Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Design And Development Of A Novel Soft Gripper Manipulated By A Robotic Arm, Derek Price

Symposium of Student Scholars

This study presents the design and development of a tendon-driven soft gripper manipulated by a 4 DOF robotic arm. The proposed robotic arm and the gripper explore the new areas focusing on increasing the grasping performance of the gripper as well as the workspace. The gripper is designed as a 3 finger and driven by tendons using two servo motors. The tension of the strings is adjusted using a pulley mechanism and a string. The opening and grasping of the soft gripper are accomplished by each motor. The wide opening allows the gripper to grasp wide objects. The parallel robotic …

Atomistic Simulation Of Desalination, Ian David Durr

Symposium of Student Scholars

Atomistic Simulation of Desalination

Ian Durr, Matheus Prates, and Jungkyu Park

Kennesaw State University

In this research, we investigate the desalination capacity of three-dimensional (3D) carbon nanostructures using molecular dynamics simulations. 3D carbon nanostructures proposed here will filter seawater efficiently because of their multiple layers with holes of tunable sizes. The structure is designed to be flexible, allowing mechanical deformation during daily use. The 3D carbon nanostructure will still possess high thermal conductivity, enabling easy recycle through a simple heating process. Here, we employ LAMMPS, Large-scale Atomic/MolecularMassively Parallel Simulator distributed by Sandia National Laboratories to measure salt ion flux through …

Using Comprehensive Finite Element Analysis To Simulate A Special Connection In Post-Tensioned Concrete, Joshuah Leljedal

Symposium of Student Scholars

Finite element analysis (FEA) uses differential equations to determine a computer-based solution that explains interactive behaviors within models of complex structural and mechanical systems, subjected to various loading and environmental conditions. Those systems are partitioned into finite elements consisting of a linear mesh with nodes at each end point, and FEA determines relationships, such as force-displacement, between each of the finite elements. This apportioned model allows systems to be evaluated under multiple loading scenarios. Computer-based FEA offers significant benefits that reduce cost and the time required to perform alternative analysis for complex structural systems. In this research project, a comprehensive …

The Influence Of Mechanical Properties Associated With Exercise Equipment Padding On Maximizing Performance And Minimizing Potential Soft-Tissue Injury When Performing High-Intensity Weight Lifting Exercises, Robert Hewston

Symposium of Student Scholars

The intention of this study is the measurement of mechanical properties such as resilience and compressibility associated with exercise equipment padding in order to determine the ability to minimize potential soft-tissue injuries while performing high-intensity weight lifting exercises. ASTM standards were used to test the resilience and compressibility of five different exercise equipment padding specimens. The specimens consisted of standard bench press foam, composite foam, polyethylene foam, a single yoga mat foam, and double yoga mat foam. The resilience and compressibility are tested to determine the amount of deformation each sample can experience and the level of energy returned back …

Contact Angle Measurement Using A Hele-Shaw Cell: A Proof-Of-Concept Study, Haipeng Zhang, Jacob Gottberg, Sangjin Ryu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Contact angle is an important property to quantify the wettability of a solid surface with a liquid, which characterizes interactions of the solid-liquid pair. Generally, to measure contact angle, special instruments such as a goniometer are necessary, but they are not readily available in certain research settings. In this study, an alternative method to measure contact angle based on a Hele-Shaw cell, microscopy imaging, and image processing is suggested. In this method, a liquid drop is injected into a transparent Hele-Shaw cell, the meniscus of the drop is captured in the top or bottom view using a brightfield microscope, and …

Stable Thermally-Modulated Nanodroplet Ultrasound Contrast Agents, Anastasiia Vasiukhina, Javad Estraghi, Adib Ahmadzadegan, Craig J. Goergen, Pavlov P. Vlachos, Luis Solorio

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Liquid perfluorocarbon-based nanodroplets are stable enough to be used in extravascular imaging, but provide limited contrast enhancement due to their small size, incompressible core, and small acoustic impedance mismatch with biological fluids. Here we show a novel approach to overcoming this limitation by using a heating–cooling cycle, which we will refer to as thermal modulation (TM), to induce echogenicity of otherwise stable but poorly echogenic nanodroplets without triggering a transient phase shift. We apply thermal modulation to high-boiling point tetradecafluorohexane (TDFH) nanodroplets stabilized with a bovine serum albumin (BSA) shell. BSA-TDFH nanodroplets with an average diameter under 300 nanometers showed …

Flow Interaction Between Turbomachine Blade Row And Flow Resistance Medium, Tong Lin

Dissertations - ALL

This research investigates the fluid-dynamic interaction between close-coupled axial turbomachines and surrounding components, e.g., heat-exchangers, filters, or cooling fins in high-density computer servers, and its effects on turbomachine and system performance. The importance of this research is that the flow interaction effect occurs in every scenario that requires system compactness.

Firstly, a combined experimental and 3-D computational study on an off-the-shelf server cooling fan is performed, showing that the fan performance has little changed. However, the system performance can be very different since the server cooling has a large hub-to-tip radius ratio, which effectively blocks the high resistance media's (HRM) …

Molecular Interfaces And Heterogeneous Bubble Nucleation From Heated Surfaces At Nanoscale, Manish Gupta

Dissertations - ALL

Heat transfer from a solid surface to fluid occurs in numerous applications, such as boilers, refrigerators, power electronics, etc., and include various underlying phenomena of thin-film evaporation, boiling, condensation, surface wetting, and droplet evaporation. Several studies show that heat transfer can be enhanced significantly by incorporating micro and nanoscale features onto surfaces. Phase change heat transfer plays an important role in dissipating energy from hot surfaces and distributing it to bulk liquid due to high latent heat of liquids. Boiling, a phase change heat transfer phenomenon, happens when the surface is heated to a temperature above the saturation temperature of …

Multiple Uav Adaptive Navigation For Three-Dimensional Scalar Fields, Robert K. Lee, Christopher A. Kitts, Michael A. Neumann, Robert T. Mcdonald

Mechanical Engineering

Adaptive Navigation (AN) control strategies allow an agent to autonomously alter its trajectory based on realtime measurements of the environment. Compared to conventional navigation methods, these techniques can reduce required time and energy to explore scalar characteristics of unknown and dynamic regions of interest (e.g., temperature, concentration level). Multiple Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) approaches to AN can improve performance by exploiting synchronized spatially-dispersed measurements to generate realtime information regarding the structure of the local scalar field, which is then used to inform navigation decisions. This article presents initial results of a comprehensive program to develop, verify, and experimentally implement mission-level …

Creation Of A Cip Method For The Heat Exchangers At Rolls-Royce, Melanie Howe, Austin Williams, Caroline Dempsey, Bethany Fralick

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Rolls-Royce produces various engines which must be tested prior to their distribution to ensure a high-quality product. The manufacturing plant contains four test cells where the engines can be subjected to high levels of torque and extreme temperatures. A heat exchanger is necessary in this testing system and over time, unwanted waste accumulates on the system’s plates. The team is tasked with developing and implementing a system mounted on a mobile cart which can provide data to determine whether the plates need to be cleaned. For this cleaning system to work, it must fully saturate the heat exchanger in cleaning …

The Effect Of Noise-Reducing Acoustic Panels On The Noise Levels And Overall Safety Of Infant Sleep Machines, Pranav Poola

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Infant sleep machines (ISMs) are devices used to help infants fall asleep faster and stay asleep for longer amounts of time, yet they can often be too loud for infantile ears, which could potentially be dangerous. This research aimed to minimize the risks of infant sleep machines without reducing the effectiveness of the infant sleep machines themselves through the use of acoustic panels. Based on previous studies, it was hypothesized that the acoustic panels would reduce the noise levels of the ISM to less than recommended limits of 50 dB-A. A specific corner of a designated room was prepared with …

Contact Angle Measurement Using A Hele-Shaw Cell: A Proof-Of-Concept Study, Haipeng Zhang, Jacob Gottberg, Sangjin Ryu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Contact angle is an important property to quantify the wettability of a solid surface with a liquid, which characterizes interactions of the solid-liquid pair. Generally, to measure contact angle, special instruments such as a goniometer are necessary, but they are not readily available in certain research settings. In this study, an alternative method to measure contact angle based on a Hele-Shaw cell, microscopy imaging, and image processing is suggested. In this method, a liquid drop is injected into a transparent Hele-Shaw cell, the meniscus of the drop is captured in the top or bottom view using a brightfield microscope, and …

Design Of An Inexpensive Pvc Shock Tube For Educational Use, Brandon Edward Bergmann

Theses and Dissertations

Herein is described the design and function of a low-cost, easy-to-assemble, -operate, and -disassemble shock tube platform experiment that can generate shock waves approaching Mach 2 at maximum pressures of ~100 psig with a helium driver gas. The experiment uses several inexpensive (<$5), unamplified piezoelectric sensors attached to a multichannel oscilloscope to monitor the passage of key features of the flow (i.e., incident shock and reflected shock) through the tube, constructed from inexpensive and easy to work with schedule 40 PVC pipe and fittings. From the fixed sensor displacements along the tube and relative differences in respective transit times, the velocities of these flow features can be determined. This permits (1) comparison of experimental results to the theoretical predictions of 1-D transient gas dynamics and (2) a leaping off point for discussion and quantification of non-idealities in the flow, including the shock wave development length, shock attenuation and boundary layer growth, and interactions of the reflected shock and contact surface. Experimental accessories (future work) for study of shock focusing and steady 2-D high speed flows are also briefly discussed. Assuming both pressurized, conditioned air at ~80-100 psig and a modern multi-channel oscilloscope are available at most institutions, the total cost to construct this experiment is around $500.

Liquid Fuel Oil Produced From Plastic Based Medical Wastes By Thermal Cracking, Shahriar Bin Rasul, Uday Som, Md. Shameem Hossain, Md. Wasikur Rahman

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The present work is an effort to produce liquid fuel oil from plastic based medical wastes through thermal cracking process under oxidizing conditions. The mixed plastics from medical wastes were considered as a feedstock, shredded into small pieces and heated at 773 ± 10 K for 40 min with a heating rate of 20 K/min in a batch reactor for thermal cracking process. The feedstock was characterized by proximate and ultimate analysis along with thermogravimetric investigation. Moreover, chemical compositions of the liquid fuel oil were examined by FTIR and GC–MS spectroscopy. The properties of liquid product were also examined and …

Laser Surface Treatment And Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing Study Using Custom Designed 3d Printer And The Application Of Machine Learning In Materials Science, Hao Wen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is a laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) based additive manufacturing (AM) method, which uses a laser beam to melt the selected areas of the metal powder bed. A customized SLM 3D printer that can handle a small quantity of metal powders was built in the lab to achieve versatile research purposes. The hardware design, electrical diagrams, and software functions are introduced in Chapter 2. Several laser surface engineering and SLM experiments were conducted using this customized machine which showed the functionality of the machine and some prospective fields that this machine can be utilized. Chapter 3 …

Using Artificial Neural Network And Fuzzy Inference System Based Prediction To Improve Failure Mode And Effects Analysis: A Case Study Of The Busbars Production, Saeed Na’Amnh, Muath Bani Salim, István Husti, Miklós Daróczi

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nowadays, Busbars have been extensively used in electrical vehicle industry. Therefore, improving the risk assessment for the production could help to screen the associated failure and take necessary actions to minimize the risk. In this research, a fuzzy inference system (FIS) and artificial neural network (ANN) were used to avoid the shortcomings of the classical method by creating new models for risk assessment with higher accuracy. A dataset includes 58 samples are used to create the models. Mamdani fuzzy model and ANN model were developed using MATLAB software. The results showed that the proposed models give a higher level of …

Mechanical Engineering News, Georgia Southern University

Mechanical Engineering: News & Publications (2013-2023)

• ASME Hosts Seminar on ANSYS Simulation

Silk Fibroin Supraparticles Created By The Evaporation Of Colloidal Ouzo Droplets, Ashley Lamb, Fengjie He, Shengjie Zhai, Hui Zhao

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

Due to its high biocompatibility and biodegradability, supraparticles made from silk fibroin—produced from Bombyx mori (B. mori) cocoons—can find various applications in biomedical fields. The evaporation of Ouzo droplets by not requiring energy nor a surfactant is an environmentally friendly, easy, and cost-effective strategy to fabricate three-dimensional supraparticles, tackling the so-called “coffee ring effect” associated with droplet evaporation. Silk fibroins are dissolved into quaternary droplets, comprised of ultrapure water, ethanol, trans-anethole oil, and formic acid. The Ouzo droplet is able to form an oil ring that facilitates the droplet contraction to create a three-dimensional supraparticle. Using the Ouzo effect to …

Flow Characterization In Mine Ventilation Fan Blade Design Using Cfd, Anwar Endris Hassen

Journal of Sustainable Mining

In axial ventilation fans, the generation of a uniform flow velocity is desirable for better efficiency. To that end, different fan blade types have been developed to achieve better flow uniformity. This article aimed to characterize the flow distribution and its uniformity in four blade designs, namely constant chord, tapered blade, skewed blade, and tapered skewed blade, using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The study employs an iterative study where key study decisions are made as the study progresses. The study began with the selection of a blade profile for the study. A comparative study between the NACA seven-digit and four-digit …

Acoustic Tweezer With Complex Boundary-Free Trapping And Transport Channel Controlled By Shadow Waveguides., Junfei Li, Chen Shen, Tony Jun Huang, Steven A Cummer

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

Acoustic tweezers use ultrasound for contact-free, bio-compatible, and precise manipulation of particles from millimeter to submicrometer scale. In microfluidics, acoustic tweezers typically use an array of sources to create standing wave patterns that can trap and move objects in ways constrained by the limited complexity of the acoustic wave field. Here, we demonstrate spatially complex particle trapping and manipulation inside a boundary-free chamber using a single pair of sources and an engineered structure outside the chamber that we call a shadow waveguide. The shadow waveguide creates a tightly confined, spatially complex acoustic field inside the chamber without requiring any interior …

Attachment Of Fibrous Materials In Nature And Surgical Repair, Ethan Daniel Hoppe

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Mother nature is the ultimate problem solver. Often by brute force and necessity for survival, the organism that has the best solution to a problem is the one to proliferate. One of these problems for which nature provides an elegant solution is the attachment of dissimilar materials. This dissertation explores the strengthening and relaxation of interactions between soft and hard materials, typically with one of the two being fibrous in character, with the goal of identifying strategies for improving the surgical reattachment of tendon to bone. The work begins with a study of the plant Harpagonella palmeri, which the dissertation …

Investigation Of Microdroplet Generation, Morphological Evolution, And Applications Under Quasi-Steady And Dynamic States, Li Shan

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Microscale droplets are commonly encountered in the fields of materials processing, thermal fluids, and biology. While these droplets are naturally occurring, recent advances in microfabrication have enabled researchers to harness their enhanced transport characteristics for numerous laboratory and industrial applications from controlled chemical synthesis to inkjet printing and thermal management. Smaller droplets have larger specific surface area and a greater perimeter-to-area ratio when resting on a surface (i.e., sessile), which accelerates processes occurring at droplet surfaces like evaporation, chemical reaction, or combustion. The demand for microdroplets with smaller and more uniform sizes has motivated investigation of how such droplets can …

Three-Dimensional Phase Field Modeling Of Fracture In Shape Memory Ceramics, Ehsan Moshkelgosha, Mahmood Mamivand

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite the vast applications of transformable ceramics, such as zirconia-based ceramics, in different areas from biomedical to aerospace, the fundamental knowledge about their mechanical degradation procedure is limited. The interaction of the phase transformation and crack growth is crucial as the essential underlying mechanism in fracture of these transformable ceramics, also known as shape memory ceramics. This study develops a three-dimensional (3D) multiphysics model that couples the variational formulation of brittle crack growth to the Ginzburg-Landau equations of martensitic transformation. We parameterized the model for the 3D single crystal zirconia, which experienced stress- and thermal-induced tetragonal to monoclinic transformation. The …

Synthesis And Biomedical Applications Of Functional Polymers, Jianxun Ding, Di Li, Jingxiao Chen, Chao Zhao, Parisa Pour Shahid Saeed Abadi

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

No abstract provided.

Mechanical Engineering News, Georgia Southern University

Mechanical Engineering: News & Publications (2013-2023)

• Mechanics Course Sequence Review Sessions (Statics, Dynamics, Mechanics, Machine Design)

Sound Trapping In An Open Resonator, Lujun Huang, Yan Kei Chiang, Sibo Huang, Chen Shen, Fu Deng, Yi Cheng, Bin Jia, Yong Li, David A. Powell, Andrey E. Miroshnichenko

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

The ability of sound energy confinement with high-quality factor resonance is of vital importance for acoustic devices requiring high intensity and hypersensitivity in biological ultrasonics, enhanced collimated sound emission (i.e. sound laser) and high-resolution sensing. However, structures reported so far have been experimentally demonstrated with a limited quality factor of acoustic resonances, up to several tens in an open resonator. The emergence of bound states in the continuum makes it possible to realize high quality factor acoustic modes. Here, we report the theoretical design and experimental demonstration of acoustic bound states in the continuum supported by a single open resonator. …

A Single Cell Pair Mechanical Interrogation Platform To Study Cell–Cell Adhesion Mechanics, Amir Monemianesfahani

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

Cell-cell adhesion complexes are macromolecular adhesive organelles that integrate cells into tissues. Perturbations of the cell-cell adhesion structure or relatedmechanotransduction pathways lead to pathological conditions such as skin and heart diseases, arthritis, and cancer. Mechanical stretching has been used to stimulate the mechanotransduction process originating from the cell-cell adhesion and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) complexes. The current techniques, however, have limitations on their ability to measure the cell-cell adhesion force directly and quantitatively. These methods use a monolayer of cells, which makes it impossible to quantify the forces within a single cell-cell adhesion complex. Other methods using single cells or cell …

Analysis Of Liquefied Natural Gas (Lng) Systems With Innovative Waste Heat Recovery, Shisir Acharya

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Due to the increase in energy needs all over the world, many nations do not have sufficient indigenous energy resources and have turned towards importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). LNG production is an energy intensive process that produces a lot of wasted heat. The objective of this study is to review the current LNG processes and identify areas of improvement. To begin with, this study analyzes wasted energy recovery methods currently used in various power plants, followed by validation of the capability of the software, Thermoflex, against the published performance data of various power plants and corresponding gas cleanup processes. …

The Impact Of Alkali-Ion Intercalation On Redox Chemistry And Mechanical Deformations: Case Study On Intercalation Of Li, Na, And K Ions Into Fepo4 Cathode, Bertan Özdogru, Behrad Koohbor, O. Ozgur Capraz

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

Batteries made of charge carriers from Earth-crust abundant materials (e.g., Na, K, and Mg) have received extensive attention as an alternative to Li-ion batteries for grid storage. However, a lack of understanding of the behavior of these larger ions in the electrode materials hinders the development of electrode structures suitable for these large ions. In this study, we investigate the impact of alkali ions (Li, Na, and K) on the redox chemistry and mechanical deformations of iron phosphate composite cathodes by using electrochemical techniques and in situ digital image correlation. Na-ion and Li-ion intercalation demonstrate a nearly linear correlation between …

Geometrically Complex Planar Heat Exchangers, Derli Dias Do Amaral Junior, Jose Lage

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

In this study, geometrically complex planar heat exchangers, designed in line with the Constructal Law and operating at steady-state, are investigated numerically. The work is divided into two parts, one focusing on diffusion heat transfer in a rectangular plane and another on conjugate diffusion-convection heat transfer in a circular plane heat exchanger.

In the first part, a heat generating rectangular solid volume made of a low conductivity material is cooled through a small, isothermal side-section of the domain. The diffusion cooling process is improved by distributing within the heat generating material a fixed amount of a high conductivity material. The …