoor origin. Frequency distributions of demographics were generated which showed percentages of respondents who participated in the surveys from categories including gender, race, household income and occupancy. In April 2016, 49.3% of the people surveyed opened their windows for at least 1 hour in a day. This increased to 52.5% in September 2016 and reduced considerably to 24.4% …

Cloth-Air Partitioning Of Oxybenzone, Jonathan T. Hill

Masters Theses

"Clothing has been proven to be a significant accumulator of chemicals from the air. Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) have a high affinity towards textiles, and measuring the equilibrium partition coefficient between cloth and air (K_cloth-air) for SVOCs is crucial in predicting human exposure to these compounds. This study aims to quantify K_cloth-air for oxybenzone to contribute to a larger human exposure experiment carried out at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). K_cloth-air for oxybenzone was calculated using data collected from the exposure chamber at DTU and from performing extractions of oxybenzone in fabric samples from the …

Hydraulic Conductivity Testing Of Cement-Bentonite Mixes For Use In Annular Well Seals, Amy Lynn Norval

Masters Theses

"Grout is the material used in the annulus of water supply and monitoring wells to prevent movement of water from adjacent formations or from the land surface into the well. Grout is critical for preventing cross-contamination of aquifers through a borehole when a single well penetrates multiple aquifers and for protecting aquifers from surface contamination. The composition and emplacement of grout is regulated in most states, with standard mixes of bentonite and cement being the most widely used types of grout. Despite widespread adoption of grout regulations, surprisingly little literature is available to describe the effectiveness of different grout mixtures. …

Hydrogeochemical Controls On Reactive And Nonreactive Solute Transport In Heterogenous Porous Media, Mahta Gholizadeh Ansari

Masters Theses

"This work examines how physical and chemical heterogeneity can affect reactive and non-reactive transport in porous media. The effect of heterogeneity of the porous media is investigated both on dissolution rate of magnesite and attenuation time of nonreactive contaminants in non-reactive media. Various spatial distribution were created using statistical parameters in PETREL.A total of 6793 transport modeling simulations were run using CrunchFlow. Lasso regression was used to select most significant features and those features are then used in linear regression and deep learning models.

The magnesite dissolution simulations were performed under different permeability ratios (magnesite /sand permeability) and inlet pH. …

Processing, Microstructure, And Properties Of Engineered Diboride Structures, Connor Charles Wittmaier

Masters Theses

"The mechanical properties and processing parameters of boride ceramics in foam and laminate architectures were evaluated. The ceramic reticulated foam was produced through a polymer substrate replication technique and the hardness and compressive strength were tested. The laminate structure was tested to evaluate the flexure strength and work of fracture as a function of temperature.

The foam architecture was produced using a TiB₂ slurry coating on a polyurethane reticulated foam preform. Foams sintered to 2150⁰C displayed an average grain size of 8.9 ± 7.3 µm, and a hardness of 17.3 ± 2.4 GPa. Crush testing foams were sintered at …

Imaging In Karst Terrain Using The Electrical Resistivity And Multichannel Analyses Of Surface Wave Methods, Ragab W. Jaafar

Masters Theses

"Electrical resistivity tomography and multi-channel analyses of surface waves data were acquired at a study area in Phelps County in the south-central part of Missouri. The objectives of the investigation were fourfold: 1) to image the subsurface in the study area to a depth of 70 feet; 2) to compare the ERT images generated using both the dipole-dipole and Wenner-Schlumberger arrays; and 3) to assess how variations in the MASW array configuration affected MASW data quality; and 4) to compare the ERT-estimated depth to top-of-rock and the MASW-generated depth to top-of-rock.

The subsurface in the study area was imaged to …

Developing Restoration Schemes For A Road Transportation Network In The Event Of A Disaster, Ebin Antony

Masters Theses

"Transportation systems such as rail, road, and waterways are key component of critical infrastructure systems, providing connectivity between other components to enable the production and distribution of goods and services. During large scale disasters such as earth quakes and floods, this connectivity is disrupted, restricting or completely halting the flow of goods and services. To ensure that the connectivity between the different modes of transportation are restored in an aftermath of these disruptions, the interdependence between them and the importance of individual elements to the overall connectivity have to be studied and formulated to develop a system-level restoration plan. This …

Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Cloud: An Efficient Method Of Building Digital Twin For 3d Printer By Adapting Mtconnect Protocol, Liwen Hu

Masters Theses

"The common modeling of a virtual machine is using an information model to describe the physics of machines. The integration of digital twins into productive cyber-physical cloud manufacturing (CPCM) systems imposes strict requirements such as reducing overhead and saving resources for the systems. In this paper, we investigate a new method for building cloud-based digital twins (CBDT), which can be adapted to the CPCM platform. Our method helps reduce computing resources in the processing center and guarantees the fastest speed of the interactions between the human users and physical machines. We introduce a knowledge resource center (KRC) built on a …

Combination Of Bmp-2 And Relaxin To Induce Osteogenesis In Vivo, Sahitya Injamuri

Masters Theses

"Bone grafts are a common procedure for treating craniofacial injuries such as trauma, surgery, and reconstruction. Autografts and allografts have limitations which encourages the use of synthetic bone grafts. While synthetic bone grafts, such as hydroxyapatite (HA) microspheres, are advantageous for their cost and reproducibility, they lack the cells and growth factors needed for proper osteoinduction. Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) has been shown to increase the osteoinduction of grafts but the effective dose is above physiological levels and causes undesired effects on the body. Relaxin has been shown to enhance BMP-2's ability to induce bone formation in vitro and thus …

Well Log Interpretation And 3d Reservoir Property Modeling Of Maui-B Field, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand, Aziz Mennan

Masters Theses

"Maui-B is one of the largest hydrocarbon-producing fields in the Taranaki Basin. Many previous works have estimated reservoir volume. This study uses 3D property modeling, which is one of the most powerful tools to characterize lithology and reservoir fluids distribution through the field. This modeling will help in understanding the reservoir properties and enhancing the production by selecting the best location for future drilling candidates. In this study, 3D seismic, core, and well log data were used to build and define a structural model, facies analysis, and petrophysical parameters. After well log interpretation and petrophysical parameter calculations, each parameter was …

Co2 Methanation Over Nial2o4 Spinel - Based Catalysts, Chanya Thamma

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

In the present work, a series of NiO/NiAl2O4 catalysts were prepared by co-precipitation method with molar ratio of Ni/Al equal 1/2 at different precipitation temperatures (30 and 80oC) and calcination temperatures (500, 700, 900, and 1200oC). The catalyst properties were characterized by using N2 physisorption, X-ray diffraction, H2 – TPR, SEM, and TEM. The NiO/NiAl2O4 precipitated at 80oC and calcined at 900oC showed the best activity in CO2 methanation at 350oC with conversion 92% and 100% methane selectivity without CO formation. The optimal of NiO and NiAl2O4 composition at 24.7% and 75.3%wt could provide a stabilizing effect preventing the metal …

Effects Of Titania Phase And Tungsten Loading Content In W/Tio2 Catalysts On Dehydration Of Ethanol To Diethyl Ether, Pongsatorn Kerdnoi

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Nowadays, ethanol which is one of the most used renewable energies can be converted into the more valuable compounds. It was reported that titania-supported tungsten (W/TiO2) catalyst is able to convert ethanol into diethyl ether. However, titania support has different crystalline phases that can result in differences of physicochemical properties for the catalyst. Therefore, the present work reports on the catalytic behaviors of both different phases of titania and tungsten loading contents in catalytic ethanol dehydration to diethyl ether. To prepare the catalysts, the three different phases [anatase (A), rutile (R), and mixed phases (P25)] of titania supports were impregnated …

Development Of Novel Electrocoagulation Reactor (Ecr) For Turbidity Removal And Decolorization From Textile Industry Wastewater, Penghour Hong

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

High concentration of dyes together with turbidity were frequently found in the effluents of textile industry wastewater, which are the toxic substances. To remove these contaminants, the combination between electrocoagulation process (EC) and separation has been proposed in this study. The objective of this present work is to design and evaluate the new electrocoagulation reactor (ECR) for treating dye and turbidity from synthetic textile wastewater. The optimization of electrode configuration and design parameter were examined with the batch column reactor for containing 4 liters of wastewater. The result showed that monopolar arrangement within the inner gap 1.5 cm and current …

Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework (Zif) Incorporated Membrane For Co2/Ch4 Separation, Nampetch Padungpetch

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Biogas is the alternative energy that has a methane gas as the main composition. Before using it, biogas must be upgraded by the removal of all impurities especially CO2. The membrane technology is considered an efficient and environmentally friendly process for biogas upgrading. However, there is still a limited number of promising membranes. Accordingly, this study aims to develop the hollow fiber membrane for the biogas upgrading. The synthesized hollow fiber membranes, which were a composite membrane, were composed of a support layer of polyetherimide (PEI) and a mixed matrix selective layer of commercial poly(ether-block-amide) (Pebax 1657) and zeolitic imidazolate …

Effect Of Local Magnetic Field Disturbances On Inertial Measurement Units Accuracy, Xavier Robert-Lachaine, Hakim Mecheri, Christian Larue, André Plamondon

Études primaires

Inertial measurement units (IMUs), a practical motion analysis technology for field acquisition, have magnetometers to improve segment orientation estimation. However, sensitivity to magnetic disturbances can affect their accuracy. The objective of this study was to determine the joint angles accuracy of IMUs under different timing of magnetic disturbances of various durations and to evaluate a few correction methods. Kinematics from 12 individuals were obtained simultaneously with an Xsens system where an Optotrak cluster acting as the reference system was affixed to each IMU. A handling task was executed under normal laboratory conditions and imposed magnetic disturbances. Joint angle RMSE was …

Validation Of Inertial Measurement Units With An Optoelectronic System For Whole-Body Motion Analysis, Xavier Robert-Lachaine, Hakim Mecheri, Christian Larue, André Plamondon

Études primaires

The potential of inertial measurement units (IMUs) for ergonomics applications appears promising. However, previous IMUs validation studies have been incomplete regarding aspects of joints analysed, complexity of movements and duration of trials. The objective was to determine the technological error and biomechanical model differences between IMUs and an optoelectronic system and evaluate the effect of task complexity and duration. Whole-body kinematics from 12 participants was recorded simultaneously with a full-body Xsens system where an Optotrak cluster was fixed on every IMU. Short functional movements and long manual material handling tasks were performed and joint angles were compared between the two …

Anisotropic Character Of Low-Order Turbulent Flow Descriptions Through The Proper Orthogonal Decomposition, Nicholas Hamilton, Murat Tutkun, Raúl Bayoán Cal

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is applied to distinct data sets in order to characterize the propagation of error arising from basis truncation in the description of turbulence. Experimental data from stereo particle image velocimetry measurements in a wind turbine array and direct numerical simulation data from a fully developed channel flow are used to illustrate dependence of the anisotropy tensor invariants as a function of POD modes used in low-order descriptions. In all cases, ensembles of snapshots illuminate a variety of anisotropic states of turbulence. In the near wake of a model wind turbine, the turbulence field reflects the periodic …

Fifty-Plus-Year Postflight Analysis Of First Fluid Experiment Aboard A Spacecraft, Mark M. Weislogel, Yongkang Chen, William J. Masica, Fred J. Kohl, Robert D. Green

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the first fluid physics experiment performed aboard a spacecraft during the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission. Since then, NASA has conducted over 80 fluids physics experiments aboard a variety of spacecraft, many of which have enhanced the understanding of large-length-scale capillary phenomena relevant to liquid management in the weightless state. As both celebration and demonstration, the Mercury-Atlas 7 fluids experiment is revisited in light of the current understanding of large-length-scale capillary fluidics. Employing a modern numerical tool, a rich variety of experimental outcomes are discovered that were not observed during the flight experiment. Interestingly, experimental …

Effects Of Nonaerated Circulation Water Velocity On Nutrient Release From Aquaculture Pond Sediments, Xiangju Cheng, Dantong Zhu, Xixi Wang, Deguang Yu, Jun Xie

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Sustaining good water quality in aquaculture ponds is vital. Without an aerator, the dissolved oxygen in ponds comes primarily from mass transfer at the water-ambient atmosphere interface. As sediment can seriously affect water quality, this study used indoor experiments to examine the nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) release mechanisms and fluxes from sediment in aquaculture ponds with moving water but no aeration. The results showed that the ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N) concentration in the overlying water was inversely proportional to flow velocity and that a higher flow velocity tended to result in a lower concentration in the overlying water, a …

Upscaling Stem To Community-Level Transpiration For Two Sand-Fixing Plants: Salix Gordejevii And Caragana Microphylla, Limin Duan, Yang Li, Xue Yan, Tingxi Liu, Xixi Wang

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The information on transpiration is vital for sustaining fragile ecosystem in arid/semiarid environment, including the Horqin Sandy Land (HSL) located in northeast China. However, such information is scarce in existing literature. The objectives of this study were to: (1) measure sap flow of selected individual stems of two sand-fixing plants, namely Salix gordejevii and Caragana microphylla, in HSL; and (2) upscale the measured stem-level sap flow for estimating the community-level transpiration. The measurements were done from 1 May to 30 September 2015 (i.e., during the growing season). The upscaling function was developed to have one dependent variable, namely sap …

Modeling Algae Powered Neighborhood Through Gis And Bim Integration, Florina Dutt, Steven Jige Quan, Erik Woodworth, Daniel Castro-Lacouture, Ben J. Stuart, Perry Pei-Ju Yang

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper aims to propose a modeling method for algae powered neighborhoods through GIS-BIM integration. In the first part of the paper, the applicability of different types of algae systems in an urban neighborhood are studied. The various systems of algae provide different strengths and weakness that affect their performance and suitability for given urban scenarios. Through extensive literature review, the variables that affect the performance of the micro-algae in the built environment are identified, with a focus on flat-panel photo bio-reactors and tubular photobioreactors. A previous GIS model for data management, performance analysis and design of the algae systems …

Cfrp Retrofitting Schemes For Prestressed Concrete Box Beams For Highway Bridges, Hussein A. Herish, Zia Razzaq

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper investigates various retrofitting schemes for a prestressed concrete box beam using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets with the goal of increasing flexural strength. A simply-supported box beam is studied with a constant uniformly distributed load and three gradually increasing concentrated loads proportional to HS20 truck loading of the Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Various retrofitting schemes are considered each with single, double, and triple CFRP sheets, respectively, installed in high compression and tension regions. Cross-sectional nonlinear moment-curvature relations are developed and coupled with a finite-difference solution algorithm to predict load-deflection relations for both retrofitted …

Autonomous Driving Platform Performance Analysis, Charles R. Rickarby

Honors Theses and Capstones

Through data analysis of various plots and figures it will be possible to determine the best control parameters to get the best performance out of the autonomous driving platform. This data, presented in this thesis, will show quantitatively what the best control strategies are through comparison of different versions of the platform.

A Practical Approach To Constant Head Drip Chlorination Using An Outlet Controlled System, Joanna Marie Lewis

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Synthesis Of Copper Oxide Nanoparticles In Droplet Flow Reactors, Christopher Reilly

Honors Theses and Capstones

Synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles within droplet flow reactors is advantageous over batch synthesis due to the elimination of concentration and temperature gradients inside the reactor and prevention of reactor fouling. We present results on the synthesis of copper oxide nanoparticles using aqueous droplets of copper acetate and acetic acid inside a bulk stream of sodium hydroxide in 1-octanol. Varying the copper acetate, acetic acid, and sodium hydroxide concentration resulted in needle-like and plate-like nanoparticles of varying sizes. The rate of mass transfer from the bulk to the droplet phase was found to increase with flow rate and addition of …

Photocatalytic Decomposition Of Phenol Under Visible And Uv Light Utilizing Titanium Dioxide Based Catalysts, Marjorie G. Steiner

Honors Theses and Capstones

Pollution in wastewater effluvia from phenol and phenolic compounds is a common occurrence in many industrial manufacturing plants. Phenol is toxic to human beings as well as a contaminant to the environment, meanwhile, it is difficult to remove from wastewater due to its non-biodegradable nature. To boost the rate of decomposition, various catalytic approaches have been developed. With the interest of decreasing operation cost, titanium dioxide (TiO₂) based catalysts have emerged as good candidates for the photocatalytic process.

In this honors project, a series of TiO₂ based catalysts, including TiO₂, N-TiO₂, Cu-TiO_{2 …}