Mochi.Labjet is a new experiment at the University of Washington developed to investigate the interaction of shear flows in plasma jets with boundary conditions similar to an accretion disc system. This thesis details the engineering design and first plasmas of the Mochi.Labjet experiment. The experiment required construction ...

A Continuous Rotating Detonation Engine (CRDE) was tested with two unique features. First, the conventional pre-detonator was replaced by a novel detonation wave generator. This generator sequentially fired spark plugs at a speed near the acoustic speed of a reactant gas mixture thereby producing free radicals ready to partake ...

Assembly fixtures that are much smaller than the structure being manufactured, such as an aircraft, must routinely be positioned and docked against the structure on which they act. Here, docking implies physical contact between the fixture and the structure. The major contribution of this thesis is to develop a variable-imp ...

The aerospace industry is a constantly evolving field with corporate manufacturers continually utilizing innovative processes and materials. These materials include advanced metallics and composite systems. The exploration and implementation of new materials and structures has prompted the development of numerous structural ...

The necessity for evaluating the accuracy and characteristics of new Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence models in modern fluid mechanics research has inspired the development of a Three-Dimensional Particle Tracking Velocimetry (3DPTV) system capable of producing 3-Dimension 3-Component (3D3C) velocity vector fields. The ...

This master’s thesis describes the design process and testing results for a pneumatically actuated, manually-operated tool for confined space drilling operations. The purpose of this device is to back-drill pilot holes inside a commercial airplane wing. It is lightweight, and a “locator pin” enables the operator to align the ...

Lateral wedge insoles (LWIs) are a type of orthosis used to reduce the external knee adduction moment (EKAM), which is associated with the development and progression of tibiofemoral osteoarthritis. However, their effect on kinematics at the hindfoot is unclear. Biplane fluoroscopy was utilized to measure the kinematics of ...

The increased use of composite materials in passenger aircrafts has resulted in an escalation of maintenance issues associated with composite structure damage from a variety of causes including impacts during towing, bird strikes and hail. Hence, damage repair has become an important issue in the aerospace industry. This ...

We are living in a world with continuous production and consumption of energy. The energy production in the past decades has started to move away from petrochemical sources toward sustainable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal. Also, the energy consumption is further adapting to the sustainable sources. For instance, ...

Robotics and automation of aerospace manufacturing and assembly in confined spaces such as a wing is challenging due to limited tooling access and geometric constraints set by the environment. The emphasis of this thesis is on the control of such robots using the Inverse Jacobian method. The approach is implemented on an ...