- Boundary Element
Method (BEM) and Finite Element Method (FEM)
- 2D and 3D Static and Dynamic BEM for General Anisotropic and Piezoelectric Solids
- Green's Function BEM
- Fast Multipole BEM for Structural Analysis of Stiffened Folded Structures
- Micromechanics
- Multiple Crack, Void, and Inclusion Problems
- Analysis of Quantum-Dot-Induced Strain and Electric Fields in Piezoelectric Semiconductors
- Boundary Element Analysis of Multiple Crack Growth in Elastic Solids
- Computational Design of High Fracture Toughness Particle-Reinforced Metallic Materials
- Multiple Layer Problems
- Nonlinear Micromechanics Problems
- Composite Materials
- Design and Manufacture of Fuctionally Graded Stiffened Folded Plates
- Fracture Mechanics
- Elastic-Plastic Multiple Crack Problems
- Anisotropic and Piezoelectric Cracks
- Eigenvalue Analysis
- Accurate Determination of Eigenfrequencies for Anisotropic and Piezoelectric Solids
- Determination of Eigenfrequencies for Stiffened Folded Structures
- Study on Folding
- Design, Analysis and Production of Stiffened Folded Structures
- Design of Electronic Handbook of Fracture and Portal of Fracture
- PORTAL OF FRACTURE and PORTAL OF DAMAGE: web-based computational mechanics for the evaluation of structural safety
- ELECTRONIC-HANDBOOK OF FRACTURE; downloadable version of PORTAL OF FRACTURE
- Design of Graphic User Interphase for 2D and 3D BEM
We design miniature flying vehicles: tiny man-made insects that fly. Applications include inconspicuous reconnaissance and navigation through space filled with obstacles. High-speed photography, wind-tunnel testing, computer modeling of insect-wing motion and study of insect anatomy (sensing, flight muscle, and wing structure) feed the robotic project of creating artificial flying insects.
Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) are inspired by the need for efficient flyers that can take off vertically, glide, hover, change directions quickly to avoid obstacles and land vertically like flying insects over a significant distance without refueling. Military reconnaissance and civilian surveillance over disaster sites where ground travel is difficult and the air is filled with obstacles are but a few of unlimited applications. Design and manufacturing of the MAVs should be most successful through the intimate study of real insects that fly. The first step of the project is the study of insects in tethered (in wind tunnel) and natural flight through high-speed photography to record the wing motion during the flight. Concomitant studies of the anatomy of insect flight muscle, click mechanism to drive the high speed flapping, and the structure of the wings are performed. The photographically recorded motion of the wings, substantiated by the kinetics study of the flight muscle, will be used as the input of the computer modeling of the fluid-wing interaction which produce flow field in the air and stress field in the flexible wings. The numerical results for the former will be verified in the wind tunnel through the flow visualization of the air created by the insect wing motion. The fluid results will be used to determine the optimum wing shape and motion to produce the best thrust and lift under the various flight conditions. The stress results in the wing is used for the structural design of the artificial wings based on the membrane and veins. The second step is the manufacture of the flying vehicles. The material selection, shape design of wings-thorax-legs, energy supply, locomotion principle, wing motion, and navigation sensors must be carefully implemented. Once again learning from true insects shall be the driving principle.
- Computational Modeling of Insect Wings
The insect wings are corrugated plates with the network of veins. They can be modeled as folded plates with stiffeners by the BEM and the FEM. During flapping these wings undergo large deformation to produce maximum aerodynamic force. Nonlinear FEM is used to deal with the fluid-structure interaction in which the large elastic deformation of the wings along with the fluid flow field surrounding the wings are considered. I also design simple flapping wings for the MAV using the FSI analysis.
- Image Capture of Insect Wings
- Structural Analysis of Insect Wings: FEM and Fast Multipole BEM
- Modeling of Flexion Lines in Insect Wings: Fracture Mechanics Approach to Negative Stiffeners
- Design of MAV Flapping Wings for Optimum Aerodynamic Performance - FSI analysis by the FEM
- Manufacture of MAV Flapping Wings using Stiffened Folded Structures
- Micromechanical Modeling of Insect Cuticles
Go to INSECT WINGS site for close up pictures of insect wings.
- Computational Modeling of Insect Flight
- Video Capture of Insect Flight in Nature
- Fluid Structure Interaction Analysis of Insect Flight
- Determination of Eigenfrequencies for Insect Wings
- Reconstruction of Insect Flapping Motion from High Speed Video Capture of Insect Flight in Nature
- Motion Analysis of Insects in Flight - Maneuverability, Impact and Collision Resistance, Randomness and Stability
Go to INSECT FLIGHT site for image sequences, movies and pictures of insects in flight.
Go to EXPERIMENTS ON BLINDING THE EYE of insects.
FEM FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTION analysis of a 3-D flexible insect wing model. See also a summary for a 2-D flexible wing model. (Collaboration with D. Ishihara, Kyusyu Institute of Technology, Iizuka, Japan.)
