Hydrothermal Stability of the DAVISIL/CAB-O-SIL Silica Catalyst Carriers

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Clint G. Guymon and Dr. Calvin H. Bartholomew, Chemical Engineering The Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) sustained Germany’s fuel needs during World War II as well as South Africa’s since the 1960’s.1 This catalytic technology is enthralling and left to the interested reader to reap in the deluge of information present in the literature. The principle reaction […]

Examination of Material Flow Characteristics in Friction Stir Welding

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S. James Felsted and Dr. Tracy W. Nelson, Mechanical Engineering Friction Stir Welding is a solid state joining process that makes possible the joining of materials that were previously difficult or impossible to weld. A closer examination of friction stir welding shows that welding occurs because of mechanical mixing, frictional heating, and forging. Welds are […]

Modeling Power Consumption in Field Programmable Logic Devices

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Benjamin L. Bullough and Dr. Michael Wirthlin, Electrical and Computer Engineering Some of the most important application areas for integrated circuits are in portable communication and computing devices. Since batteries power these devices, power is only available in limited quantities. Optimizing for power allows engineers to produce designs, which extend battery life or use a […]

Internal Cleave and Fill: A Method for Internal Refinement of All-Hexahedral Swept Meshes

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Michael Borden and Dr. Steven E. Benzley, Civil and Environmental Engineering Three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) is an important design tool for scientists and engineers. Before the analysis can begin, a continuous domain must be subdivided into small elements (i.e., finite elements). The process of subdividing a continuous domain is called meshing. There is currently […]

ESTABLISHMENT OF LIFE REDUCTION FACTORS FOR MICROSURFACING

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Bryan Wilson and Dr. W. Spencer Guthrie, Civil and Environmental Engineering Main Text Since the majority of the pavement network in the United States is already constructed1, most of the attention has turned toward maintaining and reconstructing existing roads. Through routine maintenance of the wearing surface, the life of a pavement is greatly extended and […]

Analysis of Intervertebral Disc Degeneration Testing Method

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David Williams and Dr. Anton Bowden, Mechanical Engineering Departmenet, with Holly Woods This ORCA research project has focused on the determination of the effects of the order of the mechanical tests on the response of an intervertebral disc. We hypothesized that the order of the mechanical tests may influence the rate of diffusion of the […]

Third World Water Filtration System Implementation

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Christopher Welton and Professor Perry Carter, School of Technology Introduction Approximately 70 million people in rural India do not have access to clean water. Chemicals such as cesium, arsenic, and others contaminate India’s drinking water, rendering it unsafe. Biological contaminates pose increased health risks to those drinking the water. If a water source is bad, large […]

High-Speed Full-Spectrum Interrogation of Fiber Bragg Gratings for Composite Laminate Sensing

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Tyrie Vella and Dr. Richard Selfridge, Electrical & Computer Engineering Main Text Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors are specialized optical fibers that can be used for detecting changes in strain. Under normal conditions, when a broadband spectrum of light is transmitted through the fiber, a narrow band of light is reflected by the sensor. When […]

Development/Ballistics Testing of Lightweight Sandwich-Composite Body Armor

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Brian Spencer and Dr. Anton Bowden Introduction and Objective Body armor is one of the most important tools used in the protection of soldiers and other armed forces around the world. Although the current style of armor, using Kevlar fiber and ceramic inserts, is generally effective, it is bulky and heavy and can cause overheating […]

Short Surface Relief Fabry-Perot Fiber Bragg Gratings For Improved Strain Sensing

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Andrew Sieler and Dr. Stephen Schultz, Electrical Engineering Main Text The use of optical fiber as a sensing instrument has become an important application in the optics field. Due to previous research conducted here at BYU1 it is now possible to fabricate Surface Relief Fiber Bragg Gratings, SR-FBGs, which can be used as a temperature […]