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Articles 61 - 90 of 331

Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Enhancing Miter Saw Safety: Challenges And Prospects Of Brake Incorporation With An Automatic Blade Retraction System, Derek Cole Jun 2024

Enhancing Miter Saw Safety: Challenges And Prospects Of Brake Incorporation With An Automatic Blade Retraction System, Derek Cole

University Honors Theses

Miter saws pose significant safety risks with thousands of injuries reported annually. Despite this risk, they are still used every day as they are a necessity for thousands of workers in the United States and globally. This leaves a demand to make these machines safer to mitigate any potential harm. This research addresses the critical need for an automatic safety system for miter saws, aiming to enhance user safety by retracting and stopping the blade upon skin contact. This analysis identified the primary challenge: The large force generated when braking at high speed on a miter saw blade, translates the …


Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Of Recycling Processes For Perovskite Solar Cells, Juan P. Herrera, Jules Freeman, Achyuth Ravilla, Ilke Celik May 2024

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Of Recycling Processes For Perovskite Solar Cells, Juan P. Herrera, Jules Freeman, Achyuth Ravilla, Ilke Celik

Student Research Symposium

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as a promising option for solar energy generation. However, it is essential to consider the environmental impact of these innovative photovoltaic (PV) technologies as the industry moves towards commercialization. Researchers are currently exploring ways to recycle PSCs to recover valuable materials and reduce their environmental impact at the end of their life. To ensure the sustainability of PSCs, this study evaluates and compares the environmental impacts of five recently developed recycling approaches. The Tool for Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals (TRACI) method was utilized to measure environmental impacts in categories such as acidification (kg …


Pulse Modulation In Braided Pneumatic Actuators Mimics Contractile Behavior Of Biological Muscles, Mohamad Elzein May 2024

Pulse Modulation In Braided Pneumatic Actuators Mimics Contractile Behavior Of Biological Muscles, Mohamad Elzein

Student Research Symposium

Advancements in robotics and bioengineering aim to emulate biological muscle systems through robotic actuators, blending mechanical strength with biological adaptability. A lesser-explored aspect is mimicking the pulse-like control characteristic of biological muscles, which contract in response to action potentials from motoneurons, with muscle contractile force relying heavily on the timing between these potentials. This study explores the effect of pulse lengths and the gaps between pulses on braided pneumatic actuators (BPAs), which mimic the nonlinearity and dynamic response of biological muscles. It hypothesizes that artificial muscles utilizing pulse-based control will exhibit a similar force dependency on the intervals between pulses …


Deriving Analytical Design Constraints For Absolute & Relative Encoding Schemes In Functional Subnetworks, Cody W. Scharzenberger-Braet, Alexander Hunt May 2024

Deriving Analytical Design Constraints For Absolute & Relative Encoding Schemes In Functional Subnetworks, Cody W. Scharzenberger-Braet, Alexander Hunt

Student Research Symposium

As neural networks have become prolific solutions to modern problems, there has been a congruent rise in the popularity of the numerical machine learning techniques used to design them. While they are highly generalizable, numerical methods tend to produce networks that act as inscrutable “black boxes,” making it difficult to interpret their behavior. One solution to the problem of network transparency is to use analytical techniques, but these methods are underdeveloped compared to their numerical alternatives. In order to enhance the viability of analytical techniques, this work extends previous efforts to quantify the impact that non-spiking neural encoding schemes have …


Electron-Phonon Interaction Mediated Gigantic Enhancement Of Thermoelectric Power Factor Induced By Topological Phase Transition., Zhi Li, Koushik Pal, Huiju Lee, Chris Wolverton, Yi Xia Apr 2024

Electron-Phonon Interaction Mediated Gigantic Enhancement Of Thermoelectric Power Factor Induced By Topological Phase Transition., Zhi Li, Koushik Pal, Huiju Lee, Chris Wolverton, Yi Xia

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We propose an effective strategy to significantly enhance the thermoelectric power factor (PF) of a series of 2D semimetals and semiconductors by driving them toward a topological phase transition (TPT). Employing first-principles calculations with an explicit consideration of electron-phonon interactions, we analyze the electronic transport properties of germanene across the TPT by applying hydrogenation and biaxial strain. We reveal that the nontrivial semimetal phase, hydrogenated germanene with 8% biaxial strain, achieves a considerable 4-fold PF enhancement, attributed to the highly asymmetric electronic structure and semimetallic nature of the nontrivial phase. We extend the strategy to another two representative 2D materials …


Eco-Efficient Coatings For Healthy Indoors: Ozone Deposition Velocities, Primary And Secondary Emissions, Alessandra Ranesi, Paulina Faria, M. Rosario Veiga, Elliott T. Gall Apr 2024

Eco-Efficient Coatings For Healthy Indoors: Ozone Deposition Velocities, Primary And Secondary Emissions, Alessandra Ranesi, Paulina Faria, M. Rosario Veiga, Elliott T. Gall

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ozone (O3) are harmful pollutants present in indoor air. Indoor concentrations of VOCs are typically higher than outdoors, due to the presence of indoor sources like building materials and ozone-surface reactions. The study aims to identify and quantify the ozone reactivity and primary and secondary emissions of different indoor coatings. The coatings selected for the study were three gypsum-based plastering mortar, with and without the addition of a bio-waste from Acacia dealbata (raw bark, BA, and bark heated at 250°C, BA250), two clay plasters (one with sand and the other with seashells as additional aggregate), …


Inertial Particle Clustering Due To Turbulence In An Air Jet, Bianca Viggiano, Kris Gish, Stephen Solovitz, Raul Bayoan Cal Apr 2024

Inertial Particle Clustering Due To Turbulence In An Air Jet, Bianca Viggiano, Kris Gish, Stephen Solovitz, Raul Bayoan Cal

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Explosive volcanic eruptions create turbulent plumes of fine ash particles. When these particles collide in the presence of moisture and electrostatic fields they combine into larger aggregates, which can significantly change the atmospheric residence time of the airborne cloud. Previous studies have suggested that turbulence may lead to preferential concentration—also known as clustering—of particles within the flow, increasing the likelihood of collisions and aggregation. Few experimental studies have quantified these processes for volcanic plumes. This behavior was investigated using a particle-laden air jet. By systematically varying the exit speed and the size, density, and concentration of particles, flows were produced …


Comparison Of Conventional And Adaptive Acoustic Beamforming Algorithms Using A Tetrahedral Microphone Array In Noisy Environments, Megan Brittany Ewers Mar 2024

Comparison Of Conventional And Adaptive Acoustic Beamforming Algorithms Using A Tetrahedral Microphone Array In Noisy Environments, Megan Brittany Ewers

Dissertations and Theses

In situ acoustic measurements are often plagued by interfering sound sources that occur within the measurement environment. Both adaptive and conventional beamforming algorithms, when applied to the outputs of a microphone array arranged in a tetrahedral geometry, are able to capture sound sources in desired directions and reject sound from unwanted directions. Adaptive algorithms may be able to measure a desired sound source with greater spatial precision, but require more calculations and, therefore, computational power. A conventional frequency-domain phase-shift algorithm and a modified adaptive frequency-domain Minimum Variance Distortionless Response (MVDR) algorithm were applied to simulated and recorded signals from a …


Machine Learning A Universal Harmonic Interatomic Potential For Predicting Phonons In Crystalline Solids, Huiju Lee, Yi Xia Mar 2024

Machine Learning A Universal Harmonic Interatomic Potential For Predicting Phonons In Crystalline Solids, Huiju Lee, Yi Xia

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Phonons, as quantized vibrational modes in crystalline materials, play a crucial role in determining a wide range of physical properties, such as thermal and electrical conductivity, making their study a cornerstone in materials science. In this study, we present a simple yet effective strategy for deep learning harmonic phonons in crystalline solids by leveraging existing phonon databases and state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. The key of our method lies in transforming existing phonon datasets, primarily represented in interatomic force constants, into a force-displacement representation suitable for training machine learning universal interatomic potentials. By applying our approach to one of the largest …


Wavelength-Induced Shedding Frequency Modulation Of Seal Whisker Inspired Cylinders, Trevor Dunt, Kirby S. Heck, Kathleen Lyons, Christin Murphy, Raul Bayoan Cal, Jennifer A. Franck Mar 2024

Wavelength-Induced Shedding Frequency Modulation Of Seal Whisker Inspired Cylinders, Trevor Dunt, Kirby S. Heck, Kathleen Lyons, Christin Murphy, Raul Bayoan Cal, Jennifer A. Franck

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The spanwise undulated cylinder geometry inspired by seal whiskers has been shown to alter shedding frequency and reduce fluid forces significantly compared to smooth cylindrical geometry. Undulation wavelength is systematically investigated in order to explore its effect on unsteady lift force and shedding frequency. Prior research has parameterized the whisker-inspired geometry and demonstrated the relevance of geometric variations on force reduction properties. Among the geometric parameters, undulation wavelength was identified as a significant contributor to forcing changes. To analyze the effect of undulation wavelength, a thorough investigation isolating changes in wavelength is performed to expand upon previous research that parameterized …


Are Vehicle Tires Major Contributors To Microplastic Emissions Into The China Seas? A Simple Model Perspective., Shuolin Xiao, Yuran Liang, Xiaowei Zhu, Simone Q. Kyes, Xiaofeng Cai Feb 2024

Are Vehicle Tires Major Contributors To Microplastic Emissions Into The China Seas? A Simple Model Perspective., Shuolin Xiao, Yuran Liang, Xiaowei Zhu, Simone Q. Kyes, Xiaofeng Cai

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Microplastics pose a substantial threat to our environment. Given China's large population and rapid economic growth, it is urgent to estimate the annual emissions of microplastics into its marine environment. The microplastics show a significant variation in their source emissions as well as in their physical and chemical properties, leading to differences in their transport and fate in aquatic environments. To account for these variations, we developed a process-oriented model that considers microplastics from different sources and the inter-provincial variation in their retention rate to assess annual microplastic emissions into the China seas. On a national scale, of the microplastics …


Droplet Jump From A Particle Bed, Karl Cardin, Facundo Cabrera-Booman, Raúl Bayoán Cal Feb 2024

Droplet Jump From A Particle Bed, Karl Cardin, Facundo Cabrera-Booman, Raúl Bayoán Cal

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Drop tower experiments have been performed to study droplet jump from a particle bed across a wide range of fluid viscosities. Here the droplet jumps from the particle bed in response to the apparent step reduction from terrestrial gravity to microgravity when the experiment is dropped and enters free fall. The presence of a particle layer has been found to affect contact line dissipation and the overall jumping behavior of droplets. Additionally, the study has identified the impact of the Ohnesorge number (Oh) on droplet morphology. The investigation has yielded results that not only validate a modified version of the …


Experimental And Modeled Assessment Of Interventions To Reduce Pm2.5 In A Residence During Awildfire Event, Chrissi Argyro Antonopoulos, H. E. Dillon, Elliott T. Gall Jan 2024

Experimental And Modeled Assessment Of Interventions To Reduce Pm2.5 In A Residence During Awildfire Event, Chrissi Argyro Antonopoulos, H. E. Dillon, Elliott T. Gall

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasingly large and frequent wildfires affect air quality even indoors by emitting and dispersing fine/ultrafine particulate matter known to pose health risks to residents. With this health threat, we are working to help the building science community develop simplified tools that may be used to estimate impacts to large numbers of homes based on high-level housing characteristics. In addition to reviewing literature sources, we performed an experiment to evaluate interventions to mitigate degraded indoor air quality. We instrumented one residence for one week during an extreme wildfire event in the Pacific Northwest. Outdoor ambient concentrations of PM2.5 reached historic …


Path Instabilities And Drag In The Settling Of Single Spheres, Facundo Cabrera-Booman, Nicolas Plihon, Mickael Bourgoin Jan 2024

Path Instabilities And Drag In The Settling Of Single Spheres, Facundo Cabrera-Booman, Nicolas Plihon, Mickael Bourgoin

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The settling behavior of individual spheres in a quiescent fluid was studied experimentally. The dynamics of the spheres was analyzed in the parameter space of particle-to-fluid density ratio (Γ) and Galileo number (Ga), with Γ ∈ (1.1,7.9) and Ga ∈ (100,340). The experimental results showed for the first time that the mean trajectory angle with the vertical exhibits a complex behavior as Ga and Γ are varied. Numerically predicted regimes such as Vertical Periodic for low Γ values, and Planar Rotating for high Γ values were validated. In particular, for the denser spheres, a clear transition from planar to non-planar …


Barriers And Variable Spacing Enhance Convective Cooling And Increase Power Output In Solar Pv Plants, Brooke Stanislawski, Todd Harman, Raul Bayoan Cal, Marc Calaf Jan 2024

Barriers And Variable Spacing Enhance Convective Cooling And Increase Power Output In Solar Pv Plants, Brooke Stanislawski, Todd Harman, Raul Bayoan Cal, Marc Calaf

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

When the temperature of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules rises, efficiency drops and module degradation accelerates. Thus, it is beneficial to reduce module operating temperatures. Previous studies of solar power plants have illustrated that incoming flow characteristics, turbulent mixing, and array geometry can strongly impact convective cooling, as measured by the convective heat transfer coefficient h. In the fields of heat transfer and plant canopy flow, previous work has shown that system-scale arrangement modifications—e.g., variable spacing, barriers, or windbreaks—can passively alter the flow, enhance turbulent mixing, and influence convection. However, researchers have not yet explored how variable spacing or barriers …


Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs) In Wildfire Smoke Accumulate On Indoor Materials And Create Post-Smoke Event Exposure Pathways, Aurélie Laguerre, Elliott T. Gall Dec 2023

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs) In Wildfire Smoke Accumulate On Indoor Materials And Create Post-Smoke Event Exposure Pathways, Aurélie Laguerre, Elliott T. Gall

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Wildfire smoke contains PAHs that, after infiltrating indoors, accumulate on indoor materials through particle deposition and partitioning from air. We report the magnitude and persistence of select surface associated PAHs on three common indoor materials: glass, cotton, and mechanical air filter media. Materials were loaded with PAHs through both spiking with standards and exposure to a wildfire smoke proxy. Loaded materials were aged indoors over ~4 months to determine PAH persistence. For materials spiked with standards, total PAH decay rates were 0.010±0.002, 0.025±0.005, and 0.051±0.009 d -1 , for mechanical air filter media, glass, and cotton, respectively. PAH decay on …


Reconstructing Modis Aerosol Optical Depth And Exploring Dynamic And Influential Factors Of Aod Via Random Forest At The Global Scale, Bin Guo, Zheng Wang, Lin Pei, Xiaowei Zhu, Qiuji Chen, Haojie Wu, Wencai Zhang, Dingming Zhang Dec 2023

Reconstructing Modis Aerosol Optical Depth And Exploring Dynamic And Influential Factors Of Aod Via Random Forest At The Global Scale, Bin Guo, Zheng Wang, Lin Pei, Xiaowei Zhu, Qiuji Chen, Haojie Wu, Wencai Zhang, Dingming Zhang

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Aerosols pose a significant impact on the atmospheric environment and public health. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) is one of the essential parameters for quantifying aerosols. Currently, existing AOD products suffer from severe pixel value missing issue due to clouds and other interferences globally, which severely affects the accuracy of fine particulate matter estimation and related epidemics researches. At the global scale, this study first adopted population as one of the influencing factors of AOD, and fully considered the effects of humidity, surface pressure, cloud cover, and evapotranspiration on AOD. Meanwhile, the spatiotemporal resolution of meteorological data was promoted to improve …


Floating Wind Farm Experiments Through Scaling For Wake Characterization, Power Extraction, And Turbine Dynamics, Juliaan Bossuyt, OndˇRej FercˇÁk, Zein Sadek, Charles Meneveau, Dennice Gayme, Raúl Bayoán Cal Dec 2023

Floating Wind Farm Experiments Through Scaling For Wake Characterization, Power Extraction, And Turbine Dynamics, Juliaan Bossuyt, OndˇRej FercˇÁk, Zein Sadek, Charles Meneveau, Dennice Gayme, Raúl Bayoán Cal

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this study, wind and water tunnel experiments of turbulent wakes in a scaled floating wind farm are performed. Scaling of a floating wind farm with a scaling ratio of 1:400 is made possible by relaxing geometric scaling of the turbine platform system, such that the dynamic response can be correctly matched, and to allow for relaxing Froude scaling such that the Reynolds number can be kept large enough. Four dimensionless parameters, describing the relative importance of wind and wave loads compared to turbine inertia, are used to guide the scaled floater design. Free decay tests of the pitch and …


Impact Of Material And Tunnel Barrier Quality On Spin Transport In A Cvd Graphene Non-Local Spin Valve Device Array, Samuel T. Olson, Daniel Still, Kaleb Hood, Otto Zietz, Jun Jiao Dec 2023

Impact Of Material And Tunnel Barrier Quality On Spin Transport In A Cvd Graphene Non-Local Spin Valve Device Array, Samuel T. Olson, Daniel Still, Kaleb Hood, Otto Zietz, Jun Jiao

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Wafer-scale graphene films produced via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) are now commercially available, however these films inherently contain randomly distributed defects such as adlayers and grain boundaries. This report discusses the impact of these defects on the signal integrity of an array of graphene-based non-local spin valves (NLSVs). It was found that critical spin parameters fluctuate drastically between adjacent identical devices. Investigation of the channel quality indicated that adlayers do not affect spin signal significantly even when located directly in the spin transport region of the device. In contrast, grain boundary defects within the spin transport region have significant impact …


Restricted Nonlinear Scales Of Turbulent Secondary Flows Over Spanwise Heterogeneous Roughness, Benjamin A. Minnick, Xiaowei Zhu, Dennice F. Gayme Dec 2023

Restricted Nonlinear Scales Of Turbulent Secondary Flows Over Spanwise Heterogeneous Roughness, Benjamin A. Minnick, Xiaowei Zhu, Dennice F. Gayme

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent studies, e.g., Wangsawijaya et al. (2020) have revealed the prevalence of streak meandering in turbulent flow over spanwise heterogeneous roughness. Here we exploit the scale decomposition inherent in the Restricted Nonlinear (RNL) modeling approach to further investigate this behavior. The RNL decomposition comprises a large-scale streamwise averaged mean with small-scale fluctuations about that mean defined through a dynamical restriction that leads to computational tractability. The simplified setting facilitates the study of secondary flow interacting with the large-scale streak via one-way coupling, thus enabling additional insight into relevant interaction mechanisms. In agreement with the experimental work, our results indicate that …


Multicolor Dye-Based Flow Structure Visualization For Seal-Whisker Geometry Characterized By Computer Vision, Ondřej Ferčák, Kathleen Lyons, Christin T. Murphy, Kristina M. Kamensky, Raul Bayoan Cal Nov 2023

Multicolor Dye-Based Flow Structure Visualization For Seal-Whisker Geometry Characterized By Computer Vision, Ondřej Ferčák, Kathleen Lyons, Christin T. Murphy, Kristina M. Kamensky, Raul Bayoan Cal

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Pinniped vibrissae possess a unique and complex three-dimensional topography, which has beneficial fluid flow characteristics such as substantial reductions in drag, lift, and vortex induced vibration. To understand and leverage these effects, the downstream vortex dynamics must be studied. Dye visualization is a traditional qualitative method of capturing these downstream effects, specifically in comparative biological investigations where complex equipment can be prohibitive. High-fidelity numerical simulations or experimental particle image velocimetry (PIV) are commonplace for quantitative high-resolution flow measurements, but are computationally expensive, require costly equipment, and can have limited measurement windows. This study establishes a method for extracting quantitative data …


A One-Dimensional Volcanic Plume Model For Predicting Ash Aggregation, D. W. Hoffman, L. G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Stephen Solovitz, Raul Bayoan Cal, J. K. Eaton Oct 2023

A One-Dimensional Volcanic Plume Model For Predicting Ash Aggregation, D. W. Hoffman, L. G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Stephen Solovitz, Raul Bayoan Cal, J. K. Eaton

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

During explosive volcanic eruptions, volcanic ash is ejected into the atmosphere, impacting aircraft safety and downwind communities. These volcanic clouds tend to be dominated by fine ash (μm in diameter), permitting transport over hundreds to thousands of kilometers. However, field observations show that much of this fine ash aggregates into clusters or pellets with faster settling velocities than individual particles. Models of ash transport and deposition require an understanding of aggregation processes, which depend on factors like moisture content and local particle collision rates. In this study, we develop a Plume Model for Aggregate Prediction, a one-dimensional (1D) volcanic plume …


Development Of Prediction Method For Dimensional Stability Of 3d-Printed Objects, Kyung-Eun Min, Jae-Won Jang, Jesik Shin, Cheolhee Kim, Sung Yi Oct 2023

Development Of Prediction Method For Dimensional Stability Of 3d-Printed Objects, Kyung-Eun Min, Jae-Won Jang, Jesik Shin, Cheolhee Kim, Sung Yi

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fused deposition modeling (FDM), as one of the additive manufacturing processes, is known for strong layer adhesion suitable for prototypes and end-use items. This study used a multiple regression model and statistical analysis to explore the dimensional accuracy of FDM objects. Factors such as inclination angle, layer thickness, support space, and raster angle were examined. Machine learning models (Gaussian process regression (GPR), support vector machines (SVM), and artificial neural network (ANN)) predicted dimensions using 81 datapoints. The mean squared dimensional error (MSDE) between the measured and designed surface profiles was selected as an output for the dimensional accuracy. Support spacing, …


Modeling Yield Strength Of Austenitic Stainless Steel Welds Using Multiple Regression Analysis And Machine Learning, Sukil Park, Myeonghwan Choi, Dongyoon Kim, Cheolhee Kim, Namhyun Kang Sep 2023

Modeling Yield Strength Of Austenitic Stainless Steel Welds Using Multiple Regression Analysis And Machine Learning, Sukil Park, Myeonghwan Choi, Dongyoon Kim, Cheolhee Kim, Namhyun Kang

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Designing welding filler metals with low cracking susceptibility and high strength is essential in welding low-temperature base metals, such as austenitic stainless steel, which is widely utilized for various applications. A strength model for weld metals using austenitic stainless steel consumables has not yet been developed. In this study, such a model was successfully developed. Two types of models were developed and analyzed: conventional multiple regression and machinelearning- based models. The input variables for these models were the chemical composition and heat input per unit length. Multiple regression analysis utilized five statistically significant input variables at a significance level of …


Role Of Binder On Yield Strength Of Polycaprolactone/Dimethylsulfone Composites For Bio-Applications, Kyung-Eun Min, Jae-Won Jang, Sung Yi, Cheolhee Kim Sep 2023

Role Of Binder On Yield Strength Of Polycaprolactone/Dimethylsulfone Composites For Bio-Applications, Kyung-Eun Min, Jae-Won Jang, Sung Yi, Cheolhee Kim

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Polycaprolactone (PCL) and dimethylsulfone (DMSO2) composites can tailor the properties of scaffold materials, allowing their use in bone tissue engineering. With an increase in DMSO2 content, the modulus of the material increases but not the yield strength. In order to increase yield strength, a binder was added. However, the optimization of the content and the mixing process of the binder were not optimized in the previous studies. In this study, gamma-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (A-174) was used as a binder to increase the strength of a composite. Four different mixing processes were employed based on the binder mixing sequence. The binders with content …


Real-Time Length Sensing Of Braided Pneumatic Actuator Using Ir Time-Of-Flight Sensor, Luon B. Chung Aug 2023

Real-Time Length Sensing Of Braided Pneumatic Actuator Using Ir Time-Of-Flight Sensor, Luon B. Chung

Dissertations and Theses

Braided Pneumatic Actuators (BPAs) are used widely in robotics as artificial muscles because of their similar characteristics to biological muscles. When a BPA is pressurized, it expands in the radial direction and contracts in the longitudinal direction. The contraction generates a pulling force that is dependent on the input pressure and BPA length. Biological muscle also behaves in the same way where a pulling force is generated on a contraction. To control BPAs on a robot, the real-time pressure and length measurements are necessary. In this dissertation, I present a new method to measure length of BPAs in real-time using …


Phase Stability Of Lead Phosphate Apatite, Jiahong Shen, Dale Gaines Ii, S. Shahabfar, Zi Li, Dohun Kang, Sean Griesemer, Adolfo Salgado-Casanova, Tzu-Chen Liu, Yi Xia, Multiple Additional Authors Aug 2023

Phase Stability Of Lead Phosphate Apatite, Jiahong Shen, Dale Gaines Ii, S. Shahabfar, Zi Li, Dohun Kang, Sean Griesemer, Adolfo Salgado-Casanova, Tzu-Chen Liu, Yi Xia, Multiple Additional Authors

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recently, Cu-substituted lead apatite LK-99 was reported to have room-temperature ambientpressure superconductivity. Here we utilize density functional theory (DFT) total energy and harmonic phonon calculations to investigate the thermodynamic and dynamic stability of two lead phosphate apatites in their pure and Cu-substituted structures. Though Pb10(PO4)6O and Pb10(PO4)6(OH)2 are found to be thermodynamically stable (i.e., on the T=0K ground state convex hull), their Cu-substituted counterparts are above the convex hull. Harmonic phonon calculations reveal dynamic instabilities in all four of these structures. Oxygen vacancy formation …


Assessing The Performance Of Exchange-Correlation Functionals On Lattice Constants Of Binary Solids At Room Temperature Within The Quasiharmonic Approximation, Xiaofei Shao, Peitao Liu, Cesare Franchini, Yi Xia, Jiangang He Jul 2023

Assessing The Performance Of Exchange-Correlation Functionals On Lattice Constants Of Binary Solids At Room Temperature Within The Quasiharmonic Approximation, Xiaofei Shao, Peitao Liu, Cesare Franchini, Yi Xia, Jiangang He

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The exchange-correlation functional is at the core of density functional theory (DFT) and determines the accuracy of DFT in describing the interactions among electrons/ions in solids and molecules. The strongly constrained and appropriately normed functional (SCAN) and its derivatives, regularized SCAN (rSCAN) and regularized-restored SCAN (r2SCAN), are particularly promising due to their remarkable overall accuracy in the description of various properties while retaining a high computational efficiency as compared to hybrid functionals. However, an exhaustive assessment on the performance of these functionals in predicting the finite-temperature lattice constant of solids is still lacking. Here, we systematically study the room-temperature lattice …


Compensation Of Seeding Bias For Particle Tracking Velocimetry In Turbulent Flows, Thomas Barois, Bianca Viggiano, Thomas Basset, Raúl Bayoán Cal, Romain Volk, Mathieu Gibert, Mickael Bourgoin Jul 2023

Compensation Of Seeding Bias For Particle Tracking Velocimetry In Turbulent Flows, Thomas Barois, Bianca Viggiano, Thomas Basset, Raúl Bayoán Cal, Romain Volk, Mathieu Gibert, Mickael Bourgoin

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

When a fluid in turbulent motion is tagged by a nonuniform concentration of ideal tracers, the mean velocity of the tracers may not match with the mean velocity of the fluid flow. This implies that conventional particle tracking velocimetry will not produce the mean flow of a turbulent flow unless the particle seeding is homogeneous. In this work, we consider the problem of mean flow estimation from a set of particle tracks obtained in a situation of nonhomogeneous seeding. To compensate the bias caused by the nonhomogeneous particle seeding, we propose a modified particle tracking velocimetry method. This method is …


Cu2o Heterojunction Solar Cell With Photovoltaic Properties Enhanced By A Ti Buffer Layer, Binghao Wang, Zhiqiang Chen, Feng Zhao Jul 2023

Cu2o Heterojunction Solar Cell With Photovoltaic Properties Enhanced By A Ti Buffer Layer, Binghao Wang, Zhiqiang Chen, Feng Zhao

Center for Electron Microscopy and Nanofabrication Publications and Presentations

In this study, semiconductor oxide cuprite (Cu2O) and indium tin oxide (ITO) heterojunction solar cells with and without a 10 nm thick titanium (Ti) thin film as the buffer layer were fabricated and characterized for comparison. The Cu2O film was formed by low-cost electrodeposition, and Ti and ITO layers were deposited on a glass substrate by sputtering. The interfacial microstructures, surface topology, and electrical and photovoltaic properties of both solar cells were investigated. The test results showed that the Ti buffer layer changed the surface morphology, resistivity, and contact potential of the electrodeposited Cu2O film. With these changes, the photovoltaic …