Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/N27583/01
Title:	SMART VARIABLE STIFFNESS DEVICES FOR VIBRATION CONTROL
Principal Investigator:	Jeronimidis, Professor G
Other Investigators:	Vincent, Professor J Mitchell, Professor GR Davis, Dr FJ
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	Alcan Heathcote Industrial Plastics Ltd Jaguar Land Rover Limited Westland
Department:	Electronic Engineering
Organisation:	University of Reading
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 March 2001	Ends:	29 February 2004	Value (£):	211,724
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Control Engineering
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Aerospace, Defence and Marine Manufacturing Transport Systems and Vehicles
Related Grants:	GR/N27590/01
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
This project concerns new smart vibration control devices based on variable stiffness concepts inspired by nature. The advantages of such systems in several possible areas of application are low mass, low energy input, adaptive and tunable response. The scientific and technical challenges of the project bring together three diverse but integrated research teams with considerable experience in biomimetics, active polymer gels, composite materials/structures and dynamic modelling, and acoustic/vibration control. The five main themes of the project are: 1. The histological study of the tubular system in muscle which will help to achieve rapid response times in active polymer gel systems (polymer network-liquid solvent interactions); 2. The design and development of active polymer gels structures in combination with fibre networks to achieve variable stiffness elements; 3. The design of a variable stiffness element based on tunable anticlastic curvature, exploiting the anisotropy and heterogeneity of fibrous composite systems; 4. The integration of the scientific and technical results into demonstrators; 5. The incorporation of the anticlastic curvature-based element into a working vibration control device, namely a tunable vibration neutraliser. The research programme will integrate basic fundamental research aspects with more applied ones, involving a significant amount of analytical, modelling and experimental work.EngProg\
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Further Information:
Organisation Website:	http://www.rdg.ac.uk