In order to support the growing satellite propulsion industry, a hybrid Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulation with fluid treatment of electrons and neutral particles was developed to model the SPT-70 Hall thruster. The 2D, C++ code assumes azimuthal symmetry and a uniform magnetic field in the radial direction with the simulation domain...
The nuclear industry has shown a large interest in natural circulation driven passive cooling systems following the Fukushima nuclear accident. Despite this interest, there is no widely used heat transfer correlation or friction factor correlation developed for natural circulation driven flow. A CFD analysis including grid convergence testing using Fluent...
The rapid advancement of manufacturing has led to the creation of a myriad of technologies that facilitate the analysis and simulation of manufacturing processes. These technologies have become a pivotal component in maintaining and improving processes in today’s complex manufacturing environments. Discrete Event Simulation (DES) is one such technology that...
Existing studies on industrial heat demand have shown that more than 50% of the industrial process heat demand is in the range of low (<60 °C), medium (60-150 °C), and medium-high (<250 °C) temperatures. Most of the manufacturing industries across the world depend on combustion of carbon-based fossil fuels, either...
Sodium cooled nuclear reactors are being considered for the next generation of nuclear power plants to provide clean electricity to the world. To prove the safety of these reactors, the fuel must be shown to safely handle large neutron fluxes that cause a spike in the thermal output of the...
NuScale Power has designed a small modular reactor using natural circulation cooling dependent systems for both steady-state and transient operations. The NuScale Integral Test System (NIST-1) facility was built to supply test data to NuScale Power to verify and validate computer codes for the NuScale Power Mod- ule (NPM) with...
Pin and hanger assemblies are a common type of connection used in past engineering practice for steel girder bridges. The connection consists of pins, hanger plates, and girder ends. The connection detail was used widely between 1930 and 1980. The connections are considered fracture critical and nonredundant because connection failure...
The Mars Hopper is an alternative extraterrestrial vehicle for the collection of samples from the Martian surface. This thesis studied the engine of the Mars Hopper to assess the validity of the current planned launch cycle according to current parameters. To do this, the engine was simplified to an average...
A common problem in energy allocation problems is managing the trade-off between selling surplus energy to maximize short term revenue, versus holding surplus energy to hedge against future shortfalls. For energy allocation problems, this surplus represents resource flexibility and is quantified as the surplus energy after meeting the demand. The...
Renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly important due to their low environmental impact and limitless nature. This thesis explores the design of a 250 mW permanent magnet linear generator wave energy converter to power ocean sensors. While many wave energy converters exist, this is a unique application because the wave...