Fall 2008

I have a problem in my research that involves a platinum electrode which will form bubbles of hydrogen gas.  Bubbles sticking to the electrode is expected to be a problem, and one method of dealing with this is to induce resonant vibrations in the electrode.  These vibrations can be excited by running an alternating current through the electrode, which produces physical forces through electromagnetic interactions.

Project Description:

Although this is a class in solid mechanics, I chose a project which focuses on fluid dynamics. I did this because I think this project will be very educational with respect to the Finite Element Analysis and mechanics in general.

For my semester project, I will investigate equilibrium geometries of ripples in an elastic sheet. In order to do so, I will need to learn how to study out of plane bending of a thin membrane with ABAQUS. The project can be divided into the following stages:

1. Set up the membrane geometry model in ABAQUS

2. Apply relevant boundary conditions and tractions

3. Set up the job

4. Run the job, and post-process

Please see the attached file for details.

[img_assist|nid=4271|title=Finished Bashring|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=100|height=75][img_assist|nid=4272|title=Unfinished Bashring Mounted on Crank|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=100|height=75]

Project Description:

The biology of the inversion process in Volvox carteri is examined, and a coupled mechanical and kinetic model is proposed.  See attached proposal for details. The presentation given is also attached here, as well as the final paper.  Also, a movie of the simulation that made all of the work wroth while, the inversion of a half-sphere, is attached here as well.  Note: The file inversion2bw.doc is a movie, just download it and change the extension to .avi.  This has to be done since iMechanica doesn't allow attachment of .avi files directly.

Computer assignment #2 : natural frequency problem

due on Monday (Nov. 17, 2008)