Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Hybrid Structural Composites With Energy Harvesting Capabilities, Simon Furnes

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Hybrid materials have received significant interest due to the potential enhancements they provide over traditional materials such as sensing, actuating, energy scavenging, thermal management, and vibration damping. While traditional materials can be utilized for either one of these functions or loadbearing, the hybrid materials are superior as they allow combination of a wide array of functionalities whilst being suitable for load-bearing purposes.

The goal of this thesis is to elucidate the synergistic effects of hybridization of two piezoelectric materials; zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) and thin film of lead zirconium titanate (PZT) on the mechanical and energy harvesting of beams …

Multimode Nonlinear Vibration Analysis Of Stiffened Functionally Graded Double Curved Shells In A Thermal Environment, Boutros Azizi

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The motivation of the current work is to develop a multi-modal analysis of the nonlinear response of stiffened double curved shells made of functionally graded materials under thermal loads. The formulation is based on the first order shear deformation shell theory in conjunction with the von Kármán geometrical nonlinear strain-displacement relationships. The nonlinear equations of motion of stiffened double curved shell based on the extended Sanders’s theory were derived using Galerkin’s method. The resulting system of infinite nonlinear ordinary differential equations, that includes both cubic and quadratic nonlinear terms, was solved using a nonlinear dynamic software XPPAUT to obtain the …

Thermal Bending, Buckling And Post-Buckling Analysis Of Unsymmetrically Laminated Composite Beams With The Effects Of Moisture And Geometric Imperfections, Claudia Barreno

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This thesis is concerned with the analytical study of the thermal bending, buckling, and post-buckling of unsymmetrically laminated composite beams with imperfection under hygrothermal effects. Three different boundary conditions will be considered on this study. The non-linear governing partial differential equations are derived by taking into account the von-Karman geometrical nonlinearity for an imperfect unsymmetrical laminated composite beam. Classical beam theory (CBT) as well as first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) will be used. The effects of temperature, angle of orientation, moisture variations, imperfection, and geometrical parameters, will be evaluated and discussed. Two different laminated composite laminates will be considered: …

Investigation Of The Under-Body Flow Field Of A Prototype Long-Range Electric Vehicle, Matthew P. Nguyen

Master's Theses

This thesis presents changes to the design of the Prototype Vehicles Laboratory (PROVE Lab) Endurance Car, an electric car intended to break the Guinness World Record for the single-charge range of an electric vehicle. The design range is 1609.34 km, however at the design velocity of 104.6 kph, the drag is 196 N; which requires more battery capacity than the 100 kWh maximum of the baseline model. With a fixed frontal area, drag reduction can come from lowered velocity or reduced CD. CD reduction is attempted in four ways: side skirts between the fenders, a raised ride height, an elongated …

Rare But Conceivable: Determining The Likelihood Of Meteors And Other Infrequent Events, Michael S. Schmidt, Maria Vega-Westhoff

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the aftermath of a rare but devastating disaster, there is a tendency to overestimate how frequent such an event may be, hence a tendency to overestimate the risk associated with such an event. Those concerned with process safety will acknowledge that though rare, events like meteors, hurricanes, and airplane crashes that can impact chemical plants are conceivable. Typically, though, they have nothing more than feelings to decide whether these events are likely enough to be considered "credible." This compiles data from the literature for several "meteors," both natural and man-made, that often become a cause of general concern after …

Experimental Investigation Into Utilizing Synthetic Jet Actuators To Suppress Bi-Modal Wake Behavior Behind An Ahmed Body, Daniel Jacob Baratta

Master's Theses

Testing done on the flat-back Ahmed Body and other bluff bodies has shown the existence of a bi-stable reflectional symmetry-breaking wake at Reynolds numbers ranging from 340 to 2.41 x 10⁶. Several methods of flow control, both active and passive, have been used to improve the efficiency of the Ahmed body but their effect on the bi-stable nature of the wake has not been investigated. This work details the experimental investigation done to determine if piezoelectrically driven synthetic jet actuators are capable of suppressing the bi-stable wake effects observed behind the Ahmed Body. The synthetic jets were designed …

A Comparison Of Crushing Parameters Of Graphite Composite Thin-Walled Cylinders Cured In Low And High Pressures, Trenton John Matson

Master's Theses

Out-of-Autoclave (OoA) processes for manufacturing aerospace-grade parts needs to be better understood to further the development and success of industries that are manufacturing reusable launch vehicles, military and commercial aircraft, and spacecraft. Overcoming the performance limitations associated with OoA, also known as low-pressure prepreg curing, methods (void count, energy absorption, etc.) will help decrease the costs associated with aerospace composite manufacturing and the negative environmental effects correlated with high-pressure composite curing methods. Experimental, theoretical, and numerical approaches are used to explore both low and high-pressure curing cycles and how the two different processes affect final cured parts. Quasi-static uniaxial compression …

A Volume-Force Synthetic Disturbance Approach For High-Fidelity Of Unsteady Fluid Structure Interactions, Marina Kazarina

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the momentum source model, for generating synthetic vortical disturbance field in numerical simulations of unsteady fluid-structure interactions, access limitations of this approach, to find requirements for the computational domain, space and time resolution, and apply this model to investigate selected physical problems. For this reason a comprehensive parametric study of volume-force based method of generating spectral synthetic turbulence inside the computational domain is conducted first. The method is then extended to synthesize turbulence with arbitrary energy spectrum. The synthetic turbulence is generated through momentum source terms in Navier-Stokes equations, and the developed …

Effects Of Carbon-Based Ablation Products On Hypersonic Boundary Layer Stability, Olivia S. Elliott

Theses and Dissertations

Hypersonic vehicles require an accurate prediction of the transition of the boundary layer for the design of the thermal protection system due to the high heating rates under turbulent flow. Many thermal protection systems are carbon-based and introduce new species, specifically CO₂, into the boundary layer flow which are known to dampen the instabilities that lead to transition for hypersonic vehicles. A Computation Fluid Dynamics study was accomplished examining the concentration of CO₂ required to impact boundary layer transition over both sharp and blunt cones. These results were used in conjunction with air-carbon ablation models models to …

Ion Software-Defined Radio Metadata Standard Final Report, Sanjeev Gunawardena, Alexander Rugamer, Muhammad Subhan Hameed, Markel Arizabaleta, Thomas Pany, Javier Arribas

Faculty Publications

The ION GNSS SDR Metadata Standard describes the formatting and other essential PNT-related parameters of sampled data streams and files. This allows processors to seamlessly consume such data without the need to input these parameters manually. The technical development phase of the initial version of the standard has now been deemed complete and is currently undergoing the last remaining procedural steps towards adoption as a formal standard by the Institute of Navigation. This paper reports on the activities of the working group since September 2018 and summarizes the final products of the standard. It also reports on examples of early …

Reliability-Based Design Optimization Of Load Sharing Systems Using Ssi-Markov Models, Arun Bala Subramaniyan, Rong Pan, Xiaoping Du

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a novel single loop approach to design the components of the load sharing systems by optimally allocating the failure probabilities to each component, thereby satisfying the overall system reliability requirement. The Reliability–Based Design Optimization (RBDO) of load sharing systems is computationally intensive due to the dynamic nature of component failure probabilities, since the failure of one component will vary the failure probabilities of other working components. Many RBDO methods have been successfully utilized to design individual components, however using these methods for handling system level reliability constraints is still a challenging task. This is because of a …

Improving Boron For Combustion Applications, Kerri-Lee Annique Chintersingh

Dissertations

Boron has received much attention as a potential additive to explosives and propellants due to its high theoretical gravimetric and volumetric heating values. The challenge, however, is that boron particles tend to agglomerate, have lengthy ignition delays and very low combustion rates. Prior research indicates that boron’s long ignition delays are due to its inhibiting naturally occurring oxide layer, impeding the diffusion of reactants for oxidation. For combustion, current studies report that boron particles have two consecutive stages, but the actual reaction mechanism is poorly understood. Despite many years of relevant research, quantitative combustion data on micron-sized boron particles are …

Cislunar Trajectory Generation With Sun-Exclusion Zone Constraints Using A Genetic Algorithm And Direct Method Hybridization, Joshua A. Ostman

Theses and Dissertations

Space missions to the Moon have received renewed interest in recent decades. Science missions continue to be sent to the Moon, and several space agencies have aspirations of establishing a human presence on the Moon. With the increased number of artificial objects in cislunar space, the problem of tracking these objects arises. Optical sensors are able to track these objects in deep space. However, optical sensors cannot track objects that are close to the Sun as viewed from the observer. This unobservable region is the Sun-exclusion zone (SEZ). This research attempts to create optimal Moon-Earth transfers which are completely in …

Research On Double-Stack Container Transport Organization In International Multimodal Transport, Xi Zhu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Optimization Of The Dedicated Corridor System Connecting Bohai Rim Gateways, Xinyi Shi

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Lifestyle And Solutions: An Investigation Of Fatigue In Collegiate Aviation, Aaron Teo, Erik Levin

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Micrometeoroid Impacts On Periodic Spacecraft Structures, Victoria West, Luis Buades, Hanson-Lee Harjono

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Origins Of Space Food From Mercury To Apollo, Celine Chang

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Simplified 2d Skin Lattice Models For Multi-Axial Camber Morphing Wing Aircraft, Bashir Alsaidi, Woong Yeol Joe, Muhammad Akbar

Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Faculty Research

Conventional fixed wing aircraft require a selection of certain thickness of skin material that guarantees structural strength for aerodynamic loadings in various flight modes. However, skin structures of morphing wings are expected to be flexible as well as stiff to structural and coupled aerodynamic loadings from geometry change. Many works in the design of skin structures for morphing wings consider only geometric compliance. Among many morphing classifications, we consider camber rate change as airfoil morphing that changes its rate of the airfoil that induces warping, twisting, and bending in multi-axial directions, which makes compliant skin design for morphing a challenging …

License To Launch: The Regulatory Future Of Commercial Ballistic Travel, Jacob Weindling

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Stability Of Supersonic Flow With Injection, Bryan E. Schmidt

Faculty Scholarship

Gas injection into supersonic flow past a 5-degree half-angle cone is studied with three injected gases: helium, nitrogen, and RC318. Experiments are performed in a Mach 4 Ludwieg tube with nitrogen as the free stream gas. The injector section is shaped to admit a "tuned" injection rate where the displacement created by injection counteracts the effects created by the injector geometry. A high-speed schlieren imaging system with a framing rate of 290 kHz is used to study the instability in the region of flow downstream of injection, referred to as the injection layer. Measurements of wavelength, convective speed, and frequency …

Gaussian Conditionally Markov Sequences: Theory With Application, Reza Rezaie

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Markov processes have been widely studied and used for modeling problems. A Markov process has two main components (i.e., an evolution law and an initial distribution). Markov processes are not suitable for modeling some problems, for example, the problem of predicting a trajectory with a known destination. Such a problem has three main components: an origin, an evolution law, and a destination. The conditionally Markov (CM) process is a powerful mathematical tool for generalizing the Markov process. One class of CM processes, called $CM_L$, fits the above components of trajectories with a destination. The CM process combines the Markov property …

Secondary Electron Yield Measurements Of Carbon Nanotube Forests: Dependence On Morphology And Substrate, Brian Wood, Jordan Lee, Gregory Wilson, T. -C. Shen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Total, secondary, and backscatter electron yield data were taken with beam energies between 15 eV and 30 keV, in conjunction with energy emission data, to determine the extent of suppression of yield caused by carbon nanotube (CNT) forest coatings on substrates. CNT forests can potentially lower substrate yield due to both its inherently low-yield, low-atomic number (Z) carbon composition, and its bundled, high-aspect ratio structure. Rough surfaces, and in particular, surfaces with deep high-aspect-ratio voids, can suppress yields, as the electrons emitted from lower lying surfaces are recaptured by surface protrusions rather than escaping the near-surface region. Yields of multilayered …

Nonlinear Control Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles With Cable Suspended Payloads, Ameya Godbole

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The research focuses on the mathematical modeling and control of an unmanned aerial vehicle with cable suspended payload. A comprehensive mathematical model is derived for a quadcopter with a cable suspended payload using the Newton-Euler method and the Euler-Lagrange formulation. These methods assume that the cable is massless and always taut and cannot be used to simulate the cases when the cable is flexible. Hence, an alternative approach to model the flexibility of the cable is presented using Lagrangian mechanics by approximating the cable to be a chain of serially connected links. The motion of the payload induces disturbances on …

Modeling And Simulation Of Contact And Impact Dynamics In Multibody Systems, Abhishek Chatterjee

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Contact and impact analyses are an essential part of multibody dynamic simulations. Modeling of contact and impact problems have applications in a wide variety of areas including robotics, earthquake engineering, computer graphics, and manufacturing. Collisions between objects typically take place over surfaces that are represented by a set of points in the operation space, thereby requiring multi-point contact and impact analysis. Analysis of multi-point contact and impact may lead to indeterminate (underdetermined) problems with more number of unknowns (contact forces) than equations. This work pertains to the problem of resolving multi-point contact and impact problems in multibody systems consisting of …

Numerical Simulation Of Biodiesel Synthesis In A Continuous Flow Microreactor And A Porous Media Reactor, Terdsak Neadkratoke

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Biodiesel has become an increasingly popular fossil fuel substitute in recent years. Constant attempts are being made to develop new technology that increases the efficiency and yield of biodiesel production units. Numerical simulation can play an integral role in evaluating new reactor designs or optimizing existing ones. Various attempts have been made to develop an accurate computational model that represents biodiesel production. Many computational models for transesterification are based on simplified kinetic models that do not include the effect of saponification. Furthermore, many models assume isothermal conditions and uniform spatial concentrations. Therefore, these models would not be appropriate for evaluating …

Predicting Crack Initiation And Early Crack Growth Behavior Of Pure Nickel Using Surface Topography Analysis, Jalal Fathi Sola

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Fatigue has long been studied as the most critical loading mode for man-made structures. Despite the advances in material behavior characterization and numerical calculation, many structures unexpectedly fail before their designed life. Most of the studies in crack initiation are solely for describing the material and failure behavior and are not capable of predicting the failure before it starts. In addition, most of the fatigue crack growth models are based on the Paris Model with some modifications, which their application is limited to long crack. This implies that finding new methods which can reliably predict material failure is very important. …

A Numerical Study Of Cavitating Flows Based On Plic-Vof Method For Arbitrary Unstructured Meshes, Dezhi Dai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Cavitation appears when local static pressure drops below the water vapor pressure and causes significant impacts on marine propeller blades. The Volume of Fluid (VOF) method, which is also referred to as the Transport Equation-based Model (TEM), has been extensively adopted in the cavitating flow simulations. Piecewise Linear Interface Calculation (PLIC) schemes have been extensively employed in the VOF method for interface capturing in numerical simulations of multiphase flows. Polyhedral unstructured meshes are often adopted due to their geometric flexibility and superiority in gradient calculation. Four analytical interface reconstruction algorithms in the PLIC-VOF method for arbitrary convex polyhedral cells have …

The Effect Of Controlled Nanomaterial Deposition Towards Electrodes For Microbial Fuel Cells And Electrolysis Cells, Bryan Dennis Steinhoff

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) are relatively new energy harvesting technologies that utilize the bacteria in wastewater or other organic-rich aqueous media to produce either electricity or hydrogen gas, respectively. Given that MFCs and MECs are newer technologies, there has been many works over the past two decades that have provided understanding into how modifying electrode surface chemistry can improve these cells. It has been widely known that increasing the surface functional groups of MFC anodes, either chemically or thermally, causes the cell power density to increase dramatically. Since MFCs and MECs use the same anodes, …

Multi-Variable Optimization To Improve Temperature Uniformity In Burn-In Applications Subjected To Significant Thermal Shadowing, Ajinkya Suhas Mahajan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Burn-in test typically employs voltage and/or temperature to accelerate the appearance of latent reliability defects in semiconductor devices. As a result, burn-in becomes a critical step in the parts screening process and is the primary technique to eliminate defective parts in the early phase of the product life. Thermal control in burn-in processes is generally achieved by either active or passive thermal controlling. In an active thermal control, each device has an individual temperature monitoring system to maintain a specific temperature in which the cooling/heating of each socket is controlled by an individual fan or heater. Whereas in passive thermal …