Nonlocal nonlinear mechanics of imperfect carbon nanotubes

In this article, for the first time, a coupled nonlinear model incorporating scale influences is presented to simultaneously investigate the influences of viscoelasticity and geometrical imperfections on the nonlocal coupled mechanics of carbon nanotubes; large deformations, stress nonlocality and strain gradients are captured in the model. The Kelvin-Voigt model is also applied in order to ascertain the viscoelasticity effects on the mechanics of the initially imperfect nanoscale system. The modified coupled equations of motion are then derived via the Hamilton principle. A solution approach for the derived coupled equations is finally developed applying a decomposition-based procedure in conjunction with a continuation-based scheme. The significance of many parameters such as size parameters, initial imperfections, excitation parameters and linear and nonlinear damping effects in the nonlinear mechanical response of the initially imperfect viscoelastic carbon nanotube is assessed. The present results can be useful for nanoscale devices using carbon nanotubes since the viscoelasticity and geometrical imperfection are simultaneously included in the proposed model

Extremely large-amplitude dynamics of cantilevers under coupled base excitation

Extremely large-amplitude nonlinear dynamics of a cantilever with a mass at the tip under coupled base excitations is examined for the first time. An exact model of the centreline rotation of the cantilever is developed capable of accurately predicting the cantilever dynamic response even at extremely large amplitudes; a nonlinear static finite element analysis is conducted to verify the accuracy of the proposed model at very large deflection amplitudes. The proposed model is based on the theory of Euler-Bernoulli and the internal damping model of Kelvin-Voigt; the centreline of the cantilever is assumed to remain inextensible. The proposed model for the cantilever centreline rotation is discretised via the Galerkin modal decomposition method while keeping all terms exact. Extensive numerical simulations are conducted to examine the primary and parametric resonance of the cantilever due to transverse and axial base excitations, respectively. It is shown that under the same axial and transverse amplitudes of excitation, the parametric resonance is much stronger than the primary resonance

Motion limiting nonlinear dynamics of initially curved beams

An initially curved beam is considered and its motion is constrained using two elastic constraints; the corresponding non-smooth nonlinear transverse dynamics is investigated for the first time. A clamped-clamped beam with one axially movable end is modelled via Bernoulli-Euler beam theory together with the inextensibility condition, giving rise to nonlinear inertial terms along with nonlinear geometric terms. Furthermore, the damping is modelled via Kelvin-Voigt internal damping model. The proposed model is verified for linear and nonlinear behaviours via comparison to a finite element model. The impact between beam and constraints is incorporated via calculating its work contribution. The nonlinear equation of motion is derived while incorporating geometric, damping, inertial, and constraints nonlinearities. A series of spatial basis functions together with corresponding vibration modes are used as the proposed solution of the transverse displacement. A modal discretisation is performed via the weighted-residual method of Galerkin and the corresponding non-smooth terms are kept intact while conducting numerical integration. A numerical continuation technique is utilised to solve the resultant equations. The non-smooth response is obtained for various cases and the effects of several parameters are studied thoroughly

Extremely large dynamics of axially excited cantilevers

The nonlinear parametric resonance of a cantilever under axial base excitation is examined while capturing extremely large oscillation amplitudes for the first time. A geometrically exact model is developed for the cantilever based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and inextensibility condition. In order to be able to capture extremely large oscillation amplitudes accurately, the equation of motion is derived for centreline rotation while keeping trigonometric terms intact. The developed model is verified for the static case through comparison to a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element model. The internal energy dissipation model of Kelvin-Voigt is used to model the system damping in large amplitudes more accurately. The Galerkin modal decomposition scheme is utilised for discretisation procedure while keeping the trigonometric terms intact. It is shown that in parametric resonance region, the oscillation amplitudes grow extremely large even for smallest possible amplitudes of the base excitation, which highlights the significant importance of employing a geometrically exact model to examine the parametric resonance response of a cantilever

Nonlinear broadband performance of energy harvesters

Broadband nonlinear energy harvesting capabilities of a parametrically excited bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester is investigated for the first time. The performance of the energy harvester is significantly enhanced via use of stoppers and an added tip mass in conjunction with parametric excitation. A fully nonlinear electromechanical model of the energy harvester was developed using beam theory of Euler-Bernoulli and the coupled constitutive equations for piezoelectric materials, with the motion constraints modelled as nonlinear springs. A multi-modal discretisation was conducted utilising the Galerkin scheme; the resultant set of equations was examined numerically through use of continuation technique. It is shown that a resonance bandwidth of 46% (normalised with respect to parametric resonance frequency) is achieved which is almost 10 times the resonance bandwidth of the system without any constraints

Design and development of a parametrically excited nonlinear energy harvester

An energy harvester has been designed, fabricated and tested based on the nonlinear dynamical response of a parametrically excited clamped-clamped beam with a central point-mass; magnets have been used as the central point-mass which pass through a coil when parametrically excited. Experiments have been conducted for the energy harvester when the system is excited (i) harmonically near the primary resonance; (ii) harmonically near the principal parametric resonance; (iii) by means of a non-smooth periodic excitation. An electrodynamic shaker was used to parametrically excite the system and the corresponding displacement of the magnet and output voltages of the coil were measured. It has been shown that the system displays linear behaviour at the primary resonance; however, at the principal parametric resonance, the motion characteristic of the magnet substantially changed displaying a strong softening-type nonlinearity. Theoretical simulations have also been conducted in order to verify the experimental results; the comparison between theory and experiment were within very good agreement of each other. The energy harvester developed in this paper is capable of harvesting energy close to the primary resonance as well as the principal parametric resonance; the frequency-band has been broadened significantly mainly due to the nonlinear effects as well as the parametric excitation

State of the Art Lower Limb Robotic Exoskeletons for Elderly Assistance

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8759880/keywords#keywordsThe number of elderly populations is rapidly increasing. Majority of elderly people face difficulties while walking because the muscular activity or other gait-related parameters start to deteriorate with aging. Therefore, the quality of life among them can be suffered. To make their life more comfortable, service providing robotic solutions in terms of wearable powered exoskeletons should be realized. Assistive powered exoskeletons are capable of providing additional torque to support various activities, such as walking, sit to stand, and stand to sit motions to subjects with mobility impairments. Specifically, the powered exoskeletons try to maintain and keep subjects' limbs on the specified motion trajectory. The state of the art of currently available lower limb assistive exoskeletons for weak and elderly people is presented in this paper. The technology employed in the assistive devices, such as actuation and power supply types, control strategies, their functional abilities, and the mechanism design, is thoroughly described. The outcome of studied literature reveals that there is still much work to be done in the improvement of assistive exoskeletons in terms of their technological aspects, such as choosing proper and effective control methods, developing user friendly interfaces, and decreasing the costs of device to make it more affordable, meanwhile ensuring safe interaction for the end-users

Viscoelastically coupled mechanics of fluid-conveying microtubes

In this paper, the complex viscoelastically coupled global mechanics of fluid-conveying microtubes is examined for the first time. The externally excited microtube is assumed to be embedded in a nonlinear elastic medium. A scale-dependent theoretical model is presented with consideration of curvature nonlinearity within the context of the modified version of the couple stress theory (CST). According to Hamilton's energy/work principle, the coupled nonlinear equations of fluid-conveying microscale tubes are presented. Both the transverse and longitudinal displacements and inertia are taken into account in the continuum-based model and numerical calculations. In order to discretise the governing nonlinear differential equations, Galerkin's weighted-residual procedure is employed. The bifurcation characteristics of the fluid-conveying microsystem with clamped-clamped boundary conditions are obtained within the framework of a direct time-integration procedure. It is found that the complex global dynamics of the fluid-conveying microsystem is very sensitive to the speed of the flowing fluid