Engineering Commons^™

The Tornado That Struck Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University On Christmas Day, 2006: Lessons Learned From A Near-Miss, John M. Lanicci

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

An F2 tornado that touched down in Daytona Beach on Christmas Day afternoon caused over $50 million of damage to the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus and nearby neighborhoods. The tornado was part of a severe-weather outbreak over Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina that began during the overnight hours of 25 December 2006. Examination of surface and upper-level meteorological charts and vertical soundings on the morning of 25 December showed stability and wind-shear conditions favorable for tornadic thunderstorms over this region. The evolution of the squall line that moved through east-central Florida, and the parent thunderstorm that produced the tornado was …

Waveguide Probe For Nondestructive Material Characterization, Mohammad Tayeb Ahmad Ghasr, Matthew Kempin, R. Zoughi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An open-ended waveguide probe including a finite flange extending outwardly and functioning as an infinite flange. A signal source provides a microwave signal to the waveguide, which in turn transmits microwave electromagnetic energy incident upon an object to be tested. The finite flange at the waveguide's aperture is shaped to reduce scattering of the electromagnetic field reflected from the object and received by the aperture. The probe is adapted for coupling to a receiver for sampling the reflected electromagnetic field received by the aperture and the receiver is adapted for coupling to a processor for determining at least one material …

Phase Gradient Algorithm Method For 3-D Holographic Ladar Imaging, Jason W. Stafford, Bradley D. Duncan, David J. Rabb

Electro-Optics and Photonics Faculty Publications

3-D holographic ladar uses digital holography with frequency diversity to add the ability to resolve targets in range. A key challenge is that since individual frequency samples are not recorded simultaneously, differential phase aberrations may exist between them making it difficult to achieve range compression. We describe steps specific to this modality so that phase gradient algorithms (PGA) can be applied to 3-D holographic ladar data for phase corrections across multiple temporal frequency samples. Substantial improvement of range compression is demonstrated with a laboratory experiment where our modified PGA technique is applied. Additionally, the PGA estimator is demonstrated to be …

Usu Offers Nearly $1m In Scholarships To Engineering Summer Campers | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

June 10, 2016 – Utah State University offered nearly $1 million in scholarship funding on Thursday to a group of high school students attending their last day of a weeklong engineering summer camp.

The juniors and seniors were participating in the annual Engineering State, or ‘E-State’ event designed to introduce young people to engineering and computer science. On Thursday the group attended a closing awards banquet where 80 out of240 students were offered scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $41,000.

Renovation Of El Camino Real Of Santa Clara, Thao Nguyen-Pham, John Garzee

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

In this project we focus on a section of the El Camino Real that is a major corridor that connects the South Bay to much of the Peninsula. The portion that we are looking at is by Santa Clara University from Lafayette Street to Scott Boulevard which consists of 3lanes in both directions. This is much wider than sections farther north as there are much higher traffic volumes in the spread out South Bay. As a result, El Camino Real can be dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. Along with pedestrian safety concerns, our project goes into the inadequate service levels …

Anisotropic Softening Of Magnetic Excitations In Lightly Electron-Doped Sr2Iro4, X. Liu, M. P. M. Dean, Z. Y. Meng, M. H. Upton, T. Qi, T. Gog, Y. Cao, J. Q. Lin, D. Meyers, H. Ding, Gang Cao, J. P. Hill

Center for Advanced Materials Faculty Publications

The magnetic excitations in electron-doped (Sr_1−xLa_x)₂IrO₄ with x = 0.03 were measured using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering at the Ir L₃ edge. Although much broadened, well defined dispersive magnetic excitations were observed. Comparing with the magnetic dispersion from the undoped compound, the evolution of the magnetic excitations upon doping is highly anisotropic. Along the antinodal direction, the dispersion is almost intact. On the other hand, the magnetic excitations along the nodal direction show significant softening. These results establish the presence of strong magnetic correlations in electron-doped (Sr_1−xLa_{x …}

Cushioned Extended-Periphery Avoidance: A Reactive Obstacle Avoidance Plugin, Timothy Mclain, James Jackson, David Wheeler

Faculty Publications

While collision avoidance and flight stability are generally a micro air vehicle’s (MAVs) highest priority, many map-based path planning algorithms focus on path optimality, often assuming a static, known environment. For many MAV applications a robust navigation solution requires responding quickly to obstacles in dynamic, tight environments with non- negligible disturbances. This article first outlines the Reactive Obstacle Avoidance Plugin framework as a method for leveraging map-based algorithms while providing low-latency, high-bandwidth response to obstacles. Further, we propose and demonstrate the effectiveness of the Cushioned Extended- Periphery Avoidance (CEPA) algorithm. By representing recent laser scans in the current body-fixed polar …

Rosflight: A Lightweight, Inexpensive Mav Research And Development Tool, Timothy Mclain, James Jackson, Gary J. Ellingson

Faculty Publications

To accelerate research and development of the autonomous capabilities of micro aerial vehicles we have developed flight control framework, ROSflight, as a research tool. ROSflight makes development of autopilot code easier and more efficient by minimizing the use of embedded systems, incorporating the Robot Operating System and using off-the-shelf and open-source hardware and software. Motivation and applications for use in the research community are discussed. Analysis of loop rate and communication bandwidth are presented as well as results from flight demonstration of two multi-rotor aircraft.

Forest Soil Carbon And Nitrogen Cycles Under Biomass Harvest: Stability, Transient Response, And Feedback, Anthony J. Parolari, Amilcare Porporato

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Biomass harvest generates an imbalance in forest carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles and the nonlinear biogeochemical responses may have long-term consequences for soil fertility and sustainable management. We analyze these dynamics and characterize the impact of biomass harvest and N fertilization on soil biogeochemistry and ecosystem yield with an ecosystem model of intermediate complexity that couples plant and soil C and N cycles. Two harvest schemes are modeled: continuous harvest at low intensity and periodic clear-cut harvest. Continuously-harvested systems sustain N harvest at steady-state under net mineralization conditions, which depends on the C:N ratio and respiration rate of decomposers. …

Heat Generation In The Railroad Bearing Thermoplastic Elastomer Suspension Element, Oscar O. Rodriguez, Juan Carbone, Arturo A. Fuentes, Robert E. Jones, Constantine Tarawneh

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The main purpose of this ongoing study is to investigate the effect of heat generation within a railroad thermoplastic elastomer suspension element on the thermal behavior of the railroad bearing assembly. Specifically, the purpose of this project is to quantify the heat generated by cyclic loading of the elastomer suspension element as a function of load amplitude, loading frequency, and operating temperature. The contribution of the elastomer pad to the system energy balance is modeled using data from dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) of the specific materials in use for that part. DMA is a technique that is commonly used to …

Rsl Rover, Patrick Barone, Giovanni Briggs, Aaron Burns, Hesham Naja, Zoe Demertzis

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

The goal of this project was to design and implement an unmanned vehicle that can assess the air quality and general state of a post-fire environment. To do this, we equipped Santa Clara University's Polaris 6x6 Ranger with appropriate sensors and cameras to determine how safe the environment is for humans to enter. We also used GPS and laser scans to generate a 3D map that operators can use to define certain zones as particularly dangerous. Finally, we incorporated partially-autonomous sensing capabilities that will allow the operator to easily drive the vehicle. The result was a rugged, advanced, and intuitive …

College Of Engineering News, Georgia Southern University

College of Engineering & Computing: News & Publications (2010-2023)

• Danda Rawat wins prestigious NSF CAREER Award

Temperature Profiles Of Railroad Tapered Roller Bearings With Defective Inner And Outer Rings, Constantine Tarawneh, Luz Sotelo, Anthony A. Villarreal, Nancy De Los Santos, Ryan L. Lechtenberg, Robert Jones

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

In the railroad industry, monitoring the condition of key components such as bearings and wheels is vital to ensure the safe transport of goods and commodities. Bearing seizures are amongst the most dangerous types of failures experienced by trains because they occur unexpectedly and may lead to costly derailments. Current bearing health monitoring techniques include tracking the temperature and acoustic emissions given by the bearings. Although temperature histories of railroad tapered roller bearings are readily available, the literature does not provide information relating the temperature profiles to the severity of the bearing defect. The study presented here investigates the correlation …

Infographic: Stem Workforce And Careers, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

School educators are being encouraged to give students more information about STEM-related careers. So, what are the top occupations of STEM graduates? Find out in this Teacher infographic.

Fixthecity: Local Government Complaint Management System, Amanpreet Dhoor, Kevin Ta, Melissa Portillo

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

For a large city, such as San Jose, it can be difficult to keep track of all of the city property that needs fixing. One way to remedy this would be to increase citizen involvement by creating an easy way for citizens to report problems. The current method for doing this is either to call the problem in or to navigate through department webpages to fill out a form. The city also has an app called San Jose Clean, through which people can report graffiti by taking a photo with their phone, but graffiti is the only problem it deals …

Boip: Interactivity Platform, Tyler Kung, Nicholas Pulido

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

For this project, we have implemented an integrated interactive platform tailored for students and professors. Classes at Santa Clara University come in a variety of sizes and styles, with multiple professors teaching multiple students. These professors have different teaching methods that have to cater to students' different learning styles. One of the main features of our platform is a chat room where professors can collect information from their students. Students are able to ask questions about said topic or answer the professor's posted questions about the topic as well as other students' questions. With our platform, we hope to increase …

The New Grid, Vincente Ciancio, Andrew Dobbins, Steven Sanz

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

The New Grid seeks to provide mobile users with an additional method for off-grid communication, or communication without connection to Internet infrastructure. The motivation for this project was to find another alternative to Internet-dependent communication. Current Internet infrastructure is antiquated; it is expensive to maintain and expand, it has numerous vulnerabilities and high-impact points of failure, and can be rendered unusable for lengthy periods of time by natural disasters or other catastrophes. This current grid will eventually need to be replaced by a more modern, scalable, and adaptive infrastructure. The results of the projects research showed that implementing a library …

Trusnet: Peer-To-Peer Cryptographic Authentication, Adrian Bedard, Jonathan Bedard

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Originally, the Internet was meant as a general purpose communication protocol, transferring primarily text documents between interested parties. Over time, documents expanded to include pictures, videos and even web pages. Increasingly, the Internet is being used to transfer a new kind of data which it was never designed for. In most ways, this new data type fits in naturally to the Internet, taking advantage of the near limit-less expanse of the protocol. Hardware protocols, unlike previous data types, provide a unique set security problem. Much like financial data, hardware protocols extended across the Internet must be protected with authentication. Currently, …

Uniform: The Form Validation Language, Sawyer Novak, Reid Palmquist, Douglas Parker

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Digital forms are becoming increasingly more prevalent but the ease of creation is not. Web Forms are difficult to produce and validate. This design project seeks to simplify this process. This project is comprised of two parts: a logical programming language (Uniform) and a web application.

Uniform is a language that allows its users to define logical relationships between web elements and apply simple rules to individual inputs to both validate the form and manipulate its components depending on user input. Uniform provides an extra layer of abstraction to complex coding.

The web app implements Uniform to provide business-level programmers …

Smart Photos, Daniel Hernandez, Angela Laar, Jaelin Mccreary

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Recent technological leaps have been a great catalyst for changing how people interact with the world around us. Specifically, the field of Augmented Reality has led to many software and hardware advances that have formed a digital intermediary between humans and their environment. As of now, Augmented Reality is available to the select few with the means of obtaining Google Glass, Oculus Rifts, and other relatively expensive platforms. Be that as it may, the tech industry's current goal has been integration of this technology into the public's smartphones and everyday devices. One inhibitor of this goal is the difficulty of …

Saguarotrack, Christine Rohacz, Kirk Iserman

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

In an increasingly connected world, many employees work remotely and go out into the field to solve an issue. It is important for their employers to be able to keep track of where their employees are to ensure accountability and quick response times in emergency situations. SaguaroTrack is a new solution to this issue that combines a mobile device application with a Web interface to allow employers to easily account for their mobile workforce. SaguaroTrack will display the location data sent by the mobile device on an easy to understand map to increase the efficiency of response time to customer …

Life Cycle Assessment Of Low Cost Retrofit Options Of Educational Building Considering Renewable And Non‐Renewable Energies, Akram Avami, Atiyeh Soleimani Javid

Life Cycle Assessment and Other Assessment Tools for Waste Management and Resource Optimization

Commercial and building sectors account for 34% of total energy consumption in Iran. Increasing demand of the level of comfort along with population growth necessitate much more attention about energy requirements in the country. Such phenomenons have already raised concerns about the security of energy supply and heavy environmental impacts. These concerns can significantly be reduced by implementing retrofit options in existing buildings.

The Department of Energy Engineering of Sharif University of Technology is selected as the case study with 181KWh/m2 annual heating and cooling demand, 29 KWh/m2 annual lightening and 15 KWh/m2 electrical appliances energy demand. Environmental concerns are …

The Challenges Of Nuclear Waste Management From A Life Cycle Perspective, Andrea Paulillo, Stephen Palethorpe, Andrew M. Illiken, Roland Vclift, Paola Lettieri

Life Cycle Assessment and Other Assessment Tools for Waste Management and Resource Optimization

As nuclear industry grows and expands, the yearly amount of waste produced increases and it adds to the large quantity of nuclear wastes generated, and not yet disposed, in the last 50 years from existing plants. Consequently, the development of an international agreed policy to manage nuclear wastes is key to support such growth. Many countries, such as USA, Sweden, Canada, have opted for a direct disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) (Open Cycle); whilst others, such as the UK, Japan and France, have preferred reprocessing SNF (Closed Cycle). Other countries are yet to take a final decision (e.g. Spain, …

Effects Of The Fiber Distribution And Number Of Nearby Fibers On The Thermal Conductivity For Aligned Cnt-Silicon Oil Composites, Diana Grandio

Mechanical Engineering Master's Theses

Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) are seen as promising materials for thermal transport applications. The high thermal conductivity and structural flexibility of the CNT present them as very attractive components to be used as particle fillers in thermal interface materials. It is important to understand the effective thermal conductivity for CNT-matrix composites at high CNT volume fraction.

In prior work, an effective medium approach (EMA) has been developed to evaluate composite physical properties such as thermal conductivity, dielectric function or elastic modulus (C-W Nan, Prog. Mat. Sci. V 37, 1993). This model combined with the Kapitza interface resistance can predict the effective …

Lca Applied To Residual Organic Fertilizing Materials ‐ An Overview Of Substitution Methodological Options And Quantitative Substitution Rates, Marilys Pradel, Claire Déchaux

Life Cycle Assessment and Other Assessment Tools for Waste Management and Resource Optimization

LCA case studies applied to waste management options of organic products face several LCA methodological choices and among them, the multifunctionality question. Indeed, studies dealing with waste management aim to assess the environmental impacts of different organic waste treatments that enhance the organic waste fertilizing and amending properties. This is expressed in LCA studies by a primary function (to treat the waste) and secondary functions (to fertilize or provide an organic amendment to agricultural soils).The induced multifunctionality is often treated by system expansion by subtracting the secondary functions, leading to potentially avoided impacts. When dealing with residual organic fertilizing materials, …

Lca Applied To Residual Organic Fertilizing Materials ‐ An Overview Of Emission Inventory Data At The Spreading Operation, Claire Déchaux, Marilys Pradel

Life Cycle Assessment and Other Assessment Tools for Waste Management and Resource Optimization

LCA case studies applied to waste management options of organic products face several inventory completeness issues and among them, the spreading operation emissions. Indeed, organic products contain nutrient elements which turn into air, water and soil emissions after their spreading. LCA practitioners need to consider these quantitative data in order to carry out relevant assessments. Emission data obtained from experimental measurements, as they are specific to each residual organic fertilizing material and each pedoclimatic condition, cannot be used as generic data. Moreover, when the LCA case study is processed based on the primary function “to treat the waste”, the secondary …

Regional Wastewater Facility Systems Design, Sage Aoki, Joseph Calvo, Kayden Haleakala, Steward Yang

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

The San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility (RWF) was constructed in 1956 as a primary water treatment plant. Secondary treatment facilities were constructed in 1964 in response to a growing population and economy along with state regulations. The RWF expanded to tertiary treatment in 1979 to meet Clean Water Act regulations. A wet weather headworks facility was commissioned in 2008, and in 2011 the gaseous chlorine/sulfur dioxide system for disinfection was converted to a sodium hypochlorite/sodium bisulfate system in 2011 (RWF 2015). The RWF launched a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) in 2014, identifying 33 capital projects. The Facility Wide Water …

Retrofit Design Of Energy Efficient Buildings Using Life Cycle Assessment Case Study On Research Institute Building, Fereshteh Aramoun, Masoomeh Bararzadeh, Akram Avami

Life Cycle Assessment and Other Assessment Tools for Waste Management and Resource Optimization

Energy use in educational buildings constitutes a major proportion of the energy consumption and anthropogenic emissions. Such buildings account for 34% of total energy consumption in the Iran. To find the most beneficial retrofits in the educational buildings to satisfy energy demands increasing in recent years and decreasing the heavy environmental impacts, in this paper the multi-story educational building “Sharif Energy Research Institute” located in Tehran is chosen as a case study to assess its thermal loads in the first step and life cycle assessment in the second step.

The Sharif Energy Research Institute building’s base load is calculated based …

Transformative Role Of Photovoltaics In Phasing Out Alternating Current Based Grid By Local Dc Power Networks For Sustainable Global Economic Growth, Rajendra Singh, Amir A. Asif, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Publications

For sustainable global economic growth, eradication of global energy poverty and addressing climate challenges, free fuel based solar and wind energy sources are the only viable solution for electricity generation. Due to inherent advantages, photovoltaics has emerged as the major source of electrical power. Local generation of direct current (DC) power by PV and the use of batteries for storing electrical power have the potential of transforming global electricity infrastructure to address the problems faced by alternating current (AC) based centralized power generation and long haul transmission and distribution.

Nicaragua Water Distribution System, Leah Bensching, Jamie Monk

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

In developing nations, such as Nicaragua, water security issues affect a large portion of the population. A lack of clean and secure water negatively causes many public health, environmental and economic concerns. This project addresses the need to develop a water distribution system to a rural community in Nicaragua. The proposed solutions will allow the community to choose more resilient design options to ensure reliable water delivery throughout the community.

By using NeatWork, a Nicaraguan based system, and WaterGEMS, which is more commonly used in the United States, it was determined that designing for 100% reliability was the most responsible …