Investigation into the Nonlinear Phenomena of Electrostatically Actuated and Coupled in Parallel Shallow Arched Microbeams and Their Prospective for Smart Actuators and Sensors MEMS Devices

The objective of the proposed work is to conduct fundamental theoretical research on the nonlinear phenomena in electrostatically actuated Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) shallow arches coupled in parallel to enable new technologies of smart sensors and actuators and to advance in the fields of Nonlinear Dynamics, Vibrations, and MEMS. Of particular focus are the phenomena of escape-from-potential-wells in parallel-plate electrostatically actuated bi-stable micro-machined shallow arches. These phenomena will be explored to realize smart sensors, which act as electro-mechanical switches when the detected physical quantity exceeds a specified threshold. Another special attention will be also given to realize smart actuators with multiple stable states. This research will provide essential knowledge on the utilization of these phenomena to realize smart devices, sensors, and actuators of distinguished characteristics that are made possible due to the unique nonlinear behavior of MEMS. Examples of potential applications are a band-pass filter of very sharp roll off from pass-band to stop-bands and an electro-mechanical switch of large stroke and reduced operating voltage. These applications will be utilized after t6his projects to motivate/inspire the PI students of senior levels, and especially those who want to register for independent research course, to discover the fields of Micro-electro-mechanical systems, Nonlinear Structural Dynamics, and Vibrations, as fields of exciting opportunities for creativity and innovations. Consequently, in this research project we will focus on commonly used clamped-clamped shallow arched microbeams. Several examples of microbeams, of various natural frequencies, of real devices in the literature will be studied to span a variety of situations. The first computationally efficient approach we will explore is the Galerkin expansion reduced-order modeling (ROM). We will investigate the validity, accuracy, and computational efficiency of the ROM to investigate the response of microbeams under DC static and AC dynamic harmonic actuating loads. We propose to investigate the capability of RO modeling in simulating the response of shallow arched coupled in parallel. In each case, we will examine the number of modes needed for the ROM to converge within an acceptable accuracy. The second approach we will investigate is to use ANSYS (as finite-element software) and then compare the outcomes with those of the ROM. After we complete our investigation on the proposed approaches, we utilize them to explore the structural response of curved microbeams coupled in parallel to electrical actuating loads. These include shock profile, shock duration, damping ratio, beam initial, and the DC voltage. We will generate curves for the snap-through and pull-in voltages thresholds versus DC/AC voltage amplitudes for various values of the non-dimensional design constraints of the ROM. These curves will present valuable information about the interaction between the structural response and the actuating electric forces and how to utilize this interaction to build new devices and propose new technologies.