This thesis work was conducted in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and was submitted
towards the partial fulfilment of the Masters Degree in Technology:
Mechanical Engineering. / Recent years have witnessed a tremendous growth and significant advances
in “smart” composites and “smart” composite structures. These smart
composites integrate active elements such as sensors and actuators into a
host structure to create improved or new functionalities through a clever
choice of the active elements and/or a proper design of the structure. Such
composites are able to sense a change in the environment and make a useful
response by using an external feedback control system. Depending on their
applications, smart composites usually make use of either the joint properties
of the structure or the properties of the individual elements within the
composites. The accumulation in the understanding of materials science and
the rapid developments in computational capabilities have provided an even
wider framework for the implementation of multi-functionality in composites
and make “smart” composites “intelligent”.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:cput/oai:localhost:20.500.11838/1292 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Saal, Sheldon C |
| Publisher | Cape Peninsula University of Technology |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/za/ |
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