Rigidity and Stability of Spherical Shells
Sina Youssefian (Worcester Polytechnic Institu ), Nima Rahbar (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), Eduardo Torres-Jara ()
Soft Materials and Structures
Mon 2:40 - 4:00
Barus-Holley 158
In this project, the contact of different objects with spherical-shell tactile sensor inspired by the construction of human skin under different conditions is studied. The mechanical response of the sensor to the normal and shear forces applied by cylinders with different radii are obtained, experimentally. A finite element model is also created and verified with the experimental results. This model is used to investigate the effect of size and geometry of contact objects on the mechanical responses of the sphere. The results show that nonlinearity of the system is due to the geometric nonlinearilty and the material nonlinearity is not significant. The contact of the sphere with the small cylinders suggests that an increase in the sphere radius increases its rigidity and decreases its stability. The contact with big cylinders shows the same trend for the rigidity but with stable behavior. Increasing the thickness of the sphere increases not only the rigidity but also the stability of the system. These results indicate that the sensors with smaller radii are more sensitive and stable.