Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Thin walled tubular structures are widely used in the automotive industry because of its weight to energy absorption advantage. A lot of research has been done in different cross sectional shapes and different tapered designs, with design for manufacturability in mind, to achieve high specific energy absorption. In this study a novel type of tubular structure is proposed, in which predesigned origami initiators are introduced into conventional square tubes. The crease pattern is designed to achieve extensional collapse mode which results in decreasing the initial buckling forces and at the same time acts as a fold initiator, helping to achieve a extensional collapse mode. The influence of various design parameters of the origami pattern on the mechanical properties (crushing force and deceleration) are extensively investigated using finite element modelling. Thus, showing a predictable and stable collapse behavior. This pattern can be stamped out of a thin sheet of material. The results showed that a properly designed origami pattern can consistently trigger a extensional collapse mode which can significantly lower the peak values of crushing forces and deceleration without compromising on the mean values. Also, a comparison has been made with the behavior of proposed origami pattern for extensional mode verses origami pattern with diamond fold.

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The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is mainly based on several assumptions and can be used to compare the means of two or more independent groups of a factor. To relax the normality assumption in one-way ANOVA, recent studies have considered exponential distortion or tilt of a reference distribution. The reason for the exponential distortion was not investigated before; thus the main objective of the study is to closely examine the reason behind it. In doing so, a new generalized semi-parametric approach for one-way ANOVA is introduced. The proposed method not only compares the means but also variances of any type of distributions. Simulation studies show that proposed method has favorable performance than classical ANOVA. The method is demonstrated on meteorological radar data and credit limit data. The asymptotic distribution of the proposed estimator was determined in order to test the hypothesis for equality of one sample multivariate distributions. The power comparison of one sample multivariate distributions reveals that there is a significant power improvement in the proposed chi-square test compared to the Hotelling's T-Square test for non normal distributions. A bootstrap paradigm is incorporated for testing equidistributions of multiple samples. As far as power comparison simulations for multiple large samples are considered, the proposed test outperforms other existing parametric, nonparametric and semi-parametric approaches for non normal distributions.

The hotspot temperature of disc windings has a close relation with the transformer age. In oil immersed transformers, oil guides are applied generally to enhance the cooling effects for disc windings. In some cases disc windings without oil guides are used. However, the lack of oil guides is expected to result in a more complicated thermal behavior of the windings, making it more difficult to predict the location and strength of the hotspot temperature (i.e. the hottest temperature in the winding). To get an improved understanding of the thermal behavior, a CFD study has been performed.  This article describes the implementation of CFD simulation for 2D axisymmetry models without oil guides, and then analyzes the results of a series of parametric studies to see the sensitive factors influencing the cooling effects. These parameters include radial disc width, inlet mass flow rate, horizontal duct height, vertical duct width and the inlet/outlet configurations. Three main characteristics, the hotspot temperature, the location of the hotspot and the number of oil flow patterns are detected to describe the thermal performance.

Paper is one of the elements used in our everyday life under its different forms; from the office use, newspapers, books, post-it, different packaging… it is ever present. The mass production of paper is made possible today by the industrial paper mill. One of a key component affecting the quality of the paper is the forming fabric used as a filter in the preliminary stages of paper manufacturing. The TCR Transcent is such machine used to produce the forming fabric and TEXO-AB assures two third of the world production of the machine. Given the ever increasing customer demand, machine variants and technological need, it is imperial for TEXO-AB to implement a time-efficient and responsive design system. This is made possible by shifting from traditional design to a logic based parametric design. The TCR loom model provided by the method followed in this report allows among other benefit a reduction of up to 28% in the time taken to design a new machine while still attending to the customization element providing a unique machine for every customer. The use of the model will afford designers more time to focus on other essential tasks, schemes and strive toward continuous improvement in terms of quality and technology.

The thesis explores the various ways in which Biomimicry can be used to develop sustainable solutions that are derived from the natural cycles of organisms. Some of these include the use of solar and wind energy, as well as waste management. Aside from these, the thesis also explores the various ways in which Biomimicry can be used to develop more sustainable solutions for interior and exterior designs. The thesis explores different ways to help in sustainable architecture for the future as we are heading into the future. By using computational programming, we are able to design innovative solutions to help offset the carbon footprint of the planet. The design goal is to create a façade system inspired from the principles of biomimicry which helps in offsetting the carbon footprint of building over its lifespan.

The problem of this research was to determine (a) perceptions of business teacher educators regarding the nature of integrated reading skill instruction in high school business courses, (b) the professional development background of business teacher educators for integrated reading skill instruction, and (c) the influence of selected variables on business teacher educators' perceptions of reading skill integration in high school business courses. The study population included 188 business teacher educators in 36 states. Data were gathered through the use of a survey instrument that was validated by a panel of experts and pilot tested. Conclusions state that business teacher educators perceive it is important to explicitly integrate reading skills in business courses. They reported the frequent integration of reading skills could improve the business and reading knowledge of learners. Study participants felt they were adequately prepared to instruct business education teacher candidates in methods of integrating reading skills in business courses. The study participants indicated they could use additional training to prepare business education teacher candidates to integrate reading skills in business courses. The same group indicated the most influential training to integrate reading skills occur during classroom practice, university coursework, and/or professional development conferences/workshops. Extensive participant characteristics were collected. The focus (research,teaching, or a combination of the two) of the participants' university and the duration of their teaching experience had a significant impact on their perception of the importance and outcome of integrating reading skills in business courses. It is recommended that business teacher educators be exposed to professional development opportunities focused on preparing business teacher educators in methods of integrating reading skills in business courses. Further research is recommended that determines if business teacher educators are actually preparing business teacher educators to integrate reading skills in business courses, the methods of preparation, and the impact on student reading and business skill achievement as a result of the integration of reading skills in business courses.

Shape optimization has become an important tool in industry to minimize weight and generate new designs. At the same time, companies are turning to CAD-centric design strategies where robust parametric CAD models are used to generate new designs and part-families of current designs, as well as the tooling and manufacturing procedures. However, due to its complexity, the optimal topology results are often discarded or recreated by hand into a CAD model. From a design stand point, the results can be improved with the use of manufacturing constraints on the shape optimization process. These constraints improve the manufacturability based on common manufacturing practices. Even with these improvements, the process of converting topology results to CAD can cost substantial amounts of time and money. This thesis proposes a method of semi-automatically recognizing the voids, created during the shape optimization process, with parametric features based on CAD geometry construction. These parametric features are based on sets of cross-sectional shapes and spine rules to create solid objects. These features are then sent to the CAD part file via programming APIs that exist in the software packages. By recognizing features usable to the CAD systems, the voids can be characterized in the CAD model using robust dimensional constraints. This allows for the CAD model approximation to represent the topology optimization results with dimensional values from simpler shapes. Size optimization can then be applied to optimize the approximating model and regain any fidelity loss in the analytic model. Test cases created with and without manufacturing constraints show considerable promise in a proof-of-concept scenario. These tests utilize the topology optimization software HyperMesh from Altair and the CAD package NX 4.0 from Siemens (formerly UGS). The voids from shape optimization in these tests are recognized inside of HyperMesh, fit with a simple parametric feature, and created in the part model using the Open C API in NX.

The project explores the ‘Gothic Line’ as observed in ornament. Escaping strictly geometrical means of defining, the study focuses on capturing the Line’s elusive properties in connection to chosen architectural elements. With selected properties, the two-dimensional principles are extracted into the 3D environment. Using parametric design tools each feature is transformed into multiple prototypes of three-dimensional interpretation. The project aims to capture subtlety of the Gothic Line while providing a system enabling creation of architecturally relevant ornamental structures.

Nowadays, there is a big strive to achieve faster and more accurate results of designing buildings in construction companies. Construction companies that work with the design part are continuously searching for methods to increase efficiency in the working process. Autodesk have introduced a software that uses parametric design to provide input to Revit models and to retrieve and manipulate the outcomes of Revit models. The Dynamo software uses visual programming and is connected directly to Revit where the user can gain access to Revit’s data structure where parameters can be controlled and manipulated. This research consists of two parts. The first part shows how 2D Autocad drawing can be converted into 3D Revit models. This is done by using the 2D geometry as reference lines for placing BIM objects. The second part shows how the BIM model can then be used to analyze different elements with Dynamo. The calculations of element cost, weight and thermal transmission losses of floors, walls and roofs are used to illustrate this possibility. All the main goals were achieved and are presented in the report for engineers to utilize. The report illustrates the basics of Dynamo, shows examples of how to it can be used while sharing the scripts that were used for this research. The report also encourages other competent students to continue where this thesis ended. Even though several tasks were achieved in this thesis, there are still much more to learn about parametric design and visual programming.