Reversible Torsional Actuation of Hydrogel Filled Multifilament Fibre Actuator

Twisted polymer fibre actuators provide high torsional rotation from stimulated volume expansion, induced either by chemical fuelling, thermal stimulation, or electrochemical charging. One key limitation of these actuators is the irreversibility of torsional stroke that limits their feasibility when considering real-life smart applications. Moreover, scaling the torsional stroke of these actuators becomes difficult when these are integrated into practically usable systems such as smart textiles, due to the external and variable opposing torque that is applied by the adjacent non-actuating fibres. Herein, a simple composite type torsional actuator made of hydrogel coated commercial textile cotton multifilament fibre is demonstrated. This novel actuator is of high moisture responsiveness, given that hydrogels are capable of providing huge volume expansion and twisting the overall system can transform the volumetric expansion to fibre untwisting based torsional actuation. Theoretical treatment of torsional actuation is also demonstrated based on the change in torsional stiffness of dry and wet fibres as well as a few externally applied torques. The agreement between experimental measurements and theoretical estimation is found reasonable, and the investigation allows the near-appropriate estimation of torsional stroke before integrating an actuator into a smart system.

Effect of Building Height on Torsional Rotation of base Isolated Structures

The effect of height variation of a base isolated building on torsional response has been studied in the paper Also response of lead rubber and friction pendulum base isolator on torsional rotation has been compared. For the study, building rests on friction pendulum system (FPS) and lead rubber bearing (LRB) has been considered. The height of the building is varied successively and subjected to bi-directional seismic excitation. The torsional response of isolated structure is studied for each increment in the storey height for both LRB and FPS isolators and compared with fixed base structure. The result indicates that, base isolated structures reduces torsional rotation. It is also found that torsional rotation for buildings of ten to fifteen stores have significant reduction compared to other models considered in present study. Beyond this, the effectiveness reduces. It is also observed that FPS base isolator has effectively reduced torsional rotation when compared to LRB.

Complex gaze stabilization in mantis shrimp

Almost all animals, regardless of the anatomy of the eyes, require some level of gaze stabilization in order to see the world clearly and without blur. For the mantis shrimp, achieving gaze stabilization is unusually challenging as their eyes have an unprecedented scope for movement in all three rotational degrees of freedom: yaw, pitch and torsion. We demonstrate that the species Odontodactylus scyllarus performs stereotypical gaze stabilization in the yaw degree of rotational freedom, which is accompanied by simultaneous changes in the pitch and torsion rotation of the eye. Surprisingly, yaw gaze stabilization performance is unaffected by both the torsional pose and the rate of torsional rotation of the eye. Further to this, we show, for the first time, a lack of a torsional gaze stabilization response in the stomatopod visual system. In the light of these findings, we suggest that the neural wide-field motion detection network in the stomatopod visual system may follow a radially symmetric organization to compensate for the potentially disorientating effects of torsional eye movements, a system likely to be unique to stomatopods.

Finite element modeling of cable galloping vibrations. Part II: Application to an iced cable in 1:2 multiple internal resonance

The aim of this paper is to validate the finite element formulations proposed in a companion paper for the study of the nonlinear dynamic behavior of cable structures. A well-known suspended cable in multiple 1:2 “internal resonance” conditions is herein considered. A uniform ice deposit, along the length of the cable, makes it prone to galloping vibrations under a steady wind flow. Different modeling strategies, relying on different assumptions regarding both the mechanical model as well as the aerodynamic response, are investigated and compared with results coming from analytical, semi-analytical and numerical models from the literature. The role of torsional and flexural stiffness terms, and of the initial undeformed configuration, is critically assessed. The results obtained show the significant effect coming from the adoption of a beam finite element formulation that includes the effect of torsional rotation in the evaluation of the aerodynamic loads.

Experimental and computational evaluation of the barrier to torsional rotation in a butadiyne-linked porphyrin dimer

Temperature-dependent changes in the UV-vis-NIR absorption spectrum of a butadiyne linked porphyrin dimer have been used to determine the height of the energy barrier to torsional rotation.

Improved Bilinear Degenerated Shell Element

The development of a new four node 24 degree of freedom bilinear degenerated shell element is presented for the analysis of shell structures. The present finite element formulation considers the assumed covariant transverse shear strains to avoid the shear locking problem and the assumed covariant membrane strains, which are separated from covariant in-plane strains, to overcome the membrane locking problem. The formulation also includes the deviation of the normal torsional rotation of the mid surface in the governing equation. This element is free from serious shear and membrane locking problems and undesirable spurious kinematic deformation modes. The element is tested for rigid body modes and distorted edges to meet the patch test requirements. The versatility and accuracy of this new degenerated shell element is demonstrated by solving several numerical examples for thick and thin plates.

Prediction of fracture healing under axial loading, shear loading and bending is possible using distortional and dilatational strains as determining mechanical stimuli

Numerical models of secondary fracture healing are based on mechanoregulatory algorithms that use distortional strain alone or in combination with either dilatational strain or fluid velocity as determining stimuli for tissue differentiation and development. Comparison of these algorithms has previously suggested that healing processes under torsional rotational loading can only be properly simulated by considering fluid velocity and deviatoric strain as the regulatory stimuli. We hypothesize that sufficient calibration on uncertain input parameters will enhance our existing model, which uses distortional and dilatational strains as determining stimuli, to properly simulate fracture healing under various loading conditions including also torsional rotation. Therefore, we minimized the difference between numerically simulated and experimentally measured courses of interfragmentary movements of two axial compressive cases and two shear load cases (torsional and translational) by varying several input parameter values within their predefined bounds. The calibrated model was then qualitatively evaluated on the ability to predict physiological changes of spatial and temporal tissue distributions, based on respective in vivo data. Finally, we corroborated the model on five additional axial compressive and one asymmetrical bending load case. We conclude that our model, using distortional and dilatational strains as determining stimuli, is able to simulate fracture-healing processes not only under axial compression and torsional rotation but also under translational shear and asymmetrical bending loading conditions.