Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Magnetic actuation has emerged as a powerful and versatile mechanism for diverse applications, ranging from soft robotics, biomedical devices to functional metamaterials. This highly interdisciplinary research calls for an easy to use and efficient modeling/simulation platform that can be leveraged by researchers with different backgrounds. Here we present a lattice model for hard-magnetic soft materials by partitioning the elastic deformation energy into lattice stretching and volumetric change, so-called 'magttice'. Magnetic actuation is realized through prescribed nodal forces in magttice. We further implement the model into the framework of a large-scale atomic/molecular massively parallel simulator (LAMMPS) for highly efficient parallel simulations. The magttice is first validated by examining the deformation of ferromagnetic beam structures, and then applied to various smart structures, such as origami plates and magnetic robots. After investigating the static deformation and dynamic motion of a soft robot, the swimming of the magnetic robot in water, like jellyfish's locomotion, is further studied by coupling the magttice and lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). These examples indicate that the proposed magttice model can enable more efficient mechanical modeling and simulation for the rational design of magnetically driven smart structures.
Source: Soft Matter
DOI: 10.1039/d0sm01662d
Authors: Huilin Ye, Ying Li, Teng Zhang
Institutions: University of Connecticut, Syracuse University
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: Gateways to Discovery: Cyberinfrastructure for the Long Tail of Science, Computation for the Endless Frontier, G2715406209, CRII: OAC: A Hybrid Finite Element and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Approach for Modeling Nanoparticle Transport in Human Vasculature, CAREER: Mechanics of Interfaces in Soft Materials, G6221154504
OpenAlex ID: W3111240581