title: A novel imaging technique for measuring kinematics of light-weight flexible structures.
abstract: A new imaging algorithm is proposed to capture the kinematics of flexible, thin, light structures including frequencies and motion amplitudes for real time analysis. The studied case is a thin flexible beam that is preset at different angles of attack in a wind tunnel. As the angle of attack is increased beyond a critical value, the beam was observed to undergo a static deflection that is ensued by limit cycle oscillations. Imaging analysis of the beam vibrations shows that the motion consists of a superposition of the bending and torsion modes. The proposed algorithm was able to capture the oscillation amplitudes as well as the frequencies of both bending and torsion modes. The analysis results are validated through comparison with measurements from a piezoelectric sensor that is attached to the beam at its root.
authors.affiliation: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA and Department of Aerospace Engineering, Military Technical College, Cairo 11241, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Zakaria
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
authors.forename: Ahmed S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Eliethy
authors.affiliation: Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Canfield
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA.
authors.forename: Muhammad R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hajj