This book addresses important aspects of MEMS designs that are well established in engineering practice but rarely discussed in the standard textbooks. One such aspect is the ubiquitous use of tapered beams in the sensing and actuation elements of MEMS designs. As explained in this book, the tapered beam has distinct advantages over the standard rectangular beam but these advantages are often left unarticulated due to the blind trust in the finite-element models of MEMS devices. In this monograph, the authors take a fundamental, physics-based approach to the modeling of tapered beams in MEMS that is based on a rigorous perturbation analysis of the traditional Euler-Bernoulli beam. The authors demonstrate how perturbation methods combined with symbolic modeling and the tools of computer algebra enable the development of semi-analytical models for tapered-beam MEMS elements. They pay particular attention to the application of these novel models to piezoelectric MEMS energy harvesters with tapered-beam elements, including the development of lumped-parameter circuit models that can be readily used for fast electro-mechanical simulations. Another important aspect of MEMS designs that is extensively addressed in the book is the uncertainty quantification (UQ) of tapered-beam MEMS elements using both Monte Carlo and polynomial chaos expansion methods. These UQ methods are applied to the design of variation-aware piezoelectric energy harvesters. With consistent focus on MEMS devices with tapered beam elements, this up-to-date monograph

Uncertainties play a dominant role in the design and optimization of structures and infrastructures. In optimum design of structural systems due to variations of the material, manufacturing variations, variations of the external loads and modelling uncertainty, the parameters of a structure, a structural system and its environment are not given, fixed coefficients, but random variables with a certain probability distribution. The increasing necessity to solve complex problems in Structural Optimization, Structural Reliability and Probabilistic Mechanics, requires the development of new ideas, innovative methods and numerical tools for providing accurate numerical solutions in affordable computing times. This book presents the latest findings on structural optimization considering uncertainties. It contains selected contributions dealing with the use of probabilistic methods for the optimal design of different types of structures and various considerations of uncertainties. The first part is focused on reliability-based design optimization and the second part on robust design optimization. Comprising twenty-one, self-contained chapters by prominent authors in the field, it forms a complete collection of state-of-the-art theoretical advances and applications in the fields of structural optimization, structural reliability, and probabilistic computational mechanics. It is recommended to researchers, engineers, and students in civil, mechanical, naval and aerospace engineering and to professionals working on complicated costs-effective design problems.

MEMS and Nanotechnology, Volume 8: Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Conference on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, the eighth volume of eight from the Conference, brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on a wide range of areas, including: Small-Scale Plasticity MEMS and Electronic Packaging Mechanics of Graphene Interfacial Mechanics Methods in Measuring Small-Scale Displacements Organic and Inorganic Nanowires AFM and Resonant-Based Methods Thin Films and Nano fibers

Offering a consistent, systematic approach to capacitive, piezoelectric and magnetic MEMS, from basic electromechanical transducers to high-level models for sensors and actuators, this comprehensive textbook equips graduate and senior-level undergraduate students with all the resources necessary to design and develop practical, system-level MEMS models. The concise yet thorough treatment of the underlying principles of electromechanical transduction provides a solid theoretical framework for this development, with each new topic related back to the core concepts. Repeated references to the shared commonalities of all MEMS encourage students to develop a systems-based design perspective. Extensive use is made of easy-to-interpret electrical and mechanical analogs, such as electrical circuits, electromechanical two-port models and the cascade paradigm. Each chapter features worked examples and numerous problems, all designed to test and extend students' understanding of the key principles.

MEMS and Nanotechnology, Volume 5: Proceedings of the 2013 Annual Conference on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, the fifth volume of eight from the Conference, brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on a wide range of areas, including: Microelectronics Packaging Single Atom/Molecule Mechanical Testing MEMS Devices & Fabrication In-Situ Mechanical Testing Nanoindentation Experimental Analysis of Low-Dimensional Materials for Nanotechnology

This introductory book covers the most fundamental aspects of linear vibration analysis for mechanical engineering students and engineers. Consisting of five major topics, each has its own chapter and is aligned with five major objectives of the book. It starts from a concise, rigorous and yet accessible introduction to Lagrangian dynamics as a tool for obtaining the governing equation(s) for a system, the starting point of vibration analysis. The second topic introduces mathematical tools for vibration analyses for single degree-of-freedom systems. In the process, every example includes a section Exploring the Solution with MATLAB. This is intended to develop student's affinity to symbolic calculations, and to encourage curiosity-driven explorations. The third topic introduces the lumped-parameter modeling to convert simple engineering structures into models of equivalent masses and springs. The fourth topic introduces mathematical tools for general multiple degrees of freedom systems, with many examples suitable for hand calculation, and a few computer-aided examples that bridges the lumped-parameter models and continuous systems. The last topic introduces the finite element method as a jumping point for students to understand the theory and the use of commercial software for vibration analysis of real-world structures.