Abstract
The purpose of this work is to study the frequency response of 3D tensegrity structures. These are structures that have been used, since the 80’s, to model biological systems of different scales. This fact led to the origin of the field of biotensegrity, which includes biomechanics as a natural field of application. In this work: a) A simple method for the analysis of frequency response of different nodes in 3D tensegrity structures was set up and tuned. This method is based on a video-analysis algorithm, which was applied to the structures, as they were vibrated along their axis of symmetry, at frequencies from 1 Hz to 60 Hz. b) Frequency-response analyses were performed, for the simplest 3D structure, the Simplex module, as well as for two towers, formed by stacking two and three Simplex modules, respectively. Resonant frequencies were detected for the Simplex module at (19.2±0.1) Hz and (50.2±0.1) Hz (the latter being an average of frequencies between homologous nodes). For the towers with two and three modules, each selected node presented a characteristic frequency response, modulated by their spatial placement in each model. Resonances for the two-stage tower were found at: (12±0.1) Hz; (16.2±0.1) Hz; (29.4±0.1) Hz and (37.2±0.1) Hz. For the tower with three Simplex modules, the main resonant frequencies were found at (12.0±0.1) Hz and (21.0±0.1) Hz. Results show that the proposed method is adequate for the study (2D) of any 3D tensegrity structure, with the potential of being generalized to the study of oscillations in three dimensions. A growing complexity and variability in the frequency response of the nodes was observed, as modules were added to the structures. These findings were compared to those found in the available literature.
Highlights
In this work: a) A simple method for the analysis of frequency response of different nodes in 3D tensegrity structures was set up and tuned. This method is based on a video-analysis algorithm, which was applied to the structures, as they were vibrated along their axis of symmetry, at frequencies from 1 Hz to 60 Hz. b) Frequency-response analyses were performed, for the simplest 3D structure, the Simplex module, as well as for two towers, formed by stacking two and three Simplex modules, respectively
This paper presents the development of a simple method for studying response in frequency and resonance forms of different nodes of tensegrity vibration structures, for a: a) Simplex module, b) 3-bar two stages SVD tensegrity, and, c) 3-bar three stages SVD tensegrity
In this work, a simple method for analyzing the frequency response of 3D tensegrity structure nodes was developed, based on light emitting markers (LEDs) and a signal processing algorithm to obtain information from video images taken by a high speed camera
Summary
This paper aims to explore the applications that biotensegrity may have in areas of human biomechanics [1], both for modeling the behavior of well-known anatomical structures, as well as for Corresponding author. Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd initiating preliminary studies on the still little explored dynamic behavior of these structures. M. Levin, refers to the application of tensegrity principles to biological forms, with a focus on their structural and mechanical performance [2, 3]. This paper uses the term biotensegrity in a narrow sense, on one hand to denote the analogy between the biological structures bio-mechanical behavior, and on the other hand, the dynamic behavior of tensegrity structures
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