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Experimental Study of Flexible Wing Design for Low Subsonic Flow
No full textThe aim of this project is to study experimentally the structural stability of highly flexible wings under low subsonic flow conditions. The experiments will be carried out at the low-speed wind tunnel in the Aerospace Engineering department. As part of this project, the student will design and build a variety of different flexible wing structures and test their performance in the wind tunnel--the experiments will involve pressure, deflection, and strain measurements. Both additively manufactured and built-up structures will be explored as part of this project. The project will also require the student to perform finite element simulations for the wing structures. The eventual goal of this study is to understand the pros and cons associated with flexible wings, primarily from a structural viewpoint, and understand what design choices are essential to develop stable and controllable flexible wings
A Novel Hybrid Re-Entrant Double Arrowhead with Active Link Auxetic Metamaterial: Finite Element Approach
No full textAuxetic metamaterials are a category of material that exhibit a negative Poisson\u27s ratio (NPR). NPR materials contract when compressed and expand when stretched. NPR properties are typically produced through a complex unit cell consisting of folds, internal angles, or other specially designed shapes with internal voids capable of collapsing in on themselves. Individual unit cells that display these properties are developed and stacked or layered in a repeating pattern such that a larger body can be manufactured, maintaining the same properties. NPR auxetic structures show either a stretch-dominated mechanism (SDM) or a bending-dominated mechanism (BDM). SDM-based NPR structures are favored for high stiffness-to-weight ratio but lack high energy absorption capability. BDM-based structures have the advantage of high energy absorption and the disadvantage of low stiffness. This SURP project will focus on developing a novel SDM-BDM auxetic metamaterial with high stiffness and enhanced energy absorption. Students will learn the numerical analysis technique ANSYS and study the behavior of the newly invented material using ANSYS. The new metamaterial has vast implications in support structures and energy dissipation systems in defense, aerospace, and biomedical fields
Designing for Maintainability
No full textThis research focuses on creating an experiment to measure performance of an aircraft propeller on a specially designed stand. Results from the wind tunnel experiments measuring thrust, rotation speed and torque will enable students to create a database of propeller characteristics for use in aircraft design projects. Students in aerospace engineering are regularly assigned design projects powered by turboprop or propeller driven engines. There is not an easy way to verify design performance other than simplistic calculations or extrapolation of open-source wind tunnel data, and not a lot of data is available. Being able to correlate actual test data from different propeller sections will be a great help in verifying the design predictions. A paper will be completed with a goal of documenting and publishing test results at an AIAA conference for use as an unclassified propeller performance database
Additive Manufacturing of Multi-Material Aircraft Sandwich Structures
No full textThis SURP proposal is centered around the exploration of the application of 3D printing composite part processing techniques to produce multi-material sandwich structures for high performance applications such as civilian and military aircraft. These processing techniques have the potential to significantly reduce the costs and the environmental impact of existing conventional autoclave composite processing techniques. The exploration of new ‘out-of-autoclave’ composite part processing techniques may help to reduce processing costs and the environmental impact of processing, as well as broaden the engineering applications of cellular core materials beyond their existing engineering applications. 3D printing directly onto sandwich core materials will eliminate the need to evacuate air from the core, as well as the corresponding process complications of conventional vacuum bag autoclave co-cure processes. In this project composite sandwich structures will be designed, fabricated and characterized with the Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) 3D printing process, combined with conventional cellular core materials such as Nomex honeycomb and PET polymer foam
Relational Algebra Interpreter
No full textWe would like to build a compiler for relational algebra that converts it to SQL. This compiler will be used in database labs to give the students hands-on experience to write relational algebra code. Current relational algebra compilers that are open source are not very good and are hard for the students to use
Fully Integrated Slippage Detection System for Lower Limb Amputees
No full textLower limb amputees face significant challenges in maintaining a proper prosthetic fit, as improper fit can lead to slippage at the limb-socket interface, resulting in discomfort, pressure sores, and long-term musculoskeletal complications. To address this issue, a fully integrated slippage detection system was developed to monitor an amputee’s daily activities and slippage occurrences to understand their prosthetic fit over time. The system consists of a prosthetic sock embedded with Interlink 406 flexible piezoresistive force-sensing resistors (FSRs). The sock, worn directly on the residual limb, continuously measures pressure at the limb-socket interface. Sensor data from six FSRs is sampled at approximately 240 Hz and transmitted via Bluetooth to an iOS mobile application for real-time processing.
The mobile application implements a Temporal Convolutional Network (TCN) with dilated convolutions to classify amputee activity states and detect slippage events using the raw tensor of six FSR signals across a 5.28-second window. In parallel, a Random Forest classifier is trained on 48 statistical and structural features extracted from the same 5.28-second windows to validate the TCN model\u27s performance and to confirm that relevant activity and slippage patterns are reliably captured by both feature-based and tensor-based approaches. Both the tensor data and classification results are stored in a cloud database to enable continuous tracking over time for each user.
Experimental results under controlled conditions show that the system combined with the TCN achieves 98% classification accuracy for activity states (such as walking, standing, sitting, transition) and 97% accuracy for slippage detection events. By tracking the amount and type of activity performed by an amputee and directly relating this to the frequency and characteristics of slippage occurrences, the system provides deep insights into prosthetic fit stability. Specifically, it enables early identification of deteriorating fit, assessment of whether recent prosthetic adjustments have led to lasting improvements, detection of increased slippage that may precede skin breakdown or injury, and longitudinal monitoring of limb volume changes or suspension system performance.
These findings suggest that the slippage detection system can be used daily by amputees to monitor the evolving interaction between their residual limb and prosthetic socket, offering feedback to users and clinicians that supports preventive care, prosthetic optimization, and overall user confidence during rehabilitation and long-term prosthetic use
Modal Analysis of Cal Poly’s Kennedy Library Using Computational Modeling
No full textThis project determines the modal parameters of the Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo using ETABS. Similar analyses on the building have been performed in the past by other Architectural Engineering students. The recent renovation of the library which included a seismic retrofit provides the opportunity to understand how the modal response of concrete structures can be influenced by retrofit practices. This project provides insight into how computational modeling can be used to accurately represent real conditions, and how isolated changes from the retrofit affect the structure’s modal response
Towards Abolitionist Media Studies
No full textThe reflections in this article are grounded in my experience teaching a graduate-level special topics course on media and abolition at the University of Alberta in 2023. In this article, I draw upon my experience teaching this course in order to offer a general framework for integrating abolitionist principles into the media studies classroom. In addition to tracing a critical genealogy of scholarly and activist efforts to delineate and intervene in the relations among prisons, policing and media, I propose two key abolitionist principles that challenge how we teach media studies: (1) an intentional centering of incarcerated/criminalized people and a critical interrogation of the prison as a social relationship that shapes everyday life and knowledge production; and (2) a commitment to demanding the impossible and to imagining transformative rather than merely reformist solutions to problems
AGED 539 Graduate Internship Report – Kerman High School
No full textThis project reviewed the agricultural education program at Kerman High School. The report highlights both program strengths and areas requiring further development, including student retention, pathways, and facility improvements. Based on the findings, the research identified additional course offerings and curriculum updates to enable the program to improve in the coming years