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Filtering by: Creator Moriarty, Katie M. Remove constraint Creator: Moriarty, Katie M. Degree Field Mechanical Engineering Remove constraint Degree Field: Mechanical Engineering

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  • Advancing Wind Systems Design through Optimization and Improved Modeling

    Creator:
    Miller, Annalise M.
    Abstract:
    Wind energy plays an important and growing role in the US energy profile. While other countries have expanded their wind industries into offshore development, large investment costs have hindered progress in the US offshore market despite the larger and more consistent resource available offshore. In this research, I explore the...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis
    Full Text:
    operations and main- tenance (O&M) costs that can be prohibitive. Therefore, reducing the cost of a floating

  • From running birds to walking robots : optimization as a unifying framework for dynamic bipedal locomotion

    Creator:
    Hubicki, Christian M.
    Abstract:
    Bipedal locomotion is a complex phenomenon to understand and control, making it difficult for legged robots to achieve the speed, agility, efficiency, and robustness of their animal counterparts. This thesis argues for the use of numerical optimization to investigate and implement bipedal control as it applies to biology, dynamical models,...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation
    Full Text:
    Unifying Framework for Dynamic Bipedal Locomotion AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Christian M. Hubicki

  • Analysis of the Effects of Combustion Products on Forced Ignition and Turbulent Flame Propagation

    Creator:
    Bonebrake, Jonathan M.
    Abstract:
    Practical combustion devices frequently rely upon forced ignition of turbulent fuel/oxidizer mixtures that also contain the product species of combustion. Examples of this include engines that use exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), inter-turbine burners in aircraft engines, and other systems the utilize staged combustion. In this work, the effects of major...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation
    Full Text:
    AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Jonathan M

  • Improving Water, Sanitation and Biogas Access in Resource-Stressed Environments : Methodologies and Case Study Analyses of the Primary Resources at Matema Beach High School

    Creator:
    Richardson, Megan M.
    Abstract:
    Education as a right has taken off internationally with expanded national policies in recent years. Across Africa over 80% of countries have abolished tuition fees for primary education and several have made the leap to free secondary education as well. With decreased financial barriers keeping kids out of the classroom,...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis
    Full Text:
    the water catchment and the school’s campus. Elevation Head (m) Total Pipe Length (m) 82 1025

  • Gathering information rich customer needs for inclusive product design

    Creator:
    Armstrong, Jessica
    Abstract:
    This work explores a framework for the gathering and analysis of information rich customer needs, with the goal of informing inclusive product design practice. The goal is to be able to provide information and experience to designers so that they can better understand the needs of exceptional users and include...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Optimal soaring by a small autonomous glider

    Creator:
    Kyle, Jason A.
    Abstract:
    Extending the flight time of an autonomous unmanned air vehicle by soaring is considered. A suboptimal controller is developed and successful static soaring is demonstrated with a 6 degree of freedom glider model. Altitude gain rates of between ¼ and ½ m/s are achieved with this simple implementation. A hybrid...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation
    Full Text:
    model. Altitude gain rates of between ¼ and ½ m/s are achieved with this simple implementation. A

  • Numerical simulation of micro/mini-channel based methane-steam reformer

    Creator:
    Peterson, Daniel Alan
    Abstract:
    Numerical modeling of methane-steam reforming is performed in a micro/mini-channel with heat input through catalytic channel walls. The low-Mach number, variable density Navier-Stokes equations together with multicomponent reactions are solved using a parallel numerical framework. Methane-steam reforming is modeled by three reduced-order reactions occurring on the reactor walls. The surface...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis
    Full Text:
    velocity (U) is given in units of [m/s] and the y location in [µm

  • Floating Offshore Wind Array Systems Optimization off the US West Coast using an Extended Pattern Search Algorithm

    Creator:
    Forinash, Caitlin P.
    Abstract:
    The large wind resource off the United States West Coast has the potential to generate wind power for millions of homes, yet the high cost of energy for offshore wind power compared to traditional sources has slowed the development of offshore wind farms in the US. The four studies presented...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis
    Full Text:
    ......................................................... 33 Fig. 9: Initial layout for a wind farm with side lengths of 4000 m

  • Evaluating Stiffness Metrics for Predicting the Cost of Chemical Kinetics Integration

    Creator:
    Alferman, Andrew Thomas
    Abstract:
    Simulations of combustion and reacting flows often encounter stiffness in the equations governing chemical kinetics. Explicit solvers for these ordinary differential equations offer low computational expense, but typically cannot efficiently handle stiff systems. In contrast, implicit methods demand greater expense but offer unconditional stability—as a result, most reactive-flow solvers rely...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis
    Full Text:
    derivative of the function y(xn). Additionally, the matrix norm ‖M‖ of matrix M 14 with i columns and j

  • Advanced Computational Modeling Methods for Floating Offshore Wind Systems

    Creator:
    Devin, Michael C.
    Abstract:
    Floating offshore wind energy is anticipated to become a competitive source of renewable energy by the late 2020s, but the industry must reduce costs and uncertainties associated with the technology to do so. Identifying solutions to these problems frequently relies on computational modeling, which presents technical shortcomings limiting the versatility...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis
    Full Text:
    Overall Layout Horizontal distance between turbines 1,451 m Radial distance from fairleads to anchors 797

  • The impacts of ionization chemistry on hydrocarbon detonation

    Creator:
    Zaiger, Matthew F.
    Abstract:
    As carbon emissions are negatively impacting ecosystems across the globe, researchers are in a race against time to provide cleaner and more eÿcient power. Detonation engines can help meet the increasing demands for cleaner and more eÿcient power generation by providing an alternative means to use oxy-fuel combustion for carbon...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis
    Full Text:
    - fuel detonation experiments showed that the electrical conductivity ranges just 10-3– 10-1S/m [8].Such

  • A framework for assessing and improving the resilience of complex engineered systems during the early design process

    Creator:
    Mehrpouyan, Hoda
    Abstract:
    As modern systems continue to increase in size and complexity, they pose significant safety and risk management challenges. System engineers and much of the government research efforts are focused on understanding the attributes and characteristics that emerge from the interactions of components and subsystems. As a result, the objective of...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation
    Full Text:
    ⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎨ requirements. {Sk}k∈[1..m] ⇒ Ri Ri satisfied by sub-set of ⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎪⎩ sub-systems or components. The

  • Reducing Biogeochemical Models with an Automated Reduction Method

    Creator:
    Klee, Emily
    Abstract:
    Modeling elementary chemical reactions in ocean fluid dynamics simulations requires significant computing resources, which can be diminished with model reduction techniques. Submesoscale ocean turbulence and biogeochemical reactions in the ocean occur on approximately the same time scale, 105 seconds. This similarity in time scales indicates a strong coupling between these...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis
    Full Text:
    Langmuir turbulence and submesocale eddies, which span a spatial scale of 5 m to 20 km. This study did not

  • Applying hierarchical and adaptive control to coordinating simple robots

    Creator:
    Knudson, Matthew D.
    Abstract:
    Coordinating multiple robots to achieve a complex task requires solving two distinct control problems: the high-level control problem of ensuring that each robot aims to perform a useful task (e.g., coordination) and the low-level control problem of ensuring that each robot actually performs the correct actions to achieve its task...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis

  • Offshore renewable energy : an exploration of techno-economic feasibility and reliability through a computational optimization perspective

    Creator:
    Clark, Caitlyn E.
    Abstract:
    Offshore renewable energy (ORE) has the potential to be a significant source of future global electricity production, reduce carbon emissions, decrease dependence on energy importation, and stimulate economic growth in coastal and remote areas. The availability and abundance of ORE, paired with growing coastal population centers, position offshore wind, wave,...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis
    Full Text:
    ................................................................................................................ 34! Table 6: O&M Costs

  • Risk- and Reliability-Based Design Optimization in Offshore Renewable Energy Systems

    Creator:
    Clark, Caitlyn E.
    Abstract:
    Offshore wind and wave energy have the potential to be significant sources of future global electricity production, reduce carbon emissions, decrease dependence on energy importation, and stimulate economic growth in coastal and remote areas. Fixed-foundation and floating offshore wind and wave energy technologies are at different stages of development, but...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation
    Full Text:
    30 m water depths occurs just below mudline [123]. The multiple colored lines represent monopile

  • Generalized Preconditioning to Accelerate Simulations with Large Multiphase Chemical Kinetics Models

    Creator:
    Walker, Anthony S.
    Abstract:
    Combustion emissions produced from burning real transportation fuels have many environmental impacts. However, detailed chemistry across multiple phases, time scales, and thermodynamic conditions make predicting combustion emissions challenging. Detailed modeling of the gas phase alone is prohibitively expensive, due to the large size and stiffness of the kinetic models. The...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation
    Full Text:
    = b, A ∈ Cm×n, m ≥ n, b ∈ Cm (2.2.32) to describe the method. A direct solution of (2.2.32) is x = A

  • Resilient Design for Complex Engineered Systems in the Early Design Phase

    Creator:
    Keshavarzi, Elham
    Abstract:
    There are many uncertainties that complex engineered systems will face throughout their lifecycles due to changes in internal and external conditions. It is desirable for complex engineered systems to be resilient against various uncertainties. The ability to overcome such uncertainties should be embedded into the system from the beginning. However,...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Learning based methods applied to the MAV control problem

    Creator:
    Salichon, Max
    Abstract:
    This thesis addresses Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) control by leveraging learning based techniques to improve robustness of the control system. Applying classical control methods to MAVs is a difficult process due to the complexity of the control laws with fast and highly non-linear dynamics. These methods are mostly based on...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation
    Full Text:
    between 15 and 60 cm (6 to 24 inches). The flight speed of those MAVs is on average between 5 and 20 m/s

  • A Computational Framework for Resilience-Informed Design

    Creator:
    Hulse, Daniel E.
    Abstract:
    It is desirable for complex engineered systems to perform missions efficiently and economically, even when these missions' complex, variable, long-term operational profiles make it likely for hazards to arise. It is thus important to design these systems to be resilient so that they will actively prevent and recover from hazards...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation
    Full Text:
    injection times for the blockage fault. (Delay = 20 M) . . . 59 3.10 Error of sampling approaches over the