Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

On-Machine Measurement Of Cutting Tool Damage Based On Optical Knife-Edge Diffraction, Chabum Lee, Kwun-Lon Ting, Joshua A. Tarbutton, Sun-Kyu Lee, Hwan-Sik Yoon, Jonathan D. Ellis

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 2: Materials, Design & Manufacturing; pp. 58-63

Orbital Mechanic Simulation Of A 1u Cubesat, Alicia Ratcliffe, Carlos Montalvo

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 3: Dynamic Systems & Control; pp. 67-71

Dynamic System Analysis Using Recurrence Quantification Analysis And Recurrence Plots In Mathematica, Serkan Guldal, Veronica Baugh

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 3: Dynamic Systems & Control; pp. 76-81

Simulated Lvad Pump Mimic Device For Analyzing Safety, Risk And Reliability Of Designs, Jacob King, Clint Bergeron, Krishna Chaitanya Manthripragada, Charles Taylor

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 3: Dynamic Systems & Control; pp. 82-88

A Laser Sensor For Tire Real-Time Parameter Estimation, Mostafa Salama, Marc A. Parker, Vladimir V. Vantsevich

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 3: Dynamic Systems & Control; pp. 89-97

Design And Study Of Solar Concentrator With Flat Hexagonal Petals, Ketan Solanki, Mohamed Nizamuddin Shaik, Vijaya Krishna Teja Bangi, Ramesh K. Guduru, Kendrick T. Aung

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 4: Heat Transfer, Energy Generation & Conversion; p. 109-114

Application Of A Sequence Of Design Methodologies To The Problem Of Transporting Warm Particles In Particle Heating Receiver Solar Energy Systems, Kenzo Repole, Sheldon Jeter

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 4: Heat Transfer, Energy Generation & Conversion; pp. 115-123

Analysis Of An Experimental Building Hvac System To Improve Efficiency, Christopher Fernandez, Sheldon Jeter

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 4: Heat Transfer, Energy Generation & Conversion; pp. 124-129

Uncertainty Analysis Methodology For Particle Heating Receiver Testing, Clayton Nguyen, Matthew Golob, Sheldon Jeter, Said Abdel-Khalik

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 4: Heat Transfer, Energy Generation & Conversion; pp. 130-135

A Distribution Level Renewable Integration Optimization Technique With Variable Pricing, Demand Response And Thermal Energy Storage For Residential Applications, Justin M. Hill, Hessam Taherian, Sandeep S. Chahal

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 4: Heat Transfer, Energy Generation & Conversion; pp. 136-142

Solar Simulator Mixed Temperature Test Of Wire Mesh Particle Heating Receiver To Measure Receiver Efficiency, Matthew Golob, Clayton Nguyen, Sheldon Jeter, Said Abdel-Khalik

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 4: Heat Transfer, Energy Generation & Conversion; pp. 143-149

Incremental Matrix Inversion Approach For Radial Basis Function Mesh Deformation, Mohamed M. Selim, Ankur Gupta, Roy P. Koomullil

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 5: Numerical Methods; pp. 153-159

Finite Element Simulation Of Cylindrical Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters Under Internal Loading, Parya Aghasafari, Israr Bin M Ibrahim, Ramana Pidaparti

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 5: Numerical Methods; pp. 160-165

Proceedings Of The 15th Annual Early Career Technical Conference (End Matter), Ectc Coordinating Committee

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Proceedings of the 15th Annual Early Career Technical Conference, November 7, 2015. School of Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; p. 166

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

Honors Theses

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

Self-Assembly Kinetics Of Microscale Components: A Parametric Evaluation, Jose Miguel Carballo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of the present work is to develop, and evaluate a parametric model of a basic microscale Self-Assembly (SA) interaction that provides scaling predictions of process rates as a function of key process variables. At the microscale, assembly by “grasp and release” is generally challenging. Recent research efforts have proposed adapting nanoscale self-assembly (SA) processes to the microscale. SA offers the potential for reduced equipment cost and increased throughput by harnessing attractive forces (most commonly, capillary) to spontaneously assemble components. However, there are challenges for implementing microscale SA as a commercial process. The existing lack of design tools prevents …

A Numerical And Experimental Investigation Of Flow Induced Noise In Hydraulic Counterbalance Valves, Mutasim Mohamed Elsheikh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this study is to explore the complex fluid flow phenomena that result in the generation of a high frequency noise in counterbalance valves through an experimental and numerical investigation of the flow. Once the influence of the different components involved in noise generation is established, a secondary objective is the introduction of design modifications that eliminate the undesired effect without altering the operation envelope or the performance of the valve.

A hydraulic test bench was used to carry out an experimental investigation of the noise generation process. A computer based data acquisition system was used to …

Anthropomorphic Robotic Ankle-Foot Prosthesis With Active Dorsiflexion- Plantarflexion And Inversion-Eversion, Evandro Ficanha

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The main goal of the research presented in this paper is the development of a powered ankle-foot prosthesis with anthropomorphic characteristics to facilitate turning, walking on irregular grounds, and reducing secondary injuries on bellow knee amputees. The research includes the study of the gait in unimpaired human subjects that includes the kinetics and kinematics of the ankle during different types of gait, in different gait speeds at different turning maneuvers. The development of a robotic ankle-foot prosthesis with two active degrees of freedom (DOF) controlled using admittance and impedance controllers is presented. Also, a novel testing apparatus for estimation of …

Transient Thermoelectric Supercooling: Isosceles Current Pulses From A Response Surface Perspective And The Performance Effects Of Pulse Cooling A Heat Generating Mass, Alfred Piggott

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

With increased public interest in protecting the environment, scientists and engineers aim to improve energy conversion efficiency. Thermoelectrics offer many advantages as thermal management technology. When compared to vapor compression refrigeration, above approximately 200 to 600 watts, cost in dollars per watt as well as COP are not advantageous for thermoelectrics. The goal of this work was to determine if optimized pulse supercooling operation could improve cooling capacity or efficiency of a thermoelectric device. The basis of this research is a thermal-electrical analogy based modeling study using SPICE. Two models were developed. The first model, a standalone thermocouple with no …

Elementary Assessments And Simulations Based Proposals For New Heat Transfer Correlations And Flow Regime Maps For Annular/Stratified Regime Of Shear Driven Internal Condensing Flows, Siddharth Ravikumar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Contemporary cooling applications necessitate the use of mm-scale shear driven flow condenser designs which also need to ensure substantial heat transfer rates for a wide range of flow conditions. Some modern shear driven flow condensers must meet the requirements of small size and large heat flux removal capability for variety of flow conditions. For this, effective estimates of heat transfer rate correlations and correlations for estimating the length of the annular regime are essential. Existing heat transfer correlations are built based on semi-empirical approaches which are primarily supported by large data sets, which are often mixed with insufficient explanation and …

A Market-Based Approach To 3d Printing For Economic Development In Ghana, Wade Aitken-Palmer

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

The purpose of this report is to create the foundation for further study of a market-based approach to 3D printing as an instrument for economic development in Ghana. The delivery of improved products and services to the most underserved markets is needed to spur economic activity and improve standards of living. The relationship between economic development and the advancement of technology is considered within the context of Ghana. An opportunity for market entry exists within both the bottom of the economic pyramid and the mid-segment market. 3D printing (additive manufacturing) has proven to be a disruptive technology that has demonstrated …

Improved Sensitivity Of Resonant Mass Sensor Based On Micro Tilting Plate And Micro Cantilever, Xiaoyu Song

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

Vapor sensors have been used for many years. Their applications range from detection of toxic gases and dangerous chemicals in industrial environments, the monitoring of landmines and other explosives, to the monitoring of atmospheric conditions. Microelectrical mechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication technologies provide a way to fabricate sensitive devices. One type of MEMS vapor sensors is based on mass changing detection and the sensors have a functional chemical coating for absorbing the chemical vapor of interest. The principle of the resonant mass sensor is that the resonant frequency will experience a large change due to a small mass of gas vapor …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

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

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

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

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

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

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

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

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

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

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

Kinematic Analysis And Simulation Of Theo Jansen Mechanism, Mehrdad Mohsenizadeh, Jenny Zhou

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 3: Dynamic Systems & Control; pp. 98-106