• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.1541-1555
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• 2015

In this paper mechanical behavior of the functional gradient materials (FGM) micro-gripper under thermal load and DC voltage is numerically investigated taking into account the effect of intermolecular forces. In contrary to the similar previous works, which have been conducted for homogenous material, here, the FGM material has been implemented. It is assumed that the FGM micro-gripper is made of metal and ceramic and that material properties are changed continuously along the beam thickness according to a given function. The nonlinear governing equations of the static and dynamic deflection of microbeams have been derived using the coupled stress theory. The equations have been solved using the Galerkin based step-by-step linearization method (SSLM). The solution procedure has been evaluated against available data of literature showing good agreement. A parametric study has been conducted, focusing on the combined effects of important parameters included DC voltage, temperature variation, geometrical dimensions and ceramic volume concentration on the dynamic response and stability of the FGM micro-gripper.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제31권6호
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• pp.625-638
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• 2009

Applications of membrane mechanisms are widely found in nano-devices and nano-sensor technologies nowadays. An alternative approach for large deflection analysis of the orthotropic, elliptic membranes - subject to gravitational, uniform pressures often found in nano-sensors - is described in this paper. The material properties of membranes are assumed to be orthogonally isotropic and linearly elastic, while the principal directions of elasticity are parallel to the coordinate axes. Formulating the potential energy functional of the orthotropic, elliptic membranes involves the strain energy that is attributed to inplane stress resultant and the potential energy due to applied pressures. In the solution method, Rayleigh-Ritz method can be used successfully to minimize the resulting total potential energy generated. The set of equilibrium equations was solved subsequently by Newton-Raphson. The unparalleled model formulation capable of analyzing the large deflections of both circular and elliptic membranes is verified by making numerical comparisons with existing results of circular membranes as well as finite element solutions. The results are found in excellent agreements at all cases. Then, the parametric investigations are given to delineate the impacts of the aspect ratios and orthotropic elasticity on large static tensions and deformations of the orthotropic, elliptic membranes.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.1601-1623
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• 2015

Electroactive polymers have attracted considerable attention in recent years due to their sensing and actuating properties which make them a material of choice for a wide range of applications including sensors, biomimetic robots, and biomedical micro devices. This paper presents an effective modeling strategy for nonlinear large deformation (small strains and moderate rotations) dynamic analysis of polymer actuators. Considering that the complicated electro-chemo-mechanical dynamics of these actuators is a drawback for their application in functional devices, establishing a mathematical model which can effectively predict the actuator's dynamic behavior can be of paramount importance. To effectively predict the actuator's dynamic behavior, a comprehensive mathematical model is proposed correlating the input voltage and the output bending displacement of polymer actuators. The proposed model, which is based on the rigid finite element (RFE) method, consists of two parts, namely electrical and mechanical models. The former is comprised of a ladder network of discrete resistive-capacitive components similar to the network used to model transmission lines, while the latter describes the actuator as a system of rigid links connected by spring-damping elements (sdes). Both electrical and mechanical components are validated through experimental results.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제9권6호
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• pp.569-576
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• 2020

Employment of the wave propagation approach with the combination of Pasternak foundation equation gives birth to the shell frequency equation. Mathematically, the integral form of the Lagrange energy functional is converted into a set of three partial differential equations. A cylindrical shell is placed on the elastic foundation of Pasternak. For isotropic materials, the physical properties are same everywhere, whereas the laminated and functionally graded materials, they vary from point to point. Here the shell material has been taken as functionally graded material. The influence of the elastic foundation, wave number, length and height-to-radius ratios is investigated with different boundary conditions. The frequencies of length-to-radius and height-to-radius ratio are counter part of each other. The frequency first increases and gain maximum value in the midway of the shell length and then lowers down for the variations of wave number. It is found that due to inducting the elastic foundation of Pasternak, the frequencies increases. It is also exhibited that the effect of frequencies is investigated by varying the surfaces with stainless steel and nickel as a constituent material. MATLAB software is utilized for the vibration of functionally graded cylindrical shell with elastic foundation of Pasternak and the results are verified with the open literature.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.1-16
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• 2017

This paper is presented to solve the buckling problem of functionally graded truncated conical shells subjected to displacement-dependent pressure which remains normal to the shell middle surface throughout the deformation process by the semi-analytical finite strip method. Material properties are assumed to be temperature dependent, and varied continuously in the thickness direction according to a simple power law distribution in terms of the volume fraction of a ceramic and metal. The governing equations are derived based on first-order shear deformation theory which accounts for through thickness shear flexibility with Sanders-type of kinematic nonlinearity. The element linear and geometric stiffness matrices are obtained using virtual work expression for functionally graded materials. The load stiffness also called pressure stiffness matrix which accounts for variation of load direction is derived for each strip and after assembling, global load stiffness matrix of the shell which may be un-symmetric is formed. The un-symmetric parts which are due to load non-uniformity and unconstrained boundaries have been separated. A detailed parametric study is carried out to quantify the effects of power-law index of functional graded material and shell geometry variations on the difference between follower and non-follower lateral buckling pressures. The results indicate that considering pressure stiffness which arises from follower action of pressure causes considerable reduction in estimating buckling pressure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.117-128
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• 2018

In this research work, free vibrations of simply supported functionally graded plate resting on a Winkler-Pasternak elastic foundation are investigated by a new shear deformation theory. The influence of alternative micromechanical models on the macroscopic behavior of a functionally graded plate based on shear-deformation plate theories is examined. Several micromechanical models are tested to obtain the effective material properties of a two-phase particle composite as a function of the volume fraction of particles which continuously varies through the thickness of a functionally graded plate. Present theory exactly satisfies stress boundary conditions on the top and the bottom of the plate. The energy functional of the system is obtained using Hamilton's principle. The closed form solutions are obtained by using Navier technique, and then fundamental frequencies are found by solving the results of eigenvalue problems. Finally, the numerical results are provided to reveal the effect of explicit micromechanical models on natural fundamental frequencies.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.225-235
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• 2006

With the discovery in plants of the proteinaceous forisome crystalloid (Knoblauch, et al. 2003), a novel, non-living, ATP-independent biological material became available to the designer of smart materials for advanced actuating and sensing. The in vitro studies of Knoblauch, et al. show that forisomes (2-4 micron wide and 10-40 micron long) can be repeatedly stimulated to contract and expand anisotropically by shifting either the ambient pH or the ambient calcium ion concentration. Because of their unique abilities to develop and reverse strains greater than 20% in time periods less than one second, forisomes have the potential to outperform current smart materials as advanced, biomimetic, multi-functional, smart sensors or actuators. Probing forisome material properties is an immediate need to lay the foundation for synthesizing forisomebased smart materials for health monitoring of structural integrity in civil infrastructure and for aerospace hardware. Microfluidics is a growing, vibrant technology with increasingly diverse applications. Here, we use microfluidics to study the surface interaction between forisome and substrate and the conformational dynamics of forisomes within a confined geometry to lay the foundation for forisome-based smart materials synthesis in controlled and repeatable environment.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.29-40
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• 2017

This work employed density functional theory to investigate the structural and ferroelectric properties of the Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) phase of lead titanate, $Pb_2TiO_4$, as well as its phase transitions with epitaxial strain. A wealth of novel structural instabilities, which are absent in the host $PbTiO_3$ material, were identified in the RP phase through phonon soft-mode analysis. Our calculations showed that the ground state of $Pb_2TiO_4$ is antiferroelectric, distinct from the dominant ferroelectric phase in the corresponding host material. In addition, applied epitaxial strain was found to play a key role in the interactions among the instabilities. The induction of a sequence of antiferroelectric and antiferrodistortive (AFD) phase transitions by epitaxial strain was demonstrated, in which the ferroic instability and AFD distortion were cooperative rather than competitive, as is the case in the host $PbTiO_3$. The RP phase in conjunction with strain engineering thus represents a new approach to creating ferroic orders and modifying the interplay among structural instabilities in the same constituent materials, enabling us to tailor the functionality of perovskite oxides for novel device applications.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.105-113
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• 2018

Maillard reaction products like melanoidins present in industrial fermentation wastewaters are complex compounds with various functional properties. In this work, novel ultrafiltration (UF) mixed matrix membrane (MMM) composed of polysulfone (PSF) and nanocomposites was prepared through a phase inversion process for the recovery of melanoidins. Nanocomposites were prepared with acid functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as the reinforcing filler for chitosan-thermoplastic starch blend. Higher nanocomposites content in the PSF matrix reduced the membrane permeability and melanoidins retention indicating tighter membrane with surface defects. The membrane surface defects could be sealed with dilute polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution. The best performing membrane (1% nanocomposites in 18% PSF membrane sealed with 0.25% PVA coating) resulted in uniform melanoidins retention of 98% and permeability of 3.6 L/m2 h bar over a period of 8h. This demonstrates a low fouling PSF membrane for high melanoidins recovery.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제69권5호
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• pp.511-525
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• 2019

This paper presents an analytical study of wave propagation in simply supported graduated functional plates resting on a two-parameter elastic foundation (Pasternak model) using a new theory of high order shear strain. Unlike other higher order theories, the number of unknowns and governing equations of the present theory is only four unknown displacement functions, which is even lower than the theory of first order shear deformation (FSDT). Unlike other elements, the present work includes a new field of motion, which introduces indeterminate integral variables. The properties of the materials are assumed to be ordered in the thickness direction according to the two power law distributions in terms of volume fractions of the constituents. The wave propagation equations in FG plates are derived using the principle of virtual displacements. The analytical dispersion relation of the FG plate is obtained by solving an eigenvalue problem. Numerical examples selected from the literature are illustrated. A good agreement is obtained between the numerical results of the current theory and those of reference. A parametric study is presented to examine the effect of material gradation, thickness ratio and elastic foundation on the free vibration and phase velocity of the FG plate.