Smart materials and structures systems are increasingly being developed to handle more complex problems. One of the main research schemes is the augmentation of the control authority of the smart actuators used in such systems. The augmentation can be obtained by constructing hybrid and multi- smart materials actuator systems and/or by the optimization of the location and orientation of those actuators. In the first part of this study, the alteration of the natural frequency of composite structures using Nitinol-based Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires will be presented using the analyses of strain energy perturbations on a plate. These governing strain equations were solved analytically and numerically to show the effect of point forces acting in a distributive manner and the subsequent effect it has on the plate's stiffness and hence it's natural frequency. In the second part of the thesis, a more complex loading condition is considered to investigate piezoceramic actuator control authority in relation to wing flutter control. The advancement in the application of active material induced-strain actuation such as piezoelectric materials in suppression of structural vibrations drew wide interest in its use for wing flutter control. Higher flutter speed and hence wider operating envelope was achieved by delaying the coalescence of the eigenvalues for plunge and twist modes. . This delay is obtained by adding more strain energy to the system as a result of the activation of the piezoelectric actuators. Most of the studies done were by controlling the plunge/bending motion, where the piezoelectric actuators are bonded longitudinally to produce bending moments. In this study, the control of the pitch/twisting motion was investigated and it showed better control of flutter by using simultaneous multi-actuations compared to single piezo actuations. It was shown that within the scope of the angular orientations of the piezoelectric patches investigated in this study, piezoelectric patches oriented about +150 from the beam's longitudinal ax is resulted in the most optimal piezo-configuration. This was corroborated by both the numerical flutter speed and actuator moment evaluations. In addition, the orientation of the piezoelectric patches was shown to significantly affect the pitch angle of the beam relative to each other. The damping ratio was also investigated and this showed greater instability for piezoelectric patches oriented at negative angles, thus further supporting the finding of the aforementioned optimal orientation of +150. These findings confirmed the dominance of the base (closest to the fixed portion of the beam) piezo when actuated with other piezos.

In recent years, the use of composite structures in engineering application has increased. This is mainly due to their special advantages such as high structural performance, high corrosion resistance, tolerance of temperature; extreme fatigue resistance and high strength/weight ratio. However, some disorders like fibre breakage, matrix cracking and delaminations could be caused by operational loading, aging, chemical attack, mechanical vibration, changing of ambient conditions and shock etc. during the service. Although these disorders are hardly visible, they can severely reduce the mechanical properties and the load carrying capability of the composite structure. The aim of this research project is to develop a Vibration-based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) method for carbon/epoxy composite beam specimens with the embedded artificial delaminations. The Laser Vibrometer Machine was used to excite the beams and gather the responses of the structure to the excitations. The physical properties such as frequency, velocity, mode shapes, and damping of the defective beams were measured. By using a C-SCAN machine, the accuracy of the positions of the delaminations was verified to be about 95% is accurate. Curvature mode shapes as a scalable damage detection parameter is calculated using an analytical model based on the Heaviside step function and the Central Difference Approximation (CDA) technique. The vibration-based damage detection method is then obtained using the difference between curvature mode shapes of the intact and damaged carbon/epoxy beams. An accurate prediction of 90% was attained. These results are proposed and discussed in detail in this study. Finally, the Fatigue Crack Propagation Test was applied on Samples with embedded delamination to extend the crack. The ASTM E399-90 standard is used for the experiment and a careful fatigue crack growth routine was designed and implemented to advance the delamination in a controlled manner. The total extension of 17 mm was observed with Microscope. The total propagation as determined by the curvature mode plots was 17.84 mm.

O objeto de estudo deste trabalho é caracterizar um transdutor magnético de posição absoluto de longo percurso e robusto quanto à sua resposta dinâmica. O transdutor foi concebido na dissertação de mestrado do autor e denominada de ¨Régua Magnética¨na qual foi estudada a sua resposta estática. Diferentemente de outros transdutores magnéticos este tem como princípio de funcionamento a divisão do fluxo magnético entre dois caminhos distintos, cujas dimensões variam em função da movimentação da bobinas de excitação. Neste estudo analisa-se então a resposta dinâmica do transdutor, pois, quando o seu carro se desloca com velocidade constante, há uma modificação na grandeza física que é responsável pelo sinal de saída correlacionado à posição daquele carro. O estudo foi desenvolvido em dois transdutores de aproximadamente 2 m de comprimento confeccionados com lâminas de Fe-Si cortadas a laser. Os sinais de tensão induzida nas culatras, corrente e fluxo magnético no eletro-ímã do carro bem como o sinal de posição deste são coletados por um dispositivo digital e processados em um computador de modo a se poder obter as curvas estáticas e dinâmicas e assim compará-las. Com este propósito, foi desenvolvida uma bancada original de ensaio de transdutores de posição lineares para a medição da diferença dos sinais entre o caso estático e o dinâmico, denominado de diferença dinâmica, na qual foi empregado um transdutor de posição resistivo para a referência de posição, um sistema de aquisição de sinais para a medição das grandezas envolvidas no processo e um conjunto movimentador e servomotor para controle da velocidade e posição da parte móvel do transdutor. No final deste trabalho são comparados os resultados analíticos e experimentais obtidos como antes descritos. / The aim of this work is to characterize a long-span absolute magnetic position transducer that presents a robust dynamic response. The transducer was conceived by the MSc studies of the author and is called named “Magnetic Ruler” by which its static response was studied. Unlike other magnetic transducers, the magnetic ruler is based on the principle of the division of magnetic flux between two distinct magnetic paths that depends on the linear position of its movable part along the span of the transducer. This present study examines the dynamic response of the transducer when its movable part or car is moving with constant speed. Under such conditions, there is a change in the signal output that is correlated to the position of that car. The study was conducted by means of two transducers of approximately 2-m long laminations of Si-Fe that were laser cut. The voltage signals induced through the search coils on the end yokes, current and magnetic flux in the excitation coil on car, and the position are acquired by a digital device and processed by a computer. That is done to obtain the static and the dynamic curves and, thus, to allow the comparison between the two behaviors. With this objective, a specially built and unique test bench was developed to test linear position transducers under static and dynamic cases. The difference between the two results is called dynamic difference. That test bench employs a resistive position transducer to provide position reference, a signal acquisition system for measuring the quantities involved in the process, and a controlled traction system based on a servo system to control the speed and the position of the moving part of the transducer under test. At the end this work the analytical and experimental results obtained as described above are compared.

O objeto de estudo deste trabalho é caracterizar um transdutor magnético de posição absoluto de longo percurso e robusto quanto à sua resposta dinâmica. O transdutor foi concebido na dissertação de mestrado do autor e denominada de ¨Régua Magnética¨na qual foi estudada a sua resposta estática. Diferentemente de outros transdutores magnéticos este tem como princípio de funcionamento a divisão do fluxo magnético entre dois caminhos distintos, cujas dimensões variam em função da movimentação da bobinas de excitação. Neste estudo analisa-se então a resposta dinâmica do transdutor, pois, quando o seu carro se desloca com velocidade constante, há uma modificação na grandeza física que é responsável pelo sinal de saída correlacionado à posição daquele carro. O estudo foi desenvolvido em dois transdutores de aproximadamente 2 m de comprimento confeccionados com lâminas de Fe-Si cortadas a laser. Os sinais de tensão induzida nas culatras, corrente e fluxo magnético no eletro-ímã do carro bem como o sinal de posição deste são coletados por um dispositivo digital e processados em um computador de modo a se poder obter as curvas estáticas e dinâmicas e assim compará-las. Com este propósito, foi desenvolvida uma bancada original de ensaio de transdutores de posição lineares para a medição da diferença dos sinais entre o caso estático e o dinâmico, denominado de diferença dinâmica, na qual foi empregado um transdutor de posição resistivo para a referência de posição, um sistema de aquisição de sinais para a medição das grandezas envolvidas no processo e um conjunto movimentador e servomotor para controle da velocidade e posição da parte móvel do transdutor. No final deste trabalho são comparados os resultados analíticos e experimentais obtidos como antes descritos. / The aim of this work is to characterize a long-span absolute magnetic position transducer that presents a robust dynamic response. The transducer was conceived by the MSc studies of the author and is called named “Magnetic Ruler” by which its static response was studied. Unlike other magnetic transducers, the magnetic ruler is based on the principle of the division of magnetic flux between two distinct magnetic paths that depends on the linear position of its movable part along the span of the transducer. This present study examines the dynamic response of the transducer when its movable part or car is moving with constant speed. Under such conditions, there is a change in the signal output that is correlated to the position of that car. The study was conducted by means of two transducers of approximately 2-m long laminations of Si-Fe that were laser cut. The voltage signals induced through the search coils on the end yokes, current and magnetic flux in the excitation coil on car, and the position are acquired by a digital device and processed by a computer. That is done to obtain the static and the dynamic curves and, thus, to allow the comparison between the two behaviors. With this objective, a specially built and unique test bench was developed to test linear position transducers under static and dynamic cases. The difference between the two results is called dynamic difference. That test bench employs a resistive position transducer to provide position reference, a signal acquisition system for measuring the quantities involved in the process, and a controlled traction system based on a servo system to control the speed and the position of the moving part of the transducer under test. At the end this work the analytical and experimental results obtained as described above are compared.

O objeto de estudo deste trabalho é caracterizar um transdutor magnético de posição absoluto de longo percurso e robusto quanto à sua resposta dinâmica. O transdutor foi concebido na dissertação de mestrado do autor e denominada de ¨Régua Magnética¨na qual foi estudada a sua resposta estática. Diferentemente de outros transdutores magnéticos este tem como princípio de funcionamento a divisão do fluxo magnético entre dois caminhos distintos, cujas dimensões variam em função da movimentação da bobinas de excitação. Neste estudo analisa-se então a resposta dinâmica do transdutor, pois, quando o seu carro se desloca com velocidade constante, há uma modificação na grandeza física que é responsável pelo sinal de saída correlacionado à posição daquele carro. O estudo foi desenvolvido em dois transdutores de aproximadamente 2 m de comprimento confeccionados com lâminas de Fe-Si cortadas a laser. Os sinais de tensão induzida nas culatras, corrente e fluxo magnético no eletro-ímã do carro bem como o sinal de posição deste são coletados por um dispositivo digital e processados em um computador de modo a se poder obter as curvas estáticas e dinâmicas e assim compará-las. Com este propósito, foi desenvolvida uma bancada original de ensaio de transdutores de posição lineares para a medição da diferença dos sinais entre o caso estático e o dinâmico, denominado de diferença dinâmica, na qual foi empregado um transdutor de posição resistivo para a referência de posição, um sistema de aquisição de sinais para a medição das grandezas envolvidas no processo e um conjunto movimentador e servomotor para controle da velocidade e posição da parte móvel do transdutor. No final deste trabalho são comparados os resultados analíticos e experimentais obtidos como antes descritos. / The aim of this work is to characterize a long-span absolute magnetic position transducer that presents a robust dynamic response. The transducer was conceived by the MSc studies of the author and is called named “Magnetic Ruler” by which its static response was studied. Unlike other magnetic transducers, the magnetic ruler is based on the principle of the division of magnetic flux between two distinct magnetic paths that depends on the linear position of its movable part along the span of the transducer. This present study examines the dynamic response of the transducer when its movable part or car is moving with constant speed. Under such conditions, there is a change in the signal output that is correlated to the position of that car. The study was conducted by means of two transducers of approximately 2-m long laminations of Si-Fe that were laser cut. The voltage signals induced through the search coils on the end yokes, current and magnetic flux in the excitation coil on car, and the position are acquired by a digital device and processed by a computer. That is done to obtain the static and the dynamic curves and, thus, to allow the comparison between the two behaviors. With this objective, a specially built and unique test bench was developed to test linear position transducers under static and dynamic cases. The difference between the two results is called dynamic difference. That test bench employs a resistive position transducer to provide position reference, a signal acquisition system for measuring the quantities involved in the process, and a controlled traction system based on a servo system to control the speed and the position of the moving part of the transducer under test. At the end this work the analytical and experimental results obtained as described above are compared.

This thesis presents an analytical method based on classical matrix methods for computing the dynamic response of elastic-plastic multi-storey building frames. The method developed is comparatively simple and is of much use for building frames having large number of storeys. By this method, response of multi-storey build­ings could be calculated on high-speed digital computers of high storage capacity. The computer program developed saves huge storage locations and thus makes it possible to analyze multi-storey frames which till now were con­sidered as very difficult. Dynamic response of a two-storey and six-storey frame are shown to demonstrate the utility of the method. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

<p> The steady state response for models of an actual six-axle locomotive running on a sinusoidally irregular track is investigated. Three mathematical models are set up, a simplified model which assumed no springing or damping of trucks or motors, and no creep forces, a full model for the "stationary" vehicle in which creep forces are assumed negligible and a full model for the "moving" vehicle, which creep forces, gravity stiffness effects and wheel tread profiles are considered. </p> <p> The steady state response of the vehicle components to varying input frequencies is calculated and the response curves are computer plotted in each case. The natural frequencies for the simplified and the full model are also calculated. For the "moving" vehicle responses for the cases of new and worn wheels are obtained. Effect of creep and wheel tread profiles is studied. </p> The accuracy with which each of the devised models describe the performance of the real railway vehicle is compared. A discussion of the conclusions drawn from the analysis, including the applications to the design of high speed railway vehicles is given. Much attention was devoted to the development and testing of five computer programs for which simplified flow charts are given in Appendix V. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

Within the vestibular system are otolith organs, both the utricle and saccule. The primary function of these organs is to transduce linear head accelerations and static head tilts into afferent signals that are sent to the central nervous system for the utilization of image fixation, muscle posture control, and the coordination of musculoskeletal movement in dynamic body motion. The utricle of the red ear slider turtle was studied in this dissertation. The turtle's utricle is composed of several layers. The base layer contains a set of neural receptor cells, called hair cells, and supporting cells. The three layers above the base layer compose the utricle's otoconial membrane (OM) and are: 1.) a saccharide gelatinous layer, 2.) a column filament layer, and 3.) a calcite and aragonite otoconial crystal layer. The primary goal of this research was to study the dynamic response of the turtle's OM to a variety of natural inertial stimuli in order to characterize its inherent mechanical properties of natural frequency ("n), damping ("), and shear modulus (G). The medial-lateral (ML) and anterior-posterior (AP) anatomical axes parameters were measured for the utricle. The ML axis median with 95% confidence intervals was found to be "n = 374 (353, 396) Hz, " = 0.50 (0.47, 0.53), and G = 9.42 (8.36, 10.49) Pa. The AP axis median with 95% confidence intervals was found to be "n = 409 (390, 430) Hz, " = 0.53 (0.48, 0.57), and G = 11.31 (10.21, 12.41). Nonlinearites were not found to occur in the OM for the tested inertial stimuli and no significant difference was found between the mechanical properties for the ML and AP axes. Additionally, this research presents the initial steps to form a novel bio-inspired accelerometer based on the morphology of the utricle. The primary transducer element for this possible otolith organ inspired accelerometer design is a droplet interface bilayer (DIB). A DIB is a lipid bilayer that is formed when the interface of two aqueous droplets, that contain free-floating lipids, are joined. The aqueous droplets are suspended in a nonpolar environment (oil) and the oil/water interface forms a lipid monolayer. This research developed and used an experimental test setup to characterize the mechanoelectrical characteristics of a micron-sized DIB. This information, along with examples in the text, could be used to further design the aforementioned accelerometer. / Ph. D.

Vibrations resulting from earthquakes, machinery, or unanticipated shocks may be very damaging and costly to structures. To avoid such damage, designers need a structural system that can dissipate the energy caused by these vibrations. Using elastically buckled struts may be a viable means to reduce the harmful effects of unexpected vibrations. Post-buckled struts can support high axial loads and also act as springs in a passive vibration isolation system by absorbing or dissipating the energy caused by external excitation. When a base excitation is applied, the buckled strut may act to reduce the dynamic force transmitted to the system, thus reducing the structural damage to the system. Several models of buckled and pre-bent struts are examined with different combinations of parameters and end conditions. The models include pinned or fixed columns supporting loads above their buckling load, and columns with an initial curvature supporting various loads. The varying parameters include external damping, internal damping, and stiffness. The columns will be subjected to simple harmonic motion applied at the base or to a multi-frequency base excitation. The response of each model is measured by the deflection transmissibility of the supported load over a large range of frequencies. Effective models reduce the motion of the supported load over a large range of frequencies. / Master of Science

This research details the creation and characterization of a new biomimetic artificial inner hair cell sensor in an artificial cochlear environment. Designed to mimic the fluid flows around the inner hair cells of the human cochlea, the artificial cochlear environment produces controlled, linear sinusoidal fluid flows with frequencies between 25 and 400 Hz. The lipid bilayer-based artificial inner hair cell generates current through changes in the bilayer's capacitance. This capacitance change occurs as the sensor's artificial stereocilium transfers the force in the fluid flow to the bilayer. Frequency tuning tests are performed to characterize the artificial inner hair cell's response to a linear chirp signal from 1 to 400 Hz. The artificial inner hair cell's response peaks at a resonant frequency of approximately 83 Hz throughout most of the tests. Modelling the artificial stereocilium as a pinned free beam with a rotational spring at the pinned end yields a rotational spring stiffness of 177*10^-6 Nm/rad. Results with 0 mV potential applied across the bilayer indicate that current generation at 0 mV likely comes from other sources besides the bilayer. Increasing the voltage potential increases the broadband power output of the system, with an approximately linear relationship. A final test keeps the fluid flow frequency constant and varies the fluid velocity and applied voltage potential. Manipulation of the applied voltage potential results in a fluid velocity to RMS current relationship reminiscent of the variable sensitivity of the human cochlea. / Master of Science