Department of Mechanical Engineering2014 Seminar Series

Chris Rahn, Ph.D. ProfessorMechanical and Nuclear EngineeringPennsylvania State University

Fluidlastic Structures with Enhanced Vibration Damping, Absorption and Isolation

Oct. 24, 2014 | 2:00 PM | DeWalt Seminar Room, 2164 Martin Hall abstract: Fluidlastic devices have been used for many years to damp, absorb, and isolate vibration in appli-cations ranging from vehicle suspensions to rotorcraft engine mounts. Vibration pumps fluid through a circuit that can dissipate energy in flow constrictions, store energy in pressurized accumulators, and generate iner-tance in the interconnecting tubes. The fluidic part of the coupled mechanical-fluid system can be tailored to provide the desired mechanical vibration characteristics. This presentation discusses the history of fluidlastic devices, the current state of the art in industry, and recent advances in continuous fluidlastic structures with embedded fluidics in distributed mechanical components such as beams and plates.

bio: Christopher D. Rahn received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1985 and a M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. He worked for three years as a Research and Development Engineer in spacecraft attitude dynamics and control at Ford Aero-space in Palo Alto, CA. He then returned to Berkeley, receiving a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 1992. Dr. Rahn was a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University from 1992 to 2000 where he co-directed the Robotics and Mechatronics Laboratory and focused his research on the develop-ment and experimental validation of control systems for distributed vibration and noise and nonlinear models of high-speed textile manufacturing processes. In 2000, Dr. Rahn joined The Pennsylvania State University where he is currently a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the Mechatronics Research Laboratory, and co-director of the Battery and Energy Storage Technology Center. His research in the modeling, analysis, design, and control of mechatronic systems has been supported by ONR, AFOSR, Army, DARPA, NSF, DOE, NIH, ARPA-E and industry and garnered the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, Board of Trustees Award for Faculty Excellence, McQueen Quattlebaum Faculty Achievement Award, the PSES Outstanding Research Award, an ASME Best Paper Award, and the PSEAS Premier Research Award. He has published two books, over two hundred refereed publications, and several patents. A Fellow of ASME, Dr. Rahn has served as an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control and the ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, chaired the ASME Technical Committee on Vibration and Sound, and served on the Executive Committee of the ASME Design Engineering Division.

www.enme.umd.edu/seminars For more information: Nikhil Chopra (nchopra@umd.edu)