Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Gauge Repeatability And Reproducibility Study On A Hemi-Shell With A Brown & Sharpe® Coordinate Measuring Machine (U), Lucas Valdez

Mechanical Engineering Student Publications

In engineering at LANL, everything relies on the quality of a product or process. Today dimensional inspection is a necessity to ensure customer specifications are met to the highest standard. Currently LANL’s main processes for dimensional inspection on hemi-shells are conducted on uniquely designed machines - Sheffield or Shell Measuring Machine (SMM). These specialized rotary contour machines were built to measure only the wall thickness, inner and outer contours of a hemi-shell. These machines are heavily dependent on the inspector and typically have very few personnel trained to use them. With no manufacturer support and age leading to production down …

A Solid State Nitrogen Gas Generating Chip And Applications For Picosatellites, Kyle Godin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A microscale gas generating chip has many applications; in this study, applications relating to picosatellites have been considered. Cube satellites, a type of picosatellite, are of mass around one kilogram and side length 10cm x 10cm x 10cm. Their launches are becoming more numerous since their debut ten years ago. Their low cost and deployment system makes space accessible to agencies hitherto barred from it, such as universities and small governments. However, their power, mass, and volume budget is extremely tight. A microscale gas chip could compete with other designs for attitude control devices, most not flown yet as cube …

Immersion Cooling Of Photovoltaic Cells In Highly Concentrated Solar Beams, Ahmed Darwish

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Concentrated solar radiation can be utilized to generate electrical power from photovoltaic cells, but concentrated solar radiation increases the photovoltaic cell’s temperature. This increase in temperature can lead to degradation of the cell efficiency, and too high of a temperature can damage the cell’s integrity. This is particularly important in dish and tower systems where a maximum uniform flux may be difficult to achieve. While a variety of approaches have been used to the keep the cells cool, most are based upon removal of heat from the back (opposite surface of the incident flux exposed surface) of the cell. This …

The Effect Of Layer Orientation On The Mechanical Properties And Microstructure Of A Polymer, V. Vega, J. Clements, T. Lam, A. Abad, B. Fritz, N. Ula, Omar S. Es-Said

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Works

Rapid Prototyping (RP) is a method used everywhere from the entertainment industry to healthcare. Layer orientation is an important aspect of the final product. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of layer orientation on the mechanical strength and toughness of a polymer. The polymer used was a combination of two materials, ZP 130 and ZB 58, fused together in the Z Corporation Spectrum Z510 Rapid Prototyping Machine. ZP 130 is a powder composed of vinyl polymer (2-20%), sulfate salt (0-5%), and plaster that contains < 1% crystalline silica (50-95%). ZB 58 is a liquid composed of glycerol (1-10%), preservative (sorbic acid salt) (0-2%), surfactant (< 1%), pigment (< 1%), and water (85-95%). After removal from the machine the samples were sealed with Z bond 101 which is Beta-methoxyethyl cyanoacrylate (60-100%). The layer orientations studied were the crack arrestor, crack divider, and short transverse with various combinations of the three, for a total of seven orientations. The mechanical strength was evaluated using tensile testing and three-point bend testing. The toughness was evaluated by Izod impact testing. Five samples for tensile testing and three-point bend testing as well as 15 samples for the Izod impact test for each of the seven orientations were made. The total number of samples was 175. The crack arrestor orientation was the strongest main orientation for the tensile and three-point bend test. Weibull analysis was done on the Izod impact testing due to high variation in the results for the crack arrestor and short transverse directions. It was found that the layer orientation and surface roughness played a significant role in the penetration of the Z bond 101 coating and in the overall strength of the samples.

Effects Of Mass Layer Dimension On A Finite Quartz Crystal Microbalance, Y. P. Kong, Jinxi Liu, Huijing He, Jiashi Yang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

In this paper, we investigate free thickness-shear and thickness-twist vibrations of a finite crystal resonator of AT-cut quartz carrying a thin mass layer at the central portion of its top surface operating as a quartz crystal microbalance. The equations of anisotropic elasticity are used with the omission of the small elastic constant c56. An analytical solution is obtained using Fourier series from which the resonant frequencies, mode shapes and vibration confinement by the mass layer are calculated and examined.

Variability Of Strain And Strain Rate In The Human Tibial Diaphysis During Walking, Tyler Franklin Rooks

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

With the prevalence of stress fractures in the military and athletes of all levels, research into the pathology of this injury has taken flight in recent years. One area of research has focused on the role bone strain, which is known to be a factor in bone remodeling, has on stress fracture development. It has been difficult to perform studies in this area of research due to the invasiveness of in vivo measurements of the bone strain. Recently, a methodology for approximating the bone strain using a computational model was proposed by Al Nazer et al. (Al Nazer et al., …

Low-Thrust Assisted Angles-Only Navigation, Robert W. Gillis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Tradition spacecraft proximity operations require large and expensive on-board sensors and significant ground support. Relative angle measurements can be obtained from small, simple, and inexpensive on-board sensors, but have not traditionally been used for proximity operation because of difficulty generating rang information. In this thesis it is shown that useful relative range data can be generated provided that the spacecraft is experiencing a small continuous thrust such as would be provided by a low-thrust propulsion system. In previous work range observability was shown with impulsive maneuvers. This thesis will expand this work to low-thrust spacecraft and will show how range …

Experimental Testing Of The Accuracy Of Attitude Determination Solutions For A Spin-Stabilized Spacecraft, Keegan P. Ryan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spin-stabilized spacecraft generally rely on sun and three-axis magnetic field sensor measurements for attitude determination. This study experimentally determines the total accuracy of attitude determination solutions using modest quality sensors. This was ac- complished by having a test spacecraft collect data during spinning motions. The data was then post-processed to find the attitude estimates, which were then compared to the experimentally measured attitude. This same approach will be used to test the accuracy of the attitude determination system of the DICE spacecraft to be built by SDL/USU.

Updating Purchasing Specifications For Energy-Efficient Commercial Boilers For The Federal Energy Management Program, Arturo Avila, James Lutz

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) and the Environmental Energy Technology Division (EETD) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) are conducting a research project that aims to update the current purchasing specification for energy-efficient commercial boilers. Data available on the internet was used to document the efficiencies, prices and other relevant data on commercial boilers. Boiler models were classified according to their fuel use (gas or oil) and if they produced hot water or steam. Boilers were ranked from highest to lowest thermal efficiency. Scatter plots were used to assess the ranges of efficiencies over a range of boiler capacities …

A Priori Analysis Of Subgrid-Scale Pressure In High Pressure H2/O2 Mixing And Reacting Shear Layers, Zhiyuan Ma

All Theses

An a priori analysis of subgrid-scale pressure in high pressure combustion is carried out using three different flow fields obtained by direct numerical simulation (DNS). The simulations directly solve the Navier-Stokes equations of high pressure, transitional H₂/O₂ mixing and reacting shear layers employing a cubic Peng-Robinson real gas state equation. Detailed chemistry, multicomponent, differential, and cross diffusion are included. The results are analyzed to provide subgrid information relevant to Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of turbulent combustion. The analysis includes a detailed comparison of the actual filtered pressure with its corresponding form evaluated with the filtered primitive variables. …

Modeling And Finite Element Alaysis Of Fluid Structure Interaction In A Wind Energy Harvester, Bargav Cheruku

All Theses

An energy harvesting system inspired by musicplaying harmonicas was developed for microwind power generation. The energy harvester uses flow-induced self-sustained oscillations of a piezoelectric beam embedded within a chamber to generate electric power. While the power generation capability of the energy harvester has been demonstrated previously, there is a lack of understanding behind the basic physics of the driving mechanism responsible for the self-sustained oscillations. In addition, the performance of the nonlinear multi-physics system with strong fluid and structure coupling depends on many physical and design parameters. A systematic study on the effects of these parameters is necessary for the …

Constrained Layer Damping Of Honeycomb Composite Structures, Rohit Telukunta

All Theses

Composite sandwich structures have replaced homogenous dense solids in many applications due to their advantages of high stiffness to weight ratio, and higher damping characteristics. Higher damping in engineering applications is desirable to reduce structural vibrations. The application of a viscoelastic layer between two thin face sheets gives rise to the concept of constrained layer damping which is an effective technique to achieve increased damping in engineering applications.
Honeycomb cellular structures are often used for the core in sandwich construction because of their low density and high stiffness properties. Regular honeycombs are defined by conventional hexagonal geometry, which gives rise …

Molecular Dynamics Study Of Particle Impact Induced Bond Breaking Of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes And Quality Factors Of Nanocomposite Structures, Puroorava Annapaneni

All Theses

Part A
Injection of particles to the side wall of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) has been employed for doping and storage of particles on SWCNTs. In addition, particle bombardment can be used to cut and modify graphene structures. While the collision of hydrogen atoms with SWCNTs has been extensively studied, collision dynamic behavior of heavy particles with SWCNTs has not been well understood. To facilitate a better understanding of the particle-SWCNT collision process, in this work, we study the impact of five noble gas atoms (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe) with SWCNTs and investigate particle impact induced CNT bond breaking …

A Priori Analysis Of Subgrid-Scale Heat Flux Vectors In High Pressure H2/O2 Mixing And Reacting Shear Layers, Ayse Korucu

All Theses

A Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) database of supercritical, transitional H2/O2 mixing and reacting shear layers is analyzed in an a priori manner to obtain subgrid statistics relevant to Large Eddy Simulation (LES) engineering modeling. The DNS employs a real gas state equation, detailed chemistry, accurate property models, multicomponent, differential, and cross diffusion. The parallel simulations were conducted using eighth order central finite differencing in conjunction with a fourth order accurate Runge-Kutta time integration, on resolutions up to 135 million grid points, and used up to 2,016 processing cores. All simulations are for an ambient pressure of 100 atm and are …

Injection Molding Of Micro-Features, Manjesh Dubey

All Theses

A method for creating regular arrays of surface features in the 10µm to 200µm range over large areas in metallic materials enables the use of treated surfaces on injection molds. This surface control is used for manufacturing products with controllable optical, tribological, heat transfer, and surface tension properties. However, the flow, filling, and solidification behavior of molten polymer at the micro scale is not well understood.
Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand the formation of micro-structure on a polymer surface and derive a range of robust solutions for injection molding of these micro-featured surfaces. This study uses …

Friction Stir Welding (Fsw) Process Modeling And Fsw Joint Design For Blast Survivable Structures, Anand Hariharan

All Theses

In order to satisfy the need for better ballistic performance against lethal threats, new grades of Titanium (e.g. Ti-6Al-4V) and Aluminum (e.g. AA5083) alloys are being employed in the design of blast survivable structures. These better performing alloys are not readily amenable to conventional welding process or result in inferior welds when joined using conventional welding process. On the other hand, Friction Stir Welding (FSW), a relatively new welding process, has been found to be successful in producing good quality welds in these alloys. FSW also offers better weld performance in comparison with the conventional welding process. But the methodology …

Analytical Solutions Using High Order Composite Laminate Theory For Honeycomb Sandwich Plates With Viscoelastic Frequency Dependent Damping, Nan Shan

All Theses

Analytical methods allow parametric changes in geometric and material properties of a honeycomb sandwich plate for studies of stiffness, mass, and damping characteristics with low computational cost. However, studies based on analytical methods are still limited with frequency independent damping models. Specifically, previous analytical models have not consider the frequency dependent damping for viscoelastic honeycomb core sandwich composites, while some work has been done on studying the honeycomb sandwich plate using finite element method, which can be computationally expensive for multiple parameter studies. Therefore, in this work, the honeycomb sandwich plate is studied analytically based on the cellular material theory, …

Extracting Depth Information From Stereo Vision System, Using A Correlation And A Feature Based Methods, Mahmoud Abdelhamid

All Theses

This thesis presents a new method to extract depth information from stereo-vision acquisitions using a feature and a correlation based approaches. The main implementation of the proposed method is in the area of Autonomous Pick & Place, using a robotic manipulator. Current vision-guided robotics are still based on a priori training and teaching steps, and still suffer from long response time.
The study uses a stereo triangulation setup where two Charged Coupled Devices CCDs are arranged to acquire the scene from two different perspectives. The study discusses the details of two methods to calculate the depth; firstly a correlation matching …

Viscoelastic Damping Of Hexagonal Honeycomb Sandwich Panels, Nikhil Seera

All Theses

Composite sandwich structures with a viscoelastic core material constrained between thin stiff face sheets are an effective means of damping in engineering applications. Damping introduces energy dissipation which helps control vibration amplitudes. Conventional Hexagonal honeycombs are often referred to as regular honeycombs and are defined by cellular geometry with effective positive Poisson's ratio. Regular honeycombs are commonly used for the cores of sandwich plates because of their low density and high stiffness properties. Honeycombs with negative in-plane Poisson's ratio are known as Auxetic honeycombs and offer enhancement of mechanical properties such as impact absorption, damage resistance, when compared to regular …

The Effects Of Retrogression And Reaging On Aluminum Alloy 2195, N. Ward, A. Tran, A. Abad, E. W. Lee, M. Hahn, E. Fordan, Omar S. Es-Said

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Works

A retrogression and reaging (RRA) treatment was performed on 2195 Al-Li Alloy. The exposure times were from 5 to 60 min, and the temperatures were from 200 to 250 A degrees C. Samples that were exposed to a salt spray test had overall similar mechanical properties as compared to those that were not exposed. The percent elongation, however, was significantly deteriorated due to the salt spray exposure. The mechanical properties of the 2195 samples were compared to those of 2099 samples exposed to similar treatments in an earlier study.

Electrokinetic Transport And Manipulation Of Particles In Curved Microchannels, Junjie Zhu

All Dissertations

The investigation of electrokinetic particle transport in confined microchannels has practical significances in a variety of applications ranging from traditional gel electrophoresis to electrokinetic microfluidics-based lab-on-a-chip devices. To date, however, studies on particle electrokinetics have been limited to primarily theoretical or numerical analyses in straight microchannels of simple geometries. Very little work has been done on electrokinetic particle motions in real microchannels which usually consist of one or multiple turns. This thesis is dedicated to the fundamental and applied studies of electrokinetic transport and manipulation of particles in various curved microchannels using a combined experimental, theoretical, and numerical method.
First, …

Multi-Length Scale Modeling Of The High-Pressure, Large-Strain, High-Strain-Rate Response Of Soda-Lime Glass, William Bell

All Dissertations

Development of new transparent armor systems is essential for the protection of the current and future US armed forces, especially in light of the recent military operations The Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and The Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. These conflicts have introduced a new military theater without a well-defined battle front and new types of threats (e.g. improvised explosive devices, IEDs). Development and modeling of new transparent armor systems for use in numerous applications from vehicle windows to face shields is a current area of thrust aimed at addressing the shortcomings of existing systems in order to better …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of Surfactant Monolayers On Natural Convection Heat Transfer And Evaporative Mass Transfer, Steven Bower

All Dissertations

Laboratory experiments are presented that reveal the effects of surfactant monolayers on natural convection heat transfer and evaporation from bodies of water; more specifically, the situation is studied where the bulk temperature of the water is greater than the temperature of the air so that evaporative convection occurs. Four sets of experiments were performed in a laboratory environment on insulated tanks of different widths and depths for the following surface conditions: 1) clean surface, 2) oleyl alcohol covered surface, 3) stearic acid covered surface, and 4) stearyl alcohol covered surface. An infrared (IR) camera was used to verify the existence …

Computational-Analysis Assisted Introduction Of Friction Stir Welding Into Development Of Light-Weight High-Survivability Military Vehicles, Guruprasad Arakere

All Dissertations

High strength aluminum alloys with superior blast/ballistic resistance against armor piercing (AP) threats and with high vehicle light-weighing potential are being increasingly used as military-vehicle armor. Due to the complex structure of these vehicles, they are commonly constructed through joining (mainly welding) of the individual components. Unfortunately, these alloys are not very amenable to conventional fusion based welding technologies (e.g. Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW)) and in-order to obtain high-quality welds, solid-state joining technologies such as Friction Stir Welding (FSW) have to be employed. However, since FSW is a relatively new and fairly complex joining technology, its introduction into advanced …

Characterizing And Optimizing The Molten Salt Cleaning, Yangyang Long

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Molten salt cleaning is an important cleaning approach in remanufacturing which can remove a variety of contaminants from metal substrates with high efficiency. Facing the very limited research of this approach in literature, this thesis intends to characterize molten salt cleaning process and optimize its parameters when big parts with complicated shapes are cleaned. Based on the development of molten salt cleaning and studies on contaminations, two experiments are conducted. The first one investigates the influences of the hot salts on three metal substrates and shows the applicable of cleaning carbon steel and grey iron parts with molten salt. The …

Time-Dependent Crack Growth Behavior Of Alloy 617 And Alloy 230 At Elevated Temperatures, Shawoon Kumar Roy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Two Ni-base solid-solution-strengthened superalloys: INCONEL 617 and HAYNES 230 were studied to check sustained loading crack growth (SLCG) behavior at elevated temperatures appropriate for Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) applictaions with constant stress intensity factor (K _max = 27.75 MPa[checkmark]m) in air. The results indicate a time-dependent rate controlling process which can be characterized by a linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) parameter - stress intensity factor (K). At elevated temperatures, the crack growth mechanism was best described using a damage zone concept. Based on results and study, SAGBOE (stress accelerated grain boundary oxidation embrittlement) is considered the primary reason for …

Six Degree Of Freedom Miniature In Vivo Robot For Laparoendoscopic Single-Site Surgery, Ryan L. Mccormick

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The shift in surgery from open procedures to minimally invasive surgery (MIS) techniques have provided benefits of decreased recovery time, improved cosmetic results, and reduced costs. As advances in MIS move to minimize the number of external incisions, such as with Laparoendoscopic Single-Site (LESS) surgery, additional complexities are introduced. These complexities, including unintuitive controls, reduced dexterity, and limited workspace, hinder these methods from more widespread implementation in more complicated surgical procedures.

Through the use of a miniature in vivo robotic surgical platform designed for LESS surgery, these complexities can be mitigated, allowing for wider adoption of MIS by placing the …

Simulation And Control System Of A Railroad Track Power Harvesting Device, Kyle J. Phillips

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With the vastness of existing railroad infrastructure, there exist numerous road crossings which are lacking warning light systems and/or crossing gates due to their remoteness from existing electrical infrastructure. Along with lacking warning light systems, these areas also tend to lack distributed sensor networks used for railroad track health monitoring applications. With the power consumption required by these systems being minimal, extending electrical infrastructure into these areas would not be an economical use of resources. This motivated the development of an energy harvesting solution for remote railroad deployment.

This thesis describes a computer simulation created to validate experimental on-track results …

Energy Harvesting Systems Design For Railroad Safety, Abolfazl Pourghodrat

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Railroad grade crossings are locations of significant interest for prevention of collisions, injuries and fatalities. Another area of concern is derailments resulting from mechanically deficient track structures. Many of these incidents occur in remote areas due to the lack of electrical infrastructure to power automated warning systems and/or track health monitoring sensor networks.

Providing electrical infrastructure to railroad crossings in remote areas is often not economical, and other alternative sources of electricity such as solar and wind energy are not reliable or robust. This motivated development of devices for in situ energy harvesting.

Initially, an improved mechanical energy harvesting device …

Robotic Manipulator With Multiple Instruments For Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery, Chi Min Seow

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis presents a novel robotic manipulator with multiple instruments for use in Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES). NOTES is a newly emerging surgical technique that eliminates external incisions on patients’ skin. As a result, better cosmetics, shorter recovery time, and reduced risk of external infection can be achieved.

Research has been ongoing in academia and industry to make this surgical procedure more feasible in human surgeries. Although several robotic platforms have been developed, none of them has the required capability to provide surgeons with the most appropriate tool in a safe and timely matter during surgery. This robotic …