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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Simulation Of Magnetic Field Induced Current And Neuron Spiking For Magnetic Seizure Therapy, Abhijeet R. Wadkar Nov 2015

Simulation Of Magnetic Field Induced Current And Neuron Spiking For Magnetic Seizure Therapy, Abhijeet R. Wadkar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Magnetic seizure therapy (MST) is currently on trial to treat severe cases of depression. This thesis is concerned with getting a deeper understanding of the mechanics behind MST by employing FEA of brain. The simulations performed via COMSOL helped identify the dimensions and coil types of the MST device as well as the angular probing orientations. Largest induced current due to the externally imposed magnetic field was found in the cerebrospinal fluid which was found to act as a barrier to induce current in the gray matter. In an attempt to relate the induced current to the neuron spiking, a …


Electromechanical Coupling Behavior Of Dielectric Elastomer Transducers, Jianyou Zhou Sep 2015

Electromechanical Coupling Behavior Of Dielectric Elastomer Transducers, Jianyou Zhou

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Dielectric elastomer transducers with large deformation, high energy output, light weight and low cost have been drawing great interest from both the research and industry communities, and shown potential for versatile applications in biomimetics, dynamics, robotics and energy harvesting. However, in addition to multiple failure modes such as electrical breakdown, electromechanical instability, loss-of-tension and fatigue, the performance of dielectric elastomer transducers are also strongly influenced by the hyperelastic and viscoelastic properties of the material. Also, the interplay among these material properties and the failure modes is rather difficult to predict. Therefore, in order to provide guidelines for the optimal design …