The influence of porosity on the elastic response of homogeneous and structural composite media

Continuum theories of composites are employed to analyze the influence of inclusions and porosity on the elastic response of both homogeneous and laminated composite media. The general model analyzed consists of a periodic array of two perfectly bonded laminates; one of which consists of an elastic homogeneous material while the other is made up of a periodic array of cylindrical elastic inclusions that are distributed in another elastic matrix material. Several specific models are deduced as special cases. In all cases, porosity is simulated in the limit as the properties of the inclusions identically vanish. It is demonstrated that porosity plays a major role in the geometric dispersion of such media; in particular, it increases the arrival and rise times (spreading) of a propagating transient pulse. For the special case of elastic inclusions in a homogeneous matrix media, the present results correlate very well with existing experimental data and other approximate analyses.     

Three-to-One Internal Resonances in Hinged-Clamped Beams

The nonlinear planar response of a hinged-clamped beam to a primary excitation of either its first mode or its second mode is investigated. The analysis accounts for mid-plane stretching, a static axial load and a restraining spring at one end, and modal damping. For a range of axial loads, the second natural frequency is approximately three times the first natural frequency and hence the first and second modes may interact due to a three-to-one internal resonance. The method of multiple scales is used to attack directly the governing nonlinear partial-differential equation and derive two sets of four first-order nonlinear ordinary-differential equations describing the modulation of the amplitudes and phases of the first two modes in the case of primary resonance of either the first or the second mode. Periodic motions and periodically and chaotically modulated motions of the beam are determined by investigating the equilibrium and dynamic solutions of the modulation equations. For the case of primary resonance of the first mode, only two-mode solutions are possible, whereas for the case of primary resonance of the second mode, single- and two-mode solutions are possible. The two-mode equilibrium solutions of the modulation equations may undergo a supercritical or a subcritical Hopf bifurcation, depending on the magnitude of the axial load. A shooting technique is used to calculate limit cycles of the modulation equations and Floquet theory is used to ascertain their stability. The limit cycles correspond to periodically modulated motions of the beam. The limit cycles are found to undergo cyclic-fold bifurcations and period-doubling bifurcations, leading to chaos. The chaotic attractors may undergo boundary crises, resulting in the destruction of the chaotic attractors and their basins of attraction.     

A Study of the Nonlinear Response of a Resonant Microbeam to an Electric Actuation

An investigation into the response of a resonant microbeam to anelectric actuation is presented. A nonlinear model is used to accountfor the mid-plane stretching, a DC electrostatic force, and an ACharmonic force. Design parameters are included in the model by lumpingthem into nondimensional parameters. A perturbation method, the methodof multiple scales, is used to obtain two first-order nonlinearordinary-differential equations that describe the modulation of theamplitude and phase of the response and its stability. The model and theresults obtained by the perturbation analysis are validated by comparingthem with published experimental results. The case of three-to-oneinternal resonance is treated.The effect of the design parameters on the dynamic responses isdiscussed. The results show that increasing the axial force improves thelinear characteristics of the resonance frequency and decreases theundesirable frequency shift produced by the nonlinearities. In contrast,increasing the mid-plane stretching has the reverse effect. Moreover,the DC electrostatic load is found to affect the qualitative andquantitative nature of the frequency-response curves, resulting ineither a softening or a hardening behavior. The results also show thatan inaccurate representation of the system nonlinearities may lead to anerroneous prediction of the frequency response.     

Primary resonance excitation of electrically actuated clamped circular plates

We investigate the response of an electrically actuated clamped circular plate to a primary resonance excitation of its first axisymmetric mode using an analytical reduced-order model (macromodel). We discuss the inf luence of the number of modes retained in the discretization on the predicted solutions. The reduced-order model, which is a system of coupled nonlinear ordinary-dif ferential equations, accounts for general residual stress and strain hardening and allows for general material and geometric design variables. Our reduced-order model is robust up to the pull-in instability and is general enough to be an ef fective design tool for capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers.     

Three-dimensional nonlinear vibrations of composite beams — II. flapwise excitations

The nonlinear equations of motion derived in Part I are used to investigate the response of an inextensional, symmetric angle-ply graphite-epoxy beam to a harmonic base-excitation along the flapwise direction. The equations contain bending-twisting couplings and quadratic and cubic nonlinearities due to curvature and inertia. The analysis focuses on the case of primary resonance of the first flexural-torsional (flapwise-torsional) mode when its frequency is approximately one-half the frequency of the first out-of-plane flexural (chordwide) mode. A combination of the fundamental-matrix method and the method of multiple scales is used to derive four first-order ordinary-differential equations to describe the time variation of the amplitudes and phases of the interacting modes with damping, nonlinearity, and resonances. The eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix of the modulation equations are used to determine the stability and bifurcations of their constant solutions, and Floquet theory is used to determine the stability and bifurcations of their limit-cycle solutions. Hopf bifurcations, symmetry-breaking bifurcations, period-multiplying sequences, and chaotic solutions of the modulation equations are studied. Chaotic solutions are identified from their frequency spectra, Poincaré sections, and Lyapunov's exponents. The results show that the beam motion may be nonplanar although the input force is planar. Nonplanar responses may be periodic, periodically modulated, or chaotically modulated motions.     

Sway Reduction on Container Cranes Using Delayed Feedback Controller

Traditionally, container cranes are modeled as a simple pendulum, witheither a flexible or a rigid hoisting cable, and a lumped mass at theend of that cable. In the case of large container cranes, the actualconfiguration of the hoisting mechanism is significantly different. Itconsists typically of an arrangement of four hoisting cables, which arehoisted from four different points on the trolley and attached on theload side to four points on a spreader bar used to lift containers.Thus, the dynamics of the actual container-crane hoisting assembly isdifferent from that of a simple pendulum. A controller design based onthe actual model is more likely to result in an improved response. Inthis work, a mathematical model of the actual container crane isdeveloped. Then, a simplified version of this model is used to calculatethe gain and delay for the delay controller developed earlier. Numericalsimulations are performed by applying the delay controller to the fullnonlinear model of the container crane.     

Dynamic pull-in phenomenon in MEMS resonators

We study the pull-in instability in microelectromechanical (MEMS) resonators and find that characteristics of the pull-in phenomenon in the presence of AC loads differ from those under purely DC loads. We analyze this phenomenon, dubbed dynamic pull-in, and formulate safety criteria for the design of MEMS resonant sensors and filters excited near one of their natural frequencies. We also utilize this phenomenon to design a low-voltage MEMS RF switch actuated with a combined DC and AC loading. The new switch uses a voltage much lower than the traditionally used DC voltage. Either the frequency or the amplitude of the AC loading can be adjusted to reduce the driving voltage and switching time. The new actuation method has the potential of solving the problem of high driving voltages of RF MEMS switches.     

Chaos and instability in a power system: Subharmonic-resonant case

The response of a single-machine quasi-infinite busbar system to the simultaneous occurrence of principal parametric resonance and subharmonic resonance of order one-half is investigated. By numerical simulations we show the existence of oscillatory solutions (limit cycles), period-doubling bifurcations, chaos, and unbounded motions (loss of synchronism). The method of multiple scales is used to derive a second-order analytical solution that predicts (a) the onset of period-doubling bifurcations, which is a precursor to chaos and unbounded motions (loss of synchronism), and (b) saddle-node bifurcations, which may be precursors to loss of synchronism.     

Vibrations of highly prestressed anisotropic plates via a numerical-perturbation technique

The method of matched asymptotic expansions is used to reduce the problem of the transverse vibrations of a highly prestressed anisotropic plate into the simpler problem of the vibration of an anisotropic membrane with modified boundary conditions that account for the bending effects. In the absence of an exact solution the membrane problem can be solved by any well-known numerical technique. The numerical-perturbation results for a clamped circular plate with rectangular orthotropy and a uniform tensile stress applied on its boundary show an excellent correlation with finite-element solutions for the original problem. Furthermore, the solutions obtained for annular plates form the basis for solutions to problems involving near-annular plates.     

Modal interactions in contact-mode atomic force microscopes

Atomic force microscopes (AFM) are used to estimate material and surface properties. When using contact-mode AFM, the sample or the probe is excited near a natural frequency of the system to estimate the linear coefficient of the contact stiffness. Because higher modes offer lower thermal noise, higher quality factors, and higher sensitivity to stiff samples, their use in this procedure is more desirable. However, these modes are candidates for internal resonances, where the energy being fed into one mode may be channeled to another mode. Ignoring such interactions could distort or affect the accuracy of measurements. The method of multiple scales is used to derive an approximate analytical expression to the probe response in the presence of two-to-one autoparametric resonance between the second and third modes. We examine characteristics of this solution in relation to a single-mode response and consider its implications in AFM measurements. We find that the influence of this interaction extends over a considerable range of the tip-sample contact stiffness.