Adaptive and active materials: selected papers from the ASME 2012 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems (SMASIS 12) (Stone Mountain, GA, USA, 19–21 September 2012)

Abstract

The fifth annual meeting of the ASME/AIAA Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems Conference (SMASIS) was held in beautiful Stone Mountain near Atlanta, GA. It is the conference’s objective to provide an up-to-date overview of research trends in the entire field of smart materials systems. This was reflected in keynote speeches by Professor Eduard Arzt (Institute of New Materials and Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany) on ‘Micro-patterned artificial ‘Gecko’ surfaces: a path to switchable adhesive function’, by Professor Ray H Baughman (The Alan G MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute, University of Texas at Dallas) on ‘The diverse and growing family of carbon nanotube and related artificial muscles’, and by Professor Richard James (University of Minnesota) on ‘The direct conversion of heat to electricity using multiferroic materials with phase transformations’.SMASIS 2012 was divided into eight symposia which span basic research, applied technological design and development, and industrial and governmental integrated system and application demonstrations. • SYMP 1. Development and characterization of multifunctional materials.• SYMP 2. Mechanics and behavior of active materials.• SYMP 3. Modeling, simulation and control of adaptive systems.• SYMP 4. Integrated system design and implementation.• SYMP 5. Structural health monitoring/NDE.• SYMP 6. Bio-inspired materials and systems.• SYMP 7. Energy harvesting.• SYMP 8. Structural and materials logic.This year we were particularly excited to introduce a new symposium on energy harvesting, which has quickly matured from a special track in previous years to an independent symposium for the first time. The subject cuts across fields by studying different materials, ranging from piezoelectrics to electroactive polymers, as well as by emphasizing different energy sources from wind to waves and ambient vibrations. Modeling, experimental studies, and technology applications all belong to the symposium topics.In addition, the conference also featured a special symposium dedicated to DARPA’s structural and materials/logic program. The program seeks to enable structural systems to adapt to varying loads and simultaneously exhibit both high stiffness and high damping.Authors of selected papers in the materials areas (symposia 1, 2, and 6) as well as energy harvesting (symposium 7) were invited to write a full journal article on their presentation topic for publication in this special issue of Smart Materials and Structures . This collection of papers demonstrates the exceptional quality and originality of the conference presentations. We are very appreciative of their efforts to produce this collection of highly relevant articles on smart materials.