Fall 2015 Undergraduate Research Poster

Forum

Thursday, December 3, 2015 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Engineering Atrium

Sponsored by: Office of Engineering Research

& Graduate Programs

  

Table of Contents

Author Index 1 Map of Presenters 3 Department Index 5 Poster Titles & Presenters 9 Poster Abstracts 13

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Author Index

Ahmed, Tanzila Electrical and Computer Engineering ..................................................... Page 26 Arreola, Diana Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering ...................................................... Page 18 Boyington, John Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering .................................................... Page 28 Brown, Branden Electrical and Computer Engineering.................................................... Page 20 Cunningham, Jack Civil Engineering................................................................................ Page 25 Edmonds, Lawryn Electrical and Computer Engineering ................................................ Page 26 Erickson, Lauren Civil Engineering .................................................................................. Page 23 Fleming, Caleb Computing and Information Sciences ....................................................... Page 19 Fleming, Nate Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering ........................................................ Page 13 Gaede, Nolan Chemical Engineering ................................................................................. Page 14 Gorentz, Lucas Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering ...................................................... Page 20 Grove, Weston Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering ................................. Page 13 Harlow, Kelsey Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering ...................................................... Page 13 Hulet, Brandon Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering ..................................................... Page 21 Hull, Emmett Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering ................................... Page 13 Kempin, Scott Civil Engineering ........................................................................................ Page 22 Krause, Connor Electrical and Computer Engineering .................................................... Page 26 Kuecker, Candace Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering ........................... Page 13 Liu, Hanwen Civil Engineering .......................................................................................... Page 17 Liuzza, Gabrielle Architectural Engineering and Construction Science ........................... Page 15 Marietta, Tommy Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering .................................................. Page 18 Montgomery, Tyler Biological and Agricultural Engineering .......................................... Page 26 Morrow, Jordan Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering .................................................... Page 17 Nye, Benjamin Civil Engineering ....................................................................................... Page 24 Olney, Chad Civil Engineering .......................................................................................... Page 24 Patel, Virashree Electrical and Computer Engineering .................................................... Page 19 Peterson, Lars Biological and Agricultural Engineering .................................................. Page 26 Phommanivong, Dustin Civil Engineering ........................................................................ Page 14 Quinn, Sean Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering ........................................................... Page 28 Ronning, Mark Electrical and Computer Engineering ...................................................... Page 26 Rosenwald, Carl Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering .................................................... Page 28 Schlaikjer, Eric Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering ..................................................... Page 17 Schlaikjer, Graham Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering .............................................. Page 17 Schmitz, Erica Biological and Agricultural Engineering .................................................. Page 27 Sheshukova, Kseniya Biological and Agricultural Engineering ....................................... Page 15 Smethers, Blake Electrical and Computer Engineering .................................................... Page 19 Spangler, Margaret Biological and Agricultural Engineering .......................................... Page 27 Strasser, Ryan Biological and Agricultural Engineering .................................................. Page 26 Tillman, Joseph Electrical and Computer Engineering ..................................................... Page 16 Valenzuela, Sergio Civil Engineering ................................................................................ Page 23

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Voigt, Victoria Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering ....................................................... Page 18 Wang, Shangxian Electrical and Computer Engineering .................................................. Page 16 Weber, Jordan Electrical and Computer Engineering ...................................................... Page 21 Wehkamp, Kayla Biological and Agricultural Engineering ............................................. Page 27 Whelchel, Keith Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering .................................................... Page 28 Wilson, Laura Biological and Agricultural Engineering ................................................... Page 27 Zortman, Jacob Biological and Agricultural Engineering ................................................ Page 22 

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Map of Presenters

Board 1 Posters 1-8

Board 2 Posters 9-16

Board 3 Posters 17-24

Board 4 Posters 25-32

Research Strength Areas

RS#1 – Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Processes RS#2 – Big Data/High Performance Computing RS#3 – Biomedical Application RS#4 – Cybersecurity RS#5 – Energy and Power RS#6 – Environmental Applications RS#7 – Nuclear Engineering RS#8 – Sensors, Systems and Networks RS#9 – STEM Education RS#10 – Transportation RS#11 – Water

ERGP Disclaimer

The ERGP staff has compiled this abstract booklet with information provided by the undergraduate students. We have reprinted it with their permission exactly as they

submitted it.

Posters #1-25 are competing in the traditional undergraduate research poster forum competition. Posters #27-31 are competing in a new category

for fall 2015 comprised of student design/build/competition projects or class design/research projects.

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Department Index

Architectural Engineering and Construction Science

Gabrielle Liuzza Page 15 Modeling Behavior of Concrete Columns RS#1 Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Tyler Montgomery Page 26 Tractive Performance RS#5

Lars Peterson Page 26 Tractive Performance RS#5

Erica Schmitz Page 27 Biological Assessment and Control of Lake Odonata RS#6 Best Management Analysis for Shallow Water Depths at Lake Odonata RS#11

Kseniya Sheshukova Page 15 Absorption Kinetics of Recombinant Human Serum Albumin RS#3

Margaret Spangler Page 27 Biological Assessment and Control of Lake Odonata RS#6 Best Management Analysis for Shallow Water Depths at Lake Odonata RS#11

Ryan Strasser Page 26 Tractive Performance RS#5

Kayla Wehkamp Page 27 Biological Assessment and Control of Lake Odonata RS#6

Laura Wilson Page 27 Biological Assessment and Control of Lake Odonata RS#6 Best Management Analysis for Shallow Water Depths at Lake Odonata RS#11

Jacob Zortman Page 22 Campus Creek Hydro-Ecological Study RS#11 Chemical Engineering

Nolan Gaede Page 14 Catalytic CVD Growth of Carbon Nanotube Carpets on Metallic Substrates RS#1 Civil Engineering

Jack Cunningham Page 25 An Exploratory Analysis of Wrong-Way Crashes on the State Highway System in Kansas RS#10

Lauren Erickson Page 23 Effects Of Geotechnical Parameters On Great Plains Topsoil Loss RS#6

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Scott Kempin Page 22 Using GIS to Understand Groundwater Processes RS#11

Hanwen Liu Page 17 Integrating Energy Storage with Nuclear Power RS#5

Benjamin Nye Page 24 Demonstrating the United States Road Assessment Program (usRAP) in Kansas RS#10

Dustin Phommanivong Page 14 Determining Optimum Asphalt Rejuvenating Agent Dose for Hot In-Place Recycled Mixtures RS#1

Chad Olney Page 24 Gravel Road Pavement Guidelines RS#10

Sergio Valenzuela Page 23 Electrical Resistivity and Induced Polarization Imaging for Soil Erodibility RS#6 Computing and Information Sciences

Caleb Fleming Page 19 4D Autopilot Research Team RS#8 Electrical and Computer Engineering

Tanzila Ahmed Page 26 Wildcat Wind Power RS#5

Branden Brown Page 20 Ultrasound Transducers Implemented in Space-Suits RS#8

Lawryn Edmonds Page 26 Wildcat Wind Power RS#5

Connor Krause Page 26 Wildcat Wind Power RS#5

Virashree Patel Page 19 Developing 4G Cellphone Technologies Using Differential Binary Phase Shift Keying Modulation Scheme RS#8

Mark Ronning Page 26 Wildcat Wind Power RS#5

Blake Smethers Page 19 4D Autopilot Research Team RS#8

Joseph Tillman Page 16 Comparison of Artifact Removal in BCI RS#3

Shangxian Wang Page 16 Enuresis Detection by Way of Thermocouple Data Analysis RS#3

Jordan Weber Page 21 Full Duplexing Ethernet Study RS#8

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Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering

Weston Grove Page 13 Additive Manufacturing of Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites Using Extrusion Based 3D Printing RS#1

Emmett Hull Page 13 Additive Manufacturing of Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites Using Extrusion Based 3D Printing RS#1

Candace Kuecker Page 13 Additive Manufacturing of Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites Using Extrusion Based 3D Printing RS#1 Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Diana Arreola Page 18 New Insights into Formation of Graphene Oxide and Performance as Sodium-Ion Battery Electrode RS#5

John Boyington Page 28 Nuclear Desalination RS#11

Nate Fleming Page 13 Additive Manufacturing of Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites Using Extrusion Based 3D Printing RS#1

Lucas Gorentz Page 20 Design and Construction of a One-Wheeled, Self-Balancing Robot RS#8

Kelsey Harlow Page 13 3D Printing with Nanomaterials RS#1

Brandon Hulet Page 21 Effects of Open Micro-Channels on Condensation Heat Transfer RS#11

Tommy Marietta Page 18 Automatic Flight Path Incursion Detection and Mitigation Based on a 4-D Flight Path Model RS#8

Jordan Morrow Page 17 Investigation of Steam Flow Condensation in Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Mini-Gaps RS#5

Sean Quinn Page 28 Nuclear Desalination RS#11

Carl Rosenwald Page 28 Nuclear Desalination RS#11

Eric Schlaikjer Page 17 Integrating Energy Storage with Nuclear Power RS#5

Graham Schlaikjer Page 17 Integrating Energy Storage with Nuclear Power RS#5

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Victoria Voigt Page 18 New Insights into Formation of Graphene Oxide and Performance as Sodium-Ion Battery Electrode RS#5

Keith Whelchel Page 28 Nuclear Desalination RS#11

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Poster Titles & Presenters

Research Strength #1–Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Processes

3D PRINTING WITH NANOMATERIALS Kelsey Harlow, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Poster #2

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING OF REINFORCED THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES USING EXTRUSION BASED 3D PRINTING

Weston Grove, Emmett Hull, Candace Kuecker, Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, and Nate Fleming, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Poster #1

CATALYTIC CVD GROWTH OF CARBON NANOTUBE CARPETS ON METALLIC SUBSTRATES

Nolan Gaede, Chemical Engineering, Poster #4

DETERMINING OPTIMUM ASPHALT REJUVENATING AGENT DOSE FOR HOT IN-PLACE RECYCLED MIXTURES

Dustin Phommanivong, Civil Engineering, Poster #3

MODELING BEHAVIOR OF CONCRETE COLUMNS Gabrielle Liuzza, Architectural Engineering and Construction Science, Poster #5

Research Strength #3 – Biomedical Applications

ABSORPTION KINETICS OF RECOMBINANT HUMAN SERUM ALBUMIN Kseniya Sheshukova, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Poster #6

COMPARISON OF ARTIFACT REMOVAL IN BCI Joseph Tillman, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Poster #7

ENURESIS DETECTION BY WAY OF THERMOCOUPLE DATA ANALYSIS Shangxian Wang, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Poster #8

Research Strength #5 – Energy and Power

INTEGRATING ENERGY STORAGE WITH NUCLEAR POWER Eric Schlaikjer and Graham Schlaikjer, Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering, and Hanwen Liu,

Civil Engineering Poster #9

INVESTIGATION OF STEAM FLOW CONDENSATION IN HYDROPHOBIC AND HYDROPHILIC MINI-GAPS

Jordan Morrow, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Poster #10

NEW INSIGHTS INTO FORMATION OF GRAPHENE OXIDE AND PERFORMANCE AS SODIUM-ION BATTERY ELECTRODE

Victoria Voigt and Diana Arreola, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Poster #11

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TRACTIVE PERFORMANCE Ryan Strasser, Tyler Montgomery, Lars Peterson, Biological and Agricultural Engineering,

Poster #27

WILDCAT WIND POWER Tanzila Ahmed, Lawryn Edmonds, Connor Krause, Mark Ronning, Electrical & Computer

Engineering, Poster #28

Research Strength #6 – Environmental Applications

BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND CONTROL OF LAKE ODONATA Margaret Spangler, Laura Wilson, Erica Schmitz, Kayla Wehkamp, Biological and Agricultural

Engineering, Poster #29

EFFECTS OF GEOTECHNICAL PARAMETERS ON GREAT PLAINS TOPSOIL LOSS Lauren Erickson, Civil Engineering, Poster #22

ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY AND INDUCED POLARIZATION IMAGING FOR SOIL ERODIBILITY

Sergio Valenzuela, Civil Engineering, Poster #21

Research Strength #8 – Sensors, Systems and Networks

4D AUTOPILOT RESEARCH TEAM Blake Smethers, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Caleb Fleming, Computing and

Information Sciences, Poster #14

AUTOMATIC FLIGHT PATH INCURSION DETECTION AND MITIGATION BASED ON A 4-D FLIGHT PATH MODEL

Tommy Marietta, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Poster #12

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A ONE-WHEELED, SELF-BALANCING ROBOT Lucas Gorentz, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Poster #16

DEVELOPING 4G CELLPHONE TECHNOLOGIES USING DIFFERENTIAL BINARY PHASE SHIFT KEYING MODULATION SCHEME

Virashree Patel, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Poster #13

FULL DUPLEXING ETHERNET STUDY Jordan Weber, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Poster #17

ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCERS IMPLEMENTED IN SPACE-SUITS Branden Brown, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Poster #15

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Research Strength #10 – Transportation

AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS OF WRONG-WAY CRASHES ON THE STATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM IN KANSAS

Jack Cunningham, Civil Engineering, Poster #25

DEMONSTRATING THE UNITED STATES ROAD ASSESSMENT PROGRAM (usRAP) IN KANSAS

Benjamin Nye, Civil Engineering, Poster #23

GRAVEL ROAD PAVEMENT GUIDELINES Chad Olney, Civil Engineering, Poster #24

Research Strength #11 – Water

BEST MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS FOR SHALLOW WATER DEPTHS AT LAKE ODONATA

Erica Schmitz, Margaret Spangler, Laura Wilson, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Poster #30

CAMPUS CREEK HYDRO-ECOLOGICAL STUDY Jacob Zortman, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Poster #19

EFFECTS OF OPEN MICRO-CHANNELS ON CONDENSATION HEAT TRANSFER Brandon Hulet, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Poster #18

NUCLEAR DESALINATION Keith Whelchel, John Boyington, Sean Quinn, Carl Rosenwald, Mechanical and Nuclear

Engineering, Poster #31

USING GIS TO UNDERSTAND GROUNDWATER PROCESSES Scott Kempin, Civil Engineering, Poster #20

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Poster Abstracts

Poster 1 ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING OF REINFORCED THERMOPLASTIC

COMPOSITES USING EXTRUSION BASED 3D PRINTING Weston Grove1, Nate Fleming2, Emmett Hull1, and Candace Kuecker1, Dr. Meng Zhang1

Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering1 Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering2

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is a class of manufacturing processes where material is deposited in a layer-by-layer fashion to fabricate a three-dimensional part directly from a computer-aided design (CAD) model. With a current market share of over 50%, extrusion based 3D printing of thermoplastics such as fused deposition modeling (FDM) is a prevailing technology. Due to the intrinsically limited mechanical properties of pure thermoplastics and the weak inter-layer adhesion, the printed parts often have delamination and mechanical failure. This presentation explores three potential solutions by employing different additives/methods to fabricate reinforced thermoplastic composites to address this challenge. These composites are (1) pretreated short carbon fiber reinforced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), (2) microwave sintered carbon nanotube reinforced ABS, and (3) continuous glass fiber reinforced polyamide (Nylon). The fabrication processes are demonstrated. ASTM standard tensile test specimens were printed. Mechanical properties, including tensile strength, Young’s modulus, toughness, and ductility, were experimentally investigated. In order to explore the fracture reasons during tensile tests, fracture interfaces of tensile test specimens after testing were observed and analyzed using SEM micrograph. The actual weight percentages of the additives (carbon fibers and carbon nanotubes) in the thermoplastic composites were found by performing thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Electrical conductivity of microwave sintered carbon nanotube reinforced ABS was measured. In general, all the three reinforced thermoplastic composites showed improved mechanical properties over the pure thermoplastics as the controls.

Poster 2 3D PRINTING WITH NANOMATERIALS

Kelsey Harlow, Dr. Gurpreet Singh Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

High mechanical strength and stiffness, and low density of graphene make it a promising candidate for making polymer matrix composite materials. To this end several groups have demonstrated fabrication and mechanical property enhancement in epoxy composite prepared by mechanical mixing of graphene with liquid resin followed by casting and curing in a mold. However, studies related to 3-D printing or scalable manufacturing of complex graphene/epoxy are rarely reported mostly due to challenges associated with preparation of stable polymer/graphene dispersions, photopolymerization, and poor control over distribution of graphene in the composite part. Therefore, purpose of this research is to: utilize solution intercalation method to prepare stable dispersions of graphene in liquid photopolymers for manufacture of composite parts using stereolithography, and develop an understanding of how the mechanical properties of the printed composite would modulate with varying loading of graphene in the composites.

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Poster 3

DETERMINING OPTIMUM ASPHALT REJUVENATING AGENT DOSE FOR HOT IN-PLACE RECYCLED MIXTURES

Dustin Phommanivong, Dr. Mustaque Hossain Department of Civil Engineering

Hot-in-place recycling (HIR) is a process that preserves or maintains distressed asphalt pavements while minimizing use of virgin binder and aggregates. The final quality of HIR mixture depends on characteristics of the original binder, aging during service, and the addition of new binder or rejuvenator. HIR is an in-place method for asphalt pavement recycling that recycles between 70% -100% of existing asphalt pavements. If reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is used untreated in the construction of new pavements, the stiffened binder can cause premature cracking failure. Aged asphalt binder modifications are commonly done by adding asphalt rejuvenating agent (ARA) in the HIR process.

In this study, the softening effect of three ARAs on aged binder, extracted from HIR mixtures, was studied by conducting the penetration grade test. Also, exudation droplet test (EDT) was used to investigate the consistency of HIR mixtures at different ARA dosage. The results showed that it is possible to soften the aged binder to the desirable point by adding ARA and reach the target penetration. However, higher rates than what has been applied at field are required. EDT results showed that a uniform mixture of aged binder and ARA is achievable, if enough heat is applied and aged binder and ARA are sufficiently mixed.

Poster 4 CATALYTIC CVD GROWTH OF CARBON NANOTUBE CARPETS ON METALLIC

SUBSTRATES Nolan Gaede, Dr. Placidus Amama, Mr. Haider Almkhelfe, Mr. Xu Li

Department of Chemical Engineering

To harness the unique properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for applications in energy storage and thermal management, it is necessary for the CNT arrays to be supported on highly conductive (or metallic) substrates. So far, the growth of high-quality, highly dense CNT carpets via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been largely limited to catalysts supported on insulators such as SiO2 or amorphous AlxOy. To overcome this challenge, surface modification of metallic substrates is being explored. Here, we show the transformation of an “inactive” stainless steel substrate to an “active” catalyst substrate via exposing the surface to ion beam bombardment followed by the deposition of a thin AlxOy layer on the damaged surface. It is hypothesized that the ion beam damage introduces defects and porosity to the surface while the thin AlxOy layer creates a highly basic surface without creating an insulating layer. The CNT arrays grown from the modified stainless steel-supported Fe catalysts have been characterized by electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The results reveal that exposing metallic substrates to ion beam bombardment has the ability to reduce the thickness of the barrier layer (AlyOx) needed to grow CNT carpets. The non-thermochemical process used in this study could become a powerful tool for catalyst engineering.

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Poster 5 MODELING BEHAVIOR OF CONCRETE COLUMNS

Gabrielle Liuzza, Dr. Donald Phillippi Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science

Concrete is not like other building materials, because of its composite nature. Concrete acts differently under all types of loads and while individual concrete columns have been thoroughly researched, multiple concrete columns and their interactions in moment frames have not. This research was conducted to discover how concrete columns with varying axial loads perform under lateral loads, and how much force each column resists in a concrete frame. Using information obtained from dynamic three-dimensional non-linear computer simulations, lateral load-versus-displacement graphs were created. To verify the validity of the simulations, simplified hand calculations were performed using previously justified material, fiber and plastic hinge models. For this study, the concrete lateral load-versus-displacement graphs were used to indicate the overall behavior of a concrete moment frame as well as the performance of the individual columns within that frame. Graphs from the hand calculations showed agreement with the simulations and show that each of the six columns react differently under the varying axial forces as typically found in concrete moment frames.

Poster 6 ABSORPTION KINETICS OF RECOMBINANT HUMAN SERUM ALBUMIN

Kseniya Sheshukova, Dr. Lisa Wilken Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Transgenic plant systems have successfully been used to express a variety of recombinant proteins, including rice seed-expressed recombinant human serum albumin (rHSA), an acidic protein. The development of an efficient and integrated rHSA extraction and purification process would allow rHSA to be used for various applications. Extraction is a critical step that determines recombinant protein concentration and purity and the type and quantity of impurities that must be removed during purification. Previous studies indicated that pH 3.5 extraction resulted in high purity (78%) but rHSA was degraded over time. Extraction at pH 4.5 and 6.0 provided stable rHSA yields but higher native rice protein concentrations, which would increase purification requirements. To develop an integrated process, the effect of extraction conditions on subsequent purification using ion exchange chromatography (AEX) must be evaluated. However, before purification studies can be conducted, batch binding experiments must be performed to identify suitable binding conditions for rHSA. This poster will evaluate the impact of extraction conditions on purification efficiency through absorption kinetics using Q Sepharose FastFlow® resin. Once the optimal absorptions conditions for rHSA were identified, adsorption of rHSA in transgenic rice extracts were evaluated. Binding results of purified rHSA and extracts were analyzed and compared for further development of an integrated, cost efficient process.

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Poster 7 COMPARISON OF ARTIFACT REMOVAL IN BCI

Joseph Tillman, Dr. David Thompson Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are devices that allow users to interact with their environment by using only their thoughts. This is done by utilizing readings from an electroencephalogram (EEG), which records voltage signals on the scalp. Due to the nature of this device, there are many muscular and ocular artifacts in the readings, which could harm the efficiency of the BCI. To help in removing these artifacts, many methods have been proposed and implemented. This study is to see if the implementation of the fully online and automated artifact removal (FORCe) method has an adverse effect on the classification of the collected EEG data.

Poster 8 ENURESIS DETECTION BY WAY OF THERMOCOUPLE DATA ANALYSIS

Shangxian Wang, Dr. Steve Warren, Dr. Punit Prakash, Mr. Charles Carlson Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sleep quality in children with severe disabilities is correlated to their daytime wellness and ability to learn. Enuresis, or bed wetting, can significantly affect sleep quality. Kansas State University researchers are currently working with Heartspring (Wichita, KS) to develop a bed-based toolset to monitor a disabled child’s health and activity during the night. A portion of the bed sensor suite will consist of a collection of thermocouples placed near the top of a mattress and covered by soft foam, where thermocouple data will be used to determine various parameters, including enuresis. Such an automated system would eliminate the need for Heartspring staff to conduct manual bed checks several times during the night for each child in a residential apartment. For this study, the performance of several types of thermocouples will be assessed under various conditions using an assortment of placement strategies. A water funnel connected to a tube simulates the bedwetting process. The water, which is regulated to body temperature (37 °C), flows through the tube at different rates to wet the towel and foam layers on the surface of a mattress. Thermocouples placed underneath these layers track the related temperature changes, and a LabVIEW interface enables these data to be visualized with a time-domain graph and time-changing images. Classification algorithms are being developed to automate this detection process.

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Poster 9 INTEGRATING ENERGY STORAGE WITH NUCLEAR POWER

Eric Schlaikjer1, Hanwen Liu2, Graham Schlaikjer1, Dr. Hitesh Bindra1 Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering1, Department of Civil Engineering2

Nuclear power plants (NPPs) have negligible emission rates compared to their fossil fuel counterparts; however, their inability to follow grid load demands makes them economically less competitive. Many fossil fueled plants can supply peak-loads by adding more fuel, thus generating more revenue during peak hours. The technical challenge behind this economic discrepancy for NPPs is that reactor power cannot be allowed to follow the grid demand to avoid hazardous conditions during reactor operation. Consequently, the only way NPPs can accommodate grid demand is if the reactor core’s thermal power or plant’s electrical power is stored in an integrated device while energy generation is in surplus. This stored energy can be released when demand is higher than what the NPP can produce.

The main objective of this study is to perform comparative analysis on the effects of integrating thermal or electrical energy storage systems to NPPs. Various energy storage efficiency models are explored to evaluate the effective costs. For thermal storage systems, exergy efficiency and energy storage density of the integrated system are used as a direct parameter to assess costs. Electrical energy storage (EES) systems have limited cyclic operations therefore grid behavior for some geographic locations in United States, in this case Texas, is examined. Data from the Electric Reliability of Texas (ERCOT) is analyzed to model the charging/discharging requirements of EES systems. The data is used to compute the life time for EES systems and by extension the net effective cost, for the storage component is then evaluated.

Poster 10 INVESTIGATION OF STEAM FLOW CONDENSATION IN HYDROPHOBIC AND

HYDROPHILIC MINI-GAPS Jordan Morrow, Dr. Melanie Derby, Mr. Xi Chen

Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Over 500 power plants use over two million gallons of fresh water daily. As EPA regulations increase, air-cooled condensers (ACCs) are becoming more attractive than conventional water-cooled condensers. However, on hot days, the overall thermal efficiency drops because the difference in temperature between the fluid and air is much smaller. Reducing steam- and air-side thermal resistances will improve ACC performance; this work focuses on decreasing the thermal resistance on the steam side by increasing the heat transfer coefficient of the condensing steam. Previous studies found that hydrophobic surfaces produced significantly greater heat transfer coefficients than the typical hydrophilic surfaces currently used in condensers. An experimental apparatus was constructed to measure heat transfer coefficients and visual flow in hydrophobic channels. The test section measures the condensing surface temperature and the temperature gradient through a copper block. Fluid temperature is determined from saturation pressure, and the heat transfer coefficient can be calculated using Newton’s Law of Cooling. For this study, steam was analyzed at a saturation pressure of 276 kPa flowing at mass fluxes of 50–150 kg/m2s and test section inlet qualities ranging from 0.3 to 0.8. It was found that the hydrophobic surfaces produced heat transfer coefficients ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 W/m2K. This is 3 to 8 times as high the heat transfer coefficients produced by hydrophilic surfaces. This increase is because hydrophobic surfaces produce dropwise condensation compared to filmwise condensation on hydrophilic surfaces. Flow visualization confirmed that this improvement is from droplet sweeping on the condensing surface.

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Poster 11 NEW INSIGHTS INTO FORMATION OF GRAPHENE OXIDE AND PERFORMANCE

AS SODIUM-ION BATTERY ELECTRODE Victoria Voigt, Diana Arreola, Dr. Gurpreet Singh Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Hummer’s process was modified to produce gram levels of 2-dimensional nanosheets of graphene oxide (GO) with varying degree of exfoliation and chemical functionalization. This was achieved by varying the weight ratios and reaction times of oxidizing agents used in the process. Based on Raman and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy we show that potassium permanganate (KMnO4) is the key oxidizing agent while sodium nitrate (NaNO3) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4) play minor role during the exfoliation of graphite. Tested as working electrode in sodium-ion half-cell, the GO nanosheets produced using this optimized approach showed high rate capability and high energy density of 500 mAh/g for ~100 cycles (highest among sodium/graphite electrodes reported to date) with average Coulombic efficiency of approximately 99%.

Poster 12 AUTOMATIC FLIGHT PATH INCURSION DETECTION AND MITIGATION BASED

ON A 4-D FLIGHT PATH MODEL Tommy Marietta, Dr. Garth Thompson

Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

As the use of unmanned aerial systems increases the need for these aircraft to communicate their intent and handle impending incursions between other aircraft increases. The goal of this research is to explore the use of a 4-D flight path model as a means by which aircraft in a mutual airspace can communicate their flight path to each other and determine if an incursion is impending between them. If so, the 4-D flight path model provides the means to autonomously determine which vehicle has the right-of-way and generate a safe mitigation of the incursion by altering the path of one or both aircraft. This 4-D flight path model has successfully mitigated incursions in a lateral direction, but a goal of this research is to extend the mitigation logic to include vertical and longitudinal mitigation strategies. The simulation will involve parallel computational processes to represent multiple aircraft. Communication between the aircraft will be simulated with a server process. The server acts as the airspace that carries radio signals between aircraft. Each client process represents an individual aircraft. When an aircraft is within radio communication distance of another aircraft, the server will pass flight path data between them. Each aircraft process then calculates if an incursion is impending with any of the aircraft within their airspace and mitigates it if necessary. The aircraft process then “broadcasts” its new flight path data that is incursion free.

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Poster 13 DEVELOPING 4G CELLPHONE TECHNOLOGIES USING DIFFERENTIAL BINARY

PHASE SHIFT KEYING MODULATION SCHEME Virashree Patel, Dr. Don Gruenbacher

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

We are all familiar with 4G and LTE cell phone networks. These networks gained popularity in a short amount of time due to their high speed internet connectivity and faster download rate capabilities. The modulation scheme that is being used for these modern networks is known as OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing). OFDM uses a large number of closely spaced orthogonal subcarriers that are transmitted in parallel, instead of transmitting data using high-rate stream single carrier. These subcarriers are modulated using the conventional digital modulation schemes and one of these modulation schemes is BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying).

The purpose of this project is to develop a transceiver utilizing DBPSK(Digital Binary Phase Shift Keying) modulation scheme, built from an Altera DE2 development board in conjunction with a THDB ADA-GPIO daughter card that consists of two 14 bit ADCs and two DACs. BPSK modulation scheme contains the information about the bit stream in terms of 180° changes in the phase of the transmitted signal.

To recover the original data the signal is non-coherently demodulated. This technique does not require the resynthesize of a local phase-locked carrier at the receiver. This is done by passing the modulated signal through an ADC, mixing it with its own one-bit delayed version, filtering it via low pass filter followed by a threshold detector which recovers the data. The whole transceiver is developed using two DE2 boards, where one acts as a transmitter and another as a receiver.

Poster 14

4D AUTOPILOT RESEARCH TEAM Blake Smethers1, Caleb Fleming2, Dr. Garth Thompson3

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering1, Department of Computing and Information Sciences2, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering3

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are an emerging technology that uses intelligent aircraft that take information from an operator and execute commands to complete a flight autonomously.

As UAVs become more common in the airspace the concern for mid-air incursions between two aircraft arises. Current autopilots use geographic positions to describe a sequence of waypoints that guide the motion of the UAV. They also permit the operator to set the speed of the UAV.

The current autopilots do not contain any means for detecting impending incursions or any logic to mitigate an impending incursion even if it could be anticipated. This research is exploring the application of a 4-D flight path model to provide additional information to control the motion of the UAV and to provide a direct computation to detect impending incursions and provide the information to support logic to autonomously mitigate impending incursions. The 4-D flight path model includes a much more robust system for aircraft control as well as allowing for the entirety of the flight path to be prescribed in an analytic form. The analytic form allows for an algorithm to be developed to detect and mitigate incursions in real-time before the aircraft are actually at risk. The benefits of the 4-D flight path model have been demonstrated in computer simulations and the objective of the present research is to implement an autopilot that is capable of flying an actual aircraft using the 4-D flight path model.

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Poster 15

ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCERS IMPLEMENTED IN SPACE-SUITS Branden Brown, Dr. Bill Kuhn 

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering  This research focuses on developing thin ultrasound transducers for use in space-suits. The ultrasound imaging provided will help to diagnose shoulder injuries that occur in an astronaut's Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) training exercises. If a sufficiently robust and inexpensive design can be developed, then ultrasound imaging may also be viable for general health-care applications where a body-worn system and continuous monitoring is helpful.

The preliminary research included a literature review focused on several aspects of the unit including the imaging array, piezoelectric materials, and flexibility of the structure. This led to the construction of a working prototype probe. Currently the project is in the process of improving the design by increasing the cable length, and lessening the fragility of the device. A new working design is expected to be completed by the end of fall 2015 with aspirations of submitting it to Johnson Space Center for qualification within a space-suit environment.

Poster 16 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A ONE-WHEELED, SELF-BALANCING ROBOT

Lucas Gorentz, Dr. Warren White Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Control of mechanical systems is an essential part of our everyday lives. Many concepts of controls are studied and researched, and physical system models are essential for understanding these concepts. These models provide students and researchers with the ability to examine how systems operate and react to various conditions.

The objective of this project is to develop a one-wheeled, self-balancing robot, powered by a National Instruments MyRIO microcontroller, to be used as a physical system model. The device and knowledge gained from this project may be used in an academic setting as a teaching/ demonstration aid, as well as in a research environment by exploring more complex control procedures.

The creation of the robot began with an initial design stemming from real life unicycle examples. A detailed Solidworks model was then drawn based on that design, which allowed physical assembly to begin. With the physical model of the unicycle built, component programming began inside a LabVIEW project environment. Once the visual and physical models were completed, a detailed analytical model of the unicycle’s dynamics for the two vertical planes was developed. This dynamical model was then tested using Simulink and implemented into the LabVIEW environment.

The tests completed in Simulink and on the physical model provided two main conclusions: the unicycle’s components all functioned as required, and the current motors do not provide the necessary torque to effectively stabilize the unicycle. Although full functionality has not yet been obtained, test observations indicate that this may be achieved with upgraded components.

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Poster 17

FULL DUPLEXING ETHERNET STUDY Jordan Weber, Dr. Don Gruenbacher

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering While Ethernet is kind of an archaic form of connecting globally with others, it is still important in keeping fast, safe, and constant communication. The purpose of this research project is to create a system that utilizes a full-duplexing method to both transmit and receive packets of data from/to the internet via Ethernet. The system that I am implementing is full duplexing. Full duplexing allows communication to and from the computer whenever using set interrupts and parallel computing instead of having to wait for the FPGA to finish receiving/transmitting to either transmit/receive data. Full duplexing uses ‘switching’ technology as opposed to a ‘hub’ system, which results in faster communication by mitigating packet collision and loss. Switching technology isolates each transmit and receive computer link both logically and electrically. I am implementing this system using an FPGA (Altera DE2 board) and an Ethernet connection. The data coming through the RJ45 Ethernet jack is received by physical layer chip on the DE2 board which manages data stream traffic. Those signals are then sent to Ethernet MAC chip, which takes care of cyclic redundancy checks (CRC), decodes the packets and is sent through a bus to SDRAM where the packets are stored. The packets that are received and those that are going to be transmitted have two separate localities in memory. I am using the on board NIOS II processor to access packets in memory and control the Ethernet MAC chip to transmit and receive packets.

Poster 18 EFFECTS OF OPEN MICRO-CHANNELS ON CONDENSATION HEAT TRANSFER

Brandon Hulet, Dr. Amy Betz Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

The purpose of this research is to experimentally study how open micro-channels affect the heat transfer coefficient on a surface under filmwise condensation conditions. Filmwise condensation is an important factor in the design of steam condensers used in thermoelectric power generation. Power plants like these account for 40% of freshwater withdrawal and 3% of freshwater usage in the United States. Filmwise condensation is also important in water collection systems for desalination plants. The recent drought in California has made alternative freshwater collection an important issue. Filmwise condensation averages five times lower heat transfer coefficients than those present in dropwise condensation. Today, filmwise condensation is the dominant condensation regime in the steam condensers due to a lack of a durable dropwise condensation surface. Film thickness is also of concern because it is directly proportional to the condenser’s overall thermal resistance. Our research focuses on optimizing channel size to inhibit the creation of a water film and to reduce its overall thickness. Our aim is to maximize the heat transfer coefficient of the surface; this is determined by measuring the temperature gradient across our test section. By comparing the heat transfer coefficients, we can find the optimal size for the channels. We have found that at lower heat fluxes, the .25mm2 fins work better and at larger heat fluxes a smooth surface works better. Future research will be done with samples that are coating with Teflon making them hydrophobic, thus increasing dropwise condensation.

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Poster 19 CAMPUS CREEK HYDRO-ECOLOGICAL STUDY: A LOOK AT HUMAN AND

STREAM ECOLOGY RELATIONSHIPS Jacob Zortman, Dr. Trisha Moore

Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Changes made to Campus Creek and its watershed have degraded the diversity and health of the stream system. This study looks at the changes made to the system, such as; stream widening, storm sewer pipe inputs, and other stream control tactics. The ecological impact that these changes bring to the system will be represented by looking at benthic macroinvertebrates, as well as fluctuations in nitrogen and phosphorus. Spatial analyses were used to investigate characteristics of the watershed areas that drain to each of the macroinvertebrate and nutrient sample points taken throughout the study. The geographical analysis will determine the area that impacts the stream system during rain fall, as well as what types of urbanization occur in the area around the stream.

Poster 20 USING GIS TO UNDERSTAND GROUNDWATER PROCESSES

Scott Kempin, Dr. David Steward, Ms. Sarah Auvenshine Department of Civil Engineering

Groundwater extraction in western Kansas has depleted the water level in the Ogallala aquifer by pumping water at a rate exceeding that of natural recharge. One consequence is lowering of surface water discharge of the Arkansas River. This study gathers data from the USGS including Arkansas River gaging station data at locations between Coolidge and Garden City, and Landsat images of the study region. This data is used in ArcGIS to produce maps and ET images, which are evaluated across changes in the locations where the Arkansas River wetting front occurs over time. These changes correlate to the length of the wetted river where recharge may be provided to the aquifer by the Arkansas River. This study produces a greater understanding of groundwater and surface water interactions and hydrologic function in the region.

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Poster 21 ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY AND INDUCED POLARIZATION IMAGING FOR SOIL

ERODIBILITY Sergio Valenzuela, Dr. Stacey Kulesza

Department of Civil Engineering Bridge scouring has become a major issue in the stability and durability of bridges. With the U.S. seeing nationwide budget cuts in the transportation field, a large part of the nation’s bridges are in need of rehabilitation with lack of funding. Bridge scour can cause bridge failures and are therefore becoming an important topic of discussion when designing a new bridge or rehabilitating an existing bridge. Typical test methods for scour are expensive and time consuming, so a new correlation between soil erodibility and electrical resistivity imaging was investigated. In this study, laboratory tests included Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) tests such as grain size distribution, Atterberg limits and hydrometer analysis. The field tests were done at a few bridge sites around the state of Kansas, which included running electrical resistivity tests and induced polarization (IP) surveys. The IP survey was sampled once to investigate what information could be obtained in addition to existing electrical resistivity survey data. The geophysics field tests may be correlated to erodibility because it shows similarity to electrical resistivity in soil. Soil samples were collected at the bridge site in Shelby tubes, to be later tested for soil classification and erodibility. The erosion tests were conducted in an EFA (Erosion Function Apparatus) machine. The preliminary data indicate a correlation between soil erodibility and electrical resistivity imaging. The IP survey investigated in this study did not provide additional information so it has not been used further in the project.

Poster 22 EFFECTS OF GEOTECHNICAL PARAMETERS ON GREAT PLAINS TOPSOIL LOSS

Lauren Erickson, Dr. Stacey Kulesza Department of Civil Engineering

Farmers play a key role in society by providing us with the food we need. In order to meet the demands of our growing society, maximizing crop yield is essential. In this study, two farms in Southeast Kansas were tested. In each field, there are areas of good crop production, and areas of poor crop production where farmable soils have eroded. The objective of this project was to determine why there is variable soil loss across regions of identical land management practices, while utilizing standard geotechnical tests. Samples were collected from regions of high crop yield (“good”) and low crop yield (“bad”). All soil samples were divided into upper and lower halves and classified according to the Unified Soil Classification System. Soil permeability tests were run to identify how quickly water flows through the soil. It was found for both fields, in “good” yield areas, water was able to flow through to deeper soil at a faster rate. Contrarily, in “bad” yield areas, water flowed through the upper layer, but the lower layer was twice as slow as the lower “good” layers. It was concluded that the regions of low yield have a low permeability layer causing lateral flow of water undermining the topsoil, reducing its strength and increasing its erodibility. Future research will measure the variable topsoil strength and erodibility to determine the problems that are resulting in topsoil loss.

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Poster 23 DEMONSTRATING THE UNITED STATES ROAD ASSESSMENT PROGRAM

(usRAP) IN KANSAS Benjamin Nye, Dr. Eric Fitzsimmons

Department of Civil Engineering Fatal and serious crashes in rural areas continue to be a safety concern in Kansas as crashes tend to be more serious and more response time is typically required. Traditional safety improvement programs have focused efforts on identifying mass-action areas based on historical crash data. However, crashes on paved rural roads are not as frequent and sometimes not well documented. The United States Road Assessment Program (usRAP) is a systemic safety analysis tool that uses roadway and intersection characteristics data to identify locations with potential for future crashes. Three rural corridors including two state highways and one rural secondary road in Kansas were selected for evaluation. Data were collected in the field and also coded in the laboratory. The results of the analysis identified potential safety improvement areas along each corridor with proposed roadway safety countermeasures, benefit-cost ratios for each countermeasure, and potential fatal and serious injury crashes prevented if the countermeasures were installed.

Poster 24 GRAVEL ROAD PAVEMENT GUIDELINES 

Chad Olney, Dr. Sunanda Dissanayake Department of Civil Engineering

 

There are more than 53,000 miles of gravel roads in the state of Kansas, all of which are maintained by county governments. With increasing budget constraints on transportation budgets, county road departments struggle to maintain both their gravel and paved roads in the most cost effect manner possible. One of the hardest decisions they face it is best to either continue maintain certain sections of gravel roads as they have been doing, upgrade the section to a paved road, or downgrade the section to a minimal maintenance road. In this research, the factors such as maintenance cost, conversion costs, traffic volume, safety, and road purpose that affect this decision are analyzed in order to establish a set of guidelines that county governments can use in the decision making process. The data for this research was accrued by sending out surveys to 105 counties around the state and collaborating with transportation professionals in county governments. Based on the survey results, the conversion cost was the most important factor in deciding whether or not to upgrade a road. This was followed closely by current maintenance cost. Traffic volume and purpose of road usage were also important factors for transportation officials, with particular importance placed on the amount of heavy vehicle (i.e. semi-trucks) traffic. These research results can be an important tool that can be used by county officials in the decision making process of determining how to best spend their road maintenance allocations. 

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Poster 25 AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS OF WRONG-WAY CRASHES ON THE STATE

HIGHWAY SYSTEM IN KANSAS Jack Cunningham, Dr. Eric Fitzsimmons

Department of Civil Engineering

Since the beginning of the United States highway system, crashes relating to driving on the wrong side of the roadway have posed a serious safety concern for transportation officials. Wrong-way crashes even are infrequent (approximately 3 percent of all crashes on high-speed divided roadways), wrong-way driving remains a serious safety concern as these crashes typically result in at least one fatality. This research project investigated wrong-way crashes from 2011-2013 on two lane rural state highways. The result of the analysis indicated that number of crashes decreased from 350 to 327. A simple analysis of data was conduct as an exploratory analysis to determine the ease of extracting wrong-way crashes from the Kansas Department of Transportation’s crash database. The number of crashes and fatalities were shown to decrease. However, in 2013 approximately 21% of wrong-way crashes resulted in a fatality. While wrong-way crashes in general account for only 0.19% of all crashes in Kansas; in 2013 it was also found that wrong-way crashes accounted for approximately 7% of all fatal crashes. While nationally most of these crashes occur during the night and involve alcohol impaired driving, this found to not be the case. A significant number of wrong-way crashes were found to occur during the daylight hours and only 26% involve alcohol impaired drivers. This research study served as an initial investigation proposed by the Kansas Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Safety and Technology.

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Poster 27 TRACTIVE PERFORMANCE RESEARCH

Ryan Strasser, Tyler Montgomery, Lars Peterson, Mr. Edwin Brokesh Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Agricultural machinery efficiency is more important than ever given increasing concerns about fossil fuel supplies. Tractive Performance is one factor that affects machinery efficiency and improvements will conserve fuel. In this study, the relationship between power train reduction and tractive performance was identified in quarter-scale tractors. The study also evaluated effects of single and dual drive tires. Testing was conducted with a progressive weight pulling sled to allow simulation of different implement draft forces. On-board data acquisition was utilized to gather pulling sled speed, drive axle angular velocity, and tractor pull force. Experimentation results concluded that less drivetrain reduction, which leads to higher travel speeds, was more effective when paired with single drive tires. Inversely so, dual drive tires performed better with more reduction and lower speed. The potential of single drive tires exceeded that of dual drive tires, because under the higher torque and lower speed conditions, the shear strength of the soil is unable to support the tire.

Poster 28 WILDCAT WIND POWER

Tanzila Ahmed1, Lawryn Edmonds1, Connor Krause1, Mark Ronning1, Dr. Ruth Miller1, Dr. Warren White2

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering1 Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering2

Wildcat wind power is one of the twelve university teams participating in the biennial Collegiate Wind Competition sponsored by the Department of Energy. The purpose of this competition is to expose students to the wind industry. As part of this competition, the teams are required to design, build, and test a small-scale wind turbine used for off-grid energy production. They are also required present a business plan around the turbine. For the 2016 competition, the teams will design the proposed load proposed in the business plan. The KSU wind power team is redesigning the turbine from the year before, implementing a new electrical load that can demonstrate the power production of the turbine. Additionally, the mechanical team has explored new blade design options, adding two more blades to the original three-blade design. This effort is being made to optimize efficiency and lower the cut-in speed. New expansions also include a new braking system that operates without any power, ensuring the safe shutdown of the turbine in the event of an emergency. This simulates the same operating standards the large-scale industrial turbines use in real-world energy generation applications.

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Poster 29 BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND CONTROL OF LAKE ODONATA

Margaret Spangler, Laura Wilson, Erica Schmitz, Kayla Wehkamp, Mr. Edwin Brokesh Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Lake Odonata at Camp Daisy Hindman in Dover, Kansas is a three acre pond that was built in the 1930’s to enhance education and recreation for Girl Scouts. The pond has recently been experiencing problems with shallow water depths and overabundance of the invasive, submergent macrophyte, Eurasian watermilfoil, Myriophyllum spicatum. These problems make navigation by canoe and swimming difficult, thereby limiting the recreation aspects of the pond. Currently, M. spicatum is being treated chemically which is time and cost intensive. The goal of this project was to investigate alternative forms of control for M. spicatum in order to formulate a management plan that requires less input and ultimately restores ecosystem health. Water quality analyses showed low nutrient concentrations in the water column (nitrate< 1 ppm, phosphate=not detectable), high dissolved oxygen (12 ppm), and high pH (10). Additionally, an indicator species survey performed at various points in the lake revealed varying levels of biodiversity in the pond (Shannon-Wiener Index ranging from .39-.72) as well as organisms that thrive in oxygenic environments (gilled snails) and submergent vegetation (odonates). This data depicts a pond with generally good water quality. However, personal observations of vast beds of M. spicatum combined with this data suggest a possible ecosystem imbalance. The team analyzed the feasibility of controls including mechanical (raking and dredging), chemical (herbicides), and biological (triploid grass carp, introduced native competition, and native weevils) and found that a stepwise approach containing a combination of biological and mechanical controls would satisfy the goals of this study.

Poster 30 BEST MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS FOR SHALLOW WATER DEPTHS AT LAKE

ODONATA Erica Schmitz, Margaret Spangler, Laura Wilson, Mr. Edwin Brokesh

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Personnel at the Camp Daisy Hindman Girl Scout Camp believe that their camp pond, Lake Odonata, has a lower water capacity than it did a few decades ago. This three acre pond that was built in the 1930’s for both recreation and education. They think the lack of capacity is due to sedimentation and that dredging the lake would allow for more recreational activities in and around the lake. In this study, an analysis was completed to determine a best management practice (BMP) to solve the issues at Lake Odonata. Multiple analyses were performed to determine this BMP including WinTR-55 and Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) models, and a bathymetric survey. The WinTR-55 and WEPP models gave information about the pond’s necessary capacity and sedimentation respectively. The bathymetric survey gave the contour of the bottom of Lake Odonata and sediment thickness throughout the pond. The contours show the current water depths of the pond while sediment thickness gave a dredging potential at the various locations of the pond. A collaboration of the WinTR-55 and WEPP models and bathymetric survey determined the locations and amount of sediment that should be dredged to best provide enhanced recreational and educational abilities.

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Poster 31 NUCLEAR DESALINATION

Keith Whelchel, John Boyington, Sean Quinn, Carl Rosenwald, Dr. Hitesh Bindra Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Due to the increase in demand for fresh water in the United States and abroad, research done in the past is being revisited to link a nuclear reactor with a desalination plant. Previous research allowed extracted steam from a nuclear power plant to be used at a desalination plant. Our preliminary research was determining the optimal desalination type to be coupled with a commercial nuclear reactor, first by making an exhaustive list of all known methods of desalinization, then researching the types in use. With this validation, we then moved to determining the optimal method to be implemented. Now, the primary focus of our research is the creation of a tool that can take known inputs of a commercial reactor and output the production of the desalination side of the plant as well as its effect on the thermodynamic efficiency of the power production side of the plant. Continuing on, we hope to discover an optimum method of coupling and using desalination in conjunction with a nuclear power plant.