This monograph provides a comprehensive overview of the author's work on the fields of fractional calculus and waves in linear viscoelastic media, which includes his pioneering contributions on the ...applications of special functions of the Mittag-Leffler and Wright types.It is intended to serve as a general introduction to the above-mentioned areas of mathematical modeling. The explanations in the book are detailed enough to capture the interest of the curious reader, and complete enough to provide the necessary background material needed to delve further into the subject and explore the research literature given in the huge general bibliography.This book is likely to be of interest to applied scientists and engineers.
Abstract Dielectric Elastomer Minimum Energy Structures (DEMES) have the ability of actively adjusting their shape to accommodate complex scenarios, understanding the actuation mechanism of DEMES is ...essential for their effective design and control, which has rendered them a focus of research in the field of soft robotics. The actuation ability of DEMES is usually influenced by external conditions, among which the electromechanical properties of DE materials are highly sensitive to temperature changes, and the pre-stretch ratio of DE materials has a significant impact on the dynamic performance of DEMES. Therefore, it is necessary to study the effects of temperature and pre-stretch ratio on the nonlinear dynamic behavior of DEMES. In this paper, in response to the lack of research on the influence of DE pre-stretch ratio on the actuation characteristics of DEMES, this paper proposes a systematic modeling and analysis framework that comprehensively considers pre-stretch factors, temperature factors, and viscoelastic factors, and establishes the motion control equation of DEMES affected by the coupling effect of DE pre-stretch ratio and temperature. The proposed analytical framework is used to analyze the evolution of the electromechanical response of DEMES under voltage excitation under the coupling of DE pre-stretch ratio and temperature. The results indicate that the bending angle, inelastic deformation, resonant frequency, and dynamic stability of DEMES can be jointly adjusted by the DE pre-stretch ratio and ambient temperature. A low pre-stretch ratio of DE can lead to dynamic instability of DEMES, while appropriate temperature conditions and higher pre-stretch ratios can significantly improve the actuation ability of DEMES. This can provide theoretical guidance for the design and deformation control of DEMES.
In the field of Soft Robotics, viscoelasticity has been proved beneficial for human assistance applications. The human skeletal muscle system, as well as many soft materials commonly used in soft ...robotic applications, have viscoelastic properties. Viscoelasticity can be modelled using a set of equations known as the Linear Viscoelastic Models (LVMs). This modelling approach has two main limitations: high mathematical complexity and high computational cost. Here, these limitations are addressed in two ways. Firstly, the Piecewise Linearisation method is used to reduce the mathematical complexity of LVMs. Secondly, a modelling approach based on feedforward artificial neural networks (ANNs) is used to reduce the computational cost. The aim of both modelling approaches is to describe the non-linear, strain-dependent, and time-dependent stress response of seven thermoplastic elastomers. On the one hand, the implementation of the Piecewise Linearisation method yielded the PL-SLS model and the PL-Wiechert model. Both models were successful in predicting the viscoelastic behaviour of the materials, outperforming similar modelling tools documented in the literature. On the other hand, four different architectures of ANN models are developed, categorized in rate-dependent and rate-independent. Results highlight the rate-dependent architecture as the most suitable. The ANN models achieved a similar prediction performance as the PL models. The ANN model for the natural rubber material is further validated in a real-time simulation environment, in Simulink. This soft material is found to be the best candidate to imitate the mechanical properties of the human tendon. On the one hand, the performance prediction of the ANN models is adequate for a sine wave strain input, when the strain rate is constant. On the other hand, the response of the ANN model is unstable under variable strain rates. This highlights an important limitation of the training set used for developing the ANN models, which only contains data for three different strain rates. Finally, the three modelling tools developed in this research are a direct improvement to current modelling approaches. Nonetheless, a richer training set is required to improve the ANN models real-time response.
This text is a guide how to solve problems in which viscoelasticity is present using existing commercial computational codes. The book gives information on codes structure and use, data preparation ...and output interpretation and verification. The first part of the book introduces the reader to the subject, and to provide the models, equations and notation to be used in the computational applications. The second part shows the most important Computational techniques: Finite elements formulation, Boundary elements formulation, and presents the solutions of Viscoelastic problems with Abaqus.
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