Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- Creators: Materials Science and Engineering Program
- Creators: Loebenberg, Abby
- Creators: Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs
Description
This dissertation details an attempt to experimentally evaluate the Giroud et al. (1995) concentration factors for geomembranes loaded in tension perpendicular to a seam by laboratory measurement. Field observations of the performance of geomembrane liner systems indicates that tears occur at average strains well below the yield criteria. These observations have been attributed, in part, to localized strain concentrations in the geomembrane loaded in tension in a direction perpendicular to the seam. Giroud et al. (1995) has presented theoretical strain concentration factors for geomembrane seams loaded in tension when the seam is perpendicular to the applied tensile strain. However, these factors have never been verified. This dissertation was prepared in fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. The work described herein was sponsored by the National Science Foundation as a part of a larger research project entitled "NEESR: Performance Based Design of Geomembrane Liner Systems Subject to Extreme Loading." The work is motivated by geomembrane tears observed at the Chiquita Canyon landfill following the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Numerical analysis of the strains in the Chiquita Canyon landfill liner induced by the earthquake indicated that the tensile strains, were well below the yield strain of the geomembrane material. In order to explain why the membrane did fail, strain concentration factors due to bending at seams perpendicular to the load in the model proposed by Giroud et al. (1995) had to be applied to the geomembrane (Arab, 2011). Due to the localized nature of seam strain concentrations, digital image correlation (DIC) was used. The high resolution attained with DIC had a sufficient resolution to capture the localized strain concentrations. High density polyethylene (HDPE) geomembrane samples prepared by a leading geomembrane manufacturer were used in the testing described herein. The samples included both extrusion fillet and dual hot wedge fusion seams. The samples were loaded in tension in a standard triaxial test apparatus. to the seams in the samples including both extrusion fillet and dual hot wedge seams. DIC was used to capture the deformation field and strain fields were subsequently created by computer analysis.
ContributorsAndresen, Jake Austin (Author) / Kavazanjian, Edward (Thesis director) / Gutierrez, Angel (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The vastly growing field of supercomputing is in dire need of a new measurement system to optimize JMRAM (Josephson junction magnetoresistive random access memory) devices. To effectively measure these devices, an ultra-low-noise, low cost cryogenic dipping probe with a dynamic voltage range is required. This dipping probe has been designed by ASU with <100 nVp-p noise, <10 nV offsets, 10 pV to 16 mV voltage range, and negligible thermoelectric drift. There is currently no other research group or company that can currently match both these low noise levels and wide voltage range. Two different dipping probes can be created with these specifications: one for high-use applications and one for low-use applications. The only difference between these probes is the outer shell; the high-use application probe has a shell made of G-10 fiberglass for a higher price, and the low-use application probe has a shell made of AISI 310 steel for a lower price. Both types of probes can be assembled in less than 8 hours for less than $2,500, requiring only soldering expertise. The low cost and short time to create these probes makes wide profit margins possible. The market for these cryogenic dipping probes is currently untapped, as most research groups and companies that use these probes build their own, which allows for rapid business growth. These potential consumers can be easily reached by marketing these probes at superconducting conferences. After several years of selling >50 probes, mass production can easily become possible by hiring several technicians, and still maintaining wide profit margins.
ContributorsHudson, Brooke Ashley (Author) / Adams, James (Thesis director) / Anwar, Shahriar (Committee member) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Building construction, design and maintenance is a sector of engineering where improved efficiency will have immense impacts on resource consumption and environmental health. This research closely examines the Leadership in Environment and Energy Design (LEED) rating system and the International Green Construction Code (IgCC). The IgCC is a model code, written with the same structure as many building codes. It is a standard that can be enforced if a city's government decides to adopt it. When IgCC is enforced, the buildings either meet all of the requirements set forth in the document or it fails to meet the code standards. The LEED Rating System, on the other hand, is not a building code. LEED certified buildings are built according to the standards of their local jurisdiction and in addition to that, building owners can chose to pursue a LEED certification. This is a rating system that awards points based on the sustainable measures achieved by a building. A comparison of these green building systems highlights their accomplishments in terms of reduced electricity usage, usage of low-impact materials, indoor environmental quality and other innovative features. It was determined that in general IgCC is more holistic, stringent approach to green building. At the same time the LEED rating system a wider variety of green building options. In addition, building data from LEED certified buildings was complied and analyzed to understand important trends. Both of these methods are progressing towards low-impact, efficient infrastructure and a side-by-side comparison, as done in this research, shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of each method, allowing for future improvements.
ContributorsCampbell, Kaleigh Ruth (Author) / Chong, Oswald (Thesis director) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The goal of the paper was to examine the fatigue mechanisms of polymers and silicone based elastomers. The mechanisms of fatigue due to crazing: the alignment of polymer chains to the stress axis, and shear banding: the localized orientation of the polymer by the shear stresses from two planes, were discussed in depth in this paper. Crazing only occurs in tensile stress, is initiated on the surface of the material, and only occurs in brittle polymers. Crazing also accounts for a 40-60% decrease in density, causing localized weakening of the material and a concentration in stress. This is due to a decrease in effective cross sectional area. The mechanism behind discontinuous growth bands was also discussed to be the cause of cyclic crazing. Shear banding only occurs in ductile polymers and can result in the failure of polymers via necking. Furthermore, the high fatigue resistance of silicone elastomers was discussed in this paper. This conclusion was made because of the lack of fatigue mechanisms (crazing, discontinuous growth bands, and shears banding) in the observed elastomer's microstructure after the samples had undergone fatigue tests. This was done through an analysis of room temperature vulcanized silicone adhesives, a heat-curing silicone elastomer, and a self-curing transparent silicone rubber. Fatigue of room temperature vulcanized silicon was observed, however this was reasoned to be the failure of the adhesion of the elastomer to the steel substrate instead of the microstructure itself. Additionally, the significance of fatigue in real world applications was discussed using SouthWest Airlines Flight 812 as an example.
ContributorsWong, Christopher Stanley (Author) / Adams, James (Thesis director) / Krause, Stephen (Committee member) / Anwar, Shahriar (Committee member) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The Prestige Worldwide Resort and development area will be constructed to the east of Scottsdale Rd and North of the 101 loop. The development area is composed of 442.58 acres of land within 9 parcels. Zoning for this development area consists of commercial, recreational, golf course, residential, and water/wastewater treatment. The main feature of the development area is a luxury resort to be located at the southwest corner of Legacy Blvd and Hayden Rd. The resort includes a large pond over which the entrance road traverses. The resort also includes an 18-hole golf course located just north of Legacy Blvd. The proposed residential area is to the east of Hayden Rd on the northern half of the site. Along the northeastern border of this residential area are APS, SRP, and Bureau of Reclamation easements. A recreational area in the form of a park is proposed to the east and west of the southern portion of N Hayden Rd on the site. The southeast corner or the site is reserved for water and wastewater treatment. The southwest corner of the site is for commercial use with an additional recreational/sporting area just to the north of this commercial area. The key feature of the resort is its luxurious eight-story hotel along with two other hotel buildings that accommodate tourists who are visiting Scottsdale. The main hotel includes 210 rooms to provide enough housing for these tourists and acquire more attraction to Scottsdale. The composition of the hotel consists of the first floor being the lobby and a recreational area. The other floors each contain 30 rooms, 3 elevators, and a staircase. Surrounding the hotel is a parking lot for the hotel guests and people attending events hosted at the hotel. Regarding the hotel specifications, two different alternative designs were produced to determine the ideal steel member type, concrete reinforcement, and the steel frame layout. The final hotel design was determined by which alternative had the lowest structural response from loading and cost effective.
ContributorsCastro, Cesar Aaron (Author) / Fox, Peter (Thesis director) / Templeton, Stephanie (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
A look at how the Vietnam War influenced immigrant and first-generation children's perception of culture. This thesis focuses on Vietnamese-American immigration as a whole, and on subjects on the American west coast. Interviews were conducted with eleven subjects to examine the most profound influences on culture and how native culture is passed on through the generations. Focuses include cultural identity, cultural inheritance, prominent native and adoptive cultural values, and culture as affected by adversity.
ContributorsTran, Yvana (Author) / Loebenberg, Abby (Thesis director) / Suk, Mina (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
In developed countries, municipalities deliver drinking water to constituents through water distribution systems. These transport water from a treatment plant to homes, restaurants, and any other site of end use. Proper water distribution system infrastructure functionality is a critical concern to city planners and managers because component failures within these systems restrict or prevent the ability to deliver water. The reduced capacity to deliver water forces the health and well being of all citizens into jeopardy. The breakdown of a component can even spark the failure of several more components, causing a sequence of cascading failures with catastrophic consequences. To make matters worse, some forms of component failures are unpredictable and it is impossible to foresee every possible failure that could occur. In order to prevent cataclysmic losses that are experienced during system failures, the development of resilient water distribution infrastructure is vital. A resilient water distribution system possesses an adaptive capacity to mitigate the loss of service resulting from component failures. Traditionally, infrastructure resilience research has been retrospective in nature, analyzing the infrastructure system after it suffered a failure event. However, this research project takes water distribution resilience research in a new direction. The research identifies the Sensing Anticipating, Adaptation, and Learning processes that are inherent in the current operations of each component in the water distribution system (pumps, pipes, valves, tanks, nodes). Additional SAAL processes have been recommended for the components that lack adaptive management in current practice. This workis unique in that it applies resilience theory to water distribution systems in an anticipatory manner. This anticipatory application of resilience will provide operators with actionable process for them to implement during failure situations. In this setting, resilience is applied to existing systems for noticeable improvements in operation during failure situations.
ContributorsRodriguez, Jordan Robert (Author) / Seager, Thomas (Thesis director) / Eisenberg, Daniel (Committee member) / Bondank, Emily (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This thesis describes the conduct and interpretation of large scale direct shear testing of municipal solid waste (MSW) which was recently conducted at Arizona State University under the guidance of Dr. Edward Kavazanjian Jr. This research was performed to establish the shear strength parameters for MSW of a particular landfill in the eastern United States. As part of this research, the unit weight of the material of interest was recorded to help establish if the properties of the waste tested in this project were consistent with the properties of MSW reported in the technical literature.
The paper begins with an overview of scholarly articles on shear strength and unit weight of MSW. This overview summarizes trends found in other MSW investigations. The findings described in these articles served as a basis to determine if the direct shear test results in this investigation complied with typical values reported in other MSW investigations.
A majority of this thesis is dedicated to describing testing protocol, nuances of experimental execution, and test results of the direct shear tests. This culminates in an analysis of the shear strength parameters and consolidated unit weight exhibited by the MSW tested herein. Throughout the testing displacement range of 3.5 inches, none of the MSW specimens achieved a peak shear stress. Consequently, the test results were analyzed at displacements of 1.7 inches, 2.1 inches, and 2.4 inches during the tests to develop Mohr-Coulomb envelopes for each specified displacement. All three envelopes indicated that the cohesion of the material was effectively 0 psf). The interpreted angles of internal friction were of 30.6°, 33.7°, and 36.0° for the displacements of 1.7, 2.1, and 2.4 inches, respectively. These values correlate well with values from previous investigations, indicating that from a shear strength basis the waste tested in this project was typical of MSW from other landfills. Analysis of the consolidated unit weight of the MSW specimens also suggests the MSW was similar to in-situ MSW which was placed in a landfill with low levels of compaction and small amounts of cover soil.
The paper begins with an overview of scholarly articles on shear strength and unit weight of MSW. This overview summarizes trends found in other MSW investigations. The findings described in these articles served as a basis to determine if the direct shear test results in this investigation complied with typical values reported in other MSW investigations.
A majority of this thesis is dedicated to describing testing protocol, nuances of experimental execution, and test results of the direct shear tests. This culminates in an analysis of the shear strength parameters and consolidated unit weight exhibited by the MSW tested herein. Throughout the testing displacement range of 3.5 inches, none of the MSW specimens achieved a peak shear stress. Consequently, the test results were analyzed at displacements of 1.7 inches, 2.1 inches, and 2.4 inches during the tests to develop Mohr-Coulomb envelopes for each specified displacement. All three envelopes indicated that the cohesion of the material was effectively 0 psf). The interpreted angles of internal friction were of 30.6°, 33.7°, and 36.0° for the displacements of 1.7, 2.1, and 2.4 inches, respectively. These values correlate well with values from previous investigations, indicating that from a shear strength basis the waste tested in this project was typical of MSW from other landfills. Analysis of the consolidated unit weight of the MSW specimens also suggests the MSW was similar to in-situ MSW which was placed in a landfill with low levels of compaction and small amounts of cover soil.
ContributorsCuret, Dylan Shea (Author) / Kavazanjian, Edward (Thesis director) / Houston, Sandra (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
In recent history, the world has been inspired to respond to the challenges faced by communities with ‘help’. This help has been administered with moderate success through community engagement strategies traditionally centered on social services provided through non-profit agencies. Social entrepreneurship has emerged in response to the lack of progress made in solving local and global issues with new innovations that have the potential to change the status quo and eliminate the problems for future generations. In social entrepreneurship, concerned individuals saw an opportunity to truly change the world. Higher education leaders have embraced social entrepreneurship, positioning university students as a driving force behind ideating creative and innovative solutions that can be implemented in communities to overcome a vast array of challenges from poverty to environmental sustainability. Despite the efforts of university staff and faculty, many student changemakers struggle to successfully implement their ideas and measure their impact. Factors such as how well the student understands the issue and community in addition to the extent to which the student is experienced in ideation, creative-problem solving, and implementation of projects contribute to the success or failure of a student social effort. Inspired by their experiences serving as director of Changemaker Central, the authors sought to understand the process of preparing students to be agents of change in the community. Having observed the variance in success among aspiring changemakers at Arizona State University (ASU), the researchers studied how to best support students in preparation for a high-impact career. The research analyzed students’ experiences in two of ASU’s social change programs, Changemaker Challenge (CC) and University Service-Learning (USL) and found a need for more cohesion between two programs and their represented methodologies in addition to a need for in-depth analysis on the student journey.
ContributorsMicevic, Vid (Co-author) / Fitzgerald, Kaitlyn (Co-author) / Henderson, Mark (Thesis director) / Smith, Jacqueline (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The purpose of this honors project is to analyze the difference between different powder separation techniques, and their suitability for my capstone project – ‘Effect of Powder Reuse on DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering) Product Integrity’. Due to the nature of my capstone project, my group needs to characterize foreign contaminants in IN 718 (Ni-based superalloy) powder with a mean diameter around 40um. In order to clearly analyze the contaminants and recycle useful IN 718 powders, powder separation is favorable since the filtered samples will be much easier to characterize rather than inspect all the powders at once under microscope. By conducting literature review, I found that powder separation is commonly used in Geology, and Chemistry department. To screen which combination of techniques could be the best for my project, I have consulted several research specialists, obtained adequate knowledge about powder separation. Accordingly, I will summarize the pros and cons of each method with regard the specific project that I am working on, and further explore the impacts of each method under economical, societal, and environmental considerations. Several powder separation techniques will be discussed in details in the following sections, including water elutriation, settling column, magnetic separation and centrifugation. In addition to these methods, sieving, water tabling and panning will be briefly introduced. After detailed comparison, I found that water elutriation is the most efficient way to purity IN718 powder for reuse purpose, and recovery rate is as high as 70%, which could result in a significant reduction in the manufacturing cost for Honeywell since currently Honeywell only use virgin powders to build parts, and 90% of the leftover powders are discarded.
ContributorsLuo, Zheyu (Author) / Adams, James (Thesis director) / Tasooji, Amaneh (Committee member) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05