Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Modeling And Control Of Fuel Cell-Battery Hybrid Energy Sources, Nima Lotfi

Doctoral Dissertations

"Environmental, political, and availability concerns regarding fossil fuels in recent decades have garnered substantial research and development in the area of alternative energy systems. Among various alternative energy systems, fuel cells and batteries have attracted significant attention both in academia and industry considering their superior performances and numerous advantages. In this dissertation, the modeling and control of these two electrochemical sources as the main constituents of fuel cell-battery hybrid energy sources are studied with ultimate goals of improving their performance, reducing their development and operational costs and consequently, easing their widespread commercialization. More specifically, Paper I provides a comprehensive background …

Modeling, Analysis, And Simulation For Aqueous-Based Ceramic Pastes In Freeze-Form Extrusion Fabrication Process, Mingyang Li

Doctoral Dissertations

"During the freeze-form extrusion fabrication process, both the extrusion and freezing processes are complex due to the aqueous-based ceramic pastes' non-Newtonian behavior, large latent heat of the water contained in the paste, and the small temperature difference between the ambient and the paste. In this study, the steady-state relationship between plunger velocity and extrusion force is developed based on a modified Herschel-Bulkley viscosity model and the Navier-Stokes equations, and the dynamic response of the extrusion force is described by a first-order nonlinear equation when plunger velocity is taken as an input. It is shown that the extrusion response time depends …

Hierarchical Control Of Complex Manufacturing Processes, Hesam Zomorodi Moghadam

Doctoral Dissertations

"The need for changing the control objective during the process has been reported in many systems in manufacturing, robotics, etc. However, not many works have been devoted to systematically investigating the proper strategies for these types of problems. In this dissertation, two approaches to such problems have been suggested for fast varying systems. The first approach, addresses problems where some of the objectives are statically related to the states of the systems. Hierarchical Optimal Control was proposed to simplify the nonlinearity caused by adding the statically related objectives into control problem. The proposed method was implemented for contour-position control of …

Methodology For Analysis Of Stress, Creep, And Fatigue Behavior Of Compliant Mechanisms, Joshua Allen Crews

Doctoral Dissertations

"A methodology is developed for analyzing stress within homogeneous and metallic-reinforced, fixed-free compliant segments and small-length flexural pivots. Boundary conditions related to the inclusion of metallic reinforcing components within a polymer compliant segment are investigated. The analysis method outlined herein relies on key outputs from the pseudo-rigid-body models (PRBMs). A method is presented for the redesign of compliant mechanisms to include metallic reinforcement to reduce stress while maintaining force-deflection behavior. Examples are provided in which a compliant segment is redesigned to include metallic reinforcement by using the stress equations developed from the PRBM. The effect of bonding between the polymer …

Research On Hybrid Manufacturing Using Industrial Robot, Zhiyuan Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

"The applications of using industrial robots in hybrid manufacturing overcome many restrictions of the conventional manufacturing methods, such as small part building size, long building period, and limited material choices. However, some problems such as the uneven distribution of motion accuracy within robot working volume, the acceleration impact of robot under heavy external loads, few methods and facilities for increasing the efficiency of hybrid manufacturing process are still challenging. This dissertation aims to improve the applications of using industrial robot in hybrid manufacturing by addressing following three categories research issues. The first research issue proposed a novel concept view on …

Efficient Time-Dependent System Reliability Analysis, Zhifu Zhu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Engineering systems are usually subjected to time-variant loads and operate under time-dependent uncertainty; system performances are therefore time-dependent. Accurate and efficient estimate of system reliability is crucial for decision makings on system design, lifetime cost estimate, maintenance strategy, etc. Although significant progresses have been made in time-independent reliability analysis for components and systems, time-dependent system reliability methodologies are still limited. This dissertation is motivated by the need of accurate and effective reliability prediction for engineering systems under time-dependent uncertainty. Based on the classic First and Second Order Reliability Method (FORM and SORM), a system reliability method is developed for multidisciplinary …

Modeling And Evaluation Of Moisture Diffusion In Polymer Composite Materials, Zhen Huo

Doctoral Dissertations

"Fiber-reinforced polymer composites have extensive applications due to their high specific strength, improved product performance, low maintenance and design flexibility. However, moisture absorbed by polymer composites during the service life plays a detrimental role in both the integrity and durability of composite structure. It is essential to understand the moisture diffusion behavior and induced damage in polymer matrix composites under varying hygrothermal conditions. In Part I, the moisture diffusion characteristics in hybrid composites using moisture concentration-dependent diffusion method have been investigated. Also, a multi-stage diffusion model was proposed to explain the deviation of moisture diffusion behavior for sandwich composites from …

Novel Design And Manufacturing Strategies For Portable Air-Breathing Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, Sriram Praneeth Isanaka

Doctoral Dissertations

"The purpose of this dissertation is to study the importance of design novelty and advanced manufacturing and assembly practices towards portable air-breathing proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Traditional proton exchange membrane fuel cell designs have always been based on prismatic shapes and expensive materials like graphite and steel. The novel design strategies theorized as part of this research though have led to the creation of working prototypes with unconventional form factors, materials and manufacturing methods. The benefits include improved reactant flow characteristics, superior power densities, reduced cost, and simplified manufacturing and assembly complexity as compared to conventional proton exchange membrane …

Repetitive Process Control Of Additive Manufacturing With Application To Laser Metal Deposition, Patrick M. Sammons

Doctoral Dissertations

"Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a set of manufacturing processes which has promise in the production of complex, functional structures that cannot be fabricated with conventional manufacturing and the repair of high-value parts. However, a significant challenge to the adoption of additive manufacturing processes to these applications is proper process control. In order to enable closed-loop process control compact models suitable for control design and for describing the layer-by-layer material addition process are needed. This dissertation proposes a two-dimensional modeling and control framework, with an application to a specific metal-based AM process, whereby the deposition of the current layer is affected …

Creep And Shrinkage Behavior Of Fly Ash Based Geopolymer Concrete, Md Rashedul Islam

Doctoral Dissertations

The manuscript presented herein is based on the investigation of the short and long term properties of fly ash based geopolymer concrete (GPC) and their link to fly ash characteristics. Fly ash (FA) exhibits a significantly different particle morphology, which impacts the mechanical properties of the resulting GPC and typically contains impurities that fluctuate from one FA source to another. A key contribution of this research work is the capturing of the variability posed by the FA stockpile with a wide range of physical, chemical, and crystallographic characteristics as a source material to select the GPC mix design. In the …

Electrochemical Fatigue Crack Treatment, Konstantin Dolgan

Doctoral Dissertations

Fatigue is responsible for at least 50% of all mechanical and 90% of all metallic failures. Fatigue cracks often start at stress concentrations, and without timely and appropriate remediation, tend to exhibit relatively fast propagation that leads to property damage and sometimes serious accidents.

The objective of this research was to develop a new method of fatigue crack treatment in steel structures and estimate its efficiency and limitations. The method was based on placing fatigue cracks under compression by depositing nickel onto the surfaces of the cracks. The proposed method was applied to ASTM E399 compact-tension specimens machined from ASTM …

Local Alternative Sources For Cogeneration Combined Heat And Power System, Abdulhakim Amer Agll

Doctoral Dissertations

"Global demand for energy continues to grow while countries around the globe race to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions by implementing policy measures and advancing technology. Sustainability has become an important issue in transportation and infrastructure development projects. While several agencies are trying to incorporate a range of sustainability measures in their goals and missions, only a few planning agencies have been able to implement these policies and they are far from perfect. The low rate of success in implementing sustainable policies is primarily due to incomplete understanding of the system and the interaction between …

Investigation Of Effect Of Process Parameters On Multilayer Builds By Direct Metal Deposition, Tarak Amine

Doctoral Dissertations

"Multilayer direct laser deposition (DLD) is a fabrication process through which parts are fabricated by creating a molten pool into which metal powder is injected as. During fabrication, complex thermal activity occurs in different regions of the build; for example, newly deposited layers will reheat previously deposited layers. The objective of this study was to provide insight into the thermal activity that occurs during the DLD process. This work focused on the effect of the deposition parameters of deposited layers on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the previously deposited layers. Varying the parameters was shown to produce different effects …

On The Design And Analysis Of Compliant Mechanisms Using The Pseudo-Rigid-Body Model Concept, Sushrut Gangadhar Bapat

Doctoral Dissertations

"The pseudo-rigid-body model (PRBM) concept, developed for the analysis and design of large-deflection flexible members, has proved over time to be a simple, efficient and accurate tool for the synthesis, analysis and design of compliant mechanisms. This dissertation investigates a variety of compliant mechanism analysis and design problems using the PRBM concept and assists in further advancement of the implementation of the PRBMs. The dissertation begins with the development of a PRBM for a fixed-guided compliant beam with one inflection point in the deformed state. This research investigation advances the concept of characteristic deflection domain to a new synthesis framework …

System Integration Of Hydrogen Energy Technologies Using Renewable Energy Resources, Tarek A Mohammed Hamad

Doctoral Dissertations

"The objective of this work has two major tasks that investigation the use of CHHP system at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) campus and studying solid waste as renewable source of energy: current and future possibility in Libya. Task one has three major topics. In Topic I, Design of Combined Hydrogen, Heat and Power (CHHP) system for the campus using local resources and treated biogas can be used to generate CHHP using a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC). In Topic II, hydrogen recovery and cleaning system, Heat recovery and electric power usage, hydrogen compression, storage, and …

Design Studies Of Infrastructural Development For Applications Of Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Yousif M. H. Hamad

Doctoral Dissertations

"Countries around the world are trying to reduce their energy consumption, fossil fuel usage, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to the International Energy Outlook 2012 released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the estimated fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards proposed for light-duty vehicles for model years 2017-2025 has an increase of 44% in fuel economy and a reduction of 34% in GHG emissions. The use of alternative fuel vehicles and renewable energy sources are, therefore, inevitable toward achieving this goal. Biogas has untapped potential as an alternative energy source. This immediately available resource would allow countries …

Combustion And Pollutant Characteristics Of Ic Engines Fueled With Hydrogen And Diesel/Hydrogen Mixtures Using 3d Computations With Detailed Chemical Kinetics, Hassan A. Khairallah

Doctoral Dissertations

In order to develop design guidelines for optimum operations of internal combustion engines fueled with alternative fuels, a comprehensive understanding combustion behavior and the pollutant formation inside the cylinder are needed. The first part of this thesis aimed to numerically study the engine performance and in-cylinder pollutant formation in a spark ignition engine fueled with hydrogen. Advanced simulations were performed using multi- dimensional software AVL FIRE coupled with CHEMKIN. The detailed chemical reactions with 29 steps of hydrogen oxidation with additional nitrogen oxidation reactions were also employed. Formation rates of nitrogen oxides (NOx) within the engine were accurately predicted using …

Investigation Of Robust Optimization And Evidence Theory With Stochastic Expansions For Aerospace Applications Under Mixed Uncertainty, Harsheel R. Shah

Doctoral Dissertations

One of the primary objectives of this research is to develop a method to model and propagate mixed (aleatory and epistemic) uncertainty in aerospace simulations using DSTE. In order to avoid excessive computational cost associated with large scale applications and the evaluation of Dempster Shafer structures, stochastic expansions are implemented for efficient UQ. The mixed UQ with DSTE approach was demonstrated on an analytical example and high fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study of transonic flow over a RAE 2822 airfoil.

Another objective is to devise a DSTE based performance assessment framework through the use of quantification of margins and …

Energy Management In Electric Vehicles: Development And Validation Of An Optimal Driving Strategy, Warren Santiago Vaz

Doctoral Dissertations

Electric vehicles (EVs) are a promising alternative energy mode of transportation for the future. However, due to the limited range and relatively long charging time, it is important to use the stored battery energy in the most optimal manner possible. Existing research has focused on improvements to the hardware or improvements to the energy management strategy (EMS). However, EV drivers may adopt a driving strategy that causes the EMS to operate the EV hardware in inefficient regimes just to fulfil the driver demand. The present study develops an optimal driving strategy to help an EV driver choose a driving strategy …

Selective Laser Sintering Of Bioactive Glass Scaffolds And Their Biological Assessment For Bone Repair, Krishna C. R. Kolan

Doctoral Dissertations

"Bone scaffold fabrication using powder-bed based additive manufacturing techniques, like the selective laser sintering (SLS) process, provides control over pore interconnectivity, pore geometry, and the overall shape of the scaffold, which aids in repairing different regions of the bone. The main objectives of this dissertation were to develop bioactive glass (BG) scaffolds using the SLS process and evaluate the scaffolds for their effectiveness in bone repair both in vitro and in vivo. 13-93 glass, a silicate based BG, and 13-93B3 glass, a borate based BG, are designed to accelerate the body's natural ability to heal itself and are used …

Mechanistic Modeling Of Cutting Forces In Wavy-Edge Bull-Nose Helical End-Milling Of Inconel 718 Under Different Cooling-Lubrication Strategies, Abdulhakim Ali Sultan

Doctoral Dissertations

“This research presents the results of the development of a mechanistic cutting force prediction model for the wavy-edge bull-nose helical endmill (WEBNHE). The mechanistic model was developed to predict cutting force components and the resultant cutting force in high-speed end-milling of Inconel 718 under two cooling strategies: emulsion and Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL). The effects of the cooling strategies are incorporated into the mechanistic model through six cutting force coefficients (K_tc, K_rc, K_ac), and edge force coefficients (K_te, K_re, K_ae), which have been experimentally identified in a separate …

Probabilistic Engineering Analysis And Design Under Time-Dependent Uncertainty, Zhen Hu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Time-dependent uncertainties, such as time-variant stochastic loadings and random deterioration of material properties, are inherent in engineering applications. Not considering these uncertainties in the design process may result in catastrophic failures after the designed products are put into operation. Although significant progress has been made in probabilistic engineering design, quantifying and mitigating the effects of time-dependent uncertainty is still challenging. This dissertation aims to help build high reliability into products under time-dependent uncertainty by addressing two research issues. The first one is to efficiently and accurately predict the time-dependent reliability while the second one is to effectively design the time-dependent …

Modeling And Simulation Of Continuous Fiber-Reinforced Ceramic Composites, Venkata Bheemreddy

Doctoral Dissertations

"Finite element modeling framework based on cohesive damage modeling, constitutive material behavior using user-material subroutines, and extended finite element method (XFEM), are developed for studying the failure behavior of continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites (CFCCs) by the example of a silicon carbide matrix reinforced with silicon carbide fiber (SiC/SiCf) composite. This work deals with developing comprehensive numerical models for three problems: (1) fiber/matrix interface debonding and fiber pull-out, (2) mechanical behavior of a CFCC using a representative volume element (RVE) approach, and (3) microstructure image-based modeling of a CFCC using object oriented finite element analysis (OOF). Load versus displacement behavior …

Modeling And Simulation Of Hydrokinetic Composite Turbine System, Haifeng Li

Doctoral Dissertations

"The utilization of kinetic energy from the river is promising as an attractive alternative to other available renewable energy resources. Hydrokinetic turbine systems are advantageous over traditional dam based hydropower systems due to "zero-head" and mobility. The objective of this study is to design and analyze hydrokinetic composite turbine system in operation. Fatigue study and structural optimization of composite turbine blades were conducted. System level performance of the composite hydrokinetic turbine was evaluated. A fully-coupled blade element momentum-finite element method algorithm has been developed to compute the stress response of the turbine blade subjected to hydrodynamic and buoyancy loadings during …

Performance Evaluation Of Polyurethane Composites Using Vacuum Infusion Process, Mohaned M. Mohamed

Doctoral Dissertations

"Glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites have promising applications in infrastructures due to their low cost, high specific stiffness/strength, and corrosion resistance. The pultrusion process is often used to manufacture glass fiber-reinforced polyurethane (PU) composite. The objective of this study is to use thermoset PU resin to manufacture high quality composites for infrastructure applications using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process. Using VARTM to fabricate PU resins presents unique challenges. Several modifications however have helped with overcoming these problems. In part I of the research, the mechanical performance of two different PU resin not only evaluated but also compared to one …

Micro Solar Thermal Energy Development And Use For Mems Power Applications, Emmanuel Ogbonnaya

Doctoral Dissertations

Increasing focus on alternative energy sources has produced significant progress across a wide variety of research areas. One particular area of interest has been solar energy. The sun represents sustainable and renewable energy source capable of meeting present energy needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. Energy from the sun can be utilized in multiple ways. Direct rise in modern power generation typically involves either photovoltaic systems or large-scale solar thermal energy installations. While large-scale solar thermal energy generation is well advanced, there has been comparatively little research on smaller scale thermal energy collection and application. …

Numerical Modeling Of Heat Transfer And Fluid Flow In Laser Metal Deposition By Powder Injection, Zhiqiang Fan

Doctoral Dissertations

"Laser metal deposition is an additive manufacturing technique which allows quick fabrication of fully-dense metallic components directly from Computer Aided Design (CAD) solid models. A self-consistent three-dimensional model was developed for the laser metal deposition process by powder injection, which simulates heat transfer, phase changes, and fluid flow in the melt pool, The governing equations for solid, liquid and gas phases in the calculation domain have been formulated using the continuum model. The free surface in the melt pool has been tracked by the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method, while the VOF transport equation was solved using the Piecewise Linear …

Approximate Dynamic Programming Based Solutions For Fixed-Final-Time Optimal Control And Optimal Switching, Ali Heydari

Doctoral Dissertations

"Optimal solutions with neural networks (NN) based on an approximate dynamic programming (ADP) framework for new classes of engineering and non-engineering problems and associated difficulties and challenges are investigated in this dissertation. In the enclosed eight papers, the ADP framework is utilized for solving fixed-final-time problems (also called terminal control problems) and problems with switching nature. An ADP based algorithm is proposed in Paper 1 for solving fixed-final-time problems with soft terminal constraint, in which, a single neural network with a single set of weights is utilized. Paper 2 investigates fixed-final-time problems with hard terminal constraints. The optimality analysis of …

Bio-Inspired Design, Fabrication And Testing Of Bipolar Plates For Pem Fuel Cells, Nannan Guo

Doctoral Dissertations

"The flow field of a bipolar plate distributes reactants for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells and removes the produced water from the fuel cells. It greatly influences the performance of fuel cells, especially the concentration losses. Two approaches were developed to improve flow field designs in this dissertation. One is inspired by the biological circulatory structures and called bio-inspired designs, which have great potential to transport reactant efficiently and hence improve fuel cell performance. Another way is using a network-based optimization model to optimize the conventional flow field configurations, i.e., pin-type, parallel and serpentine designs, to improve flow distributions …

Mathematical Modeling Of Pipeline Features For Robotic Inspection, Yang Gao

Doctoral Dissertations

Underground pipeline systems play an indispensable role in transporting liquids in both developed and developing countries. The associated social and economic cost to repair a pipe upon abrupt failure is often unacceptable. Regular inspection is a preventative action that aims to monitor pipe conditions, catch abnormalities and reduce the chance of undesirable surprises. Robots with CCTV video cameras have been used for decades to inspect pipelines, yielding only qualitative information. It is becoming necessary and preferable for municipalities, project managers and engineers to also quantify the 3-D geometry of underground pipe networks. Existing robots equipped specialized hardware and software algorithms …