Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Novel Thermal Coating For High-Speed Airplanes, Abinash Satapathy, Lakshay Battu, Liam Watson, Nazanin Rajabi

Symposium of Student Scholars

In comparison to various other materials, Carbon Fiber, specifically Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP), is pre-eminent amongst other materials for use on aeronautical systems. Due to its high specific strength (strength-to-weight ratio), CFRP is prominent for carrying heavy loads while maintaining a lightweight build. However, when influenced by heat resulting from air resistance, CFRP is known to undergo serious degradation that would significantly decrease the effectiveness of the polymers. To prevent this degradation and maintain the strength of the CFRP, thermal protective layers (TPLs) are designed to shield the CFRP from heat exposure. This research is focused on the examination …

Machine Learning-Oriented Predictive Maintenance (Pdm) Framework For Autonomous Vehicles (Avs): Adopting Blockchain For Pdm Solution, Md Jobair Hossain Faruk, Hossain Shahriar, Maria Valero

Symposium of Student Scholars

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) refers to smart, connected and multimedia cars with technological megatrends of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) and have gained huge strive in today's world. AVs adopt automated driving systems (ADS) technique that permits the vehicle to manage and control driving points without human drivers by utilizing advanced equipment including a combination of sensors, controllers, onboard computers, actuators, algorithms, and advanced software embedded in the different parts of the vehicle. These advanced sensors provide unique inputs to the ADS to generate a path from point A to point B. Ensuring the safety of sensors by limiting maintenance …

Method Of Embedded Imperfections For The Direct Simulation Of Deformation Instabilities In Film-Substrate Structures, Siavash Nikravesh Kazeroni

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

In this dissertation, a novel finite-element methodology called “embedded imperfections” is proposed and employed for computationally simulating various types of deformation instabilities observed in film-substrate structures subjected to mechanical loading. The approach involves the incorporation of elements having distinctive material properties within the film-substrate interface. One can interpret this practice as a deliberate distribution of material defects within the numerical model. It has been shown that embedded imperfections not only can trigger the onset of instability, but also can lead to “direct” simulation of deformation instability problems in that primary and subsequent instability modes can all be captured in a …

A Low-Cost And Low-Tech Solution To Test For Variations Between Multiple Offline Programming Software Packages., Steffen Wendell Bolz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This research paper chronicles the attempt to bring forth a low-cost and low-tech testing methodology whereby multiple offline programming (OLP) software packages’ generated programs may be compared when run on industrial robots. This research was initiated by the discovery that no real research exists to test between iterations of OLP software packages and that most research for positional accuracy and/or repeatability on industrial robots is expensive and technologically intensive. Despite this, many countries’ leaders are pushing for intensive digitalization of manufacturing and Small and Mediumsized Enterprises (SMEs) are noted to be lagging in adoption of such technologies. The research consisted …

Real-Time Complex Hand Gestures Recognition Based On Multi- Dimensional Features, Isack Bulugu

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Gesture recognition is broadly utilized within the field of sensing. There are basically three gesture recognition methods based on computer vision, depth sensor and motion sensor. Motion sensor-based gesture recognition has few input data, fast speed, and direct access to three- dimensional information of the hand. The advantages of traditional motion sensor-based gesture recognition have gradually become a current research hotspot. The essence of traditional motion sensor-based gesture recognition is a pattern recognition problem, and its accuracy depends heavily on the feature dataset extracted from prior experience. Unlike traditional pattern recognition methods, deep learning can be used to a large …

Complete Neighbourhood Search Heuristic Algorithm For Portfolio Optimization, Collether John

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

In portfolio optimization, the fundamental goal of an investor is to optimally allocate investments between different assets. Mean-variance optimization methods make unrealistic assumptions to solve the problem of optimal allocation. On the other hand, when realistic constraints like holding size and cardinality are introduced it leads to optimal asset allocation which differ from the mean variance optimization. The resulting optimization problem become quite complex as it exhibits multiple local extrema and discontinuities. Heuristic algorithms work well for the complex problem. Therefore, a heuristic algorithm is developed which is based on hill climbing complete (HC-C). It is utilized to solve the …

Implementation Of Multiscale Mechanisms In Finite Element Analysis Of Active Composite Structures, Amany G. Micheal Prof., Yehia Bahei El Din Prof.

Centre for Advanced Materials

Composite structures reinforced with electrically active filaments are modeled with the finite element method while the underlying thermo-electromechanical coupling phenomena and damage are taken into consideration. At the outset, structural analysis is performed with a general-purpose finite element code and a special material routine, which propagates local phenomena to the overall scale is utilized. The material routine implements an interactive, multiscale analysis, which provides seamless integration of the mechanics at the composite’s micro, macro, and structural length scales. The interface between the multiscale material routine and the finite element code is made through nonmechanical strains caused by damage, and piezo/pyro-electric …

R/C Baja: Drivetrain, Connor T. Donovan

All Undergraduate Projects

The Central Washington University Mechanical Engineering Technology Department hosts an annual R/C Baja competition in which R/C cars fabricated by student teams are put through a series of courses and tests to determine which team's vehicle is best. The goal of this project was to create a functioning drivetrain that conveys power from the battery to the wheels and provides control of the vehicle. A list of requirements for the drivetrain was created to ensure that the vehicle will not only function, but that it will actually succeed in the competition. These requirements included that the vehicle must achieve a …

Carbon Fiber Recycling: Delamination System, Aaron Eastman

All Undergraduate Projects

The production of composite wings at Boeing causes carbon fiber waste and CWU Mechanical Engineering Technology students have been tasked in designing a carbon fiber recycling system. This project was brought forth and funded by the Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation (JCATI). There are three subsystems that make up the carbon fiber recycling system, the delamination system, shredding system, and the oven. The purpose of this project was to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the delamination system of the carbon fiber recycling system. The old system reached approximately 30-40 percent delamination with one pass through the system, and …

Mechanical Characterization Instrumentation For Multi-Material Systems, Nicholas Ginga

Summer Community of Scholars (RCEU and HCR) Project Proposals

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of Multiscale Mechanisms In Finite Element Analysis Of Active Composite Structures, Amany Micheal, Yehia Bahei-El-Din

Centre for Advanced Materials

Interrogation of composite structures for inherent damage is investigated by implementing a three-tier analysis scheme. The analysis starts at the structure level where a general-purpose Finite Element code ABAQUS is employed to obtain the stress field in the second level of analysis which is the composite laminate. A special material routine is prepared to propagate the local fields to the individual plies and hence to the third level of analysis which is the microstructure modeling of the composite. Through the third level of analysis, interface damage between fiber and matrix is checked implementing a certain failure criteria. The interaction between …

Rc Baja: Drivetrain And Steering, Mathew Morgan

All Undergraduate Projects

The RC Baja competition is a contest where undergraduate mechanical engineering students design, build, and compete against one another. The objective of this competition is to create the most efficient RC car possible. A gear train analysis was done and showed an 8:1 gear ratio would be the most efficient ratio due to the chosen motor having a higher torque output. Also, a stress analysis was done and showed that 2011 T3 aluminum passed the stress and weight criteria. These analyses ensured the RC Baja car was efficient. Most of the parts for the drivetrain and steering subassemblies were machined …

Jcati Carbon Fiber Recycler: Oven Enclosure, Margarita Romero

All Undergraduate Projects

Central Washington University partners with Boeing and is funded by the Joint Center of Aerospace Technology Innovation (JCATI) to develop a mechanism that takes carbon fiber wing trimmings from Boeing that are resin coated and recycles carbon fiber. This is done by crushing the wing trimmings and then putting it into a 500°C oven to melt off the resin. This project focuses on the enclosure for the oven and making sure precautions are met such as having the outside surface be less than 45c through heat transfer analysis, argon fills enclosure in 13 minutes through fluid dynamics analysis, and 99% …

R/C Baja Truck Suspension, Chassis And Steering, Ryan Lafrombois

All Undergraduate Projects

The ASME RC Baja Challenge is an annual competition that the Central Washington University Mechanical Engineering and Technology (MET) department takes part in. Senior level engineers divided the work between the drivetrain and the chassis/suspension while designing and manufacturing to meet a set of requirements. Next, a device was to be developed to be able to withstand the extreme forces to be successful in the competition at the end of the year. The process would require that the students use their acquired knowledge and skills to design, manufacture, and analyze a capable device. Designing involved the completion of 12 analyses …

Rc Baja Engineering Report, Matthew Hart

All Undergraduate Projects

The ASME RC Baja is a competition that tests engineering students’ ability design, build, and test an RC car. The vehicle then competes against other engineering student’s RC cars. The objective is to manufacture the most efficient and cost-effective RC Baja car.

During the first quarter of senior project, the student’ engineering skill was applied to designing an RC car that will be able to compete in a competition at the end of spring quarter. The student was tasked with using all the information from the classes the student had taken previously at Central Washington University and design and build …

Design And Testing Of A Hybrid Direct Ink Writing And Fused Deposition Modeling Multi-Process 3d Printer, Alexander X. Losada

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Multi-material 3D Printing allows the ability to fabricate parts with tuned mechanical properties, multi-process 3D printing widens the choices of available fabrication materials. The objective of this study is to build a custom 3D printing test bed that is capable of printing multi-material parts with fused deposition modeling and direct ink writing techniques. A 3D printer, controlled by an industrial motion control system, with FDM and DIW capabilities was built by combining FDM extruders with a pneumatic dispensing system on a single platform. By utilizing the Direct Ink Writing function, we expand the number of printable materials to include some …

Analytical Modeling Of A Novel Elastohydrodynamic Seal Design For Supercritical Co2 Power Cycles, Ikenna C. Ejiogu

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) power cycles show great potential for higher plant efficiencies and power densities for a wide range of power generation applications such as fossil fuel power plants, nuclear power production, solar power, and geothermal power generation. sCO₂ leakage has been one of the main concerns in such applications, penalizing the cycle efficiencies. The effect of the seal leakage on the cycle efficiency could be as high as 0.65% for a utility sCO₂ power cycle. Therefore, there is a pressing need for effective sealing solutions to get the full benefit of sCO₂ power …

Microscale Transverse Compression Modeling: A Comparative Study Of The Analytical Mac/Gmc Methods To Experimental Results, Emily Zeitunian

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Composite materials require a multi-scale approach to fully understand its behavior. At the micro level, material behavior analysis is conducted most often using numerical or analytical approaches. These models, however, require validation from experimental data to ensure material predictions are accurate. This study compares a semi-analytical micromechanical analysis tool, MAC/GMC, to experimental results of in-situ microscale transverse compression testing conducted at AFRL facilities. Effective properties, stress-strain curves, stress and strain fields, and damage predictions are compared with experimental outputs. Both generalized method of cells (GMC) and high-fidelity generalized method of cells (HFGMC) theories implemented within MAC/GMC show results that agree …

Small-Satellite Attitude Control Using Sinusoidal Actuator Motion: Experiments On The International Space Station, K. Ryan Lush

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

In this work, we design, build, and test two 1.25U CubeSats. These small satellites were deployed on the International Space Station to perform attitude control experiments in microgravity. These CubeSats use an oscillating-mass actuation system for attitude control as opposed to traditional flywheels. Each CubeSat uses 3 pairs of servomotors to oscillate masses about 3 orthogonal axes. The servomotors have strict rotational stroke limits. Thus, they cannot spin continually. To oscillate each pair of masses, the angle of each servomotor is commanded using signals that are continuous and piecewise sinusoidal with amplitudes that do not violate the servomotor stroke constraints. …

Adhesively Bonded Multi-Material Single Lap Joints Under Static Tensile Loading, Yesim Kokner

Dissertations and Theses

Adhesive joints are widely used in a variety of industrial applications utilizing the improved mechanical properties they provide over traditional mechanical joining methods. [1] The lap joint is a usual test specimen with a view to assessing the strength and properties of joints.

This study deals with the stiffness, strength and fracture behavior of multi-material single-lap joints. It describes the mechanical behavior of a multi-material single lap joints subjected to static tensile loading in the longitudinal direction. First, steel-to-steel and aluminum-to-aluminum joints are tested to establish baseline data. Subsequently, multi-material joints consisting of aluminum-to-steel, aluminum-to-composite, and steel-to-composite joints were tested …

An Experimental Study Towards Underwater Propulsion System Using Structure Borne Traveling Waves, Shreyas Suhas Gadekar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The method of generating steady-state structure-borne traveling waves underwater in an infinite media creates abundant opportunities in the field of propulsive applications, and they are gaining attention from several researchers. This experimental study provides a framework for harnessing traveling waves in a 1D beam immersed under quiescent water using two force input methods and providing a motion to an object floating on the surface of the water.

In this study, underwater traveling waves are tailored using structural vibrations at five different frequencies in the range of 10Hz to 300Hz. The resulting fluid motion provides a propulsive thrust that moves a …

Human Ergonomic Simulation To Support The Design Of An Exoskeleton For Lashing/De-Lashing Operations Of Containers Cargo, Francesco Longo, Antonio Padovano, Vittorio Solina, Virginia D' Augusta, Stefan Venzl, Roberto Calbi, Michele Bartuni, Ornella Anastasi, Rafael Diaz

VMASC Publications

Lashing and de-lashing operations of containers cargo on board containerships are considered as quite strenuous activities in which operators are required to work continuously over a 6 or 8 hours shift with very limited break. This is mostly because containerships need to leave the port as soon as possible and containers loading and unloading operations must be executed with very high productivity (stay moored in a port is a totally unproductive time for a ship and a loss-making business for a shipping company). Operators performing lashing and de-lashing operations are subjected to intense ergonomic stress and uncomfortable working postures. To …

Quickcut Waterjet Cutter, Kennedy Dunn, Jacob Storrow, Benjamin Laughrey

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The QuickCut Waterjet Cutter was created in 2019 as a senior design project. This is the third iteration of the waterjet cutter. The goal of this project was to create an operable CNC waterjet cutter that is able to cut 1/16” tensile specimens consisting of nonferrous metal or plastic. This machine will be utilized in the Manufacturing Laboratory at the University of Akron to provide education to interested students on the waterjet cutting process, how it operates, and industrial application of the technology. Waterjet cutting is a subtractive manufacturing process which is recognized for its specialized applications such as cutting …

Ballistic Impact Mitigation Pad, Adam Pianalto, Nathan Mayer, Wyatt Smith, Nick Green, Douglas Wild

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In our senior design project we have decided to work under Dr. Jon Gerhardt on creating a gel pad to mitigate blunt force behind bulletproof vests. Extensive research on injury, materials, manufacturing methods, and NIJ standards was completed during this project. Through the use of advanced modeling software and additive manufacturing, we prototyped a functioning pad to test and compare to a pad that is currently available in today's market. The results proved to be very successful, but there are many areas to improve upon down the road.

Energy Analysis Of Heating, Ventilation, And Air Conditioning Systems, Erica Ferguson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project studied Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems for commercial buildings. I completed an energy model Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department in West Virginia. This building’s HVAC has been completed by the consulting engineering firm: Scheeser Buckley Mayfield. I intern at this company, so they allowed me to use their original design as a basis for comparison. Load calculations, utility costs, energy consumption, and carbon footprint were derived from this energy analysis. The energy model compared three systems: variable air volume (VAV) with electric reheat, variable air volume with hydronic reheat, and variable refrigerant volume (VRV). Based on the …

Human Powered Vehicle Team Challenge, Sydney Nedlik, Spencer Brodie, Maria Griffin, William Schell, Ryan Serraglio

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Design and build a Human Powered Vehicle in a team of five. Compete at the ASME HPVC competition in March of 2022. Re-establish the Human Powered Vehicle Team at the University of Akron.

Workforce Development Strategies In Additive Manufacturing, Mel Cossette, Ismail Fidan, Gaffar Gailani, Angran Xiao

Publications and Research

Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D Printing (3DP), is one of the newest manufacturing technologies with growing utilization in our daily life. Parallel to this growth, new materials, machines, and specific processes are being developed to produce parts in better-finished quality, at lower cost, and with shorter production time. However, workforce education in this evolving field has not advanced at the same pace as the technology, lacking proven curriculums, high-quality/accredited degree programs, and specialized advanced degrees. In this paper, some best practices established by the authors are introduced. The list is far from exhaustive but is proven to be …

Schaeffler E-Motor, Jenne Harasin, Zachary Zatta, Christopher Tvaroch

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project will be focusing on the work accomplished at Schaeffler to convert an existing internal combustion engine, Ford F-250 truck, into a battery electric vehicle. This report focuses on the vehicle's integration with an emphasis on the bearing design, e-Axle housing's method for mounting, bus bar design, resolver design, differential options, wiring for low and high voltage, and oil pump and cooling system for e-Beam. The bearings for the differential as well as the power transmission system from the electric motor to the e-Axle will need to be specified. By late summer 2022, Schaeffler will have a working prototype …

Design Of Composite Joints Using Machine Learning Approaches, Natalie Richards

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Adhesively bonded joints have an advantage in joining dissimilar engineering materials due to their high structural efficiency and being lightweight. These joints are either between two opposite laminates or between a composite laminate and a metal structure. The aerospace and automotive industries have seen an increase in utilizing these adhesive joints in their engineering applications. Joint strength along with the failure mode (adhesive, delamination, etc.) is the most important parameter to evaluate when understanding the capability of the adhesive joint. In this paper, a regression and a classification machine learning (ML) model are utilized to predict the failure load and …

Golf Club Cleaner, Owen Roach, Chris Wertenberger, Michael Skerlong

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Cleaning golf clubs can be a tedious process, however a necessary one to maintain equipment. Clubs are normally cleaned by filling a bucket with soap and water, soaking all the clubs to be cleaned, then scrubbing each one individually. An automatic club cleaner would make this process much easier and more enjoyable. Using electric motors, the club cleaner would have spinning brushes in soap and water to quickly and easily clean the club head. The machine would have different sections for cleaning the club head, polishing the club face, and cleaning the grip. The cleaner should be inexpensive and easy …