Biomimetic flexible plate actuators are faster and more efficient with a passive attachment

Using three-dimensional computer simulations, we probe biomimetic free swimming of an internally actuated flexible plate in the regime near the first natural frequency. The plate is driven by an oscillating internal moment approximating the actuation mechanism of a piezoelectric macro fiber composite (MFC) bimorph. We show in our simulations that the addition of a passive attachment increases both swimming velocity and efficiency. Specifically, if the active and passive sections are of similar size, the overall performance is the best. We determine that this optimum is a result of two competing factors. If the passive section is too large, then the actuated portion is unable to generate substantial deflection to create sufficient thrust. On the other hand, a large actuated section leads to a bending pattern that is inefficient at generating thrust especially at higher frequencies.

Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis of Flexible Plate with Partitioned Coupling Method

The development and rapid usage of numerical codes for fluid-structure interaction(FSI) problems are of great relevance to researchers in many engineering fields such as civil engineering and ocean engineering. This multidisciplinary field known as FSI has been expanded to engineering fields such as offshore structures, tall slender structures and other flexible structures applications. The motivation of this paper is to investigate the numerical model of two-way coupling FSI partitioned flexible plate structure under fluid flow. The adopted partitioned method and approach utilized the advantage of the existing numerical algorithms in solving the two-way coupling fluid and structural interactions. The flexible plate was subjected to a fluid flow which causes large deformation on the fluid domain from the oscillation of the flexible plate. Both fluid and flexible plate are subjected to the interaction of load transfer within two physics by using the strong and weak coupling methods of MFS and Load Transfer Physics Environment, respectively. The oscillation and deformation results have been validated which demonstrate the reliability of both strong and weak method in resolving the two-way coupling problem in contribution of knowledge to the feasibility field study of ocean engineering and civil engineering.

MODEL REDUCTION AND ACTIVE CONTROL FOR A FLEXIBLE PLATE

The internal balance technique is effective for model reduction in flexible structures, especially those with dense frequencies. However, due to the difficulty in extracting the internal balance modal coordinates from the physical sensor readings, research so far on this topic has been mostly theoretic and little on experiment or engineering applications. This paper, by working on a DSP TMS320F2812-based experiment system with a flexible plate and bringing forward an approximating approach to accessing the internal balance modal coordinates, studies the internal balance method theoretically as well as experimentally, and further designs an active controller based on the reduced model. Simulation and test results have proven the proposed approximating approach feasible and effective, and the designed controller successful in restraining the plate vibration.

Self-propulsion of a three-dimensional flapping flexible plate

The self-propulsion of a 3-D flapping flexible plate in a stationary fluid is numerically studied by an immersed boundarylattice Boltzmann method for the fluid flow and a finite element method for the plate motion. When the leading-edge of the plate is forced to heave sinusoidally, the entire plate starts to move freely as a result of the fluid-structure interaction. Based on our simulation and analysis on the dynamical behaviors of the flapping flexible plate, we have found that the effect of plate aspect ratio on its propulsive properties can be divided into three typical regimes which are related to the plate flexibility, i.e. stiff, medium flexible, and more flexible regime. It is also identified that a suitable structure flexibility, corresponding to the medium flexible regime, can improve the propulsive speed and efficiency. The wake behind the flapping plate is investigated for several aspect ratios to demonstrate some typical vortical structures. The results obtained in this study can provide some physical insights into the understanding of the propulsive mechanisms in the flapping-based locomotion.

DYNAMIC MODELING AND ACTIVE CONTROL OF FLEXIBLE PLATE BASED ON THE INPUT-OUTPUT DATA

This paper studies the low-order dynamic modeling and active control of a flexible plate and provides experimental verification. First based on the input-output data of the sys- tem, the Markov parameters of the system are identified using the method of observer/Kalman filter identification （OKID）. Then a low-order state-space model is built using the eigensystem realization algorithm （ERA）. Finally, a linear quadratic Gaussian （LQG） controller is designed based on the low-order state-space model. Experimental results have proved the effectiveness and feasibility of the research.

VIBRATION PROBLEMS OF FLEXIBLE CIRCULAR PLATES WITH INITIAL DEFLECTION

In this paper, the differential equations of flexible circular plates with initial deflection are derived. The stability of motion is investigated in phase plane. The periodical solutions of nonlinear vibration for circular plates with initial deflection are obtained by use of Galerkin method and Lindstedt-Poincare perturbation method. The effect of initial deflection on the dynamic behavior of the flexible plates are also discussed.

ACTIVE CONTROL OF A FLEXIBLE CANTILEVER PLATE WITH MULTIPLE TIME DELAYS

Active control of a flexible cantilever plate with multiple time delays is investigated using the discrete optimal control method. A controller with multiple time delays is presented. In this controller, time delay effect is incorporated in the mathematical model of the dynamic system throughout the control design and no approximations and assumptions are made in the controller derivation, so the system stability is easily guaranteed. Furthermore, this controller is available for both small time delays and large time delays. The feasibility and efficiency of the proposed controller are verified through numerical simulations in the end of this paper.

Modeling and optimization methods of integrated production planning for steel plate mill with flexible customization

With diversified requirements and varying manufacturing environments, the optimal production planning for a steel mill becomes more flexible and complicated. The flexibility provides operators with auxiliary requirements through an implementable integrated production planning. In this paper, a mixed-integer nonlinear programming(MINLP) model is proposed for the optimal planning that incorporates various manufacturing constraints and flexibility in a steel plate mill. Furthermore, two solution strategies are developed to overcome the weakness in solving the MINLP problem directly. The first one is to transform the original MINLP formulation to an approximate mixed integer linear programming using a classic linearization method. The second one is to decompose the original model using a branch-and-bound based iterative method. Computational experiments on various instances are presented in terms of the effectiveness and applicability. The result shows that the second method performs better in computational efforts and solution accuracy.

Delayed feedback control experiments on some flexible structures

In recent decades,studies on delayed system dynamics have attracted increasing attention and advances have been achieved in stability,nonlinearity,delay identification, delay elimination and application.However,most of the existing work is on the theoretical basis and little is on the experiment.This paper presents our experimental studies on delayed feedback control conducted in recent years with the focus on the discussion of a DSP-based delayed experiment system.Some phenomena in our delay experiments are discussed and a few topics of interest for further research are brought forward.

SIMULATION OF FABRIC DRAPE USING A THIN PLATE ELEMENT WITH FINITE ROTATION

The draping behavior of fabric is simulated by using four node quadrilateral thin plate elements with finite rotation. The finite element formulation is based on the total Lagrangian approach. An exact representation of finite rotation is introduced. The strain energy function accounting for the material symmetry is obtained by the tensor representation theory. To avoid shear locking, the assumed strain technique for transverse shear is adopted. The conjugate gradient method with a proposed line search algorithm is employed to minimize energy and reach the final shape of fabric. The draping behavior of a rectangular piece of fabric over a rectangular table is simulated. (Author abstract) 9 Refs.

Multivariable wavelet finite element for flexible skew thin plate analysis

Flexible skew thin plate is widely used in mechanical engineering,architectural engineering and structural engineering.High-precision analysis is very important for structural design and improvement.In this paper,the multivariable wavelet finite element(MWFE)based on B-spline wavelet on the interval(BSWI)is constructed for flexible skew thin plate analysis.First,the finite element formulation is derived from multivariable generalized potential energy function.Then the generalized field variables are interpolated and calculated by BSWI.Different from the traditional wavelet finite element,the analysis precision can be improved because the generalized displacement and stress field variables are interpolated and calculated independently,the secondary calculation and the computational error are avoided.In order to verify the effectiveness of the constructed MWFE,several numerical examples are given in the end.