Strain energy trapping due to energetic asymmetry in modular structures inspired by muscle cross-bridges

Narayanan Kidambi, R. L. Harne, K. W. Wang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

The remarkable energetic versatility and adaptability of skeletal muscle provides great inspiration to develop advanced adaptive structures and materials. These notable properties may arise from the assembly of skeletal muscle's nanoscale crossbridges into microscale structures known as sarcomeres. Essential understanding of muscle energetics has been developed from models of the micro/nanoscale constituents which incorporate an intriguing, asymmetric, bistable potential energy landscape to capture trends in the experimental data on cross-bridge power stroke motions. Inspired by the capability of cross-bridges to strategically absorb and store elastic energy for achieving high energetic efficiency of sudden motions, this research studies the assembly of modular mechanical structures from asymmetrically bistable constituents to absorb and trap energy in higher-energy stable configurations. Specifically, energy features of a module with an asymmetrically bistable element are first studied; these modules are then assembled in series and parallel to generate structures with multiple stable configurations having different quantities of stored energy. Dynamic analyses are performed to illustrate the ability of these structures to trap a portion of the kinetic energy due to an impulsive excitation as recoverable and reusable strain energy, and insight is gained into how asymmetries and damping influence the energy trapping performance.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication28th Conference on Mechanical Vibration and Noise
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
ISBN (Electronic)9780791850206
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016
EventASME 2016 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2016 - Charlotte, United States
Duration: Aug 21 2016Aug 24 2016

Publication series

NameProceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
Volume8

Other

OtherASME 2016 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityCharlotte
Period8/21/168/24/16

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Modeling and Simulation

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