Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Thermal Heterogeneity And Lithium Plating During Fast Charging Of Lithium-Ion Battery., Ayodeji Avis Adeniran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Presently, widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is hindered by challenges associated with XFC, including heat generation, lithium plating, and accelerated battery degradation. This dissertation addresses these barriers through two coordinated themes—lithium plating and thermal management—spanning four manuscripts that integrate operando diagnostics, physics-based simulation, and module-level design optimization. The first theme seeks a fundamental investigation into the dynamic interplay between temperature heterogeneity and lithium plating during fast charging, a phenomenon that poses significant limitations on the performance of graphite-based anodes. Firstly, a custom operando cell with a sapphire window was designed to enable synchronized MWIR thermography and optical imaging of …

Residential Hvac Installation Faults: Field Prevalence, Drivers, And Energy Impacts, Seyed Ali Rooholghodos

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Faults in residential comfort systems can have detrimental effects on the performance of the system, reducing the energy efficiency, affecting indoor comfort, and shortening equipment lifespan. Many of the faults occur at installation. However, there has not previously been a systematic and nationally representative study to indicate the prevalence of the faults, meaning the distribution of faults by fault type and fault intensity. Understanding true fault prevalence is essential to be able to identify derivers, and to assess the incremental electricity consumption of the new installation systems.

This study presents on-site data from 341 new central cooling systems—air conditioners and …

Experimental Characterization Of An Additively Manufactured Porous Gyroid Air-Cooled Heat Sink, Grant S. Resler

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper presents the development of a ducted test facility designed to evaluate heat sinks efficiency at varying air velocities. This enables the evaluation of both heat transfer and pressure drop performance. These metrics are essential to the overall efficiency of heat sinks and help identify the optimal air velocity to achieve the desired thermal performance. A standard plate fin heat sink was used as a control for comparison to a novel heat sink. The specialized heat sink geometry was generated using nTop, a generative design software focused on additive manufacturing. This design was fabricated via Direct Metal Laser Sintering …

Study On The Knock Resistance Offered By Thermally Stratifying Water Injections In A Single Cylinder Spark Ignition Engine, Aditya Datar

All Theses

Stochastic end-gas autoignition in SI engines, commonly called ‘knock’, limits attainable engine efficiencies. Multiple pathways to extend SI engine operation into knock-limited regions have been studied, including direct water injection (DWI). This study employs single-cylinder engine experiments and modeling to investigate the knock resistance offered by compression stroke water injections, which have shown to thermally stratify the cylinder in HCCI. In SI, thermally stratifying injections are expected to forcibly widen the cylinder temperature distribution by preferentially cooling the cylinder periphery. The end-gas is in the cylinder periphery; therefore, a cooler end-gas would result in longer ignition delays, thus providing knock …

Opposed-Piston Two Stroke Engine As A High Power Density Solution In Heavy Duty Applications: An Experimental Evaluation With Diesel And Ethanol, Ankur Bhatt

All Dissertations

With an increasing demand to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the conventional powertrain technology is at a saturation point. There is reinvigorated research interest in alternative powertrain designs that offer potentially higher efficiencies and lower engine-out emissions compared to conventional powertrains. The opposed piston two-stroke (OP2S) engine is one such alternative engine architecture that has demonstrated a reduction in engine-out emissions and increased efficiency compared to conventional four-stroke diesel engines. Like any two-stroke engine, the scavenging process and the composition of the internal residuals are predominantly governed by the pressure differential between the intake and the exhaust ports. Without dedicated …

Effect Of Capillary And Viscous Forces On Carbon Dioxide Desorption In Porous Adsorbent Layers, Caroline Isabel Mcclung

Theses and Dissertations

Temperature swing adsorption-based (TSA) carbon dioxide (CO₂) separation processes, which involve an alternating flow of gases and liquids in adsorbent-coated microchannels, have been shown to yield superior and environmentally friendly performance than the existing processes. This technique begins by sending the impure gas mixture through hydrophobic silicalite adsorbent-coated microchannels, which results in the adsorption of CO₂. Subsequently, hot water heat transfer fluid (HTF) flows through the same channels, displaces the purified gas stream, heats the adsorbent, desorbs the CO₂, and removes that desorbed CO₂ from the channel. This stage is followed by cooling …

Large-Scale Experimental Study On The Impact Of Air Cleaning & Ventilation On Indoor Air Quality And Student Illness-Related Absenteeism, Daud Nosham

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This large-scale randomized experimental field study investigated the effect of portable air purifiers (PAPs) on classroom’s air quality and student’s illness related absenteeism. PAPs were installed in 317 classrooms from various school districts located in Eastern Nebraska. The classrooms were randomly assigned into four conditions: three treatment conditions (T1, T2 & T3) and one control condition (device without any filter). T1 was equipped with HEPA filters, T2 added Activated Carbon (AC) layer to HEPA, and T3 further integrated Germicidal Ultraviolet (GUV) alongside HEPA and AC filters. The measured variables were carbon dioxide (CO2), fine particles (PN2.5) and coarse particles (PNcoarse), …

Thermal Management With Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Under Extreme Applications, Devon Hardy

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A unique challenge in thermal system design is minimizing the power required to operate cooling systems while maintaining effective heat removal. Traditional cooling systems utilize single-phase fluids where the heat transfer mechanisms are well understood. To meet a variety of cooling demands, a range of technologies are available, including microchannel forced convection, jet impingement, porous media, nanofluids, pin fin arrays, and film cooling, each offering distinct advantages and limitations. While the performance of single- or two-phase cooling systems are generally predictable, in extreme thermal environments, new cooling solutions are needed to improve overall system efficiency and reliability.

Supercritical fluids, particularly …

Experimental Study Of Gas-Dynamic Heating In Hartmann-Sprenger Tubes For Rocket Engine Ignition, Jacob T. Huff

Master's Theses

Ignition systems for chemical rocket engines typically rely on hypergolic propellants or auxiliary electrical hardware to supply the energy required to initiate combustion. The resonance igniter is a simple and robust alternative to these conventional methods, capable of inducing autoignition of non-hypergolic propellants without an external ignition source. At the core of this concept is the Hartmann-Sprenger Tube (HST), a device in which a high-velocity jet of gas impinges on a resonance cavity. This interaction establishes self-sustaining gas oscillations within the cavity that heat the propellants to their autoignition temperature. To facilitate the development of a functional resonance igniter at …

Design Of A 10-Ton Capacity Solar-Powered Cold Storage At The Cituis Fish Auction Site, Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia, Wardi Wardi, Muhammad Arif Budiyanto

Journal of Materials Exploration and Findings

This study presents the design of a 10-ton capacity solar-powered cold storage system for the Cituis Fish Auction Site (TPI) in Tangerang, Indonesia, as a sustainable solution to support the coastal fisheries sector. The system comprises two temperature zones: an anteroom at 5°C and a freezer room at -30°C, both integrated with a hybrid system utilizing solar panels and batteries. The total power consumption of the cooling system reaches 27.51 kW. The simulation results, obtained using HOMER Pro software, indicate that the hybrid PV system can reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 16,754 kg per year. From an economic …

Advancing Multi-Physics Modeling For Microwave Heating: Application In Micro-Reactor Design And Optimization, Raghav Adhikari

All Theses

Microreactors are a type of small-scale chemical reactors for achieving reduced volume, improved product selectivity and higher reaction rate. It allows precise temperature control, which is crucial for sensitive chemical processes. Microreactors can be employed as key components of conducting small-scale reactions with improved reactor configuration and process efficiency. It is important to identify a localized and precise heating mechanism to trigger and control the corresponding chemical reactions.

In fact, microwave heating has gathered significant attention in recent years due to its ability to deliver efficient, rapid, and localized heating, which can accelerate reaction rates and enhances the reaction selectivity. …

Cyclic Combustion Pressure Dynamics Of A Diesel Engine Operating On Waste Frying Oil Biodiesel Blends Using Wavelets, Shady Elmozy, Ahmed Khaira Dr., Elshenawy Elshenawy Prof. Dr., Ali Mohamed Dr., Medhat Elkelawy Prof. Dr,

Journal of Engineering Research

This paper investigates the cyclic combustion pressure dynamics of a single-cylinder diesel engine burning waste frying oil biodiesel blends, employing statistical analysis and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to evaluate combustion stability. Experiments were conducted at a constant engine load (90%) and speed (1500 rpm), with in-cylinder pressure data collected over 400 consecutive cycles for conventional diesel (RD) and biodiesel blends (UB10, UB30, UB50). Results demonstrate that biodiesel blends marginally reduce average peak cylinder pressure (PP) by 0.3–3.8% while lowering PP variability, evidenced by declining coefficients of variation (COV-PP: 1.27–1.48%), attributed to biodiesel’s elevated viscosity promoting consistent fuel-air mixing. Conversely, mean …

Combustion Characteristics And Cycle-To-Cycle Variations In A Diesel Generator Fueled With Used Frying Oil Biodiesel Blends, Shady Elmozy, Ahmad Khira Dr., E. A. El Shenawy Prof. Dr., Medhat Elkelawy Prof. Dr, Eng.

Journal of Engineering Research

This paper investigates the combustion characteristics and cycle-to-cycle variations in a stationary direct-injection diesel generator fueled with biodiesel derived from used frying oil (UFO) blended with conventional diesel. Used frying oil methyl ester (UFOME), referred to as UB100, was produced through a single-step alkali transesterification process and blended with diesel fuel in varying proportions (UB10, UB20, UB30, UB40, and UB50). Experiments were conducted on a single-cylinder, naturally aspirated diesel engine operating at a constant speed of 1500 rpm under five different load conditions: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 90%. In-cylinder pressure data from 400 consecutive cycles were analyzed to determine …

How’S It Growing? Tools For Observing Snow And Sea Ice In A Changing Arctic Ocean, Ian Alexander Raphael

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

September Arctic sea ice extent has diminished by roughly 50% in the 45 years since satellite observations began. The Arctic Ocean may experience ice-free summers within the next decade, with implications for habitat, resource extraction, geopolitics, and local and global climate change. To predict how Arctic sea ice will change in the future, we need to understand its behavior in the present. In situ sea ice mass balance measurements (snow accumulation, ice growth, snow and ice surface melt, and bottom melt) are essential for studying the processes driving rapid changes in the ice pack, and for validating remote sensing measurements …

Cryogenic Fuel Delivery System, Carter Josef, Reilly Humphreys, Joseph O'Connor, Nick Spreen

Mechanical Engineering

This project presents the design and validation of a cryogenic fuel delivery system aimed at enabling sustainable aviation through hydrogen fuel vaporization. Developed by a team of senior mechanical engineering students at Cal Poly and sponsored by Boeing, the system utilizes atmospheric air to vaporize liquid nitrogen, used as a stand-in for hydrogen, via forced convection heat exchangers, eliminating the need for engine-supplied heat and reducing parasitic loads. A feedback loop and turbine component are integrated to regulate pressure and recover energy, respectively. A benchtop prototype was built and tested to evaluate system performance, with results closely aligning with analytical …

Combustion Liner Optimization, William Weeks, Daniel Reed, Isaac Trull

Mechanical Engineering

Solar Turbines provides gas power generation solutions, focusing on gas turbine engines and compressors. The Gas Turbine Products Engineering (GTPE) team at Solar Turbines needs a way to efficiently and cost-effectively maintain the combustion liner of the Taurus model gas turbine at or below the cold-side temperature target. The current system involves a manufacturing process with ergonomic concerns and uncertain cooling effectiveness.

To address this, our team proposed a new combustion liner system featuring impingement cooling. We provided Solar Turbines with heat transfer models of both the existing and proposed designs, demonstrating improved cooling performance. Additionally, a prototype of the …

Brush Seal Cycling Test Rig, Angelo J. Reis, Neil M. Bedagkar, Max A. Soury, Eoin K. Lenham

Mechanical Engineering

To prevent backflow from the high pressure compressor stages of their gas turbines to lower pressure regions, Solar Turbines utilizes brush seals along their driveshafts. Due to manufacturing limitations, no shaft is perfectly symmetric about its rotating axis, leading to orbiting that creates asymmetric friction on the shaft through rubbing. With this biased application of friction comes a hotspot on one side of the shaft, causing bowing of the shaft and cascading into an amplified vibrational response. Our goal is to gather data on this phenomenon and offer a potential solution.

Air To Water Capture In Support Of Un Sustainable Development Goals, Jordan Macconnell, Michael Tiscareño, Ari Dennis, Baxter Mercy

Mechanical Engineering

This senior project explored the use of thermoelectric cooling for atmospheric water capture. The system was designed to cool aluminum condensing surfaces below the dew point using Peltier modules, with forced convection heat sinks on the hot side. The purpose of this system was to gather reliable amounts of water for various water-scarce areas around the world to help meet the UN's sixth Sustainable Development Goal.

The final design of this project consisted of a 1.5 x 1.5 x 2 foot frame made of acrylic panels and insulation. Within the frame, the thermoelectric system was constructed using Peltier modules with …

Multimodal Self-Folding Of Shape Memory Polymer Using Laser Induced Graphene, Liam Harrison Drew

Master's Theses

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) can undergo programmed shape transformations when heated above their glass transition temperature (T_g), enabling actuation through stimuli such as infrared (IR) radiation and Joule heating. These materials are promising for deployable systems and soft robotics due to their lightweight structure and elimination of traditional mechanical components. While IR-based actuation is simple and low-cost, it lacks precision in uncontrolled environments. Joule heating offers improved control but is often limited by conductive ink properties such as thickness, stiffness, or poor adhesion. This work introduces a novel method for multimodal SMP actuation using laser-induced graphene (LIG) transferred …

Fire Fossils: Biomineral Infrastructures In Untangling Climates, Tanmayee More

Masters Theses

Diatoms drift, sediments sink, wildfires generate their own weather. Lightning strikes can blast sand into glass, and microscopic organisms do the same in the cold recesses of the ocean. What alchemies and metabolisms catalyze space, time, and energy? What are the thermodynamics of infrastructure in Climate Change?

Places, materials, and beings are afterimages. Through alchemical experiments, and multi-scalar imaging, I develop simulations of wildfires, and their profound, reverberating effects. In this thesis, a glass-meets-landscape experimental process enters these obscured conditions and renders new material relations for the built environment.

Validating An Electronics Cooler Experiment And Optimizing Its Performance Using Ansys Icepak, Daniel V. Curl

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Researchers at the University of Arkansas' Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Research Departments have designed and built a cold plate and substrate design for a 10 kV SiC MOSFET power module. Many variables define the design of the cold plate and substrate system and have quantifiable effects on the device’s performance. These variables include but are not limited to geometry and material selection of the fins and substrate. Manufacturing many test designs, running experiments, and comparing their performance is a time-consuming and expensive design optimization method that may be effective for some low-cost applications. Still, simulation is often a more cost-effective …

Introduction To Building Energy Modeling And Analysis Using Energyplus, Jackson C. Burnett

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Retail stores are dynamic environments where human activities significantly influence energy consumption patterns, particularly affecting heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) demands. Existing energy models, such as those developed using EnergyPlus, often rely on generalized assumptions about human occupancy and behavior, leading to discrepancies between predicted and actual energy usage. This research aimed to enhance the accuracy of energy modeling for retail stores by conducting a sensitivity analysis of occupancy using EnergyPlus simulations. The study investigated how variations in occupancy levels impact HVAC loads, cooling and heating demands, and overall energy use. Results showed that increasing occupancy leads to higher …

Effects Of Thermal Interface Materials On Thermal Conductivity Measurement Using A Modified Astm D5470 Thermal Resistance Tester, Chinmaya Joshi

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this paper, we have investigated the effect of thermal interface materials (TIMs) on the accuracy and uncertainty of thermal conductivity measurements. A modified ASTM D5470 thermal resistance tester (TRT) is developed to measure the out-of-plane thermal conductivity of pyrolytic graphite (PG) and grade 2 titanium (TiG2) with and without TIMs. Compared to the ASTM D5470 standard, this modified design uses three thermocouples per side to support regressive analysis and explores the use of TIMs.s Nine PG samples and four TiG2 samples of varying thickness have been tested to obtain thermal resistance as a function of sample thickness. The steady-state …

Experimental And Computational Investigation Of Using Passive Sweeping Mist Jet Film Cooling Via Fluidic Oscillators In The Gas Turbine Application, Mohammad Javad Mohaghegh Kojidi

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

As the energy industry transitions to cleaner fuels like hydrogen, the resulting higher flame temperatures pose significant challenges for gas turbine cooling. Mist-enhanced film cooling using sweeping jets, generated by passive fluidic oscillators, offers a promising solution by providing wider and more uniform coolant coverage. This study combines computational and experimental (using Particle Droplet Phase Analyzer) approaches to evaluate sweeping mist jet performance.

Simulations were conducted under laboratory conditions to investigate the influence of droplet wall boundary conditions—reflect, trap, and wall-film—on cooling effectiveness and droplet dynamics. The wall-film model, motivated by observed liquid streaks, demonstrated the best agreement with experiments. …

Uncertainty Quantification Of Turbulent Premixed Flames, David L. Brown

Honors Theses

This thesis presents an uncertainty quantification (UQ) study of turbulent premixed flames, focusing on the impact of uncertainties in operating conditions on the normalized consumption speed. Namely, temperature, pressure, and equivalence ratio are the operating conditions that are under study. Due to significant computational demands associated with direct MC methods for UQ, surrogate modeling techniques including Polynomial Chaos Expansion (PCE), Stochastic Collocation (SC), and Gaussian Process (GP) are evaluated based on efficiency and accuracy. Through this study, PCE is identified as the optimal surrogate model due to its accuracy and significantly reduced computational costs. PCE is subsequently applied to investigate …

The Effects Of Geometric Shape And Power-Law Index On The Thermal Activity And Dynamic Behavior Of A Complex Fluid, Houssem Laidoudi

Emirates Journal for Engineering Research

The paper presents numerical results for non-Newtonian fluid confined horizontally between two rings. The outer ring has a circular shape, low temperature and rotates at a constant and uniform speed, while the inner ring has different shapes (circular, square and triangular), is constant and has a high temperature. This study aims to determine the method and the amount of heat transfer between the rings and under the influence of these factors: the rheological coefficient of the fluid, known as the power-law index, thermal buoyancy intensity, the rotation speed of the outer ring and the geometric shape of the inner ring. …

Experimental Investigation Of Heat Transfer To Tightly Packed Cylinder Arrays, Cameron M. Sexsmith

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

With the increased emphasis on the development of hybrid electric aircraft and other electric driven vehicles, the thermal demand on batteries is increasing. Unique to the aviation sector is the combined need of high battery thermal loads and a light-weight thermal management system. A proposed configuration is an array of batteries directly cooled with a dielectric coolant. The knowledge of heat transfer characteristics of battery cooling is becoming an ever pressing issue due to the need to optimize volume and mass in a safe manner. Tighter spacings between batteries provide higher pack densities, however, at the cost of increased cooling …

Numerical Investigation Of Heat Transfer And Pressure Drop In A Circular Microchannel Using Sio₂ Nanofluids, Mahmoud G. Abdelfatah, Osama E. Abd-Ellatif, Ahmed A. A. Attia, Abdelrady O. Elnady

Journal of Engineering Research

A numerical investigation was conducted to analyze the flow characteristics and heat transfer performance of a circular microchannel. using water and SiO₂+pure water nanofluids with volume fractions of 0.3%, 0.7%, and 1%. The microchannel was subjected to a constant heat flux of 100W, and the pressure drop, friction factor, and thermal resistance were evaluated for different Reynolds numbers ranging from 250 to 850. The results show that the addition of SiO₂ nanoparticles enhances the thermal performance of the microchannel by reducing the thermal resistance by up to 1.9% compared to pure water. However, the pressure drop increases with higher Np …

The Spice (Sustainable, Physics-Inspired Culinary Education) Lab – A Digestible Few-Nexus Educational Platform, Carla Ramsdell

National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW)

The SPICE (Sustainable, Physics-Inspired Culinary Education) Lab is a unique educational platform that enables participants from a wide disciplinary background to engage and become literate in the unique connections between food, energy and water. This small but mighty space allows for outreach education in many formats, including formal college courses, university-centered hands-on activities and public outreach.

The work performed in this space fills a unique need in the FEW-Nexus education opportunities because it is adaptable to many learners and learning opportunities and its focus on kitchen science makes these concepts approachable which can later be expanded to understand other critical …

Design, Test, And Comparison Of A Photovoltaic Thermal Hybrid Solar Collector Utilizing A Thermosiphon, And Theory And Analysis Of Related Predictive Computer Model, Lance Brown

Master's Theses

Design, construction and testing of a photovoltaic thermal collector, or PVT, was completed to determine efficiency improvements of this system compared to a conventional solar panel and to find the thermal energy gained through hot water storage. Flow, driven by density changes from solar radiation, creates a thermosiphon, moving water without the use of a pump and ultimately drawing heat away from the solar panel. This is done to create a more efficient solar panel as well as decreasing potential damage due to high temperatures. Evaluation of electrical efficiency, thermal efficiency and flowrate allow for comparison between other PVT systems. …