Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Electrodeposition Of Metallic Gas Diffusion Layers For Use In Pem Fuel Cells, Gargi Tandra

Masters Theses

"This work developed a novel method of using Electrodeposition techniques to fabricate metallic gas diffusion layers (GDLs) for application in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. These GDLs improve the electrical and thermal conductivity of the fuel cells, and their straight, noncircular pores remove water efficiently. The Electrodeposition technique used here relies on a sacrificial copper anode and an aluminum sheet 50 µm thick acts as a cathode. Unlike the other laboratory based methods available for the fabrication of metallic GDLs, this method is simple and cost effective. With controlled deposition parameters and a chemical lift-off process that corrodes the aluminum …

Development Of Virtual Engineering Simulation For Lean Education, Akalpit Kiran Gadre

Masters Theses

"Global competition and customer demands are pressing modern industry operations to become leaner. The race among the global corporations to "go lean" demands engineers with an in-depth understanding of lean philosophies. An overview of current methods for teaching lean shows that they include small scale hands-on projects, presentations, and guest lectures. There is a need to incorporate a more immersive virtual simulation to further inspire students. Many lean simulation games are available in the market; however, they lack simplicity, ability to store the results, and modeling power.

The goal of this research is to develop a virtual simulation platform, enabling …

Risk Assessment For Conceptual Design Of Hydrokinetic Turbines, Praveen Kailkere Srinivas

Masters Theses

"Hydrokinetic energy is a relatively new concept in the field of renewable energy. The rotor of the turbine, immersed in water, uses the velocity from the flowing water to generate power. Thus the hydrokinetic turbines are also known as zero head turbines. These turbines can be installed in rivers, oceans and sea beds. The design of these systems depends on the site conditions, installation and maintenance costs. Since this technology has not been assessed for its potential power producing capabilities, not much research has been done in order to harness this form of renewable energy and to study the impact …

Development Of Virtual Cnc Machine Tools And Web-Based Machining Process Simulation: Mechanistic Cutting Force Models And Determination Of Specific Force Coefficients In Helical End Milling, Vinay Rao Talekar

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents the results of the investigations of mechanistic modeling and simulation of cutting forces in high speed end milling of titanium alloy, Ti-6Al-4V, and the determination of specific cutting and edge force coefficients for carbide bull-nose helical end-mill. A generalized mathematical model representing the outer geometry of an end-mill and the cutter edge geometry is presented. Mechanistic cutting force models have been developed for a general helical end-mill and modeled specifically for a bullnose helical end-mill. A MATLAB code for the mechanistic cutting force models have been developed for the simulation of cutting force components in end milling …

A Comparison Of Bootstrap, Binomial Inference, And Monte Carlo Methods For Demand Distribution Modeling, Swithin Samuel Razu

Masters Theses

"Analysis of customer preferences is one of the most important tasks in new product development. How customers come to appreciate and decide to purchase a new product impacts market share and, therefore, the success of the new product. Unfortunately, when designers select a product concept early in the product development process, the "true" customer preferences and therefore, market share of the new product is unknown. Conjoint analysis is a statistical methodology that has been used to forecast the market share of a product concept from customer preference survey data. Although conjoint analysis has been increasingly incorporated in design research as …

Evaluation Of Skin-Core Adhesion Bond And Low-Velocity Impact Behavior Of Honeycomb Sandwich Structures, Ramanjaneya R. Butukuri

Masters Theses

"Composite sandwich structures offer several advantages over conventional structural materials such as lightweight, high bending and torsional stiffness, superior thermal insulation and excellent acoustic damping. Some of the failure mechanisms in a composite sandwich structure are de-bonding of the composite facesheets from the core structure and damage due to low-velocity impact. In the first part of this work, adhesive fillet formation and adhesive mechanical strength are evaluated as a function of several different sandwich construction design variables. The effect of film adhesive thickness is studied. A process for reticulation of the adhesive is applied and studied. Optimized combinations of core …

Development Of Lower Cost Imaging Systems For Laser Metal Deposition Process, Shyam Barua

Masters Theses

"Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) has been used as an additive manufacturing process in industries such as aerospace and die castings. LMD is especially useful in repair applications involving die repair. However, it is still not used widely in industry due to variations in the quality of parts. There are multiple interactions between various factors which influence the quality of deposit.

There exists a need for defect detection systems to detect any changes in the deposition quality during deposition. On demand detection enables adjustment in process parameters and minimization of rework cost.

Vision systems have been used extensively in the industry …

A Neural Network Based Approach For Path Planning On Costmap, Songjie Chen

Masters Theses

"In this thesis, a path planning method using a three-level hierarchical system model is proposed. In the top level of the hierarchy, the given location points to visit are taken as waypoints. The waypoint navigation process is formulated as a traveling salesman problem (TSP). The Lin-Kernighan algorithm is used to solve the TSP and transfer the solution to the lower level of the hierarchy. In the middle level, the path is represented by a grid-based costmap. A novel modified Grossberg neural network is designed to solve the point-to-point path planning. The bottom level of the hierarchy smoothens the path with …

Innovative Air Breathing Design And Output Control For Portable Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell, Amar Bala Sridhar

Masters Theses

"Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell Technology is an energy source that can provide several times more energy per unit volume than current lithium ion batteries that are available in the market today. The barriers that exist that prevent the fuel cell from entering the world of portable applications are mainly system architecture integration. The idea is to have a fully functioning fuel cell with optimum power output using an innovative chimney design. Tests were conducted to quantify the advantage of using a chimney with the fuel cell. Further research was done to shed light on how different chimney designs …

Study Of Turbulence-Radiation Interaction In Hypersonic Turbulent Boundary Layers, L. (Lian) Duan, A. M. Feldick, M. P. Martín, M. F. Modest, D. A. Levin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the paper, we conduct direct numerical simulations (DNS) to investigate the effect of turbulence-radiation interaction (TRI) in hypersonic turbulent boundary layers, representative of the Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV) at peak heating condition during reentry. The radiative transfer equation (RTE) is solved using the tangent slab approximation. 1 The RTE solver is line-by-line (LBL) accurate, making use of a developed efficient spectral database 2 for spectral modeling. A multi-group full-spectrum correlated-k-distribution (FSCK) method 3 is used to reduce the number of RTE evaluations while preserving LBL accuracy. A nondimensional governing parameter to measure the significance of TRI is proposed, …

Assessment Of Turbulence-Chemistry Interaction In Hypersonic Turbulent Boundary Layers, L. (Lian) Duan, M. P. Martín

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Studies of the turbulence-chemistry interaction are performed in hypersonic turbulent boundary layers using direct numerical simulation flow fields under typical hypersonic conditions representative of blunt-body and slender body hypersonic vehicles, with super catalytic and noncatalytic wall conditions in pure air. Nondimensional governing parameters, the interaction Damköhler number and the interaction relative heat release, are proposed to measure the influence of turbulence-chemistry interaction on flow composition and temperature. Both a priori and posteriori studies are performed to assess the effect of turbulence-chemistry interaction on chemical production rates and mean and turbulent flow characteristics. It is found that the governing parameters provide …

Nonlinear Modeling And Simulation Of Radial Forging Process, Jian Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

"Radial forging is an important manufacturing process to produce large cannon barrels. It is used to improve the material properties and reduce the porosity of the billet. The objective of this study is to develop finite element models to investigate the behavior of the workpiece and predict the elimination of void defects in the radial forging process. A nonlinear coupled finite element model has been developed to study the behavior of a large-diameter tube subjected to mechanical and thermal loadings in hot radial forging. The model is formulated in a three-dimensional frame, accounting for both axial and circumferential effects. A …

Advanced Composites Using Non-Autoclave Processes: Manufacturing And Characterization, V. G. K. Menta

Doctoral Dissertations

"The objective of the present study is to develop non-autoclave processes to manufacture high performance composites for aerospace applications. In Paper 1, vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process was developed for elevated temperature composites. Use of VARTM process for fabricating high temperature resins presents unique challenges such as high porosity and low fiber volume contents. Two different vacuum bagging methods: Seeman Composite Resin Infusion Molding Process (SCRIMP) and Double Vacuum Bagging Infusion (DVBI) process were evaluated. Flow simulation tool was used to predict key flow parameters needed for the successful infusion. In Paper 2, honeycomb sandwich panels were manufactured …

Femtosecond Laser Micromachining Of Microstructures For Sensing And Detection, Yukun Han

Doctoral Dissertations

"This thesis focuses on the fabrication and analysis of miniature functional devices that can be used for different sensing and detection applications. As the first step, the surface characteristics and morphology of the micro/nano structures on substrates (fused silica and silicon) fabricated in water and in air by femtosecond laser were investigated. Based on this study, three micro devices have been designed and fabricated by femtosecond laser, and they were analyzed for optical and chemical sensing and detections. The three micro devices are: 1) an optical Fabry-Perot interferometer in optical fiber (made from fused silica) with smooth cavity surfaces. The …

Approximate Dynamic Programming Solutions With A Single Network Adaptive Critic For A Class Of Nonlinear Systems, Jie Ding

Doctoral Dissertations

"Approximate dynamic programming formulation implemented with an Adaptive Critic (AC) based neural network (NN) structure has evolved as a powerful technique for solving the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations. As interest in ADP and the AC solutions are escalating with time, there is a dire need to consider possible enabling factors for their implementations. A typical AC structure consists of two interacting NNs which is computationally expensive. In this work, a new architecture, called the "Cost Function Based Single Network Adaptive Critic (J-SNAC)" is presented that eliminates one of the networks in a typical AC structure. This approach is applicable to a …

Dynamic Ergonomic Analysis And Simulation Of Fastening Operation, Akul Joshi

Doctoral Dissertations

"Operator performing fastening operation with powered hand-tools at awkward postures is subjected to external forces that may pose a risk of developing ergonomic injuries. For design of safe workplaces and selection of tools it is necessary to identify the probable causes of discomfort by simulating the work conditions and quantifying the risk factors. An ergonomic simulator is developed to simulate the fastening operation and quantify the effects of posture and force in fastening operation. The effect of dynamic forces is analyzed using two approaches. The first approach analyzes the effect of tool vibration while the second analyzes the hand-arm system …

Sandwich Structures With Advanced Facings, Cody H. Nguyen

Doctoral Dissertations

"The purpose of this research is to investigate potential advantages of two innovative designs of sandwich panels. The first design involves sandwich panels with a piece-wise thickness of the facings aiming at two possible outcomes: (I) improved the structural response, i.e. strength and stiffness, without increasing the weight of the structure or (2) reduction in the weight of the structure without a detriment to its structural response. The analysis is conducted analytically using the first-order shear deformation theory and numerically by the finite element analysis of conventional and stepped-wise sandwich panels. The applicability of the first-order shear deformation theory to …

A Comparative Verification Of Forecasts From Two Operational Solar Wind Models, Donald C. Norquist, Warner C. Meeks

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The solar wind (SW) and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) have a significant influence on the near‐Earth space environment. In this study we evaluate and compare forecasts from two models that predict SW and IMF conditions: the Hakamada‐Akasofu‐Fry (HAF) version 2, operational at the Air Force Weather Agency, and Wang‐Sheeley‐Arge (WSA) version 1.6, executed routinely at the Space Weather Prediction Center. SW speed (V_sw) and IMF polarity (Bpol) forecasts at L1 were compared with Wind and Advanced Composition Explorer satellite observations. Verification statistics were computed by study year and forecast day. Results revealed that both models’ mean Vsw are …

Bi-Material Attachment Through A Soft Tissue Interfacial System, Y. X. Liu, S. Thomopoulos, Victor Birman, J. S. Li, G. M. Genin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

2-D Path Planning For Direct Laser Deposition Process, Swathi Routhu, Divya Kanakanala, Jianzhong Ruan, Xiaoqing Frank Liu, Frank Liou

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The zigzag and offset path have been the two most popular path patterns for tool movement in machining process. Different from the traditional machining processes, the quality of parts produced by the metal deposition process is much more dependent upon the choice of deposition paths. Due to the nature of the metal deposition processes, various tool path patterns not only change the efficiency but also affect the deposition height, a critical quality for metal deposition process. This paper presents the research conducted on calculating zigzag pattern to improve efficiency by minimizing the idle path. the deposition height is highly dependent …

Uncertainty Quantification Integrated To Cfd Modeling Of Synthetic Jet Actuators, Srikanth Adya, Daoru Frank Han, Serhat Hosder

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Point-Collocation Non-intrusive Polynomial Chaos (NIPC) method has been applied to a stochastic synthetic jet actuator problem used as one of the test cases in the CFDVAL2004 workshop to demonstrate the integration of computationally efficient uncertainty quantification to the high-fidelity CFD modeling of synthetic jet actuators. The test case included the simulation of an actuator generating a synthetic jet issued into quiescent air. The Point-Collocation NIPC method is used to quantify the uncertainty in the long-time averaged u and v-velocities at several locations in the flow field due to the uniformly distributed uncertainty introduced in the amplitude and frequency of …

"Pull-In" Of A Pre-Stressed Thin Film By An Electrostatic Potential: A 1-D Rectangular Bridge And A 2-D Circular Diaphragm, Gang Duan, Kai Tak Wan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A one-dimensional (1-D) rectangular pre-stressed thin film clamped at two opposite ends is actuated by an electrostatic voltage applied to a pad directly underneath. the pre-stress is allowed to be either tensile or compressive in nature. at a critical applied voltage, the film becomes unstable and makes direct contact with the pad, leading to "pull-in". an elastic model is constructed to account for the phenomenon over ranges of film pad gap and residual stress. the results compare favorably with finite element analysis (FEA) in literature and experimental data and possess distinct advantages over other available closed-form solutions. the model is …

Computer Aided Contour Profiling Of High Strength Deposits, Sriram Praneeth Isanaka, Amar Bala Sridhar, Frank W. Liou, Joseph William Newkirk

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Additive manufacturing processes suffer from the effect of ripples, edge rounding and surface variations. To reduce their effect, ideal process parameters for the laser deposition process were investigated. Also, a new method was identified to analyze deposits by accurately plotting their contours. This was achieved through point cloud data of the deposits generated using coordinate measurement and 3D scanning. Curve fitting was performed on the data in Matlab to generate the contours of the deposit. The intercept values, heights, and contact angle of the curves give an indication of the uniformity of deposits and aid in reducing defects.

Freeze Extrusion Fabrication Of 13-93 Bioactive Glass Scaffolds For Bone Repair, Tieshu Huang, Nikhil D. Doiphode, M. N. Rahaman, Ming-Chuan Leu, B. Sonny Bal, D. E. Day

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

There is an increasing demand for synthetic scaffolds with the requisite biocompatibility, internal architecture, and mechanical properties for the bone repair and regeneration. In this work, scaffolds of a silicate bioactive glass (13-93) were prepared by a freeze extrusion fabrication (FEF) method and evaluated in vitro for potential applications in bone repair and regeneration. The process parameters for FEF production of scaffolds with the requisite microstructural characteristics, as well as the mechanical and cell culture response of the scaffolds were evaluated. After binder burnout and sintering (60 min at 700°C), the scaffolds consisted of a dense glass network with interpenetrating …

Selective Laser Sintering Of 13-93 Bioactive Glass, Krishna C. R. Kolan, Ming-Chuan Leu, Greg Hilmas, Mariano Garcia Velez

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Bioactive glasses are more promising than biopolymers in fabricating scaffolds for bone tissue repair because they convert to hydroxyapatite, when implanted in vivo. Both direct and indirect selective laser sintering (SLS) methods of 13-93 bioactive glass were considered in this research to study the feasibility of fabricating scaffolds for bone repair applications. Stearic acid was used as the binder in the indirect method to fabricate the scaffolds. The green scaffolds underwent binder burnout and sintering at various soaking conditions between 675⁰C and 700⁰C, achieving a maximum compressive strength of 23.6 MPa, which is higher than that of the human cancellous …

Laser Based Rapid Manufacturing Of Metallic Gas Diffusion Layers For Pem Fuel Cells, Gargi Tandra, Todd E. Sparks, Shyam Barua, Nikhil P. Kulkarni, Frank W. Liou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Gas Diffusion layers (GDL’s) are an essential component of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel cells (PEMFC’s) which aid in thermal & electrical conductivities, water management and act as backup layers for the membrane electrode assemblies. This paper summarizes the effort to prototype metallic GDL designs using a miniature laser deposition system developed at Missouri University of Science & Technology. The pore sizes are controlled by masking the diverging laser beam using stainless steel masks of varying sizes and shapes. The through pore feature and further treatment of the GDL’s for hydrophobicity reduces the water management issue and thereby increases the performance …

Mea Manufacturing Using An Additive Manufacturing Process To Deposit A Catalyst Pattern In An Mea And Its Impact On Cost Reduction, Nikhil P. Kulkarni, Todd E. Sparks, Gargi Tandra, Frank W. Liou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The manufacturing of a fuel cell Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) is a significant cost driver in polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell technologies, primarily due to the inclusion of expensive materials in the catalyst layer. The selective deposition of a catalyst on the MEA of a fuel cell can drastically reduce the costs depending upon the catalyst, method used for deposition, and production volume. In this paper, testing and analysis of a novel catalyst iridium oxide is discussed. The performance of the catalyst will be compared with the conventional catalysts which will give us an estimate of its effectiveness however, in …

Multi-Axis Planning System (Maps) For Hybrid Laser Metal Deposition Processes, Frank W. Liou, Jianzhong Ruan, Todd E. Sparks

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper summarizes the research and development of a Multi-Axis Planning System (MAPS) for hybrid laser metal deposition processes. The project goal is to enable the current direct metal deposition systems to fully control and utilize multi-axis capability to make complex parts. MAPS allows fully automated process planning for multi-axis layered manufacturing to control direct metal deposition machines for automated fabrication. Such a capability will lead to dramatic reductions in lead time and manufacturing costs for high-value, low-volume components with high performance material. The overall approach, slicing algorithm, machine simulation for planning validation, and the planning results will be presented.

Optimization Of Selective Laser Sintering Process For Fabrication Of Zirconium Diboride Parts, Ming-Chuan Leu, Shashwatashish Pattnaik, Greg Hilmas

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) was investigated to fabricate Zirconium Diboride (ZrB₂) parts for ultra-high temperature applications. Experiments were conducted to determine values of SLS process parameters (laser power, scan speed, line spacing, and layer thickness) that can be used to build ZrB₂ parts with high integrity and sharp geometrical features. A sacrificial plate with a proper number of layers (determined from experimentation) separated from the main part was built in order to reduce thermal gradients when building the main part. The sacrificial plate was found to assist in eliminating cracks in the bottom of the main part. …

Development Of A Low Cost Imaging System For A Laser Metal Deposition Process, Shyam Barua, Todd E. Sparks, Frank W. Liou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The size of the melt pool created by the laser is one of the most important quality characteristic in a laser metal deposition process. This paper discusses the development of a low-cost vision system to automatically determine the size of the melt pool for in-process control. To cope with the intense infrared signal from the laser and melt pool, external ultraviolet illumination is paired with narrow bandpass filters on a usb microscope to achieve a clear image of the melt pool. The sensitivity of the melt pool to changes in system parameters and various substrate materials are also evaluated.