M.E. VIBRATIONS The Mechanical Engineering Department Alumni Newsletter March 2005 Welcome to the latest issue of Vibrations! The academic year will be coming to a close soon, with fewer than two months until graduation (May 22). There is much to accomplish by both students and faculty as we near completion of Ron Dougherty, Professor and Chair the school year and watch another group of seniors [and graduate students] reach engineering maturity and head out into the world. The seniors are working hard on their projects, whether it’s the Formula Vehicle, the explosion containment system for bomb-laden luggage carried on board a commercial airliner, the ergonomic improvement of an assembly-line-type of work station, or the system to test for damage caused by full-sized forklifts colliding with plastic pallets for large/heavy merchandise transport. Graduate students are completing their research with biomechanical knee simulators, intelligently designed/controlled robots, fundamental finite element code development, and space thermal systems. These soon-to-be-graduates are preparing to leave and tackle new challenges. Or, whether it’s one of our student athletes such as Lindsey Morris from the volleyball team, Chris Veit who is one the students who “sports” the Jayhawk mascot outfit at various sporting/KU events, Kelly Warrick who plays trombone for the pep band, Kelley Briant who will be enrolling in law school, James Winblad who’s going to medical school, or a number of other students who will be taking positions with Ford, Black & Veatch, Boeing, Whirlpool, the armed services, business schools, educational institutions, or graduate schools - - we will surely miss them. But we also know that there’s another group of bright, ambitious, hard-working students following behind, who’ll be the seniors and leaders for next year. So, we salute those who are finishing and wish all of them the very best as they embark on the next phase of their careers. Thanks to all of you alumni for helping, through the encouraging words you’ve spoken to young people everywhere - - some of whom became mechanical engineering students at KU, and some of whom will be graduating this May. You’ve had an impact! Your enthusiastic promotion of KUME is greatly appreciated. Thus, we truly hope that you’ll be able to help us as we “send off” our graduates at this year’s Banquet on April 29 (refer to page 10 for details). Drop us a line any time. We’d love to hear from you! PS: Our thanks again go to Advisory Board member LaRoux Gillespie and to student office assistant Megan Ochanpaugh for putting together a variety of articles - - providing a wide cross- section view of our current students and faculty, as well as our alumni and emeriti. By the way, this is Megan’s last semester with us, and we’ll miss her “Newsletter creativity”; but we also wish her the very best as her career begins in earnest. KUME Newsletter 1 March 2005 Faculty Updates UDr. Terry Faddis The Intelligent Systems and Automation Laboratory has been working with Honeywell FM&T in Kansas City to develop automated interfaces between FBMach, a feature based process-planning system, Unigraphics and Solid Works. These interfaces will automate the manufacturing tool path planning and process drawing needs for a manufacturing organization. In addition, the laboratory has started a new research thrust in robotics with the Compliant Robotic Foot (CRF) project. The CRF project is taking a bottom up view of robotic walking by considering pri- marily the foot, ankle and lower leg in developing new systems. The CRF project may also have biomedical application in providing a better prosthesis for the lower leg. UDr. Ken Fischer Dr. Ken Fischer and his graduate students are hard at work developing a technique for MRI-based in-vivo joint contact mechanics. The goal of this research is to be able to accurately evaluate the contact mechanics using in-vivo imaging data (imaging data from living human subjects). The basic principles are simple. Dr. Fischer and his students collect an MRI image set of the joint of interest while the subject actively loads the joint. The subject is provided with a computer feedback display so that she/he knows the amount of load she/he is generating. This helps subjects maintain a known and constant load on the joint and a stable joint position. Then the subject relaxes and another MRI image set is acquired with the best possible combination of clarity and resolution. The relaxed image set is used to generate geometrically accurate models of the bones with cartilage. By analyzing the differences in the positions and orientations of the bones in the two image sets, the transformation from the unloaded state to the loaded state can be determined and applied to the bone models. Bone modeling is currently done only for surface contact data - - contact area, contact pressure distribution, and contact force. Future modeling could include the use of finite element modeling to consider the stresses and strains in the tissues. UDr. Sara Wilson Some of you may remember fondly (or maybe not so fondly) your courses in Feedback and Control Systems. Did you know that the methods you learned in these courses are being used to improve understanding and prevention of low back injuries? It turns out that the muscles and reflexes act as Proportional-Derivative (PD) controllers to control and stabilize back motion. Dr. Wilson is using control system modeling to understand why truck drivers are so prone to low back pain. It turns out that the vibrations of the truck alter the sensors in the human control system, thus increasing the amount of motion required for these sensors to detect a change. This increased detection threshold acts as a delay in the feedback system pushing it toward larger deflection and instability. These changes do not bode well for our unfortunate truck driver. So what can be done? By allowing the drivers a 30-minute break between long drives and unloading the truck, these sensors can be allowed to recover before strenuous exertion. In addition, air-ride seating can be installed to filter out truck vibrations. This research has caught the interest of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. The Institute is now funding the research of Dr. Wilson and several ME graduate students to understand and quantify these changes. KUME Newsletter 2 March 2005 ME Spring 2004 Awards Banquet Unfortunately, we did not have space for our 2004 Banquet Award/Scholarship recognition in the previous newsletter; so even though it’s a little late, we wanted to make sure you were able to see the names of those outstanding individuals. Provided below are the names of the outstanding (distinguished) students, faculty, staff and alumni: U U USpring 2004 ΠΤΣ Initiates Outstanding Senior Award Strobel Scholarship Aaron Anderson Nathaniel Lenz Monte Engelkemier Blaine Barnard Christopher Bowman UOutstanding Leadership UHenry Nottberg, Jr. Kelley Briant Aaron Weigel UScholarshipU Joshua DeDonder Jonathan Bridges Anthony DeFilippo UOutstanding Service Thomas Denney Tanner Rinke UPhillips Petroleum Gregory Denton Scholarship Cynthia Huff UOutstanding Faculty Award Lindsey Morris John Igo Terry Faddis Tim Isernhagen UWilbur E. & Mina Wyatt Zachary Kellogg UOutstanding Staff Award UMemorial Scholarship Casey Lauer Carol Gonce Blaine Barnard John McGary Gregory Denton Tamara Miller UMechanical Engineering Logan Johnson Ryan Mills UDistinguished Alumni Award Kevin Kellerman Tristan Moody L. Joseph Bauman Mark Pacey Lindsey Morris Tyler Stone Mark Pacey URobert M. Carey Scholarship Clinton Rahjes Undergraduates USelf Fellowship Tanner Rinke Ahmad Abu-Ali Bryce Baker (2002-2006) Aaron Anderson Chadd Clary (2004-2008) UWesley G. Cramer Scholar Arturo Benavente Joseph Soltys (2004-2008) Award Kelly Chapman Ahmad Abu-Ali Bradley Clauser UWoodson Memorial Award James Console Thomas Denney Arturo Benavente Charles Henry Jamie Fransen Matthew Hess Patrick Laufenburger Charles Henry John Igo Nathaniel Lenz Tyler Stone UBiomechanics Option Tristan Moody Casey Lauer Lindsey Morris UZimmerman Graduate Nathaniel Lenz UFellowshipU Tarek Sheira Graduates Scott Chapman Ravi Ramakrishna Pillai Kyung Pyo Kim UExxonMobil Award Bhaskar Thoomukuntla Srinivasarao Madduri Thomas Denney U U U Hoglund Fellowship Mechanical Engineering UMelvin J. Huxtable Award Scott Chapman Scholarship Aaron Anderson Undergraduates U Charles J. Baer Scholarship Christopher Anderson ULindquist Family Memorial Brunda Kattekola Arturo Benavente Award Jason Boots Jonathan Bridges URoger T. Blades Scholarship Kelly Chapman Cynthia Huff Lindsey Morris Bradley Clauser Logan Johnson Michael Corry UJack & Ann Cramer Root Tyler Docking U UWesley G. Cramer Scholarship Paul Garcia UMechanical Engineering Anthony DeFilippo Charles Henry Faculty AwardU Tanner Rinke Cynthia Huff Sara Wilson Seth Weisbrook Logan Johnson KUME Newsletter 3 March 2005 Leighton LaPierre Zachary Kellogg Josu Galdos John McGary Casey Lauer Kasonia Kisangani Lindsey Morris Nathaniel Lenz Patrick Laufenburger Mark Pacey Andy Lockwood Robert Lewis Paul Rankin John McAdoo Scott Swan Marie Riley John McGary Daniel Rutherford Edward Mohan UGraduating Masters 2004 Jared Silsby Patrick Nuss Ghazi Abdulfattah Clinton Rahjes Srikanth Allu Graduates Christopher Reischman Amanullah Mohammed Scott Chapman Aaron Robbins Shweta Bhola Chadd Clary Kyle Schafersman Kedar Deshpande Kyung Pyo Kim Tarek Sheira Abhijit Dumbre Waikai Sum Monte Engelkemier Graduating Seniors Ryan Terry Priyank