Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

A Multi-Regulator Sliding Mode Control Strategy For Output-Constrained Systems, Hanz Richter

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper proposes a multi-regulator control scheme for single-input systems, where the setpoint of a regulated output must be changed under the constraint that a set of minimum-phase outputs remain within prescribed bounds. The strategy is based on a max–min selector system frequently used in the aerospace field. The regulators used for the regulated and limited outputs are of the sliding mode type, where the sliding variable is defined as the difference between an output and its allowable limit. The paper establishes overall asymptotic stability, as well as invariance properties leading to limit protection. The design methodology is illustrated with …

Study Of The Role Of Pressure Relaxation In Inviscid, Incompressible Flows, Jonathan Strzelec

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis has investigated the role of pressure relaxation in inviscid, incompressible flows. A modified form of the classical Bernoulli equation was developed from a vector form of the Navier-Stokes equation which includes pressure relaxation and bulk viscosity. This modified Bernoulli equation was utilized to compare two-dimensional potential flow pressure distributions over a sphere, cylinder, backward and forward facing steps. Finally, the modified Bernoulli equation was utilized to compare the theoretical bounding free streamline to an experimentally observed free streamline over a knife edge. Results of these comparisons show that the classical form of the Bernoulli equation can over-predict the …

Effective Approach For Estimating Turbulence-Chemistry Interaction In Hypersonic Turbulent Boundary Layers, L. (Lian) Duan, M. P. Martín

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An effective approach for estimating turbulence-chemistry interaction in hypersonic turbulent boundary layers is proposed, based on "laminar- chemistry" Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes mean flow solutions. The approach combines an assumed probability density function with a temperature fluctuation scaling, which provides the second moment for specifying the shape of the probability density function. As a result, the effects of temperature fluctuation on chemical production rates can be estimated without solving an additional moment evolution equation. The validity of this method is demonstrated using direct-numerical-simulation data. This approach can be used to identify regions with potentially significant turbulence-chemistry interaction in hypersonic boundary layers and …

Effect Of The Thickness Of Undoped Gan Interlayers Between Multiple Quantum Wells And The P-Doped Layer On The Performance Of Gan Light-Emitting Diodes, T. Lu, S. Li, K. Zhang, C. Liu, Y. Yin, L. Wu, H. Wang, Xiaodong Yang, G. Xiao, Y. Zhou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

InGaN based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with undoped GaN interlayer of variant thicknesses grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technique have been investigated. It was found that the thickness of undoped GaN interlayers affected LEDs' performance greatly. The LED with 50 nm undoped GaN interlayer showed higher light output power and lower reverse-leakage current compared with the others at 20 mA. Based on electrical and optical characteristics analysis and numerical simulation, these improvements are mainly attributed to the improvement of the quality of depletion region by inserting an undoped GaN layer, as well as reduction of the Shockley-Read-Hall recombination in InGaN/GaN …

Advances In Hydrogen Compression Ignition Internal Combustion Engines, Alberto Boretti

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The turbocharged direct injection lean burn Diesel engine is the most efficient engine now in production for transport applications within heavy duty trucks applications full load brake engine thermal efficiencies up to 45% and reduced penalties in brake engine thermal efficiencies reducing the load by the quantity of fuel injected. the secrets of this engine's performances are the high compression ratio and the lean bulk combustion mostly diffusion controlled in addition to the partial recovery of the exhaust energy to boost the charging efficiency. the major downfalls of this engine are the carbon dioxide emissions and the depletion of natural …

Stoichiometric H2ice With Water Injection And Exhaust And Coolant Heat Recovery Through Organic Rankine Cycles, Alberto Boretti

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

High power density, stoichiometric, turbocharged, directly injected engines with water injection and a three-way catalytic converter after treatment have been proposed as one of the most promising H2ICE [1]. These throttle-controlled engines have top brake efficiencies exceeding 40%, but large penalties in efficiency reducing the load with 1 bar BMEP values approaching 10%. Recovery of the large amount of fuel energy lost in the coolant especially at low loads as well as the fuel energy lost in the exhaust that is significant at high loads and speeds may push not only the top brake efficiencies to exceed the 45% mark, …

Vibration-Based Health Monitoring Of Multiple-Stage Gear Train And Differential Planetary Transmission Involving Teeth Damage And Backlash Nonlinearity, Andrew Patrick Sommer

Master's Theses

The objective of this thesis is to develop vibration-based fault detection strategies for on-line condition monitoring of gear transmission systems. The study divides the thesis into three sections. First of all, the local stresses created by a root fatigue crack on a pinion spur gear are analyzed using a quasi-static finite element model and non-linear contact mechanics simulation. Backlash between gear teeth which is essential to provide better lubrication on tooth surfaces and to eliminate interference is included as a defect and a necessary part of transmission design. The second section is dedicated to fixed axis power trains. Torsional vibration …

Femtosecond Laser Fabricated All-Optical Fiber Sensors With Ultrahigh Refractive Index Sensitivity: Modeling And Experiment, Lan Jiang, Longjiang Zhao, Sumei Wang, Jinpeng Yang, Hai Xiao

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

All-optical fiber sensors based on ultracompact fiber inline Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) are fabricated by side-ablating a Ushape microcavity in a single-mode optical fiber with the fiber core partially removed using femtosecond (fs) laser pulses, in which the two light paths are accordingly formed in the remaining D-type fiber core and the U-shape microcavity. Beam propagation method (BPM) analysis is utilized to illustrate the dependences of good transmission spectra on parameters including the ablation depth, ablation length and the refractive index of Ushape microcavity, which gives some guidelines to optimize parameters for fs laser micromachining and predicts RI (refractive index) sensitivities …

Thermal Expansions In Wurtzite Aln, Gan, And Inn: First-Principle Phonon Calculations, L.-C. Xu, R.-Z. Wang, Xiaodong Yang, H. Yan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Using the first-principle phonon calculations under the quasiharmonic approximation, thermal expansions in III-nitrides with wurtzite AlN, GaN, and InN are reported. The results showed that it is different for each thermal expansion of three III-nitrides at low temperatures, which is consistent with their Grneisen parameters as the function of temperature. Below 50 K, negative thermal expansions occur in InN, while GaN and AlN follow the rule of positive thermal expansion. To seek the origin of positivenegative thermal expansion distinction, the mode Grneisen parameters and the phonon spectra are investigated. They indicate that different low-frequency phonon vibration modes correspond to the …

A Study On Facility Planning Using Discrete Event Simulation: Case Study Of A Grain Delivery Terminal, Sarah M. Asio

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The application of traditional approaches to the design of efficient facilities can be tedious and time consuming when uncertainty and a number of constraints exist. Queuing models and mathematical programming techniques are not able to capture the complex interaction between resources, the environment and space constraints for dynamic stochastic processes. In the following study discrete event simulation is applied to the facility planning process for a grain delivery terminal. The discrete event simulation approach has been applied to studies such as capacity planning and facility layout for a gasoline station and evaluating the resource requirements for a manufacturing facility. To …

Astro Camp Presentation, Get Away Special Team 2011

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Interface Circuit For A Multiple-Beam Tuning-Fork Gyroscope With High Quality Factors, Ren Wang

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This research work presents the design, theoretical analysis, fabrication, interface electronics, and experimental results of a Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) based Multiple-Beam Tuning-Fork Gyroscope (MB-TFG). Based on a numerical model of Thermo-Elastic Damping (TED), a Multiple-Beam Tuning-Fork Structure (MB-TFS) is designed with high Quality factors (Qs) in its two operation modes. A comprehensive theoretical analysis of the MB-TFG design is conducted to relate the design parameters to its operation parameters and further performance parameters. In conjunction with a mask that defines the device through trenches to alleviate severe fabrication effect on anchor loss, a simple one-mask fabrication process is employed to implement …

Effect Of Molecular Film Thickness On Thermal Conduction Across Solid-Film Interfaces, Zhi Liang, Hai-Lung Tsai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Brownian Motion and Aggregation of Particles in Nanofluids Often Lead to the Formation of Solid-Film-Solid Structures. the Molecular Thin Film Confined between Nanoparticles May Have Non-Negligible Effects on Thermal Conduction among Nanoparticles. using Nonequilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulations, We Study Thermal Conduction Across the Ag Particle-Ar Thin-Film Interface. If the Film Contains Only One Molecular Layer, We Find that the Solid-Film Interfacial Thermal Resistance RSF is About 1 Order of Magnitude Smaller Than the Solid-Liquid (Bulk) Interfacial Thermal Resistance RSL. If There Are Two or More Molecular Layers in the Film, It is Shown that RSF Increases Rapidly toward RSL …

Design Optimization Of Gaas Betavoltaic Batteries, Haiyanag Chen, Lan Jiang, Xuyuan Chen

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

GaAs junctions are designed and fabricated for beta voltaic batteries. the design is optimized according to the characteristics of GaAs interface states and the diffusion length in the depletion region of GaAs carriers. under an illumination of 10 mCi cm-263Ni, the open circuit voltage of the optimized batteries is about ∼0.3 V. It is found that the GaAs interface states induce depletion layers on P-type GaAs surfaces. the depletion layer along the P+PN+ junction edge isolates the perimeter surface from the bulk junction, which tends to significantly reduce the battery dark current and leads to a high open circuit voltage. …

Cal Poly Human Powered Helicopter, Josiah Auer, Eric Behne, Dave Berry, Rebecca Hennings, James Koch, Ian Marquardt, Josiah Mayfield, Sean Miller

Mechanical Engineering

The following report encompasses the Cal Poly Human Powered Helicopter team’s efforts during the 2010-2011 academic year. The intention of this project is to further the knowledge of human powered helicopter design and to validate an ideal configuration through experimental tests and analysis. 

A. Background

The Sikorsky Prize offered by the American Helicopter Society has been the catalyst for many attempts at Human Powered Helicopter (HPH) flight. The requirement to win the prize is a continuous, human powered flight of more than 60 seconds that stays within a 10 meter square box and reaches an altitude greater than 3 meters …

Rayleigh Test Apparatus Design Report, Josef Duller, Owen Raybould, James Nicovich

Mechanical Engineering

The Rayleigh Test Apparatus is a device that will be used to test the thermodynamic properties of Nitrous Oxide to assess the feasibility of using this fluid as a coolant for a hybrid rocket aero spike. The aero spike is intended to redirect the propulsion flow as it leaves the engine to create a more efficient flow pattern at low and high altitudes. However, there are issues of overheating which leads to melting of the aero spike. For this reason, the use of nitrous oxide (N2O) as a coolant is being explored. N20 is being considered because it is already …

Development Of A Cubesat Instrument For Microgravity Particle Damper Performance Analysis, John Trevor Abel

Master's Theses

Spacecraft pointing accuracy and structural longevity requirements often necessitate auxiliary vibration dissipation mechanisms.  However, temperature sensitivity and material degradation limit the effectiveness of traditional damping techniques in space.  Robust particle damping technology offers a potential solution, driving the need for microgravity characterization.   A 1U cubesat satellite presents a low cost, low risk platform for the acquisition of data needed for this evaluation, but severely restricts available mass, volume, power and bandwidth resources.  This paper details the development of an instrument subject to these constraints that is capable of capturing high resolution frequency response measurements of highly nonlinear particle damper dynamics.

Port Flow Test System, Daniel Chairez, Chelsea E. Crawford, Daniel S. Welch

Mechanical Engineering

Solar Turbines Gas Compressor Engineering Division of San Diego, California called upon the Mechanical Engineering students of California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo to provide recommendations for optimization of compressor end cap port design. Various sizes of compressors have end caps with numerous ports that exchange fluids between the inside and outside of the working fluid pressure vessel. Because so many ports must exist on the end caps, unusual flow paths are created to supply the appropriate location within the compressor. These flow paths commonly consist of a drilled inlet hole which intersects with a sudden expansion. The sudden expansion …

Airplane Landing Flare-The Last 5 Seconds, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Direct Numerical Simulation Of Hypersonic Turbulent Boundary Layers. Part 3. Effect Of Mach Number, L. (Lian) Duan, I. Beekman, M. P. Martín

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we perform direct numerical simulations (DNS) of turbulent boundary layers with nominal free-stream Mach number ranging from 0.3 to 12. The main objective is to assess the scaling's with respect to the mean and turbulence behaviors as well as the possible breakdown of the weak compressibility hypothesis for turbulent boundary layers at high Mach numbers (M > 5). We find that many of the scaling relations, such as the van Driest transformation for mean velocity, Walz's relation, Morkovin's scaling and the strong Reynolds analogy, which are derived based on the weak compressibility hypothesis, remain valid for the range …

Surface Geometry And Heat Flux Effect On Thin Wire Nucleate Pool Boiling Of Subcooled Water In Mictrogravity, Troy Munro, Heng Ban

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Thermal Conductivity Of Interfacial Layers In Nanofluids, Zhi Liang, Hai-Lung Tsai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Thermal Conductivity of Interfacial Layers is an Essential Parameter for Determining How the Ordered Liquid Layering Around the Particle-Liquid Interface Contributes to the Unusual High Thermal Conductivity of Nanofluids. However, So Far There is No Experimental Data Regarding This Parameter. using Nonequilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulations of an Inhomogeneous Au-Ar System in Which the Solid-Liquid Interactions Are Assumed to Be Much Stronger Than the Liquid-Liquid Interactions, We Show Explicitly that the Thermal Conductivity of a 1-Nm-Thick Interfacial Layer is 1.6∼2.5 Times Higher Than that of the Base Fluid. the Simulation Results Are Incorporated into a Three-Level Clustering Model to Calculate the …

Some Considerations For Regional Airline Operations On Contaminated Runways., Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Of Transonic Airfoil Sections Using Multiobjective Optimization And Computational Intelligence Tools, Amit A. Kulkarni

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The design of transonic airfoils for civil aviation applications has been a major engineering challenge in the last fifty years. This design problem arises due to the need to limit shock wave drag at a given transonic speed. In recent years, the requirement to reduce the levels of aircraft noise has started to affect the airfoil design process. The multidisciplinary aerodynamic shape optimization problem is treated in this thesis using a multi-objective approach. The objectives correspond to the design of transonic airfoil sections with low drag during cruise and low trailing edge noise levels during the approach condition. The optimization …

A Pilot Model For Investigating Biodynamic Coupling Due To Aeroservoelastic Accelerations, Brandon Cowen

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Supersonic Transport Aircraft tend to have slender fuselages with respect to their subsonic counterparts. This design feature leads to increased aeroservoelastic bending at low resonant frequencies closer to the frequencies of pilot commands and the corresponding rigid body accelerations. Aeroelastic accelerations of certain frequencies and phase lags at the pilot station have been seen to involuntarily pass through the pilot's body to the control inceptor. When the pilot commands rigid body accelerations in phase with the structural response, the structural accelerations grow. Thus biodynamic coupling represents the coupling between the feedthrough of pilot station acceleration through the pilot's body, with …

Manipulating Particles For Micro- And Nano-Fluidics Via Floating Electrodes And Diffusiophoresis, Sinan Eren Yalcin

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The ability to accurately control micro- and nano-particles in a liquid is fundamentally useful for many applications in biology, medicine, pharmacology, tissue engineering, and microelectronics. Therefore, first particle manipulations are experimentally studied using electrodes attached to the bottom of a straight microchannel under an imposed DC or AC electric field. In contrast to a dielectric microchannel possessing a nearly-uniform surface charge, a floating electrode is polarized under the imposed electric field.

The purpose is to create a non-uniform distribution of the induced surface charge, with a zero-net-surface charge along the floating electrode's surface. Such a field, in turn, generates an …

Direct Current Electrokinetic Particle Transport In Micro/Nano-Fluidics, Ye Ai

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Electrokinetics has been widely used to propel and manipulate particles in micro/nano-fluidics. The first part of this dissertation focuses on numerical and experimental studies of direct current (DC) electrokinetic particle transport in microfluidics, with emphasis on dielectrophoretic (DEP) effect. Especially, the electrokinetic transports of spherical particles in a converging-diverging microchannel and an L-shaped microchannel, and cylindrical algal cells in a straight microchannel have been numerically and experimentally studied. The numerical predictions are in quantitative agreement with our own and other researchers' experimental results. It has been demonstrated that the DC DEP effect, neglected in existing numerical models, plays an important …

Surface Geometry And Heat Flux Effect On Thin Wire Nucleate Pool Boiling Of Subcooled Water In Microgravity, Troy Munro, Andrew Fassman

Presentations

The motivation of this nucleate boiling research is to understand the effects of surface geometry and heat flux as applied to a thin wire heater. This will further the understanding of the fundamental behaviors of boiling onset, steady state heat transfer, and bubble dynamics with respect to nucleate boiling with the goal of creating efficient thermal management systems for future space applications. Using three different thin platinum wire geometries and five different power levels, subcooled water was boiled over a period of approximately 30 seconds for 15 parabolic arcs to simulate microgravity. To represent the trends in bubbles behavior across …

Fuel Cycle Co2-E Targets Of Renewable Hydrogen As A Realistic Transportation Fuel In Australia, Alberto Boretti

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The claim of catastrophic manmade climate change or global warming through anthropogenic CO₂ has presently focused the interest on the tailpipe emissions of CO₂ per km, with recent legislations obsessively targeting these emissions of CO₂ with defectively implemented procedures. with a variety of different propulsion solutions (electric, hybrid electric, hybrid mechanic, conventional) and different fuels (Diesel, Petrol, alternative fossil, alternative renewable) available in the near future, a more comprehensive approach based on the full fuel cycle, and eventually also the full life cycle of the vehicle appear to be necessary. the paper is a contribution to trigger …

Deterministic Integrated Tuning Of Multicavity Resonances And Phase For Slow-Light In Coupled Photonic Crystal Cavities, T. Gu, S. Kocaman, Xiaodong Yang, J. F. Mcmillan, M. B. Yu, G.-Q. Lo, D.-L. Kwong, C. W. Wong

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present the integrated chip-scale tuning of multiple photonic crystal cavities. The optimized implementation allows effective and precise tuning of multiple cavity resonances (up to ~1.60 nm/mW) and intercavity phase (~0.038 π/mW) by direct local temperature tuning on suspended silicon nanomembranes. Through designing the serpentine metal electrodes and careful electron-beam alignment to avoid cavity mode overlap, the coupled photonic crystal L3 cavities preserve their high quality factors. The deterministic resonance and phase control enables switching between the all-optical analog of electromagnetically-induced-transparency to flat-top filter lineshapes, with future applications of trapping photons and optoelectronic modulators.