Analytical and Experimental Analysis of a Precision Positioning Actuator System

Author(s):  
Jason G. Gullicks ◽  
William H. Semke

An innovative flexure design concept is developed that involves the use of composite materials with bonded piezoelectric actuators to create a “smart actuator” for nanometer scale positioning both in and out of plane. The utilization of smart actuators/sensors will have many benefits over current positioning stages including the utilization of advantageous composite properties, the increase of the resonant frequency of the stage system, the simplification of the manufacturing procedure, and possible increased range of motion. Enhanced mechanical response is made possible by using composite materials and proper layer orientation. This work is a “proof of concept” design for the ultra-precision smart actuator. Analytical and numerical models were developed to determine the response of the composite material and piezoelectric actuator system. Experimentation was performed on the system to verify the results of the mathematical and numerical models. Good correlation between mathematical, numerical, and experimental data was seen in axial and bending modes of operation. Results from the parametric and experimental verification studies are presented to illustrate the efficacy of the design concept.

Aerospace ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 178
Author(s):  
Valerio Acanfora ◽  
Roberto Petillo ◽  
Salvatore Incognito ◽  
Gerardo Mario Mirra ◽  
Aniello Riccio

This work provides a feasibility and effectiveness analysis, through numerical investigation, of metal replacement of primary components with composite material for an executive aircraft wing. In particular, benefits and disadvantages of replacing metal, usually adopted to manufacture this structural component, with composite material are explored. To accomplish this task, a detailed FEM numerical model of the composite aircraft wing was deployed by taking into account process constraints related to Liquid Resin Infusion, which was selected as the preferred manufacturing technique to fabricate the wing. We obtained a geometric and material layup definition for the CFRP components of the wing, which demonstrated that the replacement of the metal elements with composite materials did not affect the structural performance and can guarantee a substantial advantage for the structure in terms of weight reduction when compared to the equivalent metallic configuration, even for existing executive wing configurations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Marco Ferroni ◽  
Beatrice Belgio ◽  
Giuseppe M. Peretti ◽  
Alessia Di Giancamillo ◽  
Federica Boschetti

The menisci of the knee are complex fibro-cartilaginous tissues that play important roles in load bearing, shock absorption, joint lubrication, and stabilization. The objective of this study was to evaluate the interaction between the different meniscal tissue components (i.e., the solid matrix constituents and the fluid phase) and the mechanical response according to the developmental stage of the tissue. Menisci derived from partially and fully developed pigs were analyzed. We carried out biochemical analyses to quantify glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and DNA content according to the developmental stage. These values were related to tissue mechanical properties that were measured in vitro by performing compression and tension tests on meniscal specimens. Both compression and tension protocols consisted of multi-ramp stress–relaxation tests comprised of increasing strains followed by stress–relaxation to equilibrium. To better understand the mechanical response to different directions of mechanical stimulus and to relate it to the tissue structural composition and development, we performed numerical simulations that implemented different constitutive models (poro-elasticity, viscoelasticity, transversal isotropy, or combinations of the above) using the commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics. The numerical models also allowed us to determine several mechanical parameters that cannot be directly measured by experimental tests. The results of our investigation showed that the meniscus is a non-linear, anisotropic, non-homogeneous material: mechanical parameters increase with strain, depend on the direction of load, and vary among regions (anterior, central, and posterior). Preliminary numerical results showed the predominant role of the different tissue components depending on the mechanical stimulus. The outcomes of biochemical analyses related to mechanical properties confirmed the findings of the numerical models, suggesting a specific response of meniscal cells to the regional mechanical stimuli in the knee joint. During maturation, the increase in compressive moduli could be explained by cell differentiation from fibroblasts to metabolically active chondrocytes, as indicated by the found increase in GAG/DNA ratio. The changes of tensile mechanical response during development could be related to collagen II accumulation during growth. This study provides new information on the changes of tissue structural components during maturation and the relationship between tissue composition and mechanical response.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocio Manobanda ◽  
Christian Vasconez ◽  
Denise Perrone ◽  
Raffaele Marino ◽  
Dimitri Laveder ◽  
...  

<p>Structured, highly variable and virtually collision-free. Space plasma is an unique laboratory for studying the transfer of energy in a highly turbulent environment. This turbulent medium plays an important role in various aspects of the Solar--Wind generation, particles acceleration and heating, and even in the propagation of cosmic rays. Moreover, the Solar Wind continuous expansion develops a strong turbulent character, which evolves towards a state that resembles the well-known hydrodynamic turbulence (Bruno and Carbone). This turbulence is then dissipated from magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) through kinetic scales by different -not yet well understood- mechanisms. In the MHD approach, Kolmogorov-like behaviour is supported by power-law spectra and intermittency measured in observations of magnetic and velocity fluctuations. In this regime, the intermittent cross-scale energy transfer has been extensively described by the Politano--Pouquet (global) law, which is based on conservation laws of the MHD invariants, and was recently expanded to take into account the physics at the bottom of the inertial (or Hall) range, e.g. (Ferrand et al., 2019). Following the 'Turbulence Dissipation Challenge', we study the properties of the turbulent energy transfer using three different bi-dimensional numerical models of space plasma. The models, Hall-MHD (HMHD), Landau Fluid (LF) and Hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell (HVM), were ran in collisionless-plasma conditions, with an out-of-plane ambient magnetic field, and with magnetic diffusivity carefully calibrated in the fluid models. As each model has its own range of validity, it allows us to explore a long-enough range of scales at a period of maximal turbulence activity. Here, we estimate the local and global scaling properties of different energy channels using a, recently introduced, proxy of the local turbulent energy transfer (LET) rate (Sorriso-Valvo et al., 2018). This study provides information on the structure of the energy fluxes that transfers (and dissipates) most of the energy at small scales throughout the turbulent cascade. </p>


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Barile ◽  
Caterina Casavola ◽  
Benedetto Gambino ◽  
Alessandro Mellone ◽  
Marco Spagnolo

In the last decades, the increasing use of laminate materials, such as carbon fibre reinforced plastics, in several engineering applications has pushed researchers to deeply investigate their mechanical behavior, especially in consideration of the delamination process, which could affect their performance. The need for improving the capability of the current instruments in predicting some collapse or strength reduction due to hidden damages leads to the necessity to combine numerical models with experimental campaigns. The validation of the numerical models could give useful information about the mechanical response of the materials, providing predictive data about their lifetime. The purpose of the delamination tests is to collect reliable results by monitoring the delamination growth of the simulated in situ cracking and use them to validate the numerical models. In this work, an experimental campaign was carried out on high performance composite laminates with respect to the delamination mode I; subsequently, a numerical model representative of the experimental setup was built. The ANSYS Workbench Suite was used to simulate the delamination phenomena and modeFRONTIER was applied for the numerical/experimental calibration of the constitutive relationship on the basis of the delamination process, whose mechanism was implemented by means of the cohesive zone material (CZM) model.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Piovano ◽  
Andrea Lazzarini ◽  
Riccardo Pellegrini ◽  
Giuseppe Leofanti ◽  
Giovanni Agostini ◽  
...  

Activated carbons are materials with relevance in different industrial applications. Due to the inherent complexity and heterogeneity of their structures, an easy assignment of the species present on their surface has a challenging result. Only recently, with the possibility to collect well-resolved inelastic neutron spectra and to simulate by DFT methods more or less extended graphitic clusters, this task is starting to become feasible. Here we report our investigation on a steam activated carbon and we show that different vibrations in the region of out-of-plane C-H bending modes are specifically connected to hydrogen terminations belonging to extended and regular borders or to short and defective ones. Furthermore, simulations including heteroatoms such as oxygen allowed us to point out spectral regions with a contribution from carboxyl species.


Author(s):  
B. Reck ◽  
S. Hundertmark ◽  
R. Hruschka ◽  
A. Zeiner ◽  
B. Sauerwein ◽  
...  

Abstract The high-velocity launch of a projectile is subjected to a number of disturbances which exert an influence on the flight trajectory. In the case of sub-caliber projectiles, sabot separation is one of the critical aspects. In this work, we focus on the projectiles and the launch package of an electric railgun launch, i.e. on the behavior of the launch-package, when transitioning from the gun barrel to free-flight. This work further addresses the use of a hydrocode for creating numerical models which are capable of predicting the motion and deflection of the sabot parts during their separation from the projectile after exiting the muzzle. An earlier study showed that the air flow around the projectile and the sabot can be modeled with sufficiently high accuracy by means of a simulation code that uses an Eulerian description of the gas flow. Within a time interval of several milliseconds, just the duration that a projectile needs to enter quasi-stationary flight, viscous effects of the air or gas flow have relatively little influence on the sabot discard process. If the Eulerian gas flow is coupled with the Lagrangian structural parts, the mechanical response of the latter to the gas pressure can be complex in terms of deformation and damage, and in that way, can affect the gas flow. In this study, the hydrocode model is applied to a medium caliber launch package concept for accelerating long rod projectiles. The computed results agree well with the corresponding experimental values obtained from a launch package model test in the shock tunnel at Mach 4.5. This demonstrates that the presented hydrocode model can be used for launch package design optimizations with high confidence.


Aerospace ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian P. Trease ◽  
Kerr-Jia Lu ◽  
Sridhar Kota

Biomimetic design takes principles from nature to employ in engineering problems. Such designs are hoped to be quiet, efficient, robust, and versatile, having taken advantage of optimization via natural selection. However, the emulation of specific biological devices poses a great challenge because of complicated, arbitrary, and over-redundant designs. Compliant mechanisms are of immediate appeal in addressing the problem of complex, biomimetic deformation because of their inherent flexibility and distributed compliance. The goal of this research is to develop a biologically-inspired hydrofoil for aquatic propulsion, by assembling planar compliant mechanism building blocks to generate complex 3-D deformations. The building block is a rib structure generated from topology optimization. An ADAMS model is then created to quickly visualize motion and estimate system characteristics. System refinement is achieved through further size and shape optimization of individual ribs. Testing of a single-rib and dual-actuator system is currently in progress. The preliminary results have demonstrated the potential of this combined approach to quickly identify and evaluate new applications that may result from building blocks.


Author(s):  
Lorenzo Cappietti ◽  
Irene Simonetti ◽  
Ilaria Crema

Abstract The use of Very Large Floating Structures, VLFS, may represent a strategic approach in order to cope with some of the future societal challenges arising from the impressive growth of the world population. In this article, the motivations of this perspective are briefly discussed, the main issues for the development of VLFS are summarized and a concept structural design based on building-blocks technology is proposed. A small-scale physical model was manufactured and tested in the wave-current flume of the Laboratory of Maritime Engineering, LABIMA, of the Florence University, Italy. The aim of this study is the assessment of the structural feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed VLFS concept, in terms of resistance to wave loads and control of floating behavior. The experimental measurements provide a first contribution to the necessary knowledge, about load magnitudes and floating behavior, for sizing some of the key structural components. The results appear to support the feasibility of the system in terms of usage of structural materials, technical components and building technologies, available at present, that can withstand the measured loads. Moreover, the acquired experimental database is fundamental in order to validate numerical models, in the perspective of using also such tools as complementary methodology for further improvement of the knowledge of design issues.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthieu Minguez ◽  
Kevin Le Prin ◽  
Alain Liné ◽  
Vincent Lafon ◽  
François Pétrié ◽  
...  

Abstract The paper addresses the flow-induced response of a rigid spool/jumper. It mainly focuses on its mechanical response resulting from internal intermittent slug flows but also addresses potential coupling with an external excitation due to vortex shedding. These works provide quantitative experimental data that match quite well with existing empirical correlations in terms of slug flow properties. The repeatability of the measurement system has been experienced and underlines promising capabilities. The tests provide exhaustive complementary data regarding the slug flow properties (e.g. pocket length) which will be reused for numerical modelling purpose. The mechanical response of the spool is exhaustively addressed for different regular slug flows. Some correlations are proposed aiming at describing the mechanical responses. The coupling with an additional external current solicitation and Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV) is discussed and characterized for some conditions. Finally, a discussion on the current Industry Best Practices is introduced in order to challenge the capability of the proposed approaches to described and recover such complex phenomenon. The comparisons underline the weak agreement between experiments and numerical models, opening discussion on the best way to address this physics and the next developments.


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