A fast corn grading system can replace the traditional method in unofficial corn grading locations. The initial design of the system proved that it can classify corn kernels with a high success rate. This study tested the robustness of the system against samples from different locations with different moisture contents. The experimental results were compared with the official grading results for 3 out of the 6 samples. This study also tested the limitations of the segmentation algorithm. The results showed that 60 to 70 kernels in a 100 cm2 could be correctly segmented in a relatively short running time. Classification accuracy would improve with modifications to the system, including increased training samples of damaged kernels, uniform illumination, color calibration, and improved weight approximation of the kernels.

As trucks are getting more and more advanced, information about their weight has become a key factor for controlling them in a more fuel efficient and safe manner. Knowing the mass of a heavy duty vehicle in real time has been a difficult challenge for the truck manufacturers. With the processing power for electronic control units in trucks steadily increasing, more advanced algorithms for calculating the mass has been developed, but at the moment there still is a wish for better performance. Since there is a lack of good information regarding the external forces acting on the vehicle, forces that depends on the slope of the road, foundation of the road and the wind, the methods have to be able to disregard these. Such an approach, based on an indirect least square solution, has been evaluated in this thesis. The results have been promising and based on these a recommendation about further evaluation has been made.

In the last ten years or so, many interactive aircraft design software packages have been released into the market. One drawback of these packages is that they assume prior knowledge in the field of aircraft design. Also, their main purpose being the preliminary aircraft design in a commercial environment, and are not intended for instructional use. Aircraft Design is an iterative process, and the students in the formative years of training must realise that one year of study is not enough to embrace all the necessary underlying concepts in this field. Most universities present the aircraft design as a classical Problem-Based Learning scenario, where students work in groups, with the group size varying between 5 and 8 students., each with a designated role, to carry out a specific task. The students work through the classical process of preliminary design based largely on textbook methods. Therefore, the need for a preliminary design tool (software) that helps the students to understand, analyse, and evaluate their aircraft design process exists. The developed software does everything that is needed in the preliminary design environment. Students are interactively guided through the design process, in a manner that facilitates lifelong learning. Comprehensive output is provided to highlight the “what if scenarios”. The software consists of many modules such as input (user interface), weight estimation, flight performance, cost estimation, take-off analysis, parametric studies, optimisation, and dynamic stability. Due to the large number of input design variables, a full interactive Graphical-User-Interface (GUI) is developed to enable students to evaluate their designs quickly. Object-Oriented-Programming (OOP) is used to create the GUI environment. The stability and control derivatives computed in this work are largely based on analytical techniques. However, a facility is provided in the software to create the data input file required to run a software package produced by USAF, called DATCOM, that enables computation of the dynamic stability and control derivatives that can be ultimately used in flight simulation work. Amongst all the variables used in aircraft design, aircraft weight is the most significant. A new weight estimation module has been developed to increase the accuracy of estimation to better than 5%. Its output results agree very favourably with the published data of current commercial aircraft such as Airbus and Boeing. Also, a new formula is proposed to estimate the engine weight based on its thrust in the absence of the data available with high degree of accuracy. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the design under consideration, a comprehensive methodology has been developed that can predict the aircraft price as a function of aircraft weight. The Direct Operating Cost (DOC) is also calculated using methods proposed by ATA, NASA, and AEA. Finally, a walk-through of two case studies are presented, one for large transport aircraft and other for small business jet, to show how typical undergraduate students will proceed with the design and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed software.

The aim of this thesis is to explore and improve the accuracyofweight estimation in vehicles with air suspension. The main focushasbeen to understand the hysteresis and characteristics ofdifferentsuspension types used in Scania NCG trucks. The thesis hasled toinsights into the attributes affecting hysteresis and theaccuracy ofweight estimation. As a proof of concept a softwareimplementationhas been developed from the knowledge derived troughout the thesisto account for hysteresis. The result of this work hasproven it tobe possible to increase the accuracy and reduce the errorto lessthan half compared to today's method.

Weight and its estimation have a vital impact in the aircraft design process from the very early phases. When the conceptual design configuration of an aircraft has been created, it should ensure that the estimated weight is sufficiently accurate to meet the performance and cost requirements. The estimation of structural weight in early design stages is mostly performed using historical data; however, this approach does not provide reliable weight estimates for unconventional or unique designs or those that employ advanced materials. One solution for improving the accuracy of conceptual level weight estimation is to improve the fidelity of the methodology, geometry models, and loads through the use of Finite Element Methods (FEM). This thesis is intended to demonstrate an initial application of conceptual-level FEM based weight estimation to aircraft wing structure. / text

This report addresses a project conducted at Saab Aeronautics during the spring of 2018. The goal of the project was to investigate aircraft weight estimations in the conceptual design phase. The work was divided into two major parts: finding new weight estimation techniques and implementing an existing technique called the Berry Weight Estimation in to the Pacelab APD software. Several weight estimation techniques were found during an extensive literature review but in the end, only one was chosen for further investigation. The chosen technique was the NASA Wing Weight Build-Up which proposed calculations for wing weights based on aircraft statistics. It contained material data tables for determining so called K-factors that were used to essentially scale the individual wing weight formulas. The data tables did not include K-factors up to a load factor of 9 which was a requirement from Saab. Extrapolations of the material data tables were done to approximate the missing values. The NASA wing weight build-up showed promising results with little deviation from the actual wing weight for a few chosen aircraft. This weight estimation technique was consequently chosen as a worthy candidate for a future implementation in the Pacelab APD software. The task of implementing the Berry Weight Estimation in Pacelab APD was divided into a fuselage- and a wing part. This was done to ease the implementation since it would resemble the original description of the method. The wing and fuselage weights were both calculated in two steps. The first step was to calculate a gross shell weight. This is the weight of an idealized structure without cut-outs or imperfections. The second step was to add so called weight penalties for various components within the wing or fuselage. Typical aircraft components had associating weight penalty functions described in the Berry Weight Estimation. Most of the implemented calculations used Pacelab APD to get involved parameters automatically. However, some of the needed parameters had to be user specified for the implemented Berry Weight Estimation to work. Once the implementation task was finished, several sensitivity studies were made to establish a perception about the involved parameters impact on the Berry Weight Estimation results. The new implementation gave benefits compared with the Berry Weight Estimation in Bex. One of these was the ability to perform extensive trade- and sensitivity studies. The sensitivity studies gave verdicts on the most influencing parameters of the implemented code and guide lines on future improvements of the calculations. These sensitivity studies show, among other things, that is recommended to increase the number of wing and fuselage stations significantly in order to get a converged result for the Berry Weight Estimation.

Estimating the structural weight of a Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) aircraft during conceptual design has proven to be a significant challenge due to its unconventional configuration. Aircraft structural weight estimation is critical during the early phases of design because inaccurate estimations could result in costly design changes or jeopardize the mission requirements and thus degrade the concept's overall viability. The tools and methods typically employed for this task are inadequate since they are derived from historical data generated by decades of tube-and-wing style construction. In addition to the limited applicability of these empirical models, the conceptual design phase requires that any new tools and methods be flexible enough to enable design space exploration without consuming a significant amount of time and computational resources. This thesis addresses these challenges by developing a parametric and physics-based modeling and simulation (M&S) environment for the purpose of HWB structural weight estimation. The tools in the M&S environment are selected based on their ability to represent the unique HWB geometry and model the physical phenomena present in the centerbody section. The new M&S environment is used to identify key design parameters that significantly contribute to the variability of the HWB centerbody structural weight and also used to generate surrogate models. These surrogate models can augment traditional aircraft sizing routines and provide improved structural weight estimations.

Over the last few decades the design of high lift devices has become a very important part of the total aircraft design process. Reviews of the design process are performed on a regular basis, with the intent to improve and optimize the design process. This thesis describes a new and innovative methodology for the design and evaluation of mechanisms for Trailing Edge High-Lift devices. The initial research reviewed existing High-Lift device design methodologies and current flap systems used on existing commercial transport aircraft. This revealed the need for a design methodology that could improve the design process of High-Lift devices, moving away from the conventional "trial and error" design approach, and cover a wider range of design attributes. This new methodology includes the use of the innovative design tool called SYNAMEC. This is a state-of-the-art engineering design tool for the synthesis and optimizations of aeronautical mechanisms. The new multidisciplinary design methodology also looks into issues not usually associated with the initial stages of the design process, such as Maintainability, Reliability, Weight and Cost. The availability of the SYNAMEC design tool and its ability to perform Synthesis and Optimization of mechanisms led to it being used as an important module in the development of the new design methodology. The SYNAMEC tool allows designers to assess more mechanisms in a given time than the traditional design methodologies. A validation of the new methodology was performed and showed that creditable results were achieved. A case study was performed on the ATRA - Advance Transport Regional Aircraft, a Cranfield University design project, to apply the design methodology and select from within a group of viable solutions the most suitable type of mechanism for the Variable Camber Wing concept initially defined for the aircraft. The results show that the most appropriate mechanism type for the ATRA Variable Camber Wing is the Link /Track Mechanism. It also demonstrated how a wide range of design attributes can now be considered at a much earlier stage of the design.

Over the last few decades the design of high lift devices has become a very important part of the total aircraft design process. Reviews of the design process are performed on a regular basis, with the intent to improve and optimize the design process. This thesis describes a new and innovative methodology for the design and evaluation of mechanisms for Trailing Edge High-Lift devices. The initial research reviewed existing High-Lift device design methodologies and current flap systems used on existing commercial transport aircraft. This revealed the need for a design methodology that could improve the design process of High-Lift devices, moving away from the conventional "trial and error" design approach, and cover a wider range of design attributes. This new methodology includes the use of the innovative design tool called SYNAMEC. This is a state-of-the-art engineering design tool for the synthesis and optimizations of aeronautical mechanisms. The new multidisciplinary design methodology also looks into issues not usually associated with the initial stages of the design process, such as Maintainability, Reliability, Weight and Cost. The availability of the SYNAMEC design tool and its ability to perform Synthesis and Optimization of mechanisms led to it being used as an important module in the development of the new design methodology. The SYNAMEC tool allows designers to assess more mechanisms in a given time than the traditional design methodologies. A validation of the new methodology was performed and showed that creditable results were achieved. A case study was performed on the ATRA - Advance Transport Regional Aircraft, a Cranfield University design project, to apply the design methodology and select from within a group of viable solutions the most suitable type of mechanism for the Variable Camber Wing concept initially defined for the aircraft. The results show that the most appropriate mechanism type for the ATRA Variable Camber Wing is the Link /Track Mechanism. It also demonstrated how a wide range of design attributes can now be considered at a much earlier stage of the design.

Bridges are vital components of the U.S. transportation network. However, every year, the transportation agencies report a large number of aging bridges that are structurally damaged. Also, evolving traffic and particularly the overloaded traversing traffic can threaten the bridges' integrity and safety further. Bridge weight-in-motion (BWIM) is a system that takes the instrumented bridges as a scale and uses the structure response to compute the trucks' weights with no interruption in the traffic. In a particular type of BWIM, called nothing-on-road BWIM (NOR-BWIM), only a few weighing sensors should be installed under the bridge top slab. Since nothing will be installed on the road surface, NOR-BWIM addresses some of the main challenges of pavement-based WIM and traditional BWIM systems. These include lane closure, interruption to the traveling traffic, and sensitivity to daily tire impacts and harsh weather conditions. It also provides a portable solution with a less labor-intense installation process. Additionally, previous studies have shown that BWIM systems are versatile candidates for overcoming the critical challenges of structural health monitoring (SHM) across various types of bridges. The integration of the two systems is more cost-effective with improved performance; thus, it is more attractive to practitioners. However, the current BWIMs have serious shortcomings that make the integrated SHM-BWIM systems impractical in real-world long-span bridges. In the first two phases of this study, these shortcomings are addressed and a novel BWIM system is proposed. Then, the novel BWIM system is used for SHM in the third phase of the study. These shortcomings are explained as follows. Most studies are performed on short/medium-span T-beam and slab-on-girder bridges. However, longer span lengths, construction methods, different slab properties (e.g., stiffness), etc., can affect the efficacy of the NOR-BWIM. Thus, there is a need to further evaluate this technique on other bridges, such as concrete-box-girder bridges with longer spans, in an effort to ascertain whether or not NOR-BWIM systems would still work effectively on such bridges. Thus, the first phase presents an experimental investigation conducted for a long-span concrete-box-girder bridge (144 m span) called the Smart Road bridge. A total of 18 experimental tests were performed on the bridge. Moreover, a cost-effective sensor placement was developed. It was found that the number of axles is detectable with an accuracy of 100%. Moreover, the estimated mean-absolute-error for axle spacing, vehicle speed, and gross vehicle weight were 4.6%, 2.6%, and 4.6%, respectively. Lastly, it was also demonstrated that the developed cost-effective NOR-BWIM system is capable of lane identification and truck position detection. The second main issue with the existing BWIM approaches is their limited suitability for simultaneous multiple-vehicle cases on multiple-lane bridges. To address this limitation, in the second phase of this study, a novel BWIM approach is proposed. The approach is built around the removal of the non-localized portion of the strain response. Keeping the localized portion of the strain response, which is not sensitive to nearby loads, allowing for enhanced detection. The superiority of this approach stems from its capability to handle multiple-vehicle cases. These may present with an arbitrary number of trucks and light-weight vehicles, simultaneously passing the bridge in any arbitrary pattern or configuration. To show the applicability of the approach, a finite element (FE) model of a long-span concrete-box-girder bridge was simulated. The model was validated against the experimental data collected under known large events. The FE model was then used to consider single-truck events (for proof-of-concept) as well as complex multiple-truck traffic cases. These included in-one-row trucks, zigzag patterns, side-by-side trucks, and a combination of several trucks with several light-weight vehicles present. The results demonstrated that the proposed BWIM approach is capable of detecting the axle weights and gross vehicle weight (GVW) of the traversing trucks. Based on all complex multiple-truck cases, the overall mean absolute errors for GVW and axle weight estimations were 4.5% and 11.3%, respectively. In the last phase, a multiple-presence dual-purpose (MPDP) SHM approach was proposed to monitor the integrity of bridges using the BWIM system existing sensors. This approach centers on the influence line (IL) change and uses a developed multiple-presence IL (MP-IL) technique (in the second phase) for SHM application. This can effectively handle the multiple presence issue of the current integrated SHM-BWIM systems to make them more practical. Also, unlike many SHM-BWIM studies, noise and transverse position change (defined as false damage indicators) were included in the proposed procedure to provide a more realistic bridge health monitoring approach. To show the applicability of the approach, a similar FE model simulated in the second phase was used. The model was then used to evaluate the MPDP approach under single and multiple truck events. Eleven damage scenarios were simulated, and three SHM trucks (a 3-axle, a 4-axle, and a 5-axle) were used to improve the SHM accuracy. Also, an updated sensor placement was proposed to effectively work for both BWIM and SHM applications in both single and multiple-truck events. According to the results, the MPDP SHM procedure coupled with the novel MP-IL and the proposed sensor placement could effectively detect the damage scenarios in both single and multiple-truck events. Also, it was shown that using several independent SHM trucks can make the monitoring process more effective. / Doctor of Philosophy / Every year, the transportation agencies report a large number of aging bridges that are structurally damaged. Also, evolving traffic and particularly overloaded traffic can threaten the bridges' integrity and safety further. Bridge weight-in-motion (BWIM) is a traffic system that takes the instrumented bridges as a scale and uses the structure response to compute the trucks' weights with no interruption in the traffic. In a particular type of BWIM, called nothing-on-road BWIM (NOR-BWIM), only a few weighing sensors should be installed under the road surface. Since nothing will be installed on the road surface, NOR-BWIM addresses some of the main challenges of pavement-based WIM and traditional BWIM systems. These include lane closure, interruption to the traveling traffic, and sensitivity to daily tire impacts and harsh weather conditions. It also provides a portable solution with a less labor-intense installation process. Additionally, previous studies have shown that BWIM systems are versatile candidates for overcoming the critical challenges of structural health monitoring (SHM) across various types of bridges. The integration of the two systems is more attractive to practitioners because it brings improved performance at a lower cost. However, the current BWIMs have serious shortcomings that make the integrated SHM-BWIM systems impractical in real-world long-span bridges. In the first two phases of this study, these shortcomings are addressed and a novel BWIM system is proposed. Then, the novel BWIM system is used for SHM in the third phase of the study. These shortcomings are explained as follows. Most studies are performed on short/medium-span bridges with particular types of structures. However, longer span lengths, construction methods, different bridge components' properties, etc., can affect the efficacy of the NOR-BWIM. Thus, there is a need to further evaluate this technique on other bridges with longer spans and different structural systems to ascertain whether or not NOR-BWIM systems would still work effectively on such bridges. Thus, the first phase presents an experimental investigation conducted for a long-span concrete-box-girder bridge (a different structural system than the literature) with 144-m spans. A total of 18 experimental tests were performed on the bridge. Moreover, a cost-effective sensor placement was developed. It was found that the number of axles is detectable with no error. Moreover, the estimated error for axle spacing, vehicle speed, and gross vehicle weight were all low. Lastly, it was also demonstrated that the developed cost-effective NOR-BWIM system is capable of lane identification and truck position detection. The second main issue with the existing BWIM approaches is their limited suitability for simultaneous multiple vehicles on multiple-lane bridges. To address this limitation, in the second phase of this study, a novel BWIM approach is proposed. The superiority of this approach stems from its capability to handle multiple-vehicle cases. These may present with an arbitrary number of trucks and light-weight vehicles, simultaneously passing the bridge in any arbitrary pattern or configuration. To show the applicability of the approach, a model of the long-span bridge was simulated. The model was validated against the experimental data collected under known traffic events. The model was then used to consider single-truck events and complex multiple-truck traffic cases. The results demonstrated that the proposed BWIM approach can detect the axle weights and gross vehicle weight (GVW) of the traversing trucks. Based on all complex multiple-truck cases, the overall errors for GVW and axle weight estimations were 4.5% and 11.3%, respectively. In the last phase, a novel SHM approach was proposed to monitor the integrity of bridges using the existing sensors for BWIM. This approach uses the proposed BWIM system for SHM application. This can effectively handle the multiple presence issue of the current integrated SHM-BWIM systems to make them more practical. Also, unlike many SHM-BWIM studies, noise and transverse position change were included in the proposed procedure to provide a more realistic bridge health monitoring approach. A similar model simulated in the second phase was used to show the applicability of the approach. The model was then used to evaluate the MPDP approach under single and multiple truck events. Eleven damage scenarios were simulated. Also, an updated sensor placement was proposed to work effectively for both BWIM and SHM applications in single and multiple-truck events. According to the results, the proposed SHM procedure coupled with the novel BWIM and the proposed sensor placement could effectively detect the damage scenarios in both single and multiple-truck events.