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Using Origami Folding Techniques To Study The Effect Of Non-Linear Stiffness On The Performance Of Jumping Mechanism, Blake Betsill

All Theses

This research uses Origami patterns and folding techniques to generate non-linear force displacement profiles and study their effect on jumping mechanisms. In this case, the jumping mechanism is comprised of two masses connected by a Tachi-Miura Polyhedron (TMP) with non-linear stiffness characteristics under tensile and compressive loads. The strain-softening behavior exhibited by the TMP enables us to optimize the design of the structure for improved jumping performance. I derive the equations of motion of the jumping process for the given mechanism and combine them with the kinematics of the TMP structure to obtain numerical solutions for the optimum design. The …

Improvements To Mle Algorithm For Localizing Radiation Sources With A Distributed Detector Network, Guthrie Cordone

All Theses

Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) is a widely used method for the localization of radiation sources using distributed detector networks. While robust, MLE is computationally intensive, requiring an exhaustive search over parameter space. To mitigate the computational load of MLE, many techniques have been presented, including iterative and multi-resolution methods.

In this work, we present two ways to improve the MLE localization of radiation sources. First, we present a method to mitigate the pitfalls of a standard multi-resolution algorithm. Our method expands the search region of each layer before performing the MLE search. Doing so allows the multi-resolution algorithm to correct …

Behavior And Energy Loss Optimization Of An Elastic Material Metastructure, Andrew S. Montalbano

All Theses

Advances in additive manufacturing expand the possibilities of what can be designed and produced. One such example is producing structures that possess designed properties. Because the structure itself has the designed property, it does not require the structure's base material to have it. This allows the use of materials that lack a property to gain that property through geometry. Most elastic materials such as steel do not possess any form of energy loss under loading in their elastic regime. This research asks if a structure made from an elastic material could be designed in such a way to provide energy …