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While interactive tutorials have existed at the grammar and high school levels for some time now, there is still little material on the market at the college level, especially in the area of Physics and Engineering. The aim of this project is to develop interactive tutorials for students in college level courses through the use of Hypercard. Hypercard allows for the easy integration of multimedia into tutorials, which is often a necessity in getting the concepts in advanced material across to students. A base template will be developed so that instructors in any class can create custom tutorials to serve the needs of their students. These tutorials will allow students to view topics on many levels as well as to cross reference between topics. The hope is to develop a self-paced learning experience that will serve students at all academic levels.
Conventional design procedure for biological reactors assumes that the degradation of pollutant is either by suspended or attached biomass. Attached biomass includes biomass that collects and forms a thin layer of biofilm on the walls of a biological reactor, while suspended biomass is simply suspended within the liquid medium of the reactor. The degradation rate equation for the suspended biomass or the biofilm is then used to calculate the reactor size required to achieve a prescribed treatment efficiency. However, all real word reactors (biological) contain both suspended and attached biomasses that degrade simultaneously the pollutant. Yet, which form of biomass is responsible for the degradation of pollutant at a faster rate? The objective of this project is to find out the form of biomass that is most dominant in degrading pollutant at a higher rate. Mathematical models for both suspended and attached biomass were used to perform a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the dominant form of biomass
Aircraft flying at high angles of attack experience strong side forces, which may cause the pilot to lose control of the aircraft. Experiments in a wind tunnel with a stationary model have demonstrated the ability to control the side force with very low levels of suction. The same type of side force will cause an aircraft model in a wind tunnel to rotate on a sting, which is known as the coning-motion. The same suction techniques were employed to control the rotation of the coning motion model with a tangent o-give type nose cone. Suction was applied through two holes located at the tip of the nose cone. Several experiments were performed involving different control settings and different wind tunnel speeds to explore and analyze the feedback from the model. The rotating rate data was acquired with an optical encoder located at the end of the shaft. The encoder measures angular velocity and angular acceleration.
Two pressure transducers located at the nose cone provide the feedback signal to the control computer, which adjusts the suction in order to control the motion of the model.
This research endeavor intends to understand the unique air flow conditions which leads from transition to turbulence on elliptical nose cones. This air flow will be tested at hypersonic speeds between Mach 6 and Mach 9 and at a maximum temperature of 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Past research has attempted to understand this phenomenon. Those experiments used flat plates and circular cones which only account for two dimensional flow conditions. However, the air flow over an elliptical nose cone provides three dimensional measurements which are more realistic. In order to understand the transition to turbulence flows on elliptical nose cones at hypersonic speeds, a model of this nose cone will be tested in the NASA Langely Research Center. However, the model, the mount, and the measuring devices must be designed. This part of the project involves designing the "sting"--the part of the mount that hangs from the strut and holds the cone in position. When designing the "sting", the forces, stresses, and the temperature which affect the beam, behave differently under such high speeds. All these conditions are being considered for the design of the sting.
