Senior Design
Valparaiso University’s College of Engineering will host the 2024 Engineering Design Expo on Saturday, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Gellersen Center and the Fites Innovation Center. Engineering senior design teams will present their work to friends, family, and the community. The event is free and open to the public and will include a free lunch cookout.
Engineering students spend hundreds of hours of work on their senior design projects while applying all the skills and knowledge acquired throughout their journey to their degree. The engineering design expo allows the students to share their accomplishments with our community and celebrate their achievements.
At Valparaiso University, each College of Engineering student participates in a senior design project. This capstone experience utilizes all of the skills students have acquired in previous semesters, with an emphasis on teamwork and communication skills. Teams work independently to conceptualize, design, build, test, and assess a project; consulting a faculty advisor as needed.
Further, each project has a budget to teach students about working within financial constraints. Some students have successfully obtained funding from industry and faculty research grants.
Students have used their senior design project to explore areas of interest to stimulate their curiosity and creativity. The project often serves as a springboard to launch students’ careers by preparing them to solve engineering problems.
ENVIRONMENTAL & WATER RESOURCES
- Bioremediation as a Surface Water Oil Spill Response Technology
- Cadmium Removal from Industrial Wastewater
- Correcting Maximum Streamflow Estimation Methods
- Design: Constructed Wetland for Municipal Wastewater Treatment for the Aberdeen Subdivision
- Design: Horizontal Gas Collection System for a Municipal Solid Waste Landfill
- Design: Landfill Leachate Treatment System Utilizing Sequential Batch Reactors as a Secondary Treatment
- Design: Water Treatment Plant for the City of Joliet, Ill.
- Determining the Dimensions of a Discharge Well’s Capture Zone
- Evaluation of a Contaminant Entering a Small Body of Water
- Extraction Well Capture Zone Under Small Field Gradients
- Hydrologic Analysis and Storm Water Control Design for the Development of a Residential Subdivision
- Lake Sewer Rehabilitation Project
- Northwest Indiana Water Company Ogden Dunes Water Treatment Plant Expansion
- Pilot Study: Soil Bioreactors Containing Gas
- Preliminary Storm Water Management Plan for Mill Creek Subdivision
- Removal of Organic Pollutants from Groundwater Using Activated Carbon
- Soil Remediation of a Contaminated Site
- Student Water Distribution System Design for the Village of Galien, Mich.
- Study of the City of St. Charles, Ill., Low-Pressure Water Distribution System
- Watershed Analysis of a Flood-Prone Region in St. Charles, Ill.
- Water Quality Model of the Salt Creek Downstream of the Elden Kuehl Pollution Control Facility
GEOTECHNICAL
- Actual vs. Theoretical Immediate Settlements of a Large Foundation on Cohesive Soils
- Construction Dewatering with a Site-Specific Design
- Foundation Analysis and Design in Highly Variable Soils
- Model Comparison of Trench Stability Using Polymer and Bentonite Slurries
- Reliability of CH Soil Moisture Contents Determined in a Microwave Oven
- Water Level vs. Model Footing Settlement
GENERAL
- Design: Renewable Energy Conversion System for an Eco-House
STRUCTURAL
- Analysis & Design of a Multi-Story Building
- Comparison Between Horizontal- and Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines
- Design: Lighthouse Shell
- Design: Prestressed Concrete Highway Bridge
- Experimental Evaluation of Wheel Load Distribution on Concrete Slab Bridges
- Experimental Investigation of Wheel Load Distribution on Steel Bridges
- Modeling Study of Littoral Drift at Ogden Dunes
- Stress Analysis of a Human Knee Joint
- Structural Analysis of Concrete Box Culverts
- Structural Design of a Solar Furnace Building for Valparaiso University
- Study of the Mechanical Properties of Commingled Recycled Plastic Lumber
- Theoretical Demolition of a Reinforced Concrete Structure Using Implosion
TRANSPORTATION
- Design: Highway Interchange Ramp
- Evaluations of Rural Appalachian Road Alternatives
- Parking Study on the Valparaiso University Campus
- Impact of New Developments on Traffic Flow in Valparaiso
Sun Tracking Project – The team designed a system to track the sun in both azimuth and elevation directions as it moves across the sky and collect the sun’s energy with photovoltaic cells. The system includes a programmable automation controller and servo motors.
Aerial Photography Project – The team collaborated with photography students to develop a system to take photographs from above. The camera position was controlled from the students on the ground.
