Sharif Digital Repository

The effect of temperature on the noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) surface imaging is investigated with the aid of molecular dynamics (MD) analysis based on the Sutton-Chen (SC) interatomic potential. Particular attention is devoted to the tip and sample flexibility at different temperatures. When a gold coated probe is brought close to the Au (001) surface at high temperatures, the tip and surface atoms are pulled together and their distance becomes smaller. The tip and sample atoms displacement varies in the different environment temperatures and this leads to the different interaction forces. Along this line, to study the effect of temperature on the resulting images, we have... 

Models capable of accurate simulation of microcantilever dynamics coupled with complex tip–sample interactions are essential for interpretation and prediction of the imaging results in amplitude modulation or tapping-mode atomic-force microscopy (AM-AFM or TM-AFM). In this paper, four approaches based on combinations of lumped and finite element methods for modelling of cantilever dynamics, and van der Waals and molecular dynamics for modelling of tip–sample interactions, are used to simulate the precise imaging by AM-AFM. Based on the simulated imaging and force determination, the efficiency of different modelling schemes is evaluated. This comparison is performed considering their... 

Due to significance of high-accuracy attitude control, the fuel sloshing effects on the satellite attitude should be considered, more precisely. This work deals with the attitude control of a liquid propellant-filled satellite considering the incompressible fuel sloshing in the planar maneuver. The satellite consists of a rigid body, a partially-filled tank and a flexible diaphragm. Hamilton's principle is employed to derive nonlinear coupled PDEs-ODEs governing the coupled satellite-diaphragm propellant tank system. Afterwards, to dispense with the spillover instability, a PDE-based controller is designed to realize the satellite attitude control while tracking a desired pitch angle and... 

This paper is devoted to the characterization of the surface defects using a recently developed AFM technique named as frequency and force modulation AFM (FFM-AFM). The simulated system includes a recently developed gold coated AFM probe which interacts with a sample including single-atom vacancy and impurities. In order to examine the behavior of the above system including different transition metals, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with Sutton-Chen (SC) interatomic potential is used. Along this line, an imaging simulation of the probe and sample is performed, and the effects of the horizontal scan speed, the effective frequency set-point, the cantilever stiffness, the tip-sample rest... 

A magnetic actuation system is a promising tool for untethered manipulation at the microscale that medical treatment can benefit from. This paper proposes a new magnetic actuation system that comprises of two coaxial coils on a rotary table. A fixed workspace is placed between coils. The proposed system is able to generate magnetic force with desired direction and magnitude in a plane. The conducted simulation and experiment confirm the capability of the proposed system to control the position of the microrobot. © 2019 IEEE  

In this study, we investigate the limitations and influence of various factors on the performance of trolling mode atomic force microscopy (TR-AFM). For this purpose, at first, based on the governing equations of motion and using a conventional control method, a simulation tool capable of correctly simulating the imaging procedure in TR-AFM is developed. Then based on the developed simulation tool, imaging of different surfaces is performed, and the effect of different factors on the image quality is analyzed. The flexibility of nanoneedle in TR-AFM has unpredictable effects on dynamics of system as well as imaging performance. One problem in imaging is due to coexistence of two stable... 

In this research, we have investigated the three-dimensional elastic collision of two balls, based on friction in the tangential plane. Our aim is to offer analytical closed form relations for post collision parameters such as linear and angular velocities, collision time and tangential and normal impulse in three dimensions. To simplify the problem, stick regime is not considered. In other words, balls have a low tangential coefficient of restitution. Sliding, sliding then rolling, and rolling at the beginning of contact are three cases that can occur during impact which have been considered in our research. The normal interaction force is described by the Hertz contact force and... 

Designing efficient acoustic stack and elements for high-frequency (HF) medical ultrasound (US) transducers involves various interrelated parameters. So far, optimizing spatial resolution and acoustic field intensity simultaneously has been a daunting task in the area of HF medical US imaging. Here, we introduce optimized design for a 50-MHz US probe for skin tissue imaging. We have developed an efficient design and simulation approach using Krimholtz, Leedom and Matthaei (KLM) equivalent circuit model and spatial impulse response method by means of Field II software. These KLM model and Field II software are integrated, and a GA algorithm is used to optimize the design of the US transducer... 

Attitude and vibration control of a general form of flexible satellites is addressed in this paper. Partial differential dynamic equations are derived considering new details such as multi sectioned solar panels and elastic connections between main hub and solar panels. Boundary control approach is adopted to eliminate simplification errors of discrete models, using just one actuator in the hub. Asymptotic stability of attitude dynamics is proved for a group of boundary controllers and necessary conditions for asymptotic stability of vibrations are discussed. Being independent of modeling accuracy and using easily measurable feedbacks are among advantages of the proposed class of... 

Differential Evolution (DE) and Genetic Algorithms (GA) are population based search algorithms that come under the category of evolutionary optimization techniques. In the present study, these evolutionary methods have been utilized to conduct the optimum design of a fuzzy controller for mobile robot trajectory tracking. Comparison between their performances has also been conducted. In this paper, we will present a fuzzy controller to the problem of mobile robot path tracking for a CEDRA rescue robot. After designing the fuzzy tracking controller, the membership functions will be optimized by evolutionary algorithms in order to obtain more acceptable results  

Differential Evolution (DE) and Genetic Algorithms (GA) are population based search algorithms that come under the category of evolutionary optimization techniques. In the present study, these evolutionary methods have been utilized to conduct the optimum design of a fuzzy controller for mobile robot trajectory tracking. Comparison between their performances has also been conducted. In this paper, we will present a fuzzy controller to the problem of mobile robot path tracking for a CEDRA rescue robot. After designing the fuzzy tracking controller, the membership functions will be optimized by evolutionary algorithms in order to obtain more acceptable results  

Present study is devoted to investigate the size effect on chaotic behavior of a micro-electro-mechanical resonator under external electrostatic excitation. Using Galerkin's decomposition method, approximating the actuation force with a new effective lumped model, and neglecting higher order terms in the Taylor-series expansion, a simplified model of the main system is developed. By utilizing the Melnikov's method and based on the new form of the electrostatic force, an expression in terms of the system parameters is developed which can be used to rapidly estimate the chaotic region of the simplified system. Based on the analysis of the simple proposed model, it is shown that the effect of... 

An important issue in the study of the nanostructures behaviors is the surface effects, which increases with the increase of the surface-to-volume ratio. Continuum theories are capable of modeling structures at micro and larger scales with enough precision and low computational costs. However, these theories are unable to predict the mechanical properties of nanostructures accurately. On the other hand, due to their high precision, atomistic modeling techniques are extensively employed for the study of systems at nanoscale; however, computational costs of these techniques are relatively high. In this research, we aim to study the vibrational behavior of nanobeams made of three FCC metals;... 

In this study, a novel approach based on a modified Kalman filter algorithm is presented to directly estimate and measure the surface topography of samples by trolling mode atomic force microscopy. Trolling mode atomic force microscopy was introduced as an atomic force microscopy alternative to overcome imaging problems in liquid environments by reducing the liquid-resonator interaction forces. In conventional imaging techniques, the time to reach the steady state periodic motion of the oscillating probe restricts scanning speed. To overcome this limitation, we propose a novel imaging technique for trolling mode atomic force microscopy based on the system dynamics model and using the... 

In this paper, an approach is proposed for controlling the uncertain Lorenz system. Based on an identification technique, a controller is designed that guarantees the regulation of all states in the presence of system uncertainty. Since in some applications the challenging problem of output tracking is desired, we have proposed several effective set-point tracking control techniques. The control schemes that are based on the feedback linearization method, can stabilize the internal dynamics of the system. Simulation results have illustrated the effectiveness of the proposed schemes. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved  

Motivated by specific applications, electrostatically actuated bistable arch shaped micro-nano resonators have attracted growing attention in the research community in recent years. Nevertheless, some issues relating to their nonlinear dynamics, including the possibility of chaos, are still not well known. In this paper, we investigate the chaotic vibrations of a bistable resonator comprised of a double clamped initially curved microbeam under combined harmonic AC and static DC distributed electrostatic actuation. A reduced order equation obtained by the application of the Galerkin method to the nonlinear partial differential equation of motion, given in the framework of Euler-Bernoulli beam... 

Due to various sources of nonlinearities, micro/nano-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS/NEMS) resonators present highly nonlinear behaviors including softening- or hardening-type frequency responses, bistability, chaos, etc. The general Duffing equation with quadratic and cubic nonlinearities serves as a characterizing model for a wide class of MEMS/NEMS resonators as well as lots of other engineering and physical systems. In this paper, after brief reviewing of various sources of nonlinearities in micro/nano-resonators and discussing how they contribute to the Duffing-type nonlinearities, we propose a Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM) approach for derivation of analytical solutions for the... 

Due to various sources of nonlinearities, micro/nano-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS/NEMS) resonators present highly nonlinear behaviors including softening- or hardening-type frequency responses, bistability, chaos, etc. The general Duffing equation with quadratic and cubic nonlinearities serves as a characterizing model for a wide class of MEMS/NEMS resonators as well as lots of other engineering and physical systems. In this paper, after brief reviewing of various sources of nonlinearities in micro/nano-resonators and discussing how they contribute to the Duffing-type nonlinearities, we propose a Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM) approach for derivation of analytical solutions for the... 

The rotational and translational motions of nanocars and nanotrucks as well as their motion regimes at different temperatures are investigated. In recent years, few similar types of molecular machines have been simulated. In contrast to previous studies, which have used the Rigid-Body Molecular Dynamics (RBMD) method, an all-atom model and classic atomistic dynamics have been employed in this paper to achieve better accuracy. Our results demonstrated that the exibility of the chassis and its attachment to the gold surface played an important role in the motion of a nanocar. In fact, a heavier and more exible nanocar chassis reduces its speed compared to a nanotruck. In addition, the results... 

It is well-known that helicopters descending fast may enter the so-called Vortex Ring State (VRS), a region in the velocity space where the blade's lift differs significantly from regular regions and high amplitude fluctuations are often present. These fluctuations may lead to instability and, therefore, this region is avoided, typically by increasing the horizontal speed. This paper researches this phenomenon in the context of small-scale quadcopters. The region corresponding to the VRS is identified by combining first-principles modeling and wind-tunnel experiments. Moreover, we propose that the so-called Windmill-Brake State (WBS) or autorotation region should also be avoided for...