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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
91

Integrated Solar Technologies with Outdoor Pedestrian Bridge Superstructure Decking

Racz, Richard K 23 March 2016 (has links)
Solar technology has been a major topic in sustainable design for many years. In the last five years, however, the solar technology industry has seen a rapid growth in installations and technological advances in cell design. Combined with a rapidly declining overall system cost, the idea of introducing solar technology into a wider range of applications is becoming a focus for engineers and scientists around the world. So many variables which alter solar energy production, such as the sun and surrounding environment, determine whether a solar design is beneficial. This thesis presents a bridge deck surface integrated with solar cells tested under all AASHTO LRFD pedestrian bridge loadings. A detailed solar analysis of the University of Massachusetts’s campus is presented to determine if solar integration is even plausible for the Northeastern United States with the energy limitations created by the deck integration, as well as an economic evaluation of the deck design. The purpose of this thesis was to determine if a walking surface could be integrated with solar technology and be a plausible alternative to conventional walking surfaces, while providing a source of sustainable power.
92

Mode I Fracture Toughness of Eight-Harness-Satin Carbon Cloth Weaves for Co-cured and Post-bonded Laminates

Smith, Josh E 01 December 2013 (has links) (PDF)
Mode I interlaminar fracture of 3k 8-Harness-Satin Carbon cloth, with identical fill and weft yarns, pre-impregnated with Newport 307 resin was investigated through the DCB test (ASTM D5528). Crack propagations along both the fill and weft yarns were considered for both post-bonded (co-bonded) and co-cured laminates. A patent-pending delamination insertion method was compared to the standard Teflon film option to assess its applicability to mode I fracture testing. The Modified Beam Theory, Compliance Calibration method, and Modified Compliance Calibration method were used for comparative purposes for these investigations and to evaluate the validity of the proposed Equivalent Stiffness (EQS) method. Crack propagation, in all specimens, proceeded in a run-arrest manner for both delamination directions. Energy dissipation in the form of transverse yarn debonding, matrix deformation, and out of plane crack growth was witnessed for specimens with delaminations along weft yarns. A complete comparison between post-bonded and co-cured laminates was not achieved. The patent pending delamination insertion method was found to cause fewer instances of non-linear crack initiation behavior than the Teflon insert and, when non-linear behavior did occur, it was less prevalent. The EQS method was found to achieve fracture toughness values within 5% of the other three data reduction methods for 63% of the propagation values and achieved conservative values for over 33% of the propagations. Suggestions for future studies aimed at completing the comparisons above are provided in Chapter 5.
93

The Effect of Biocomposite Material in a Composite Structure Under Compression Loading

Sweeney, Benjamin Andrew 01 February 2017 (has links) (PDF)
While composite structures exhibit exceptional strength and weight saving possibilities for engineering applications, sometimes their overall cost and/or material performance can limit their usage when compared to conventional structural materials. Meanwhile ‘biocomposites’, composite structures consisting of natural fibers (i.e. bamboo fibers), display higher cost efficiency and unique structural benefits such as ‘sustainability’. This analysis will determine if the integration of these two different types of composites are beneficial to the overall structure. Specifically, the structure will consist of a one internal bamboo veneer biocomposite ply; and two external carbon fiber weave composite plies surrounding the bamboo biocomposite. To acquire results of this study, the hypothesized composite structure will consist of varied trapezoidal corrugated specimens and tested in uniaxial compression loading. Thereafter, this test data will be used to ultimately design, manufacture, and test a structural biocomposite/composite box, intended to carry extremely high compressive loads; relative to its own weight. A finite element analysis of this test will be used to validate experimental data. After running the experiment, the carbon fiber with bamboo test sample results were compared to that of only carbon fiber test sample. The carbon fiber samples resulted in a maximum compressive load difference of only 23% higher loads when compared to the carbon fiber with bamboo, on average. These findings are discussed throughout.
94

Mechanical characterization of functionally graded M300 maraging steel cellular structures

Sampson, Bradley Jay 08 December 2023 (has links) (PDF)
Traditional methods for increasing the energy absorption of a structure involve using a stronger material or increasing the volume of the structure, resulting in a higher cost or additional weight. Additive manufacturing (AM) can be used to maximize the energy absorption of materials with the ability to create complex geometries such as cellular structures. Previous work has shown that the energy absorption of additively manufactured parts can be improved through functionally graded cellular structures; however, this strategy has not been applied to ultra-high strength steel materials. This work characterizes the effect of multiple functional-grading strategies (e.g. uniform, rod-graded, size-graded) on the energy absorption to weight ratio of laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) produced M300 maraging steel lattice structures. Each structure is designed with the same average relative density to analyze the structures on an equal mass basis, to evaluate manufacturability, mechanical response, and compare experimental results with numerical simulation.
95

A modular synthesis of processable and thermally stable semi-fluorinated aryl ether polymers via step-growth polymerization of fluoroalkenes

Shelar, Ketki Eknath 13 May 2022 (has links)
Tailored fluoropolymers remain the leading choice for a wide variety of advanced high-performance applications, including electronic/optical and energy conversion, owing to their unique blend of complementary high-performance properties. Amorphous semi-fluorinated polymers exhibit improved solubility and melt processability when compared to traditional perfluoropolymers. A leading class of semi-fluorinated aryl ether polymers includes perfluorocyclobutyl (PFCB), perfluorocycloalkenyl (PFCA), and fluoroarylene vinylene ether (FAVE) polymers. Monomers containing aromatic trifluorovinyl ethers (TFVE) are used to synthesize PFCB polymers via radical-mediated [2+2] cyclodimerization. On the other hand, FAVE and PFCA polymers are polymerized via base-mediated nucleophilic addition/elimination of bisphenols with TFVE monomers and decafluorocyclohexene respectively. The use of different monomer cores (aromatic, aliphatic, contorted, and renewable) should help to develop general structure/property relationships for this versatile and expanding approach to semi-fluorinated aryl ether polymers. The enchainment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) cores with functional fluorocarbon groups (or segments) recently afforded a new class of semi- fluorinated polymers in the continuing quest for novel organic materials for potential applications in optoelectronic, gas-separation, and advanced composites. Chapter 2 details the incorporation of commercially available acenaphthenequinone was achieved to afford PFCB aryl ether polymers with excellent solubility, high thermal stability, and film-forming capability. Chapter 3 represents base-promoted nucleophilic addition/elimination of commercial bisphenols with TFVE-triphenylene monomers affording FAVE aryl ether polymers possessing excellent solution processability, high thermal stability and photostability. In addition, triphenylene-enchained FAVE polymers exhibit extreme thermal-oxidative photostability and emit blue light after heating in air at 250 °C for 24 h. Further, time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) computations were performed to understand electronic polymer structures. In one case, post-polymerization Scholl coupling converted the central triphenylene core to afford a hexabenzocoronene containing semi-fluorinated polymer with new optoelectronic properties. Chapter 4 demonstrates synthesis and characterization of renewable semi-fluorinated polymers obtained using aliphatic diol isosorbide. This renewable diol readily polymerizes with bis-TFVE derivatives of bisphenol A and 6F to provide high molecular weight thermoplastics exhibiting excellent solubility and tough, transparent film-forming capability. Finally, Chapter 5 presents synthesis of TFVE enchained corannulene which gave blue-light emission and outstanding processability. Synthesis and characterization, including the new materials' optical, thermal, and electronic properties, is presented.
96

Numerical Modeling and Characterization of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays

Joseph, Johnson 01 January 2013 (has links)
Since their discoveries, carbon nanotubes have been widely studied, but mostly in the forms of 1D individual carbon nanotube (CNT). From practical application point of view, it is highly desirable to produce carbon nanotubes in large scales. This has resulted in a new class of carbon nanotube material, called the vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays (VA-CNTs). To date, our ability to design and model this complex material is still limited. The classical molecular mechanics methods used to model individual CNTs are not applicable to the modeling of VA-CNT structures due to the significant computational efforts required. This research is to develop efficient structural mechanics approaches to design, model and characterize the mechanical responses of the VA-CNTs. The structural beam and shell mechanics are generally applicable to the well aligned VA-CNTs prepared by template synthesis while the structural solid elements are more applicable to much complex, super-long VA-CNTs from template-free synthesis. VA-CNTs are also highly “tunable” from the structure standpoint. The architectures and geometric parameters of the VA-CNTs have been thoroughly examined, including tube configuration, tube diameter, tube height, nanotube array density, tube distribution pattern, among many other factors. Overall, the structural mechanics approaches are simple and robust methods for design and characterization of these novel carbon nanomaterials
97

Beyond conventional c-plane GaN-based light emitting diodes: A systematic exploration of LEDs on semi-polar orientations

Monavarian, Morteza 01 January 2016 (has links)
Despite enormous efforts and investments, the efficiency of InGaN-based green and yellow-green light emitters remains relatively low, and that limits progress in developing full color display, laser diodes, and bright light sources for general lighting. The low efficiency of light emitting devices in the green-to-yellow spectral range, also known as the “Green Gap”, is considered a global concern in the LED industry. The polar c-plane orientation of GaN, which is the mainstay in the LED industry, suffers from polarization-induced separation of electrons and hole wavefunctions (also known as the “quantum confined Stark effect”) and low indium incorporation efficiency that are the two main factors that contribute to the Green Gap phenomenon. One possible approach that holds promise for a new generation of green and yellow light emitting devices with higher efficiency is the deployment of nonpolar and semi-polar crystallographic orientations of GaN to eliminate or mitigate polarization fields. In theory, the use of other GaN planes for light emitters could also enhance the efficiency of indium incorporation compared to c-plane. In this thesis, I present a systematic exploration of the suitable GaN orientation for future lighting technologies. First, in order to lay the groundwork for further studies, it is important to discuss the analysis of processes limiting LED efficiency and some novel designs of active regions to overcome these limitations. Afterwards, the choice of nonpolar orientations as an alternative is discussed. For nonpolar orientation, the (1-100)-oriented (m-plane) structures on patterned Si (112) and freestanding m-GaN are studied. The semi-polar orientations having substantially reduced polarization field are found to be more promising for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) owing to high indium incorporation efficiency predicted by theoretical studies. Thus, the semi-polar orientations are given close attention as alternatives for future LED technology. One of the obstacles impeding the development of this technology is the lack of suitable substrates for high quality materials having semi-polar and nonpolar orientations. Even though the growth of free-standing GaN substrates (homoepitaxy) could produce material of reasonable quality, the native nonpolar and semi-polar substrates are very expensive and small in size. On the other hand, GaN growth of semi-polar and nonpolar orientations on inexpensive, large-size foreign substrates (heteroepitaxy), including silicon (Si) and sapphire (Al2O3), usually leads to high density of extended defects (dislocations and stacking faults). Therefore, it is imperative to explore approaches that allow the reduction of defect density in the semi-polar GaN layers grown on foreign substrates. In the presented work, I develop a cost-effective preparation technique of high performance light emitting structures (GaN-on-Si, and GaN-on-Sapphire technologies). Based on theoretical calculations predicting the maximum indium incorporation efficiency at θ ~ 62º (θ being the tilt angle of the orientation with respect to c-plane), I investigate (11-22) and (1-101) semi-polar orientations featured by θ = 58º and θ = 62º, respectively, as promising candidates for green emitters. The (11-22)-oriented GaN layers are grown on planar m-plane sapphire, while the semi-polar (1-101) GaN are grown on patterned Si (001). The in-situ epitaxial lateral overgrowth techniques using SiNx nanoporous interlayers are utilized to improve the crystal quality of the layers. The data indicates the improvement of photoluminescence intensity by a factor of 5, as well as the improvement carrier lifetime by up to 85% by employing the in-situ ELO technique. The electronic and optoelectronic properties of these nonpolar and semi-polar planes include excitonic recombination dynamics, optical anisotropy, exciton localization, indium incorporation efficiency, defect-related optical activities, and some challenges associated with these new technologies are discussed. A polarized emission from GaN quantum wells (with a degree of polarization close to 58%) with low non-radiative components is demonstrated for semi-polar (1-101) structure grown on patterned Si (001). We also demonstrated that indium incorporation efficiency is around 20% higher for the semi-polar (11-22) InGaN quantum wells compared to its c-plane counterpart. The spatially resolved cathodoluminescence spectroscopy demonstrates the uniform distribution of indium in the growth plane. The uniformity of indium is also supported by the relatively low exciton localization energy of Eloc = 7meV at 15 K for these semi-polar (11-22) InGaN quantum wells compared to several other literature reports on c-plane. The excitons are observed to undergo radiative recombination in the quantum wells in basal-plane stacking faults at room temperature. The wurtzite/zincblende electronic band-alignment of BSFs is proven to be of type II using the time-resolved differential transmission (TRDT) method. The knowledge of band alignment and degree of carrier localization in BSFs are extremely important for evaluating their effects on device properties. Future research for better understanding and potential developments of the semi-polar LEDs is pointed out at the end.
98

BBT Acoustic Alternative Top Bracing CADD Data Set-NoRev-2022Jun28

Hemphill, Bill 22 July 2022 (has links)
This electronic document file set consists of an overview presentation (PDF-formatted) file and companion video (MP4) and CADD files (DWG & DXF) for laser cutting the ETSU-developed alternate top bracing designs and marking templates for the STEM Guitar Project’s BBT (OM-sized) standard acoustic guitar kit. The three (3) alternative BBT top bracing designs in this release are (a) a one-piece base for the standard kit's (Martin-style) bracing, (b) 277 Ladder-style bracing, and (c) an X-braced fan-style bracing similar to traditional European or so-called 'classical' acoustic guitars. The CADD data set for each of the three (3) top bracing designs includes (a) a nominal 24" x 18" x 3mm (0.118") Baltic birch plywood laser layout of (1) the one-piece base with slots, (2) pre-radiused and pre-scalloped vertical braces with tabs to ensure proper orientation and alignment, and (3) various gages and jigs and (b) a nominal 15" x 20" marking template. The 'provided as is" CADD data is formatted for use on a Universal Laser Systems (ULS) laser cutter digital (CNC) device. Each CADD drawing is also provided in two (2) formats: Autodesk AutoCAD 2007 .DWG and .DXF R12. Users should modify and adapt the CADD data as required to fit their equipment. This CADD data set is released and distributed under a Creative Commons license; users are also encouraged to make changes o the data and share (with attribution) their designs with the worldwide acoustic guitar building community.
99

BBT Acoustic Alternative Top Bracing CADD Data Set-NoRev-2022Jun28

Hemphill, Bill 22 July 2022 (has links)
This electronic document file set consists of an overview presentation (PDF-formatted) file and companion video (MP4) and CADD files (DWG & DXF) for laser cutting the ETSU-developed alternate top bracing designs and marking templates for the STEM Guitar Project’s BBT (OM-sized) standard acoustic guitar kit. The three (3) alternative BBT top bracing designs in this release are (a) a one-piece base for the standard kit's (Martin-style) bracing, (b) 277 Ladder-style bracing, and (c) an X-braced fan-style bracing similar to traditional European or so-called 'classical' acoustic guitars. The CADD data set for each of the three (3) top bracing designs includes (a) a nominal 24" x 18" x 3mm (0.118") Baltic birch plywood laser layout of (1) the one-piece base with slots, (2) pre-radiused and pre-scalloped vertical braces with tabs to ensure proper orientation and alignment, and (3) various gages and jigs and (b) a nominal 15" x 20" marking template. The 'provided as is" CADD data is formatted for use on a Universal Laser Systems (ULS) laser cutter digital (CNC) device. Each CADD drawing is also provided in two (2) formats: Autodesk AutoCAD 2007 .DWG and .DXF R12. Users should modify and adapt the CADD data as required to fit their equipment. This CADD data set is released and distributed under a Creative Commons license; users are also encouraged to make changes o the data and share (with attribution) their designs with the worldwide acoustic guitar building community.

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