Engineering Commons^™

Finite Element Analysis For Astm C-76 Reinforced Concrete Pipes With Reduced Steel Cage, Amin Darabnoush Tehrani

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Reinforced concrete pipes (RCP) are composite pipes which have been widely used in the industry for more than ten decades. They are generally used for sewerage, water drainage, and industrial waste water. There are two methods for designing the RCP so that it will bear the soil weight and the live load on it: Indirect design (ID) and direct design (DD) methods. ASTM C76 (1) classifies pipes into five categories. The five categories of pipes have been classified in order of ascending pipe diameter with their required load and reinforcement’s area. Typically, there are two reinforcement types: circumferential and longitudinal. …

A Lognormal Reliability Design Model, Edward Osakue, Lucky Anetor

Faculty Publications

It is well known that design loads vary randomly during equipment operations. Similarly, material properties such as yield strength, tensile strength, fatigue strength, etc. are random variables. Design analytical models are approximations of reality and failure mode models are also approximations. Consequently, design solutions are not exact. Practical design must therefore, consider the random nature and statistical variability of design parameters. Reliability-based design models are developed to provide practical design methods. This paper develops a lognormal reliability-based design model that can be coded in Excel Spreedsheet. Two design examples are considered in demonstrating the application of the formulated model. In …

A Fast Filtering Block-Sparse Proportionate Affine Projection Sign Algorithm, Felix Albu, Jianming Liu, Steven L. Grant

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a new proportionate affine projection sign algorithm for block-sparse identification using a fast recursive filtering procedure and dichotomous coordinate descent iterations is proposed. It is shown that the proposed algorithm is a good candidate for network echo cancellation systems operating under impulsive environments.

Forcing Cesium Into Higher Oxidation States Via Useful Hard X-Ray Induced Chemistry At Extreme Conditions, Daniel Thomas Sneed

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Recent theoretical work published in Nature Chemistry postulates the existence of cesium in high oxidation states when bonding with fluorine. It is thus predicted to behave as a p-block element (such as xenon) at pressures above 5 GPa. At these pressures, fluorine atoms may bond with the inner p-shell electrons forming CsFn, where n may vary from 2 up to 6; thus the oxidation state of Cs may change up to 6+. My research focused on physically synthesizing these compounds and to verify that, given the right conditions, bonding doesn't only occur with valence electrons, but with the inner p-shell …

Thermoelectric Half-Heuslers: Synthesis, Processing, And Performance, Joseph Robert Croteau

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Thermoelectric half-Heusler compounds have potential to convert the heat wasted from industrial and transportation processes to useful electricity. Among the highest performing half-Heusler compounds are nano-structured bulk materials which have been arc-melted, pulverized into a nano-powder, and sintered by DC-hot press. High performing n- and p-type half-Heusler compounds with nominal composition of Hf_0.25Zr_0.75NiSn_0.99Sb_0.01 and Nb_0.75Ti_0.25FeSb, respectively, have been provided to us in both dense and powder form by our collaborators at the University of Houston. We consolidate these powders by SPS, refine these powders to improve both particle size …

A System For Monitoring And Managing Indoor Air Quality And Environmental Conditions, Ali Ibrahim

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The quality of indoor air depends on different types of pollutant sources existing in a semi-enclosed environment. The sources can be biological, chemical, or toxic pollutants. These sources can cause health issues and discomfort for occupants. One of the indicators of poor indoor air quality is Carbon Dioxide (CO₂). CO₂ can be used to indicate the indoor air exchange rate. The lack of air exchange means higher levels of CO₂. High levels of indoor particulates can also be an indication of poor air quality. Due to the lack of fresh air, air circulation, and air …

The Influence Of The Electric Supply Industry On Economic Growth In Less Developed Countries, Edward Richard Bee

Dissertations

This study measures the impact that electrical outages have on manufacturing production in 135 less developed countries using stochastic frontier analysis and data from World Bank’s Investment Climate surveys. Outages of electricity, for firms with and without backup power sources, are the most frequently cited constraint on manufacturing growth in these surveys.

Outages are shown to reduce output below the production frontier by almost five percent in Africa and by a lower percentage in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. Production response to outages is quadratic in form. Outages also increase labor cost, reduce exports …

Packing Sheet Materials Into Cylinders And Prisms Using Origami-Based Approaches, Jared Thomas Bruton

Theses and Dissertations

Packing sheet materials into cylinders and prisms using Origami-based approaches (Soft Origami or traditional Origami) is of interest in fields where sheet materials need folded into cylinders or prisms. Fully-dense packing has application in fields where a sheet material is to be folded with minimal gaps into a cylinder or prism. Partially-dense packing is applicable to fields where gaps are required between packed surfaces or where hollow volumes are to be filled, such as in fluid filter design. Soft Origami is explored as a method for folding soft-sheet materials into fully-dense cylinders. Two fold patterns, the "flasher'' and the "inverted-cone …

A Visual Return-To-Home System For Gps-Denied Flight, Benjamin Paul Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned aerial vehicle technology is rapidly maturing. In recent years, the sight of hobbyist aircraft has become more common. Corporations and governments are also interested in using drone aircraft for applications such as package delivery, surveillance and communications. These autonomous UAV technologies demand robust systems that perform under any circumstances. Many UAV applications rely on GPS to obtain information about their location and velocity. However, the GPS system has known vulnerabilities, including environmental signal degradation, terrestrial or solar weather, or malicious attacks such as GPS spoofing. These conditions occur with enough frequency to cause concern. Without a GPS signal, the …

Infiltration Study Using Tdr Techniques, Saurav Sinha

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The study of water flow or infiltration in an unsaturated soil is a highly non-linear and complex problem, simultaneous verification of field and laboratory results is a convenient and practical approach to test the results. In this study, Time domain reflectometry (TDR) sensors are installed at three different locations close to a water body (Creek) in Arlington, Texas which is a part of the National Science Foundation Project titled “Cyper SEES: Type 2: Integrative Sensing and Prediction of Urban Water for Sustainable Cities (iSPUW)”. Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) and Time Domain Transmissometry (TDT) sensors were deployed at five different depths …

A Decision Support System Tool For Dynamic Pricing Of Managed Lanes, Maryam Zabihi

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Congestion pricing and managed lanes (ML) have been recently gaining interest around the country as a congestion management tool and as a means of revenue generation for facility maintenance and expansion as well repayment of highway construction debts. Congestion pricing in MLs entails one of several strategies, including time of day pricing, dynamic pricing based on predicted/anticipated traffic conditions, and real-time dynamic pricing based on actual traffic conditions. The overall goal of this study has been to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) tool based on drivers’ revealed willingness to pay (WTP) values. This should determine more effective dynamic toll …

Evaluation Of Structural Capacity Of Epoxy-Coated Concrete Pipes And Its Interaction With Soil, Elmira Riahi

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Rehabilitation of concrete structures by using synthetic resins such as epoxy is increasing worldwide. Understanding the structural behavior of the resultant composite structure and the interaction between the coating and concrete can be beneficial in predicting performance of the rehabilitated structure. However, very little is known about the strength of the epoxy-coated concrete. This researcher conducted laboratory experiments designed to evaluate epoxy coated concrete specimens under different load configurations with an emphasis on its stress-strain characteristics. The tests include uniaxial compression cylindrical specimens, three-point and four-point bending and tests on beam specimens and three-edge bearing tests on concrete pipe specimens. …

Design Procedures Of Retrofitted Bridge Rail, Richard L. Wood, Yijun Liao, Mohammad E. Mohammadi, Jordan Wipf

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The use of shallow embedment anchors in concrete is essential for retrofit applications; however, the combination of steel anchors, chemical adhesive, and concrete acting as a single tensile mechanism creates uncertainties in anchor strength and failure modes. Differences in concrete compressive strengths and in specifications of adhesives between manufacturers increases uncertainty further. In addition to these issues, prior research conducted by others examines the behavior of such anchors with respect to cracked versus uncracked concrete, partial bonding of the embedded length, and strength reductions due to anchor proximity to edges. While it is understood, anchors require a proper installation detail, …

Identifying And Addressing Soil Property Issues Affecting Roadside Vegetation Establishment, Xu Li, Martha Mamo, Walter H. Schacht, Tala Awada, Humberto Blanco-Canqui

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Attaining adequate vegetation cover along highways is important for NDOR to comply with EPA’s stormwater regulations. However, low plant cover is a common problem on shoulders (first 16 feet off the pavement) of many highways in Nebraska. The ultimate goal of this study is to identify cost-effective engineering solutions that assure adequate seed beds (i.e., soil conditions) for establishment of selected seeding mixtures. The objectives of this study are to (1) characterize the soil properties along roadsides where vegetation stands have not developed well, and (2) verify the effects of select soil property parameters on plant germination and establishment.

Sampling …

Inducing Emotional Response In Interactive Media, Keenan M. Reimer

Master's Theses

Video games, and entertainment media have been developed for many years, and eliciting emotional experiences is an integral part of that process. Producing and editing game content in order to affect desired emotional experiences can be expensive and cumbersome to developers. This paper presents a study intended to show that such experiences can be affected with simple after-the-fact audio-visual effects. As subjects of the study, participants experience three different emotional states, fear, peace, and none, over three rounds and in three different game environments. They are given a simple narrative in each environment that directs them to gather various objects. …

Investigation Of Copling Strength And Directionality Between Eeg And Fnirs At Resting State Using Permutation Conditional Mutual Information, Gowtham Krishnan Murugesan

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

The motivation of study is to combine multimodality approach EEG-fNIRS to study relationship between neural activity and hemodynamic response applying information theory concepts. Investigating human brain function can be improved by employing a multimodal neuroimaging approach. Since each neuroimaging modality has its own characteristic features especially in terms of spatial and temporal resolution integrating fNIRS responses with EEG could accurately characterize the neurovascular coupling in cortical regions selected as part of the brain network involved in motor and cognitive behavior. Simultaneous recording of fNIRS-EEG is therefore an important resource for studying aspects of neurovascular coupling and its relationship with pathological …

Investigating Causal Interactions In The Human Brain Using Eeg And Fnirs, Borzou Alipourfard

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

It is necessary for distributed neural assemblies to work in collaboration to achieve the most elementary brain functions. Activities within segregated neural assemblies are integrated to process an incredibly diverse collection of cognitive tasks. Measures such as correlation, cross-correlation, coherence and phase delay make limited use of the information that is available with the advanced multichannel and multimodal recordings of the brain’s activity. They can also give spurious and false results. Most importantly, these bivariate measures are not capable of describing the interaction among multiple neural assemblies and the effective connectivity among them. Through causality analysis, we can identify these …

Effect Of Severe Corrosion On Lateral Strength Of Square Rc Bridge Columns, Sara Sotoud

Dissertations - ALL

Corrosion of reinforcing steel bars is the primary durability problem that causes degradation of reinforced concrete structures located in aggressive environments. Severe corrosion of steel bars decreases the lateral load-carrying capacity of reinforced concrete members, causes loss in the mechanical properties of reinforcement and cross-sectional area of steel bars and concrete cover, bond deterioration, reduces anchorage of steel bars, and decreases the confinement by transverse reinforcement. Consequently, corrosion results in drop in the lateral strength of columns. Therefore, studying response of corroded reinforced concrete columns subjected to lateral loads is necessary.

According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) report in …

Essays On Optimization And Modeling Methods For Reliability And Reliability Growth, Thomas Paul Talafuse

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research proposes novel solution techniques in the realm of reliability and reliability growth. We first consider a redundancy allocation problem to design a system that maximizes the reliability of a complex series-parallel system comprised of components with deterministic reliability. We propose a new meta-heuristic, inspired by the behavior of bats hunting prey, to find component allocation and redundancy levels that provide optimal or near-optimal system reliability levels. Each component alternative has an associated cost and weight and the system is constrained by cost and weight factors. We allow for component mixing within a subsystem, with a pre-defined maximum level …

Correlation Of Polymer Performance And Hansen Solubility Parameters, Daniel Jobse Mania

Master's Theses

Ready-to-use (RTU) grout is becoming more important to the finish and remodeling construction industry. Market research shows it is a fast-growing product that not only is creating its own space, but is beginning to supplant existing technology.

The original intent of this research was to investigate formulation parameters and how they affect grout performance. It was learned that particle size and oil absorption (OA) value are important filler properties that affect performance as much as adequate packing density and optimal pigment volume concentration (PVC) without going beyond critical PVC (CPVC).

Polymer architecture was also determined to be extremely important, but …

Robust Algorithms For Estimating Vehicle Movement From Motion Sensors Within Smartphones, Ilyas Ustun

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Building sustainable traffic control solutions for urban streets (e.g., eco-friendly signal control) and highways requires effective and reliable sensing capabilities for monitoring traffic flow conditions so that both the temporal and spatial extents of congestion are observed. This would enable optimal control strategies to be implemented for maximizing efficiency and for minimizing the environmental impacts of traffic. Various types of traffic detection systems, such as inductive loops, radar, and cameras have been used for these purposes. However, these systems are limited, both in scope and in time. Using GPS as an alternative method is not always viable because of problems …

Determining Energy Output In Manual And Automated Solar Arrays, James K. Ayres

Honors Theses

The scope for the project was to design and construct a system that could be used to both manually and automatically track the sun using solar panels to demonstrate engineering principles for classroom and laboratory experiments at both the primary and secondary education levels. For ease of demonstration, a manual and automatic tracker was designed for the experiment. Using a standard camera tripod, the solar panels were attached to fabricated mounts to allow for omnidirectional movement. For the automated, or active tracker, an Ardunio Uno microcontroller was used in conjunction with two 180˚ servos to adjust the active tracker solar …

Three-Dimensional Adult Cardiac Extracellular Matrix Promotes Maturation Of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes, Ahsley H. Fong, Mónica Romero-López, Christopher M. Heylman, Mark Keating, David Tran, Agua Sobrino, Anh Q. Tran, Hiep H. Pham, Cristhian Fimbres, Paul D. Gershon, Elliot L. Botvinick, Steven C. George, Christopher C.W. Hughes

Biomedical Engineering

Pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) have great potential in the development of new therapies for cardiovascular disease. In particular, human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) may prove especially advantageous due to their pluripotency, their self-renewal potential, and their ability to create patient-specific cell lines. Unfortunately, pluripotent stem cell-derived CMs are immature, with characteristics more closely resembling fetal CMs than adult CMs, and this immaturity has limited their use in drug screening and cell-based therapies. Extracellular matrix (ECM) influences cellular behavior and maturation, as does the geometry of the environment—twodimensional (2D) versus three-dimensional (3D). We therefore tested the hypothesis that native …

Review Of Fluorescence Guided Surgery Systems: Identification Of Key Performance Capabilities Beyond Indocyanine Green Imaging, Alisha V. Dsouza, Huiyun Lin, Eric R. Henderson, Kimberley S. Samkoe

Dartmouth Scholarship

There is growing interest in using fluorescence imaging instruments to guide surgery, and the leading options for open-field imaging are reviewed here. While the clinical fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) field has been focused predominantly on indocyanine green (ICG) imaging, there is accelerated development of more specific molecular tracers. These agents should help advance new indications for which FGS presents a paradigm shift in how molecular information is provided for resection decisions. There has been a steady growth in commercially marketed FGS systems, each with their own differentiated performance characteristics and specifications. A set of desirable criteria is presented to guide the …

Utilizing Egocentric Video And Sensors To Conduct Naturalistic Bicycling Studies, Feng Liu, Miguel A. Figliozzi

TREC Final Reports

Existing data collection methods are mostly designed for videos captured by stationary cameras and are not designed to follow cyclists along a route or to integrate other sensor data. The goals of this research are: a) to develop a platform to collect naturalistic video bicycling data, b) to develop a methodology to integrate video data with other sensors that measure cyclists’ position and comfort levels, and c) to apply the platform and data collection methodology to a real-world route. This research effort has successfully integrated video and sensor data to describe cyclists’ comfort levels along a route. It was found …

Laboratory And Full Boom-Based Investigation Of Nozzle Setup And Restriction Effects On Flow, Pressure And Spray Pattern Distribution, Shane H. Forney

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Pesticide application is an integral part of crop production and ground-based agricultural boom sprayers are used extensively to apply pesticides to the crop canopy or soil surface across millions of acres in the United States. Efficient application is necessary to minimize costs and limit adverse environmental impacts. Errors in flow rate and system pressure measurements may cause as-applied maps to incorrectly indicate application rates and could negatively affect downstream data processing or analysis. The goals of this study were to provide quantified measurements on the effects of nozzle setup errors on spray pattern uniformity and evaluate how laboratory patternator data …

Multi-Sensory Emotion Recognition With Speech And Facial Expression, Qingmei Yao

Dissertations

Emotion plays an important role in human beings’ daily lives. Understanding emotions and recognizing how to react to others’ feelings are fundamental to engaging in successful social interactions. Currently, emotion recognition is not only significant in human beings’ daily lives, but also a hot topic in academic research, as new techniques such as emotion recognition from speech context inspires us as to how emotions are related to the content we are uttering.

The demand and importance of emotion recognition have highly increased in many applications in recent years, such as video games, human computer interaction, cognitive computing, and affective computing. …

Laboratory Characterization Of Ohio Gold Frac Sand, Maria Gabriela Alvarado Calle

Open Access Theses

The mechanical response of sand depends on state variables (such as density, stress state and fabric) and intrinsic variables (such as particle size distribution and particle shape). The mechanical response of sand is also a function of sand crushability. Recent research studying the cone penetration process in a unique digital image correlation (DIC) chamber is underway at Purdue University. The test sand is Ohio Gold Frac sand, which meets criteria regarding particle size and gradation related to elimination of chamber boundary and scale effects.

The mechanical behavior of this sand can be simulated by a suitable constitutive model, such as …

Role Of River Bathymetry In Hydraulic Modeling Of River Channels, Sayan Dey

Open Access Theses

Accurate geometric representation of the river channel is required for accurate hydraulic modeling of rivers. These are generally obtained through remote sensing techniques such as Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR). However, these techniques lack the ability to model the submerged channel bed effectively and need to be complemented with surveyed bathymetric data for complete representation of the channel bathymetry, which can be time and cost prohibitive. An alternative to address this issue is to develop conceptual models that can estimate bathymetry.

This study aims to evaluate the potential of a conceptual model, the River Channel Morphology Model (RCMM) which estimates …

Modeling The Impact Of Battery Degradation Within Lifecycle Cost Based Design Optimization Of Heavy-Duty Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Ashish P. Vora

Open Access Dissertations

The optimal design of hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) powertrains from a systems perspective is critical to realize the maximum benefits for a given application. This is particularly true in the heavy-duty vehicle space where the major challenges are: (i) greater emphasis on economic viability, (ii) reluctance to take on risk associated with new technologies, and (iii) numerous diverse applications that preclude a one-size-fits-all approach to hybrid-electric powertrain design. Past studies on HEV powertrain design have either ignored battery degradation, or failed to holistically capture its impact from a lifecycle cost perspective. The focus of this effort is the development of …