Other Engineering Commons^™

Wind Turbine Noise And Wind Speed Prediction, Tyler H. Blanchard

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In order to meet the US Department of Energy projected target of 35% of US energy coming from wind by 2050, there is a strong need to study the management and development of wind turbine technology and its impact on human health, wildlife and environment. The prediction of wind turbine noise and its propagation is very critical to study the impacts of wind turbine noise for long term adoption and acceptance by neighboring communities. The prediction of wind speed is critical in the assessment of feasibility of a potential wind turbine site. This work presents a study on prediction of …

Gas Generation, Haorong Li, Daihong Yu, Yanshun Yu

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A first system includes a feedstock load port and a feedstock discharge port. The first system also includes a tank configured to retain biomass feedstock for aerobic biodegradation. The first system further includes a mechanical ventilator in fluid communication with the tank. The mechanical ventilator is configured to supply air to facilitate the aerobic biodegradation of the biomass feedstock. The first system also includes an exhaust port configured to receive gas generated during the aerobic biodegradation. A second system includes a feedstock load port and a feedstock discharge port. The second system also includes a pressure vessel configured to retain …

Linking Geospatial Engineering Into Collaborative Multidisciplinary Bim Projects - An Educational Perspective, Avril Behan, Helen Murray, Jonathan Argue, Ronan Hogan, Audrey Martin, Pat O'Sullivan, Robert Moore, Malachy Mathews

Conference papers

This paper describes the background to and execution of a postgraduate project undertaken by students on DIT's MSc in Geospatial Engineering (GeoEng) in support of a project on level 2 BIM being undertaken by students on the MSc in applied Building Information Modelling & Management (aBIMM) around the retrofit of and new build extension to the Grangegorman Clock Tower Building. In support of this requirement, an external and internal survey of the existing structure and its surrounding topography was required. The aBIMM students and staff acted as the Design Team who subcontracted the Geo Eng group who were organised into …

Optimized Endpoint Delivery Via Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Fuad Gazal

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are remotely piloted aircraft with a range of varying applications. Though early adoption of UAVs focused on military applications, surveillance, photography, and agricultural applications are presently on the rise. This work aims to ascertain how UAVs may be employed to elicit deceased transportation times, increased power efficiency, and improved safety. Resulting in optimized end point delivery. A combination of tools and techniques, involving a mathematical model, UAV simulations, redundant control systems, and custom designed electrical and mechanical components were used towards reaching the goal of a 10-kilogram maximum payload delivered 10 miles under 30 minutes. Two …

Study On The Methods For Predicting The Performance Of A Hybrid Solar-Assisted Ground-Source Heat Pump System, Zhaoyi Zhuang, Qiqi Zhu, Jian Song, Xin Zhang, Haorong Li

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

It is critical to find suitable setting parameters for designing a hybrid solar-assisted ground-source heat pump system in the practical engineering application, but the heat pump performance is unpredictable after many years of operation. This paper used 2000 sets of performance data collected from solar-assisted GSHP systems that keep operating over 20 years to simulate long term used heat pump with a professional software called GeoStar. Adopted the classification and regression tree (CART) method, the design of solar energy collector areas can be predicted. The multi-linear regression is also utilized to predict average monthly per meter borehole heat exchange. Seasonal …

Research On The Cooling Characteristics In Building Interior Zones Using Displacement Ventilation System, Zhaoyi Zhuang, Yongbin Li, Qiqi Zhu, Jian Song, Haipeng An, Haorong Li

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The outdoor low temperature fresh air can be used as a free cold source to eliminate waste heat for the building interior zones during the transition season and winter. This paper takes a project in Hunan as an example, and the project building interior zones is 25m×7m×3.9m(L×W×H). Using Fluent software to simulate the temperature field and velocity field both the interior and exterior zones of the engineering offices. The simulation results show that using the displacement ventilation system to take the outdoor air into inner rooms not only cooling but also improving the air quality and adding comfort. According to …

Performance And Energy Efficiency Analysis Of Data Center Cooling Plant By Using Lake Water Source, Li Ling, Quan Zhang, Liping Zeng

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A cooling plant by using lake water source was proposed to cool the space in data centers. It combines free cooling technology and variable capacity technology to remove heat and reduce energy consumption effectively. In this paper, firstly, the control strategies for this cooling plant were proposed. Then, a detailed annual energy consumption model with considering the effect of the dynamic heat dissipation characteristics of servers, lake water temperature, outdoor weather conditions, and cooling plant thermal performance, will be established to evaluate the performance and energy efficiency of this cooling plant under different load factors. The results show the mode …

Hvac System Remote Monitoring And Diagnosis, Jeffrey N. Arensmeier, Gregg M. Hemmelgarn, Fadi M. Alsaleem, Priotomo Abiprojo

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A monitoring system for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system of a building includes a monitoring device installed at the building, a monitoring server located remotely from the building, and a review server. The monitoring device measures an aggregate current Supplied to components of the HVAC system and transmits current data based on the measured aggregate current. The monitoring server receives the transmitted current data and, based on the received current data, assesses whether failures have occurred in first and second components of the HVAC components. The monitoring server generates a first advisory in response to determining that …

Project Impact: A Case Study Of Developing A Manufactured Construction Workforce Through Contextualized Training, Arefeh Mohammadi, Kevin R. Grosskopf

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

With a looming shortage of skilled craft workers forecast to exceed 2 million by 2017, prefabrication may become a necessity for many U.S. contractors attempting to remain competitive with a smaller, lower-skilled workforce. Building components manufactured in a controlled, offsite environment have proven to reduce time, cost and site logistics while improving productivity, quality, safety and sustainability. However, entry-level workers, including more than 765,000 recession displaced manufacturing workers, often lack the basic skills necessary to retrain for jobs in manufactured construction. As a result, a $ 6.3M U.S. Department of Labor grant was awarded to an institutional consortium to develop …

Middle School Student Habits, Perceptions, And Self-Directed Learning, Scott R. Bartholomew

Faculty Publications

Today’s students are growing up in a digital world with constant connectivity, instant access to information, and new technological developments at every turn. The feasibility, effectiveness, and possibilities of students leveraging technological tools around them for learning are the subject of continual debate (Becker, 2017; Bowen, 2012; Tamim, Bernard, Borokhovski, Abrami, & Schmid, 2011). In this study, 706 middle school students from 18 classes worked in groups of 2-3 to complete an open-ended engineering design challenge. Students completed design portfolios and constructed prototypes in their groups in response to the design challenge. Classes were divided with some receiving access to …

Emergent Ai, Social Robots And The Law: Security, Privacy And Policy Issues, Ramesh Subramanian

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The rapid growth of AI systems has implications on a wide variety of fields. It can prove to be a boon to disparate fields such as healthcare, education, global logistics and transportation, to name a few. However, these systems will also bring forth far-reaching changes in employment, economy and security. As AI systems gain acceptance and become more commonplace, certain critical questions arise: What are the legal and security ramifications of the use of these new technologies? Who can use them, and under what circumstances? What is the safety of these systems? Should their commercialization be regulated? What are the …

Accuracy Assessment Of 3d Point Clouds Generated By Photogrammetry From Different Distances, Zhongming An

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Photogrammetry is playing more important role in many industries today, and thanks to Structure-from-Motion, 3D point clouds and 3D meshes can be produced and be used as a resource for surveying and documentation.

In this project, the accuracies of Structure-from-Motion generated point clouds from pictures taken from different distances are assessed to determine if the distance has a significant impact on the accuracy and what kind of pattern the accuracies will show if there is any. Due to space limit, an improvised turntable was used in order to mimic the condition where camera moves around the object. Multiple images were …

Influence Of Magnetic Nanoparticles And Magnetic Stress On An Ionic Liquid Electrospray Source, Kurt Joseph Terhune

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Two electrospray sources were developed to operate on an ionic liquid ferrofluid; one source was a pressure‑fed capillary electrospray source and the other was a novel electrospray source which used a magnetically‑induced instability to produce a peak from which an electric field could extract electrospray. Multiple characteristics of electrospray operation were examined for both sources using faraday plates/cups, a quartz crystal microbalance, a retarding potential analyzer, and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The ILFF electrosprays for a capillary source were shown to operate in a mixed ion/droplet regime. The mass flow of the electrospray beam was primarily transported by larger particles …

A Lattice Theoretic Look: A Negated Approach To Adjectival (Intersective, Neutrosophic And Private) Phrases, Florentin Smarandache, Selcuk Topal

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Economic Analysis For Residential Solar Pv Systems With Battery Storage In Pg&E Territory, Jayati Thakor

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Electricity storage can be used as a tool to help with a variety of issues related to electric grid management. Declining costs and state incentives could allow fast penetration of battery storage. Distributed PV systems are now widely used, and battery storage has potential to address issues related to generation intermittency. This thesis assesses the financial potential of PV systems with behind-the-meter battery storage in two communities in Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) territory. An analysis is performed to calculate annual savings for four cases. The batteries are used to avoid peak period charges under a time-of-use (TOU) rate plan. …

Effect Of Sintering Temperature On Microstructure, Corrosion Behavior, And Hardness Of Nanocrystalline Al-5at.%Ni And Al-5at.%V Alloys, Matthew G. Wachowiak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this project was to investigate thermal stability of high energy ball milled Al-5at.%Ni and Al-5at.%V alloys. Characterization was done by analyzing grain size and solid solubility. Samples were created using high energy ball milling, cold compaction to 3 GPa, and sintering from 100 °C to 500 °C at 100 °C increments, as well 450 °C and 614 °C. Microstructure, mechanical properties, and corrosion properties were determined using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, hardness testing, and cyclic potentiodynamic polarization. Vickers hardness of Al-5at.%Ni decreased with increasing temperature. For Al-at.%V, hardness increased with sintering temperature …

Multiplexed Sensor Array For Accurate Time-Of-Wetness (Tow) Measurement, Nathaniel G. Sutton, Hongbo Cong, Jiang John Zhe, Shengxi Li, Xiaoliang Zhu

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this work, we use electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to observe the response of a single, photo-lithographically created, interdigital transducer (IDT) sensor, dimensions 6mm X 6 mm, with capacitive elements 70μm X 500 nm. The IDT was exposed to different wetting conditions, droplets of DI water, 0.1 M NaCl, and 0.6 M NaCl, in volumes of 0.1, 0.3, 1, and 5 μL. Deliquescence of solid NaCl salt particles in a dynamic-humidity (%RH Increasing, 33% to 85%) atmosphere is examined. Equivalent circuit fitting of impedance spectra suggests linear trends for the capacitive equivalent circuit element parameters and a decaying logarithmic trend …

A Case Study Of Upper-Room Uvgi In Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms By Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements, Chunxiao Su, Josephine Lau, Fang Yu

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Recently, the requirement to continuously collect bioaerosol samples using shorter response times has called for the use of real-time detection. The decreased cost of this technology makes it available for a wider application than military use, and makes it accessible to pharmaceutical and academic research. In this case study, real-time bioaerosol monitors (RBMs) were applied in elementary school classrooms—a densely occupied environment—along with upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) devices. The classrooms were separated into a UVGI group and a non-UVGI control group. Fluorescent bioaerosol counts (FBCs) were monitored on 20 visiting days over a four-month period. The classroom with upper-room …

Social Sustainability Indicators In Mass Housing Construction, Ali Karji, Asregedew Woldesenbet, Mostafa Khanzadi

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

In the construction industry, buildings constitute more than half of the new construction built in the world. With the rapid growth of population in urban areas and high-energy consumption of buildings, considerable attention and efforts have been devoted to creating a sustainably built environment. As a result, various sustainable rating systems, principles and tools have been developed in recent years. This paper presents efforts underway for evaluation of sustainability in mass housing construction projects in the Middle East from a social aspect. The study reviews reports, guidelines and best practices at national and international levels to detect key sustainability indicators. …

Heat - Pump System With Refrigerant Charge Diagnostics, Fadi M. Alsaleem, Gregg H. Hemmelgarn

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A heat-pump circuit may include an indoor heat exchanger, an outdoor heat exchanger, a compressor adapted to circulate a working fluid between the indoor and outdoor heat exchangers, and an expansion device disposed between the indoor and outdoor heat exchangers. A monitor for the heat-pump system may include a return-air temperature sensor, a supply-air temperature sensor, and a processor. The return-air temperature sensor may be adapted to measure a first air temperature of air upstream of the indoor heat exchanger. The supply-air temperature sensor may be adapted to measure a second air temperature of air down stream of the indoor …