Smart Structures

Blurring the Distinction Between the Living and the Nonliving

Vinod K. Wadhawan

Monographs on the Physics and Chemistry of Materials

Smartness is often associated with living beings, as they can adapt themselves to changing situations. Artificial smart structures are designed to mimic biological structures to a smaller or larger extent. This book gives a comprehensive account of how this can be done. It will be of interest to students and professionals in science and engineering.

Smart Structures

Blurring the Distinction Between the Living and the Nonliving

Vinod K. Wadhawan

Monographs on the Physics and Chemistry of Materials

Description

A structure is an assembly that serves an engineering function. A smart structure is one that serves this function smartly i.e. by responding adaptively in a pre-designed useful and efficient manner to changing environmental conditions. Adaptive behavior of one of more materials constituting a smart structure requires nonlinear response. This book describes the three main types of nonlinear-response materials: ferroic materials, sort materials, and nanostructured materials. Information processing by biological and artificial smart structures is also discussed. A smart structure typical has sensors, actuators and a control system. Progress in all these aspects of smart structures has leant heavily on mimicking Nature and the all-important notion in this context has been that of evolution. Artificial Darwinian and Lamarckian evolution holds the key to the development of truly smart structures. Modestly intelligent robots are already on the horizon. Projections about the low cost availability of adequate computing power and memory size indicate that the future really belongs to smart structures. This book covers in a compact format the entire gamut of concepts relevant to smart structures. It will be of interest to a wide range of students and professionals in science and engineering.

Smart Structures

Blurring the Distinction Between the Living and the Nonliving

Vinod K. Wadhawan

Monographs on the Physics and Chemistry of Materials

Chapter 1. Introduction and Overview
Chapter 2. Information Processing by Biological and Artificial Smart Structures
Chapter 3. Ferroic Materials
Chapter 4. Soft Matter
Chapter 5. Self Assembly and Self-Organization of Matter
Chapter 6. Nanostructures
Chapter 7. Human Intelligence
Chapter 8. Smart Sensor Systems
Chapter 9. Sensors and Actuators for Smart Structures
Chapter 10. Machine Intelligence
Chapter 11. The Future of Smart Structures
Appendices