Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Relative Navigation In Gps Degraded Environments, Timothy Mclain, David Wheeler, Paul W. Nyholm, Daniel P. Koch, Gary J. Ellingson, Benjamin J. Lewis, Randall W. Beard

Faculty Publications

For unmanned aircraft systems to become fully integrated into society, safe and reliable methods for estimation and control are required even when global measurements such as GPS are degraded or unavailable. In these situations, estimating the vehicle's global state directly leads to inaccuracy and inconsistency. The relative navigation framework avoids these issues by estimating the vehicle's state with respect to a current local coordinate frame associated with a visual odometry algorithm. A globally consistent and localized pose-graph map is produced by compounding these local estimates and opportunistically incorporating additional constraints such as GPS measurements and loop closures. This architecture increases …

Fuzzy Control Of Flexible Multibody Spacecraft: A Linear Matrix Inequality Approach, Chokri Sendi

Engineering Ph.D. Theses

To reduce the cost of lifting to orbit, modern spacecraft and structures used in space applications are designed from light material as flexible multibody system. Moreover The unprecedented requirements for rapid retargeting, precision pointing and tracking capability have made these multibody highly flexible spacecraft vulnerable to dynamic excitation caused by the slewing/pointing maneuver, vibration and external disturbances. As a result, this will degrade the performance of the spacecraft including the pointing accuracy. Thus the aspect of modeling and control become extremely important for the safe and effective operation. Despite the numerous research, the development of high performance, nonlinear control laws …

A Numerical Study Of Compressible Lid Driven Cavity Flow With A Moving Boundary, Amer Hussain

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A two-dimensional (2-D), mathematical model is adopted to investigate the development of circulation patterns for compressible, laminar, and shear driven flow inside a rectangular cavity. The bottom of the cavity is free to move at a specified speed and the aspect ratio of the cavity is changed from 1.0 to 1.5. The vertical sides and the bottom of the cavity are assumed insulated. The cavity is filled with a compressible fluid with Prandtl number, Pr =1. The governing equations are solved numerically using the commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) package ANSYS FLUENT 2015 and compared with the results for the …

Focal Adhesion Kinase Regulation In Stem Cell Alignment And Spreading On Nanofibers, Mohammad Nahid Andalib, Jeong Soon Lee, Ligyeom Ha, Yuris A. Dzenis, Jung Yul Lim

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

While electrospun nanofibers have demonstrated the potential for novel tissue engineering scaffolds, very little is known about the molecular mechanism of how cells sense and adapt to nanofibers. Here, we revealed the role of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), one of the key molecular sensors in the focal adhesion complex, in regulating mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) shaping on nanofibers. We produced uniaxially aligned and randomly distributed nanofibers from poly(L-lactic acid) to have the same diameters (about 130 nm) and evaluated MSC behavior on these nanofibers comparing with that on flat PLLA control. C3H10T1/2 murine MSCs exhibited upregulations in FAK expression and …

Continuum And Molecular-Dynamics Simulation Of Nanodroplet Collisions, Raunak Bardia, Zhi Liang, Pawel Keblinski, Mario F. Trujillo

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Extent to Which the Continuum Treatment Holds in Binary Droplet Collisions is Examined in the Present Work by using a Continuum-Based Implicit Surface Capturing Strategy (Volume-Of-Fluid Coupled to Navier-Stokes) and a Molecular Dynamics Methodology. the Droplet Pairs Are Arranged in a Head-On-Collision Configuration with an Initial Separation Distance of 5.3 Nm and a Velocity of 3 Ms-1. the Size of Droplets Ranges from 10-50 Nm. Inspecting the Results, the Collision Process Can Be Described as Consisting of Two Periods: A Preimpact Phase that Ends with the Initial Contact of Both Droplets, and a Postimpact Phase Characterized by the Merging, …

Agricultural Field Robotics For Plant Data Acquisition, Jeremy S. Blackford, Jared Werner, Tyler A. Troyer, Ethan Nutter

UCARE: Research Products

As the demand for food increases, we are presented with the challenge of producing food more efficiently. With the help of agricultural robots it will be possible to achieve greater yields by the application of seeds, fertilizers and chemicals in the most efficient way possible. With more advanced robotic systems accurate crop data can be obtained to improve farming products and techniques.

Flex-Row is a medium sized agricultural robotic platform built for autonomously traversing through rough fields during multiple crop growing stages. This platform consisting of a flexible frame with the ability to vary both width and height will initially …

Scalable Three-Dimensional Grasping Mechanism, Ikya Mamidala

Master of Technology Management Plan II Graduate Projects

In this work, we develop a scalable end-effector mechanism for grasping three- dimensional objects with sizes ranging from micrometer to millimeter scale. The design architecture of the gripper comprises an array of identical fingers patented in a circular fashion. Each finger is designed from a novel linkage mechanism whose end effector is manipulated by two independent actuators. In this research, we study three finger gripper device, where each is obtained from a 3 - linkage mechanism. The device is controlled by three independent piezo actuators, and one electro-magnetic solenoid common to each mechanism. The gripping capability depends on how fingers …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2016, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Satellite Retrievals Of Karenia Brevis Harmful Algal Blooms In The West Florida Shelf Using Neural Networks And Comparisons With Other Techniques, Ahmed El-Habashi, Ioannis Ioannou, Michelle Tomlinson, Richard P. Stumpf, Sam Ahmed

Publications and Research

We describe the application of a Neural Network (NN) previously developed by us, to the detection and tracking, of Karenia brevis Harmful Algal Blooms (KB HABs) that plague the coasts of the West Florida Shelf (WFS) using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite observations. Previous approaches for the detection of KB HABs in the WFS primarily used observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Aqua (MODIS-A) satellite. They depended on the remote sensing reflectance signal at the 678 nm chlorophyll fluorescence band (Rrs678) needed for both the normalized fluorescence height (nFLH) and Red Band Difference algorithms (RBD) currently used. …

Mechanical Engineering News, Georgia Southern University

Mechanical Engineering: News & Publications (2013-2023)

• Award for Excellence in Graduate Research

Walking Simulator Mechanism, Titus Lungu, Igor Tachynskyy, Omri Tayyara

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

This paper presents the design, simulation, and kinematic evaluation of a mechanism aimed at simulating both the motion and ground reaction forces produced by a human foot while walking. Such a mechanism can be used to test the durability of shoes through life cycle analysis. In attempting to mimic the physical motion of the human foot as closely as possible, the forces experienced by the human foot were also accurately replicated through the incorporation of a non-stationary testing platform. As is shown in the paper, this testing environment allows for simple adjustments to be made in order to simulate different …

Evaluating The Economic Impacts Of The Legislatively Delayed Provisions Of The 5th Edition (2014) Florida Building Code (Final Report), Florida Solar Energy Center, Robin Vieira

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This research provides an assessment of the potential economic impacts of implementing three legislatively delayed requirements of the Florida Building Code, 5th Edition (2014): 1) residential air leakage testing, 2) residential whole-house mechanical ventilation, and 3) two fire service access elevators for applicable buildings.

A Study On The Effects Of Example Familiarity And Modality On Design Fixation, Vimal Viswanathan, Megan Tomko, Julie Linsey

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

Design fixation is a factor that negatively influences the generation of novel design concepts (Jansson & Smith, 1991). When designers fixate, they tend to reproduce example features or features from their initial ideas. In order to mitigate design fixation, it is crucial to identify the factors that influence the extent of design fixation. This paper investigates two such factors: the modality of examples and the familiarity of designers with the example features. To investigate this, an experiment is conducted with mechanical engineering students who were asked to generate ideas to solve a peanut sheller design problem. The students generated ideas …

Design And Implementation Of A Controller For A Beaglebone Quadcopter, Peter Olejnik

Graduate Theses - Mechanical Engineering

Unmanned aerial vehicles are quickly becoming a significant and permanent feature in today's world of aviation. Amongst the various types of UAVs, a popular type is the quadcopter. Also referred to as a quadrotor, this rotor craft's defining feature is that it has four propellers. While its use is common in the hobbyist community, this aircraft's use within industry is blooming.

Presented are the efforts to design and implement a controller for a BeagleBone based quadcopter. As part of this effort, characteristics of the quadcopter were experimentally determined. These characteristics consist of physical properties of the quadcopter, such as the …

Optical Analysis And Fabrication Of Micro And Nanoscale Plasmonically Enhanced Devices, Avery M. Hill

Physics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Plasmonic nanostructures have been shown to act as optical antennas that enhance optical devices due to their ability to focus light below the diffraction limit of light and enhance the intensity of the incident light. This study focuses on computational electromagnetic (CEM) analysis of two devices: 1) GaAs photodetectors with Au interdigital electrodes and 2) Au thin-film microstructures. Experiments showed that the photoresponse of the interdigital photodetectors depend greatly on the electrode gap and the polarization of the incident light. Smaller electrode gap and transverse polarization give rise to a larger photoresponse. It was also shown that the response from …

Assessing The Advantages Of Using Square Wave Signals For Particle Trapping In Carbon-Electrode Dielectrophoresis, Guillermo Contreras-Dávila, Jose I. Gomez-Quiñones, Victor H. Pérez-González, Rodrigo Martinez-Duarte

Publications

Here we present an improvement on the trapping efficiency of 3D carbon electrode Dielectrophoresis (carbonDEP) by using alternative signal geometries to the more traditional sine used to stimulate the electrodes. In particular, a square waveform is used. Theoretical analysis was based on the Root Mean Square (RMS) values and the Fourier Series Expansion of these signals. Computational modeling was performed to calculate the DEP force generated by the two signal waveforms and allowed for direct comparison. The trapping efficiency between square and sine signals was then determined experimentally. Given the same experiment characteristics, the use of square signals allows for …

Synthesis Of Tungsten Carbide From Bacterial Cellulose, Monsur Islam, Rodrigo Martinez-Duarte

Publications

Here we present preliminary experiments for the synthesis of carbide material using bacterial cellulose as carbon source. We used bacteria cellulose available as Nata de Coco and infiltrated it with tungsten trioxide (WO₃) nanoparticles. This composite was heat treated at 1300 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. The XRD pattern confirms the synthesis of tungsten carbide (WC) in the carbonaceous material, though a significant amount of metallic tungsten remained unreacted. SEM images shows that WC particles are present only at the surface of the carbon, which may be a consequence of improper infiltration or collapse of carbon matrix during heat …

Synthesis Of Titanium Oxycarbide Through Carbothermal Reduction Of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles And Renewable Biopolymers, Joshua Paul Flach, Paulo Henrique Figuereido De Lima, Joshua Craig Sparks, Monsur Islam, Rodrigo Martinez-Duarte

Publications

The goal of this is study is to explore the feasibility of a sustainable method of titanium oxycarbide synthesis through carbothermal reduction of a biopolymer composite. The reaction was studied at different temperatures in vacuum environments and at multiple TiO₂:C ratios in order to determine how these parameters affect the formation of titanium oxycarbide. The results indicate that both the heat treatment and the carbon ratios have a significant impact on the O/C ratio, and therefore, molecular composition and crystal structure of the titanium oxycarbide. The use of renewable biopolymers as a carbon source in the synthesis of …

Towards Additive Manufacturing Of Tungsten Carbide Using Renewable Resources, Monsur Islam, Rodrigo Martinez-Duarte

Publications

Here we present preliminary results towards additive manufacturing of carbides. A biopolymer-metal oxide gel composite composed of iota-carrageenan, chitin and tungsten trioxide (WO₃) was shaped and heat treated in order to obtain carbide structures. Upon heat treatment of this composite above 900 °C, a porous structure of tungsten carbide (WC) was obtained. The synthesis mechanism of WC was estimated using the result from XRD characterization. The synthesized WC was characterized with SEM, TEM and nitrogen absorption-desorption to investigate the morphology, particle size and pore size distribution. The carbonaceous materials retained the original shape. The ongoing work is on …

3d Carbon-Electrode Dielectrophoresis For Enrichment Of A Small Cell Population From A Large Sample Volume, Monsur Islam, Rucha Natu, Maria Fernanda Larraga-Martinez, Guillermo Contreras-Dávila, Rodrigo Martinez-Duarte

Publications

Isolation and enrichment of cells from a diluted sample is necessary for different clinical applications. Here we have demonstrated the use of 3D carbon electrode dielectrophoresis (DEP) to process a diluted yeast sample featuring concentration as low as 102 cells/ml. The yeast cells in the sample were first trapped on carbon electrodes by implementing positive DEP force and then released and concentrated in a small volume of clean buffer. The maximum limit of the cell trapping for our device was found to be around 4000 cells. Using 10 µl/min, an enrichment of 154.2 ± 23.7 folds was achieved, where sample …

Micro-Raman Investigation Of Residual Stresses In Sic/Sic Composites, Kaitlin Kollins

The University Honors Program

Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) are being developed for use in extreme operating conditions. Specifically, there is interest to replace superalloys with Silicon-Carbide/Silicon-Carbide (SiC/SiC) CMCs in the hot section of gas turbine engines because of their lower densities, high temperature performance, and oxidation resistance. Due to the high temperature processing conditions of SiC/SiC CMCs, there are thermal residual stresses inherent to the material. This study focused on using micro-Raman Spectroscopy on as manufactured SiC/SiC CMCs to measure and investigate the residual stresses within a fiber and the matrix material. Following the silicon Raman active mode at 520 cm-1 and the SiC …

Shrinkage Analysis Of Carbon Micro Structures Derived From Su-8 Photoresist, Rucha Natu, Monsur Islam, Rodrigo Martinez-Duarte

Publications

We present preliminary results for the analysis of shrinkage of 3D carbon posts obtained by the pyrolysis of SU-8 precursor structures, in a technique known as Carbon MEMS. Though the shrinkage in the carbon structures is highly reproducible, there is a strong dependence of this shrinkage on the initial dimensions of the SU-8 pillars. Our hypothesis is that the shrinkage depends upon the area available for degassing during carbonization. In this work, this idea is used to analyze shrinkage in cylindrical pillars. The results obtained are studied based on the ratio of lateral and top surface area available for degassing …

Numerical Modeling Of An Alloy Droplet Deposition With Non-Equilibrium Solidification, Vimal Ramanuj

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Droplet deposition is a process of extensive relevance to the microfabrication industry. Various bonding and film deposition methods utilize single or multiple droplet impingements on a substrate with subsequent splat formation through simultaneous spreading and solidification. Splat morphology and solidification characteristics play vital roles in determining the final outcome. Experimental methods have limited reach in studying such phenomena owing to the extremely small time and length scales involved. Fundamental understanding of the governing principles of fluid flow, heat transfer and phase change provide effective means of studying such processes through computational techniques. The present study aims at numerically modeling and …

Enhanced Specific Heat Of Molten Salt Nanofluids, Hani Tiznobaik

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Concentrated solar power uses general thermodynamic cycles (such as Rankine or Gas turbine cycle) to produce electricity and thus its efficiency primarily relies on the operating temperature of thermal energy storage. Current thermal energy storage medium is organic material such as synthetic oil or fatty acid. However, these materials are not stable at high temperatures due to their thermal decomposition. Using molten salts as thermal energy storage medium is a very attractive option since they are thermally stable at high temperatures (over 600 °C). They also have very lower vapor pressure (for reducing mechanical stress on structure materials), less reactive, …

Data Engineering In Aerospace Systems Design & Forecasting, Eric Haney

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Although engineers spend the majority of their time finding, managing, and transforming data, the process of how to handle data remains under-educated & under-researched. The alignment of engineering education & proficiency along an analysis-dominated mindset is ill-conditioned for the growing reliance on data-driven processes and holistic decision-making requirements. Although a majority of driving decisions in the aerospace industry rely heavily on utilizing existing organizational data-stores and built-in knowledge bases to make informed decisions, formalized development & implementation of data within existing engineering processes is seldom addressed. The current research defines a complementary discipline, Data-Engineering, which seeks to capitalize on the …

Exergy Analysis Of A Pulse Detonation Engine Linear Power Generator, Raheem Temitope Bello

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The fuel efficiency of a power generator is a key metric for evaluating its performance. The common engineering practice is to determine the thermal efficiency of the system by applying the conservation of energy also known as the first law of thermodynamics. However, for heat engine power generators, and other thermal systems, the thermal efficiency is not sufficient for detailed system performance analysis. Exergy analysis, which applies both the first and second law of thermodynamics, enables the determination of the directionality of thermal processes, and the system’s available work. This more complete thermodynamic analysis approach is applied to a pulse …

Maximizing Use Of Air-Side Economization, Direct And Indirect Evaporative Cooling For Energy Efficient Data Centers, Betsegaw Kebede Gebrehiwot

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Data centers house information technology (IT) equipment such as servers and network switches which are vital for our networked modern society by providing digital data storage, data processing and connectivity. Data centers house few hundreds to tens of thousands of IT equipment that consume few kilowatt-hours to multi-megawatt-hours of electrical energy that gets dissipated as heat. IT equipment need to be properly cooled so that they operate reliably for their expected lifetime. For air cooled IT equipment, manufacturers provide heat sinks, cold plates, fans, et cetera to remove heat from the vicinity of heat dissipating components and data centers need …

Human Robot Interaction With 3d-Printed Whole Body Robotic Skin, Fahad Mirza

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

This thesis presents work of a newly developed pressure sensor for robot skin, from fabrication to application. Robot skin similar to human skin meant to have several sensing capabilities including pressure, temperature etc. As the conventional semiconductor manufacturing process is not adequate for multi-modal sensors, a new process, called Electro-Hydro-Dynamic Printing, has been explored in this work. A calibration technique was implemented along with printing parameter fixation by trial and error. A testing methodology was proposed to test these sensors and several commercial robots were used to conduct pHRI experiments with pressure sensing capability.

Finite Element Based Cross-Sectional Buckling Optimization For A Constant Area, Pinned-Pinned Composite Column, Anirudh Srinivas

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

In archery, dynamic buckling compromises the target accuracy of arrows. For both dynamic and quasi-static buckling, the buckling load depends on the cross-sectional area moment of inertia, which can be increased by modifying the cross-sectional shape of the arrow shaft. Arrows commercially available today are made up of composite materials and have a tubular circular cross-section. In this study an effort has been made to optimize the cross-sectional shape of the composite arrow shaft, using finite element based, quasi-static buckling analysis keeping the length and area of the cross-section constant. The composite column is pinned at both ends and is …

Human Robot Interaction Using Knowledge Base Approach, Utsav Shah

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

This research investigated Human Robot Interaction modalities. The performance of a robotic prosthetic hand (RPH) was used as a test bed robot. A user wearable glove was fitted with sensors to provide tele-control of the RPH. An open hardware control and easily expandable research platform based on LabVIEW software and myRIO control hardware was developed. LabVIEW graphical programming platform provides the tools for the development to customized interfaces for visualization purposes which is desired in research. The research platform was used to calibrate and control the operation of the artificial hand using various modalities such as open loop, glove master-slave …