SMART STRUCTURES · A computer aided engineering approach to smart structures design

Final Activity Report Summary - SMART STRUCTURES (A Computer Aided Engineering Approach to Smart Structures Design)

The overall objective of the RTN network was to develop an educational and research framework for developing macro-scale noise and vibration control applications based on intelligent material systems. The scientific and technological objective of the network was to advance the state-of the-art in smart materials research to the level of system integration and industrial applicability, with a specific focus on solutions for noise and vibration reduction and for vibration-based damage detection. To this end, the involved research teams have not only focused on the development and use of novel materials and control algorithms, but they explicitly addressed also the integration into sensor/actuator material systems and even further into application-level solutions. The research did not only include the target performance of the solutions, but also their constraints with respect to system reliability and cost. In this process, particular attention was paid to modelling aspects on the different scales: models for the intelligent materials and material systems, for the sensors and actuators, for the integrated control systems and the system-level applications. Various innovations have been achieved, including novel decentralised feedback control techniques and dedicated algorithms for sound quality control. Major achievements have been obtained in the development of efficient model reduction schemes to reduce the electro-poro-elasto-vibro-acoustic model that typically may arise in smart systems for noise and vibration reduction. In view of identifying the various noise and vibration transmission paths in complex dynamic systems such as road transport vehicles and to indicate the major problems to address with smart systems, a highly innovative output-only transfer path analysis method has been invented. The research results have been presented in over 150 fellow publications, 33 multi-partner papers, and have led to 5 patent applications. In the framework of all of these research developments, various benchmarks, toolsets and demonstrators have been developed and put available to the training through-research trajectories of the various fellows in the network. A major demonstrator and benchmark involves a concrete car, consisting of a concrete car cavity and an engine bay, with a smart firewall separating both volumes. Electro-vibro-acoustic models and measurement data, as well as control systems for interior noise reduction as well as for interior sound quality optimisation, are readily available. Other demonstrators include an instrumented smart engine mount, a smart oil pan demonstrator, an exosqueleton arm, an instrumented smart bridge mock-up for structural health monitoring studies, a model reduction matlab toolbox and an active control implementation toolset. In view of an optimal dissemination of the network activities, the network website http://www.smart-structures.eu serves as premium window to the outside world for the network fellows and the major achievements. The website reports on the major achievements of each individual fellow. In addition, several video demonstrations and tutorial descriptions have been added to the website as a sort of scientific testimony.

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