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2017

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Articles 301 - 330 of 1379

Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Effect Of Optimizing Particle Size In Laser Metal Deposition With Blown Pre-Mixed Powders, Wei Li, Jingwei Zhang, Xinchang Zhang, Sreekar Karnati, Frank W. Liou Aug 2017

Effect Of Optimizing Particle Size In Laser Metal Deposition With Blown Pre-Mixed Powders, Wei Li, Jingwei Zhang, Xinchang Zhang, Sreekar Karnati, Frank W. Liou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Functionally Graded Material (FGM) is often fabricated by Laser metal deposition with pre-mixed multiple powders (PMM-powder). Since the supplied PMM-powder directly affects FGM’s composition, investigation on PMM-powder’s property is greatly needed. This paper employed experimental method to observe an important problem: PMM-powder separation in fabricating FGM. A novel particle size optimization method was introduced as solution to eliminate the powder separation. Pre-mixed pure Cu and 4047 Al powders were used to do two experiments. The first experiment result disclosed the existence of powder separation. By optimizing the particle size, the PMM-powder separation was effectively solved in the second experiment result.


Towards Defect Detection In Metal Slm Parts Using Modal Analysis "Fingerprinting", James Urban, Nick E. Capps, Brian M. West, Troy Hartwig, Ben Brown, Robert G. Landers, Douglas A. Bristow, Edward C. Kinzel Aug 2017

Towards Defect Detection In Metal Slm Parts Using Modal Analysis "Fingerprinting", James Urban, Nick E. Capps, Brian M. West, Troy Hartwig, Ben Brown, Robert G. Landers, Douglas A. Bristow, Edward C. Kinzel

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The validation of Additively Manufactured (AM) materials is a difficult and expensive process because the local engineering properties are a function of the thermal history. The thermal history varies with the process parameters, as well as the part geometry. This paper presents a case study using modal testing to identify defects in realistic AM parts. A setup consisting of a Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) was used to identify the resonant frequencies for several geometrically identical parts on a build plate. Parts with suboptimal process parameters from purposely varying the process parameters, are identified by a shift in the mode …


Construction Of Metallic Glass Structures By Laser-Foil-Printing Technology, Yiyu Shen, Yingqi Li, Hai-Lung Tsai Aug 2017

Construction Of Metallic Glass Structures By Laser-Foil-Printing Technology, Yiyu Shen, Yingqi Li, Hai-Lung Tsai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Metallic glasses (MGs) have superior mechanical properties such as high tensile strength, hardness, and corrosion resistance, as compared to crystalline metals. Although newly developed MGs have significantly reduced critical cooling rates down to 10 K/s, products of MGs are still limited to simple geometries such as foils/plates or rods with thin section-thickness which is mainly caused by the decrease of thermal conductivities of the new MGs. Recently, we developed a new Laser-foil-printing (LFP) additive manufacturing technology which welds foils, layer by layer, to construct desired 3D structures. With the LFP and Zr-based amorphous foils, 3D, large amorphous structures with complex …


Fabricating Zirconia Parts With Organic Support Material By The Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion Process, Wenbin Li, Amir Ghazanfari, Devin Mcmillen, Andrew Scherff, Ming-Chuan Leu, Greg Hilmas Aug 2017

Fabricating Zirconia Parts With Organic Support Material By The Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion Process, Wenbin Li, Amir Ghazanfari, Devin Mcmillen, Andrew Scherff, Ming-Chuan Leu, Greg Hilmas

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion (CODE) is an extrusion-based additive manufacturing process recently developed for fabricating dense, functional ceramic components. This paper presents a further development of this process and focuses on fabricating 3 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) components that cannot be fabricated without using support structures. The 3YSZ paste is deposited through the main nozzle, and a polycaprolactone (PCL) pellet feedstock is melted and deposited through an auxiliary nozzle to build support structures. After a green part is printed and dried, the support structures are removed by heating the part to ~70 ⁰C to melt the PCL. The part is then …


Development Of A Hybrid Manufacturing Process For Precision Metal Parts, Leon Hill, Todd E. Sparks, Frank W. Liou Aug 2017

Development Of A Hybrid Manufacturing Process For Precision Metal Parts, Leon Hill, Todd E. Sparks, Frank W. Liou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper summarizes the research and development of a hybrid manufacturing process to produce fully dense metal parts with CNC-level precision. High performance metals, such as titanium alloys, nickel superalloys, tool steels, stainless steels, etc. can benefit from this process. Coupling the additive and the subtractive processes into a multi-axis workstation, the hybrid process, can produce and repair metal parts with accuracy. The surface quality of the final product is similar to the industrial milling capability. To achieve such a system, issues of the metal deposition process and the automated process planning of the hybrid manufacturing process will be discussed.


Cancer Diagnosis By Bioimpedance Spectroscopy And Computer-Assisted Pattern Recognition, Shahriar Shams Aug 2017

Cancer Diagnosis By Bioimpedance Spectroscopy And Computer-Assisted Pattern Recognition, Shahriar Shams

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

The field of cancer diagnostics has always been one of the most complex and challenging areas in biomedical research, and there has been an increasing demand for more advanced clinical diagnostic equipment over the past four decades. In this thesis, a custom-made coaxial bioimpedance sensor was used, in combination with computer-aided pattern recognition tools, to identify cancer in tissue samples obtained from the formalin-fixed kidney of a 60 year-old male patient. Impedance data was collected using the coaxial sensor at 401 logarithmically-spaced frequency points ranging from 10 kHz to 100 MHz. Principle Component Analysis and Naive Bayes Classification techniques were …


Shape-Adaptive Mechanism For Robotic Grasping, Carl A. Nelson Aug 2017

Shape-Adaptive Mechanism For Robotic Grasping, Carl A. Nelson

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A grapser can include a first pantograph cell and a second pantograph cell coupled with the first pantogrpah cell. The first and second pantograph cells can be coupled together at a first pivot and a second pivot. The grasper can also include a finger extendable in a direction extending between the first pivot and the second pivot. The grasper can include a support base, where one or more links of the first pantograph cell can be slidably coupled with the support base for extending the grasper. In some embodiment, the grasper can be configured to extend along a curved path. …


The Application Of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition To Numerically Modeled And Measured Ocean Surface Wave Fields Remotely Sensed By Radar, Andrew Joseph Kammerer Aug 2017

The Application Of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition To Numerically Modeled And Measured Ocean Surface Wave Fields Remotely Sensed By Radar, Andrew Joseph Kammerer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Phase-resolved ocean surface wave elevation maps provide important information for many scientific research areas (e.g., rogue waves, wave-current interactions, and wave evolution/growth) as well as for commercial and defense applications (e.g., naval and shipping operations). To produce these maps, measurements in both time and space are necessary. While conventional wave sensing techniques are limited spatially, marine radar has proven to be a complex yet promising remote sensing tool capable of providing both temporal and spatial wave measurements. The radar return from the sea surface is complex because it contains contributions from many sources only part of which provide information about …


Proton Transfer In Molten Lithium Carbonate: Mechanism And Kinetics By Density Functional Theory Calculations, Xueling Lei, Kevin Huang, Changyong Qin Aug 2017

Proton Transfer In Molten Lithium Carbonate: Mechanism And Kinetics By Density Functional Theory Calculations, Xueling Lei, Kevin Huang, Changyong Qin

Faculty Publications

Using static and dynamic density functional theory (DFT) methods with a cluster model of [(Li2CO3)8H]+, the mechanism and kinetics of proton transfer in lithium molten carbonate (MC) were investigated. The migration of proton prefers an inter-carbonate pathway with an energy barrier of 8.0 kcal/mol at the B3LYP/6-31 G(d,p) level, which is in good agreement with the value of 7.6 kcal/mol and 7.5 kcal/mol from experiment and FPMD simulation, respectively. At transition state (TS), a linkage of O–H–O involving O 2p and H 1 s orbitals is formed between two carbonate ions. The calculated trajectory of H indicates that proton has …


The Influence Of Macroscale Stress Concentrations On The Near-Resonant Thermomechanics Of Mock Energetic Materials, Lauren A. Cooper, Allison R. Range, Jeffrey F. Rhoads Aug 2017

The Influence Of Macroscale Stress Concentrations On The Near-Resonant Thermomechanics Of Mock Energetic Materials, Lauren A. Cooper, Allison R. Range, Jeffrey F. Rhoads

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The characterization of particulate composite energetic materials, both with and without stress concentration, is currently of great interest to the defense community. This work seeks to further characterize the self-heating effect of composite energetic plates, particularly around regions of high stress, when subjected to harmonic excitation near resonance. Mock energetic plates with macroscale stress concentrations are prepared in various compositions based on the PBXN-109 formulation, and are tested near the first resonant frequency using an electrodynamic shaker. The resulting mechanical and thermal responses are recorded using a laser Doppler vibrometer and an infrared camera, respectively. Upon comparison between the regions …


Smartphone-Based Microscope For Pathogen Detection, Meghan E. Henderson, Katherine N. Clayton, Ryan M. Preston, Jacqueline Linnes, Tamara L. Kinzer-Ursem Aug 2017

Smartphone-Based Microscope For Pathogen Detection, Meghan E. Henderson, Katherine N. Clayton, Ryan M. Preston, Jacqueline Linnes, Tamara L. Kinzer-Ursem

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Vibrio cholerae is a water and food borne bacteria that causes cholera, a severe acute diarrheal disease, when ingested and when left untreated, can cause patient death within hours. Currently there is a lack of both sensitive and rapid portable detection technologies of V. cholerae for testing water and food samples. Combining nucleic acid amplification and particle diffusometry present an alternative detection method for V. cholerae in under 30 minutes, but the process requires an expensive laboratory microscope. In this work, we develop a smartphone-based microscope to detect V. cholerae DNA in environmental water samples using particle diffusometry. A modular …


Simulating Dynamic Failure Of Polymer-Bonded Explosives Under Periodic Excitation, Rachel Kohler, Camilo Duarte Cordon, Marisol Koslowski Aug 2017

Simulating Dynamic Failure Of Polymer-Bonded Explosives Under Periodic Excitation, Rachel Kohler, Camilo Duarte Cordon, Marisol Koslowski

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Accidental mishandling of explosive materials leads to thousands of injuries in the US every year. Understanding the mechanisms behind the detonation process is crucial to prevent such accidents. In polymer-bonded explosives (PBX), high-frequency mechanical excitation generates thermal energy and can lead to an increase in temperature and vapor pressure, and potentially the initiation of the detonation process. However, the mechanisms behind this energy release, such as the effects of dynamic fracture and friction, are not well understood. Experimental data is difficult to collect due to the different time scales of reactions and vibrations, so research is aided by running simulations …


Design Of A Test-Rig For Gerotor Pump, Weijin Qiu, Andrea Vacca, Matteo Pellegri Aug 2017

Design Of A Test-Rig For Gerotor Pump, Weijin Qiu, Andrea Vacca, Matteo Pellegri

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Gerotor pumps are a kind of fluid power machines widely used in the automotive field, especially for fuel injection as well as lubrication. To improve the performance of these units, virtual prototyping is necessary to decrease time and cost related to trial and error. Within this research a simulation model for Gerotor units has been developed with the aim of predicting accurately the performance of a generic unit. The model can accurately predict the system behavior regarding mechanical and volumetric losses by considering real machining tolerances and their interactions. Ultimately, this model should help to design new generations of Gerotor …


Laboratory Characterization Of Unsteady Boundary Layers, Umair Sarwar, Cary Troy Aug 2017

Laboratory Characterization Of Unsteady Boundary Layers, Umair Sarwar, Cary Troy

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The study of waves and their effects on mean flow and turbulence in natural water bodies is an important issue for applications in aquatic biology, coastal engineering, sediment transport and hydrodynamic of the lake. These waves result in the generation of an oscillatory (Stokes) boundary layer near the bottom of the water column. The goal of this study was to conduct various experiments that will be used to characterize the turbulence in unsteady boundary layers and help understand the relation between various flow variables (e.g. wave amplitude, frequency, water depth, turbulent kinetic energy, etc.). Using the research facilities provided, three …


Generation Of Inhomogeneous Acoustic Waves Using An Array Of Loudspeakers, Samuel E. Wonfor, Trevor A. Kyle, J. Stuart Bolton, Jeffrey F. Rhoads Aug 2017

Generation Of Inhomogeneous Acoustic Waves Using An Array Of Loudspeakers, Samuel E. Wonfor, Trevor A. Kyle, J. Stuart Bolton, Jeffrey F. Rhoads

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In previous studies it has been shown that pressure fields created by inhomogeneous sound waves (waves which decay in a direction perpendicular to their propagation direction) are able to transmit energy into objects more effectively than ones created by conventional sound waves. This behavior may be useful in the detection of hidden explosive threats. To explore this, a device capable of constructing inhomogeneous waves is being developed. The proposed device is an acoustic array consisting of several high-frequency speakers. The speakers are independently driven to construct a desired inhomogeneous pressure field on a target surface. Inhomogeneous pressure fields were reconstructed …


Ani-Bot: A Mixed-Reality Ready Modular Robotics System, Zhuangying Xu, Yuanzhi Cao Aug 2017

Ani-Bot: A Mixed-Reality Ready Modular Robotics System, Zhuangying Xu, Yuanzhi Cao

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

DIY modular robotics has always had a strong appeal to makers and designers; being able to quickly design, build, and animate their own robots opens the possibility of bringing imaginations to life. However, current interfaces to control and program the DIY robot either lacks connection and consistency between the users and target (Graphical User Interface) or suffers from limited control capabilities due to the lack of versatility and functionality (Tangible User interface). We present Ani-Bot, a modular robotics system that allows users to construct Do-It-Yourself (DIY) robots and use mixed-reality approach to interact with them instantly. Ani-Bot enables novel user …


Spectral Phonon Relaxation Time Calculation Tool Based On Molecular Dynamics, Divya Chalise, Tianli Feng, Xiulin Ruan Aug 2017

Spectral Phonon Relaxation Time Calculation Tool Based On Molecular Dynamics, Divya Chalise, Tianli Feng, Xiulin Ruan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Thermal conductivity is an important material property which affects the performance of a wide range of devices from thermoelectrics to nanoelectronics. Information about phonon vibration modes and phonon relaxation time gives significant insight into understanding and engineering material’s thermal conductivity. Although different theoretical models have been developed for studying phonon modes and relaxation time, extensive knowledge of lattice dynamics and molecular dynamics is required to compute phonon modal frequencies and relaxation times. Therefore, a computational tool which can take simple inputs to calculate phonon mode frequencies and relaxation time will be beneficial. Through this research work, such computational tool has …


Additive Manufacturing Of High Solids Loading Hybrid Rocket Fuel Grains, Stephen P. Johnson, Michael Baier, Ibrahim E. Gunduz, Steven F. Son Aug 2017

Additive Manufacturing Of High Solids Loading Hybrid Rocket Fuel Grains, Stephen P. Johnson, Michael Baier, Ibrahim E. Gunduz, Steven F. Son

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Hybrid rocket motors offer many of the benefits of both liquid and solid rocket systems. Like liquid engines, hybrid rocket motors are able to be throttled, can be stopped and restarted, and are safer than solid rocket motors since the fuel and oxidizer are in different physical states. Hybrid rocket motors are similar to solid motors in that they are relatively simple and have a high density-specific impulse. One of the major drawbacks of hybrid rocket motors is a slower burning rate than solid rocket motors. Complex port geometries provide greater burning surface area to compensate for lower burning rates …


Image-Based Compression Method Of Three-Dimensional Range Data With Texture, Xia Chen, Tyler Bell, Song Zhang Aug 2017

Image-Based Compression Method Of Three-Dimensional Range Data With Texture, Xia Chen, Tyler Bell, Song Zhang

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Recently, high speed and high accuracy three-dimensional (3D) scanning techniques and commercially available 3D scanning devices have made real-time 3D shape measurement and reconstruction possible. The conventional mesh representation of 3D geometry, however, results in large file sizes, causing difficulties for its storage and transmission. Methods for compressing scanned 3D data therefore become desired. This paper proposes a novel compression method which stores 3D range data within the color channels of a regular 2D output image. Our method encodes the 3D range data’s respective normalized phase map, generated by a virtual stereovision system, into two of the output image’s color …


Optimization And Control Of Production Of Graphene, Atharva Hans, Nimish M. Awalgaonkar, Majed Alrefae, Ilias Bilionis, Timothy S. Fisher Aug 2017

Optimization And Control Of Production Of Graphene, Atharva Hans, Nimish M. Awalgaonkar, Majed Alrefae, Ilias Bilionis, Timothy S. Fisher

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Graphene is a 2-dimensional element of high practical importance. Despite its exceptional properties, graphene’s real applications in industrial or commercial products have been limited. There are many methods to produce graphene, but none has been successful in commercializing its production. Roll-to-roll plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is used to manufacture graphene at large scale. In this research, we present a Bayesian linear regression model to predict the roll-to-roll plasma system’s electrode voltage and current; given a particular set of inputs. The inputs of the plasma system are power, pressure and concentration of gases; hydrogen, methane, oxygen, nitrogen and argon. This …


Development Of Portable Hyperspectral Imaging Device, Chenxi Li, Youngkee Jung, Iyll-Joon Doh, Euiwon Bae Aug 2017

Development Of Portable Hyperspectral Imaging Device, Chenxi Li, Youngkee Jung, Iyll-Joon Doh, Euiwon Bae

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Most of the conventional hyperspectral imaging devices require sophisticated optical components, occupy a large footprint, and requires an initial capital investment for laboratories which mostly suits for laboratories benchtop system. The requirement of shipping the sample and waiting an extended period of time to get the results are the main downsides of this traditional approach. Capitalize in many specific field applications and diagnosis, portable devices provide both convenience and on-site results which are desirable for government agencies and food safety inspectors. This project was aimed to develop a low-cost, portable hyperspectral device for food safety applications. A smartphone was used …


Intrinsic Regulators Of Actomyosin Contractility Engendering Pulsatile Behaviors, Qilin Yu, Jing Li, Taeyoon Kim Aug 2017

Intrinsic Regulators Of Actomyosin Contractility Engendering Pulsatile Behaviors, Qilin Yu, Jing Li, Taeyoon Kim

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Actomyosin contractility regulates various biological processes including cell migration, muscle contraction, and tissue morphogenesis. Cell cortex underlying a membrane, which is a representative actomyosin network in eukaryote cells, exhibits dynamic contractile behaviors. Interestingly, the cell cortex shows reversible aggregation of actin and myosin called pulsatile contraction in diverse cellular phenomena, such as embryogenesis and tissue morphogenesis. While contractile behaviors have been studied in several in vitro experiments and computational studies, none of them demonstrated the pulsatile contraction of actomyosin networks observed in vivo. Here, we used an agent-based computational model based on Brownian dynamics to identify factors facilitating the pulsatile …


Purdue Airsense: An Affordable Way To Measure And Study Air Pollution, Stephane Junior Nouafo Wanko, Shadi Tariq Azouz, Ruihang Du, Brandon Boor, Greg Michalski Aug 2017

Purdue Airsense: An Affordable Way To Measure And Study Air Pollution, Stephane Junior Nouafo Wanko, Shadi Tariq Azouz, Ruihang Du, Brandon Boor, Greg Michalski

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Air pollution is a major health hazard worldwide, accounting for one-eighth of all deaths in 2012 (World Health Organization). Globally, there is a severe lack of ground-based spatiotemporal monitoring of gaseous and particulate air pollutants, particularly in Africa, South and Central America, and the Middle East. This is in great part due to the high costs of air quality instrumentation that meet accuracy and reliability criteria set by monitoring agencies. The air quality data that is available is often not presented to the public in a user-friendly manner. Taking advantage of recent developments in low-cost sensing technologies, an integrated sensor …


Numerical Simulations Of Transcritical Natural Convection, Ruiwen Wei, Carlo Scalo, Mario Tindaro Migliorino, Kukjin Kim, Jean-Pierre Hickey Aug 2017

Numerical Simulations Of Transcritical Natural Convection, Ruiwen Wei, Carlo Scalo, Mario Tindaro Migliorino, Kukjin Kim, Jean-Pierre Hickey

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In modern engineering applications, system overheating is a key issue that needs to be solved with efficient and reliable cooling technologies. Among the possible mechanisms that these are based on, natural convection cooling is one of the most frequently employed, with applications ranging from cooling of computer micro-components to large nuclear reactors. While many studies have been performed on natural convection employing supercritical or subcritical fluids, little attention has been given to fluids in their transcritical regime. The latter has the potential to yield high performances while avoiding detrimental effects of two-phase systems (e.g. cavitation). In the present study, 2D …


Analytical Solution Of Microbes Interacting With Surfaces, Junyuan Li, Arezoo M. Ardekani Aug 2017

Analytical Solution Of Microbes Interacting With Surfaces, Junyuan Li, Arezoo M. Ardekani

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Nowadays, there is a rising interest in studying the behavior of microbes and their interactions with flow and surfaces. In order to explore the velocity field, pressure and forces around the microbes, the solution of Stokes equations, which is called a Stokeslet, is used. This solution represents a singular velocity field due to a concentrated external force acting on fluid at a single point. This singularity could cause the expression of velocity not integrable. We use the Regularized Stokeslet Method and Method of Images to deal with this problem. The expression of force is replaced by a radially symmetric function, …


A Parametric Study Of The Mechanics Of Different Skin Flap Techniques, Steven J. Meza, Adrián Tepole Buganza Aug 2017

A Parametric Study Of The Mechanics Of Different Skin Flap Techniques, Steven J. Meza, Adrián Tepole Buganza

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In modern day plastic and reconstructive surgeries numerous skin flap designs have been developed and are used to close open wounds. Skin flaps are developed with the intention of imposing minimal tension in skin closure. Excessive tension can lead to poor blood flow that result in post-surgery complications such as necrosis. Currently there is no standard in choosing a skin flap design and a surgeon's choice is based personal experience. A comparison of the mechanical loading in these various designs has not yet been done. We have developed a parametric study, using finite element analysis, of two advancement skin flaps …


Examination Of Ordering Effects In Sound Evaluations, Yiyun Zhang, Patricia Davies, Daniel Carr Aug 2017

Examination Of Ordering Effects In Sound Evaluations, Yiyun Zhang, Patricia Davies, Daniel Carr

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

It is difficult to predict sound annoyance responses because annoyance is an inherently subjective concept and the evaluation standard could be different from each person. Usually, annoyance models are functions of strengths of sound characteristics only, and these models can help engineers to improve sounds that machines make and minimize annoyance levels, but other factors can also influence annoyance ratings of products. The main goal of this research was to investigate ordering effects in sound evaluations when people are hearing a set of sounds in sequence. Of particular interest is how the response to a sound influences the response to …


Finite Element Analysis And Biological Growth Realization Using Robot Swarms, Cody W. Dorbin, Adrian Buganza-Tepole Aug 2017

Finite Element Analysis And Biological Growth Realization Using Robot Swarms, Cody W. Dorbin, Adrian Buganza-Tepole

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Our understanding of growth and remodeling of biological systems has increased in the past two decades; however, this knowledge has not yet been used in human-designed systems or engineering applications. This project studies designing and building a network of robots that mimics the biological behavior of growth driven by cell-cell communication and control networks. The objective of this research is to harness the principles that govern tissue adaptation and morphogenesis, where peer-to-peer local communication determines global properties, to create human-made engineering systems with life-like capabilities. We used Arduino microcontrollers to control an individual robot in an expandable 3d-printed cuboid shell. …


Enhancing The Performance Of A Transportable Environmental Control Unit (Ecu) Operated In High-Temperature Climates, Quan Jun Sun, Ammar M. Bahman, Eckhard A. Groll Aug 2017

Enhancing The Performance Of A Transportable Environmental Control Unit (Ecu) Operated In High-Temperature Climates, Quan Jun Sun, Ammar M. Bahman, Eckhard A. Groll

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Numerous people live or venture into environments, such as the Middle East, where the temperatures can skyrocket as high as 54°C. This leaves many air conditioners unable to operate efficiently. Although much research has been conducted for incorporating vapor injection processes into refrigeration systems, such as ones used in supermarkets, little has been researched regarding the application in extreme heat environments. While most basic air conditioning units do not require the addition of a vapor injection process along with an economizer, this project requires the air conditioning (AC) unit to operate under extreme high temperature conditions. The project investigates the …


Bacterial Motility And Its Role In Biofilm Formation, Clayton J. Culp, Arezoo M. Ardekani, Adib Ahmadzadegan Aug 2017

Bacterial Motility And Its Role In Biofilm Formation, Clayton J. Culp, Arezoo M. Ardekani, Adib Ahmadzadegan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Bacterial biofilms are known to cause millions of dollars in damage in the medical industry per year via infection of central venous catheters, urinary catheters, and mechanical heart valves. Unfortunately, there are some characteristics of biofilm formation that are yet to be fully understood. Recently much work has been done to investigate the motility characteristics of bacteria with hopes of better understanding the phenomena of biofilm formation. Still, one of the least understood stages is bacterial attachment or adhesion, a process designed to anchor bacteria in an advantageous environment. Providing a better understanding of bacterial motility near solid interfaces will …