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This book illustrates the unique mechanical behaviors of tensegrity systems and their applications in mechanical metamaterials, space structures, and biomechanical models. It demonstrates that by controlling the mechanical response of tensegrity structures through internal and external prestress, it is possible to adjust the speed of mechanical waves within these systems, creating tunable bandgap structures. Furthermore, the geometrically nonlinear response exhibited by several tensegrity systems allows for the support of either compression or rarefaction solitary wave dynamics. These behaviors can be effectively utilized to design novel devices capable of focusing mechanical waves in narrow regions of space, as well as innovative impact protection systems.
After an introduction to the basic concepts and calculation methods for tensegrity systems and their minimal-mass design, the chapters explore the metamaterial behaviors of tensegrity systems associated with bandgap and solitary wave dynamics; present a mechanical model of flexible tensegrities, illustrating how harnessing the buckling of bars in such systems can result in structures with exceptional energy absorption capabilities, suitable for applications such as planetary landers or lattice metamaterials; and discuss the extreme mechanical behaviors achievable in tensegrity-inspired lattice structures exhibiting both soft and stiff deformation modes. The last chapters address the multifaceted field of biotensegrity, and provide an overview of current rapid prototyping techniques for tensegrity systems, along with a discussion of open questions and research opportunities in the field.
List of contents
Basic tensegrity concepts and calculation methods.- Minimal mass design of tensegrity systems.- On the propagation of solitary waves in geometrically nonlinear tensegrity lattices.- Biotensegrity: concept, principles and applications.- On the additive manufacturing of tensegrity systems.
About the author
Fernando Fraternali is Professor of Structural Mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Salerno, Italy. Most of his research work concerns multiscale modeling and simulation of solids and structures, the nonlinear dynamics of materials and structures, and the design and engineering of sustainable materials at multiple scales. Prof. Fraternali was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship for the academic year 2005/06, and has been Visiting Professor at the California Institute of Technology since September 2005, and at the University of California, San Diego. He serves as Associate Editor of “Mechanics Research Communications” and “Frontiers in Materials”.
Julain J. Rimoli earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in aeronautics from Caltech in 2005 and 2009, respectively. Following his graduation, Rimoli joined the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics as a postdoctoral associate. In 2011, he went to Georgia Tech, where he was the Pratt & Whitney Professor of Aerospace Engineering until joining the University of California Irvine in 2022. His research involves the computational mechanics of materials and structures, with special interest in problems involving multiple length and time scales, and in the development of theories and computational techniques for seamlessly bridging them. Rimoli is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, winner of an NSF CAREER Award and a recipient of the Donald W. Douglas Prize Fellowship and Ernest E. Sechler Memorial Award in Aeronautics.
