Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Low Reynolds Number Flow Field Modification Via Travelling Wave Actuation Of A Vertically Aligned Wire Array Surface, John C. Calhoun

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Experiments were conducted to observe the effects of an active wire surface on low-Reynolds number Poiseuille flow. The objective was to evaluate the feasibility of actuating piezoelectric nanowires into a travelling wave motion in order to reduce wall shear stress in turbulent flows. Studies have shown that travelling wave motions introduced into the bounding wall of turbulent flow can reduce wall shear stress by disrupting the formation of drag-inducing coherent vortical structures. A Reynolds number scaled flow facility was designed to represent the near-wall region of turbulent flow. A wire surface was installed in the bounding wall and dynamically actuated …

Aerodynamics And Control Of A Deployable Wing Uav For Autonomous Flight, Michael Thamann

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

UAV development and usage has increased dramatically in the last 15 years. In this time frame the potential has been realized for deployable UAVs to the extent that a new class of UAV was defined for these systems. Inflatable wing UAVs provide a unique solution for deployable UAVs because they are highly packable (some collapsing to 5-10% of their deployed volume) and have the potential for the incorporation of wing shaping. In this thesis, aerodynamic coefficients and aileron effectiveness were derived from the equations of motion of aircraft as necessary parameters for autonomous flight. A wind tunnel experiment was performed …

The Allen Telescope Array Search For Electrostatic Discharges On Mars, Marin M. Anderson, Andrew P.V. Siemion, William C. Barott, Geoffery C. Bower, Gregory T. Delory, Imke De Pater, Dan Werthimer

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - Daytona Beach

The Allen Telescope Array was used to monitor Mars between 2010 March 9 and June 2, over a total of approximately 30 hr, for radio emission indicative of electrostatic discharge. The search was motivated by the report from Ruf et al. of the detection of non-thermal microwave radiation from Mars characterized by peaks in the power spectrum of the kurtosis, or kurtstrum, at 10 Hz, coinciding with a large dust storm event on 2006 June 8. For these observations, we developed a wideband signal processor at the Center for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research. This 1024 channel spectrometer calculates …

Numerical Study Of Pressure Fluctuations Due To High-Speed Turbulent Boundary Layers, Lian Duan, Meelan M. Choudhari, Minwei Wu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) are used to examine the pressure fluctuations generated by fully developed turbulence in supersonic turbulent boundary layers with an emphasis on both pressure fluctuations at the wall and the acoustic fluctuations radiated into the freestream. The wall and freestream pressure fields are first analyzed for a zero-pressure gradient boundary layer with Mach 2.5 and Reynolds number based on momentum thickness of approximately 2835. The single and multi-point statistics reported include the wall pressure fluctuation intensities, frequency spectra, space-time correlations, and convection velocities. Single and multi-point statistics of surface pressure fluctuations show good agreement with measured data …

Biological Evaluation Of A Novel Tissue Engineering Scaffold Of Layered Double Hydroxides (Ldhs), Fateme Fayyazbakhsh, Mehran Solati-Hashjin, M. A. Shokrgozar, S. Bonakdar, Y. Ganji, N. Mirjordavi, S. A. Ghavimi, P. Khashayar

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Bone Tissue Engineering (BTE) Composed of Three Main Parts: Scaffold, Cells and Signaling Factors. Several Materials and Composites Are Suggested as a Scaffold for BTE. Biocompatibility is One of the Most Important Property of a BTE Scaffold. in This Work Synthesis of a Novel Nanocomposite Including Layered Double Hydroxides (LDH) and Gelatin is Carried Out and its Biological Properties Were Studied. the Co-Precipitation (PH=11) Method Was Used to Prepare the LDH Powder, using Calcium Nitrate, Magesium Nitrate and Aluminum Nitrate Salts as Starting Materials. the Resulted Precipitates Were Dried. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron …

Simulation And Testing Of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Bipolar Plates Fabricated By Selective Laser Sintering, M. Wu, Ming-Chuan Leu, N. Guo

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell converts directly electrochemical energy into electricity. Flow channels in bipolar plates, a critical component of fuel cell, were designed, simulated and tested. the bipolar plate used a mixture of graphite materials and was fabricated using a Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process. the fabricated green parts were carbonized at high temperatures and converted into brown parts. Infiltration of resin was used to enhance the electric conductivity and strength of the bipolar plate. Finite element simulations were performed to investigate the state of species (hydrogen, oxygen) in the channels and Gas Diffusion Layers (GDLs) for four …

Improving The Efficiency Of Turbocharged Spark Ignition Engines For Passenger Cars Through Waste Heat Recovery, Alberto A. Boretti

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The turbocharged direct injection stoichiometric spark ignition gasoline engine has less than Diesel full load brake engine thermal efficiencies and much larger than Diesel penalties in brake engine thermal efficiencies reducing the load by throttling. This engine has however a much better power density, and therefore may operate at much higher BMEP values over driving cycles reducing the fuel economy penalty of the vehicle. This engine also has the advantage of the very well developed three-way catalytic converter after treatment to meet future emission regulations. in these engines the efficiency may be improved recovering the waste heat, but this recovery …

Energy Recovery In Passenger Cars, Alberto A. Boretti

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The turbocharged direct injection stoichiometric spark ignition gasoline engine has less than diesel full load brake engine thermal efficiencies and much larger than diesel penalties in brake engine thermal efficiencies reducing the load. This engine has, however, a much better power density, and therefore may operate at much higher brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) values over driving cycles thus reducing the fuel economy penalty of the vehicle. This engine also has the advantage of the very well developed three-way catalytic (TWC) converter after treatment to meet future emission regulations. Replacement of fossil gasoline with renewable gasoline-like fuels has major advantages. …

Kers Braking For 2014 F1 Cars, Alberto A. Boretti

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Small, high power density turbocharged engines coupled to kinetic energy recovery systems are one of the key areas of development for both passenger and racing cars. in passenger cars, the KERS may reduce the amount of thermal energy needed to reaccelerate the car following a deceleration recovering part of the braking energy. This translates in a first, significant fuel energy saving. Also considering the KERS torque boost increasing the total torque available to accelerate the car, large engines working at very low brake mean effective pressures and efficiencies over driving cycles may also be replaced by small higher power density …

The Key Ideas Of Mdw Viii: A Summary, Aaron Altman, Clive L. Dym, Ray Hurwitz, John W. Wesner

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper summarizes and highlights the presentations and discussions that took place during Mudd Design Workshop VIII, ‘Design Education: Innovation and Entrepreneurship,’ at Harvey Mudd College. This paper also describes both the key ideas that emerged from the presentations and discussions of the participating engineering design educators, practitioners and researchers, and the methodology used to capture and retain those ideas. Additionally, this paper proposes a framework of design competencies that were created and evolved by the workshop’s participants as a response to a question posed at one of the workshop sessions: ‘What are the minimum design competencies students should learn …

Prevailing Torque Locking Feature Wear-Out, Adam Joseph Charles Zimandy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides much needed representative sample data for reuse life of fully seated and torqued locknuts. Most national requirements for prevailing torque locking fasteners only specify unseated reuse life. This could create a potentially dangerous situation if unseated is misinterpreted for seated. This thesis provides comparative data for seated verses unseated configuration. Six aerospace, 3 all-metal and 3 nylon insert, and one non-aerospace locknuts were tested at preloads levels of unseated, 66%, 75%, and 85% of yield of bolt. The locknuts tested are MS21043-4, NAS1291-4, NAS1805-4, MS17825-4, MS21044D4, NAS1021N4, and Grade 8. A fixture was created in order to …

100% Lpg Long Haul Truck Conversion - Economy And Environmental Benefits, Alberto A. Boretti, Charles Grummisch

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Advanced Vehicle Technologies (AVT), a Ballarat Australia based company, has developed the World's first diesel to 100% LPG conversion for heavy haul trucks. There is no diesel required or utilized on the trucks. the engine is converted with minimal changes into a spark ignition engine with equivalent power and torque of the diesel. the patented technology is now deployed in 2 Mercedes Actros trucks. the power output in engine dynamometer testing exceeds that of the diesel (in excess of 370 kW power and 2700 Nm torque). in on-road application the power curve is matched to the diesel specifications to avoid …

Design Of Rankine Cycle Systems To Deliver Fuel Economy Benefits Over Cold Start Driving Cycles, Alberto A. Boretti, Azmi Osman, Ishak Aris

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Prior papers have shown the potentials of gasoline-like internal combustion engines fitted with waste heat recovery systems (WHR) to deliver Diesel-like steady state fuel conversion efficiencies recovering the exhaust and the coolant waste heat with off-the-shelf components. in addition to the pros of the technology significantly increasing steady state efficiencies - up to 5 % in absolute values and much more in relative values - these papers also mentioned the cons of the technology, increased back pressures, increased weight, more complex packaging, more complex control, troublesome transient operation, and finally the cold start issues that prevent the uptake of the …

Effects Of Riblets On Skin Friction And Heat Transfer In High-Speed Turbulent Boundary Layers, Lian Duan, Meelan M. Choudhari

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Direct numerical simulations of spatially developing turbulent boundary layers over riblets are conducted to examine the effects of riblets on skin friction and heat transfer at high speeds. Zero-pressure gradient boundary layers under two flow conditions (Mach 2.5 with Tw/Tr = 1 and Mach 7.2 with Tw/Tr = 0.5) are considered. Simulations are conducted for boundary-layer flows over a clean surface and symmetric V-groove riblets. The DNS results at Mach 2.5 confirm the few existing experimental observations and show that a drag reduction of approximately 7% can be achieved for riblets with proper spacing. The comparisons in turbulence statistics and …

Geographical Assessment Of Microalgae Biofuels Potential Incorporating Resource Availability, Jason C. Quinn, Kimberly Catton, Sara Johnson, Thomas H. Bradley

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Previous assessments of the economic feasibility and large-scale productivity of microalgae biofuels have not considered the impacts of land and carbon dioxide (CO2) availability on the scalability of microalgae-based biofuels production. To accurately assess the near-term productivity potential of large-scale microalgae biofuel in the US, a geographically realized growth model was used to simulate microalgae lipid yields based on meteorological data. The resulting lipid productivity potential of Nannochloropsis under large-scale cultivation is combined with land and CO2 resource availability illustrating current geographically feasible production sites and corresponding productivity in the US. Baseline results show that CO2 transport constraints will limit …

Experimental Investigation Of Transonic Shock Oscillations On Naca 0018 At Incidence, Christopher Allen Farrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A NACA 0018 airfoil model with a 3-inch chord was mounted into the trisonic wind tunnel at the National Center for Physical Acoustics at the University of Mississippi. Tunnel runs were conducted with the angle of incidence increasing from 0 degrees to 6 degrees at 1 degree increments, while the Mach number was held steady at 0.73. High-speed schlieren images were recorded at a sample rate of 4,000 Hz. A Matlab code was developed to display the spatial power spectral density distribution in the region of the shock. This code calculated the frequency spectrum at regular points along the range …

Cryogenic System Development For Lox/ Hydrocarbon Propulsion Research, Francisco Pineda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A propulsion research facility is being developed at the Center for Space Exploration Technology Research (cSETR) at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). These facilities were developed in order to meet new research demand for Liquid Oxygen (LOX)/Liquid methane (LCH4) experiments. The main goal of this system is to produce in-house liquid methane and supply propellants to their respective test set up in a cryogenic state. The work presented describes the design, development, and operation of a liquid methane condensation system and a cryogenic delivery feed system. The condensation system design will allow for a production of methane …

Designing Optimal Aviation Baggage Screening Strategies Using The Monkey Search Algorithm, Edgar Ivan Jimenez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis addresses the aviation baggage screening design problem considering several baggage screening devices which may be used for system implementation, the devices have different false clear and false alarm rates, throughput and purchase costs. In the present research, a comprehensive cost function which not only includes the cost associated with purchase and operation of baggage security devices, but also includes the indirect costs associated with device errors is used. A new monkey search based evolutionary algorithm is presented to determine the best selection of baggage screening security devices in order to minimize the expected annual total cost. The final …

Measurement And Analysis Of Turbulent Syngas/Air And Methane Oxy-Combustion, Vishwanath Reddy Ardha

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Development of a next generation gas turbine combustors for power production by using fossil fuels is increasing substantially in order to maintain energy sustainability. National Energy Technology Laboratory has made efforts for developing hydrogen and oxy-fuel based gas turbine combustors which could enhance plant efficiency and ensure low or zero NOx production without sacrificing operational advantages. The current experimental work aims to characterize the turbulent flow-field of premixed syngas/air flames, methane/oxy flames and syngas/oxy flames in a laboratory scaled burner by varying the Reynolds numbers, blockage ratios, firing inputs and blockage ratios in the upstream of the burner. The effects …

Instrumentation, Control And Torch Ignition Systems Development For Lox/Methane Propulsion Research, Jesus Betancourt-Roque

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A liquid propulsion research facility has been developed at the Center for Space Exploration Technology Research at The University of Texas at El Paso. This facility has capabilities for producing up to 25 liters of Liquid Methane, feeding LOX/Methane propellants to 100 N class thrusters and conducting automated steady state and pulsing combustion experiments. This work describes the design, development and testing process of the Data Acquisition and Remote Control System developed to integrate an Altitude Simulation System, a Cryogenic Delivery System, and multiple rocket combustors and thrusters. A Torch Ignition System development is detailed as well as the evaluation …

Operation Of The Aerodynamic Plasma Actuator At High Altitude, Timothy Glen Nichols

Masters Theses

"A plasma actuator was operated at altitudes from 0 to 18288 meters to determine the mechanisms leading to decreased force production at low pressures. The actuator was driven with a 5 kHz sine wave and a peak to peak voltage of 13.4 kV at pressures of 760, 429, 321, 226, and 88 Torr. A passive measurement technique called the capacitive V-dot probe was adapted to the actuator in order to resolve the spatiotemporal evolution of the surface potential and electric field on the dielectric surface. At low pressures up to 20 times more plasma is present than at atmospheric conditions. …

Large-Eddy Simulation Of Axially-Rotating, Turbulent Pipe And Particle-Laden Swirling Jet Flows, Nicolas D. Castro

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The flows of fully-developed turbulent rotating pipe and particle-laden swirling jet emitted from the pipe into open quiescent atmosphere are investigated numerically using Large-Eddy Simulation (LES). Simulations are performed at various rotation rates and Reynolds numbers, based on bulk velocity and pipe diameter, of 5.3x103, 12x103, and 24x103, respectively. Time-averaged LES results are compared with experimental and simulation data from previous studies. Pipe flow results confirm observations in previous studies, such as the deformation of the turbulent mean axial velocity profile towards the laminar Poiseuille-profile, with increased rotation. The Reynolds stress anisotropy tensor shows a redistribution due to pipe rotation. …

Inherent And Model-Form Uncertainty Analysis For Cfd Simulation Of Synthetic Jet Actuators, Daoru Frank Han, Serhat Hosder

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A mixed (aleatory and epistemic) uncertainty quantification (UQ) method was applied to computational uid dynamics (CFD) modeling of a synthetic jet actuator. A test case, (ow over a hump model with synthetic jet actuator control) from the CFDVAL2004 work-shop was selected to apply the Second-Order Probability framework implemented with a stochastic response surface obtained from Quadrature-Based Non-Intrusive Polynomial Chaos (NIPC). Three uncertainty sources were considered: (1) epistemic (model-form) uncertainty in turbulence model, (2) aleatory (inherent) uncertainty in free stream veloc-ity and (3) aleatory uncertainty in actuation frequency. Uncertainties in both long-time averaged and phase averaged quantities were quantified using a …

Experimental Investigations Of Pseudospark Discharge And Pseudospark Produced Intense Electron Beams, Jing Hu

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation focuses on the pseudospark discharge, a pulsed discharge discovered for the first time in 1970's. This dissertation is prepared as three journal articles in the style used by Missouri University of Science and Technology. A high voltage pseudospark discharge experiment setup, and discharge and electron beam diagnostic system are constructed and presented in this work. Three journal articles which have been published or are under review are presented in this dissertation on various topics of the pseudospark discharge.

Paper 1 "Experimental investigation of formation time in single-gap pseudospark discharge" is focused on experimental investigations of the time-dependent characteristics …

Numerical Investigation Of Plasma Actuator Configurations For Flow Separation Control At Multiple Angles Of Attack, Thomas Kelsey West Iv

Masters Theses

"The primary objective of the study presented in this thesis was to analyze the effectiveness of aerodynamic plasma actuators as a means of active flow control over a low speed airfoil at multiple angles of attack each corresponding to two different flow separation mechanisms (i.e., laminar separation bubble and turbulent flow separation at stall conditions). Detailed parametric studies based on steady and unsteady Navier-Stokes simulations, modified to include the body force term created by the plasma actuator, were performed for a NACA 0012 airfoil at a chord Reynolds number of 10⁵. In particular, parametric studies were performed to investigate the …

Structural Analysis Of Microsatellites, Yezad H. Anklesaria

Masters Theses

"Satellite design, development, fabrication, testing and entry into service is a complex process. Each step of this process involves intricate steps to achieve the desired objective. This thesis summarizes a study relating to the area of development and testing of microsatellites to support qualification and eventually preparing a spacecraft for spaceflight. Students in the Space Systems Engineering laboratory (SSE Lab) in the Aerospace Engineering Program are in the process of developing a pair of microsatellites for a technology demonstration in space.

After the initial design of the spacecraft is completed in the design phase a significant amount of time is …

A Systematic Approach For Real-Time Operator Functional State Assessment, Guangfan Zhang, Wei Wang, Aaron Pepe, Roger Xu, Tom Schnell, Nick Anderson, Dean Heitkamp, Jiang Li, Feng Li, Frederick Mckenzie

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A task overload condition often leads to high stress for an operator, causing performance degradation and possibly disastrous consequences. Just as dangerous, with automated flight systems, an operator may experience a task underload condition (during the en-route flight phase, for example), becoming easily bored and finding it difficult to maintain sustained attention. When an unexpected event occurs, either internal or external to the automated system, the disengaged operator may neglect, misunderstand, or respond slowly/inappropriately to the situation. In this paper, we discuss an approach for Operator Functional State (OFS) monitoring in a typical aviation environment. A systematic ground truth finding …

Object Retrieval From Secure Unknown Interior Spaces Using Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, John Levous, Julie Hoven, Victor Habgood, Abdulrahman Alotaibi, Brandon Ordway, Garibe Mohammed-Jones, Haole Guo, Filip Cuckov, Chung-Hao Chen

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper describes an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to participate in the 23rd annual International Aerial Robotics Competition. The UAV is equipped with onboard sensors and a Harvard architecture 8-bit RISC microcontroller to monitor and locally control its flight telemetry. Additional sensors (and an additional microcontroller) are used for detecting and mapping of structural and environmental objects while the UAV is in flight. The microcontrollers are interfaced with wireless communication modules for transmitting flight telemetry and structural/environmental data to a ground control station that sends the UAV command and control signals required for the mission objectives. The UAV …

Use Of The Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability To Infer Yield Stress At High-Energy Densities, Guy Dimonte, G. Terrones, F. J. Cherne, T. C. Germann, Virginie Dupont, K. Kadau, W. T. Buttler, D. M. Oro, C. Morris, D. L. Preston

Aerospace Engineering - Daytona Beach

We use the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) at a metal-gas interface to infer the metal’s yield stress (Y) under shock loading and release. We first model how Y stabilizes the RMI using hydrodynamics simulations with a perfectly plastic constitutive relation for copper (Cu). The model is then tested with molecular dynamics (MD) of crystalline Cu by comparing the inferred Y from RMI simulations with direct stress-strain calculations, both with MD at the same conditions. Finally, new RMI experiments with solid Cu validate our simulation-based model and infer Y~0.47 GPa for a 36 GPa shock.

Link Performance Analysis For A Proposed Future Architecture Of The Air Force Satellite Control Network, Eric W. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) is a worldwide network of ground stations that support a wide variety of users from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The network performs tracking, telemetry, and commanding (TT&C) for these varied users. Users, located at Satellite Operations Centers (SOC), must compete for time on the AFSCN. This thesis demonstrates how to predict satellite link performance, specifically by users of the AFSCN. It will also demonstrate how users might use this capability to save spacecraft power. A tool was created called the AFSCN Link Predictor (LP) …