Vijaya V N Sriram "Pancho" Malladi defends his thesis "PERPETUAL TRAVELING WAVES IN BOUNDED STRUCTURES" as part of his final defense for his Ph.D. Sriram has been part of VAST for 5 years (earned his M.S. here as well) and has worked on multiple research areas ranging from SHM of tires, shape memory alloy systems, acoustics, etc.
Abstract:
A mechanical wave is generated as a result of an external force interacting with the well defined medium and it propagates through that medium transferring energy from one location to another. The ability to generate and control the motion of the mechanical waves through the finite medium opens up the opportunities for creating novel actuation mechanisms not possible before. However, any impedance to the path of these waves, especially in the form of finite boundaries, disperses this energy in the form of reflections. Therefore, it is impractical to achieve steady state traveling waves in finite structures without any reflections. In spite of all these conditions, is it possible to generate waveforms that travel despite reflections at the boundaries? The work presented in this thesis develops a framework to answer this question by leveraging the dynamics of the finite structures without any active control.
Candidate Biography:
V.V.N. Sriram Malladi joined Virginia Tech’s Mechanical Engineering program as a Master’s student in August 2011. He started his research under Dr. Tarazaga to study the non linear dynamics of Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) in the CIMSS lab. This work has resulted in a couple of journals and has resulted in a Master’s thesis in 2013. After completing his MS, he pursued research in multiple areas of structural health monitoring, traveling waves, nonlinear dynamics, modelling of smart materials, model reduction, etc. His PhD dissertation is a part of these research endeavors that he carried on over the last three years. Mr. Malladi has received multiple awards over last few years – including the ASME/VT Memorial Scholarship (2014), Royster Best Poster Award (2013), Finalist of D Strut Innovation Challenge (2014), and Finalist of Best hardware and paper awards.
Candidate Education:
Bachelor of Technology in Mining Machinery Engineering, 2011 Indian School of Mines, India
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, 2013 Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Abstract:
A mechanical wave is generated as a result of an external force interacting with the well defined medium and it propagates through that medium transferring energy from one location to another. The ability to generate and control the motion of the mechanical waves through the finite medium opens up the opportunities for creating novel actuation mechanisms not possible before. However, any impedance to the path of these waves, especially in the form of finite boundaries, disperses this energy in the form of reflections. Therefore, it is impractical to achieve steady state traveling waves in finite structures without any reflections. In spite of all these conditions, is it possible to generate waveforms that travel despite reflections at the boundaries? The work presented in this thesis develops a framework to answer this question by leveraging the dynamics of the finite structures without any active control.
Candidate Biography:
V.V.N. Sriram Malladi joined Virginia Tech’s Mechanical Engineering program as a Master’s student in August 2011. He started his research under Dr. Tarazaga to study the non linear dynamics of Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) in the CIMSS lab. This work has resulted in a couple of journals and has resulted in a Master’s thesis in 2013. After completing his MS, he pursued research in multiple areas of structural health monitoring, traveling waves, nonlinear dynamics, modelling of smart materials, model reduction, etc. His PhD dissertation is a part of these research endeavors that he carried on over the last three years. Mr. Malladi has received multiple awards over last few years – including the ASME/VT Memorial Scholarship (2014), Royster Best Poster Award (2013), Finalist of D Strut Innovation Challenge (2014), and Finalist of Best hardware and paper awards.
Candidate Education:
Bachelor of Technology in Mining Machinery Engineering, 2011 Indian School of Mines, India
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, 2013 Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA