Synthesis of electrical networks interconnecting PZT actuators to damp mechanical vibrations

This paper proves that it is possible to damp mechanical vibrations of some beam frames by means of piezoelectric actuators interconnected via passive networks. We create a kind of electromechanical wave guide where the electrical velocity group equals the mechanical one thus enabling an electromechanical energy transfer. Numerical simulations are presented which prove the technical feasibility of proposed deviceComment: International Symposium on Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics in honor of Professor K.Miya, Tokyo: 2000. 9 page

Identifying manifolds underlying group motion in Vicsek agents

Collective motion of animal groups often undergoes changes due to perturbations. In a topological sense, we describe these changes as switching between low-dimensional embedding manifolds underlying a group of evolving agents. To characterize such manifolds, first we introduce a simple mapping of agents between time-steps. Then, we construct a novel metric which is susceptible to variations in the collective motion, thus revealing distinct underlying manifolds. The method is validated through three sample scenarios simulated using a Vicsek model, namely switching of speed, coordination, and structure of a group. Combined with a dimensionality reduction technique that is used to infer the dimensionality of the embedding manifold, this approach provides an effective model-free framework for the analysis of collective behavior across animal species.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, journal articl

How adherence to public health measures shapes epidemic spreading: A temporal network model

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the importance of non-pharmaceutical interventions in the containment of airborne infectious diseases. Social distancing and mask-wearing have been found to contain COVID-19 spreading across a number of observational studies, but a precise understanding of their combined effectiveness is lacking. An underdeveloped area of research entails the quantification of the specific role of each of these measures when they are differentially adopted by the population. Pursuing this research allows for answering several pressing questions like: how many people should follow public health measures for them to be effective for everybody? Is it sufficient to practice social distancing only or just wear a mask? Here, we make a first step in this direction, by establishing a susceptible-exposed-infected-removed epidemic model on a temporal network, evolving according to the activity-driven paradigm. Through analytical and numerical efforts, we study epidemic spreading as a function of the proportion of the population following public health measures, the extent of social distancing, and the efficacy of masks in protecting the wearer and others. Our model demonstrates that social distancing and mask-wearing can be effective in preventing COVID-19 outbreaks if adherence to both measures involves a substantial fraction of the population

Reduced-order models for microelectromechanical rectangular and circular plates incorporating the Casimir force

AbstractWe consider the von Kármán nonlinearity and the Casimir force to develop reduced-order models for prestressed clamped rectangular and circular electrostatically actuated microplates. Reduced-order models are derived by taking flexural vibration mode shapes as basis functions for the transverse displacement. The in-plane displacement vector is decomposed as the sum of displacements for irrotational and isochoric waves in a two-dimensional medium. Each of these two displacement vector fields satisfies an eigenvalue problem analogous to that of transverse vibrations of a linear elastic membrane. Basis functions for the transverse and the in-plane displacements are related by using the nonlinear equation governing the plate in-plane motion. The reduced-order model is derived from the equation yielding the transverse deflection of a point. For static deformations of a plate, the pull-in parameters are found by using the displacement iteration pull-in extraction method. Reduced-order models are also used to study linear vibrations about a predeformed configuration. It is found that 9 basis functions for a rectangular plate give a converged solution, while 3 basis functions give pull-in parameters with an error of at most 4%. For a circular plate, 3 basis functions give a converged solution while the pull-in parameters computed with 2 basis functions have an error of at most 3%. The value of the Casimir force at the onset of pull-in instability is used to compute device size that can be safely fabricated

Elastic interaction of interfacial spherical-cap cracks in hollow particle filled composites

AbstractThis work analyzes the elastic interaction between two spherical-cap cracks present along the outer surface of a hollow particle embedded in a dissimilar medium under remote uniaxial tensile loading. A semi-analytical approach based on an enriched Galerkin method is adopted to determine stress and deformation fields as functions of particle wall thickness and cracks’ configuration. The present analysis is limited to multiple interfacial spherical-cap cracks; that is, crack propagation is restrained to the particle-matrix interface and possibility of crack kinking in the matrix is not considered. Interfacial crack growth characteristics, conditions for stable crack propagation, equal crack growth, and shielding are established through energy release rate analysis. The study is relevant to the analysis of tensile and flexural failure of syntactic foams used in marine and aerospace applications. Results specialized to glass-vinyl ester syntactic foams demonstrate that particle wall thickness can be used to control crack stability and growth characteristics as well as tailoring the magnitude of the shielding phenomenon. Predictions are compared to finite element findings for validation and to results for penny-shaped cracks to elucidate the role of crack curvature

Analysis of hollow inclusion–matrix debonding in particulate composites

AbstractThis work aims at understanding the effect of particle–matrix interfacial debonding on the tensile response of syntactic foams. The problem of a single hollow inclusion with spherical-cap cracks embedded in a dissimilar matrix material is studied. Degradation of elastic modulus, cavity formation in the proximity of debonded regions, stress localization phenomena in the inclusion, debonding energetics, and crack kinking are studied for a broad range of inclusion wall thickness and debonding extent. A series solution based on the Galerkin method is proposed and validated through comparison with findings from boundary element and finite element methods. Results are specialized to glass particle-vinyl ester matrix systems widely used in marine structural applications. The insight gained into the role of particle–matrix debonding extent and inclusion wall thickness is useful in understanding the possible failure mechanisms of syntactic foams under tensile and flexural loading conditions and in tailoring their parameters for specific applications

A multi-agent model to study epidemic spreading and vaccination strategies in an urban-like environment

Worldwide urbanization calls for a deeper understanding of epidemic spreading within urban environments. Here, we tackle this problem through an agent-based model, in which agents move in a two-dimensional physical space and interact according to proximity criteria. The planar space comprises several locations, which represent bounded regions of the urban space. Based on empirical evidence, we consider locations of different density and place them in a core-periphery structure, with higher density in the central areas and lower density in the peripheral ones. Each agent is assigned to a base location, which represents where their home is. Through analytical tools and numerical techniques, we study the formation mechanism of the network of contacts, which is characterized by the emergence of heterogeneous interaction patterns. We put forward an extensive simulation campaign to analyze the onset and evolution of contagious diseases spreading in the urban environment. Interestingly, we find that, in the presence of a core-periphery structure, the diffusion of the disease is not affected by the time agents spend inside their base location before leaving it, but it is influenced by their motion outside their base location: a strong tendency to return to the base location favors the spreading of the disease. A simplified one-dimensional version of the model is examined to gain analytical insight into the spreading process and support our numerical findings. Finally, we investigate the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns, supporting the intuition that vaccination in central and dense areas should be prioritized