Current Projects

Below, you will find a sample listing of some of the research projects taking place within the Mechanical Engineering department. Use the search box or advanced filtering options to search our research projects by keyword or by investigator. You may also learn more about our research thrusts and the projects related to each area:

Research Thrusts

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NASA GCD: Molten Regolith Electrolysis Technology Maturation

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Paulus van Susante
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Michigan Tech Aerospace Engineering Research Center (MARC)

Research Focus: Macro Micro and Nano Sciences, Robotics & Mechanics

Lake Superior Environmental Monitoring Systems

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Andrew Barnard
Co-PI: Jamey Anderson
Co-PI: John Lenters
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC)

Research Focus: Ocean Sciences

ICME Optimzation of Advanced Composite Components of the Aurora D8 Aircraft

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Gregory Odegard
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Michigan Tech Aerospace Engineering Research Center (MARC)

Research Focus: Computation Data Electronics & Sensing, Macro Micro and Nano Sciences

Percussive Hot Cone Penetrometer (PHCP) and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) for Geotechnical and Volatiles Mapping

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Paulus van Susante
Co-PI: Jeffrey Allen
Co-PI: Timothy Eisele
Co-PI: Timothy Scarlett
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Michigan Tech Aerospace Engineering Research Center (MARC)

Research Focus: Atmospheric & Space Sciences, Computation Data Electronics & Sensing, Robotics & Mechanics

Customer Discovery for Waste Torrefaction Technology

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Ezra Bar Ziv
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Reduced Cost and Complexity for Off-Highway Aftertreatment

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Naber
Co-PI: John Johnson
Co-PI: Gordon Parker
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Research Focus: Energy & Sustainability, Transportation & Infrastructure

Alternative Fuels Research with Argonne National Laboratory

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Scott Miers
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Torrefaction of Sorted MSW Pellets to Produce a Uniform feedstock for Biopower

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Ezra Bar Ziv
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Energy Optimzation of Light and Heavy Dute Vehicle Cohorts of Mixed Connectivity Automation and Propulsion System Capabilities via Meshed V2V-V2I and Expanded Data Sharing

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Darrell Robinette
Co-PI: Jung Yun Bae
Co-PI: Bo Chen
Co-PI: Christopher Morgan
Co-PI: Jeffrey Naber
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Research Focus: Computation Data Electronics & Sensing, Energy & Sustainability, Robotics & Mechanics, Transportation & Infrastructure

A multiscale multiphysics computational modeling and experimental study for thermo-oxidation in polymers

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Trisha Sain
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Multi-Scale Technologies Institute (MuSTI)

Research Focus: Computation Data Electronics & Sensing, Macro Micro and Nano Sciences

Continuation of the development of a methodology for low-frequency sound measurement for field test

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Andrew Barnard
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC)

Development of a methodology for low-frequency sound measurement for field tests

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Andrew Barnard
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC)

Development of Reduced Order Models (ROMS) for wind turbine plant aerodynamic structural control and electrical grid interaction. Additional DOE Rotor Wake Numerical Simulations.

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Fernando Ponta
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Research Focus: Energy & Sustainability

Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (NASA SSERVI CAN)

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Paulus van Susante
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Michigan Tech Aerospace Engineering Research Center (MARC)

Research Focus: Computation Data Electronics & Sensing, Robotics & Mechanics

FY 2020 Interoperability and Grid Integration Support

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Bo Chen
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Agile and Interconnected Microgrids (AIM)

Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Emerging Disaster Engineering Encompassing Human Directed Expert Systems (ERC-DEES)

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Naber
Co-PI: Michael Bowler
Co-PI: Gregory Odegard
Co-PI: Kellie Raffaelli
Co-PI: Sheryl Sorby
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Research Focus: Computation Data Electronics & Sensing, Education & Outreach, Energy & Sustainability, Robotics & Mechanics, Transportation & Infrastructure

EAGER: An Atomistic-Continuum Formulation for Mechanics of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalocgenides

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Susanta Ghosh
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Multi-Scale Technologies Institute (MuSTI)

Research Focus: Computation Data Electronics & Sensing, Macro Micro and Nano Sciences

Next-Generation Desiccant-based Gas Clothes Dryer Systems

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Sajjad Bigham
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Research Focus: Energy & Sustainability

Testing the Equivalence of Evaporation and Condensation Coefficients Using the Constrained Vapor Bubble (CVB) Data from ISS Experiments

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Allen
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Multi-Scale Technologies Institute (MuSTI)

Apex (PFI): Conversion of Organic Wastes Streams by Torrefaction for Bio-Power Application

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Ezra Bar Ziv
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Research Focus: Energy & Sustainability

Feasibility Study on Production of Composite Material from Plastic-Fiber Wastes

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Ezra Bar Ziv
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Research Focus: Energy & Sustainability

INTERNSHIP FOR PH.D. STUDENT

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Ezra Bar Ziv
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Research Focus: Energy & Sustainability

GOALI: Collaborative Research: Control-Oriented Modeling and Predictive Control of Advanced Dual Fuel Natural Gas Engines

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Mahdi Shahbakhti
Co-PI: Jeffrey Naber
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Research Focus: Energy & Sustainability, Transportation & Infrastructure

CAREER: System-on-Cloth: A Cloud Manufacturing Framework for Embroidered Wearable Electronics

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Ye Sun
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC)

Research Focus: Health

Low Mass Low Power Non-Mechanical Excavation of Gypsum and Other Evaporites and Water Production on Mars

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Allen
Co-PI: Timothy Eisele
Co-PI: Ezequiel Medici
Co-PI: Paulus van Susante
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Multi-Scale Technologies Institute (MuSTI)

Understanding and Mitigating Triboelectric Artifacts in Wearable Electronics by Synergic Approaches

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Ye Sun
Co-PI: Shiyan Hu
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC)

Research Focus: Life Sciences

Understanding and Mitigating Triboelectric Artifacts in Wearable Electronics by Synergic Approaches

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Ye Sun
Co-PI: Shiyan Hu
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC)

Research Focus: Life Sciences

Institute for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design (US-COMP)

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Gregory Odegard
Co-PI: Julia King
Co-PI: Ravindra Pandey
Co-PI: Trisha Sain
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Michigan Tech Aerospace Engineering Research Center (MARC)

APRA-E NEXTCAR Phase II - L4/L5 CAV Enabled Energy Reduction

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Naber
Co-PI: Jeremy Bos
Co-PI: Bo Chen
Co-PI: Darrell Robinette
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC)

Research Focus: Energy & Sustainability, Transportation & Infrastructure

CAREER: An Ecologically -Inspired Approach to Battery Lifetime Analysis and Testing

Investigators
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Overview

Batteries are increasingly relied upon to provide multiple services during applications (e.g. traction in an electric vehicle, vehicle-to-grid, ancillary services) and to act as the ultimate resiliency element (e.g. electric vehicles used as power units during Hurricane Sandy). However, the ability to perform these diverse services is compromised by battery aging phenomena that eventually lead to failure. Understanding of how service conditions and context affect battery aging is limited due to a) battery high context dependency on generation and load dynamics, and environmental conditions; b) the multi-scale cell and module nature of battery systems; and c) the fact that a battery itself varies with age, as batteries are repurposed after a first life (e.g. electric vehicle) into a second life (e.g. grid or residential).

This CAREER project aims to understand battery aging dynamics as context-dependent, and to provide a unified theory that links application-level events and conditions with cell- and module-level aging events. The Pl hypothesizes that a battery electrochemical nature and aging, multi-scale system, observability challenges, and its context-dependency can all be modeled using ecological tools, with ecology defined as a branch of biology that explores organism relationships to one another and to their environment. Therefore, methods proven useful to study ecological relationships are well suited to study battery life, and can provide new knowledge, testing and estimation techniques. This project draws from two pertinent areas in ecology: 1) multi-scale field testing and 2) modeling of interrelationships among ecosystem elements to understand coupled effects and improve remaining life predictions. Hence, the research objectives are: 1 ) Identify a battery context and its observability through sensors and data in real deployment conditions for two lives (electric vehicle and grid); 2) Optimize a methodology to translate real-life conditions into the laboratory; 3) Design a large multi-scale testing platform in the laboratory for new and aged cells and modules that mimics real-life conditions; 4) Explore multi-scale battery dynamics and aging by developing reasoning networks that capture the whole battery context variations throughout its scales, reaching the application level; develop theories that link these networks across lives; design battery management systems that can learn to construct and apply these networks to improve their decision making and prediction.

Intellectual Merit

This novel project will provide knowledge and perspectives to two fields by capitalizing upon the similarities between battery context-dependencies, battery life, and ecological systems. This new outlook will provide a unified theory for testing, estimation and management of batteries across cell, module, pack, and application scales and life scales in a research field that up to this point has been disconnected between scales. Testing approaches, interrelationship models, and estimation methods used in ecology are predicted to improve upon present, state-of-the-art battery research methods to provide economic, resiliency and environmental benefits by better understanding and leveraging the unique, time-dependent relationships each battery has with its context.

Broader Impacts

This work will benefit all battery portable, transportation, and grid applications as well as multiple sectors. It will include the emerging battery repurposing sector, by providing tangible methods to improve testing, estimation and management techniques. The result will be longer battery life, better performance, and less environmental waste. Educational impacts include active learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students via research and educational interactions with individualized testing boards linked to the newly created large multi-scale testing platform. This strategy will enable low cost, highly distributed testing environments. The Pl will disseminate tools via national education conferences to improve the nearly nonexistent battery testing training of students. This project will facilitate new paths in multi-disciplinary graduate courses. The Pl has a passion to increase representation of Hispanic females in STEM. Outreach will include hosting 4 diverse Community College students for summer research through the Michigan College and University Partnership, and participating in Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers conferences, specifically in the female Hispanic track.

Awarded Amount: $592,243

Center/Institute: Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC)

Meta-Stability of Pulsed Load Microgrids

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Wayne Weaver
Co-PI: Rush Robinett
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Center/Institute: Agile and Interconnected Microgrids (AIM)

Research Focus: Energy & Sustainability

Thermal Modeling of a Prototype Hybrid Electric Military HMMWV

Investigators
Principal Investigator: Jeremy Worm
College/School:	College of Engineering
Department(s):	Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Awarded Amount: $5,118

Center/Institute: Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC)

Current Projects

Research Thrusts

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Filter by:

NASA GCD: Molten Regolith Electrolysis Technology Maturation

Lake Superior Environmental Monitoring Systems

ICME Optimzation of Advanced Composite Components of the Aurora D8 Aircraft

Percussive Hot Cone Penetrometer (PHCP) and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) for Geotechnical and Volatiles Mapping

Customer Discovery for Waste Torrefaction Technology

Reduced Cost and Complexity for Off-Highway Aftertreatment

Alternative Fuels Research with Argonne National Laboratory

Torrefaction of Sorted MSW Pellets to Produce a Uniform feedstock for Biopower

Energy Optimzation of Light and Heavy Dute Vehicle Cohorts of Mixed Connectivity Automation and Propulsion System Capabilities via Meshed V2V-V2I and Expanded Data Sharing

A multiscale multiphysics computational modeling and experimental study for thermo-oxidation in polymers

Continuation of the development of a methodology for low-frequency sound measurement for field test

Development of a methodology for low-frequency sound measurement for field tests

Development of Reduced Order Models (ROMS) for wind turbine plant aerodynamic structural control and electrical grid interaction. Additional DOE Rotor Wake Numerical Simulations.

Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (NASA SSERVI CAN)

FY 2020 Interoperability and Grid Integration Support

Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Emerging Disaster Engineering Encompassing Human Directed Expert Systems (ERC-DEES)

EAGER: An Atomistic-Continuum Formulation for Mechanics of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalocgenides

Next-Generation Desiccant-based Gas Clothes Dryer Systems

Testing the Equivalence of Evaporation and Condensation Coefficients Using the Constrained Vapor Bubble (CVB) Data from ISS Experiments

Apex (PFI): Conversion of Organic Wastes Streams by Torrefaction for Bio-Power Application

Feasibility Study on Production of Composite Material from Plastic-Fiber Wastes

INTERNSHIP FOR PH.D. STUDENT

GOALI: Collaborative Research: Control-Oriented Modeling and Predictive Control of Advanced Dual Fuel Natural Gas Engines

CAREER: System-on-Cloth: A Cloud Manufacturing Framework for Embroidered Wearable Electronics

Low Mass Low Power Non-Mechanical Excavation of Gypsum and Other Evaporites and Water Production on Mars

Understanding and Mitigating Triboelectric Artifacts in Wearable Electronics by Synergic Approaches

Understanding and Mitigating Triboelectric Artifacts in Wearable Electronics by Synergic Approaches

Institute for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design (US-COMP)

APRA-E NEXTCAR Phase II - L4/L5 CAV Enabled Energy Reduction

CAREER: An Ecologically -Inspired Approach to Battery Lifetime Analysis and Testing

Meta-Stability of Pulsed Load Microgrids

Thermal Modeling of a Prototype Hybrid Electric Military HMMWV