Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Graduate Theses
Recent Submissions
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Robotic Sanding of Wooden Bowls with Hybrid Force/Position Impedance Control
This thesis set out to determine whether a serial robot could be used to sand a wooden bowl, in order to free a human operator from what is considered a hazardous task. The process of sanding wood is similar to the polishing ... -
Design for Additive Manufacturing Considering Optimization of Part Topology and Build Orientation
The primary driver for technological advancement in design methods is increasing part performance and reducing manufacturing cost. Design optimization tools such as topology optimization, provide a mathematical approach ... -
CFD Modeling of a Liquid Desiccant Dehumidifier
The demand for air conditioning is estimated to increase rapidly due to rising world population and the effects of climate change. It is expected that the use of air conditioners will increase by a factor of five by 2050, ... -
Packaging and Layout Optimization Using the Dynamic Vector Fields Method
Ever-increasing environmental regulations and competition within industry to create the best performing, most cost-effective product has driven the development of computational design, analysis and optimization tools. Many ... -
The Effects of Adhesive Quantity on Out-of-Plane Behaviour in Aluminum Honeycomb Panels
Aluminum hexagonal honeycomb panels are commonly used in the aerospace industry to reduce weight due to their high stiffness to mass ratio. The panels are commonly involved in incidents where they are dented in the ... -
The Design and Integration of an In-Situ Proton Irradiation Tensile Rig
One of the biggest challenges faced in the nuclear industry is understanding and accurately predicting the complex environment found in a nuclear power reactor and its impact on core components and materials. The extreme ... -
Design Optimization and Part Reduction of Components in a Monorail Ceiling Structure
There is a growing need in transportation industries for design tools and methodologies that can quickly and effectively assist designers in developing designs that are lighter and simple to manufacture. This research ... -
Modeling the Effect of Scan Path of Thermal Gradients during Selective Laser Melting via Finite Element Analysis
As industry competition and increasingly stringent safety concerns drive the need for increased part performance and decreased part weight, additive manufacturing methods are being turned to as an innovative fabrication ... -
Manufacturing Constraints for Topology Optimization: A Particle Diffusion Based Methodology
With the need for improved performance becoming more apparent in the engineering workplace, numerical tools like design optimization and topology optimization have been turned to in order to generate new unconventional ... -
Microstructural Characterization of 3D Deposited Metal Structures
The microstructure of deposited materials is characterized using a variety of techniques. The two specific types of deposited materials studied are electrodeposited nickel and additive manufactured stainless steel. A focus ... -
Advanced Devolatilisation model for Lagrangian particles in OpenFOAM
To study the devolatilisation process associated with coal combustion, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a very useful tool. The aim of this thesis is to accurately model coal devolatilisation at high temperatures ... -
Simultaneous Topology and Build Orientation Optimization for Minimization of Additive Manufacturing Cost and Time
The ever-present demand for increased performance in mechanical systems, with reduced cost and manufacturing time, has led to the adoption of computational design tools and innovative manufacturing methods. Among these ... -
Advanced Characterization of Hydrides in Zirconium
Zirconium and its alloys are of great importance to the nuclear power industry due to their unique combination of mechanical properties, low neutron-capture cross-section, and sufficient corrosion resistance under reducing ... -
Natural Convective Heat Transfer From Horizontal and Inclined Two-Sided Bodies of Finite Thickness
Natural convective heat transfer from two-sided flat plates that are horizontal or inclined to the horizontal has been numerically and experimentally investigated. The objective of the study was to investigate the influence ... -
Building Better Together: Understanding Interprofessional Collaboration and Student Perceptions in a Classroom Case Study
The disciplines of rehabilitation sciences and engineering are known work extensively in teams and require the competencies for effective collaboration as outlined by each discipline’s regulatory body. To make a positive ... -
Measuring Cognitive Load in a Clinical Setting: Medical Learning and Practice
Cognitive load theory is of particular relevance to the learning and practice of medicine, where task demands require a complex interplay of working memory, emotion, and stress. To better understand the role of cognitive ... -
Measurement of Pubic Symphysis Width in Different Birthing Positions Using Ultrasound
Studies have shown that certain postures, such as squatting and standing, may facilitate labour and birth and may be used by some practitioners. However, a rigorous biomechanical understanding of how different positions ... -
Manufacture of vertical walls with asymmetric incremental sheet forming
Single point incremental forming (SPIF) is a dieless sheet metal forming technique that can manufacture customised sheet metal components in a cost-effective manner. However, the process is still in the developmental phase ... -
Effect of fatigue-induced microdamage on the compressive properties of bovine trabecular bone
Understanding the effect of microdamage accumulation on the failure mechanisms of bone is important for treatment and prevention in degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis. The common sites of fracture in osteoporotic ... -
Detonation Propagation in a Liniarized Representation of a Rotating Detonation Engine
There has been increasing worldwide interest in research and development of Rotating Detonation Engines (RDEs) as a propulsion system. A study was conducted to examine detonation behavior in a linearized representation of ...
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