Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Mems 4110: Egg Project, Rebecca Leighann Boone, Courtney Davis, Bebel Trani

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Peeling hard-boiled eggs by hand is a time-consuming and tedious task that often results in dimples and cracks in the final product. Many chefs and home cooks have tried techniques, from boiling the eggs in baking soda to slipping off egg shells using a spoon, to perfect the peeling process. However, these attempts often fall short by either altering the taste of the egg or extending the amount of time and labor. In the restaurant business, having employees peel eggs for long periods of time is costly. The local St. Louis salad restaurant, Neon Greens, is selling a new protein-dense …

Mems 4110: Dbf Deployable Banner, Julia Peppe, Danny Bruns, Sarah Donner, Michael Safier

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Create a device that stores a banner in an RC aircraft that can be remotely deployed to be towed and released upon command.

Mems 4110: Dbf Banner, Pachie Ackerman-Bennett, Joshua Paul Laue, Nazifa Younus

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The DBFBanner is a project made for the WashU Design / Build / Fly club. After interviewing DBF club president Sarah Donner, we interpreted the club’s needs as: (1) a banner that could achieve vertical stability in flight; (2) the banner could deploy and release remotely; (3) the banner and associated components were as light as possible. We went through several design iterations, including mathematical and CAD models, mockups, prototypes, and testing apparatus. Many designs were considered, including designs based on linear motion and collapsible trusses. We arrived at a design that used a servo motor to rotate a 3D-printed …

Mems 4110: Air Cannon Launcher Demo, Jackson Strauss, Avery Cohen, Wilson Gao, Jack Galloway

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

For our senior design class (MEMS 4110) at Washington University in St. Louis, we were tasked with creating a demonstration for the St. Louis Science Center that demonstrated an engineering principle or concept. The Science Center functions as a science-oriented museum and saw more than 600,000 visitors in 2024. For our demonstration, we wanted to showcase the principles of kinematic motion. Kinematic motion is study of the motion of objects without considering applied forces. Additionally, when the acceleration of an object is either zero or held constant, the trajectory path that the object follows can be described by a few …

Analyzing Wearable Sensor Data From Individuals Undergoing Motor And Neurological Rehabilitation, Nolan William Turk

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

An ongoing study funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) is focused on developing computational models of rehabilitation for people post-stroke. Stroke affects around 800,000 people per year in the US, and often leaves people with limited motor (movement) and neurological (brain-based) capability. Wearable sensors may allow clinicians to better understand how these individuals recover, and to better design therapies and interventions. We are seeking students who can use existing software, and perhaps adapt the software to extract, analyze, and visualize detail from study participants. This project will involve with the Cal Poly PI, and collaborators from physical therapy. This …

Analyzing Wearable Sensor Data From Individuals Undergoing Motor And Neurological Rehabilitation, Carly Smith

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

An ongoing study funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) is focused on developing computational models of rehabilitation for people post-stroke. Stroke affects around 800,000 people per year in the US, and often leaves people with limited motor (movement) and neurological (brain-based) capability. Wearable sensors may allow clinicians to better understand how these individuals recover, and to better design therapies and interventions. We are seeking students who can use existing software, and perhaps adapt the software to extract, analyze, and visualize detail from study participants. This project will involve with the Cal Poly PI, and collaborators from physical therapy. This …

A Biomimetic Fe Model Of The Human Foot For Kinematic And Footwear Analysis, Brady K. Nakamura

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

The idea of the present proposal is to develop a biomimetic foot model and validate the model accuracy in predicting plantar stresses on the foot, using insole pressure sensors. The incidences of foot pain can often be coupled with uncomfortable footwear and prolonged usage of a shoe may be associated with long-term musculoskeletal disorders in the lower limb. While multiple studies have tracked the progression of knee osteoarthritis (OA) or midfoot OA and have studied the effect of orthotic treatment on the foot pain across individuals [1], there are few biomimetic models of the foot that can study and associate …

Light-Activated Self-Folding Of Polystyrene-Based Shape Memory Polymers: A Comparison Of Laser Induced Graphene And Marker Patterns, Amelia Lodwick

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are a class of stimuli-responsive materials capable of undergoing programmable shape transformations upon thermal activation. Among various heating methods, light-induced activation provides a contact-free, spatially selective, and controllable approach for triggering self-folding behavior, making it particularly valuable for applications in soft robotics, aerospace structures, and biomedical devices. Despite the growing interest in SMPs, a systematic investigation into the influence of photothermal patterning materials, light intensity, and heat distribution on self-folding behavior remains limited. This research aims to explore the self-folding response of a commercially available SMP by employing photothermal materials such as carbon black and laser-induced …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Ultrasound-Hot Plate And Flacktek Mixing In Nanocomposite Panel Fabrication, Jacky Liang, Wyatt Barnes

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Nanomaterials have found widespread applications, particularly carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in structural applications, which have gained significant traction over the past few decades [1] [2]. Numerous experimental [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] and analytical studies [11] have demonstrated that incorporating CNTs into an epoxy matrix can significantly enhance the mechanical properties of the composite. This study evaluates and compares the effectiveness of nanocomposite panels fabricated using two different fabrication techniques: ultra-sonication combined with a hot plate process, and the FlackTek mixer. The primary objective of the research is to investigate the impact of these processing methods on the …

Leveraging Smartphones For Balance Assessment, Kelly Graham

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Assessment of human balance provides valuable metrics to track the health, development, and fall risk of individuals. The prominent method for objective balance assessments has used force plates to track the center of pressure (COP) position as a participant attempts to balance during varying tasks. However, the use of force plates is limited by the cost of equipment and expertise required, leading to recent interest in using embedded inertial measurement units (IMUs) in mobile devices instead. Many researchers have explored placing mobile devices close to the subject’s center of mass (COM) to approximate the subject’s COM acceleration and using the …

Certifiably Robust Input-Dependent Randomized Smoothing Via Lipschitz Standard Deviation Networks, Faith Bergstrom, Ben Sager

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Modern artificial intelligence (AI) systems exhibit highly sensitive and unsafe behavior when subjected to undetectable cyberattacks. For instance, human-imperceptible manipulations of the pixels in image data can cause traffic sign classifiers to mispredict stop signs as yield signs. In this project, we will design and analyze new methods to robustify machine learning (ML) models against these adversarial threats. Specifically, we will explore randomization techniques that "smooth out" the ML model's decision making process by intentionally corrupting input data with small amounts of noise. Optimizing this noise to enhance resilience against attacks while maintaining the system's accuracy poses a major open …

Augmented Biomechanics Integration For Real-Time Movement Optimization, Jack Bergfeld, Liyen Ho, Dylan Featherson

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

This project aims to integrate OpenCap, a markerless motion capture system, with augmented reality (AR) to optimize real-time human movement. By leveraging biomechanics principles, AR visualization, and machine learning (ML), the system will provide instant feedback to users, improving movement efficiency while minimizing joint and muscle stress. Previous research in 2024-2025 has successfully demonstrated 2D motion tracking and AR-based mapping onto another person for interactive comparison. This project will build upon that foundation by enhancing real-time 3D motion tracking and developing an advanced AR interface to guide users in sports training, rehabilitation, and workplace ergonomics. The integration of ML will …

Human-Ai Collaboration For Creative Design, Antony Chen

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Design-by-Analogy (DbA) is a powerful design tool that uses analogical reasoning to help engineers develop groundbreaking innovations, such as cyclonic separator inspired bagless vacuum cleaner or gecko inspired adhesives. DbA leverages the natural, human process of analogical reasoning in a systematic manner in three phases namely: retrieval (what prior knowledge/experience is relevant to a design problem?), mapping (what elements of the design problem align with the retrieved knowledge?), and evaluation (how applicable is the retrieved knowledge to solving a design problem?). To date, most DbA techniques support one or two phases of analogical reasoning and therefore overlook important opportunities for …

Motor Subsystem For A Tensegrity-Based Robotic Exoskeleton, Presley Sacavitch, Israel Villegas

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Tensegrity structures are composed of stiff rods and elastic cables suspended in a flexible tension network. In particular, the biotensegrity model proposes that all biological systems exhibit tensegrity-like characteristics across multiple scales, ranging from the cellular level to the musculoskeletal system of tendons, ligaments, and fascia, to the human body as a whole. Compared to the traditional biomechanical models used in exoskeleton design, it can be a more accurate representation of how motion emerges from natural forms, but further work is needed to fully understand the heterarchical nature of human anatomy. This project will focus on developing a powered electrical …

Exploration Of Physics-Informed Grid Generation Technique For Wall-Modeled Les Using Eagle3d, Dominic Schneider

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Wall-Modeled Large Eddy Simulation (WMLES) is an area of interest due to its ability to lower computational costs of LES. Even with the application of wall models, LES still proves to have practicality issues when it comes to use in industry, due to the expertise, time, and computational resources required. A novel technique for generating a lean, physics based WMLES grid is described.

The technique utilizes a RANS solution to extract turbulence information, user-specified values related to resolution of turbulent energy levels, acoustics waves, and shock waves, to generate a point cloud for producing a lean WMLES grid with in-house …

Active Measurement Of A Micron-Order Gap Under High-Speed And High-Temperature Conditions, Andrew Becker

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The hypersonic regime poses numerous challenges that researchers face in the development of hypersonic flight vehicles. Due to their excellent thermomechanical properties, ultra-high-temperature ceramics (UHTCs) have risen as a promising solution to act as a protective barrier between the harsh environment and surface materials of these flight bodies. The mechanical operation of a portable hypersonic simulation device was developed in-house and tested at Argonne National Laboratories (ANL) to gather in-situ material response of prospective UHTC samples when exposed to a hypersonic regime. An edge detection-based algorithm was developed and used in LabVIEW to monitor the health and operation of the …

Ai-Driven Autonomous Manufacturing: A Novel Taxonomy, Vision-Guided Planning, And Diversity-Aware Active Learning Frameworks, Ibrahim Yousif

Theses and Dissertations

Manufacturers face two opposing challenges: the escalating demand for customized products and the pressure to reduce lead times. Current manufacturing equipment, although reliable, operates at the limits of its technology and lacks adaptability to dynamic environments. This trade-off has been described as the optimal degree of automation, a threshold beyond which further automation incurs more cost than benefit. Smart manufacturing has introduced adaptive, data-driven systems, but many deployments still lack the contextual adaptability and autonomous decision-making required to handle unplanned disruptions. This underscores the need for intelligent, autonomous systems capable of real-time adaptation without costly reconfiguration, minimizing human intervention during …

Machine-Learning-Assisted Discovery Of Lattice Dynamics Signatures Of Sodium Superionic Conductors, Ogheneyoma Maxwell Aghoghovbia

Theses and Dissertations

Sodium superionic conductors are key to the development of all-solid-state sodium batteries. Discovery of new superionic conductors has traditionally relied on insights from material defect chemistry and the transition/hopping theory, while the role of lattice vibrations, i.e., phonons, remains underexplored. We identify key lattice dynamics signatures that govern ionic conductivity by analyzing the phonon mean squared displacement (MSD) of Na⁺ ions. By high-throughput screening of a dataset of 3903 Na-containing structures, we establish a strong positive correlation between phonon MSD and diffusion coefficients, providing a quantitative correlation between lattice dynamics and ion transport. To accelerate this discovery, we incorporate …

Cold Spray On Fiber Reinforced Polymer Substrates For Composite Repair And Tooling Applications, Patrick Allen Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

Cold Spray technology was first developed in the 1980’s and is an additive manufacturing and repair technique. It works by heating a pressurized carrier gas upwards of 600 °C and inserting metal particles downstream such that when they impact a substrate, the energy transformation causes plastic deformation of the particles. This thesis presents a use case for metal and polymer CS powder on fiber reinforced and fused filament fabrication polymer substrates. The state of the art for CS discusses the most up-to-date research within the field, and where new investigations are required. This research investigates the required process parameters to …

Characterization Of The Fatigue Threshold Behavior Of Uhmwpe, Bethany B. Smith, Anurag Roy, Robert O. Ritchie, Lisa A. Pruitt

Faculty Journal Articles

Ultra-high-molecular-weight-polyethylene (UHMWPE) has been the material of choice for bearings in total joint replacements (TJRs) for decades as a result of its excellent wear resistance, chemical inertness, energetic toughness, low friction, and biocompatibility. Utilization of this polymer in orthopedic devices requires oxidation, wear, and fatigue resistance. Balancing these important properties by tailoring processing techniques and modulating microstructural features has been an ongoing endeavor in the field. Research into the clinical applications of UHMWPE has primarily focused on the challenges of wear and oxidation while studies into the realm of fatigue have been more limited. Literature gaps exist in fully understanding …

Internal Resonance Of A T-Shaped Electrostatic Levitation Actuator, Ali Eskandari, Mohammad Alzgool, Yu Tian, Mohammad I. Younis, Shahrzad Towfighian

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Scholarship

This study explores the internal resonance of a T-shaped beam subjected to electrostatic forces at the MEMS scale. The actuator's unique configuration includes a side substrate, a fixed bottom substrate, and a suspended beam, enabling out-of-plane movement when excited. The T-shaped beam is designed to have a commensurate ratio of 1:2 between the fifth and sixth modes. The mathematical model of the system is developed and the shooting method is used to solve the reduced order model. Theoretical and experimental results reveal the interaction of two modes. The results indicate that due to the exchange of energy between the two …

Advances In Encapsulated Phase Change Materials For Integration In Thermal Management Applications, Muhammad Ghufran, David Huitink

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Encapsulated phase change materials (ePCMs) have the potential to emerge as a key solution for efficient thermal management in various applications. This review paper explores the recent advancements in ePCMs for thermal energy storage and thermal management. We start with a basic overview of the PCMs and then performance enhancements of PCMs through the encapsulation, critical parameters for encapsulation, various encapsulation methods, and their evaluation are discussed. This review also discusses key properties and proposed figure of merit for ePCMs, impact of encapsulation on thermophysical properties, performance evaluation of ePCMs, thermal management needs, and the role of PCMs. The paper …

Integration Of Sco2 Brayton Cycles With Carbon Capture Systems, Nathan C. Stearns, Rajarshi Roy, Brian Schooff, Andrew Chiodo, Andrew R. Fry, Brian D. Iverson

Faculty Publications

Increasing global energy consumption and greater market penetration of intermittent energy sources require a baseline power source to enable renewable energies. Here, a case is made for pairing supercritical CO₂ Brayton cycles with carbon capture to create low-emission, high-efficiency, combustion-based power generation systems. Pairing carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems with supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) Brayton cycles enables the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in combustion systems, but with an associated energy cost. Three different representative models of CCS systems (oxyfuel combustion, amine scrubbing, and cryogenic carbon capture) are considered for pairing with an sCO2 Brayton cycle, …

Multiphysics Modeling, Analysis, And Design Of Ceramic Hollow Fiber Membranes For Oxygen Separation, Hamed Abdolahimansoorkhani

Theses and Dissertations

Oxygen plays a central role in numerous industrial processes. Several technologies have been reported for producing oxygen from air. Among them, oxygen transport membrane (OTM) technology—based on mixed-conducting, gas-tight ceramic membranes—has attracted significant attention due to its high oxygen selectivity, relatively low capital and operating costs, and versatility for both ex-situ and in-situ applications. Mathematical modeling of OTMs offers a powerful tool to investigate internal multi-physics transport phenomena, providing deeper insight into fundamental mechanisms while serving as a cost-effective approach for optimizing membrane stack designs.

After a comprehensive introduction, in the first part of this dissertation (chapter 2), a comprehensive …

Recognizing The Unexpected: Deep Learning Across Complex Environments, Ge Song

Theses and Dissertations

Ensuring the security, trustworthiness, and operational integrity of modern autonomous and cyber-physical systems presents a critical challenge. While widely utilized in various engineering applications, such as intelligent transportation and industrial manufacturing, these systems require robust monitoring frameworks to identify unexpected anomalies in real-time, thereby maintaining operational safety and efficiency. This dissertation develops advanced deep learning methodologies for anomaly detection and health monitoring, with a particular emphasis on semisupervised reconstruction-based approaches that identify anomalies in complex environments using models trained only with normal operational patterns.

Building on this theme, the first study focuses on analyzing pedestrian behavior and detecting anomalies at …

Multi-Layer Decision Making For Long-Term Autonomous Mission Based On Dual Process Theory, Shruti Jadhav

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly used in precision agriculture, where extended autonomous operation is required for monitoring, intervention, and field management. However, achieving long-term autonomy remains challenging due to battery constraints, environmental uncertainty, and the need to balance exploration with event-driven tasks. To address these challenges, a multi-layer decision-making framework inspired by Dual Process Theory (DPT) is developed. The framework combines reactive return-tobase strategies, exploratory navigation, and directional bias from prior missions, with a conflict-monitoring mechanism that adapts system behavior based on real-time conditions. The approach is implemented in a simulated agricultural grid environment, demonstrating improved adaptability and coverage …

Reduced Order Simulator Of A Nuclear Thermal Propulsion System, Jackson Taylor Zazzaro

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the development of a reduced-order simulator for a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system, designed to capture the key thermo-fluid and performance characteristics of such systems while maintaining computational efficiency. The primary objective of this work is to develop and demonstrate a modular simulation framework capable of modeling the coupled physics of an NTP reactor, nozzle, and orbital transfer system. The simulator integrates a reduced-order thermal-fluid model of the reactor, a simplified nozzle model, and an orbital transfer model, providing a comprehensive yet computationally efficient representation of the propulsion process. By employing reduced-order modeling techniques, the simulator achieves …

Rate-Dependent Interlaminar Shear Characterization In Solid-State Extruded Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene Film Composites, Frank David Thomas Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) cross-ply [0o/90o] thin film composites are emerging as an effective material for impact applications due to their high axial strength-to-weight ratio and favorable delamination properties. Mode-II interlaminar shear (ILS) fracture-driven delamination has been shown to be a significant energy absorption mechanism. Therefore, accurately characterizing ILS behavior as a function of strain rate in these composites is essential to inform computational models. Since these composites are significantly thinner and weaker in both interlaminar shear and transverse tension than traditional carbon fiber epoxy composites, standard ILS Mode II test methods/specimens such as end-notched flexure (ENF) are expected …

Enhancing Two-Phase Heat Spreading: Development And Performance Evaluation Of Hermetically Sealed Hybrid Heat Sinks, Walker Ryan Champion

Theses and Dissertations

Modern, high-performance technology presents challenges for thermal management based on power density. To cool heat fluxes to this degree, conventional liquid-cooled heat sinks are utilized because air cooling becomes insufficient (>100 𝑊/𝑐𝑚² ). This study introduces a hybrid heat sink that integrates liquid cooling with a dropwise-enhanced vapor chamber, contains a hermetic seal, and achieves high thermal performance with low energy consumption. The temperature hotspots, thermal resistances, gravitational/pin effects, temperature uniformity, and coefficient of performance were investigated. Experimental results demonstrate a high cooling capacity of 600 W over a 6.25 𝑐𝑚² heating area with a low cooling …

Compost Grinder For The University Of South Carolina Office Of Sustainability, Rori E. Pumphrey, Grace Yaegel, Aaron R. Sawyer, Bradley White

Senior Theses

This project originates from a collaboration with the USC Office of Sustainability, which seeks to improve the handling and processing of food waste generated on campus. The primary challenge is the difficulty in composting certain types of food waste, such as avocado pits, pumpkin rinds, and other dense or fibrous organic materials that are not easily broken down using conventional methods. Existing commercial solutions are often too large and expensive, or electrically powered, and are thus not well suited for the volume or nature of USC's food waste. To address these limitations, our team designed a manually operated food waste …