Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
he Department of Mechanical Engineering has evolved substantially over the two years since the last Newsletter was published. Our research programs have grown, and our academic programs are flourishing. Our faculty continue to receive accolades from the scientific and professional communities. Two exciting young faculty members have joined us: Allison Okamura in the area of robotics and Jean-Franois Molinari in computational mechanics. This brings our faculty size to fifteen, and we have plans for three more hires in the near future. The most notable development, however, is a recent reorganization that we have undertaken as part of a process I call Reconstructing Mechanical Engineering. As a result, we now characterize the research activities of the Department in terms of the following areas: Microscale/nanoscale science and engineering Computational engineering Aerospace and marine systems Robotics and human-machine interaction Energy and the environment Mechanical engineering in biology and medicine
This reconstruction effectively moves us away from the traditional compartmentalization in terms of discipline, and focuses instead on the cutting-edge research that we do. Associated with this reconstruction is a re-organization of the options afforded to our undergraduates, and the development of several targeted Masters programs that focus in some of these areas. Managing these changes will take us some time, and I expect to report to you on our progress in succeeding issues of this Newsletter. In the past, the Department has published two distinct documents: a Newsletter for our alumni and friends, and a Brochure for potential students and visitors. This publication replaces both of the previous documents, and is intended to serve a larger audience, including our alumni, potential and current students, visitors and peers. By nature, therefore, we can include here only a sampling of the many exciting things that happen in the Department. A much more detailed picture of the Department can be obtained from our web site, www.me.jhu.edu, which includes links to each of the research laboratories, the academic programs, and lists undergraduate and graduate students, and alumni. The Department has always benefited from the goodwill of its alumni and friends, and I hope that you will continue to support our students and academic programs. As always, all contributions are valuable, large or small, and whether financial or through direct action on behalf of the students and faculty. A selection of specific ways in which you can contribute to our development is included in this document (see p. 29). I encourage you to visit us at Homewood if you are in the area. Please feel free to call us at 410-516-6451, or to send us email, or simply to drop by. There is very little that the faculty and students enjoy more than showing off the wonderful things that they work on every day, and I expect that you will enjoy feeling the pounding pulse of one of the leading engineering departments in this great research university. With best wishes,
Table of Contents
Contact Information
Department of Mechanical Engineering Latrobe Hall 3400 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218-2681 Phone: 410.516.7132 Fax: 410.516.4316 Web: www.me.jhu.edu
Micro/nanoscale Science and Engineering Computational Engineering Aerospace and Marine Systems Robotics and Human-Machine Interaction Energy and the Environment Mechanical Engineering in Biology and Medicine Senior Design Projects Awards and honors Endowment Naming Opportunities Society of Scholars
4 10 14 17 20 23 26 29 29 30
Questions or concerns regarding Title VI, Title IX and Section 504 should be referred to the Director of Affirmative Action Programs, 205 Garland Hall, 410.516.8075. AAO 10/00 (102.1) The Johns Hopkins University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, veteran status or marital status in any student program or activity administered by the university or with regard to admission or employment. Defense Department discrimination in ROTC programs on the basis of sexual orientation conflicts with this university policy. The university continues its ROTC program, but encourages a change in the Defense Department policy.
E
Kevin J. Hemker
Professor Joint Appointment, Materials Science and Engineering Postdoctoral Fellow cole Polytechnique Fderale de Lausanne, Switzerland 199093 Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 1990 M.S. Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 1987 B.S. Metallurgical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, 1985 Research Interests: Microstructural characterization, using advanced electron microscopy techniques and computer generated image simulations
nter the world of Professors Kevin Hemker and William Sharpe, and you step into an incredible shrinking universe. Imagine a sensor so small that it could be placed on the end of a catheter to measure blood pressure intravenously. Inside the doors of a new car, tiny accelerometers stand ready to deploy the side airbags in a crash. These and other similar devices, known as MicroElectroMechanical Systems, or MEMS, consist of tiny mechanical systems, often bundled together with electronic processing circuitry, all on a silicon chip the size of your fingernail or smaller. Driven by the possibility of exciting commercial applications and encouraged by a manufacturing technology already in place thanks to the prevalence of microchips, scientists have unleashed a virtual flood of MEMS research in the past decade. As a result, nanotechnology is quickly moving from the realm of science fiction into everyday life. Mini-robots, mini-tweezers, mini-gyroscopes, and any number of millimeter-size devices may soon be manufactured at very low cost and employed in many aspects of our lives. To imagine things this small, relative scales helpthe trip from 10 m to the atomic scale (nanometers) spans the same orders of magnitude as going from 10 m to the solar system scale. A micrometer is about 100 times smaller than the width of a hair. Tiny pieces of a material at the microscale behave very differently than large hunks of the same stuff at the macroscale. Gravity, weight, and inertial forces are overshadowed by frictional forces, surface tension, and electrostatics. Understanding the mechanical properties of materials at this tiny scale and predicting the materials behavior are fundamental to improving MEMS technology. Professor Kevin Hemker explores how individual grains of a material will behave under various conditions, testing microsamples for strength and other mechanical properties, and
Bubble Pumps
rofessor Andrea Prosperetti has done the engineering equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of a hatby designing a pump with no moving parts. These pumps are not likely to take over municipal water delivery, however, because they are about the same size as a human hair. Prof. Prosperettis pump consists of a channel about 100 to 200 microns in diameter and several hundred microns long, connecting two reservoirs of liquid. Within the channel a single vapor bubble expands and then collapses in response to a pulse of current. In the process, liquid is displaced, moving from one reservoir to the other. The entire cycle is completed in a few milliseconds and can be repeated hundreds of times a second. This simple device is surprisingly powerful; flow rates of hundreds of microliters per minute and pressure heads of several tenths of atmospheres are easily achieved. Another way to power these bubble pumps is by means of a sound wave, which causes areas of relative low and high pressure to form. A bubble will change in volume, or oscillate, in response to these pressure changes. When the bubble vibrates like this, the fluid in the channel moves. Prof. Prosperetti and his team are modeling these kinds of bubble behaviors, as well as experimenting with bubble pumps in the laboratory. Practical applications have started to materialize, and many more appear possible. For example: In the interest of eventually putting humans in space, NASA might have a good use for bubble pumpsgrowing food. If people are going to spend much time in space, says Prof. Prosperetti, they will need to eat their spinach, and it will have to be grown in space. Every pound that exits the Earths
Designer Materials
ack in the Middle Ages (and even earlier in China), weapons and tools were made of iron; either wrought iron, which was fairly soft and wouldnt hold an edge for long, or cast iron, which was extremely hard, unable to deform, and would break quite easily. Introducing a precise amount of carbon in the smelting process produced steel, which combined the useful qualities of wrought and cast iron, making it infinitely more useful and much more valuable. Materials science has come a long way since the Middle Ages, but one thing remains the sameas our technology improves we increase our demands on structural materials, subjecting them to greater loads and more severe environments. In the same way that steel was a big improvement over iron, todays metal alloys are giving way to advanced materials that can perform better under a variety of demanding conditions, from outer space to thousand-degree jet engines. Professor K.T. Ramesh is the director of JHUs new Center for Advanced Metallic and Ceramic Systems (CAMCS), where faculty from Hopkins Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science departments design, fabricate, and study stateof-the-art materials for a variety of defenseand industry-related applications. An ideal material combines the best properties of metals and ceramicsthe toughness, electrical conductivity, and machinability of
Making an Impact
train rate testing is a great concept when the details of the impact, environment, or wear conditions are well-understood and can be reproduced and modeled. But often even getting that far stretches what we know. Prof. Ramesh also uses the equipment in his LIDAR laboratory to study impact dynamics the deformation, flow, and failure of materials during the very first milliseconds of an impact event. Strain rates that occur during an impact vary from as gentle as 10-5 per second to as fierce as 10+8 per second, depending on the event. A bat hitting a baseball is about 10+2 per second. A projectile hitting a tank or a bullet hitting a bulletproof vest is about 10+5 per second. An extreme event like a micro-meteorite hitting the space station, a meteorite hitting the Earth, or a nuclear explosion would be about 10+8 per second. As the impact event proceeds, the strain rate usually falls off quickly. A meteorite travels at tens of thousands of miles per hour; at the moment of impact, huge shock waves are generated that propagate away from the impact site, generating most of the damage. At the moment the shock wave arrives at your location, the strain rate is about 10+8 per second. After 10 microseconds, its decayed to 10+5 per second, and in a matter of milliseconds, were back to baseball, at 10+2 per second. Pressure during impact also varies dramatically, going as high as 1 million atmospheres in some events. Huge pressure changes like this can do all sorts of interesting things to materials. Glass is created at meteorite impacts. Liquids can turn to solids because the high pressures effectively lock the molecules in place. Cracks that might have lurked in ceramics are forced closed under high pressure, making them stronger than before. To test material behavior in the initial milliseconds of an impact event, Prof. Ramesh takes small pieces of a material and deforms them very, very quickly. From measurements taken during the test, he can predict what
as our technology improves we increase our demands on structural materials, subjecting them to greater loads and more severe environments. In the same way that steel was a big improvement over iron, todays metal alloys are giving way to advanced materials that can perform better under a variety of demanding conditions, from outer space to thousand-degree jet engines.
7
Omar Knio
Professor Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990 S.M. Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1986 B.E. Mechanical Engineering, American University of Beirut, 1984 Research Interests: Computational fluid mechanics, vortex methods, turbulent reacting flows, acoustics
Foiled Again
urn off the ovens. Put away the blow torches. Save the Velcro for clothing accessories. In 1994 Dr. Tim Weihs (now a professor in JHUs Materials Science and Engineering Depart-ment) and Dr. Troy Barbee of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory made a groundbreaking discovery that held the promise of changing the way many materials are held together. Components that are joined by soldering or brazing in ovens or with blowtorches can be damaged by heat exposure, and the heating process also introduces oxygen, compromising the strength of the joint. Recent advances in ceramic armor materials have seen limited use because they have proven so difficult to attach to metal. Weihs and Barbees invention, a thin sheet of foil made up of nanoscale layers of alternating materials, makes it possible to create ultra-strong bonds without overheating components and without the presence of oxygen. Weihs and Barbee patented their invention in 1996, and set to the lengthy task of making these foils ready to manufacture. In this effort they are joined by Professor Omar Knio, who is spearheading the computational modeling effort that will eventually lead to optimizing the foils design. Each layer in a multilayer foil is from 1 to 100 nanometers thick, alternating between a light element such as aluminum and a transition metal such as nickel. The layers (about 1,000 of them) are deposited by magnetron sputtering to create a foil sheet about 10 microns thick (for reference, a human hair is about 60 microns in diameter). Because nickel
Ilene J. Busch-Vishniac
Professor and Dean, Whiting School of Engineering Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1981 M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1978 B.S./B.A. Physics/ Mathematics, University of Rochester, 1976 Research Interests: Transduction applications in system dynamics and control techniques for sensors and actuators.
Computational Engineering
velocity) reside on discrete nodes of a lattice. During each time step, the particles move to the nearest lattice site along their direction of motion, where they collide with other partimprovements in computing power and modcles that arrive at the same site. Only a few eling sophistication over the past 1520 directions are allowed (e.g., up, down, left, years have made it possible for scientists to simright). The outcome of the collision is deterulate increasingly complex physical processes. mined by solving the kinetic (Boltzmann) This, in turn, makes it possible for engineers to equation, and a new particle distribution funcmake significant progress in design. For examtion is determined for that site. This simplified ple, computational improvements have let to molecular dynamics includes the essentials of advances in modeling of fluid flows, traditionthe underlying microscopic processes, and so ally a very important area of research at JHU. the averaged properties of LBM simulations Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software obey macroscopic continuum equations, in this is used to model the complex, turbulent flows case, the classical Navier-Stokes equations. The encountered in IC engines, HVAC systems, fire fact that equations at each lattice node can be safety applications, aircraft aerodynamics, and solved in parallel simplifies and speeds up turbomachinery. the computation significantly. And because Computational fluid dynamics is typically boundary conditions are imposed locally, latapproached in two very different ways. In the tice methods are ideal for simulating flows in classical top-down approach, the field equacomplex geometry. tions governing macroThe data set that has scopic flow phenomena are to be crunched by LBM approximated by numeriis impressively huge. cal techniques (like finiteBut instead of taking differencing or spectral the traditional approach methods) that discretize and farming the data off these continuum equations to a supercomputer, in order to solve them on a Prof. Chen has put computer. The bottomtogether a cluster of 64 up approach involves networked PCs. This solving Newtonian laws of exploits the inherently motion describing individparallel nature of the ual molecules and then LBM technique by solvworking upwards to the The figures show the time evolution of the interface for the two- ing different parts of the large scale flow, a techproblem simultaneously nique known as Molecular dimensional Rayleigh-Taylor instability using the lattice Dynamics. Although this Boltzmann method developed by Professor Shiyi Chen and his on different CPUs of the cluster and then microscopic description is group. reassembling them at various stages of the simtechnically the most accurate, it strains even ulation, greatly reducing overall computing the fastest supercomputers. Models like this time. This system is used as well by Professor can only handle very small systems (10 million Joe Katz to analyze the huge amounts of data particles) and very short times (a few picoseche collects in his Particle Image Velocimetry onds). Professor Shiyi Chen, an expert in variexperiments (see Aerospace and Marine ous CFD methodologies who came to Johns Systems, page 15). Hopkins from Los Alamos National Laboratory Professor Chen has used LBM techniques to in 1999, solves various fluid flow problems solve problems ranging from the flow of oil using the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), a and water through sandstone (oil extraction), technique that occupies an intermediate to flow over and around tires and automobiles ground between typical top-down and botfor industry partners, and the complex flow tom-up methods. patterns of granular materials, such as sand or The LBM is constructed as a simplified snow. kinetic molecular system in which single-partiTurbulence is another example of an area in cle distribution functions (i.e., very coarse hiswhich increased computer power translates tograms of how often a particle has a certain
Shiyi Chen
Professor Joint appointment in Mathematical Sciences Department Ph.D. Mechanics, Peking University, 1987 M.S. Mechanics, Peking University, 1984 B.S. Mechanics, Zhejiang University, 1981 Research Interests: Turbulence, computational fluid dynamics, lattice Boltzmann applications, molecular dynamics, flow in porous media.
10
Computational Engineering
directly into more complex and robust models. Hopkins has a long and illustrious history of turbulence research, including the work of Professor Stanley Corrsin, who was one of the first scientists to capture the dynamics of turbulence experimentally in the wind tunnel he built for that purpose. Professors Charles Meneveau, Joe Katz, Shiyi Chen, and Omar Knio are carrying on this tradition by conducting experiments and testing theories that may eventually give us a variety of reliable ways to model turbulent flows. In 1883, British physicist Osborne Reynolds demonstrated that the transition from laminar to turbulent flow in a pipe depends on the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces in the flow, a non-dimensional number now known as the Reynolds Number. The higher the Reynolds Number, the more complex the flow, and the more difficult it is to model. Realistic turbulent flows such as those encountered in many engineering and atmospheric applications have very high Reynolds numbers, and several different approaches are taken to try and quantify what is happening in the flow. In turbulent flow, large-scale structures such as big vortices break down into smaller and smaller eddies, eventually being diffused by friction at the viscous scale. That range spans many orders of magnitude (e.g., for flow over aircraft fuselage, from tens of meters in the wake to tens of micrometers and less in the thin boundary layers). To further complicate matters, the equations governing turbulent fluid flow have a closure problemmeaning that the equations at a large scale contain unknown contributions from the smaller scales, which themselves are affected by even smaller scales, and so on. In addition, unlike smooth laminar flow, turbulent flow cannot be simplified by reducing the equations to two dimensions, since the eddies are inherently threedimensional. Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) solves the Navier-Stokes equations without averaging any of the turbulent eddies. Professor Chen uses spectral methods to discretize the equations and solves them on parallel computers. DNS is limited to low and moderate Reynolds number flows in which the ratio of viscous to large-scale eddies is manageable, but it provides very detailed, three-dimensional and time-dependent information about the fundamental structure of turbulence.
ne promising top-down approach to predicting turbulent flows in a number of engineering applications simplifies the computing by separating the scales. Professor Charles Meneveau is studying this particular approach to modeling turbulence with a method known as Large Eddy Simulation (LES), in which the equations of motion are solved explicitly for all scales larger than some given threshold (the grid-scale). Motions smaller than these (the sub-grid scales) are parameterized by a set of models that depend on various simplifying assumptions about the small-scale dynamics. In contrast to other topdown modeling approaches, such as Reynolds averaging, LES does not rely on averaging all the turbulent eddies but only the smaller ones, thus making it capable of capturing much more accurately the dynamics taking place in turbulence. This method, while elegant in principle, is inherently difficult because little is actually known about the physics of the flow at the small scales. Without good experimental data to test different sub-grid-scale model possibilities, their accuracy remains questionable. Prof. Meneveau uses carefully controlled wind-tunnel experiments to test the assumptions and models that determine how the small-scale physics is represented in LES. In a recent experiment, Prof. Meneveau and postdoctoral scholar Hyung Suk Kang placed an electrically heated metal cylinder horizontally in the Corrsin Wind Tunnel. Downwind of the hot cylinder, they placed an array of probes that measured both velocity and temperature. As the turbulent eddies that formed in the wake of the cylinder became smaller and smaller, the flow lost its structure, and the velocity field became more and more random, or isotropic (about equal in all directions). But to their great interest, the statistical data they gathered indicated that the temperature field did not follow suit; rather, it retained some sense of the larger-scale spatial orientation even as it cascaded into smaller scales. This effect had not been captured correctly with the subgrid scale models, which assumed that temperature was also isotropic at the sub-grid scale. For an in-depth look at some applications of LES modeling to specific engineering problems, see Energy and the Environment, page 21 and Aerospace and Marine Systems, page 15.
In turbulent flow, large-scale structures such as big vortices break down into smaller and smaller eddies, eventually being diffused by friction at the viscous scale. That range spans many orders of magnitude (e.g., for flow over aircraft fuselage, from tens of meters in the wake to tens of micrometers and less in the thin boundary layers).
11
Computational Engineering
nodes and elements, referred to as the mesh, becomes distorted. The way the mesh evolves over time tells a story of the deformation and the response of the material under scrutiny. he newest addition to the ME department, Prof. Molinari uses an adaptive mesh, which Professor Jean-Franois Molinari, is interadjusts itself when areas of significant deformaested in failure. Not failure of the personal tion occur, preventing nodes from crossing over kind, assuredly, but failure analysis of solids each other and providing finer detail in areas of that are subjected to a variety of stressful coninterest. With the ability to pinpoint and ditions. Materials subjected to tremendous selectively analyze areas that are undergoing pressure and highly repetitive activities, such relatively more change, the finite element as human knee prostheses or high-speed manuanalysis combined with adaptive meshing optifacturing tools, exhibit wear and roughening, mizes the computational resources. eventually leading to failure. Satellites confront Prof. Molinari uses this model to computamicrometeorites traveling at speeds of about tionally test different kinds of composite mate4,000 m/s, and damage is inevitable and costly. rials, conditions, and geometries in an effort to For such complex problems, in which material optimize design parameters. Coating turbine deformation is very large, no closed form anablades with an extra layer of material, for lytical solutions exist. It is often not practical example, protects them from thermal fatigue or even possible to subject an object to various and wear. The interface characteristics (such as real-world fatigue-inducing conditions in the roughness) between the laboratory. A solution substrate and the coating to this problem is layer can also be optiComputational mized to achieve better Mechanics. Prof. fatigue properties. This Molinari is an expert in kind of modeling effort is using finite-element particularly useful, since computational methby coupling mechanical, ods to study different thermal, and chemical kinds of material faileffects togethera mulure, including thermal tiphysics approach and mechanical much can be learned fatigue, large deformaFinite element Lagrangian analysis of shaped charges. The shaped about the characteristics tions, and wear. charge technology is mainly used in the oil and gas industry. and behavior of newly Ultimately, this kind designed composite materials before they are of modeling could lead to improved design used in any real applications. Likewise, those specifications for various engineering applicainterested in designing new materials and tions, by optimizing the overall structure and structures can turn to these models to deterthe composite materials used. mine what kinds of chemical and mechanical In finite element analysis, the structure to properties the material will need if it is to be modeled is subdivided into a finite set of withstand a particular environment. elements of simple shape, say, tetrahedra or cubes. The mechanical, thermal, chemical, or Multi-phase Flow other properties are then approximated at a finite number of nodes defining the elements. hen crude oil is pumped from the Upon applying boundary conditions, matheground, it enters a pipeline as a mixmatical techniques are used to solve very large ture of liquid oil and some water. As the liquid systems of equations. For dynamic problems moves along the pipeline, the pressure falls and the numerical time steps range from the order hydrocarbon gases (e.g., methane) originally of nanoseconds, for impact events, to seconds dissolved in the oil come out of solution, much or larger, for fatigue events. This means that like opening a soft drink. The fluid being the equation solving needs to be repeated a pumped then becomes a mixture of gas and large number of times, and computational effiliquid, which behaves very differently from liqciency is an important consideration. When a uid alone. This is one of the many headaches large deformation occurs, the arrangement of
T
Jean-Franois Molinari
Assistant Professor Ph.D., Aeronautics (minor Applied Mathematics), California Institute of Technology,2001 M.S., Aeronautics, California Institute of Technology, 1997 B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Universite de Technologie de Compiegne (France), 1997 Research Interests: Computational Solid Mechanics, contact and wear, constitutive modeling, meshing techniques
12
Computational Engineering
that multiphase flows (i.e., flows in which practical problems in this way is far beyond gases, liquids, and, in other cases, solids are what is feasible not only now but in the foremixed together) present to the engineer. seeable future. Hence a shortcut must be Farther down the line in the oil refinery, found, and this is a problem that has plagued another important instance of multiphase flow the field for decades. arises in the crackProfessor Andrea In practice, the amount of computational firepower Prosperetti has spent ing process, in necessary to tackle even relatively small practical the better part of the which the long chains of hydrocar- problems in this way is far beyond what is feasi- past 20 years workbons that constitute ble not only now but in the foreseeable future. ing on such crude oil are broken reduced approachdown into products such as gasoline, kerosene, es to multiphase flow, and his stature at the naptha, and household heating oil. Cracking is front of the field is a tribute to his tenacity. accomplished by mixing oil vapor with catalyst The challenge is to devise a formulation in powder at very high temperatures. Any gain in which the complex details of the actual flow the efficiency of the cracking process would (e.g., what each particle does) are lumped have a tremendous impact in terms of reduced together in an average description of the syspollution and enhanced productivity. tem. Many such approaches have been attemptOil refining is just one of many examples ed over the years, mostly with disappointing of the many ways in which multiresults. As long as the fluid conphase flows affect technology and, tains only a few particles or bubultimately, our lives. Others bles, our intuition is sufficient to include agriculture (e.g., the flow develop a satisfactory formulation, of grains in a silo), food processbut when their density increases, ing, combustion, and power genone is at a loss to capture the unexeration. pected effects that arise. Prof. In all these instances, the parProsperettis approach consists in ticles or bubbles traveling along trying to gain a physical underwith the fluid complicate fluid standing of what happens in these dynamics considerablythey situations by means of Direct exert drag on the flow, change the Numerical Simulation. He makes density of the medium, affect its the point that while, as mentioned compressibility, and introduce all before, it is impossible to simulate sorts of complex flow structures large realistic systems, much can be in their paths. learned by looking at small assemCurrent understanding of blies of, for example, 500 particles. Numerical simulations of the these complex phenomena is not The task of building a reduced well enough developed to permit the flow through random arrange- formulation for multiphase flow is ments of spheres and corresponreliable design of optimized industherefore to take the computer output ding effective viscosities. trial systems. In the absence of a of the DNS simulation, develop averrobust theory, it is also difficult to rely on age laws that describe those results, and finally experiment: if one runs tests on a small-scale come up with equations that govern this version of a plant, there is no way to know how reduced system. This is in some sense the the full-scale system would behave. reverse of what is normally done: usually one In principle, since the laws of mechanics starts with the equations and ends up with are known, the equations describing each partinumbers by solving the equations on a comcle or bubble together with the motion of the puter. Needless to say, this reversal of roles surrounding fluid could be solvedan makes things rather complicated and that ultiapproach called Direct Numerical Simulation. mate high-tech toolmathematicshas to In practice, the amount of computational firebe relied upon very heavily to carry out the power necessary to tackle even relatively small job.
Andrea Prosperetti
Charles A. Miller Jr. Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. Engineering Science, California Institute of Technology, 1974 M.S. Engineering Science, California Institute of Technology, 1972 Laurea in Fisica, University di Milano, 1968 Research Interests: Thermal-fluid mechanics of multiphase flows, underwater acoustics, air entrainment, bubbles in liquids
13
Invisible Turbomachinery
T
Joseph Katz
Professor Whiting School Mechanical Engineering Chaired Professor Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1982 M.S. Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1978 B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, 1977 Research Interests: Experimental fluid mechanics, bubble dynamics, cavitation, holography, PIV, naval hydrodynamics, ocean instrumentation
14
Louis L. Whitcomb
Associate Professor Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Yale university, 1992 M.Phil. Electrical Engineering, Yale University, 1990 M.S. Electrical Engineering, Yale University, 1988 B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, 1984 Research Interests: Adaptive control of robot systems for real-world applications
15
16
Laboratory Robots
n the basement of Latrobe Hall lives a mechanical arm that, purely through pneumatic on/off switches operating pistons on a series of joints, can maneuver a tool into any pre-programmed position. An algorithm translates the users input of a spatial coordinate into a series of on/off switches for the pistons on the arm that take it to that coordinate. This superarm, designed by Professor Gregory Chirikjian, can perform highly repetitive tasks efficiently and cheaply, even fairly complicated ones involving a series of movements, such as placing parts in an assembly line. For situations in which the motion desired by the robot cannot be programmed ahead of time, engineers depend on motors that can provide as many degrees of freedom as possible. One degree of freedom means that the motor can move, say, up and down; two degrees means that it can go up and down and side to side, and so on. In each joint of a robotic arm there is a motor, and the more degrees of freedom that motor has, the more general its movement can be. Consider the amazing apparatus that is our shoulder joint its range of motion is phenomenal. Attach it to the highly articulated elbow and wrist joints, and the human hand becomes a truly miraculous tool, able to reach with ease in any place or any direction. Engineers have good reason to want to mimic this range of motion robotically. The closest they have come is the spherical motor, a motor that can rotate in a sphere around any axis. Prof. Chirikjian and his student David Stein have recently built a spherical stepper motor. The moving portion of the motor is a hollow plastic sphere in which magnets have been placed in a regular pattern. This sphere is placed in a cap containing several soft iron cores that are polarized to form a magnetic field. The whole arrangement looks a bit like an egg (albeit a spherical egg) in an egg cup. A current is run through the coils in the cap, changing the magnetic field, and the plastic sphere moves in response. Although Chirikjians group is one of many working on the design of a spherical motor, theirs has distinct advantages. In most current spherical motors, the egg-cup part of the motor has to envelop the rotor, whereas Chirikjians cap is less than a hemisphere and thus provides a greater degree of freedom of movement.
Gregory S. Chirikjian
Professor Joint Appointment, Computer Science Ph.D. Applied Mechanics, California institure of Technology, 1992 M.S.E. Mechanical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 1988 B.S. Engineering Mechanics, The Johns Hopkins University, 1988 B.A. Mathematics, The Johns Hopkins University, 1988 Research Interests: Robotics, mechanical design, applications of group theory in engineering, dynamics of biological macromolecules
17
Allison Okamura
Assistant Professor Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering Stanford University, 2000 M.S., Mechanical Engineering Stanford University,1996 B.S., Mechanical Engineering University of California at Berkeley, 1994 Research Interests: haptic exploration with robotic fingers, vibration and force feedback in virtual environments, and assistive robotics
18
From delicate surgical procedures like stapedotomy to the injection of stem cells into the cochlea, which cannot be done manually, to directly breaking up blood clots in veins or arteries, it may well fundamentally change what is considered possible in medicine.
19
Oil-Water mixing
Because the PIV technique resolves a spatial, instead of a temporal, picture of the flow, it is possible to distinguish the wave dynamics from the turbulence.
20
Charles meneveau
Professor Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, 1989 M. Phil. Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, 1988 M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, 1987 B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Univ. Tcnica F.S.M. Valparaso, Chile, 1985 Research Interests: Theoretical, experimental, and numerical studies in turbulence. Large-eddy-Simulation and modeling, fractals
21
Cila herman
Associate Professor Dr.-Ing. Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Munich and University of Hannover, Germany, 1992 M.S. Control Engineering, University of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, 1998 B.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, 1982 Research Interests: Experimental heat transfer and fluid flow, heat transfer augmentation, thermoacoustics, optical techniques
22
rom an engineering standpoint, a person with a good heart possesses an organ that can produce a 60% change in volume as it contracts. Very little is actually known about the mechanical properties of the human heart. For Professor Jean-Franois Molinari, an object undergoing a large deformation like this is a perfect opportunity to apply constitutive modeling techniques. Not only is it a multiphysics problem, involving chemistry, biology, and mechanics, but it is also an optimization problem. What is the ideal shape of the heart? What is the ideal orientation pattern for the muscle fibers as they contract in response to an electrical pulse? Surgeons currently operate on patients with poor hearts (<30% volume change on contraction) by altering the organ from a roundish shape to a football shape. The surgery is highly empirical, and it is probable that finite element modeling can be used to optimize the procedure. Prof. Molinari is enthusiastic about the possibility of interacting with JHUs Biomedical Engineering Department to apply his expertise in constitutive modeling to biomechanical problems.
Andrew S. Douglas
Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Whiting School of Engineering Joint Appointment, Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. Engineering Mechanics, Brown University, 1982 Sc.M. Engineering Mechanics, Brown University, 1979 M.Sc. Civil Engineering, University of Cape Town, 1977 B.Sc. Civil Engineering, University of Cape Town, 1975 Research Interests: Soft tissue mechanics, active materials, fracture
ts doubtful whether the little creatures that inhabit seashells can fully appreciate the amazing structures in which they live. But engineers and materials scientists certainly do. Seashells are incredibly hard and strong, yet amazingly lightweight. Materials scientists would dearly love to have the cosmic recipe for making this kind of material, along with blueprints for other nifty things like tooth enamel, cartilage, and muscle. Materials like this could be used in countless ways; the market possibilities are huge. The fact that it took billions of years for these things to evolve doesnt faze engineersthey hope to be able to come up with workable copies in a matter of decades.
23
K.T. Ramesh
Professor and Department Chair Joint Appointment, Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D. Solid Mechanics, Brown University, 1987 Sc.M. Applied Mathematics, Brown University, 1987 Sc.M. Solid Mechanics, Brown University, 1985 B.E. Mechanical Engineering, Bangalore University, 1982 Research Interests: Material failure at high strain rates, composite materials, biomimetics, active materials, rheology of microstructured fluids
ccasionally, we think nature could do better. It would be nice if we had a limitless tooth supply, like sharks. And the fact that cartilage does not regenerate itself is a very real pain, especially in joints like the knee. Cartilage is formed when a special bunch of cells, called chondrocytes, excrete an extracellular matrix containing collagen (among other things). This matrix provides the unique mechanical and lubricating conditions we need in our joints. In healthy tissue, the chondrocytes keep churning out the extracellular matrix as needed, and we move about without giving it a thought. But lose those chondrocytes to a disease like arthritis, and its curtains for your cartilage. They dont regenerate. Even the best polymer replacements degrade over time and have to be replaced every two years or so. Prof. Ramesh is working with Dr. Carmelita Frondoza, a cell biologist in the Department of Orthopedics at JHUs School of
24
Protein Folding
out of the huge numbers of possible structures into which a given chain of amino acids could fold, only one allows that particular protein to function properly.
25
ach year ME seniors take a yearlong design course taught by Professor Andy Conn and assisted by Undergraduate Lab Coordinator Curt Ewing. Students working in groups of two or three select small-scale engineering design problems suggested and funded by corporations, government, or non-profit agencies. With funding for FY 2001 not exceeding $8,000 per project, the students handled every aspect of the design process, from brainstorming possible solutions to preparing a budget to purchasing equipment and putting together a final device or product. In the first semester, they present oral reports describing how they settled on their final solution to the problem. At the end of the year, their final devices or products are presented and demonstrated in a special two-day series of presentations, with industry representatives and ASME judges present. The ASME judges selected Team ARMED as this years awardwinning project. This year, Professor Conn and Mr. Ewing guided 12 projects to conclusion. Below are brief capsules of each project.
equipment. The students lift was powered pneumatically by a scuba tank and operated with a pulley mechanism. It was portable, weatherproof and cost-efficient, could access varying heights, was easily interfaced with playground equipment, and met strict safety requirements. Students: Christian Callaghan (now working in an architectural firm in Chicago), Denise Koh, and Nate Kruis.
With funding for FY 2001 not exceeding $8,000 per project, the students handled every aspect of the design process, from brainstorming possible solutions to preparing a budget to purchasing equipment and putting together a final device or product.
26
Every year, several deaths occur and thousands of hospitalizations result from children falling out of high-rise apartment building windows, particularly in public housing complexes. This project, funded by the JHU Center for Injury Research and Prevention, was a window guard designed to prevent these kinds of injuries. Current guards have drawbacksthey dont permit entry from the outside (for firefighters), kids can pretty quickly figure out how to release them, and there are no security features that let the resident know when the guard has been released. The Denise Koh in Project RUDY students came up with a Project RUDY (Raising durable, detachable guard system, with a childUp Disabled Youth) proof latch and integrated alarm system. They took advantage of work done on safety release This project, funded by Volunteers for Medical mechanisms by last years team GAT, who did Engineering and the JHU BME Department, extensive research into mental and physical asked students to design a lift that would challenges for young children in the design of allow disabled children to access playground
WILL KIRK
In space, sensing equipment is at the mercy of micrometeorites and extreme temperature and UV fluctuations. (Project ARMED)
27
When roving underwater depths, exploring the ocean floor or inspecting the undersides of ships for damage, Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) use sonar equipment as their eyes and ears. (project SHIPS)
28
Council, for his commitment to improving students lives at Hopkins and admirable and impacting leadership. Omar Knio was promoted to the rank of professor, Spring 2001. Charles Meneveau was appointed associate editor for Physics of Fluids and served as guest editor of Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics. Department chair K.T. Ramesh was elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is serving as chair of the AMD Technical Committee on Dynamic Response of Materials. Former Ph.D. student Dr. Kausik Sarkar will become assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering at University of Delaware in September 2001. Recent Ph.D. graduate Dr. Bo Tao will join the faculty of Civil Engineering of Purdue University as assistant professor in September 2001. Former Ph.D. student Dr. Alberto Scotti has joined Marine Sciences Department of the University of North Carolina as assistant professor. Ph.D. graduate Darren Hitt, currently on the faculty of the University of Vermont, received a CAREER award and an NSF Major Research Instrumentation Grant for microscale fabrication facility. The Center for Advanced Metallic and Ceramic Systems (CAMCS) has been awarded a grant from the Army, Director is K.T. Ramesh. Former postdoctoral researcher Carl Boehlert will join the faculty of Materials Science at Alfred University as an assistant professor, in September 2001. Former postdoc Zeliang Xie will become assistant professor in the School of Materials Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in September 2001. Ph.D. graduate Imme Ebert-Uphoff, currently on the faculty of Georgia Tech, received a Career Award from the NSF and the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.
29
Society of Scholars
The Society of Scholars was created to honor the significant accomplishments of men and women who spent part of their careers at Johns Hopkins.
o honor the significant accomplishments of men and women who spent part of their careers at Johns Hopkins, the Society of Scholars was created by the board of trustees in May 1967 on the recommendation of former president Milton S. Eisenhower. The societythe first of its kind in the nationinducts former postdoctoral fellows and junior or visiting faculty at Johns Hopkins who have gained marked distinction in their fields of physical, biological, medical, social or engineering sciences or in the humanities and for whom at least five years have elapsed since their last Hopkins affiliation. Two of the 15 scholars elected in 2001 were former members of the Department of Mechanics at JHU, (now Mechanical Engineering), and one, Wolfgang Kollman, was elected in absentia in 2000 and was able to join us this year for the induction ceremony, held May 23 at the Evergreen House. Ron F. Blackwelder, professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Southern California. At Hopkins: Postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Mechanics, May to September 1970. Nominated by Andrea Prosperetti. Ron Blackwelder has made seminal contri-
butions in the areas of turbulence, flow stability, drag reduction, and instrumentation. Michael A. Hayes, professor of mathematical physics in the Department of Mathematical Physics, University College Dublin. At Hopkins: Postdoctoral fellow in the Mechanics Department, 196162. Nominated by Marc Parlange. A professor in the Department of Mathematical Physics at University College Dublin, Michael Hayes has done pioneering work in all areas of mechanics. In particular, wave propagation in materials, deformation of materials and fluid mechanics. Wolfgang Kollmann, professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Davis. At Hopkins: Fellow in the Department of Mechanics and Materials Science, 197375. Nominated by Marc Parlange and Charles Meneveau. Recognized as a world leader in the study of turbulence, turbulent combustion, and numerical simulation of turbulent flows, Wolfgang Kollmann has over the past 25 years advanced the state of the art in the solution of important engineering problems associated with complex flows.
Big smiles after the induction ceremony for new Society of Scholars members, held at the Evergreen House on May 23, 2001 (L to R): Wolfgang Kollmann, Eleanor Kollman, Colette Hayes, Prof. Grace Brush, Michael Hayes, Prof. Andrea Prosperetti, Prof. Marc Parlange, May Knio, Mary Parlange, Prof. Omar Knio, Judy Blackwelder, Ron Blackwelder, Brigitte Meneveau, Prof. Charles Meneveau
30