Welcome
THE VAST LAB HAS MOVED TO Texas A&M. Come visit us at the FAST LAB: fast.engr.tamu.edu
Welcome the Vibrations, Adaptive Structures and Testing Laboratory, or as we like to call it, the VAST Lab. We are part of the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures (CIMSS), which is comprised of several labs and is housed in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Virginia Tech. We love what we do and we spend countless hours playing in the lab. Our work in the academic world and applied research favors our knack for exploration. As our name suggests, we specialize in Vibrations, Adaptive Structures and Testing, but we are always open to new things. Vibrations is one of our passions. The dynamic behavior of structures from very large inflatable satellites (Gossamer Structures) to micron size stereocilia, fuels our interest in this field. By Adaptive Structures we mean "structures that have the ability to adapt, evolve or change their properties or behaviour in response to the environment around them" (taken from Adaptive Structures: Engineering Applications ). As part of CIMSS, we work in the field of Smart Materials and leverage this expertise to aid in the development of adaptive structures. Smart Materials (also called Intelligent Materials), are materials that exhibit coupling between two fields. For example, piezoceramics exhibit electro-mechanical coupling and shape memory alloys (SMA) exhibit thermo-mechanical coupling (there are many others). Testing is where we get our hands dirty and truly have fun. Although frustrating at times, (as any experimentalist will tell you), it can be very rewarding as well. We believe that all models need testing and all testing needs models. We usually strive for a 50/50 ratio between theory and experimentation on all projects. |
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Dr. Tarazaga on TEDx Virginia TechIf you would like to learn about the Virginia Tech Smart Infrastructure Laboratory, which Dr. Tarazaga also directs, and how it came to be and what we are doing today to take Intelligent Infrastructure to the next level see Dr. Tarazaga's TEDx Virginia Tech Talk. Here you will learn on how a small idea has flourished into a game changing endeavor for intelligent infrastructure and how these small sensors are giving the building a heart beat and the ability to communicate and interact with humans. This takes buildings to the era of the "smart" car, "smart" phone, and "smart" watch, but more importantly it shows how we need to rely in a "smart" communities of multi-disciplinary capabilities to make these visions become a reality. You will see how Goodwin Hall, the most instrumented building in the world for vibrations, is helping us develop the next generation in building energy savings, instant security and threat detection capabilities and even help older adults with their health related problems. Enjoy and hopefully you will be inspired!
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Example:
Dr. DiMaio and Dr. Tarazaga © *
An example research project is shown on the right, which utilizes several of our areas of expertise. The project consists of modeling, validation and control of vibro-acoustics of ultra lightweight membranes for optics in gossamer satellites. The modeling consists of a multi-physics based approach to couple several fields (acoustics, structural, optics) while testing has to take into account the lightweight nature of micron thick membranes in order to not distort the results and hinder the validation. A novel acoustic approach has been utilized in order to suppress the vibrations of the membrane allowing us to adapt the membrane's response in a "non-contact" manner.
More examples can be seen on our Research Section.
* Tarazaga P.A., DiMaio, D., Ameri, N., Ewins, D.J., 2012. “Continuous Laser Scanning of a Lightweight Membrane with Monotone and Multi-tone Excitation Techniques,” Proceedings, 53rd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference (SDM), April 23-26, Honolulu, Hawaii.
More examples can be seen on our Research Section.
* Tarazaga P.A., DiMaio, D., Ameri, N., Ewins, D.J., 2012. “Continuous Laser Scanning of a Lightweight Membrane with Monotone and Multi-tone Excitation Techniques,” Proceedings, 53rd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference (SDM), April 23-26, Honolulu, Hawaii.