Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Freeform Core Composites: Fabrication, Core Structural Optimization and Core Material Enhancement

The objective of this project is to extend the concept of freeform core composites to develop a new method of fabricating structural core composites using the available three-dimensional solid imaging technique. To this end three tasks are proposed: (1) manufacture of freeform fabricated core composites; (2) optimization of the core geometry to reduce weight and realize the specific strength of the composite structure; and (3) development, modeling and characterization of nanoparticle reinforced photopolymer material to enhance thermo-mechanical properties of neat photopolymer resins for core structures in the freeform core composites.

Sponsor: University of Oklahoma

PIs: Andrew S. Arena, Jr., Samit Roy, Hongbing Lu

Freeform-Fabricated Core Composite Manufacturing

This project proposes to perform the following: (1) characterization of the thermo-mechanical properties of new composites on standard laminated composite test samples; (2) investigation of the core tensegrity structures similar to those found in nature at the molecular and cell level using finite element simulation; and (3) exploration of the application of the freeform fabricated composites in unmanned aircraft structural components such as wings.

Sponsor: Freeform Composites, Inc.

PIs: Andrew S. Arena, Jr., Hongbing Lu

Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium

This project is supported by the Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium (OSGC), which has its headquarters at the University of Oklahoma. Congress authorized the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program to develop and/or enhance university research infrastructure to support basic and applied NASA-related research and technology development. In 1991, NASA awarded the State of Oklahoma a grant for OSGC consisting of the University of Oklahoma, Langston University, Cameron University, and Oklahoma State University. Since then, more than $100,000 in fellowships has been awarded at these universities to promote the goals of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program.

Sponsors: University of Oklahoma, NASA

PI: Andrew S. Arena, Jr.

NASA Space Grant Fellowship

NASA established the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program to expand the agency’s research base by providing grants and fellowships to institutions involved in fields related to space. The purpose of the program is to increase understanding, assessment, development, and utilization of space resources by promoting a strong educational base, responsive research and training activities, and broad and prompt dissemination of knowledge and techniques. The program is designed to support interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary space research programs within the university community and provide a means to integrate NASA-related activities of training, research, and public service. Finally, the program supports a network of Oklahoma colleges and universities—The Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium—to promote the program’s goals and objectives. In addition to OSU, member institutions include the University of Oklahoma (lead institution and fiscal agent), Langston University, and Cameron University. Each year, fellowships are given to students engaged in NASA-related research and education projects.

Sponsor: NASA National Space Grant College, Fellowship Program

PI: Andrew S. Arena, Jr.

Prediction of Aeroelastically Coupled Aircraft and Sensor Configurations with Comparisons to Flight Test Data

The development of multi-disciplinary analysis (MDA) tools and multi-disciplinary design optimization (MDO) techniques provide a basis for attacking complex, highly coupled problems such as an airborne sensor installation. This research effort is focusing on improvement of MDA tools and MDO techniques while using data from an actual developed system for comparison.

Sponsor: Glenn Research Center for NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

PI: Andrew S. Arena, Jr.

Distribution Dynamics of Active Flow Control

Active flow control is an important area of research for NASA and particularly for NASA Langley Research Center. The first objective for the research is to develop an improved model of piezoelectric actuator synthetic jet performance that correctly predicts performance trends with air density. The second objective is the development of a one-dimensional fluid-acoustic analysis scheme for the prediction of pulsed-jet active flow control distribution system performance.

Sponsor: Oklahoma NASA EPSCoR

PI: Frank W. Chambers

Mercury Marine R&D Intern Program

This project involves a number of research and development activities at Mercury Marine that focus upon improvements to the performance and reliability of existing products and the design of new products. This program enhances the capabilities and motivation of student interns, expands the research and development programs at Mercury Marine, promotes synergy between OSU faculty and students and Mercruiser, and ultimately benefits the economy of the State of Oklahoma.

Sponsors: Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (Applied Research), Mercury Marine

PI: Frank W. Chambers

Effects of Trailing-Edge Geometry on Transonic IGV-Rotor Interactions

This research project intends simulation of the CARL IGV-rotor near-spacing interactions using the commercial CFD package, Fluent. These simulations will examine two IGV geometries: a bluff trailing-edge profile and a sharp trailing-edge profile. Results for the separate trailing-edge profiles will be compared in a final report to determine the influence of a sharp IGV trailing edge on transonic IGV-rotor interactions.

Sponsor: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation

PI: Eric A. Falk

High Cycle Fatigue Damage Accumulation in Aircraft Engines by Probabilistic Microplastic Energy Dissipation

Oklahoma State University will perform unsteady aerodynamic testing, facilitating fatigue-life confidence interval development and model validation for non-synchronous, arbitrary, blade-resonance excitation. Results from these tests will be incorporated with simultaneous analytical efforts at Oklahoma Christian University (OCU). It is expected that OCU will resolve preliminary model development issues and conduct bench experiments to produce material stress-strain and fatigue data required for model parameter selection and validation.

Sponsor: Universal Technology Corporation for U.S. Air Force

PI: Eric A. Falk

Cold Air Distribution in a Factory Built Home

The objectives of the research are three fold: (1) to experimentally determine critical design parameters and develop a system design methodology that accounts for heat transfer, air flow and thermal comfort for a cold air distribution system in a SIPS construction; (2) to develop generalized parameters and correlations; and (3) to publish the generalized correlations in refereed journals and ultimately in the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) handbooks.

Sponsor: Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (Applied Research), Quantum Construction Technologies, Inc.

PI: Daniel E. Fisher

Experimental Validation of Heat Balance/RTS Cooling Load Calculation

The objective of this proposal is to experimentally validate the new ASHRAE heat balance and radiant time series cooling load procedures. A facility consisting of two cooling load test cells will be constructed and a range of typical room configurations will be investigated.

Sponsor: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc.

PIs: Daniel E. Fisher, Jeffrey D. Spitler

Integration of Low Energy Technologies for Optimal Building & Space Condition Design

This project, building on DOE’s new EnergyPlus platform, will first implement, test and experimentally validate a number of low energy system and zone extension models in EnergyPlus. Envelope and system models will be experimentally validated using existing data sets and an experimental test facility at Oklahoma State University. In addition, an extensive program of software use testing will verify the robustness of the new models and their ability to perform in the context of a wide range of system configurations.

Sponsor: Department of Energy

PIs: Daniel E. Fisher, Jeffrey D. Spitler

Optimal A/C Cycles for 21st Century Refrigerants

The primary objective of this research is to develop innovative unitary air conditioning equipment that uses advanced and natural refrigerants. In order to do this, it will be necessary to develop refrigeration cycles that incorporate new types of components and processes.

Sponsors: Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (Applied
Research), York International Corporation Unitary Products Group

PIs: Daniel E. Fisher, Jeffrey D. Spitler, Simon J. Rees

Research Related to the Production of Titanium Dioxide

This project proposes modeling the Kerr-McGee Titanium Dioxide production process using FLUENTTM, a commercial computational fluid dynamics program, and comparing the results with plant data and current Kerr-McGee simulations performed with CFXTM. Initial efforts will focus on two- and three-dimensional fluid mechanics and heat transfer simulation, with the objective of defining nozzle geometry and operating conditions that will minimize or prevent material buildup on the reactor wall.

Sponsor: Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation

PIs: A.J. Ghajar

School of Chemical Engineering: Gary L. Foutch, Arland H. Johannes

Analysis of Winding Thick Gauge Aluminum Rolls

This project will consist of the following activities: (1) Development of a winding model specifically for heavy gage webs accounting for bending effects on WOT and on spring-back; (2) Development of a model that will predict the residual stresses within a wound roll after the winding mandrel has been collapsed; (3) Development of modifications for existing thermoelastic models to make the models realistic for the property changes that occur in the aluminum during cooling.

Sponsor: Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA)

PI: Keith Good

Web Wrinkling Prediction and Failure Analysis

Web quality degradation can occur if wrinkling takes place across the rollers or inside (or upon) wound rolls. This research is concerned with determining how wrinkles form as a function of web line and web material parameters.

Sponsor: Web Handling Research Center

PIs: Keith Good, John J. Shelton

Enhancing the Oklahoma Alliance for Manufacturing Excellence with Applications Engineers in Rural Areas

The Oklahoma Alliance for Manufacturing satisfies a critical need for engineering technology transfer assistance by placing engineers from Oklahoma State University in rural Oklahoma areas. Through this program, a link is provided between these application engineers and the engineering resources that exist at OSU in the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology and the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

Sponsor: Oklahoma Alliance for Manufacturing Excellence, Inc.

PIs: L.L. Hoberock

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering: Ronald L. Elliott

New Product Development Center for Small Rural Manufacturers (NPDC)

Oklahoma State University has established a New Product Development Center to assist the state’s small rural manufacturers in developing new products and processes, thus increasing their sustainability and profitability. The NPDC will bring the research and development capabilities of OSU to Oklahoma’s small rural manufacturers. It will help create high-paying jobs and reduce the “brain drain” from these areas.

Sponsors: Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Oklahoma Department of Commerce

PIs: L. L. Hoberock,

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering: Bill J. Barfield

Fundamental and Technological Aspects of Finishing Balls of Advanced Ceramics, Glasses, and Silicon Using Magnetic Field Assisted Polishing

The ultimate goal of the proposed work is to generalize the principles of polishing to other ceramic ball materials as well as various types of glasses and semiconductor metals, such as silicon. The specific goals are (1) to extend the knowledge base to investigate the polishing capability of other materials of technological importance, (2) to extend the methodology and technological principles developed for magnetic float polishing equipment to other ceramics, glasses, and semiconductor materials, such as silicon, and (3) to increase the knowledge base for polishing ceramic materials.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PIs: Ranga Komanduri, Zhen B. Hou

Modeling of High Speed Machining of Difficult-to-Machine Materials

This grant provides funding for the development of an analytical model and experimental verification of high-speed machining (HSM) of different work materials. In specific, thermal modeling of shear localization in HSM will be conducted using different difficult-to-machine materials, such as titanium alloys, nickel-based super alloys, and hardened steels.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PIs: Ranga Komanduri, Zhen B. Hou

Modeling of the Ultra-Precision Machining Process Using New Combined Molecular Dynamics/Monte Carlo (MD/MC) Simulation

In this project, an innovative approach to the simulations of nanometric cutting at conventional cutting speeds is addressed. The following three aspects of simulation of machining at atomic level have a significant impact on the nature of simulation and our understanding of the process. They are: (1) simulations of machining at conventional cutting speeds, never before attempted due to long processing times involved with conventional MD simulations; (2) simulations of machining of semiconductor materials, such as silicon, germanium with a diamond tool. Also, included under this category are the simulations of machining of iron with a diamond tool to investigate the chemical nature of wear and simulations of machining of bcc and hcp materials (in addition to fcc metals currently being modeled), using the Modified Embedded Atom Method (MEAM); and (3) use of parallel processing in a distributed computing environment (or Beowulf cluster) to significantly reduce the computational time per run so that large size work pieces (up to 1 million atoms) can be considered.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PIs: Ranga Komanduri

College of Arts and Sciences: Lionel Raff

Multiscale Modeling and Simulation of Material Processing

The proposed work will address some critical issues involved in multiscale, multiphenomena material modeling - theory and simulation. The primary goal is to develop scaling laws for multiscale simulations, using such material testing techniques as tension and indentation, from atomistic to continuum, via mesoplasticity to enable the design engineer to use these scaling laws as a CAD tool for various materials design and processing applications. The following specific problems will be addressed in this proposal: (1) Material response at nanolevel using MD and MD/MC simulations and experimental verification of the results using microtensile testing, nanoindentation, and scratching; (2) Scaling laws from nanolevel (atomistic), via mesoplastic (micro or dislocation) level, to continuum (macro) level of polycrystalline ductile as well as brittle materials; (3) Integration of a novel simulation method, namely, material point method (MPM) with MD simulation to cover a wide range of scales from continuum to nanolevel, via mesoplastic level, or vice versa in nanometric tensile testing and indentation; (4) Experimental verification using in situ tensile testing inside an SEM and nanoindentation. A Digital atomic force microscope (AFM) and an MTS Nano Indenter XP system will be used for experimental verification on single and polycrystalline silicon (and other materials) over a range of included angles of the indenter in the case of nanoindentation and loading rates in the case of nanotension experiments; (5) Application of MD and MD/MC simulations of nanoindentation and nanotension using potentials developed from ab initio calculations using Gaussian 98 software and neural networks (NN) as well as other potentials, such as the modified embedded-atom method (MEAM) for a wide range of fcc, bcc, hcp, and covalent materials; (6) Application of massive parallel processing of MD and MD/MC simulations as well as MD/MPM simulations in a distributed computing environment; and finally (7) effort will be made to link the outcome of the MD-MPM simulations and the scaling laws to Computer Aided Design (CAD) so that the design engineer can utilize this tool for various materials design and processing applications.

Sponsor: Air Force Office of Scientific Research

PIs: Ranga Komanduri, Samit Roy, Hongbing Lu

Science and Engineering Research Center for Durable Miniaturized Systems

The goal of this program is to establish an infrastructure for a distributed Center of Excellence for “Durable Miniaturized Systems” in the Mid-West. Various important areas were proposed, including understanding the effect of fabrication processes, system handling, particulate matter on the surface, friction and wear, encapsulation, and aging. Dr. Komanduri will work with personnel from the Environmental Institute and the College of Arts and Sciences on some of these issues.

Sponsor: University of Arkansas

PIs: Ranga Komanduri

Environmental Institute: Edward T. Knobbe

College of Arts and Sciences: Nicholas F. Materer

US-India Cooperative Research: Magnetic Field Assisted Finishing Process

This project is on a U.S. – India cooperative research project under special NSF- DST (Department of Science and Technology, India) Science and Technology Program for Scientists and Engineers. This project deals only with the collaborative aspect of research between the U. S. and the Indian researchers. The primary focus of research is on the finishing of advanced materials by magnetic field assisted polishing. By taking advantage of the combined knowledge-base on magnetic float polishing and magnetic abrasive finishing, the PIs intend to apply it to the new technology of magnetorheological abrasive flow finishing of advanced materials.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PI: Ranga Komanduri

WORKSHOP: Unsolved Problems and Research Needs in Thermal Analysis of Material Removal Processes; Stillwater, OK, October 23-25, 2003

The focus of the workshop will be thermal aspects of various material removal processes, such as metal cutting, grinding, and polishing. Various experimental, analytical, and numerical techniques will be critically reviewed and research needs and opportunities will be identified.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PI: Ranga Komanduri

Accelerated Life Testing of Structural Polymers under Cyclic Loading

The objective of this research is to develop a simple and reliable accelerated life testing technique to predict the service life of structural polymer components under fatigue loading conditions. The temperature, aging time, and solvent concentration induced shift behavior of viscoelastic material functions of polymers will be utilized to accelerate the fatigue tests.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PI: Hongbing Lu

CAREER: Measurements of Local Viscoelastic Properties by Nanoindentation

The proposed research will develop and validate a method to determine linearly and nonlinearly viscoelastic properties of time-dependent materials using nanoindentation technology.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PI: Hongbing Lu

Fundamental Investigation of Web Slitting Processes

The long-range goals are to develop fundamental understanding of the slitting process; to develop criteria for producing straight and clean slit edges in slitting; to develop models to identify right slitting methods for different web materials; and to reduce or eliminate slitting problems that include slivers at the slit edges, burr edge formation, debris generation, and delamitation of laminated webs and coated webs.

Sponsor: 3M

PI: Hongbing Lu

Shear Slitting of Aluminum Webs – Year 4

The objectives of this project are to understand the shear slitting process, to optimize the slitting conditions, and to develop new methods to shear slit aluminum webs. The project focuses on the shear slitting of soft aluminum webs to understand the relation between slitting conditions and the formation defects.

Sponsor: Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA)

PI: Hongbing Lu

Viscoelastic & Hygroscopic Effects on the Formation of Baggy Lanes in Webs

The objective of this project is to develop methodologies to wind viscoelastic webs to produce rolls that have dimension stability to minimize the formation of baggy lanes. Research will be focused on the understanding of baggy lane formation in viscoelastic webs with non-uniform width direction thickness profile.

Sponsor: Web Handling Research Center

PI: Hongbing Lu

Creation of Epitaxy-Ready ZnO Substrates

This project seeks to develop a commercially successful process for the production of ultra-high quality ZnO substrates to be used in the manufacture of short wavelength LEDs and lasers. The crystalline defects and surface stoichiometry produced as a result of mechanical polishing, chemomechanical polishing and reactive ion etching will be studied with the use of high energy ion backscattering, ion channeling and low and room temperature photoluminescence to determine and optimize the effects of the processing conditions on the surface perfection and subsequent epitaxial film growth.

Sponsors: Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (Applied Research), Eagle-Picher Technologies, LLC

PI: Don A. Lucca

GOALI: Creation of Crystalline Surfaces for Short Wavelength Light Emitters

This project seeks to advance our capability for the manufacture of epitaxial films for use in short wavelength light emitters by contributing to a basic understanding of the generation of crystalline defects in both substrates and epitaxial films which result from processing. OSU will quantify the nature and extent of the defects and damage created by chemomechanical polishing, pre-growth substrate surface preparation, and epitaxial growth with the use of backscattering spectrometry and scanning electrical properties microscopy.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PI: Don A. Lucca

Subsurface Damage in II-VI Semiconductors

The proposed work seeks to advance the capability for the manufacturing of wide band-gap semiconductor substrates by contributing to a basic understanding of the subsurface damage that results from several ultra-fine finishing processes. This understanding will aid in identifying the processing conditions that show promise for producing epitaxially-ready substrates. Development of this understanding could help overcome problems posed by substrate subsurface damage, which is one of the major limitations in the production of green/blue/UV LEDs and lasers. Substrates of three II-VI semiconductor materials (ZnSe, CdS, and ZnO) will be prepared by a variety of surface processing methods including ultra-precision machining and mechanical and chemomechanical polishing. The resulting subsurface lattice disorder will be assessed with the use of ion beam channeling, cathodoluminescence, and scanning capacitance microscopy.

Subsequent to surface characterization, epitaxial films will be grown on the substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and subjected to performance testing. An extensive collaborative effort involving Oklahoma State University, Eagle-Picher Research Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and National Institute of Standards and Technology is planned.

Sponsors: National Science Foundation, OSU Foundation (funded by the Noble Foundation)

PI: Don A. Lucca

U.S.-Germany Cooperative Research: Process Chains for the Replication of Complex Optical Components: High Resolution Surface Zone Analysis

This project seeks to advance the capability for the manufacture of complex, high quality optics for next generation applications. The overall aim of the Transregional Cooperative Research Center is to lay the scientific foundations for the deterministic and economical production of optical elements with complex geometry.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PI: Don A. Lucca

DSP-Based Nonlinear Control of Advanced Disk Drives

The proposed work will develop nonlinear control system design strategies that will allow the development of cost effective advanced hard disk drives to meet the demands expected during the next decade.

Sponsor: Seagate Technology, Inc.

PI: Eduardo A. Misawa

DSP-Based Nonlinear Control of Advanced Disk Drives

The proposed research will be conducted using rigorous development of appropriate control design techniques supported by sound mathematical control theory and experimental evaluation of control algorithms for future disk drives. The results will be evaluated against the design specifications obtained by projection of the needs of future products.

Sponsors: Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (Applied Research)

PI: Eduardo A. Misawa

Genomics of Plant Stress Tolerance This needs to be replaced by Abstract with University of Illinois for NSF as Sponsor

The long-term goal of this proposal is to isolate, characterize, and define the functional roles of all genes essential, important, and ancillary to the water and ion stress response and tolerance phenotype of plants.

Sponsor: University of Illinois for National Science Foundation

PI: Eduardo A. Misawa

GOALI: Nonlinear Control of Advanced Hard Disk Drives

The proposed work will explore and develop nonlinear control system design strategies that will allow the development of cost effective advanced hard disk drives that will exceed densities of 100,000 tracks per inch. The objective is to achieve positioning accuracy to within five percent of track width and fast seeks in the presence of thermal effects, shock, and vibrations that are common in PC, workstation, and hard disk array applications.

Sponsors: National Science Foundation, Seagate Technology, LLC

PI: Eduardo A. Misawa

Non-Linear Guidance and Tracking Algorithm Development

This project is to focus on research on guiding and tracking algorithms, which are robust to nonlinear direction finding (DF). The ultimate goal will be to develop novel guidance algorithms for unmanned airborne vehicles (UAV) that drive the line-of-sight (LOS) and LOS rate to desired values in the presence of uncertainties and nonlinearities in low-cost and dual-use sensors.

Sponsors: Raytheon Company

PIs: Eduardo A. Misawa, Prabhakar R. Pagilla

REU/RET GOALI: Nonlinear Control of Advanced Hard Disk Drives

Research experience for one high school teacher (RET) and two undergraduate students (REU) has provided the OSU team the opportunity to work with science and math teachers at the high school level. This program also aids in preparation and recruiting of students into the graduate program in Dynamic Systems and Control and future research careers.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PI: Eduardo A. Misawa

Out-of-Plane Dynamics of a Web at an Air Reverser

The objectives of this research are (1) to distinguish the several phenomena that show up as operational instability; (2) to determine the influence of parameters such as supply pressure, porosity, and hole distribution on stability; and (3) to formulate design guidelines for air reversers.

Sponsor: Web Handling Research Center

PIs: Peter M. Moretti

Mechanical Engineering Technology: Young Bae Chang

CAREER: Robust Controllers for Large-Scale Interconnected Systems: Applications to Web Handling Systems

The research plan consists of rigorous evaluation of existing lateral and longitudinal dynamic models of a web. Further goals are to develop accurate models for lateral and longitudinal dynamics, design robust decentralized controllers for the models, conduct experiments on ALCOA’s finishing process line, generalize the results, and integrate the research activities into current curriculum and develop innovative curricula.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PI: Prabhakar R. Pagilla

Modeling and Advanced Control of Web Handling Systems

The main objective of this project is to perform modeling and develop advanced performance-based control algorithms for web handling systems. This project considers lateral and longitudinal controller designs based on the state-of-the-art linear and nonlinear control theories. The controllers’ designs will focus on three key areas that need significant improvement in the web handling industry.

Sponsors: Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (Applied Research), Fife Corporation

PIs: Prabhakar R. Pagilla

Office of the Dean: Karl N. Reid

The Role of Active Dancers in Tension Control of Webs

With the need for increased performance and productivity in the web processing industry, accurate modeling and effective controller design for web handling systems is essential for increasing the web processing speed and the quality of the processed web. Accurate tension control has always been a key element of web handling systems. An important objective of the tension control system is to maintain tension within the desired limits under a wide range of dynamic conditions such as speed changes, variations in roll sizes, and web property. Tension variations affect printing quality and tend to cause web breakage and wrinkles. A dancer mechanism is typically used as a feedback element in a majority of tension control systems. The tension controller is driven by the variations in the position of the dancer mechanism as opposed to the variations in actual tension from the desired tension. The requirement to maintain the desired tension within a narrow range from the unwinding zone to the first printing unit places a demand for better design of the dancer mechanism. Disturbances arising from unevenly wound rolls and misalignment of the rolls have to be attenuated by the dancer mechanism, thus negating their propagation into the in-feed section. Currently, passive dancers are used as dancer mechanisms. Passive dancers have been known to act as a good tension feedback element for low speed web lines. Passive dancers have limitations in dealing with a wide range of dynamic conditions experienced in high speed web lines. It is expected that introducing an active element into a dancer mechanism gives a control engineer more flexibility in attenuating disturbances and also in maintaining lower tension fluctuations. In this project, modeling and control of active dancers leading to better overall tension control systems will be explored.

Sponsor: Web Handling Research Center

PI: Prabhakar R. Pagilla

Characterization of Environmental Durability of Polymer Matrix Composite

The objective of this study is to continue laboratory testing for material characterization and verification of life modeling methodologies for a polymer matrix composite and resin matrix material for aircraft engine applications. The environmental testing task consists of three main subtasks; (1) Hygrothermal Testing; (2) Physical Aging Testing; and (3) Nonlinear Creep Characterization of PR500 Resin.

Sponsor: NASA Glenn Research Center

PI: Samit Roy

Micro-Macro Modeling of the External Strengthening of Concrete with Fiber Reinforced Polymer

The objective of the project is to develop innovative short-term tests that would allow the development of analytical models for accurate prediction of long-term performance of retrofitted highway bridge structures. Specifically, the interfacial bond between the concrete substrate and the FRP composite material used for external strengthening must remain durable for the specified lifetime over a range of mechanical loads, temperature cycles, moisture diffusion and de-icing salt ingress. The technical approach for developing a bond durability prediction methodology consists of understanding the fundamental mechanisms of degradation at the bond interphase using nano-scale fractograhic inspection and incorporating these in analytical models using global-local substructuring to bridge length-scales. The models developed will be incorporated in an in-house test-bed finite element software.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PI: Samit Roy

Modeling the Interaction between Permeability and Damage in Polymer Matrix Composite (PMC) Laminates for the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)

The objective of this research project is to perform laboratory tests and develop mechanism-based analytical models for cryogenic fluids and gas permeation in polymer matrix composite (PMC) materials.

Sponsor: NASA Langley Research Center

PI: Samit Roy

Numerical Analysis of the Role of Interstitial Ice in Composites Fracture

Interstitial water in the cracks of composites on cooling may cause pressure build up and drive these cracks further into composites. This project will model the fracture processes of composites when the interstitial ice is present.

Sponsor: U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

PI: Samit Roy

Lateral Control of a Web

Imperfections of thickness, flatness, and other properties of a web, as well as imperfections of web-handling machinery, cause the web to run off center of the process line, often resulting in damage to the web as well as waste. Automatic web guides are therefore commonly required for maintaining lateral alignment of the web. This analytical research is concentrating on prevention of wrinkles, oscillation, stretching of an edge, other potential problems which can result from guiding, and improvement of the accuracy of guiding.

Sponsor: Web Handling Research Center

PI: John J. Shelton

Oklahoma State University Geothermal Smart Bridge

This proposal describes a project aimed at research, development, and technology transfer associated with a bridge deck heating system to eliminate preferential icing. The proposed bridge deck-heating system (1) is hydronic, i.e., a heated fluid is circulated through tubes embedded in the bridge deck; (2) makes use of a ground source heat pump system, which recovers energy stored in the earth, and uses it to heat the fluid circulated through the bridge deck; (3) is automatic, integrates with the available intelligent transportation systems and makes use of local and remote weather stations to forecast potential icing conditions; and (4) is expected to enhance both safety, by eliminating preferential icing conditions, and bridge deck life, by eliminating the application of salt on the bridge, and reducing corrosion of the reinforcing steel.

Sponsor: Federal Highway Administration

PIs: Jeffrey D. Spitler, Daniel E. Fisher, Ronald D. Delahoussaye

Division of Engineering Technology: Marvin D. Smith

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering: M. Samir Ahmed

School of Chemical Engineering: J. Rob Whiteley

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering: Ronald L. Elliott

Environmental Institute: Edward T. Knobbe

R and D Studies Applied to Standing Column Well Design

The objective of this proposal is to study the characteristics of standing column wells for the purpose of establishing firm guidelines for their sitting and design, develop analysis tools to strengthen these guidelines and to provide the basis for computer codes which can supply ready prediction of required well depth, and outline field tests which can provide monitoring data to verify the codes. The information will become a part of the ASHRAE handbook and an instruction manual for the design and installation of standing column wells that will serve the geothermal and HVAC communities.

Sponsor: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc.

PI: Jeffrey D. Spitler

Updating the ASHRAE/ACCA Residential Heating and Cooling Load Calculation Procedures and Data

OSU has joined Wrightsoft in developing all aspects of the updated cooling and heating load calculation procedures for the ASHRAE handbook. This includes planning and developing an analysis tool to evaluate the updated method.

Sponsor: Wrightsoft Corporation for American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc.

PI: Jeffrey D. Spitler, Daniel E. Fisher