A mechanical model of stereocilia that demonstrates a shift in the high-sensitivity region due to the interplay of a negative stiffness and an adaptation mechanism

Harnessing adaptive bistable stiffness of hair-cell-bundle structure for broadband vibration applications

This study presents an initial study on the adaptive bistable stiffness of the hair cell bundle structure in a frog cochlea, and aims to harness its bistable nonlinearity that features a negative stiffness region for broadband vibration applications such as vibration-based energy harvesters. To this end, the mathematical model for describing the bistable stiffness is first formulated based on the modeling concept of piecewise type nonlinearities. The harmonic balance method was then employed to examine the nonlinear responses of bistable oscillator, mimicking hair cells bundle structure under the frequency sweeping condition, and their dynamic behaviors induced by bistable stiffness characteristics are projected on phase diagrams, and Poincare maps concerning the bifurcation. In particular, the bifurcation mapping at the super- and sub-harmonic regimes provides a better perspective to examine the nonlinear motions which occur in the biomimetic system. The use of bistable stiffness characteristics of hair cell bundle structure in frog cochlea thus offers physical insights to harness the adaptive bistable stiffness for metamaterial-like potential engineering structures such as vibration-based energy harvester, and isolator etc.

A Novel Sensor Prototype with Enhanced and Adaptive Sensitivity Based on Negative Stiffness Mechanism

Loess–mudstone/soil-rock interfacial landslide is one of the prominent landslide hazards that occurs in soil rock contacting zones. It is necessary to develop sensors with high sensitivity to weak and low frequency vibrations for the early warning of such interfacial landslides. In this paper, a novel monitoring sensor prototype with enhanced and adaptive sensitivity is developed for this purpose. The novelty of the sensitive sensor is based on the variable capacitances and negative stiffness mechanism due to the electric filed forces on the vibrating plate. Owing to the feedback control of adjustable electrostatic field by an embedded micro controller, the sensor has adaptive amplification characteristics with high sensitivity to weak and low frequency input and low sensitivity to high input. The design and manufacture of the proposed sensor prototype by Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) with proper packaging are introduced. Post-signal processing is also presented. Some preliminary testing of the prototype and experimental monitoring of sand interfacial slide which mimics soil–rock interfacial landslide were performed to demonstrate the performance of the developed sensor prototype with adaptive amplification and enhanced sensitivity.