Virtual spring damper method for nonholonomic robotic swarm self-organization and leader following

In this paper, we demonstrate a method for self-organization and leader following of nonholonomic robotic swarm based on spring damper mesh. By self-organization of swarm robots we mean the emergence of order in a swarm as the result of interactions among the single robots. In other words the self-organization of swarm robots mimics some natural behavior of social animals like ants among others. The dynamics of two-wheel robot is derived, and a relation between virtual forces and robot control inputs is defined in order to establish stable swarm formation. Two cases of swarm control are analyzed. In the first case the swarm cohesion is achieved by virtual spring damper mesh connecting nearest neighboring robots without designated leader. In the second case we introduce a swarm leader interacting with nearest and second neighbors allowing the swarm to follow the leader. The paper ends with numeric simulation for performance evaluation of the proposed control method

Minimal surfaces and conservation laws for bidimensional structures

We discuss conservation laws for thin structures which could be modeled as a material minimal surface, i.e., a surface with zero mean curvatures. The models of an elastic membrane and micropolar (six-parameter) shell undergoing finite deformations are considered. We show that for a minimal surface, it is possible to formulate a conservation law similar to three-dimensional non-linear elasticity. It brings us a path-independent J-integral which could be used in mechanics of fracture. So, the class of minimal surfaces extends significantly a possible geometry of two-dimensional structures which possess conservation laws

Ellipticity of gradient poroelasticity

We discuss the ellipticity properties of an enhanced model of poroelastic continua called dilatational strain gradient elasticity. Within the theory there exists a deformation energy density given as a function of strains and gradient of dilatation. We show that the equilibrium equations are elliptic in the sense of Douglis–Nirenberg. These conditions are more general than the ordinary and strong ellipticity but keep almost all necessary properties of equilibrium equations. In particular, the loss of the ellipticity could be considered as a criterion of a strain localization or material instability

Linear Pantographic Sheets: Existence and Uniqueness of Weak Solutions

The well-posedness of the boundary value problems for second gradient elasticity has been studied under the assumption of strong ellipticity of the dependence on the second placement gradients (see, e.g., Chambon and Moullet in Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 193:2771–2796, 2004 and Mareno and Healey in SIAM J. Math. Anal. 38:103–115, 2006). The study of the equilibrium of planar pantographic lattices has been approached in two different ways: in dell’Isola et al. (Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Ser. A 472:20150, 2016) a discrete model was introduced involving extensional and rotational springs which is also valid in large deformations regimes while in Boutin et al. (Math. Mech. Complex Syst. 5:127–162, 2017) the lattice has been modelled as a set of beam elements interconnected by internal pivots, but the analysis was restricted to the linear case. In both papers a homogenized second gradient deformation energy, quadratic in the neighbourhood of non deformed configuration, is obtained via perturbative methods and the predictions obtained with the obtained continuum model are successfully compared with experiments. This energy is not strongly elliptic in its dependence on second gradients. We consider in this paper also the important particular case of pantographic lattices whose first gradient energy does not depend on shear deformation: this could be considered either a pathological case or an important exceptional case (see Stillwell et al. in Am. Math. Mon. 105:850–858, 1998 and Turro in Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 39:2255–2259, 2000). In both cases we believe that such a particular case deserves some attention because of what we can understand by studying it (see Dyson in Science 200:677–678, 1978). This circumstance motivates the present paper, where we address the well-posedness of the planar linearized equilibrium problem for homogenized pantographic lattices. To do so: (i) we introduce a class of subsets of anisotropic Sobolev’s space as the most suitable energy space E relative to assigned boundary conditions; (ii) we prove that the considered strain energy density is coercive and positive definite in E; (iii) we prove that the set of placements for which the strain energy is vanishing (the so-called floppy modes) must strictly include rigid motions; (iv) we determine the restrictions on displacement boundary conditions which assure existence and uniqueness of linear static problems. The presented results represent one of the first mechanical applications of the concept of Anisotropic Sobolev space, initially introduced only on the basis of purely abstract mathematical considerations

Analytical continuum mechanics \`a la Hamilton-Piola: least action principle for second gradient continua and capillary fluids

In this paper a stationary action principle is proven to hold for capillary fluids, i.e. fluids for which the deformation energy has the form suggested, starting from molecular arguments, for instance by Cahn and Hilliard. Remark that these fluids are sometimes also called Korteweg-de Vries or Cahn-Allen. In general continua whose deformation energy depend on the second gradient of placement are called second gradient (or Piola-Toupin or Mindlin or Green-Rivlin or Germain or second gradient) continua. In the present paper, a material description for second gradient continua is formulated. A Lagrangian action is introduced in both material and spatial description and the corresponding Euler-Lagrange bulk and boundary conditions are found. These conditions are formulated in terms of an objective deformation energy volume density in two cases: when this energy is assumed to depend on either C and grad C or on C^-1 and grad C^-1 ; where C is the Cauchy-Green deformation tensor. When particularized to energies which characterize fluid materials, the capillary fluid evolution conditions (see e.g. Casal or Seppecher for an alternative deduction based on thermodynamic arguments) are recovered. A version of Bernoulli law valid for capillary fluids is found and, in the Appendix B, useful kinematic formulas for the present variational formulation are proposed. Historical comments about Gabrio Piola's contribution to continuum analytical mechanics are also presented. In this context the reader is also referred to Capecchi and Ruta.Comment: 52 page

On the effective properties of foams in the framework of the couple stress theory

In the framework of the couple stress theory, we discuss the effective elastic properties of a metal open-cell foam. In this theory, we have the couple stress tensor, but the microrotations are fully described by displacements. To this end, we performed calculations for a representative volume element which give the matrices of elastic moduli relating stress and stress tensors with strain and microcurvature tensors

A new hyperbolic-polynomial higher-order elasticity theory for mechanics of thick FGM beams with imperfection in the material composition

A drawback to the material composition of thick functionally graded materials (FGM) beams is checked out in this research in conjunction with a novel hyperbolic-polynomial higher-order elasticity beam theory (HPET). The proposed beam model consists of a novel shape function for the distribution of shear stress deformation in the transverse coordinate. The beam theory also incorporates the stretching effect to present an indirect effect of thickness variations. As a result of compounding the proposed beam model in linear Lagrangian strains and variational of energy, the system of equations is obtained. The Galerkin method is here expanded for several edge conditions to obtain elastic critical buckling values. First, the importance of the higher-order beam theory, as well as stretching effect, is assessed in assorted tabulated comparisons. Next, with validations based on the existing and open literature, the proposed shape function is evaluated to consider the desired accuracy. Some comparative graphs by means of well-known shape functions are plotted. These comparisons reveal a very good compliance. In the final section of the paper, based on an inappropriate mixture of the SUS304 and Si3C4 as the first type of FGM beam (Beam-I) and, Al and Al2O3 as the second type (Beam-II), the results are pictured while the beam is kept in four states, clamped–clamped (C–C), pinned–pinned (S–S), clamped-pinned (C–S) and in particular cantilever (C–F). We found that the defect impresses markedly an FGM beam with boundary conditions with lower degrees of freedom

On the well posedness of static boundary value problem within the linear dilatational strain gradient elasticity

AbstractIn this paper, it is proven an existence and uniqueness theorem for weak solutions of the equilibrium problem for linear isotropic dilatational strain gradient elasticity. Considered elastic bodies have as deformation energy the classical one due to Lamé but augmented with an additive term that depends on the norm of the gradient of dilatation: only one extra second gradient elastic coefficient is introduced. The studied class of solids is therefore related to Korteweg or Cahn–Hilliard fluids. The postulated energy naturally induces the space in which the aforementioned well-posedness result can be formulated. In this energy space, the introduced norm does involve the linear combination of some specific higher-order derivatives only: it is, in fact, a particular example of anisotropic Sobolev space. It is also proven that aforementioned weak solutions belongs to the space $$H^1(div,V)$$ H 1 ( d i v , V ) , i.e. the space of $$H^1$$ H 1 functions whose divergence belongs to $$H^1$$ H 1 . The proposed mathematical frame is essential to conceptually base, on solid grounds, the numerical integration schemes required to investigate the properties of dilatational strain gradient elastic bodies. Their energy, as studied in the present paper, has manifold interests. Mathematically speaking, its singularity causes interesting mathematical difficulties whose overcoming leads to an increased understanding of the theory of second gradient continua. On the other hand, from the mechanical point of view, it gives an example of energy for a second gradient continuum which can sustain externally applied surface forces and double forces but cannot sustain externally applied surface couples. In this way, it is proven that couple stress continua, introduced by Toupin, represent only a particular case of the more general class of second gradient continua. Moreover, it is easily checked that for dilatational strain gradient continua, balance of force and balance of torques (or couples) are not enough to characterise equilibrium: to this aim, externally applied surface double forces must also be specified. As a consequence, the postulation scheme based on variational principles seems more suitable to study second gradient continua. It has to be remarked finally that dilatational strain gradient seems suitable to model the experimentally observed behaviour of some material used in 3D printing process

Nonlinear resultant theory of shells accounting for thermodiffusion

The complete nonlinear resultant 2D model of shell thermodiffusion is developed. All 2D balance laws and the entropy imbalance are formulated by direct through-the-thickness integration of respective 3D laws of continuum thermodiffusion. This leads to a more rich thermodynamic structure of our 2D model with several additional 2D fields not present in the 3D parent model. Constitutive equations of elastic thermodiffusive shells are discussed in more detail. They are formulated from restrictions imposed by the resultant 2D entropy imbalance according to Coleman–Noll procedure extended by a set of 2D constitutive equations based on heuristic assumptions

On effective bending stiffness of a laminate nanoplate considering steigmann–ogden surface elasticity

As at the nanoscale the surface-to-volume ratio may be comparable with any characteristic length, while the material properties may essentially depend on surface/interface energy properties. In order to get effective material properties at the nanoscale, one can use various generalized models of continuum. In particular, within the framework of continuum mechanics, the surface elasticity is applied to the modelling of surface-related phenomena. In this paper, we derive an expression for the effective bending stiffness of a laminate plate, considering the Steigmann–Ogden surface elasticity. To this end, we consider plane bending deformations and utilize the through-the-thickness integration procedure. As a result, the calculated elastic bending stiffness depends on lamina thickness and on bulk and surface elastic moduli. The obtained expression could be useful for the description of the bending of multilayered thin films