Detonation combustion is of great interest for propulsion devices because of its potential to increase thermodynamic efficiency, reduce the weight of current gas turbine engines, and rapidly accelerate to high Mach numbers. Detonation engines might also have the ability to decrease harmful exhaust products from traditional propulsion methods. In order...
This thesis addresses a common knowledge gap that was identified amongst the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) competition design teams at Oregon State University. Students that join the SAE teams at Oregon State University typically do not have experience using physically collected data during a design process. This leads to...
This thesis explores the mechanical properties of hemp fiber reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) composites. Fused filament fabrication (FFF) was used to compare the performance of three different weight percentages of hemp fiber reinforced PLA against PLA and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). It was found that as the weight percentage of...
To investigate the viability of staging hydraulic air compressors (HACs), a model for HACs operating with a closed loop water cycle powered by a pump was made. This model was used to simulate how these HACs would respond to variable heights and mass flow ratios for both single-stage and multi-stage...
Visitors to waterways need a way to securely lock up their non-motorized watercrafts to allow for exploration of the local area and communities. The Willamette Water Trail Steering committee recognized this problem and approached the Oregon State University Prototype Development lab to develop and fabricate a solution. The engineering design...
There has been serious interest in hydrogen as a source of energy in the United States due to its capability of delivering a sustainable, carbon-free energy future. Currently, most hydrogen in the United States is produced via the steam methane reforming of natural gas, which converts methane to hydrogen through...
For this project, we designed a soot modeling software to produce a full particle density function. This model uses the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo with a full conditioning particle selection method to capture soot nucleation and coagulation in a diffusion flame. We investigate the use of graphic processing units as...
Pillars in modern vehicles provide structural integrity by surrounding the windows and joining the roof with the frame. Although they protect the driver and passengers, A-pillars also create obstruction zones by limiting drivers' forward field of view leading to unforeseeable accidents or mishaps. We argue that providing a better pillar...
Smoldering combustion in wildland fires is a critical phenomenon that needs in-depth study because it can initiate with weaker ignition sources, can persist for long periods, is difficult to suppress, and can transit to flaming combustion. Cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin are the major organic constituents within biomass, in varying proportions...
Integrated Distributed Electric Augmented Lift (IDEAL) applies upper-surface blowing in a novel way using an array of electric ducted fans (EDFs) to achieve electric short take-off and landing to meet the growing need for urban air transportation. Additional research on the use of vortex generators (VGs) to reduce flow separation...