Browsing PhD Dissertations - DO NOT EDIT by Title
Now showing items 1-20 of 239
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A FRAMEWORK FOR EMPLOYING FEMTOSATELLITES IN PLANETARY SCIENCE MISSIONS, INCLUDING A PROPOSED MISSION CONCEPT FOR TITAN
(2017-01-02)Over the past 15 years, there has been a growing interest in femtosatellites, a class of tiny satellites having mass less than 100 grams. Research groups from Peru, Spain, England, Canada, and the United States have proposed ... -
A Framework for Optimal Path Planning and Nonlinear Guidance for Autonomous Mobile Robots
(2018-08-15)The purpose of this research is to investigate methods and technology for enhancing autonomous capabilities for mobile robots. The measures of autonomy which are specifically covered in this dissertation pertain to a mobile ... -
A MICROMECHNICS APPROACH TO PREDICTING THE ONSET YIELDING ENVELOPE OF PARTICULATE COMPOSITE MATERIALS
(2018-01-05)Composite materials fail for various reasons and extensive research has been conducted both experimentally and theoretically. However, theoretical prediction of composite failure by yielding seems scarce. Adding reinforcing ... -
A MODULAR PLATFORM FOR INTRUSIVE DIAGNOSTICS AND TPS TESTING IN THE ONR-UTA ARC-JET FACILITY
(2021-12-21)This work presents an approach to the design, and successful experimental implementation, of a modular platform for intrusive diagnostics and TPS testing in the ONR-UTA Arc-Heated Wind Tunnel "Leste" Facility. The harsh ... -
A MOLECULAR SCALE STUDY OF CAVITATION GROWTH AND SHOCK RESPONSE IN SOFT MATERIALS
(2020-08-25)Cavitation is a mechanism through which small vapor-filled cavities are formed in a liquid medium due to rapid changes of pressure. In liquid, the cavitation bubble is created when surrounding pressure drops below the ... -
A Multiphysics Study of Interfacial Properties of 3D Printed Filaments
(2018-06-18)Fused Deposition Modeling has become the most popular 3-D printing method over the last decade. Due to its potential to save time, cost and, labor, there is a great deal of interest to use this technique for production of ... -
A Multiscale Study of Cavitation Mechanism and Damage in Soft Materials
(2020-08-25)Cavitation is defined as the formation and growth of the gaseous bubble in bulk liquid due to the tensile pressure followed by the violent collapse. The collapse of the bubble is particularly significant due to its potential ... -
A New Adaptive Multiscale Approach for the Dynamic Modeling and Simulation of Biomolecular Systems
This dissertation presents three developments in the simulation of sub-micron dynamical systems. First, a new thermostat formulation is shown to strictly enforce the constant temperature constraint necessary in many ... -
A NUMERICAL STUDY OF CAVITATING FLOWS BASED ON PLIC-VOF METHOD FOR ARBITRARY UNSTRUCTURED MESHES
(2019-08-15)Cavitation appears when local static pressure drops below the water vapor pressure and causes significant impacts on marine propeller blades. The Volume of Fluid (VOF) method, which is also referred to as the Transport ... -
A NUMERICAL STUDY OF WATER ENTRY PROBLEMS BASED ON OVERSET MESHES
(2021-12-20)A series of numerical experiments carried out on the water entry of circular cylinders are presented in this study. A cylinder was entering into the water with a prescribed inclined angle and velocity. The interface between ... -
A Scaling Investigation of Feasibility and Hover Endurance for Electric Quasi Quadrotor Configurations
(2020-08-05)Motivated by recent developments in distributed propulsion electric vehicles, an effort is made in the present study to numerically investigate the upper bound of hover endurance achievable by electric quasi-quadrotors at ... -
A Stochastic Distributed Control Allocation Method Using Probability Collectives
(2016-12-08)The configuration of the aerospace vehicle of tomorrow marches forward in complexity in step with technological advances in computation, materials, propulsion, and beyond. One of many attributes resulting from this evolution ... -
A Study on the Turbulence Characteristics and Mixing Performance of Streamwise Vortex Interactions in Supersonic Flow
(2017-12-18)The scramjet engine offers the unique capability to enable sustained airbreathing flight at hypersonic speeds. However, in order to reach its full application potential, further technological maturation of several system ... -
A TWO STAGE EVENT BASED DATA DRIVEN CONTROLLER FOR IMPROVED GRASPING OF AN ARTIFICIAL HAND
(2019-07-09)The human hand is one of the greatest (if not the greatest) tool known to mankind for grasping objects. So much so, that researchers have been investigating the development of artificial biomimetic hands in an effort to ... -
Accurate Three-dimensional Characterization Of The Nonlinear Material Constitutive Properties For Laminated Composite Materials
Accurate and efficient full three-dimensional characterization of mechanical properties of composite materials, including stress-strain curves and strength characteristics, is essential for understanding complex deformation ... -
Advanced Materials Characterization Based On Full Field Deformation Measurements
(Aerospace Engineering, 2013-10-22)Accurate stress-strain constitutive properties are essential for understanding the complex deformation and failure mechanisms for materials with highly anisotropic mechanical properties. Among such materials, glass-fiber- ... -
ADVANCED METHODS OF NONDESTRUCTIVE INSPECTION OF COMPOSITE STRUCTURES BASED ON LIMITED ANGLE X-RAY COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY
(2017-09-01)This research aimed to study the potential for breaking through object size limitations of current X-ray computed tomography (CT) systems by implementing a limited angle scanning technique. CT stands out among other ... -
Aircraft Conceptual Design - An Adaptable Parametric Sizing Methodology
(Aerospace Engineering, 2010-07-19)Aerospace is a maturing industry with successful and refined baselines which work well for traditional baseline missions, markets and technologies. However, when new markets (space tourism) or new constrains (environmental) ... -
Airdata Sensor Based Position Estimation And Fault Diagnosis In Aerial Refueling
(Mechanical Engineering, 2014-09-17)Aerial refueling is the process of transferring fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) during flight. In aerial refueling operations, the receiver aircraft is exposed to nonuniform wind field induced ... -
AN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REGULARIZED EXTENDED FINITE ELEMENT METHOD IN ABAQUS
(2019-11-25)The Regularized eXtended Finite Element Method (Rx-FEM) methodology is a discrete damage modeling (DDM) technique, which represents an approach to the progressive damage analysis (PDA) in laminated composites when multiple ...