Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper we propose to control a bipedal robot in an unstable position by means of a PID controller that gains are turned by a fuzzy logic system. For that, a model of planar 3 linked segment consisting of limb, trunk and extended arms with fixed base is used. Fuzzy if-then rules are constructed based on human expert knowledge and biomechanics studies for tuning of PID's gain. For construction of tuning rules, we have developed an optical measuring system to record experimental data of balance keeping of a human in an unstable position. The control model is based on three sets of different global variables: (1) limb orientation and its derivative, (2) trunk/upper attitude and its... 

In this paper, the effect of turbine stage efficiency on fuel consumption of both gas turbines and aerial engines is assessed quantitatively. At the beginning of the gas generator optimization to decrease the fuel consumption, it is necessary to analyze the sensitivity of fuel consumption to its main components efficiencies. This will guide us which component is more important to be optimized. Here a zero-dimensional analysis has been done to determine the effect of turbine stage efficiency on the fuel consumption. Results of this analysis are evaluated in the context of thermodynamic cycle of a gas turbine generator and an aerial engine. As an example, it is shown that if the efficiency of... 

A gradient based optimization using the continuous adjoint method for inverse design of a turbine blade cascade is presented. The advantage of the adjoint method is that the objective function gradients can be evaluated by solving the adjoint equations with coefficients depending on the flow variables. This method is particularly suitable for aerodynamic design optimization for which the number of design variables is large. Bezier polynomials are used to parameterize suction side of the turbine blade. The numerical convective fluxes of both flow and adjoint equations are computed by using a Roe-type approximate Riemann solver. An approximate linearization is applied to simplify the... 

Prediction of the thermo-mechanical behavior of machine-tool spindles is essential in the reliable operation of high speed machine tools. In particular, the performance of these high speed spindles is dependent on their thermal behavior. The main source of heat generation in the spindle is the friction torque in angular contact ball bearings. This paper presents an effort to develop a comprehensive model of high speed spindles that includes viable models for the mechanical and thermal behavior of its major components, i.e., bearings, shaft and housing. Spindle housing and shaft are treated as six-degree-of-freedom Timoshenko beam elements. Bearings are modeled as two-node elements with five... 

Quartz is usually detected as an impurity of kaolinite clays. The present work attempts to evaluate the role and behaviour of quartz particles in geopolymerisation and its probable effects on mechanical behaviour of geopolymeric products. Two kaolinite clays with different free quartz contents were used as raw materials to produce geopolymers. Results showed that using high content quartz kaolin causes higher compressive strength. Scanning electron microscopy studies confirmed that quartz does not participate in geopolymerisation and completely remains in the structure as fine particles. High hardness quartz particles by retarding crack growth in the geopolymer matrix enhance mechanical... 

In this paper, an artificial neural network (ANN) model has been developed to predict the yield and tensile strengths of hot pressed NiAl intermetallic compound based on the experimental data from Albiter et al. [A. Albiter, M. Salazar, E. Bedolla, R.A.L. Drew, R. Perez, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 347 (2003) 154]. The predicted results, with a correlation relation between 0.9791 and 0.9921, show a very good agreement with the experimental values. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the importance of the effects of chemical composition and temperature on the mechanical behavior of hot pressed NiAl intermetallic compound. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved  

Workspace of a mechanism is generally defined as the region of space which end-effector of that mechanism can reach. Determination of workspace is an important task in the design of a mechanism. However, for parallel mechanisms, due to the complexity of solving the forward kinematic equations, determination of workspace is much more complicated than for serial mechanisms. In the literature, time-consuming numerical methods, such as point-by-point searching, are usually employed for this purpose. In this paper, an optimization-based algorithm is introduced for the boundary determination of inclusive and constant orientation workspaces of parallel mechanisms. In the proposed algorithm, thanks... 

Due to its vast applications and stochastic nature, grinding has been the subject of investigations and modifications for decades. Applying ultrasonic vibration in grinding has been a successful innovation introducing benefits such as reduced forces and temperature, improved surface quality, and making higher removal rates possible. In this work a set-up is developed for utilizing ultrasonic vibrations in cylindrical grinding. This is done by rotating and simultaneously vibrating the workpiece material. The set-up is used for cylindrical grinding of Alumina-zirconia ceramic as a difficult-to-grind and widely used industrial ceramic. Optimized parameters for efficient grinding and surface... 

Finding the oscillatory region in the order space is one of the most challenging problems in nonlinear fractional-order systems. This paper proposes a method to find the possible oscillatory region in the order space for a nonlinear fractional-order system. The effectiveness of the proposed method in finding the oscillatory region and special order sets placed in its boundary is confirmed by presenting some examples  

In this paper, dynamic behavior and pull-in phenomenon of electrically actuated rectangular micro plates under the effect of squeeze-film damping and nonlinear electrostatic force is studied. Finite element method is implemented in order to drive weak formulations of linear and nonlinear micro plate equations of motion based on classical plate theory (CPT) (for thin microplates with moderate nonlinearity) and squeeze-film damping based on Reynolds nonlinear equation. Finally, an efficient reduced-order model contingent on singular value decomposition method (SVD) is used to study dynamic pull-in phenomenon. This model is constructed by the global basis functions achieved from a few runs of... 

Performance of a haptic device is evaluated based on the concept of transparency. Stability of a haptic device prevalently has been evaluated based on the passivity criterion. Due to conservativeness of passivity, it appears as an obstacle to improve transparency. In this paper, passivity is suggested to be replaced by the complementary stability criterion which accounts for the robust stability of the interaction in the presence of uncertain user hand dynamics. In this respect, an algorithm is proposed which guarantees transparency of the haptic device in a stable manner. Assuming that the dynamics of the device is known, a certain compensatory structure is assigned. This special structure... 

Transparency is a measure of performance in haptic devices. In order to improve transparency and reduce the difference between the impedance transmitted to the user and the target impedance it is necessary to compensate for the dynamics of the haptic device. Due to stability reasons improvement of transparency is limited. Passivity as a stability criterion has been used widely in design and analysis of haptic devices, Since passivity is a conservative criterion, it acts as an obstacle in improving transparency of the haptic interfaces. In this paper instead of passivity, robust stability of the interaction is studied in the presence of parametric uncertainties due to variations in user hand... 

In this work an analytical solution is presented for a viscoelastic micro-beam based on the modified couple stress theory which is a non-classical theory in continuum mechanics. The modified couple stress theory has the ability to consider small size effects in micro-structures. It is strongly emphasized that without considering these effects in such structures the solution will be wrong and not suitable for designing systems in micro-scales. In this study correspondence principle is used for deriving constitutive equations for viscoelastic material based on the modified couple stress theory. Governing equilibrium equations are obtained by considering an element of micro-beam. Closedform... 

Multi-sensor tracking is widely used for augmentation of tracking accuracy using data fusion. A basic requirement for such applications is the real time temporal synchronization and spatial registration of two sensory data. In this study a new method for time and space coordination of two tracking sensor measurements has been presented. For spatial registration we used a body coordinate system and then applied the effect of the level arm. The time synchronization was done based on least mean square (LMS) error method. This method was implemented to synchronize the position and orientation of an object using Inertial (1IMU) and Optical (Optotrak) tracking systems. The results of synchronized... 

The fusion of the optical and inertial tracking systems seems an attractive solution to solve the shadowing problem of the optical tracking systems, and remove the time integration troubles of the inertial sensors. We developed a fusion algorithm for this purpose, based on the Kalman filter, and examined its efficacy to improve the position and orientation data, obtained by each individual system. Experimental results indicated that the proposed fusion algorithm could effectively estimate the 2 seconds missing data of the optical tracker  

Many theories and mathematical simulations have been proposed concerning urine concentrating mechanism (UCM). The WKM and region approach are the two most valuable methods for compensating the effect of tubule's architecture in renal medulla. They both have tried to simulate tubule's confinement within a particular region mathematically in one spatial dimension. In this study, continuity, momentum and species transport equations along with standard expressions for transtubular solutes and water transports on tubule's membrane were solved numerically in three spatial dimensions which practically is the main significance of our novel approach. Model structure has been chosen as simple as... 

Effect of organoclay (OC) on the performance of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR)/phenolic resin (PH) blend prepared by two-roll mill was investigated. The influence of OC content ranging between 2.5 and 30 phr on the performance of SBR/PH was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), interfacial energy analysis, tensile, dynamic mechanical, swelling, cure rheometry and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It was found that the OC is mainly localized in the SBR phase of SBR/PH blend through the kinetically favored mechanism relevant to rubber chains. The results also demonstrated the positive role of PH on the dispersion of OC. Both PH and OC showed... 

In this study, the plastic instabilities associated with the Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) and their effects on the mechanical properties and the fracture surfaces have been investigated for AA 5083. Tensile tests were performed at various temperatures and strain rates in order to do so. Then, serrated and smooth yielding domains were determined in Ln ε̇-1/T diagram. The stress-strain curves related to the serrated domain show the values of flow stress decreases by increasing the strain rate at a constant temperature. In addition, the plot of critical strain versus imposed strain rate indicates an inverse manner at very low strain rates. It is confirmed that the type of PLC bands alters the... 

Design of robotic fish based on hydrodynamics is presented and Lighthill's Large Amplitude Elongated Body Theory (LAEBT) is used for modeling of the robotic fish in linear path. A PID controller for control of speed in linear path is designed and simulations are presented which shows its effectiveness for speed control of the robotic fish. It has been shown that in perspective of used approximate LAEBT model, the used control law maintains kinematic parameters and therefore, the associated efficiency will be maintained