Dynamic range tuning of graphene nanoresonators

From sensing perspective, smaller electromechanical devices, in general, are expected to be more responsive to the stimuli. This enhanced performance, however, is contingent upon the noise sources remaining unchanged and the onset of nonlinear behavior not being precipitated by miniaturization. In this paper, we study the effect of strain on the nonlinearities and dynamic range in graphene nanoresonators. The dynamic response and the onset of nonlinearity in these devices are sensitive both to the electrostatic field used to actuate the device and the strain. By tuning the strain of the device by two orders of magnitude, we observe an enhancement of 25 dB in the dynamic range leading to a mass resolution of 100 yoctogram. The increase in dynamic range in our devices is modeled as a combined effect of strain and partial cancellation of elastic and electrostatic nonlinearities. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

Simulations of impinging droplets with surfactant-dependent dynamic contact angle

An arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) finite element scheme for computations of soluble surfactant droplet impingement on a horizontal surface is presented. The numerical scheme solves the time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations for the fluid flow, scalar convection-diffusion equation for the surfactant transport in the bulk phase, and simultaneously, surface evolution equations for the surfactants on the free surface and on the liquid-solid interface. The effects of surfactants on the flow dynamics are included into the model through the surface tension and surfactant-dependent dynamic contact angle. In particular, the dynamic contact angle (theta(d)) of the droplet is defined as a function of the surfactant concentration at the contact line and the equilibrium contact angle (theta(0)(e)) of the clean surface using the nonlinear equation of state for surface tension. Further, the surface forces are included into the model as surface divergence of the surface stress tensor that allows to incorporate the Marangoni effects without calculating the surface gradient of the surfactant concentration on the free surface. In addition to a mesh convergence study and validation of the numerical results with experiments, the effects of adsorption and desorption surfactant coefficients on the flow dynamics in wetting, partially wetting and non-wetting droplets are studied in detail. It is observed that the effects of surfactants are more in wetting droplets than in the non-wetting droplets. Further, the presence of surfactants at the contact line reduces the equilibrium contact angle further when theta(0)(e) is less than 90 degrees, and increases it further when theta(0)(e) is greater than 90 degrees. Nevertheless, the presence of surfactants has no effect on the contact angle when theta(0)(e) = 90 degrees. The numerical study clearly demonstrates that the surfactant-dependent contact angle has to be considered, in addition to the Marangoni effect, in order to study the flow dynamics and the equilibrium states of surfactant droplet impingement accurately. The proposed numerical scheme guarantees the conservation of fluid mass and of the surfactant mass accurately. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Estimation of nonlinearities from pseudodynamic and dynamic responses of bridge structures using the Delay Vector Variance method

Analysis of the variability in the responses of large structural systems and quantification of their linearity or nonlinearity as a potential non-invasive means of structural system assessment from output-only condition remains a challenging problem. In this study, the Delay Vector Variance (DVV) method is used for full scale testing of both pseudo-dynamic and dynamic responses of two bridges, in order to study the degree of nonlinearity of their measured response signals. The DVV detects the presence of determinism and nonlinearity in a time series and is based upon the examination of local predictability of a signal. The pseudo-dynamic data is obtained from a concrete bridge during repair while the dynamic data is obtained from a steel railway bridge traversed by a train. We show that DVV is promising as a marker in establishing the degree to which a change in the signal nonlinearity reflects the change in the real behaviour of a structure. It is also useful in establishing the sensitivity of instruments or sensors deployed to monitor such changes. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Study of Pressure-Dependent Squeeze Film Stiffness as a Resonance Modulator Using Static and Dynamic Measurements

We report on the resonant frequency modulation of inertial microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) structures due to squeeze film stiffness over a range of working pressures. Squeeze film effects have been studied extensively, but mostly in the context of damping and Q-factor determination of dynamic MEMS structures, typically suspended over a fixed substrate with a very thin air gap. Here, we show with experimental measurements and analytical calculations how the pressure-dependent air springs (squeeze film stiffness) change the resonant frequency of an inertial MEMS structure by as much as five times. For capturing the isolated effect of the squeeze film stiffness, we first determine the static stiffness of our structure with atomic force microscope probing and then study the effect of the air spring by measuring the dynamic response of the structure, thus finding the resonant frequencies while varying the air pressure from 1 to 905 mbar. We also verify our results by analytical and Finite Element Method calculations. Our findings show that the pressure-dependent squeeze film stiffness can affect a rather huge range of frequency modulation (>400%) and, therefore, can be used as a design parameter for exploiting this effect in MEMS devices. 2014-0310]

Physical constraints, fundamental limits, and optimal locus of operating points for an inverted pendulum based actuated dynamic walker

The inverted pendulum is a popular model for describing bipedal dynamic walking. The operating point of the walker can be specified by the combination of initial mid-stance velocity (v(0)) and step angle (phi(m)) chosen for a given walk. In this paper, using basic mechanics, a framework of physical constraints that limit the choice of operating points is proposed. The constraint lines thus obtained delimit the allowable region of operation of the walker in the v(0)-phi(m) plane. A given average forward velocity v(x,) (avg) can be achieved by several combinations of v(0) and phi(m). Only one of these combinations results in the minimum mechanical power consumption and can be considered the optimum operating point for the given v(x, avg). This paper proposes a method for obtaining this optimal operating point based on tangency of the power and velocity contours. Putting together all such operating points for various v(x, avg,) a family of optimum operating points, called the optimal locus, is obtained. For the energy loss and internal energy models chosen, the optimal locus obtained has a largely constant step angle with increasing speed but tapers off at non-dimensional speeds close to unity.

Delineation of homogeneous hydrometeorological regions using wavelet-based global fuzzy cluster analysis

Identification of homogeneous hydrometeorological regions (HMRs) is necessary for various applications. Such regions are delineated by various approaches considering rainfall and temperature as two key variables. In conventional approaches, formation of regions is based on principal components (PCs)/statistics/indices determined from time series of the key variables at monthly and seasonal scales. An issue with use of PCs for regionalization is that they have to be extracted from contemporaneous records of hydrometeorological variables. Therefore, delineated regions may not be effective when the available records are limited over contemporaneous time period. A drawback associated with the use of statistics/indices is that they do not provide effective representation of the key variables when the records exhibit non-stationarity. Consequently, the resulting regions may not be effective for the desired purpose. To address these issues, a new approach is proposed in this article. The approach considers information extracted from wavelet transformations of the observed multivariate hydrometeorological time series as the basis for regionalization by global fuzzy c-means clustering procedure. The approach can account for dynamic variability in the time series and its non-stationarity (if any). Effectiveness of the proposed approach in forming HMRs is demonstrated by application to India, as there are no prior attempts to form such regions over the country. Drought severity-area-frequency (SAF) curves are constructed corresponding to each of the newly formed regions for the use in regional drought analysis, by considering standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) as the drought indicator.

Seismic characterization and dynamic site response of a municipal solid waste landfill in Bangalore, India

Seismic design of landfills requires an understanding of the dynamic properties of municipal solid waste (MSW) and the dynamic site response of landfill waste during seismic events. The dynamic response of the Mavallipura landfill situated in Bangalore, India, is investigated using field measurements, laboratory studies and recorded ground motions from the intraplate region. The dynamic shear modulus values for the MSW were established on the basis of field measurements of shear wave velocities. Cyclic triaxial testing was performed on reconstituted MSW samples and the shear modulus reduction and damping characteristics of MSW were studied. Ten ground motions were selected based on regional seismicity and site response parameters have been obtained considering one-dimensional non-linear analysis in the DEEPSOIL program. The surface spectral response varied from 0.6 to 2g and persisted only for a period of 1s for most of the ground motions. The maximum peak ground acceleration (PGA) obtained was 0.5g and the minimum and maximum amplifications are 1.35 and 4.05. Amplification of the base acceleration was observed at the top surface of the landfill underlined by a composite soil layer and bedrock for all ground motions. Dynamic seismic properties with amplification and site response parameters for MSW landfill in Bangalore, India, are presented in this paper. This study shows that MSW has less shear stiffness and more amplification due to loose filling and damping, which need to be accounted for seismic design of MSW landfills in India.

The time finite element as a robust general scheme for solving nonlinear dynamic equations including chaotic systems

Schemes that can be proven to be unconditionally stable in the linear context can yield unstable solutions when used to solve nonlinear dynamical problems. Hence, the formulation of numerical strategies for nonlinear dynamical problems can be particularly challenging. In this work, we show that time finite element methods because of their inherent energy momentum conserving property (in the case of linear and nonlinear elastodynamics), provide a robust time-stepping method for nonlinear dynamic equations (including chaotic systems). We also show that most of the existing schemes that are known to be robust for parabolic or hyperbolic problems can be derived within the time finite element framework; thus, the time finite element provides a unification of time-stepping schemes used in diverse disciplines. We demonstrate the robust performance of the time finite element method on several challenging examples from the literature where the solution behavior is known to be chaotic. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The time finite element as a robust general scheme for solving nonlinear dynamic equations including chaotic systems

Schemes that can be proven to be unconditionally stable in the linear context can yield unstable solutions when used to solve nonlinear dynamical problems. Hence, the formulation of numerical strategies for nonlinear dynamical problems can be particularly challenging. In this work, we show that time finite element methods because of their inherent energy momentum conserving property (in the case of linear and nonlinear elastodynamics), provide a robust time-stepping method for nonlinear dynamic equations (including chaotic systems). We also show that most of the existing schemes that are known to be robust for parabolic or hyperbolic problems can be derived within the time finite element framework; thus, the time finite element provides a unification of time-stepping schemes used in diverse disciplines. We demonstrate the robust performance of the time finite element method on several challenging examples from the literature where the solution behavior is known to be chaotic. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Seismic characterization and dynamic site response of a municipal solid waste landfill in Bangalore, India

Seismic design of landfills requires an understanding of the dynamic properties of municipal solid waste (MSW) and the dynamic site response of landfill waste during seismic events. The dynamic response of the Mavallipura landfill situated in Bangalore, India, is investigated using field measurements, laboratory studies and recorded ground motions from the intraplate region. The dynamic shear modulus values for the MSW were established on the basis of field measurements of shear wave velocities. Cyclic triaxial testing was performed on reconstituted MSW samples and the shear modulus reduction and damping characteristics of MSW were studied. Ten ground motions were selected based on regional seismicity and site response parameters have been obtained considering one-dimensional non-linear analysis in the DEEPSOIL program. The surface spectral response varied from 0.6 to 2g and persisted only for a period of 1s for most of the ground motions. The maximum peak ground acceleration (PGA) obtained was 0.5g and the minimum and maximum amplifications are 1.35 and 4.05. Amplification of the base acceleration was observed at the top surface of the landfill underlined by a composite soil layer and bedrock for all ground motions. Dynamic seismic properties with amplification and site response parameters for MSW landfill in Bangalore, India, are presented in this paper. This study shows that MSW has less shear stiffness and more amplification due to loose filling and damping, which need to be accounted for seismic design of MSW landfills in India.

Global Response Sensitivity Analysis of Randomly Excited Dynamic Structures

The response of structural dynamical systems excited by multiple random excitations is considered. Two new procedures for evaluating global response sensitivity measures with respect to the excitation components are proposed. The first procedure is valid for stationary response of linear systems under stationary random excitations and is based on the notion of Hellinger's metric of distance between two power spectral density functions. The second procedure is more generally valid and is based on the l2 norm based distance measure between two probability density functions. Specific cases which admit exact solutions are presented, and solution procedures based on Monte Carlo simulations for more general class of problems are outlined. Illustrations include studies on a parametrically excited linear system and a nonlinear random vibration problem involving moving oscillator-beam system that considers excitations attributable to random support motions and guide-way unevenness. (C) 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Identification of nonlinear dynamic systems: Time-frequency filtering and skeleton curves

The nonlinear behavior varying with the instantaneous response was analyzed through the joint time-frequency analysis method for a class of S. D. O. F nonlinear system. A masking operator an definite regions is defined and two theorems are presented. Based on these, the nonlinear system is modeled with a special time-varying linear one, called the generalized skeleton linear system (GSLS). The frequency skeleton curve and the damping skeleton curve are defined to describe the main feature of the non-linearity as well. Moreover, an identification method is proposed through the skeleton curves and the time-frequency filtering technique.

Chaotic dynamic analysis of viscoelastic plates

The dynamic buckling of viscoelastic plates with large deflection is investigated in this paper by using chaotic and fractal theory. The material behavior is given in terms of the Boltzmann superposition principle. in order to obtain accurate computation results, the nonlinear integro-differential dynamic equation is changed into an autonomic four-dimensional dynamical system. The numerical time integrations of equations are performed by using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. And the Lyapunov exponent spectrum, the fractal dimension of strange attractors and the time evolution of deflection are obtained. The influence of geometry nonlinearity and viscoelastic parameter on the dynamic buckling of viscoelastic plates is discussed.