Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Experimental Investigation Of A Forced Response Condition In A Multistage Compressor, William Louis Murray

Open Access Theses

The objective of this research is twofold. Firstly, the design, development, and construction of a test facility for a Honeywell APU-style centrifugal compressor was implemented, as well as the design and construction of an inlet flow experiment. Secondly, the aeromechanical response of an embedded stage in the Purdue 3-Stage axial research compressor was analyzed through a suite of different measurement techniques in the fulfillment of the end of the GUIde IV Consortium contract. ^ The purpose of the first phase of Honeywell work was to comprehensively measure the flow field of an APU-style centrifugal compressor inlet through the use of …

Unsteady Forces On A Spherical Particle Accelerating Or Decelerating In An Initially Stagnant Fluid, Yashas Mudlapur Phaneesh Keshav

Open Access Theses

Flows with particles play an important role in a number of engineering applications. These include trajectories of droplets in sprays in fuel-injected-reciprocating-piston and gas-turbine engines, erosion of materials due to particle impact on a surface, and deposition of materials on surfaces by impinging droplets or particles that could solidify or bond on impact. For these applications, it is important to understand the forces that act on the particles so that their trajectories could be predicted.

Considerable work has been done on understanding the forces acting on spherical particles, where the Reynolds numbers (Rep ) based on the particle …

Experimental And Numerical Study Of The Air Distribution In An Airliner Cabin, Wei Liu

Open Access Theses

Nowadays, more people, including those with impaired health or who are otherwise potentially sensitive to the cabin environment, are traveling by air than ever before. The flying public demands a higher comfort level and a cleaner environment because they encounter a combination of environmental factors including low humidity, low air pressure, and sometimes, exposure to air contaminants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, various organic chemicals, and biological agents. Moreover, international air travel has increased the potential risks associated with airborne disease transmission and the release, whether accidentally or intentionally, of noxious substances during flight. Many studies suggest that the risk …

State Variable Model For Unsteady Two Dimensional Axial Vortex Flow With Pressure Relaxation, Mazin Mohammed Elbakri Abuharaz

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This research has utilized a state variable model for unsteady two dimensional axial vortex flows experiencing non-equilibrium pressure gradient forces. The model was developed successfully using perturbed radial and azimuthal momentum equations and a pressure Poisson's equations. Three main regions of the axial vortex flow were highlighted in this study including: a laminar core region, a non-equilibrium pressure envelope, and an outer potential vortex.

Linear stability theory was utilized to formulate the model and the perturbation functions were assumed to be of the Fourier type. The flow parameters considered were the Reynolds numbers, ranging between 6,000 and 14,000, and a …

System Identification Of An Autonomous Surface Vehicle, Christopher John Cook

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The modeling and system identification of a small pontoon based marine craft, without rudder control, in a controlled environment. Old Dominion University's autonomous surface vehicle was modeled using the Observer/Kalman System Identification method. The experimental position data was collected using a laser positioning system along with Arduino based sensors on board the boat to collect the motor speeds of the dual outboard motors. The data was then compiled using the System/ Observer/Controller Identification Toolbox to derive a dynamic model that is capable of providing path estimation and prediction information to the autonomous robotic system.

Fluid-Structure Interaction Modeling Of A F/A-18 Twin-Tail Buffet Using Non-Linear Eddy Viscosity Models, Ahmed M. Nagib M. Elmekawy

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

When turbulent flow generates unsteady differential pressure over an aircraft's structure, this may generate buffeting, a random oscillation of the structure. The buffet phenomenon is observed on a wide range of fighter aircraft, especially fighters with twin-tail. More research is needed to better understand the physics behind the vortical flow over a delta wing and the subsequent tail buffet.

This dissertation reports the modeling and simulation of a steady-state one-way fluid-structure interaction for the tail buffet problem observed on a F/A-18 fighter. The time-averaged computational results are compared to available experimental data. Next, computations are extended to simulate an unsteady …

Experimental Study On Influence Of Pitch Motion On The Wake Of A Floating Wind Turbine Model, Stanislav Rockel, Elizabeth Camp, Jonas Schmidt, Joachim Peinke, Raúl Bayoán Cal, Michael Höllimg

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Wind tunnel experiments were performed, where the development of the wake of a model wind turbine was measured using stereo Particle Image Velocimetry to observe the influence of platform pitch motion. The wakes of a classical bottom fixed turbine and a streamwise oscillating turbine are compared. Results indicate that platform pitch creates an upward shift in all components of the flow and their fluctuations. The vertical flow created by the pitch motion as well as the reduced entrainment of kinetic energy from undisturbed flows above the turbine result in potentially higher loads and less available kinetic energy for a downwind …

Frequency-Limited Adaptive Control Of A Generic Transport Model In The Presence Of System Uncertainty And Losses In Control Effectiveness, Gerardo De La Torre, Tansel Yucelen, Wassim M. Haddad, Eric N. Johnson

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

While adaptive control has been used in numerous applications to achieve system performance without excessive reliance on dynamical system models, the necessity of high-gain learning rates for safety-critical systems to achieve fast adaptation can be a serious limitation of most adaptive controllers. In order to address this problem, two novel adaptive control approaches developed recently aim to limit the bandwidth of the closed-loop adaptive control system in order to suppress the high-frequency content contained in the system error dynamics and adaptation algorithms. Specifically, this key feature of these frameworks allows for robust and fast adaptation by utilizing high-gain learning rates …

The Origin Of Interferometric Effect Involving Surface Plasmon Polariton In Scattering Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy, Yan Li, Nan Zhou, Edward C. Kinzel, Xifeng Ren, Xianfan Xu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Scattering near-field scanning optical microscopy (s-NSOM) has been developed to characterize optical near field with spatial resolution on the order of 10 nm. In this work we report investigation of the interferometric patterns commonly occurred in s-NSOM measurements. To reveal the origin of such interference patterns, a simple nano slit is used. Comparing the measured result with a simplified analytical model as well as full-field numerical simulations, it is shown that the interference pattern is predominantly formed by the in-plane component of incidence light and surface plasmon polariton (SPP) launched by the nano slit. This result helps to understand the …

Femtosecond And Nanosecond Dual-Laser Optical Emission Spectroscopy Of Gas Mixtures, Cheng Hsiang Lin, Zhi Liang, Jun Zhou, Hai-Lung Tsai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A Method Employing an Integrated Femtosecond (Fs) and Nanosecond (Ns) Dual-Laser System Was Developed to Generate Plasma with Desired Radical Species from Gas Mixtures Via a Fs Laser Pulse and Then to Excite Selected Radical Species to Higher Electronic States using a Wavelength-Tunable Ns Laser Pulse. an Optical Spectrometer Was Used to Measure the Emission Spectra and Identify the Transition from the Excited Electronic State to the Ground State. the Proposed Technique Has Been Demonstrated for an N2-CO2 Mixture with Various Time Delays between the Two Fs and Ns Pulses. the Results Have Indicated that the Population of Selected Radical …

Nasa Human Exploration Rover Challenge, Estelle Fortes, Aaron Taylor, Caitlin Talerico, Jessica Chow, Jessica Turcios, Johnnie Perry, Joshua Beck, Juana Cecilia Martin-Gonzalez, Lisa Ferguson, Michaela Branscomb, Mo Sabliny, Raeann Vansickle, Sarah Pearson, Sierra Dryer, Zach Henney, Brenda Haven

Aviation / Aeronautics / Aerospace International Research Conference

NASA's Great Moonbuggy Race, held annually in at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is an engineering design challenge that asks teams of student engineers to design a human-­‐powered vehicle capable of traversing a simulated lunar surface. However, there is an interesCng sCpulaCon in the design of the moonbuggy: it must be able to be transported in a 4x4x4 foot cube, echoing the design constraint faced by the engineers who built the Lunar Roving Vehicles used by the astronauts of the later Apollo missions. The vehicle in this proposal, Ocelot, designed by the Society of Women Engineers at …

Applications Of Long-Wave Thermal Infrared Imagers On Unmanned Aerial Systems For First Responders, Nick Harris, Lorenzo Coykendall

Aviation / Aeronautics / Aerospace International Research Conference

The Embry-Riddle Prescott UAS Team will design, build, and test three Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for competing in the student UAS Competition June 18 - 22 in Patuxent River, MD hosted by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI).

The team will design and build these unmanned aircraft to carry a five-pound payload, sustain flight for at least forty minutes, and be hand-launchable and rugged; they will be constructed from composite materials and will be fully autonomous through the use of open-source autopilots.

Rapid Space Trajectory Generation Using A Fourier Series Shape-Based Approach, Ehsan Taheri

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

With the insatiable curiosity of human beings to explore the universe and our solar system, it is essential to benefit from larger propulsion capabilities to execute efficient transfers and carry more scientific equipment. In the field of space trajectory optimization the fundamental advances in using low-thrust propulsion and exploiting the multi-body dynamics has played pivotal role in designing efficient space mission trajectories. The former provides larger cumulative momentum change in comparison with the conventional chemical propulsion whereas the latter results in almost ballistic trajectories with negligible amount of propellant. However, the problem of space trajectory design translates into an optimal …

High-Efficiency Thrust Vector Control Allocation, Jeb S. Orr, Nathan Slegers

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

A generalized approach to the allocation of redundant thrust vector slew commands for multi-actuated launch vehicles is presented, where deflection constraints are expressed as omniaxial or elliptical deflection limits in gimbal axes. More importantly than in the aircraft control allocation problem, linear allocators (pseudoinverses) are preferred for large booster applications to facilitate accurate prediction of the control-structure interaction resulting from thrust vectoring effects. However, strictly linear transformations for the allocation of redundant controls cannot, in general, access all of the attainable moments for which there is a set of control effector positions thatsatisfles the constraints. In this paper, the control …

Gust Mitigation Of Micro Air Vehicles Using Passive Articulated Wings, Adetunji Oduyela, Nathan Slegers

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

Birds and insects naturally use passive flexing of their wings to augment their stability in uncertain aerodynamic environments. In a similar manner, micro air vehicle designers have been investigating using wing articulation to take advantage of this phenomenon. The result is a class of articulated micro air vehicles where artificial passive joints are designed into the lifting surfaces. In order to analyze how passive articulation affects performance of micro air vehicles in gusty environments, an efficient 8 degree-of-freedom model is developed. Experimental validation of the proposed mathematical model was accomplished using flight test data of an articulated micro air vehicle …

Design And Evaluation Of A Propulsion System For Small, Compact, Low-Speed Maneuvering Underwater Vehicles, Florence M. Mbithi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Underwater vehicles used to perform precision inspection and non-destructive evaluation in tightly constrained or delicate underwater environments must be small, have low-speed maneuverability and a smooth streamlined outer shape with no appendages. In this thesis, the design and analysis of a new propulsion system for such underwater vehicles is presented. It consists primarily of a syringe and a plunger driven by a linear actuator and uses different inflow and outflow nozzles to provide continuous propulsive force. A prototype of the proposed propulsion mechanism is built and tested. The practical utility and potential efficacy of the system is demonstrated and assessed …

Thermal Conduction And Heat Generation Phenomena In Li-Ion Cells, Stephen Drake

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Cylindrical lithium ion (Li-ion) cells have demonstrated high power density and energy capacity among other energy storage devices. Despite their already widespread use, the thermal transport properties of cylindrical Li-ion batteries are not well documented and understood, while a sizable amount of work has been carried out for electrical, electrochemical, and materials optimization of Li-ion cells. These thermal phenomena are particularly important for high discharge rate batteries. With this uncertainty, if thermophysical properties are not accounted for in thermal models, the result may be a significant under-prediction or over-prediction of the temperature field in a Li-ion cell.Experimental techniques are described …

Unsteady Thrust Measurement Techniques For Pulse Detonation Engines, Dibesh Dhoj Joshi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Thrust is a critical performance parameter and its correct determination is necessary to characterize an engine. Many conventional thrust measurement techniques prevail. However, further developments are required for correct measurement of thrust in the case of a pulse detonation engine (PDE), since the entire thrust generation process is intermittent. The significant effect of system dynamics in the form of inertial forces, stress wave propagation and reflections initiated in the structure due to detonations and pulse-to-pulse interaction in a fast operating PDE further complicate the thrust measurement process. These complications call for a further, detailed study of the unsteady thrust characteristics. …

Experimental Investigation Of Nucleate Boiling And Thin-Film Evaporation On Enhanced Silicon Surfaces, Shailesh Malla

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The present work consists of two major studies. The first study investigates the effects of surface energy or wettability on nucleate pool boiling and the second study investigates the thin-film evaporative cooling for near junction thermal management. For the first study, effects of surface energy or wettability on critical heat flux (CHF) and boiling heat transfer (BHT) of smooth heated surfaces was studied in saturated pool boiling of water at 1 atm. For this purpose hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces were created on one side of 1cm x 1cm double-side polished silicon substrates. A resistive heating layer was applied on the …

Degradation Mechanics Of Bone And Bone Like Materials Via Multiscale Analysis, Md Farzad Sarker

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Bone fracture is a common health risk for older people suffering from bone disease like osteoporosis. The more severe the osteoporosis is the more structural degradation in bones occurs, which eventually makes bones more fracture prone. The mechanical behavior of bone depends on the structural response of bone constituents over a broad range of length scales spanning from the nanoscale collagen fibril level to the macroscale trabeculae level. As such, in order to understand bone fracture, it is important to know the structure-property relations of bone material over the entire length of scale. Surprisingly, a quantitative understanding of bone fracture …

Wind Field Estimation And Its Utilization In Trajectory And Input Prediction, Jane-Wit Kampoon

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation work develops a method for onboard estimation of wind field with spatial and temporal variation based on local wind vector estimation and/or measurements from multiple aircraft flying in the same airspace. Aircraft flying in the same airspace of operation are considered airborne wind sensors scattered over the airspace because of the fact that aircraft carry along with them wind information inherent in their dynamics and kinematics. The onboard wind field estimation is formulated in the framework of parameter estimation based on various wind field models, which are different function of position and time. The online wind field estimation …

Electrowetting On Dielectric Digital Microfluidics For 3-Dimensional Cell Culture And Chemical Screening, Subin Mac George

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Microfluidic devices have allowed improved cell culture studies to be carried out by allowing greater spatiotemporal control over the cell environment while at the same time providing greater throughput, increased automation capabilities and reagent savings. To improve the relevancy of such studies, 3-dimensional (3D) cell culture has been attempted in microfluidic devices. 3D cell culture is known to better mimic and recreate the environment that cells in the body experience as compared to conventional 2-dimensional cell culture. However, incorporating 3D cell culture into conventional channel based microfluidic devices have proven to be challenging. Hydrogels which provide the 3D environment in …

Modeling, Estimation, And Analysis Of Unresolved Space Object Tracking And Identification, Laura Suarez Henderson

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The problem of orbit determination along with shape determination is significant. The orbit determination problem has been tackled for centuries by some of the greatest mathematicians and physicists. The issue of shape determination of space objects, although more recent, has also been addressed quite extensively. Nevertheless, these problems remain of great interest in the scientific and engineering community, and are addressed in this work. The greatest motivation for the tracking and identification of Earth orbiting objects is the ever-increasing population of space assets and man-made debris. It is of interest to implement new and better techniques to track and identify …

Investigation Of Wetting States On Microstructures After Liquid Drops Contact Groove Base, Mingming Xiang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Wetting properties of roughness surfaces have attracted a considerable attention because of both the scientific insight and the practical applications. One of the most intriguing topics of wetting is the so-called Cassie-Baxter and Wenzel transition. Recently, theoretical and experimental works have been done to explore this transition on microstructure-formed surfaces. One of the criteria that most commonly used to judge such transition is whether a liquid drop contacts the base of a roughness groove. It is expected that, after the contact, liquid immediately fills the roughness groove, and subsequently the wetting state is changed from Cassie-Baxter state to that of …

Thermal Design Of Lithium Bromide-Water Solution Vapour Absorption Cooling System For Indirect Evaporative Cooling For It Pod, Digvijay Ramkrishna Sawant

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Supervising Professor: Dereje Agonafer Nowadays with increase use of internet, mobile there is increase in heat which ultimately increases the efficient cooling system of server room or IT POD. Use of traditional ways of cooling system has ultimately increased CO? emission and depletion of CFC's are serious environmental issues which led scientific people to improve cooling techniques and eliminate use of CFC's. To reduce dependency on fossil fuels and 4environmental friendly system needed to be design. For being utilizing low grade energy source such as solar collector and reducing dependency on fossil fuel vapour absorption cooling system has shown a …

Finite Element Based Methodology For Prediction Of Matrix-Dominated Failure In Composites, Guillaume Seon

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The objective of this work is to develop a computational failure prognosis methodology applicable to virtual testing of composites. The major motivation for the establishment of virtual testing is the ability to reduce actual testing of composite structures, which is oftentimes expensive and time consuming, by numerical simulations. A successful virtual test methodology should be applicable to monotonic and fatigue loading, account for strong anisotropy of composite materials and capture the effects of manufacturing irregularities. This work proposes to use three-dimensional finite element modelling for predicting the onset and progression of matrix-dominated failures modes, such as matrix cracks and delaminations, …

Improving Ducting To Increase Cooling Performance Of High-End Web Servers Subjected To Signicant Thermal Shadowing -An Experimental And Computational Study, Divya Mani

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Ensuring that all the critical components like CPU's receive sufficient amount of flow as per their requirement is an vital importance in implementing air cooling for IT equipments. In addition to that the overall system resistance varies with the component location with in the chassis. In this study, parametric improvement in chassis ducting system is made to counteract the effects of thermal shadowing in a open compute air cooled server in which a CPU thermally shadows the other. Commercially available computational fluid dynamics codes have permitted simulation of server models to predict efficiency of the servers with every changes made …

Analytical And Experimental Investigation Of Thermal Transport In Three-Dimensional Integrated Circuits (3d Ics), Leila Choobineh

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Thermal management of three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D ICs) is recognized to be one of the foremost technological and research challenges currently blocking the widespread adoption of this promising technology. The computation of steady-state temperature fields in a 3D IC is critical for determining the thermal characteristics of a 3D IC and for evaluating any candidate thermal management technology. An analytical solution for the three-dimensional temperature field in a 3D IC based on solution of the governing energy equations using Fourier series expansion for steady-state temperature fields is studied. Comparison of the predicted temperature fields with finite-element simulation shows excellent agreement. …

Effect Of Warm Water Cooling For An Isolated Hybrid Liquid Cooled Server, Alekhya Addagatla

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Data center cooling strategies have changed overtime due to increases in power densities and ever increasing server cooling power requirement. Traditionally, most data centers adopt air cooling where the Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) units pump volumes of chilled air to cool information technology (IT) equipment and dispose the heat from the servers to the ambient. With demand for energy-efficient and cost-effective data centers growing, alternative methods to both provide electrical power and cooling systems are the subject of active investigation. As data centers increase in size and current air-cooling systems reach their limitations, cooling technology will inevitably evolve towards …

A New Multiscale Approach For Dynamic Modeling And Simulation Of Micro-Nano Biomolecular Systems Characterized By A Low Reynolds Number, Mahdi Haghshenas-Jaryani

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

In this dissertation, a new multiscale computational framework was developed in order to model and simulate motility of micro-nano-sized objects in fluid environments, characterized with a low Reynolds number. Especially, it has been used for studying the dynamic behavior of biomolecular systems such as motor proteins inside cells.Long simulation run time is one of the most important issues in modeling of cellular and biomolecular systems at the nanoscale due to the multiple time and length scales involved in the dynamics of these systems. These multiscale features are caused by either structure-structure (e.g. flexibility in biological structure or contact) or structure-fluid …