Kon-Well Wang
University of Michigan
Presenting in Track 1: Acoustics, Vibration, and Phononics
Presentation Title: Embodying Programmability and Mechano-Intelligence in Phononic Matter
Abstract: This presentation will provide a glimpse into the research activities of the speaker’s group in the field of adaptive phononic matter, which have evolved throughout the years from responsive materials-based structures to programmable and reconfigurable metamaterials and metastructures, and to embodying computing and mechano-intelligence in structural wave dynamics.
For example, inspired by the richness of origami folding, a class of adaptive modular metastructures is created building on the innovation of programmable origami elements. The modules are designed to be reconfigurable in their shape, mechanical properties, and stability features, so to achieve adaptable phononic matter for bandgap control, acoustic beamforming, and wave steering. One objective is to uncover and harness the fundamental principles that govern phononic Dirac physics, thereby enabling the design of practical acoustic beamforming and wave steering platforms for remote sensing applications. We first focused on discrete, highly-symmetric phononic metastructures for bandgap engineering and directional beamforming, then expanded the investigation to include continuously variable lattice configurations. We explored how reconfigurable origami geometries enable systematic modulation of the lattice symmetry allowing continuous control over the frequencies and locations of Dirac cones. We discovered that Dirac cones can persist and migrate even in the transitioning low-symmetry lattices, a key step towards expanding the control of phononic metastructures for broad range wave steering.
More recently, with the rapid advances in autonomous systems, an emerging direction is to pioneer and harness the metastructures' unique features for mechano-intelligence. That is, to advance the state of the art by pioneering the framework of physical computing as the needed foundation to create and integrate the essential elements of intelligence, such as information perception, memorization, learning, and decision making, in and through metamaterials as building blocks to achieve intelligent metastructures, harnessing the system’s nonlinearity, complexity, and wave dynamics. Drastically different from the digital architecture, physical computing will be “chip-free,” designed directly in/through the mechanical domain. The idea is not to compete with or replace digital computers, but to selectively outsource and decentralize some of the intelligence into the mechanical domain that can interface and work with its digital counterpart synergistically, which will dramatically empower future adaptive structures with better energy efficiency and sustainability, more direct interaction with the surroundings, and much higher resilience against harsh environment and cyberattack. This emerging idea has been harnessed to create mechanically intelligent metastructures for wave and vibration controls, and wave-based classification, logic, and communication.
This talk will highlight some of these advancements in embodying programmability and mechano-intelligence in phononic matter and discuss future directions.
Biography: Dr. Kon-Well Wang is the A. Galip Ulsoy Distinguished University Professor of Engineering and Stephen P. Timoshenko Professor of Mechanical Engineering (ME) at the University of Michigan (U-M). He has been the U-M ME Department Chair (2008-18), and has served as a Division Director at the U.S. National Science Foundation. Wang received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He started his academic career at the Pennsylvania State University in 1988, and joined the U-M in 2008. He is a recipient of many top awards in the field, such as the ASME Rayleigh Lecture Award, the Pi Tau Sigma-ASME Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award, the ASME J.P. Den Hartog Award, the SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Lifetime Achievement Award, and the ASME Adaptive Structures and Materials Systems Prize. He has been the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) for the ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, and is the current EIC for the Journal of Intelligent Material Systems & Structures. Wang is a Fellow of the AAAS, AIAA, ASME, IOP, and RAeS, and an Honorable Member of the ASME.