MRI: Acquisition of Videogrammetry and Thermal Imaging Equipment

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。弗吉尼亚军事学院（VMI）机械工程系的航空航天结构实验室正在积极吸引本科生参与膜和充气结构领域有意义的研究项目。该实验室于1999年在詹姆斯麦迪逊大学成立，作为红外发展和热结构实验室的一部分，并于2007年迁至VMI。在过去的十年里，该实验室已经发表了十几篇由本科生研究人员撰写或合作撰写的期刊文章和会议论文集。根据该合同获得的热成像仪和视频测量设备将支持持续的本科生研究，调查膜和充气结构的耦合热和结构响应。该设备的购买将增强实验室可进行的项目的相关性和复杂性。具体来说，视频测量系统非常适合同时获取数百个运动目标的动态形状数据。这允许在大范围内快速收集数据。视频测量缺乏激光测振仪的高采样率，但由于膜和充气结构的低质量和缺乏刚度，它们具有低基频。获得热成像仪将增加非接触式温度测量能力，这是目前实验室无法提供的。这种能力对于从低质量结构中获得温度至关重要，因为传统仪器（如热电偶）会增加质量和热电容，从而改变结构的热响应。视频测量和热成像系统将允许同时收集形状、振动和温度数据。该奖项的智力价值在于，它将使人们更好地理解膜和充气结构的热结构相互作用和动态响应，特别是可展开的臂架和膜光学。它将允许对膜反射器的耦合热结构性能进行评估，膜反射器可能用作轨道天线或光学系统。此外，所要求的设备将有助于更好地了解可展开复合吊杆的结构性能，从而开发更大、更复杂的天基系统。该奖项更广泛的影响是，本科生将通过它所支持的合作和研究获得实践经验。本科生将参与有关低质量、柔性结构的有意义的研究。该仪器将使实验室在未来的提案和外部资助的项目中具有竞争力。这些项目将激励本科生继续他们的教育，并更好地为研究生学习做准备。使用所要求的仪器进行的项目将为保持美国航空航天工业的竞争力提供必要的未来工程师。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009(Public Law 111-5)The Aerospace Structures Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is actively engaging undergraduates in meaningful research projects in the area of Membrane and Inflatable Structures. The laboratory was established in 1999 at James Madison University as part of the Infrared Development and Thermal Structures Laboratory and moved to VMI in 2007. Over the past ten years the laboratory has produced a dozen journal articles and conference proceedings authored or co-authored by undergraduate researchers. The thermal imager and videogrammetry equipment to be acquired under this award will support continued undergraduate research investigating the coupled thermal and structural response of membrane and inflatable structures. The relevance and complexity of the projects that can be undertaken in the laboratory will be enhanced with the purchase this equipment. Specifically, the videogrammetry system is well suited to obtaining dynamic shape data from hundreds of moving targets simultaneously. This allows for rapid data collection over large areas. Videogrammetry lacks the high sampling rates of laser vibrometers, but because membrane and inflatable structures are low-mass and lack stiffness, they have low fundamental frequencies. The acquisition of a thermal imager will add a non-contact temperature measurement capability that is not currently available in the laboratory. This capability is critical for obtaining temperatures from low-mass structures as traditional instruments such as thermocouples add mass and thermal capacitance that alters the thermal response of the structure. The videogrammetry and thermal imaging systems will allow simultaneous collection of shape, vibration, and temperature data.The intellectual merit of this award is that it will lead to a better understanding of the thermal-structural interactions and dynamic response of membrane and inflatable structures, specifically deployable booms and membrane optics. It will allow the evaluation of the coupled, thermal-structural performance of membrane reflectors that may be used as orbiting antenna or optical systems. In addition, the requested equipment will foster a better understanding of the structural performance of deployable composite booms, allowing for the development of larger and more complex space-based systems. The broader impact of this award is the practical experiences that will be gained by undergraduate students through the collaborations and research that it will support. Undergraduate students will participate in relevant and meaningful research on low mass, flexible structures. The instrumentation will allow the laboratory to be competitive in future proposals and externally funded projects. These projects will motivate undergraduate to continue their education and better prepare them for graduate studies. The projects undertaken with the requested instrumentation will provide the future engineers necessary to maintain the competitiveness of the U.S. Aerospace Industry.