With the aim of developing a thermo-mechanically-coupled large-deformation constitutive theory and a numerical-simulation capability for modeling the response of thermally-actuated shape-memory polymers, we have (i) conducted large strain compression experiments on a representative shape-memory polymer to strains of approximately unity at strain rates of 10 s and 10 s, and at temperatures rangi...

The need for tunable optical transmitters in optical networking is growing at a rapid rate. A tunable optical transmitter is the combination of a tunable laser, an isolator, and a modulator. Although today lasers and modulators could be integrated together on a single chip, an integrated component of this type would not be useful because the absence of an isolator between the two elements would...

In this paper the basic mathematical structure of a thermo-poro-mechanical model for faults under rapid shear is discussed. The analysis is 1D in space and concerns the infinitely extended fault. The gauge material is considered as a two-phase material consisting of a thermo-elastic fluid and of a thermoporo-elasto-viscoplastic skeleton. The governing equations are derived from first principles...

Utilizing the small bending radius of high index contrast optical waveguides, ultra-compact optical devices such as waveguide branch, Mach-Zehnder interferometer, arrayed waveguide grating filter, microring resonator filter, and so on can be realized. We have proposed and demonstrated a vertically coupled microring resonator as an Add/Drop filter, and recently realized a hitless wavelength chan...

Vehicle braking system is considered as one of the most fundamental safety-critical systems in modern vehicles as its main purpose is to stop or decelerate the vehicle. The frictional heat generated during braking application can cause numerous negative effects on the brake assembly such as brake fade, premature wear, thermal cracks and disc thickness variation (DTV). In the past, surface rough...

Experimental tests performed on superelastic shape-memory alloys (SMAs) show a significant dependence of the stress–strain relationship on the loading–unloading rate, coupled with a not negligible oscillation of the material temperature. This feature is of particular importance in view of the use of such materials in earthquake engineering, where the loading rate affects the structural response...

The storage of high level radioactive waste is still an unresolved problem of the nuclear industry, being geological disposal the most favoured option and, naturally, the one requiring the strongest geo-mechanical input. Most conceptual designs for the deep geological disposal of nuclear waste envisage placing the canisters containing the waste in horizontal drifts or vertical boreholes. The em...

The dispersion analysis in a fluid filled and immersed thermo–electro elastic hollow cylinder composed of homogeneous, transversely isotropic material is studied within the frame work of linear theory of elasticity. The motions of the cylinder are formulated using the constitutive equations of a transversely isotropic piezo–thermo elastic material with a preferred material direction collinear w...