Search

Axions can be stimulated to decay into photons by ambient photons of the right frequency or by photons from the decay of neighboring axions. If the axion density is high enough, the photon intensity can be amplified, which is a type of lasing or an axion maser. Here, we review the astrophysical situations where axion lasing can appear and possibly be detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the spectral content and parametric resonant dynamics of an array of elastically and electrostatically coupled interdigitated micro cantilevers assembled into two identical half-arrays. In this uncommon arrangement, within each of the half-arrays, the beams are coupled only elastically. The half-arrays are intercoupled only electrostatically, through fringing fields. First, by using the reduced order (RO) model, we analyse the voltage-dependent evolution of the eigenvalues and the eigenvectors of the equivalent mass-spring system, starting from the small two, three and four beams arrays and up to large beams assemblies. We show that at the coupling voltages below a certain critical value, the shape of the eigenvectors, the frequencies of the veering and of the crossing are influenced by the electrostatic coupling and can be tuned by the voltage. Next, by implementing the assumed modes techniques we explore the parametric resonant behavior of the array. We show that in the case of the sub critical electrostatic coupling the actuating voltages required to excite parametric resonance in the damped system can be lower than in a strongly coupled array. The results of the work may inspire new designs of more efficient resonant sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contains a parametric analysis of tensegrity structures subjected to periodic loads. The analysis focuses on determining the main region of dynamic instability. When load parameters fall within this region, the resulting vibration amplitudes increase, posing a risk to the durability of structures. The study considers structures built using commonly used modules. The influence of the initial prestress on the distribution of the instability regions is examined. Additional prestress can significantly reduce the extent of instability regions, potentially narrowing them by up to 99%. A nondimensional parameter is introduced to accurately assess changes in the extent of the instability region. A geometrically non-linear model is employed to evaluate the behavior of the analyzed structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, parametric forced tuned solid ball dampers (TSBD) are considered for vibration control of engineering structures in an untypical way. The special feature of the presented investigation is to evaluate the potential application of parametric forcing of the rolling cylindrical or spherical body in the runway for reducing the vertical vibrations of a vibration-prone main system. Typically, tuned solid ball dampers are applied to structures that are prone to horizontal vibrations only. The coupled nonlinear differential equations of motion are derived and the phenomenon of parametric resonance of the rolling body in the runway is analyzed. A criterion for avoiding parametric resonance is given to achieve the optimal damping effect of the TSBD. In the second part of the article, a method for the targeted use of parametric resonance to reduce the vertical vibrations of engineering structures is presented and verified, considering a biaxially harmonic excited pedestrian bridge. It is shown that, with a suitable choice of damper parameters, a stable vibration of the rolling body in the runway is formed over the course of the vibration despite the occurrence of parametric resonance and that the maximum vertical vibration amplitudes of the main system can be reduced up to 93%. Hence, the here presented untypical application of parametric forced TSBD for reducing the vertical forced vibrations of vibration-prone main systems could be successfully demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrodynamical analysis of the conditions for the occurrence of chaotic ship roll, leading in some cases to the capsizing of the vessel, showed that such conditions are most likely to occur in the zone of the main parametric resonance of the roll when its period is sequentially doubled, and subharmonic oscillations turn into chaotic ones. This circumstance necessitates special attention to the regime of parametric roll resonance, issues of its occurrence, development, and establishment as well as to the methods of calculation of its amplitudes. In the present paper, the study of the parametric ship roll is conducted on the basis of the Lugovsky formula. An account is taken of the additional nonlinear moments M ¯ X 23 and M ¯ X 24 , obtained through the application of the small parameter method. Presented are the calculation results for the parametric roll of five different ships performing motions at various course angles both with and without account of the aforementioned nonlinear moments. Demonstrated therewith is a significant influence of the nonlinear moments upon the maximum amplitudes of the parametric roll, especially in the case of beam waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the effect of the bridge deck's bending stiffness and the indirect effect of adjacent cables (CEB), this paper aims to propose a refined model to reliably analyze the complex internal resonance mechanism of the tower–multicable–beam coupled system (MCS) under nonlinear geometric conditions. To accurately analyze the dynamic behavior, the shear difference effect is applied to simulate the continuous rigidity of the single beam. The dynamic equations of the whole resonance system are derived based on the D'Alembert Principle and the Finite Difference Method, the Galerkin Method and verified by the case study. The results of the numerical simulation based on the Fourth Runge–Kutta Method show that the dynamic parameter of each component is closely related to the coupled resonance of the system. The dynamic behavior under two conditions, tower–cable 1:1 resonance (TCR) or cable–beam 1:2 resonance (CBR), is deeply analyzed. Additionally, the excitation effect of the maximum amplitude by two excitation approaches, the initial displacement or initial velocity, both show a linear increase. The mutual transmission process of vibration excitation on the cable through the bridge beam or the tower as the medium is also further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differential quadrature method (DQM) is a numerical technique widely applied in structure mechanics problems. In this work, a top-tensioned riser conveying fluid is considered. The governing equation of this riser under parametric excitations is deduced. Through Galerkin's method, the partial differential governing equation with respect to time t and vertical coordinate z is reduced into a 1D differential equation with respect only to time. Moreover, the DQM is applied to discretize the governing equation to give solution schemes for the risers' parametric vibration problem. Furthermore, the instability region of Mathieu equation is studied by both the DQM and the Floquet theory to verify the effectiveness of the DQM, and the solutions of both methods show good consistency. After that, the influences of some factors such as damping coefficient, internal flow velocity, and wet-weight coefficient on the parametric instability of a top-tensioned riser are discussed through investigating the instability regions solved by the DQM solution scheme. Hence, conclusions are obtained that the increase of damping coefficient will save the riser from parametric resonance while increasing internal flow velocity, or the wet-weight coefficient will deteriorate the parametric instability of the riser. Finally, the time-domain responses of several specific cases in both stable region and unstable region are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrostatically actuated torsional micromirrors are key elements in Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical-Systems. When forced by means of in-plane comb-fingers, the dynamics of the main torsional response is known to be strongly non-linear and governed by parametric resonance. Here, in order to also trace unstable branches of the mirror response, we implement a simplified continuation method with arc-length control and propose an innovative technique based on Finite Elements and the concepts of material derivative in order to compute the electrostatic stiffness; i.e., the derivative of the torque with respect to the torsional angle, as required by the continuation approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parametric excitation system consisting of a flexible beam and shuttle mass widely exists in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which can exhibit rich nonlinear dynamic behaviors. This article aims to theoretically investigate the nonlinear jumping phenomena and bifurcation conditions of a class of electrostatically-driven MEMS actuators with a time-delay feedback controller. Considering the comb structure consisting of a flexible beam and shuttle mass, the partial differential governing equation is obtained with both the linear and cubic nonlinear parametric excitation. Then, the method of multiple scales is introduced to obtain a slow flow that is analyzed for stability and bifurcation. Results show that time-delay feedback can improve resonance frequency and stability of the system. What is more, through a detailed mathematical analysis, the discriminant of Hopf bifurcation is theoretically derived, and appropriate time-delay feedback force can make the branch from the Hopf bifurcation point stable under any driving voltage value. Meanwhile, through global bifurcation analysis and saddle node bifurcation analysis, theoretical expressions about the system parameter space and maximum amplitude of monostable vibration are deduced. It is found that the disappearance of the global bifurcation point means the emergence of monostable vibration. Finally, detailed numerical results confirm the analytical prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploiting parametric resonance may enable increased performance for wave energy converters (WECs). By designing the geometry of a heaving WEC, it is possible to introduce a heave-to-heave Mathieu instability that can trigger parametric resonance. To evaluate the potential of such a WEC, a mathematical model is introduced in this paper for a heaving buoy with a non-constant waterplane area in monochromatic waves. The efficacy of the model in capturing parametric resonance is verified by a comparison against the results from a nonlinear Froude–Krylov force model, which numerically calculates the forces on the buoy based on the evolving wetted surface area. The introduced model is more than 1000 times faster than the nonlinear Froude–Krylov force model and also provides the significant benefit of enabling analytical investigation techniques to be utilised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the phenomena attributable to the Moon's actions on living organisms, one of them seems to be related to analytical fluid mechanics: along the route of the International Space Station around the Earth, experiments on plants have revealed leaf oscillations. A parametric resonance due to a short period of microgravitational forces could explain these oscillations. Indeed, Rayleigh-Taylor's instabilities occurring at the interfaces between liquid-water and its vapor verify a second-order Mathieu differential equation. This is the case of interfaces existing in the xylem channels of plant stems filled with sap and air-vapor. The magnitude of the instabilities depends on the distances between the Moon, the Sun, and the Earth. They are analogous, but less spectacular, to those that occur during ocean tides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microelectromechanical System (MEMS)-based scanning mirrors are important optical devices that have been employed in many fields as a low-cost and miniaturized solution. In recent years, the rapid development of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) has led to opportunities and challenges for MEMS scanners. In this work, we propose a 2D electrostatically actuated micro raster scanner with relatively large aperture. The 2D scanner combines a resonant scanning axis driven by an in-plane comb and a quasistatic scanning axis driven by a vertical comb, which is achieved by raising the moving comb finger above the fixed comb finger through the residual stress gradient. The analytic formula for the resonant axis frequency, based on the mechanical coupling of two oscillation modes, is derived and compared with finite element simulation. A prototype is designed, fabricated, and tested, and an overall optical Field-of-View (FoV) of about 60° × 4° is achieved. Finally, some possibilities for further improvement or optimization are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) resonators, once the devices are fabricated and packaged, their intrinsic quality factors (Q) will be fixed and cannot be changed, which seriously limits the further improvement of the resonator's performance. In this paper, parametric excitation is applied in a push-pull driven disk resonator gyroscope (DRG) to improve its sensitivity by an electrical pump, causing an arbitrary increase of the "effective Q". However, due to the differential characteristics of the push-pull driving method, the traditional parametric excitation method is not applicable. As a result, two novel methods are proposed and experimentally carried out to achieve parametric excitation in the push-pull driven DRGs, resulting in a maximum "effective Q" of 2.24 × 106 in the experiment, about a 7.6 times improvement over the intrinsic Q. Besides, subharmonic excitation is also theoretically analyzed and experimentally characterized. The stability boundary of parametric excitation, defined by a threshold voltage, is theoretically predicted and verified by related experiments. It is demonstrated that, when keeping the gyroscope's vibration at a constant amplitude, the fundamental frequency driving voltage will decrease with the increasing of the parametric voltage and will drop to zero at its threshold value. In this case, the gyroscope operates in a generalized parametric resonance condition, which is called subharmonic excitation. The novel parametric and subharmonic excitation theories displayed in this paper are proven to be efficient and tunable dynamical methods with great potential for adjusting the quality factor flexibly, which can be used to further enhance the resonator's performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of excitation of internal gravity waves (IGWs) in the upper atmosphere by an external source of a limited duration of operation is investigated. An isothermal atmosphere was chosen as the propagation environment of IGWs in the presence of a uniform wind that changes over time according to the harmonic law. For the vertical component of the displacement of an environment, the Mathieu equation with zero initial conditions was solved with the right part simulating the effect of a powerful heating facility on the ionosphere. In the case of a small amplitude of the variable component of the wind, the time dependence of the vertical displacement under parametric resonance conditions using the perturbation method is obtained. The obtained dependence of the solution of the differential equation on the parameters allows us to perform a numerical analysis of the problem in the case of variable wind of arbitrary amplitude. For practical estimations of the obtained values, data on the operating modes of the SURA heating facility (56.15° N, 46.11° E) with periodic (15–30 min) switching on during of 2–3 h for ionosphere impact were used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematical models are essential for the design and control of offshore systems, to simulate the fluid–structure interactions and predict the motions and the structural loads. In the development and derivation of the models, simplifying assumptions are normally required, usually implying linear kinematics and hydrodynamics. However, while the assumption of linear, small amplitude motion fits traditional offshore problems, in normal operational conditions (it is desirable to stabilize ships, boats, and offshore platforms), large motion and potential dynamic instability may arise (e.g., harsh sea conditions). Furthermore, such nonlinearities are particularly evident in wave energy converters, as large motions are expected (and desired) to enhance power extraction. The inadequacy of linear models has led to an increasing number of publications and codes implementing nonlinear hydrodynamics. However, nonlinear kinematics has received very little attention, as few models yet consider six degrees of freedom and large rotations. This paper implements a nonlinear hydrodynamic and kinematic model for an archetypal floating structure, commonplace in offshore applications: an axisymmetric spar-buoy. The influence of nonlinear dynamics and kinematics causing coupling between modes of motion are demonstrated. The nonlinear dynamics are shown to cause parametric resonance in the roll and pitch degrees of freedom, while the nonlinear kinematics are shown to potentially cause numerical instability in the yaw degree of freedom. A case study example is presented to highlight the nonlinear dynamic and kinematic effects, and the importance of including a nominal restoring term in the yaw DoF presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is widely accepted that accurate modeling of wave energy converters is essential for effective and reliable design, it is often challenging to define an accurate model which is also fast enough to investigate the design space or to perform extensive sensitivity analysis. In fact, the required accuracy is usually brought by the inclusion of nonlinearities, which are often time-consuming to compute. This paper provides a computationally efficient meshless nonlinear Froude–Krylov model, including nonlinear kinematics and an integral formulation of drag forces in six degrees of freedom, which computes almost in real-time. Moreover, a mooring system model with three lines is included, with each line comprising of an anchor, a jumper, and a clump weight. The mathematical model is used to investigate the highly-nonlinear phenomenon of parametric resonance, which has particularly detrimental effects on the energy conversion performance of the spar-buoy oscillating water column (OWC) device. Furthermore, the sensitivity on changes to jumper and clump-weight masses are discussed. It is found that mean drift and peak loads increase with decreasing line pre-tension, eventually leading to a reduction of the operational region. On the other hand, the line pre-tension does not affect power production efficiency, nor is it able to avoid or significantly limit the severity of parametric instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrostatic MEMS scanner plays an important role in the miniaturization of the microscopic imaging system. We have developed a new two-dimensional (2D) parametrically-resonant MEMS scanner with patterned Au coating (>90% reflectivity at an NIR 785-nm wavelength), for a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence intraoperative confocal microscopic imaging system with a compact form factor. A silicon-on-insulator (SOI)-wafer based dicing-free microfabrication process has been developed for mass-production with high yield. Based on an in-plane comb-drive configuration, the resonant MEMS scanner performs 2D Lissajous pattern scanning with a large mechanical scanning angle (MSA, ±4°) on each axis at low driving voltage (36 V). A large field-of-view (FOV) has been achieved by using a post-objective scanning architecture of the confocal microscope. We have integrated the new MEMS scanner into a custom-made NIR fluorescence intraoperative confocal microscope with an outer diameter of 5.5 mm at its distal-end. Axial scanning has been achieved by using a piezoelectric actuator-based driving mechanism. We have successfully demonstrated ex vivo 2D imaging on human tissue specimens with up to five frames/s. The 2D resonant MEMS scanner can potentially be utilized for many applications, including multiphoton microendoscopy and wide-field endoscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In various applications, damping from the surrounding fluid severely degrades the performance of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). In this paper, mechanical amplification through parametric resonance was investigated in a piezoelectrically actuated MEMS to overcome the effects of damping. The device was fabricated using the PiezoMUMPS process, which is based on a Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) process with an additional aluminum nitride (AlN) layer. Here, a double-clamped cantilever beam with a concentrated mass at the center was excited at its first resonance mode (out-of-plane motion) in air and at atmospheric conditions. A parametric signal modulating the stiffness of the beam was added at twice the frequency of the excitation signal, which was swept through the resonance frequency of the mode. The displacement at the center of the device was detected optically. A four-fold increase in the quality-factor, Q, of the resonator was obtained at the highest values in amplitude used for the parametric excitation. The spring modulation constant was obtained from the effective quality-factor, Q e f f , versus parametric excitation voltage curve. This study demonstrates that through these methods, significant improvements in performance of MEMS in fluids can be obtained, even for devices fabricated using standard commercial processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In various applications, damping from the surrounding fluid severely degrades the performance of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). In this paper, mechanical amplification through parametric resonance was investigated in a piezoelectrically actuated MEMS to overcome the effects of damping. The device was fabricated using the PiezoMUMPS process, which is based on a Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) process with an additional aluminum nitride (AlN) layer. Here, a double-clamped cantilever beam with a concentrated mass at the center was excited at its first resonance mode (out-of-plane motion) in air and at atmospheric conditions. A parametric signal modulating the stiffness of the beam was added at twice the frequency of the excitation signal, which was swept through the resonance frequency of the mode. The displacement at the center of the device was detected optically. A four-fold increase in the quality-factor, Q , of the resonator was obtained at the highest values in amplitude used for the parametric excitation. The spring modulation constant was obtained from the effective quality-factor, Q e f f , versus parametric excitation voltage curve. This study demonstrates that through these methods, significant improvements in performance of MEMS in fluids can be obtained, even for devices fabricated using standard commercial processes.

The parametric excitation system consisting of a flexible beam and shuttle mass widely exists in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which can exhibit rich nonlinear dynamic behaviors. This article aims to theoretically investigate the nonlinear jumping phenomena and bifurcation conditions of a class of electrostatically-driven MEMS actuators with a time-delay feedback controller. Considering the comb structure consisting of a flexible beam and shuttle mass, the partial differential governing equation is obtained with both the linear and cubic nonlinear parametric excitation. Then, the method of multiple scales is introduced to obtain a slow flow that is analyzed for stability and bifurcation. Results show that time-delay feedback can improve resonance frequency and stability of the system. What is more, through a detailed mathematical analysis, the discriminant of Hopf bifurcation is theoretically derived, and appropriate time-delay feedback force can make the branch from the Hopf bifurcation point stable under any driving voltage value. Meanwhile, through global bifurcation analysis and saddle node bifurcation analysis, theoretical expressions about the system parameter space and maximum amplitude of monostable vibration are deduced. It is found that the disappearance of the global bifurcation point means the emergence of monostable vibration. Finally, detailed numerical results confirm the analytical prediction.