What is a Smart Structure?
At left: (L-R) Farzad Ahmadkhanlou, doctoral student in mechanical engineering, and professors Stephen Bechtel and Greg Washington examine a manipulator device as interaction occurs with a small scale robot. At Right: A manipulator prototype, similar to the manipulator a surgeon would use in an operation room, has been used in current research at the Intelligent Structures and Systems Laboratory. There are many definitions for smart structures. In the structural mechanics world a smart structure involves actuators, sensors, and microprocessors. The microprocessors analyze the responses from the sensors and use centralized or decentralized control to command the actuators to respond accordingly. A smart structure has the capability to respond to a changing external environment (such as loads and shape change) as well as to a changing internal environment (such as damage or failure). Normally a smart structure contains one or more active or smart materials. It is the use of these materia
