Industrial Projects

2000-01 Projects

Pricing a Long-Term Care Rider on Variable Life Insurance

Sponsor: John Hancock
Advisor: Prof. Ann Wiedie
Student: Jeffery Bresson

Variable universal life insurance (VUL) is a product in which the policyholder chooses the size of the premium and also the type of fund into which the premium is invested once fees are removed. In fact, it is often sold as an investment vehicle more so than a life insurance policy. An optional rider to this policy is an accelerated benefit feature, in which the policyholder can receive monthly payments should they require long-term care (LTC). In this instance, the payments will be a fixed percentage of the death benefit minus payments already made, to a maximum of half of the death benefit, so that the LTC payments are made for ~2 years. The portion of the death benefit not made as LTC payments will be paid upon death. The cost of this rider will be determined through this project.

Pricing Structured Settlement Universal Life Insurance

Sponsor: CGU Insurance
Advisor: Prof. Ann Wiedie
Student: Briane Lane and Matthew Bielik

In a structured settlement (e.g. a lawsuit to pay for care of a child injured to the extent that they require some form of care for life) an additional consideration might be family protection, a type of universal life policy funded by a single premium immediate annuity (SPIA). In the event of the death of the caregiver, the death benefit will be paid to compensate for the cost of the care which had been provided by the caregiver. The project will calculate premiums for this product and resulting cash values for the policy, as well as perform profit tests and develop an illustration spreadsheet to be used easily by brokers. The premiums must be determined to meet all nonforfeiture laws.

Computer Characterization of Microwave High-Power Loads

Sponsor: The Ferrite Company, Inc.
Advisor: Prof. Vadim Yakovlev and Prof. Reinhold Ludwig
Student: Hauke Marshall

Water loads are widely used in high power systems of microwave heating to absorb energy non-absorbed by the processed material. In the project, the load designed for a 915 MHz 75 kW transmitter (a segment of a rectangular waveguide containing a conical cavity filled with water) is simulated with the use of QuickWave-3D, electromagnetic modeling software based on conformal FDTD method. Coupling of the system and patterns of power dissipated in the water cone are analyzed as functions of geometrical parameters and temperature of water. Obtained data should be used to generate information on any inherent power limitation in these loads and to design similar loads with good operating characteristics for other transmitters.

Finite-Element Modeling of Heat Transfer in Porous Media

Sponsor: DEKA
Advisor: Prof. Christopher Lasen and Prof. Bogdan Vernescu
Student: Brian Ball

The project provides the mathematical model and a numerical technique for a particular fluid flow problem.

Sponsor: Enersyst Development Center, LLC, Dallas, TX
Advisor: Prof. Vadim Yakovlev
Student: Veronika Mechenova

Electromagnetic modeling software available in the market is studied to compose and maintain contemporary database of codes applicable to designing of industrial systems of microwave thermal processing. Selected codes are evaluated in accordance with specific criteria in order to work out certain recommendations for microwave power industry. Data for comparison of efficiency and computational characteristics are generated by solving a series of benchmark problems formulated as associated with the typical systems of the field and allowing experimental verification. Among the codes participating in the study are Ansoft's HFSS, Matra S&I's EMC2000-VF, CST's Microwave Studio, and QWED's QuickWave-3D. Particular attention is paid to the accuracy, identity of computations, and convergence of the results.

Sponsor: Veeder-Root
Advisor: Prof. Ming-Hui Chen and Prof. Joseph Petruccelli
Student: Jai Liu

The goal of this study is to estimate the performance of leak detection equipment installed in operating underground fuel storage tank systems. The effort will concentrate on both tanks and pressurized pipelines.

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Last modified: Jun 20, 2010, 13:03 UTC