Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Design Of A Meta-Material With Targeted Nonlinear Deformation Response, Zachary Satterfield

All Theses

The M1 Abrams tank contains track pads consist of a high density rubber. This rubber fails prematurely due to heat buildup caused by the hysteretic nature of elastomers. It is therefore desired to replace this elastomer by a meta-material that has equivalent nonlinear deformation characteristics without this primary failure mode. A meta-material is an artificial material in the form of a periodic structure that exhibits behavior that differs from its constitutive material. After a thorough literature review, topology optimization was found as the only method used to design meta-materials. Further investigation determined topology optimization as an infeasible method to design …