EARLY CAREER TECHNICAL JOURNAL

UAB ECTC 2019 – Proceedings of the 19th Annual Early Career Technical Conference

School of Engineering University of Alabama at Birmingham

Birmingham, Alabama, USA November 2 - 3, 2019

Volume 18

UAB School of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Journal of the ECTC, Volume 18 Page ii

UAB SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING - DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham AL 35294-4461

iii

EARLY CAREER TECHNICAL JOURNAL

Volume 18

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Early Career Technical Conference

School of Engineering The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)

Birmingham, Alabama November 2 - 3, 2019

Sponsored by

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) – School of Engineering

Entergy

The Energy Group, ASME Mississippi Section

ME Professional and Educational T/F, AHEPA Educational Fund

Editor-in-Chief Dr. Jeffrey Donnell

Conference Chairman Dr. David L. Littlefield

Coordinator and Advisor

Dr. K. R. Rao, Dr. Pandeli Durbetaki

For more information about UAB ECTC 2019 visit: https://www.uab.edu/engineering/me/conferences

https://www.uab.edu/engineering/me/conferences

UAB School of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Journal of the ECTC, Volume 18 Page iv

EDITORIAL BOARD

Jeffrey Donnell, Ph.D. Editor

Co-Editors Associate Editors

Mir M. Atiqullah, Ph.D Venkat Goli, Ph.D Ram A. Goel, Ph.D, PE Adeel Khalid, Ph.D Brian C. Gray, PE Haoxiang Luo, Ph.D P. Raju Mantena, Ph.D Deepak J. Negandhi, PE Hardayal Mehta, Ph.D, PE Tejas Pandya, Ph.D Ramana Pidaparti, Ph.D Rambod Rayegan, Ph.D Robert W. Pitz, Ph.D Robert Shepard Robert Taylor, Ph.D Damian Stoddard Dale McDonald, Ph.D Matthew Golob, Ph.D. Brian Munn, PhD Sathish Kumar Gurupatham, Ph.D. Kevin McFall, Ph.D. Ayse Tekes, Ph.D. Tejas Pandya, Ph.D. Matthew Marshal, Ph.D. Rambod Rayegan, Ph.D. Vladimir Vantsevich, Ph.D.

© Copyright 2019 by UAB, School of Engineering, Department of

Mechanical Engineering, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-4461

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

UAB, School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering shall not be responsible for statements or opinions advanced in papers or printed in its publications.

For more information go to:

http://www.uab.edu/engineering/home/departments-research/me/conferences

ISBN# 978-1-5323-9861-2

UAB School of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Journal of the ECTC, Volume 18 Page v

FOREWORD Early Career Technical Journal – UAB ECTC 2019 – The 19th Annual Early Career

Technical Conference, November 2 - 3, 2019 One of the primary objectives of ASME is dissemination of technical information. Pursuant

to this goal the ASME Southeastern Region (Region XI) initiated the Graduate Student Technical Conferences (GSTC) in 1991 when Dr. P. Durbetaki was the Vice President of Region XI; it was held in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA. The Regional Technical Conference (RTC) was initiated in 2001 by the Regional Vice President Dr. K. R. Rao and with the help of the Region XI Operating Board.

The first RTC was held on April 6, 2002, in Jackson, Mississippi with the participation of students across all five states (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi) of the former ASME Region XI. The quality of the reviewed papers, published in the four volumes of the Regional Technical Journal from 2002 through 2006, called for this Conference to be renamed in 2006 as the Early Career Technical Conference (ECTC) indicating the changing demands of the times. On October 6 and 7, 2006 ECTC was held, in Jackson, MS with a robust support of Entergy Operations, Inc. In 2007, for the first time, ECTC was held in a University, Florida International University (FIU), Miami, FL. ECTC 2008 was also held at FIU, Miami, Florida with invitations being extended to all of the Universities invited for ECTC 2007. Dr. Yong Tao was the Chair, Technical Committee and Editor for ECTC 2007 and Dr. Sabri Tosunoglu for ECTC 2008. The generous financial support of ASME Old Guard funded the honoraria, and the financial support of all the sponsors even offset a part of the travel expenses of the paper presenters attending these conferences.

The success of the preceding ASME District F Early Career Technical Conferences prompted the organizers to look beyond the frontiers of the District F; District F comprises of VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, TN. AL and MS. For the ECTC 2009 through ECTC 2017 and the current UAB ECTC 2018 invitations were sent to universities within and external to the US boundaries. UAB ECTC 2018 has 22 paper presenters.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) hosted the ECTC 2013 through 2018 and is hosting and sponsoring the current UAB ECTC 2019 conference. Dr. K. R. Rao (coordinator, recruiter, fund raiser, advisor) played a major role in inviting papers and soliciting expert members for the editorial board. Furthermore, Dr. K. R. Rao was responsible for recruiting the sponsors for UAB ECTC 2019.

The Editorial Board of the Early Career Technical Journal established an elaborate review process similar to the process used by ASME Technical Divisions. Papers were distributed to Co-Editors and Associate Editors of the Editorial Board based on their areas of expertise, and they obtained reviews for each paper by expert reviewers in the field. The Editorial Board made a significant effort to ensure that the review process for each paper followed the criteria and deadlines. Because of this rigorous requirement, the papers submitted were accepted for presentation only after corrections were made based on reviewers’ comments. Volume 18 of the Early Career Technical Journal is a compilation of twenty seven (27) reviewed and accepted technical papers (two of these are abstracts only).

David L. Littlefield

Chair, UAB ECTC 2019

UAB School of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Journal of the ECTC, Volume 18 Page vi

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Early Career Technical Journal, Volume 18

December, 2019

Many individuals contributed to the success of this Early Career Technical Conference and this volume of the Early Career Technical Journal. The Steering Committee expresses gratitude and appreciation to Dr. David L. Littlefield, Chair, Dr. Jeffrey Donnell, Editor, Dr. P. Durbetaki, Treasurer and Advisor, and Dr. K R. Rao, Advisor, and, members of the Steering and Conference Committees. The efforts of Steering Committee member Ms. Sherrye S. Watson for her support in organizing this conference are appreciated. In sum, the contribution of these several persons for the success of this conference resulting in this publication of this volume is evident. The UAB ECTC 2019 Editorial Board comprises Editor Dr. Jeffrey Donnell and Co-editors and Associate Editors from Faculty and from Professionals. We thank all the members of the Editorial Board and invited reviewers, who spent countless hours of their own time reviewing and critiquing the papers to ensure a quality publication. The advice, coordinating efforts, and guidance of Dr. K. R. Rao in inviting papers and soliciting expert members of the editorial board are hereby acknowledged and appreciated. Furthermore, Dr. K. R. Rao was responsible for recruiting the sponsors for UAB ECTC 2019. Finally, we all owe a great debt of gratitude to our principal sponsors: The Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB), ENTERGY OPERATIONS Inc., The Energy Group, ME Professional and Educational Trust, AHEPA Educational Fund, and ASME Mississippi Section, Faculty and Staff Support from the Mechanical Engineering Department, UAB. Dr. David L. Littlefield and Ms. Sherrye S. Watson are particularly acknowledged and appreciated in posting the “Proceedings” of ASME District F ECTC 2009, ECTC 2010, ECTC 2011, ECTC 2012, ECTC 2013, UAB ECTC 2014, UAB ECTC 2015, the Journals of UAB ECTC 2016, UAB ECTC 2017, UAB ECTC 2018 and the current Journal of UAB ECTC 2019 at the UAB web site.

-- UAB ECTC 2019 Steering and Conference Committees --

UAB School of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Journal of the ECTC, Volume 18 Page viii

The UAB ECTC 2019 (Early Career Technical Conference) Committee and Technical Proceedings Editorial Board Express their Appreciation to

the Following Sponsors for Supporting UAB ECTC 2019

Department of Mechanical Engineering

The University of Alabama at Birmingham

UAB School of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Journal of the ECTC, Volume 18 Page ix

Table of Contents

INSIDE COVER iii EDITORIAL BOARD iv FOREWORD v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi SPONSORS vii

SECTION 1 Materials & Design 1

1. Christopher Hale, Zhigang Xu, HongLin Zhang, Sergey Yarmolenko, Jagannathan Sankar 3

OPTIMIZATION OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES IN MAGNESIUM ZINC ALLOYS

2. Ivy Turner, Rowan Baird, Sofia Serafin, Birendra Chaudhary, Jose Torrado, Damian Stoddard 8 HIGH STRAIN-RATE SENSITIVITY AND ENERGY ABSORPTION OF DUROPROTECT, A FIBER-REINFORCED BALLISTICS COMPOSITE

3. Paul Pena, Mir Atiqullah 15 MACHINE DESIGN COMPANION USING MATLAB

4. Martin Garcia, Ayse Tekes 16 ON THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A MONOLITHIC COMPLIANT GRIPPER AND SERIAL CLOSED LOOP CHAIN MECHANISM

SECTION 2 Materials & Testing 22

5. Gavin Stockstill, Maharshi J. Dave, Tejas Pandya, Jason Street 24

STUDY OF THE SHIFT IN MATERIAL PROPERTIES DUE TO STRUCTURAL DAMAGE IN BIO-COMPOSITES

6. Rowan E. Baird, Mason Tudor, Damian Stoddard 27

DYNAMIC COMPRESSIVE BEHAVIOR AND ENERGY ABSORPTION OF ETHYLENE POLYURETHANE DIENE MONOMER FOAM USING SPLIT HOPKINSON PRESSURE BAR TECHNIQUE

7. Suman Babu Ukyam, Damian Stoddard, P. Raju Mantena 33

UAB School of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Journal of the ECTC, Volume 18 Page x

DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF POROUS METALLIC AND POLYMERIC FOAMS FOR ENHANCING ENERGY ABSORPTION UNDER HIGH STRAIN-RATES

8. Birendra Chaudhary, Suman Babu Ukyam, Damian Stoddard 34 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF GAROLITES UNDER TEMPERATURE SPECTRUM USING LOW VELOCITY IMPACT TEST

SECTION 3 Robotics & Computing 42

9. Mohsine Taarji, Arie Nakhmani 44

COMPARISON OF DENSE DESCRIPTORS FOR IMAGE ENHANCEMENT 10. Emily Barbour, Kevin McFall 50

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE SIMULATION USING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE CARLA 11. Tyler Gragg, Kevin McFall 58

REAL-TIME VIRTUAL REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE 12. Yasir A Alfawzan, Kenneth Walls 62

DEVELOPMENT OF A PRE-PROCESSING TOOL FOR THE 3D EULERIAN CODE ALEAS

13. Maxwell J. Cobar, Carlos J. Montalvo 68

DEVELOPING SEMI-AUTONOMOUS FLIGHT CONTROL SOFTWARE FOR A META AIRCRAFT OF TWO FIXED WING AIRCRAFT WITH A RASPBERRY PI + NAVIO2 FLIGHT CONTROLLER

SECTION 4 Sustainability & Design 76

14. Magdalena Krstanoski, Rafael Melendez 78

EXPLORING METHODOLOGY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT PROCESSES IN PUERTO RICO

15. Niko Giannakakos, Joshua Hooper, Andy Houghton, Ayo Ajayi, Mason McCun, Ayse Tekes

84 DESIGN OF A NOVEL COMPLIANT KNEE JOINT AND SWIMMING ROBOT: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

16. Kent Walls, Kevin Schrum 88 STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF A NEW CRASH CUSHION

SECTION 5 Materials 96

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17. Maharshi Dave, Tejas Pandya, Jason Street 98

FLEXURAL PERFORMANCE OF MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE BASED WOOD COMPOSITE UNDER FOUR- POINT BENDING

18. Tete Tevi, Ramana M. Pidaparti 102

MACROSCOPIC EVOLUTION OF CORROSION IN AN ALUMINUM ALLOY 19. Gerald Pekmezi, David Littlefield 106

MESOSCALE MODELING OF GRAIN CRUSHUP IN EGLIN SAND THROUGH DISCRETE ELEMENT FRACTAL FRAGMENTATION

SECTION 6 Thermal Sciences 113

20. Augustine Akuoko Kwarteng, Kamal Kaddoura, Jose Corona Jr, Quin H. Leland, Louis

Chow, John Kizito 115 THERMAL MANAGEMENT OF PA-03-10-600 LINEAR ELECTROMECHANICAL ACTUATOR END WINDINGS USING STRAIGHT CIRCULAR HEAT PIPES AND FINS

21. Obed Y. W. Abotsi, S. Esau, R. Kabir, J. P. Kizito 123

SHAFT COOLING FOR HIGH SPEED APPLICATIONS

22. Britney Sumayah, Kendrick Aung 131 A PARAMETRIC STUDY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF HEAT SINKS

23. Harold A. Walters, Tejas S. Pandya 137 SUITABILITY, SIZING, AND CONFIGURATION OF A SOLAR POWERED VAPOR ABSORPTION COOLING SYSTEM

SECTION 7 Numerical methods 146

24. Mahdi Hasan, Michael Atkinson 148

CONTROL OF FLOW SEPARATION ON A HUMP MODEL USING A DIELECTRIC BARRIER DISCHARGE PLASMA ACTUATOR

25. Serkan Güldal, Michael Lipscomb, Murat M. Tanik 155

SOLVING KNIGHTS COVERING PROBLEM: BACKTRACKING, PERMUTATION, BIPARTITE GRAPH, AND INDEPENDENT SET

26. M. Elmellouki, S. Bhushan 161 EFFECT OF THERMAL CONDUCTION ON TURBULENT HEAT TRANSFER FOR ATTACHED AND SEPARATED FLOWS

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27. Dhruvesh Modi, Lee Moradi 170 AN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AUTOMOTIVE EXTERNAL AIRBAG TO EXAMINE IMPACT MITIGATION