Session: 03-06: Design and Optimization of Intelligent Structures

Paper Number: 111355

111355 - Design of Mechanically Intelligent Structures 

The world we live in is dynamic, continuously changing due to different cyclic or disruptive occurrences. Adaptation of engineering systems to changes, as a feature, has become more valued, even expected, when new designs are developed. Whether it is adapting to operational conditions, people and/or their environment, structures and machines rely on a set of technologies to be able to function in a desired fashion. The complexity of the adaptive function requires model-based design of the interaction between the structure/machines and its operational environment, which requires new modelling approaches to capture this interaction. The advantage of adaptation can be achieved by reducing complexity if the functionality is encoded in the early design of the structures opposite to the traditional way when it is added later in the design process. Encoding functionality in structures during their early design phase is achieved by the combined effort of the geometry and the material property by capturing the flexibility of a structure in large deformation domain and the smart material behaviour. The developed models can also be used for uncovering the scaling rules and the size limits imposed by the material, the geometry and the manufacturing technology. In this talk the idea of mechanically intelligent structures will be presented and discussed, followed by examples of integrating different smart materials (SMAs, hydrogels, piezoelectric materials) in variety of applications for grabbing, soft robotics, multimodal locomotion and energy absorption.

Presenting Author: Jovana Jovanova TUDelft, Netherlands

Presenting Author Biography: Jovana Jovanova is assistant professor at the Transport Engineering and Logistics Section, Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands working on the design of large-scale adaptive (meta)structures, mechanisms and machines able to change their properties and/or functionality over time to improve performance, reliability, and efficiency. Adaptation in this context is the ability of structures, mechanisms or machines to recognize the changes occurring in their environment and adjust internally to respond in a desired way. Her research includes analytical, numerical and data-based modelling and characterization of mechanically intelligent structures that utilize smart materials and/or large deformations for adaptation. She integrates concepts of compliant mechanisms, smart materials, metamaterials, bio-inspired design and soft robotics into adaptive machines for the applications in the maritime, offshore and transport technology.
Jovana is involved in TU Delft initiatives within the Robotics and the Bioengineering Institutes, as well as the Dutch Soft Robotics national initiative. She has been an active member of SMASIS since 2016 serving in different Bioinspired TC roles. She has also supported the organization of the 2022/23 Compliant Mechanisms Symposium within ASME IDETC and RoboSoft 2023 conference. She is associate editor at Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, and Robotics Reports.