Tensegrity and Flying Vehicles- hands-on exhibit on Feb. 27, 2011

In this presentation tensegrity structures will be displayed to illustrate their properties as well as airplanes and helicopters. In simple terms, a tensegrity structure is an assembly of disjointed bars and tendons that, under no external forces, yields equilibrium with all tendons in tension. These fascinating structures originated in the world of art and rapidly crossed boundaries into science and engineering being perceived as the structural systems of the future due to their lightness, adaptability and multifunctionality.

Host: Dr. Cornel Sultan, Assistant Prof. in AOE

Dr. Sultan has spent a significant amount of time in industry, working among others for United Technologies Research Center primarily on helicopter control. He has also been affiliated with Harvard University where he worked on mathematical modeling of biological systems.

At Virginia Tech he is a Faculty in the AOE Department and his research is focused on tensegrity and membrane structures, helicopters and coordinated flight. He is also working on bio-inspired engineering designs such as energy harvesting systems and novel structural systems.