Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Ninja 300 Motorcycle Luggage Rack, Mikel Hirigoyen, Ethan Gatchalian, Eric Tsuchiya

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

The product is a motorcycle luggage rack compatible with the Kawasaki Ninja 300. This report elaborates on all aspects of the team’s work in developing this product. First, the motivations and foundational work for this project are discussed. Then, the team’s design of the entire product as a whole, and each of its subsystems are clearly laid out. System testing and results are also provided, followed by a cost breakdown of the whole process. Next, patents and engineering standards are listed as a documented justification for the team’s project. Finally, an overall project evaluation is conducted by the team.

Statistical Study Of The Effect Of Implementing An Airveyor System On The Warpage Of Injection Molded Closures, Charles Wesley Bozarth

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Berry Global in Bowling Green, Kentucky produces predominantly polypropylene container closures. One variant, the 83mm lined jar closure, is produced by first being injection molded, placed in work-in-progress (WIP) hold for 24 hours to cool, and then finished through the auxiliary liner operation into a final product. While this process is an effective method to produce a quality large-diameter closure and allows the polypropylene adequate time to cool without warping out of shape, the 24-hour WIP time and the manpower needed to accomplish this can negatively impact several business metrics as well as employee safety.

The purpose of this thesis …

Thermo Hydraulic Performance Of Polymer Double-Pipe Heat Exchanger For Single-Phase Heating/Cooling Application, Ahmed Mohamed Gafar

Theses

This thesis details the model-based study carried out for understanding the thermal and hydraulic performance of double pipe heat exchangers with and without pin-fins; both counter and parallel flow configurations are considered in the study. The pin-fins are located on the outer wall of the inner pipe thereby extending into the annulus and in this study, the hot fluid is assumed to pass through the annulus. The model consists of multiple governing equations such as continuity equations, Navier-Stokes equations, and energy equations. A fluent module of Ansys Workbench is used for conducting the model-based study. Double pipe heat exchangers constructed …

Bending-Torsion Flutter Analysis Of A Viscoelastic Tapered Wing Carrying An Engine And Subjected To A Follower Thrust Force, Youssef Shaaban Abdelfattah Matter

Theses

Flutter, a dynamic divergent instability, is one of the significant phenomena of Aeroelasticity. This dangerous aeroelastic phenomenon can occur to any flexible structure subjected to aerodynamic forces such as aircraft wings, bridges, buildings, etc. It is important to analyze the flutter in order to predict the speed and frequency at which it occurs so that structural damages and failures can be avoided. This thesis is concerned with non-dimensional parametric modeling of the flutter of a viscoelastic tapered wing with an attached engine. The main objectives of this thesis are to determine regions of stability and boundaries of flutter speed and …

Development Of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting System For Low-Frequency Vibrations, Mai Rabie Mahmoud Ismail

Theses

Harvesting energy from vibration sources has attracted the interest of researchers for the past three decades. Researchers have been working on the potential of achieving self-powered MEMS scale devices. Piezoelectric cantilever harvesters have caught the attention in this field because of the excellent combination of high-power density and compact structure. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a novel and optimum piezoelectric harvester system using lumped parameter model (LPM) for given vibration sources. The finite element model (FEM) is used in this work as an original approach to be utilized for optimal design optimization. Three types of validations …

Modelling And Control Of A Two-Link Rigid-Flexible Manipulator, Rahma Saeed Rasheed Alnajjar

Theses

The literature lacks data on the reliability of 3D models created by Autodesk Inventor software and imported to MATLAB Simulink software in comparison to mathematically generated models. In this contribution, a two-link rigid-flexible manipulator modelled in two different methods was demonstrated, one of which is using Lagrange equations and Finite Element Method to generate a mathematical model of the manipulator, and the other is creating a 3D model with the aid of Autodesk Inventor then import to MATLAB Simulink, both models were subsequently controlled by three types of controllers, conventional PID controller, LQR controller, and LQG controller. The research demonstrated …

Numerical Investigation Of Mesh-Based Enhancement Of Vapor Bubble Condensation, Omar Darwish Ali Alqadi Alhammadi

Theses

The aim of this work is to study the vapor bubble condensation process and the enhancement technique via affecting bubbles dynamic using a mesh-based structure. The bubble dynamics and thermal behavior are studied by considering the heat and mass transfer through the bubble’s interface area between the vapor and liquid regions and the resulting condensation effects. The thermal characteristics of bubbles are observed considering the initial and final liquid temperatures. Additionally, the bubble dynamics are studied in terms of several parameters including the relative velocity of the bubble, bubble deformation, interfacial area, and the bubble diameters. The relation between the …

Damage Evolution And High-Rate Response Of High-Strength Concrete Under Triaxial Loading, Brett Williams

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

The research presented in this study focuses on understanding fundamental mechanisms that drive material response under dynamic loading conditions. The objectives of the research were to: (1) to understand damage initiation and propagation in the bulk geomaterial under a variety of loading conditions and (2) to systematically investigate the strain rate effects on the triaxial compressive response of cementitious materials through the development of an innovative, first of its kind large-diameter (50 mm) triaxial Kolsky bar system.

The triaxial compressive response of high-strength concrete is needed to understand pressure-dependent material behavior, which is important for modeling extreme loading events. However, …

A Model-Based Systems Engineering Approach To E-Vtol Aircraft And Airspace Infrastructure Design For Urban Air Mobility, Heidi Selina Glaudel

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This paper serves to contribute to Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) by following the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook framework for a Systems Engineering (SE) design approach to an Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (e-VTOL) aircraft and the incorporating airspace infrastructure. The focus of this study is, by using the MBSE model created, to capture the technical requirements definition and design intent of the vehicle and airspace inclusive of community specific knowledge derived from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) NextGen Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Concept of Operations (ConOps) version 1.0. The stakeholder requirements derived from the FAA UAM NextGen ConOps will form …

Improved Strain Gage Instrumentation Strategies For Rotorcraft Blade Measurements, Timothy S. Davis

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In this work, a new strategy is presented to wire, calibrate, and measure strain gages for rotor blade testing that will provide more information and is robust to individual gage loss. The additional information can be used in several ways. including reducing redundancy, offering rapid identification of damage locations, and in some cases reducing risk allowing tests to continue to collect calibrated data after one or more sensors have failed. This strategy replaces the classical four-gage full Wheatstone bridge with four separately wired quarter bridges that are combined into a full bridge in the data acquisition system using a calculated …

Drive Leg And Stride Leg Ground Reaction Forces Relationship To Medial Elbow Stress And Velocity In Collegiate Baseball Pitchers, Brett Smith

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This study examines several different kinetic variables in relation to pitch velocity and elbow varus torque in collegiate baseball pitchers using force plates, an inertial measurement unit, and a radar unit. The purpose of this study is to investigate the kinetic variables being measured and their relationship to pitch velocity and loads being placed on the medial elbow. Twelve collegiate baseball pitchers participated in this study, which was approved by the IRB. Impulse of the drive leg in the anterior-posterior direction, stride leg peak force in the anterior-posterior (AP) direction, elbow varus torque, and pitch velocity were all measured. Two …

The Drier Dryer, Daniel Anderson, Justin Lee, Thomas Morey, Josh Sunada

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

With our product, The Drier Dryer, we aim to increase the efficiency of clothing dryers. This report contains an indepth look at the design approach we are taking to create our product. Our design utilizes a thermoelectric cooler combined with heat sinks and heat pipes to efficiently cool air to its dew point temperature and then reheat the air prior to sending it into a clothes dryer intake. Cooling the air to dew point temperature allows moisture to be removed from the air consequently decreasing the relative humidity. Throughout our design process we obtained simulation results providing a theoretical temperature …

Automated Residential Energy Audits Using A Smart Wifi Thermostat-Enabled Data Mining Approach, Abdulrahman Alanezi, Kevin Hallinan, Kefan Huang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Smart WiFi thermostats, when they first reached the market, were touted as a means for achieving substantial heating and cooling energy cost savings. These savings did not materialize until additional features, such as geofencing, were added. Today, average savings from these thermostats of 10–12% in heating and 15% in cooling for a single-family residence have been reported. This research aims to demonstrate additional potential benefit of these thermostats, namely as a potential instrument for conducting virtual energy audits on residences. In this study, archived smart WiFi thermostat measured temperature data in the form of a power spectrum, corresponding historical weather …

High-Order Wave-Damage Interaction Coefficients (Wdic) Extracted Through Modal Decomposition, Hanfei Mei, Victor Giurgiutiu

Faculty Publications

This paper presents a new technique for the extraction of high-order wave-damage interaction coefficients (WDIC) through modal decomposition. The frequency and direction dependent complex-valued WDIC are used to model the scattering and mode conversion phenomena of guided wave interaction with damage. These coefficients are extracted from the harmonic analysis of local finite element model (FEM) mesh with non-reflective boundaries (NRB) and they are capable of describing the amplitude and phase of the scattered waves as a function of frequency and direction. To extract the WDIC of each wave mode, all the possible propagating wave modes are considered to be scattered …

Six-Sigma Quality Management Of Additive Manufacturing, Hui Yang, Prahalad Rao, Timothy Simpson, Yan Lu, Paul Witherell, Abdalla R. Nassar, Edward Reutzel, Soundar Kumara

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Quality is a key determinant in deploying new processes, products, or services and influences the adoption of emerging manufacturing technologies. The advent of additive manufacturing (AM) as a manufacturing process has the potential to revolutionize a host of enterprise-related functions from production to the supply chain. The unprecedented level of design flexibility and expanded functionality offered by AM, coupled with greatly reduced lead times, can potentially pave the way for mass customization. However, widespread application of AM is currently hampered by technical challenges in process repeatability and quality management. The breakthrough effect of six sigma (6S) has been demonstrated in …

Mems 411: Lift Demonstration, Dean Ryan-Simmons, Marketa Riley, Puja Chhetri

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

A portable lift demonstration was requested to get children interested and thinking about what happens with fluid movement. The demonstration had size and weight requirements, which were both met. Accuracy of lift force representation was not requested, but simple force and flow visualizations were required. The demonstration had variable wind speeds, and showed the change in force with change in angle of attack.

Mems 411: Fast Pill Cutter, Andrew Brown, Isaac Sasser, Aaron Manuel, Quan Chau

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This design project attempted to create a new pill-cutting device to help pharmacy technicians split pills quickly, precisely, and safely. The product was intended to occupy a competitive niche with current devices on the market, prioritizing increased cutting speed with potentially greater cost.

Mems 411: Portable Bridge Crane With Pulleys, Daniel Shen, Man Kit Mau, Haoxiang Lu, Kaijun Xu

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The bridge crane demonstrates dynamics behavior that the flexible mode has a natural frequency depending on the string length. In this project, a portable bridge crane is designed and made to demonstrate this dynamical phenomena by changing speed and string length. The portable bridge crane requires a light mass and a small size. At the same time, because it needs to be observed in a two-dimensional plane, the trolley must be able to move horizontally on a bridge with tracks, and the speed of the trolley needs to be controlled by a speed controllable motor. The crane needs to suspend …

Mems 411: The Adjustable Bit Brace, Alex Levy, Alex Dutton, Daniel Luberda, Aidan Murphy

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This group set out to create an open-source adjustable bit brace as a tool to lower the barrier to entry for smaller individuals looking to pick up tools and work on DIY projects. The brace is designed to highlight 3D printed parts, as well as components that can be fabricated at home by an experienced maker. The design uses standard adjustment mechanisms such as button clips and bolts to bring the bit brace from full size down to 2/3 scale in seconds. The device is advised by engineering models, FEA analysis, stiffness/strength targets, and destructive testing protocols to create a …

Mems 411: Creation Of A 3-Axis Camera System For Various Imaging Modalities, Ethan Meitz, Julia Flores, Ashley Linderman, Madison Larkin

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The Lake Lab at Washington University in St. Louis faces challenges when setting up their camera systems for experiments. The Three Axis Camera system aims to optimize the experience by automating the movement and creating a user-friendly design. The current set-up requires the camera position to be adjusted manually and is “not liked” by most users. This wastes their time since the lab must set the location for the camera first and if the camera positioning is moved then the experiment will be ruined. Thus, the lab asked us specifically to help them automate these movements with our design and …

Mems 411: Compact Sewing Pin Dispenser, Jacob L. Weinstein, Eric Y. Lu, Nick J. Armanino

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Sewing pins are small and hard to handle, and managing the pins can be very distracting (or painful) for a sewist. Our goal was to design a simple and easy sewing pin dispenser for a home sewist that can dispense small headed dressmaker pins. For our design to be a viable product, it would have to dispense pins very quickly, accurately, and safely. Additionally, it has to handle many pins at the same time so it does not have to be reloaded during use. Based on the design of a toothpick dispenser, our prototype small, lightweight, and portable device that …

Mems 411; Ground Work Station, Samuel Wille, Daniel Renbaum-Koss

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This project aims to design a support mechanism for ecological field researchers who interact with plants and other samples from the forest floor for long periods. The design aims to recreate the functionality of bending over for long periods of time, while protecting the backs, hips and knees.

Mems 411: Portable Bridge Crane, Alex Eckels, Will Hurley, Zarya Desouza, Troy Bauer

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The team designed and built a portable bridge crane for use in class demonstrations. The design was be based off a typical gantry crane, which consists of a trolley spanning across two horizontal parallel beams that are part of a gantry with a payload hanging from the trolley. The group also needed to design the gantry itself and ensure it was both stable enough to support the trolley and payload at the desired operation speeds as well as scaled properly for the desired use.

Mems 411: Portable Ground Work Station - Group C, Samantha Hudson, Valeria Pinedo Chipana, Valentina Harding, Luis Acosta

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Build a ergonomic, portable, and weather resistant ground work station for members of the department of Biology to use during field research.

Mems 411: The Amazing Renewable Race, Kayla Murphy, Alitzel Yépiz, Daryl Wilson, Rebecca Davis

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The project’s goal was to convey the importance of renewable energy to a 6 through 12 years old audience. This demo was designed to be installed at the St. Louis Science Center. To engage a younger audience, the renewable energy demonstration had to be interactive. As a result, a design similar to a carnival game was chosen. There are 3 stations that represent wind, hydroelectric, and solar energy. In this design, it is a multiplayer interactive race that portrays renewable energy. The initial design was to have each form of energy produced by the users. The user at the hydro …

Mems 411: The Pill Cutter, Alex Posly, Alex Austin, Drew Marolf, Dylan Stubbs

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The goal of this design project was to improve the current method of pill cutting for STL Hills Pharmacy. Pharmacists and other medical professionals cut hundreds of pills weekly. Their current methods can only cut one pill at a time with an error rate of 50%. Pills are often split without enough precision and need to be thrown out. Our project was designed to have a 10% maximum error rate, require 1/4 of the force, and split pills 4 times as fast.

Mems 411: Ground Work Station Design Project, Jakub A. Gawedzki, Mark H. Wood, John B. Campoverde

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Researchers from Washington University had requested us to design and develop a ground work station that allows them to work comfortable in the field for our senior design class.

Mems 411: Arliss Canister Vehicle, Patrick Smith, Brannon Boyd, Matthew Donaldson, Kieran Natarajan

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

To design, build, and test an autonomous canister vehicle to compete in the ARLISS competition. Design must autonomously drive to a given set of GPS coordinates, record and store GPS data during operation, survive a parachute drop, and traverse rough, uneven terrain.

Mems 411: Automatic Sewing Pin Dispenser, Edric Choi, Enrico Milletti, Adrian Odamtten, Chad Picerni

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The aim of our project is to design and embody an automatic pin dispenser for our customer, Melanie, a recreational sewer. Namely, our pin dispenser design aims to address the need for sewers to safely receive and handle dressmaker pins with one hand whilst working with garments. We have identified three main performance goals for an automatic pins dispenser: Store at least 50 pins at a time, produce at least 1 pin every 2-3 seconds, and present at least 90% of all sorted pins in an upward orientation to the user. These performance goals were identified by interviewing our customer …

Mems 411: Self Lacing Shoes, Peter Pigatti, Bryce Roberts, Al-Amin Yusuf

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

For our senior design project we have chosen to design and prototype a pair of self lacing shoes with the initial target audience being people with disabilities who are limited in their ability to tie their own shoes for a variety of reasons. However, we hope that this product will catch on in popularity and become normalized for all people. These shoes will allow the wearer to easily slip them on and then secure the shoes to the foot with the push of a button rather than tying laces as in conventional shoes. This process will be driven by a …