Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2009, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Each student in his or her senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. The senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real-world solution to an engineering challenge.

A highlight of the year-long senior design project is the senior design competition. This competition, which usually takes place the week before finals each semester, helps focus the senior students on increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects.

Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on innovation, commercial …

Pressure-Driven Transport Of Particles Through A Converging-Diverging Microchannel, Ye Ai, Sang W. Joo, Yingtao Jiang, Xiangchun Xuan, Shizhi Qian

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

Pressure-driven transport of particles through a symmetric converging-diverging microchannel is studied by solving a coupled nonlinear system, which is composed of the Navier–Stokes and continuity equations using the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian finite-element technique. The predicted particle translation is in good agreement with existing experimental observations. The effects of pressure gradient, particle size, channel geometry, and a particle’s initial location on the particle transport are investigated. The pressure gradient has no effect on the ratio of the translational velocity of particles through a converging-diverging channel to that in the upstream straight channel. Particles are generally accelerated in the converging region and then …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2009, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

An H-Adaptive Finite-Element Technique For Constructing 3d Wind Fields, Darrell Pepper, Xiuling Wang

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

An h-adaptive, mass-consistent finite-element model (FEM) has been developed for constructing 3D wind fields over irregular terrain utilizing sparse meteorological tower data. The element size in the computational domain is dynamically controlled by an a posteriori error estimator based on the L2 norm. In the h-adaptive FEM algorithm, large element sizes are typically associated with smooth flow regions and small errors; small element sizes are attributed to fast-changing flow regions and large errors. The adaptive procedure employed in this model uses mesh refinement–unrefinement to satisfy error criteria. Results are presented for wind fields using sparse data obtained from two regions …

Research On The Transport And Deposition Of Nanoparticles In A Rotating Curved Pipe, Jianzhong Lin, Peifeng Lin, Huajun Chen

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

A finite-volume code and the SIMPLE scheme are used to study the transport and deposition of nanoparticles in a rotating curved pipe for different angular velocities, Dean numbers, and Schmidt numbers. The results show that when the Schmidt number is small, the nanoparticle distributions are mostly determined by the axial velocity. When the Schmidt number is many orders of magnitude larger than 1, the secondary flow will dominate the nanoparticle distribution. When the pipe corotates, the distribution of nanoparticle mass fraction is similar to that for the stationary case. There is a “hot spot” deposition region near the outside edge …

Parametric Study Of Efficiency Measures For Home Energy Conservation In Las Vegas, Nevada, Todd M. France

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Pulte Homes, a production home builder and community developer partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America program, has collaborated with the Center for Energy Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and NV Energy, the local electric utility, on an energy conservation project in the Las Vegas Valley.

This study entails four model homes at a new development in the Summerlin community of Las Vegas, Nevada, named Villa Trieste. The home models, ranging in floor plan area from 1,487 to 1,777 square feet, have been constructed under the Environments for Living program and are LEED (Leadership in …

Two-Tank Indirect Thermal Storage Designs For Solar Parabolic Trough Power Plants, Joseph E. Kopp

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The performance of a solar thermal parabolic trough plant with thermal storage is dependent upon the arrangement of the heat exchangers that ultimately transfer energy from the sun into steam. The steam is utilized in a traditional Rankine cycle power plant. The most commercially accepted thermal storage design is an indirect two-tank molten salt storage system where molten salt interacts with the solar field heat transfer fluid (HTF) through a heat exchanger. The molten salt remains in a closed loop with the HTF and the HTF is the heat source for steam generation. An alternate indirect two tank molten salt …

Empirically Derived Formulas To Predict Indoor Maximum, Average, And Minimum Temperatures In Roofpond Buildings Using Minimum Climatic Information, Ibrahim Kivarkis Kako

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis introduces an empirically developed formula to predict the comfort conditions and thermal performance of a Skytherm(TM) Southwest Roofpond placed over a light-weight un-insulated structure built at the School of Architecture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The predictive formula introduced in this study may be used in different parts of the world (particularly developing nations where insulation and air-conditioning are rarely used) to predict the performance of a Skytherm(TM) Southwest Roofpond using minimal climate data.

The data collected in the experimental setup at the Natural Energies Advanced Technologies Laboratory included outside and inside temperatures of various surfaces …

Optimization Of Channel Geometry In A Proton Exchange Membrane (Pem) Fuel Cell, Jephanya Kasukurthi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bipolar plates are the important components of the PEM fuel cell. The flow distribution inside the bipolar plate should be uniform. Non-uniform flow distribution inside the bipolar leads to poor performance of the fuel cell and wastage of expensive catalyst. A single channel PEM fuel cell is taken and electrochemical analysis is carried out on it. The results are compared with the available published experimental data obtained by other research group, and they are found to be in good agreement. A baseline design of the bipolar plate is taken and numerical analysis is carried out. The results show that the …

Optimization Of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Interconnect Design, Krishna C. Pulagam

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) is dependent of a set of complex physical and chemical processes occurring simultaneously. Interconnect for SOFC is important as it provides electrical connection between anode of one individual cell to the cathode of neighboring one. It also acts as a physical barrier to protect the air electrode material from the reducing environment of the fuel on the fuel electrode side, and it equally prevents the fuel electrode material from contacting with oxidizing atmosphere of the oxidant electrode side. A three-dimensional numerical model has been developed to evaluate the SOFC including the current collector, …

Experimental And Numerical Study Of A Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer For Hydrogen Production, Sachin S. Deshmukh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Hydrogen as a fuel source has received attention from researchers globally due to its potential to replace fossil based fuels for energy production. Research is being performed on hydrogen production, storage and utilization methods to make its use economically feasible relative to current energy sources. The PEM electrolyzer is used to produce hydrogen and oxygen using water and electricity. Focus of our study is to provide a benchmark experiment and numerical model of a single cell electrolyzer that can assist in improving the current state of understanding of this system. Parametric analysis of an experimental cell was performed to understand …