Measuring stiffness during arm movements in various dynamic environments

The technique presented in this paper enables a simple, accurate and unbiased measurement of hand stiffness during human arm movements. Using a computer-controlled mechanical interface, the hand is shifted relative to a prediction of the undisturbed trajectory. Stiffness is then computed as the restoring force divided by the position amplitude of the perturbation. A precise prediction algorithm insures the measurement quality. We used this technique to measure stiffness in free movements and after adaptation to a linear velocity dependent force field. The subjects compensated for the external force by co-contracting muscles selectively. The stiffness geometry changed with learning and stiffness tended to increase in the direction of the external force.

The effect of beam interruptions on the integrity of ADSR fuel pin cladding: A thermo-mechanical analysis

During its lifetime in the core, the cladding of an Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactor (ADSR) fuel pin is expected to experience variable stresses due to frequent interruptions in the accelerator proton beam. This paper investigates the thermal fatigue damage in the cladding due to repetitive and unplanned beam interruptions under certain operational conditions. Beam trip data was obtained for four operating high power proton accelerators, among which the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) superconducting accelerator was selected for further analysis. 9Cr-1Mo-Nb-V (T91) steel was selected as the cladding material because of its proven compatibility with proposed ADSR design concepts. The neutronic, thermal and stress analyses were performed using the PTS-ADS, a code that has been specifically developed for studying the dynamic response to beam-induced transients in accelerator driven subcritical systems. The lifetime of the fuel cladding in the core was estimated for three levels of allowed pin power and specific operating conditions. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive Property Retrieval and Measurement of Concrete Spalling Using Machine Vision for Post-Earthquake Safety Assessments

Active vibration control (AVC) is a relatively new technology for the mitigation of annoying human-induced vibrations in floors. However, recent technological developments have demonstrated its great potential application in this field. Despite this, when a floor is found to have problematic floor vibrations after construction the unfamiliar technology of AVC is usually avoided in favour of more common techniques, such as Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs) which have a proven track record of successful application, particularly for footbridges and staircases. This study aims to investigate the advantages and disadvantages that AVC has, when compared with TMDs, for the application of mitigation of pedestrian-induced floor vibrations in offices. Simulations are performed using the results from a finite element model of a typical office layout that has a high vibration response level. The vibration problems on this floor are then alleviated through the use of both AVC and TMDs and the results of each mitigation configuration compared. The results of this study will enable a more informed decision to be made by building owners and structural engineers regarding suitable technologies for reducing floor vibrations.

Mechanical properties of hierarchical lattices

This paper focuses on the stiffness and strength of lattices with multiple hierarchical levels. We examine two-dimensional and three-dimensional lattices with up to three levels of structural hierarchy. At each level, the topology and the orientation of the lattice are prescribed, while the relative density is varied over a defined range. The properties of selected hierarchical lattices are obtained via a multiscale approach applied iteratively at each hierarchical level. The results help to quantify the effect that multiple orders of structural hierarchy produces on stretching and bending dominated lattices. Material charts for the macroscopic stiffness and strength illustrate how the property range of the lattices can expand as subsequent levels of hierarchy are added. The charts help to gain insight into the structural benefit that multiple hierarchies can impart to the macroscopic performance of a lattice. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Static and dynamic errors in particle tracking microrheology.

Particle tracking techniques are often used to assess the local mechanical properties of cells and biological fluids. The extracted trajectories are exploited to compute the mean-squared displacement that characterizes the dynamics of the probe particles. Limited spatial resolution and statistical uncertainty are the limiting factors that alter the accuracy of the mean-squared displacement estimation. We precisely quantified the effect of localization errors in the determination of the mean-squared displacement by separating the sources of these errors into two separate contributions. A "static error" arises in the position measurements of immobilized particles. A "dynamic error" comes from the particle motion during the finite exposure time that is required for visualization. We calculated the propagation of these errors on the mean-squared displacement. We examined the impact of our error analysis on theoretical model fluids used in biorheology. These theoretical predictions were verified for purely viscous fluids using simulations and a multiple-particle tracking technique performed with video microscopy. We showed that the static contribution can be confidently corrected in dynamics studies by using static experiments performed at a similar noise-to-signal ratio. This groundwork allowed us to achieve higher resolution in the mean-squared displacement, and thus to increase the accuracy of microrheology studies.

Stable dynamic walking over rough terrain: Theory and experiment

We propose a constructive control design for stabilization of non-periodic trajectories of underactuated mechanical systems. An important example of such a system is an underactuated "dynamic walking" biped robot walking over rough terrain. The proposed technique is to compute a transverse linearization about the desired motion: a linear impulsive system which locally represents dynamics about a target trajectory. This system is then exponentially stabilized using a modified receding-horizon control design. The proposed method is experimentally verified using a compass-gait walker: a two-degree-of-freedom biped with hip actuation but pointed stilt-like feet. The technique is, however, very general and can be applied to higher degree-of-freedom robots over arbitrary terrain and other impulsive mechanical systems. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

Guided self-organization in a dynamic embodied system based on attractor selection mechanism

Guided self-organization can be regarded as a paradigm proposed to understand how to guide a self-organizing system towards desirable behaviors, while maintaining its non-deterministic dynamics with emergent features. It is, however, not a trivial problem to guide the self-organizing behavior of physically embodied systems like robots, as the behavioral dynamics are results of interactions among their controller, mechanical dynamics of the body, and the environment. This paper presents a guided self-organization approach for dynamic robots based on a coupling between the system mechanical dynamics with an internal control structure known as the attractor selection mechanism. The mechanism enables the robot to gracefully shift between random and deterministic behaviors, represented by a number of attractors, depending on internally generated stochastic perturbation and sensory input. The robot used in this paper is a simulated curved beam hopping robot: a system with a variety of mechanical dynamics which depends on its actuation frequencies. Despite the simplicity of the approach, it will be shown how the approach regulates the probability of the robot to reach a goal through the interplay among the sensory input, the level of inherent stochastic perturbation, i.e., noise, and the mechanical dynamics. © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Research on the ultrafast fluorescence property of thylakoid membranes of the wild-type and mutant rice

A high yielding rice variety mutant (Oryza sativa L., Zhenhui 249) with low chlorophyll b (Chl b) has been discovered in natural fields. It has a quality character controlled by a pair of recessive genes (nuclear gene). The partial loss of Chl b in content affects the efficiency of light harvest in a light harvest complex (LHC), thus producing the difference of the exciting energy transfer and the efficiency of photochemistry conversion between the mutant and wild-type rice in photosynthetic unit. The efficiency of utilizing light energy is higher in the mutant than that in the wildtype rice relatively. For further discussion of the above-mentioned difference and learning about the mechanism of the increase in the photochemical efficiency of the mutant, the pico-second resolution fluorescence spectrum measurement with delay-frame-scanning single photon counting technique is adopted. Thylakoid membranes of the mutant and the wild-type rice are excited by an Ar+ laser with a pulse width of 120 ps, repetition rate of 4 MHz and wavelength of 514 nm. Compared with the time and spectrum property of exciting fluorescence, conclusions of those ultrafast dynamic experiments are: 1) The speeds of the exciting energy transferred in photo-system I are faster than that in photo-system II in both samples. 2) The speeds of the exciting energy transfer of mutant sample are faster than those of the wildtype. This might be one of the major reasons why the efficiency of photosynthesis is higher in mutant than that in the wild-type rice.

Transfer property of electron pulse in a femto-second electron diffraction system

An ultra-fast electron diffraction system has been designed. The static and dynamic characters of an electron pulse with 150 fs temporal dispersion are studied during its transmission in the whole ultra-fast electron diffraction system, including the size of the electron spot, temporal dispersion, distribution of azimuths and elevation angles. The initial status of the photoelectrons are put down by Monte Carlo method, both the two dimensional and three dimensional electric fields are calculated by finite difference method and the magnetic flux are. calculated by finite element method.

Fracture behavior of a Zr-metallic glass under dynamic compression

Dynamic planar compressive experiments on a typical tough Zr-BMG (Bulk Metallic Glass) were carried out under impact velocity of 500-600 m/sec and strain rate of 10(6)/s. The fracture surface of samples exhibits different fracture patterns at different parts of the sample. At a corner close to the front loading boundary, fracture patterns from the free edge toward the centre changed from equiaxial veins in microscale to periodic corrugations in nanoscale; in the middle of the sample, the fracture surface contains glazed zones laid out orderly along the same boundary. FEM simulation was performed to investigate the stress distributions in the impacted sample under a short duration impact loading. It has revealed that the fracture patterns changing from the free edge toward the centre were resulted from the fracture modes' changing from the tensile dominant fracture to the shear dominant fracture. Whereas at the middle part of the sample, fracture initiated from several parallel shear bands propagating close to the same boundary is due to a large strain or much higher shear stress in this area.

Dynamic Measurement System for Dipoles of RCS for CS

A dynamic measurement system was developed by the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) for the dipole prototype of Rapid Cycle Synchrotron (RCS) of China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS). The repetition frequency of RCS is 25 Hz. The probe is a moving arc searching-coil, and the data acquisition system is based on the dynamic analysis modular of National Instrument. To get the error of high order harmonics of the field at basic frequency, the hardware integrator is replaced by a high speed ADC with software filter and integrator. A series of harmonic coefficients of field are used to express the varieties of dynamic fields in space and time simultaneously. The measurement system has been tested in Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), and the property of the dipole prototype of RCS has been measured. Some measurement results and the repeatability of system are illustrated in this paper.

Facile Synthesis and Assemblies of Flowerlike SnS2 and In3+-Doped SnS2: Hierarchical Structures and Their Enhanced Photocatalytic Property

Novel flowerlike SnS2 and In3+-doped SnS2 hierarchical structures have been successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal route using biomolecular L-Cysteine-assisted methods. The L-cysteine plays an important role both as assistant and as sulfur source. Experiments with various parameters indicate that the pH values have a strong effect on the morphology of the assembly. Based on the experiments, a growth mechanical process was proposed. The synthetic samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM (HRTEM), BET measurement, TGA, and XPS in detail.

Structural characterization and property of in-situ synthesized AZ91-Mg2Si composite

A new-type Mg2Si composite was prepared with Mg-9Al-1Zn (AZ91) alloy and vermiculite as raw materials by melt infiltration method. The results show that the microstructure of composite consists of a large amount Of Mg2Si precipitates and a little amount of MgO embedded in alpha-Mg matrix. The Vickers hardness of the composite is obviously higher than that of matrix of AZ91 alloy. Moreover, the composite exhibits excellent compressive property. The ultimate compressive strength of the material is 290 MPa, the yield strength is 175 MPa, and the elongation is about 5%, which are higher than those of AZ91 alloy.

Biodegradable polyurethane based on random copolymer of L-lactide and epsilon-caprolactone and its shape-memory property

A series of biodegradable polyurethanes (PUs) are synthesized from the copolymer diols prepared from L-lactide and epsilon-caprolactone (CL), 2,4-toluene diisocyanate, and 1,4-butanediol. Their thermal and mechanical properties are characterized via FTIR, DSC, and tensile tests. Their T(g)s are in the range of 28-53 degrees C. They have high modulus, tensile strength, and elongation ratio at break. With increasing CL content, the PU changes from semicrystalline to completely amorphous. Thermal mechanical analysis is used to determine their shape-memory property. When they are deformed and fixed at proper temperatures, their shape-recovery is almost complete for a tensile elongation of 150% or a compression of 2-folds. By changing the content of CL and the hard-to-soft ratio, their T(g)s and their shape-recovery temperature can be adjusted. Therefore, they may find wide applications.

Fabrication, microstructure and mechanical properties of novel cemented hard alloy obtained by mechanical alloying and hot-pressing sintering

A novel cemented carbides alloy (W0.4Al0.6)C-0.65-Co were prepared by mechanical alloying and hot-pressing sintering in this work. Hot-pressing (HP) as a common technique was performed to fabricate the bulk bodies of the hard alloys. The hardness, bending strength, density of the novel hard alloy are also tested, and it has superior mechanical properties. The hardness of (W0.4Al0.6)C-0.65-Co hard alloy was very high, and the density, operate cost of the novel material were much lower than WC-Co, more important is the aluminum dissolving is not decrease the strength compared with the WC-Co system. There is almost no eta-phase in the (W0.4Al0.6)C-0.65-Co cemented carbides system even the carbon deficient reaches the astonishing value of 35%. This novel property will give us more choice to design and gain new materials that we needed.