On application of active materials to “smart” structures

Active materials offer interesting and unique properties for transformation of energy between physical domains. Over the past decade, efforts have intensified to apply these properties, particularly electromechanical coupling in piezoelectric and electrostrictive materials, to enable new and diverse functionality in structural and mechanical systems. This lecture will discuss the motivations leading to consideration of material-based, active structures, the multidisciplinary requirements for the synthesis of “smart” structures, and some recent example applications of active materials and smart-structures concepts.