Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Novel Approach To Predict The Crash Testing Data Using Multiple Regression Analysis And Principal Component Analysis, Ravi Lochan Kallur

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the design process of vehicles, crash tests are very critical to determine the safety measures. Every motor manufacturing company has to maintain certain standards for their autos. This will lead to the design optimization of safety measures utilizing the data available from crash tests. The engineers perform various experiments to generate data from crash testing of vehicles in their manufacturing facility. With the help of simulators; they create a virtual environment to perform design changes. Hence the data obtained from the crash tests is vital in design optimization of safety systems. The present study deals with the technologies involved …

Nondestructive Testing For Finding Out The Displacement Of Crack In Silicon Nitride, Sriharsha Kurra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Nondestructive testing (NDT) has become an increasingly vital factor in the effective conduct of research, development, design and manufacturing. Only with the appropriate use of nondestructive testing techniques, the benefits of advanced materials science can be fully realized. NDT has a wide range of industrial applications and various methods and techniques are employed to perform the nondestructive testing. The current work aims to demonstrate the nondestructive testing technique applied to determine the damage in silicon nitride. Ceramics are brittle materials and non destructive evaluation methods are required to assess the quality and reliability of them. A nondestructive evaluation technique has …

Optimization Of Flow For Plastic Pbt With 45% Glass And Mineral Fiber Reinforcement In An Injection Over Mold Process Using Taguchi, Cpk And Mold Flow Simulation Software Approaches, Israel Sanchez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis analyze the plastic injection molding parameters in order to identify which parameters significantly affects the flow properties of Polibuthylen Thereptalate with 45% glass/mineral reinforcement, and which levels are the best to use for those parameters. With the purpose of optimizing the plastic flow conditions in an injection mold to obtain parts free from short shots (term used to describe a plastic part that is incomplete due to the poor plastic flow in the mold runners and cavities).

The used approach is Taguchi design of experiments to define which parameters have significant effect on the response variable, and the …

Event-Detecting Multi-Agent Mdps: Complexity And Constant-Factor Approximation, Akshat Kumar, S. Zilberstein

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Planning under uncertainty for multiple agents has grown rapidly with the development of formal models such as multi-agent MDPs and decentralized MDPs. But despite their richness, the applicability of these models remains limited due to their computational complexity. We present the class of event-detecting multi-agent MDPs (eMMDPs), designed to detect multiple mobile targets by a team of sensor agents. We show that eMMDPs are NP-Hard and present a scalable 2-approximation algorithm for solving them using matroid theory and constraint optimization. The complexity of the algorithm is linear in the state-space and number of agents, quadratic in the horizon, and exponential …

An Integrated Probability-Based Approach For Multiple Response Surface Optimization, Okay Isik

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Nearly all real life systems have multiple quality characteristics where individual modeling and optimization approaches can not provide a balanced compromising solution. Since performance, cost, schedule, and consistency remain the basics of any design process, design configurations are expected to meet several conflicting requirements at the same time. Correlation between responses and model parameter uncertainty demands extra scrutiny and prevents practitioners from studying responses in isolation. Like any other multi-objective problem, multi-response optimization problem requires trade-offs and compromises, which in turn makes the available algorithms difficult to generalize for all design problems. Although multiple modeling and optimization approaches have been …

Communication Models For Monitoring And Mobility Verification In Mission Critical Wireless Networks, Maheswaran Thiagarajan

Masters Theses

"Recent technological advances have seen wireless sensor networks emerge as an interesting research topic because of its ability to realize mission critical applications like in military or wildfire detection. The first part of the thesis focuses on the development of a novel communication scheme referred here as a distributed wireless critical information-aware maintenance network (DWCIMN), which is presented for preventive maintenance of network-centric dynamic systems. The proposed communication scheme addresses quality of service (QoS) issues by using a combination of a head-of-the-line queuing scheme, efficient bandwidth allocation, weight-based backoff mechanism, and a distributed power control scheme. A thorough analysis of …

Feasibility Of A Human Performance Model In Consequence Management, Kashmeera Ghosh

Masters Theses

"Human civilization has always encountered unpredictable disasters as a result of natural events. Now it also faces the disasters caused by terrorist attacks. Governments must have consequence management plans in place to protect public health and safety, restore essential services, and provide emergency relief to affected businesses and individuals. Human performance models predict outcomes in complex dynamic situations. Such models can simulate disaster management procedures under varying circumstances. This work applies human performance modeling in a terrorist situation and evaluates possible uses of such models by first responders in practical consequence management applications. It includes a case study of an …

Development And Use Of Computer Aided Tools To Enhance Team Dynamics With Role Play Simulations, Vachaspathy Kuntamukkala

Masters Theses

"This thesis proposes a methodology for the development and use of computer based tools to enhance student team dynamics. Working effectively in groups cannot be taught in class room environment. Students often encounter conflicts during team meetings. Although some conflicts are resolved by the efforts of team members, an unbiased facilitator who is not a member of the team is often needed to help. This work proposes a tool that uses role play simulations to engage students in real-life scenarios so that they gain a practical, as well as a theoretical, understanding of how to work effectively as a team. …

Public-Private Partnerships In High Risk Transportation Projects, Kiran Rangarajan

Masters Theses

"This research examines Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) between private firms and City of Chamois, Missouri to establish a ferry boat service across the Missouri River. The study illustrates the role of PPPs in managing high risk transportation projects for rural economic development. The research study was designed to accomplish three objectives. First, understand and study the high risk transportation industry which included analyzing other ferry services in and around the region, and identifying potential risks involved in a ferry boat project. Second, study various models of PPPs, identify the attributes of each model and select appropriate models based on local and …

Analysis Of Factors Causing Failure Mode For Automotive Hitch Control System Calibration In Agriculture Equipment, Setordji Yao Abotsi

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Traditionally, agricultural tractors have used hydro-mechanical draft control systems to mechanically sense implement draft. Technological development of low cost, reliable microprocessors has contributed to allowing greater flexibility in designing agricultural tractor control systems (Rutkowski & Welchens, 1986). To successfully control the depth of which an implement penetrates the ground, it has become imperative to incorporate a draft control system on agricultural tractors. The control system operates by responding to the draft load or force acting on the tractor. Increasing the draft load or force allows the implement to be raised and decreasing the draft load or force allows the implement …

Preliminary Investigation Of Metallurgical Structure And Mechanical Properties Of Cast Iron With High Aluminum Content, Pavel Bizyukov

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The problem addressed in this study analyzed various properties of cast iron with high aluminum content. This grade of cast iron was projected for use in the automotive industry. The benefits provided with high aluminum content are lower specific gravity and relatively inexpensive source materials with the potential of achieving high temperature properties.

The purpose of the study was to select suitable source materials and determine an effective melting technique, to investigate metallurgical structure and mechanical properties at given chemical composition, and, finally, to provide elaborate results.

The design of the experiment included the following steps: (a) selection and preparation …

Integrated Resource Allocation And Scheduling In Bidirectional Flow Shop With Multi-Machine And Cos Constraints, Hoong Chuin Lau, Zhengyi Zhao, Shuzhi Sam Ge

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

An integer programming (IP) model is proposed for integrated resource allocation and operation scheduling for a multiple job-agents system. Each agent handles a specific job-list in a bidirectional flowshop. For the individual agent scheduling problem, a formulation is proposed in continuous time domain and compared with an IP formulation in discrete time domain. Of particular interest is the formulation of the machine utilization function-- both in continuous time and discrete time. Fast heuristic methods are proposed with the relaxation of the machine capacity. For the integrated resource allocation and scheduling problem, a linear programming relaxation approach is applied to solve …

Predicting Gas Mileage Using The T-Method, Parthiv Shah, Elizabeth A. Cudney, Vivek Jikar

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The T-method is a technique developed by Genichi Taguchi to calculate an overall prediction based on the signal-to-noise ratio without the use of Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization. the Taguchi methods, also known as Robust Design principles, are used for optimization through planning, conducting, and evaluating the results of experiments to determine the best levels of control factors. the primary goal of Robust Design is to minimize variance in the presence of noise factors to achieve a robust process. This paper outlines the T-method steps using a forecasting case study to calculate miles per gallon for vehicles with a univariate response to illustrate …

An Analysis Of The Effect Of Supply Chain And Manufacturing Parameters On Inventory Cost Reduction For Push Type Manufacturing Systems, Mehmet Emre Bahadir

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In the global network of businesses, supply chain and order fulfillment managements are the most critical functional departments to determine the winner of the global competition. In this research a network of companies that are flowing information, product and services between providers and a receiver is investigated in order to gain a better insight of the current situation. Analyses, explanations and solutions were developed through responding to the following research questions:

(1) What are the most important variables that affect the quality and delivery performances of a supply chain?

(2) What are the most important variables that affect the service …

Developing Sustainable Spacecraft Water Management Systems, Evan A. Thomas, David M. Klaus

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

It is well recognized that water handling systems used in a spacecraft are prone to failure caused by biofouling and mineral scaling, which can clog mechanical systems and degrade the performance of capillary-based technologies. Long duration spaceflight applications, such as extended stays at a Lunar Outpost or during a Mars transit mission, will increasingly benefit from hardware that is generally more robust and operationally sustainable overtime. This paper presents potential design and testing considerations for improving the reliability of water handling technologies for exploration spacecraft. Our application of interest is to devise a spacecraft wastewater management system wherein fouling can …

An Analysis Of Lessons Learned And Best Practices From Fuel Cell Applications With An Emphasis On Hydrogen Technology, Clint Alex Cottrell

Masters Theses

"In its review of the Department of Energy's Research Development and Demonstration (RD&D) plan for hydrogen, the National Academies recommended a study of lessons learned from technologies developed for stationary fuel cell power systems. Thus, the motivation for this thesis is to study and identify the lessons learned and best practices from prior stationary fuel cell power programs. To understand how to prepare for this technology, this study conducted a thorough investigation of past stationary alternative power projects to assess the opportunities for future stationary power efforts, and how this information can be used to meet objectives for future fuel …

The Systemic Nature Of Action Learning Programmes, G Mwaluko

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

A lot of attention has been paid on action learning in the last four decades or so and the success of such programmes has also been widely publicized. But why have these programmes been so effective in helping organizations cope with change? Many authors state that the success of such programmes is due to the fact that they link learning to actions. Yet others claim that action learning programmes succeed because they involve employee empowerment and provide a much greater learning curve. In this paper the authors hold that action learning programmes succeed because they are partly systemic and can …

Analytical Modeling Of A Large Local Area Network - Part I: Internet Traffic Characterization, Mathew Luhanga

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The goal of both IP network operators and the end users is to get the highest performance from the system for a given cost. This makes Performance a key criterion in the design, procurement, and use of computer and communication systems. In order to address problems associated with performance degradation of operational communications systems, over the last decade, traffic engineering techniques have emerged in an attempt to optimize communication systems’ performance and ensure more efficient use of their resources. One of these techniques is analytical modeling. Analytic performance models are an excellent tool for quickly evaluating the performance of operational …

Improving The Design Of Low Volume Sealed Roads In Tanzania, Mfinanga A

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The main objective of the study was to identify appropriate road designs for Low Volume Sealed Roads (LVSRs) with the aim of improving the design of such roads in Tanzania. The study was conducted in Dar es Salaam and Morogoro regions in Tanzania where data for LVSRs were collected from primary and secondary sources in the two regions. The study found that by using an improved pavement design method specifically meant for LVSRs results in cost savings for LVSRs of up to 51% compared with the conventional method of pavement design in Tanzania. The study recommends that the pavement design …

The Effect Of Rotation And Temperature On The Inhibition Performance Of Cashew (Anacardium Occidentale L.) Nut Shell Liquid On Co2 Corrosion Of Carbon Steel, J Mutasingwa

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

A natural extract of cashew nut shells, Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) was investigated as a corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel in 3% NaCl solutions saturated with CO2 gas using electrochemical techniques (i.e. potentiodynamic polarization and ac-impedance). The investigation was performed at different temperatures under static and dynamic conditions using a Rotating Disk Electrode (RDE). It was found that CNSL reduces the electrochemical processes taking place on carbon steel undergoing corrosion. The percentage inhibitor efficiency increases with increase in CNSL concentration and decreases with rise in temperature. Better performance at low CNSL concentration was registered under dynamic conditions and room …

Potential Use Of Waterguard As A Disinfectant For Domestic Water Use, Yohana L

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

been identified as an alternative method for treatment of domestic drinking water. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Water Guard in disinfecting drinking water from different sources drawn from Kinondoni district, Dar es Salaam as well as to establish appropriate dosage that can be used during the treatment. Results showed that, a dose of 4.0mL per 20 litrer of water guard is sufficient for disinfection of urban water sources. The above prescribed doses provide 100% disinfection efficiency with residue chlorine of less than 0.3mg/l. Water with turbidity values of 30-35 NTU, chlorine dosage of 8mL/20 …

Investigation Of The Effect Of Particle Size On Groundnut-Oil Solvent Extraction, S Manyele

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

An investigation of the effect of particle size on the performance of vegetable oil recovery by solvent extraction is reported. Experiments were conducted using soxhlet extractor, groundnuts and n-hexane. Samples were grouped into mean particle sizes of 0.25, 0.75, 1.3, 3.3, and 7.5 mm using standard sieves. The effect of particle size was studied for extraction time intervals of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 hours. The oil yield, oil recovered per kg solvent used, kg solvent lost per unit time, and the rate of extraction (kg oil recovered per hour) decreased with increasing particle size. Meanwhile, the percent …

Identification Of Unbalanced Forces And Foundation Parameters Of Rotating Machines From Vibration Measurements, Nalitolela G

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

A technique is described to use measured vibration data of a rotating machine and its foundation to identify unbalanced forces, stiffness and damping parameters of the mountings, and the parameters of the foundation. It is based on an idealisation treating the rotor, the machine structure and the foundation as rigid masses supported by springs and dampers. Operational vibration data of the machine and its foundation before and after the rotating unbalanced forces are perturbed by adding unbalanced mass to the rotor are used in the identification procedure. Once the parameters are identified, dynamic forces transmitted to the foundation can be …

Design And Development Of A Prototype For A Web-Based Interface For Online Material For Tanzanian Youth, Mjema A.M

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

A prototype of a web-based interface for an online database was developed to be used by youth organizations in Dar-es-Salaam. A participatory approach involving secondary students in the identification of user interface requirements, in designing and testing the prototype was used. A questionnaire was designed and manned in seven secondary schools in Dar-es-Salaam to estimate the Internet usage. Interviews were conducted to countercheck the questionnaire responses. The interview and the questionnaire helped to come up with a set of user requirements for the web-based interface of an online information search. From the specifications of the user requirements the author was …

Acuta Enews December 2008, Vol. 37, No. 12

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

From the President.............. Corinne Hoch, Columbia, Univ., ACUTA President

Board Report............. Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego State Univ., ACUTA Secretary/Treasurer

DC Update............. Dave Ostrom, Washington State Univ. (retired)

Info Links........... Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern Iowa

ACUTA Guide to Products and Services: Keep It Handy, Use It Often

ACUTA Web Seminar: Wireless Andrew 2.0

"Earthbottle" Brought to you by Clemson

Check It Out: Press Releases... Job Postings.... RFIs/RFPs

Holiday Greetings from the ACUTA Staff

Welcome New Members

Design For Manufacturing (Dfm) Methodology To Implement Friction Stir Welding (Fsw) For Automobile Chassis Fabrication, Harish Bagaitkar, Venkat Allada

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The manufacturing functional feasibility of implementing Friction Stir Welding (FSW) for automobile chassis fabrication is discussed using a case study. in the case study, the Design for Manufacturing (DFM) principles are applied to manufacture an aluminum automobile chassis. Various DFM issues are addressed while proposing the FSW technique as an alternative to laser welding and metal inert gas welding techniques. DFM guidelines involving joint design change, component geometries, and component elimination are discussed in this paper. by making appropriate changes in the component geometries and joint designs and eliminating some components, more than 50% of the joints in the example …

Comparing Component Functional Template Modeling Experimental Results In An Undergraduate Level Engineering Design Course, Daniel Abbott, Katie Grantham Lough

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Component functional templates are a foundational tool, for the functional modeling method, that novice users can implement to develop functional modeling skills and produce better results by not requiring the modeler to have extensive background knowledge in the method. the templates provide common function layouts of ordinary electromechanical components that are based on historic data collected from design information on a wide range of consumer products. a previous experiment has been performed on a sophomore level design class to assess the change in quality between functional modeling results with and without the use of component functional templates. to address further …

Xftsp: A Tool For Time Series Prediction By Means Of Fuzzy Inference Systems, Federico Montesino, Amaury Lendasse, Ángel Barriga

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A New Software Tool for Time Series Prediction by Means of Fuzzy Inference Systems is Reported. This Tool, Named XFTSP, implements a Novel Methodology for Time Series Prediction based on Methods for Automatic Fuzzy Systems Identification and Supervised Learning Combined with Statistical Methods for Nonparametric Residual Variance Estimation. XFTSP is Designed as a Tool Integrated in the Xfuzzy Development Environment for Fuzzy Systems. Experiments Carried Out on a Number of Time Series Benchmarks Show the Advantages of XFTSP in Terms of Both Accuracy and Computational Requirements as Compared Against Least-Squared Support Vector Machines, an Established Technique in the Field of …

On Nonparametric Residual Variance Estimation, Elia Liitiäinen, Francesco Corona, Amaury Lendasse

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In This Paper, the Problem of Residual Variance Estimation is Examined. the Problem is Analyzed in a General Setting Which Covers Non-Additive Heteroscedastic Noise under Non-Iid Sampling. to Address the Estimation Problem, We Suggest a Method based on Nearest Neighbor Graphs and We Discuss its Convergence Properties under the Assumption of a Hölder Continuous Regression Function. the Universality of the Estimator Makes It an Ideal Tool in Problems with Only Little Prior Knowledge Available. © 2008 Springer Science business Media, LLC.

Dynamic Analysis Of Less-Than-Truckload Shipments And Test Method To Simulate This Environment, Sher Paul Singh, E. Joneson, Jay Singh, G. Grewal

Industrial Technology and Packaging

This paper provides results from a comprehensive data measurement study that analyzed the vibration dynamics produced inside the trailers used for less-than truckload (LTL) shipments. The trailers used for this segment of the package transportation environment are very different in size and suspension than those used for full truckload shipments. This study measured the vertical, lateral and longitudinal vibration inside a trailer as a function of road surface. In addition, the study developed a video showing freight movement inside the trailer to determine physical displacement and shifting of the loads. A set of recommendations was developed to safely load and …