In this paper, a procedure has been presented to develop fragility curves of structures equipped with optimal variable damping or stiffness semi-active tuned mass dampers (SATMDs). To determine proper variable damping or stiffness of semi-active devices in each time step, instantaneous optimal control algorithm with clipped control concept has been used. Optimal SATMDs have been designed based ...

A novel Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuator consisting of several thin NiTi bers woven in a counter rotating helical pattern around supporting disks is rst described. This structure accomplishes a highly eecient transformation between force and displacement overcoming the main mechanical drawback of shape memory alloys, that being limited strain. Time domain open loop experiments were then conduc...

This paper presents a Variable Structure Adaptive Backstepping Controller (VS-ABC) for plants with relative degree one, using only input/output measurements. Instead of traditional integral adaptive laws for estimating the plant parameters, switching laws are used to increase robustness to parametric uncertainties and disturbances, as well as, to improve transient response. Moreover, the contro...

Recent developments in the area of smart structures indicate that variable geometry / stiffness truss network is of fundamental importance in designing smart transformable structures and systems for space applications. This paper presents the conceptual design and dynamic modeling of a cooperative re-configurabel dual-arm robotic structure called Dual-Arm Cam-Lock Manipulator. The Manipulator i...