Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

This is a funding request to purchase a six-degree-of-freedom servo table for use in different research groups within the departments of Mechanical and Mechatronics, and Systems Design Engineering. The table will be used as a multi-purpose testing platform for several research programs including: active/adaptive suspension systems, vehicle mounting systems, vibration isolation devices, active/adaptive dampers, multi-axis fatigue life prediction, high strain rate constitutive response of polymers and metals, and characterizations of major components of inflatable space structures such as Mylar membrane mirrors, Kapton laminates and inflatable rigidized composite booms. The proposed equipment has a load capacity of 14.4 kN, bandwidth of 50 Hz, and displacement of -+50 mm. The current facilities at the University of Waterloo are limited to 1 axis of motion and not suitable for many new developments and research activities especially in the automotive engineering that Waterloo researchers are involved in. This restriction to 1 axis has seriously impeded the progress of research programs initiated in the past few years and could greatly limit the scope of new programs in both departments. The requested equipment will allow simultaneous multi-axis testing and thus will have considerable impact on the research activities in several research areas in automotive, design, mechatronics, materials, and durability testing. This equipment, will allow us to evaluate our prototypes and validate theoretical findings with experimental data. It will be a crucial element in our technology transfer activities by evaluating our prototypes against industrial requirements.