Engineering Commons^™

Integrated Microsphere Whispering Gallery Mode Probe For Highly Sensitive Refractive Index Measurement, Hanzheng Wang, Lei Yuan, Cheol-Woon Kim, Jie Huang, Xinwei Lan, Hai Xiao

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

We report an integrated whispering gallery mode microresonator-based sensor probe for refractive index sensing. The probe was made by sealing a borosilicate glass microsphere into a thin-wall glass capillary pigtailed with a multimode optical fiber. The intensities of the resonant peaks were found decreasing exponentially (linearly in a log scale) with the increasing refractive index of the medium surrounding the capillary. The sensing capability of the integrated probe was tested using sucrose solutions of different concentrations and the resolution was estimated to be about 2.5 x 10^-5 in the index range of 1.3458 to 1.3847. The integrated sensor probe …

Rapid Android Parser For Investigating Dex Files (Rapid), Xiaolu Zhang, Frank Breitinger, Ibrahim Baggili

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Android malware is a well-known challenging problem and many researchers/vendors/practitioners have tried to address this issue through application analysis techniques. In order to analyze Android applications, tools decompress APK files and extract relevant data from the Dalvik EXecutable (DEX) files. To acquire the data, investigators either use decompiled intermediate code generated by existing tools, e.g., Baksmali or Dex2jar or write their own parsers/dissemblers. Thus, they either need additional time because of decompiling the application into an intermediate representation and then parsing text files, or they reinvent the wheel by implementing their own parsers. In this article, we present Rapid Android …

Adaptive Stand Up Paddleboard, Stephen Eldridge, Claire Francis, Curtis Hodgson, Haley Rentfro, Spencer Shotts

Mechanical Engineering

The task of this project was to create an adaptive paddleboard capable of being ridden by someone who does not have full mobility in one or more of their lower extremities. This project was worked on by a team of five students - three mechanical engineers and two kinesiology students - to create an effective and robust design for the client. To do this, the team regularly met with the client and used individual and group expertise in various fields to bring the best product to the end user.

The client, Damien, was a firefighter who was injured in July …

Electric Vehicle Torque Vectoring And Rear Steering Control System, Garrett Heinen, Vincent Lee, Michael Parker, Michael Saggese

Mechanical Engineering

NDA

Improvement Of Mounting Techniques For Accelerated Wear Testing Of Artificial Heart Valves, Kyle Koon, Clay Bougher, Lawrence Yang

Mechanical Engineering

Confidential

Metals Am Design For Manufacturing, Maren Cosens, Ben Wong, Kevin Hale

Mechanical Engineering

We are looking to improve upon the current post processing techniques for metal additive manufacturing (AM). This project, sponsored by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), will investigate ways to improve the design of stainless steel 316 parts made by AM, and how these designs will help with post processing techniques. We hope that the findings regarding stainless steel will apply to to improve the AM and post processing handshake in general. In particular, the project will focus on including different features in different basic part design shapes to aid in fixturing and post-processing of the part made by AM. This …

Efficiency Testing Of An Electronic Speed Controller, Grace Cowell, Matthew Hudson, Marcus Pereira

Mechanical Engineering

This project required the development of a rig that could experimentally determine the efficiency of an Electronic Speed Controller (ESC). The selected design focuses on measuring the losses due to heat from the device and comparing this to its input power. The selected design is a flow rig that utilizes the heat equation q=ṁcpΔT. The rig provides a steady state measurement of the ESC heat output by passing a known mass flow rate of air across the ESC and measuring the temperature difference. It uses a flowmeter to determine ṁ, thermocouples to determine ΔT, and a table lookup to determine …

Life Cycle Assessment Of Paper Versus Electronic Assignment Submission In Cal Poly's Materials Engineering, Patrick Mcdonnal

Materials Engineering

Both hard and soft copy submission of assignments make an impact on the environment to produce the final product in terms of energy consumption and carbon emissions; an investigation was conducted as to which method is less environmentally impactful. Student disposition towards each assignment submission method was also investigated because it is associated with learning efficacy. A survey was conducted in Cal Poly’s Materials Engineering Department to determine the contributing components to the environmental impact of paper and electronic assignments, as well as the students’ disposition towards each of them. Contributing components are man-made products used by a student to …

Life Cycle Assessment And Comparison Of Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles Prepared By Aqueous And Microwave Synthesis Methods, Jesse Cartland

Materials Engineering

Abstract: Magnesium oxide nanoparticles are being used increasingly as catalysts for organic synthesis, fuel oil additives, and CO₂ adsorbents. There are many ways to produce magnesium oxide nanoparticles, but there is little information available regarding the environmental costs of production. As demand for environmentally friendly materials increases, it is important to understand environmental impact differences between various production methods. This study will compare the differences in embodied energy and global warming potential (GWP) between two synthesis methods: microwave combustion synthesis (microwave synthesis) and oxidation of magnesium hydroxide (aqueous synthesis). The resulting nanoparticles were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), …

Office High Rise Building- Fire Protection And Life Safety Analysis, Fabio Renato Zocal Mazza

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This project developed the traditional prescriptive-based design analysis of the fire protection features of an existing office high rise building in the city of Sao Paulo, in Brazil. The analysis was then complemented by performance-based analysis of the building. The building is a high rise office located in a metropolitan area, provided also with underground car parking garages and a small theater. The fire protection analysis was conducted based on the local Sao Paulo state fire codes, mainly the Sao Paulo State enactment (Decreto Nº56.819/2011) and Sao Paulo Fire Department Technical Instructions; and, in addition to the local codes, the …

3-Bay Aircraft General Maintenance Hangar- United States Air Force, Zach Ataiyan

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This report contains a prescriptive design analysis and a performance based design analysis for a newly constructed United States Air Force 3-Bay Aircraft General Maintenance Hangar and support spaces.

The prescriptive design analysis reviews the code requirements for fire suppression, fire alarm, life safety, and structural fire protection. Additionally, the hydraulic demands of the fire suppression system, and the voltage drop and power supply requirements of the fire alarm systems were calculated. The results of the analysis portray a compliant prescriptive design of the fire protection systems.

The performance based design analysis evaluates the hazards in the 3-bay facility for …

Monticello Office Building- Fire And Life Safety Analysis, Mark James Masciarelli

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

A Fire and Life Safety analysis was performed on the existing Monticello Office Building located in Delaware, USA. The Monticello Office Building is a mixed use building that contains office space to support a population of 700 people, dining facilities to accommodate approximately 400 people, and a conference area for up to 125 people. The building is composed of two major components; a five (5) story office wing and a one (1) and two (2) story amenities wing that mainly houses the food service, dining, kitchen, retail and conference areas. A prescriptive analysis of this building was performed to determine …

Facility Redesign For Increased Throughput And Improved Product Flow Of Shark Rack Products Final Assembly At Paris Precision, Karina Hromyak, Julia Remnant

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Paris Precision is a metal fabrication company that fabricates metal components for various companies, one of which is Shark Rack, which creates high end server racks. Shark Rack has plans for a dramatic increase in demand over the next two years. Paris Precision’s Final Assembly area is currently not conducive to produce such a large increase in demand. A redesign of the Final Assembly facility is needed to handle the increase in production and to improve product flow through the space. The project team’s objectives are to:

● Study current Final Assembly production process

● Analyze the production flow

● …

Ymca Operations Manual Development, Devlin Stewart

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The San Luis Obispo YMCA sports department was losing money and overworking their employees due to lack of processes and organizational issues. To address this, a plan was made with the sports director to begin organizing the sports department. This would be done by creating an operations manual for them to organize and consolidate all of their relevant information.

The project was scoped to develop a plan for the YMCA to implement an operations manual. By delivering a work breakdown structure, a gantt chart, and a plan for continuous improvement, the YMCA could use these tools to develop their operations …

Zero Waste Campus Dining, Jenny Caudillo, Sarah Dahel, Youlen Ghazalian

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Cal Poly Campus Dining has a goal of becoming a zero waste entity by providing their customers with alternative methods of disposing their trash. Their current operations produce waste, specifically their methods of packaging the food. Campus dining plans to be more sustainable by providing their customers with reusable containers. The objective of this implementation is to reduce waste produced from one-time use, disposable food containers. The success criteria for the desired system is based around the ability to track and measure the reusable containers to prevent further waste, while providing the user an accommodating environment to ensure they will …

Adapting Lean Six Sigma For A Non-Profit Organization, Jocelyn De Leon

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement practice most commonly used in large scale manufacturing and health care industries to improve performance and efficiency. The goal of Lean Six Sigma is to improve efficiency, consistency, and focus on value added elements. Over the years, Lean Six Sigma has evolved from being primarily a manufacturing practice to serving more service based industries such as healthcare and government. However, Lean Six Sigma has yet to be implemented in the non-profit sector. This technical report outlines the importance of identifying the unique characteristics of the organization you wish to improve and then adapting …

Metals Additive Manufacturing Powder Aging Characterization, Thomas Russell Lovejoy, Nicholas Karl Muetterties, David Takeo Otsu

Mechanical Engineering

The metallic additive manufacturing process known as selective laser melting requires highly spherical, normally distributed powder with diameters in the range of 10 to 50 microns. Previous observations have shown a degradation in powder quality over time, resulting in unwanted characteristics in the final printed parts. 21-6-9 stainless steel powder was used to fabricate test parts, with leftover powder recycled back into the machine. Powder samples and test specimens were characterized to observe changes across build cycles. Few changes were observed in the physical and mechanical properties of the specimens, however, there were indications of chemical changes across cycles. Potential …

Structural Calculations For Nepal Vocational Learning Center, Nicholas Petrarca

Architectural Engineering

This project goal is to build a Leadership Vocational School for youth, women, differently abled, and local leaders of rural and Kathmandu Nepal. The client for this project is an organization called Sakcham Rural Nepal and they partnered with a humanitarian organization called Journeyman International to find Architecture and Architectural Engineering students to design a safe, attractive and functional building to fit their needs.

Injury Severity Data For Front And Second Row Passengers In Frontal Crashes, Theresa Atkinson, Leszek Gawarecki, Massoud Tavakoli

Mechanical Engineering Publications

The data contained here were obtained from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration׳s National Automotive Sampling System – Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) for the years 2008–2014. This publically available data set monitors motor vehicle crashes in the United States, using a stratified random sample frame, resulting in information on approximately 5000 crashes each year that can be utilized to create national estimates for crashes. The NASS-CDS data sets document vehicle, crash, and occupant factors. These data can be utilized to examine public health, law enforcement, roadway planning, and vehicle design issues. The data provided in this brief are a subset …

Developing Appropriate Educational Modules Aimed At Industry - An Example From Surveying At Masters Level, Audrey Martin

Articles

This paper describes the process from inception to completion of developing academic modules appropriate for upgrading survey professionals engaged in the public sector. It focuses on one such module continuing professional development module in ‘Gravity and Height’ for National Mapping, developed by the Technological University Dublin Spatial Information Sciences Group for the National Mapping Agency, Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) and staff from similar organisations.

Uav Path-Planning Using Bézier Curves And A Receding Horizon Approach, Bryce Ingersoll, Kyle Ingersoll, Patrick Defranco, Andrew Ning

Faculty Publications

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used in an increasing number of applications. Such applications may include navigating through heavy traffic and highly congested airways, where numerous static and dynamic obstacles impinge upon a UAV's flight. It is imperative that a UAV successfully avoids these obstacles, while improving its planned flight path according to certain criteria. We have modeled UAV path planning as a single objective optimization problem that utilizes a receding horizon approach, where the path is constrained to avoid obstacle collision and to account for flight aerodynamic constraints. The proposed method is gradient based, allowing for quick and robust …

Multi-Sensor Robust Relative Estimation Framework For Gps-Denied Multirotor Aircraft, Tim Mclain, Daniel P. Koch, Kevin M. Brink

Faculty Publications

An estimation framework is presented that improves the robustness of GPS-denied state estimation to changing environmental conditions by fusing updates from multiple view-based odometry algorithms. This allows the vehicle to utilize a suite of complementary exteroceptive sensors or sensing modalities. By estimating the vehicle states relative to a local coordinate frame collocated with an odometry keyframe, observability of the relative state is maintained. A description of the general framework is given, as well as the specific equations for a multiplicative extended Kalman filter with a multirotor vehicle. Experimental results are presented that demonstrate the ability of the proposed algorithm to …

Bunch Splitting Simulations For The Jleic Ion Collider Ring, R. Gamage, T. Satogata

Physics Faculty Publications

We describe the bunch splitting strategies for the proposed JLEIC ion collider ring at Jefferson Lab. This complex requires an unprecedented 9:6832 bunch splitting, performed in several stages. We outline the problem and current results, optimized with ESME including general parameterization of 1:2 bunch splitting for JLEIC parameters.

Water And Energy Use Of Antimicrobial Interventions In A Mid-Size Beef Packing Plant, Rami M. M. Ziara, Shaobin Li, Bruce I. Dvorak, Jeyamkondan Subbiah

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Data regarding the water and energy usage of current antimicrobial interventions in beef packing plants is scarce. The objective of this study was to collect representative water and energy usage data in a beef packing plant, with emphasis on antimicrobial interventions, to provide baseline data for comparison of new intervention technologies developed by researchers. Permanent and portable water flow meters were installed on the plant’s plumbing system to collect water flow data from March 2014 to March 2015. A local utility company was hired to meter electricity at the different subsystems using portable data loggers. The natural gas used in …

Beyond The Scs-Cn Method: A Theoretical Framework For Spatially Lumped Rainfall-Runoff Response, Mark Bartlett, Anthony J. Parolari, Jeffrey Mcdonnell, Amilcare Porporato

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Since its introduction in 1954, the Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) method has become the standard tool, in practice, for estimating an event-based rainfall-runoff response. However, because of its empirical origins, the SCS-CN method is restricted to certain geographic regions and land use types. Moreover, it does not describe the spatial variability of runoff. To move beyond these limitations, we present a new theoretical framework for spatially lumped, event-based rainfall-runoff modeling. In this framework, we describe the spatially lumped runoff model as a point description of runoff that is upscaled to a watershed area based on probability distributions that …

Minimization Of Metamerism In Wood Grain Printing Using Different Gcr Settings, Vinay Anil Turke

Masters Theses

In printing industry, prototyping is necessary to ensure quality reproduction of jobs. Conventional printing processes like gravure cannot be used for prototyping because of high manufacturing cost of gravure cylinders. Such challenges can be successfully tackled by use of relatively cheap and flexible printing processes, such as inkjet. Even though inkjet printing is a cost effective way for prototyping, it has its own limitations, especially in the case of woodgrain printing. Wood-grain patterns need to be printed with a release coating and adhesive. Inkjet printers are incapable of printing release coating and adhesive because release coat and adhesive require certain …

Development Of A Low-Cost, Portable, And Programmable Solar Module To Facilitate Hands-On Experiments And Improve Student Learning, Sandip Das

Faculty Articles

Solar energy has become one of the major renewable energy sources to meet a significant portion of the global energy demand in the near future. The photovoltaic (PV) industry is growing at a fast pace and is predicted to reach tera-watt scale power production capacity by 2050. Thus, creating highly qualified engineers by providing effective hands-on education is of primary importance. This paper discusses on the design, fabrication, and implementation of a low-cost, portable, and programmable solar module to improve the student learning outcomes of a solar power and renewable energy course by facilitating hands-on experiments. Solar cells within the …

On The Observability Of Bottom Topography From Measurements Of Tidal Sea Surface Height, Edward D. Zaron

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

of whether features of the ocean bottom topography can be identified from measurements of water level is investigated using a simplified one-dimensional barotropic model. Because of the nonlinear dependence of the sea surface height on the water depth, a linearized analysis is performed concerning the identification of a Gaussian bump within two specific depth profiles, (1) a constant depth domain, and, (2) a constant depth domain adjoining a near-resonant continental shelf. Observability is quantified by examining the estimation error in a series of identical-twin experiments varying data density, tide wavelength, assumed (versus actual) topographic correlation scale, and friction. For measurements …

Removal Of Trace Metal Contaminants From Potable Water By Electrocoagulation, Joe Heffron, Matt Marhefke, Brooke K. Mayer

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This study investigated the effects of four operational and environmental variables on the removal of trace metal contaminants from drinking water by electrocoagulation (EC). Removal efficiencies for five metals (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and nickel) were compared under varying combinations of electrode material, post-treatment, water composition and pH. Iron electrodes out-performed aluminum electrodes in removing chromium and arsenic. At pH 6.5, aluminum electrodes were slightly more effective at removing nickel and cadmium, while at pH 8.5, iron electrodes were more effective for these metals. Regardless of electrode, cadmium and nickel removal efficiencies were higher at pH 8.5 than at pH …

Computational Nutrition: An Algorithm To Generate A Diet Plan To Meet Specific Nutritional Requirements, Thomas Pikes, Robert Adams

Open Access Publishing Support Funded Articles

Many methods have been proposed to generate meal plans, but most of them only consider proximates. However, the human body requires a combination of proximates and several macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Furthermore, the models designed to generate these meal plans do not take into account an individual’s specific nutritional needs. These needs are often expressed as a combination of lower bound amount (LBA), ideal amount (IA), and upper bound amount (UBA) necessary for the human body to thrive. The aim of this project is to generate an algorithm to produce a list of food items that will meet specific …