Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Molecular Modeling Of Epon 862-Detda / Carbon Composites, Cameron Hadden

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The thermoset epoxy resin EPON 862, coupled with the DETDA hardening agent, are utilized as the polymer matrix component in many graphite (carbon fiber) composites. Because it is difficult to experimentally characterize the interfacial region, computational molecular modeling is a necessary tool for understanding the influence of the interfacial molecular structure on bulk-level material properties. The purpose of this research is to investigate the many possible variables that may influence the interfacial structure and the effect they will have on the mechanical behavior of the bulk level composite. Molecular models are established for EPON 862-DETDA polymer in the presence of …

Mechanical Impedance Of Ankle As A Function Of Electromyography Signals Of Lower Leg Muscles Using Artificial Neural Network, Chen Jia

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This paper reports on the feasibility of developing a model to describe the nonlinear relationship between the mechanical impedance of the human ankle within a specified range of frequency and the root mean square (RMS) value of the Electromyography (EMG) signals of the muscles of human ankle using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). A lower extremity rehabilitation robot — Anklebot was used to apply pseudo-random mechanical perturbations to the ankle and measure the angular displacement of the ankle to estimate the data of ankle mechanical impedance. Meanwhile, the surface EMG signals from the selected muscles were monitored and recorded using a …

Modeling Of Biomass Torrefaction And Pyrolysis And Its Applications, Jordan L. Klinger

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Utilizing biomass provides a possible near-term alternative solution for fossil energy dependence in both electricity generation and transportation. Though thermochemical conversion can produce solid/liquid fuels that are compatible in existing infrastructure, detailed scientific chemical and mechanistic understanding are still being developed. In contribution to these efforts, this work is focused on development of a semiempirical, lumped parameter, chemical kinetic model to describe the degradation of woody biomass.

The initial kinetic model was developed in the torrefaction region to describe the gas-phase evolution of products (water, organic acids, permanent gases, and furfural) through a three consecutive reaction model. In this model, …

Section 2: Materials, Design & Manufacturing, Ectc Coordinating Committee

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Proceedings of the 15th Annual Early Career Technical Conference, November 7, 2015. School of Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; pp. 37-64

We All Go Home! The Evolution Of Firefighter Accountability Systems, Jeremy Roy

Honors Theses

Accountability is arguably the single most important tool that a fire department has at its disposal. Although accountability systems have been used throughout history, one thing is proven: when there is no accountability system in place, it is only a matter of time before firefighters will get injured, or worse, lose their lives. This work will discuss the history of fire department methodology dealing with the creation of incident management accountability systems. In order to provide historical evidence that lack of an accountability system can cause injury or death, case studies of multiple fire departments that have reported line of …

Multi-Scale Visualization Of Molecular Architecture Using Real-Time Ambient Occlusion In Sculptor, Manuel Wahle, Willy Wriggers

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

The modeling of large biomolecular assemblies relies on an efficient rendering of their hierarchical architecture across a wide range of spatial level of detail. We describe a paradigm shift currently under way in computer graphics towards the use of more realistic global illumination models, and we apply the so-called ambient occlusion approach to our opensource multi-scale modeling program, Sculptor. While there are many other higher quality global illumination approaches going all the way up to full GPU-accelerated ray tracing, they do not provide size-specificity of the features they shade. Ambient occlusion is an aspect of global lighting that offers great …

Nebraska Summary: S1018 Massey Ferguson 7724, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Test 2122: New Holland T8.320, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Test 2108: John Deere 9420r, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Offshore Turbine Arrays: Numerical Modeling And Experimental Validation, Thomas Kroll, William Hall, Ian Gagnon

Honors Theses and Capstones

The interaction between wind turbines in a large wind farm needs to be better understood to reduce array losses and improve energy production. A numerical test bed for an array of offshore wind turbines was developed in the open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) framework OpenFOAM. It provides a computational tool which can be used in combination with physical model turbine array studies in the Flow Physics Facility (FPF) at UNH as well as other test facilities.

Turbines were modeled as actuator disks with turbulence sources to reduce computational cost. Both k-ϵ and k-ω SST turbulence models were utilized to capture …

An Experimental Investigation On Friction And Scuffing Failure Of Lubricated Point Contacts, Sai Goutham Soma

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Scuffing failure is a catastrophic thermal failure mode induced by the extreme surface temperature of the contacting components. As two mechanical elements roll against each other with high sliding motion, the frictional heat flux elevates the surface temperature to exceed the critical limit, resulting in the welding of the surfaces. The relative motion then tears the welded surfaces apart, causing the damage. Scuffing failure has been an important failure mode for rolling machine elements such as bearings and gears in aerospace applications, owing to the very high operating speeds. Recently, this failure mode has extended to the automotive field, where …

Fiber Compaction And Wetout In Tapered Resin Injection Pultrusion Manufacturing, Naveen Babu Masuram

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pultrusion is a continuous process for manufacturing composite materials with constant cross section. Reinforced fibers are pulled through a resin, possibly folloby a separate injection chamber preforming system, and into a heated die, where the resin undergoes complete wetout. Thus the required pultruded composite is obtained in the desired profile. The main objective of this research is to present a numerical model employing the finite volume technique to simulate the resin flow in a tapered injection chamber through the fiber reinforcement when compaction of the fiber reinforcement is taken into account. The numerical model predicts the impact of design and …

Some Experimental Investigation On Effect Of Light And Vibration On Nano Coated Piezo For Energy Harvesting, Abhay Sharma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PZT is a promising piezoelectric ceramic material which has a wide range of applications in a variety of fields such as acoustic sensors and transducers, electrical switches, medical instrumentation, artificial sensitive skin in robotics, automotive detection on roads, nondestructive testing , structural health monitoring and as a biocompatible material. In this research a cantilever based multi energy harvester was developed to maximize the power output of PZT sensor. Nano mixtures containing graphene, ferrofluid nanoparticle (FNP) and ZnO nano particles were used to enhance the piezoelectric and photovoltaic output of the sensor. The samples were tested under different energy conditions to …

Spray Deposition Modeling Of Carbon Nano-Inks, John Sparkman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Carbon nanopaper (CNP) exhibits qualities that are desirable for a number of applications such as flame retardancy, lightning protection, and flexible printed circuit boards. CNP has become a desired engineering material in many important sectors of industries such as space, automotive, aviation, and military. However the production of consistent thicknesses and dispersion remains a challenge for practical use. Most of the standard methods of production do not allow for continuous applications or digital fabrication of the CNP. In this work, CNP is produced two different ways that allows for continuous production and digital fabrication. The continuous CNP making technique uses …

Evaporative Techniques For Stormwater Runoff Alleviation, Allison M. Arnold

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Current climate changes have led to a projected steady increase in rainfall over the next several decades, notably in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. Even without this predicted increase the urbanization of many regions has altered local natural environments, which in the past stored, shed and evaporated this runoff water effectively, maintaining balance within the water table. These added rainfall forecasts, combined with America’s growing trend to develop and expand the urbanization of our natural earth, has resulted in a growing surplus of stormwater runoff water affecting these cities and their suburbs, leaving many sanitation departments unable to meet the heightened …

On The Thermally Induced Failure Of Rolling Element Bearings, Jafar Takabi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is devoted to the investigation of thermally induced seizure of rolling element bearings. A comprehensive thermal model of the rolling element bearings is developed which can predict the operating temperature of the bearing components in a wide range of operating conditions. The validity of this thermal model is verified by comparing the simulation results with a set of experiments. The results of simulations reveal that the rotational speed, oil viscosity and cooling rate of the housing have a significant influence on the operating temperature of the rolling bearings. To provide detailed information about all of the contact forces …

Physics And Applications Of A Pdms Based Centrifugal Microfluidic System, Ziliang Cai

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this research work is to develop a centrifugal microfluidic system for general purposes based on microfabrication technologies including SU-8 photolithography, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) casting. The main contribution of this research is to integrate a flyball governor system into the polymer based centrifugal microfluidic platform. A series of function units are developed based on this unique mechanism. In the first part, three pinch valve systems were designed and tested. The first one is based on the magnetic force and the second one is on the basis of spring force and the last one is a membrane valve. All valving …

A Simulation-Based Approach To Risk Assessment And Mitigation In Supply Chain Networks, Mamadou Seck, Ghaith Rabadi, Christian Koestler

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

We present in this paper a simulation-based approach to evaluate the risk associated with supply chain disruptions caused by failures in some supply chains nodes and measure the impact of such disruptions on supply chain key performance measures (KPIs) of interest. The proposed framework enables analysts and managers to repeatedly assess the risk to their supply chains based on various simulated scenarios and identify the most critical nodes whose disruption will have the highest impact on the KPIs of interest. As a result, companies can focus on the most critical supply chain assets and develop targeted mitigation plans that minimize …

Accelerated Life Testing To Predict Service Life And Reliability For An Appliance Door Hinge, Seunghyeon Cheon, Hyunsoo Jeong, So Young Hwang, Seokmoo Hong, Naksoo Kim, Joseph P. Domblesky

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Appliance manufacturers have traditionally performed physical testing using prototypes to assess reliability and service integrity of new product designs. However, for white goods where service lives are measured in years or decades, the use of endurance testing to analyze long time reliability is uneconomical. As accelerated life testing (ALT) is more efficient and less costly than traditional reliability testing, the methodology is finding increased usage by appliance manufacturers. In the present study, a simulation-based ALT approach was used to predict the service life of a polyacetal hinge cam from a consumer refrigerator. A predictive life stress model based on cumulative …

Carbon Based Nano-Composite Materials For Energy Storage Applications, Gerardo Rodriguez Melo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Energy storage systems and devices are an integral part of advanced electronic technology. Electronic technology is ever-advancing, but in order to do so, it must be supported by all its systems. The energy storage system is one key system that may dictate the performance and limitation of such electronics. Thus, research emphasis on energy storage devices has been on improving the performance of energy storage devices, such as: improved energy and power density, increased stability and cycle life, as well as reduced costs. Lithium-ion-batteries, and supercapacitors offer the potential to meet energy storage demands and to be improved further upon. …

Reaction Of Liquid Aluminium- Samarium Alloys With B4c At Ultra High Temperatures, Sanjay Shantha-Kumar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Reactive studies between a packed bed of B4C and Al-Sm-Me (Me = Ti, Zr, Hf) alloy melts were carried out under a pseudo-isopiestic thermodynamic system. A graphite enclosure isolated the system under a temperature gradient with one end reaching temperatures greater than 1800 K and the opposite end of the graphite enclosure contains liquid Al with temperatures approximating 950 K. The liquid Al establishes an oxygen potential to control oxidation of very reactive elements (i.e., Al, Sm and Ti). The Al-Sm-Me alloy infuses into a packed bed of B4C reacting exothermically to form borides and carbides depending on the thermodynamic …

Defeating Anisotropy In Material Extrusion 3d Printing Via Materials Development, Ángel Ramón Torrado Pérez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Additive Manufacturing technologies has been in continuous development for more than 35 years. Specifically, the later denominated Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing (MEAM), was first developed by S. Scott Crump around 1988 and trademarked later as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). Although all of these technologies have been around for a while, it was not until recently that they have been more accessible to everyone. Today, the market of 3D printers covers all ranges of price, from very specialized, heavy and expensive machines, to desktop printers of only a few cubic inches in volume. Until recently, FDM technology had remained somewhat stagnant …

Spectral Radiation Analysis Of Premixed Oxy-Syngas And Oxy-Methane Flames, Naznin Jahan Afrose

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Oxy-fuel combustion has potential to be an impeccable enhancement of current combustion techniques. For a hydrocarbon burning with oxygen the resulting exhaust stream is composed mainly of carbon dioxide and water vapor. This exhaust allows for easier carbon capture and sequestration since the water can be condensed out. Another advantage is the significant reduction of NOx since much of the nitrogen found in air-combustion systems is eliminated. These processes also provide a higher theoretical efficiency which is advantageous. Although beneficial many of the exhaust gas products radiative characteristics are unknown. Motivated by this, this paper focuses on the spectral radiation …

Design And Analysis Of A Novel Latch System Implementing Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials, Francisco Guevara

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The use of fiber-reinforced composite materials have increased in the last four decades in high technology applications due to their exceptional mechanical properties and low weight. In the automotive industry carbon fiber have become popular exclusively in luxury cars because of its high cost. However, Carbon-glass hybrid composites offer an effective alternative to designers to implement fiber-reinforced composites into several conventional applications without a considerable price increase maintaining most of their mechanical properties. A door latch system is a complex mechanism that is under high loading conditions during car accidents such as side impacts and rollovers. Therefore, the Department of …

Effect Of Impact Damage On Compression-Compression Fatigue Behavior Of Sandwich Composites, Ali M. Al-Sharif

Wayne State University Dissertations

The aim of this research work was to investigate the effect of impact damage on in-plane buckling and compression-compression fatigue behavior for a new sandwich structure made from E-glass/epoxy face sheets over end-grain balsa wood core. Low velocity impact tests were carried out using a drop-weight impact tower by impacting the sandwich beam at the center with energy level slightly higher than threshold energy level of 8.8 J. Edge-wise compression static tests were conducted for impacted and non-impacted samples to address energy absorption characteristics of these composites. Analytical and experimental investigations were carried out to measure critical buckling loads and …

Relationship Between Product Quality And Customer Satisfaction, Albert Vitales Cruz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The National Safety Council (NSC) estimated that over 35,000 people died in U.S. traffic accidents. About 3.8 million traffic crash injuries requiring medical attention occurred in 2013, and the number of deaths was about the same over the last 5 years. The NSC found that product recalls, car repairs, injuries, and deaths were due to unsafe product designs or inferior product quality. These statistics underscore the challenge of producing quality vehicles while satisfying customers. The purpose of this nonexperimental study was to examine relationships among product (vehicle) quality, product cost, product safety, and consumer satisfaction. The hypotheses inquired the extent …

Addressing New Skills Needed For The Automotive Industry Through A Motorsports Educational Pathway, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Mileta M. Tomovic, Alok K. Verma, Nathan Luetke, Steve Branch

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The automotive industry has higher-skilled positions available that need engineers and engineering technologists qualified and capable to work in a high-paced, advanced manufacturing sector. Various educational programs across the country offer programs related to the motorsports area at the Associate of Science level. There are also various articu-lation agreements that enable students to continue their education to the baccalaureate level. These programs try to fill in the gap related to the skills shortage in systems and new design methods and processes. The main strength of such educational pathways is that students, who are trained to work as technicians with an …

Development Of A Thickness Accommodation Technique For Origami-Inspired Design, Bryce Edmondson

Theses and Dissertations

Designers are constantly searching for new sourcing of inspiration for innovative design. Recently, origami has gained interest as one of these potential sources. Origami literally translated from Japanese means “paper folding” where “oru” means “to fold” and “kami” means “paper”. Since paper is insufficient to solve many engineering design problems, designers must turn to other materials. These materials will inevitably be thicker than paper and will often require different folding techniques and considerations. This thesis provides background information describing previous methods to accommodate thickness in origami-inspired design, presents a newly developed technique to address limitations of other methods, and explores …

Investigating The Engineering, Scientific, And Medical Basis For Ventilation In Health Care Facilities: Preliminary Literature Review And Special Attention To One Prototypical Application, Lu Shen, Sheldon M. Jeter

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 1: Bio-Medical/Bioengineering; pp. 28-36

A Beginner’S Guide To Controller Area Network Bus Access In Modern Vehicles, Timothy D. Fisher, Kevin Mcfall

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 3: Dynamic Systems & Control; pp. 72-75