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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Stratospheric Glider Measurements Of Atmospheric Parameters, Anisa Haghighi Jan 2023

Stratospheric Glider Measurements Of Atmospheric Parameters, Anisa Haghighi

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

In June 2021 a series of high altitude flights were conducted in Spaceport America, NM, using a balloon launched Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) to assess its capability to conduct measurements of various atmospheric properties and study turbulence in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. This UAS descends using an automated flight trajectory. The instruments aboard included a NASA-developed infrasonic microphone to evaluate its remote turbulence detection capabilities and a five-hole probe capable of measuring the in situ wind vector. Also on board were temperature, humidity and wind profile sensors. This document focuses on the atmospheric properties measured at high altitudes, the …


Impact Of Spallation And Internal Radiation On Fibrous Ablative Materials, Raghava Sai Chaitanya Davuluri Jan 2023

Impact Of Spallation And Internal Radiation On Fibrous Ablative Materials, Raghava Sai Chaitanya Davuluri

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

Space vehicles are equipped with Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) that encounter high heat rates and protect the payload while entering a planetary atmosphere. For most missions that interest NASA, ablative materials are used as TPS. These materials undergo several mass and energy transfer mechanisms to absorb intense heat. The size and construction of the TPS are based on the composition of the planetary atmosphere and the impact of various ablative mechanisms on the flow field and the material. Therefore, it is essential to quantify the rates of different ablative phenomena to model TPS accurately. In this work, the impact of …


Filtered-Dynamic-Inversion Control For Unknown Minimum-Phase Systems With Unknown Relative Degree, Sumit Suryakant Kamat Jan 2020

Filtered-Dynamic-Inversion Control For Unknown Minimum-Phase Systems With Unknown Relative Degree, Sumit Suryakant Kamat

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

We present filtered-dynamic-inversion (FDI) control for unknown linear time-invariant systems that are multi-input multi-output and minimum phase with unknown-but-bounded relative degree. This FDI controller requires limited model information, specifically, knowledge of an upper bound on the relative degree and knowledge of the first nonzero Markov parameter. The FDI controller is a single-parameter high-parameter-stabilizing controller that is robust to uncertainty in the relative degree. We characterize the stability of the closed-loop system. We present numerical examples, where the FDI controller is implemented in feedback with mathematical and physical systems. The numerical examples demonstrate that the FDI controller for unknown relative degree …


Carbon Oxidation At The Atomic Level: A Computational Study On Oxidative Graphene Etching And Pitting Of Graphitic Carbon Surfaces, Simon Schmitt Jan 2020

Carbon Oxidation At The Atomic Level: A Computational Study On Oxidative Graphene Etching And Pitting Of Graphitic Carbon Surfaces, Simon Schmitt

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

In order to understand the oxidation of solid carbon materials by oxygen-containing gases, carbon oxidation has to be studied on the atomic level where the surface reactions occur. Graphene and graphite are etched by oxygen to form characteristic pits that are scattered across the material surface, and pitting in turn leads to microstructural changes that determine the macroscopic oxidation behavior. While this is a well-documented phenomenon, it is heretofore poorly understood due to the notorious difficulty of experiments and a lack of comprehensive computational studies. The main objective of the present work is the development of a computational framework from …


Transforming A Circular Economy Into A Helical Economy For Advancing Sustainable Manufacturing, Ryan T. Bradley Jan 2019

Transforming A Circular Economy Into A Helical Economy For Advancing Sustainable Manufacturing, Ryan T. Bradley

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

The U.N. projects the world population to reach nearly 10 billion people by 2050, which will cause demand for manufactured goods to reach unforeseen levels. In order for us to produce the goods to support an equitable future, the methods in which we manufacture those goods must radically change. The emerging Circular Economy (CE) concept for production systems has promised to drastically increase economic/business value by significantly reducing the world’s resource consumption and negative environmental impacts. However, CE is inherently limited because of its emphasis on recycling and reuse of materials. CE does not address the holistic changes needed across …


Pressure-Driven Stabilization Of Capacitive Deionization, Landon S. Caudill Jan 2018

Pressure-Driven Stabilization Of Capacitive Deionization, Landon S. Caudill

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

The effects of system pressure on the performance stability of flow-through capacitive deionization (CDI) cells was investigated. Initial data showed that the highly porous carbon electrodes possessed air/oxygen in the micropores, and the increased system pressure boosts the gases solubility in saline solution and carries them out of the cell in the effluent. Upon applying a potential difference to the electrodes, capacitive-based ion adsorption occurs in competition with faradaic reactions that consume oxygen. Through the addition of backpressure, the rate of degradation decreases, allowing the cell to maintain its salt adsorption capacity (SAC) longer. The removal of oxygen from the …


Characterization Of Rotary Bell Atomizers Through Image Analysis Techniques, Jacob E. Wilson Jan 2018

Characterization Of Rotary Bell Atomizers Through Image Analysis Techniques, Jacob E. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

Three methods were developed to better understand and characterize the near-field dynamic processes of rotary bell atomization. The methods were developed with the goal of possible integration into industry to identify equipment changes through changes in the primary atomization of the bell. The first technique utilized high-speed imaging to capture qualitative ligament breakup and, in combination with a developed image processing technique and PIV software, was able to gain statistical size and velocity information about both ligaments and droplets in the image data. A second technique, using an Nd:YAG laser with an optical filter, was used to capture size statistics …


Autonomous Quadrotor Collision Avoidance And Destination Seeking In A Gps-Denied Environment, Thomas C. Kirven Jan 2017

Autonomous Quadrotor Collision Avoidance And Destination Seeking In A Gps-Denied Environment, Thomas C. Kirven

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

This thesis presents a real-time autonomous guidance and control method for a quadrotor in a GPS-denied environment. The quadrotor autonomously seeks a destination while it avoids obstacles whose shape and position are initially unknown. We implement the obstacle avoidance and destination seeking methods using off-the-shelf sensors, including a vision-sensing camera. The vision-sensing camera detects the positions of points on the surface of obstacles. We use this obstacle position data and a potential-field method to generate velocity commands. We present a backstepping controller that uses the velocity commands to generate the quadrotor's control inputs. In indoor experiments, we demonstrate that the …


A Physics-Based Approach To Modeling Wildland Fire Spread Through Porous Fuel Beds, Tingting Tang Jan 2017

A Physics-Based Approach To Modeling Wildland Fire Spread Through Porous Fuel Beds, Tingting Tang

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

Wildfires are becoming increasingly erratic nowadays at least in part because of climate change. CFD (computational fluid dynamics)-based models with the potential of simulating extreme behaviors are gaining increasing attention as a means to predict such behavior in order to aid firefighting efforts. This dissertation describes a wildfire model based on the current understanding of wildfire physics. The model includes physics of turbulence, inhomogeneous porous fuel beds, heat release, ignition, and firebrands. A discrete dynamical system for flow in porous media is derived and incorporated into the subgrid-scale model for synthetic-velocity large-eddy simulation (LES), and a general porosity-permeability model is …


Mathematical Modeling For Platform-Based Product Configuration Considering Total Life-Cycle Sustainability, Tian Lan Jan 2015

Mathematical Modeling For Platform-Based Product Configuration Considering Total Life-Cycle Sustainability, Tian Lan

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

Many companies are using platform-based product designs to fulfill the requirements of customers while maintaining low cost. However, research that integrates sustainability into platform-based product design is still limited. Considering sustainability during platform-based design process is a challenge because the total life-cycle from pre-manufacturing, manufacturing and use to post-use stages as well as economic, environmental and societal performance in these stages must be considered. In this research, an approach for quantifying sustainability is introduced and a mathematical model is developed for identifying a more sustainable platform. Data from life-cycle assessment is used to quantify environmental factors; criteria from the Product …


A Framework For Sustainable Material Selection For Multi-Generational Components, Ryan T. Bradley Jan 2015

A Framework For Sustainable Material Selection For Multi-Generational Components, Ryan T. Bradley

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

The early stages of a product’s design are a critical time for decisions that impact the entire life-cycle cost. Product designers have mastered the first generation; however, they currently do not have the ability to know the impact of their decisions on the multi-generational view. This thesis aims at closing the gap between total life-cycle information and the traditional design process in order to harbor sustainable value creation among all stakeholders involved. A framework is presented that uses a combination of a life-cycle costing methodology and an evolutionary algorithm in order to achieve a sustainability assessment for a true multi-generational …


Modeling Of Spallation Phenomenon In An Arc-Jet Environment, Raghava Sai Chaitanya Davuluri Jan 2015

Modeling Of Spallation Phenomenon In An Arc-Jet Environment, Raghava Sai Chaitanya Davuluri

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

Space vehicles, while entering the planetary atmosphere, experience high loads of heat. Ablative materials are commonly used for a thermal protection system, which undergo mass removal mechanisms to counter the heat rates. Spallation is one of the ablative processes, which is characterized by the ejection of solid particles from the material into the flow. Numerical codes that are used in designing the heat shields ignore this phenomenon. Hence, to evaluate the effectiveness of spallation phenomenon, a numerical model is developed to compute the dynamics and chemistry of the particles. The code is one-way coupled to a CFD code that models …