Mechanical Engineering | Open Access Articles

Gait And Locomotion Analysis For Tribological Applications, Md Hayder Ali

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Development And Validation Of A Human Hip Joint Finite Element Model For Tissue Stress And Strain Predictions During Gait, Jeffrey D. Pyle

Master's Theses

Articular cartilage degeneration, called osteoarthritis, in the hip joint is a serious condition that affects millions of individuals yearly, with limited clinical solutions available to prevent or slow progression of damage. Additionally, the effects of high-risk factors (e.g. obesity, soft and hard tissue injuries, abnormal joint alignment, amputations) on the progression of osteoarthritis are not fully understood. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to generate a finite element model for predicting osteochondral tissue stress and strain in the human hip joint during gait, with a future goal of using this model in clinically relevant studies aimed at prevention, treatment, …

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Induced Damping And Its Relationship To Beneficial Energy Harvesting In Dielectric Elastomers With Application To Walking, Heather L. Lai

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation presents a novel, interdisciplinary research which addresses the potential of applying soft polymeric materials to strategically harvest biomechanical energy in a beneficial manner for use as a viable, low power source for on-board electronics. Of particular interest are electroactive polymers (EAP), which unlike other types of electromechanical smart materials such as piezoelectric ceramics, which are often brittle, have low elastic modulus and can exhibit large strains without substantial stress generations. One type of EAP, the dielectric elastomer (DE), which utilizes electrostatic forces built up across the dielectric polymer to convert between electrical and mechanical energy, is employed in …