Abstract
In recent years, the concept of mechanical metastructures developed based on nature-inspired synergistic modular architectures has been explored. For example, some of skeletal muscle's intriguing macroscale functionalities result from the assembly of nanoscale, cross-bridge constituents that maintain multiple metastable configurations. Inspired by this observation, recent studies investigated an idea of creating modular structures from the assembly of metastable mechanical or electrical modules, and demonstrated that such metastructures would yield valuable adaptivity, including reconfiguration of global topology, orders of magnitude change in stiffness, and tunable damping and non-traditional wave propagation characteristics. In another example, inspired by the physics behind the plant nastic movements and the rich designs of origami folding, a class of metastructures is created through exploring the innovation of fluidic origami cellular systems. The fluid pressure in these origami cells can be strategically controlled to achieve actuation & morphing, programmable energy absorption, and tunable mechanical properties and multi-stability. The ongoing research efforts include uncovering and harnessing origami dynamics, as well as exploring the mixed designs of multi-modular origami metastructures for multiple functionalities. This presentation will highlight some of these interdisciplinary research advances in nature-inspired multifunctional adaptive metastructures.
About the Speaker
Kon-Well Wang is the Stephen P. Timoshenko Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1985, worked at the General Motors Research Labs as a Senior Research Engineer, and started his academic career at the Penn State University in 1988, where he served as the William E. Diefenderfer Chaired Professor in Mechanical Engineering from 2000 to 2008. He joined the University of Michigan in 2008 as the Stephen P. Timoshenko Professor; he has been the Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering from 2008 to 2018, and assumed the title of the Tim Manganello/BorgWarner Department Chair from 2013 to 2018. Wang’s main technical interests are in structural dynamics & controls, including metastable & multi-stable metastructures, origami mechanics & dynamics, and adaptive structural & materials systems, with applications in shape, vibration & wave control, vibration energy harvesting, structural health monitoring, and vehicle & robotics system dynamics. He has received numerous recognitions; such as the Pi Tau Sigma-ASME Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award, the ASME J. P. Den Hartog Award, the SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Lifetime Achievement Award, the ASME N. O. Myklestad Award, the ASME Rudolf Kalman Award, and the ASME Adaptive Structures and Materials Systems Prize. He is a Fellow of the ASME, AAAS
Host: Professor Aimy Wissa
