Seminar | William F. Schneider: Structural Dynamics: Real-World Applications and the Quest to Harness Resonance

Join us to hear William F. Schneider discuss structural dynamics, real-world applications and the potential to harness resonance. The seminar will explore how structures respond to dynamic forces and how understanding resonance can help engineers design, analyze and control complex systems.

Abstract

The field of Structural Dynamics has grown tremendously in the past century. This seminar will provide an overall introduction to the diverse field of Structural Dynamics and its application to various cross-disciplinary engineering problems. A range of Structural Dynamics related challenges in Mechanical, Aerospace, and Civil engineering will be presented. Various fundamental dynamics topics will be discussed including sinusoidal, transient, and random excitation, as well as resonant response and the practical use of tuned mass dampers. Examples and videos will be shared demonstrating unique challenges and their associated solutions.

Dynamic resonance is often catastrophically destructive and avoided in aircraft design, however one example will illustrate how dynamic resonance was proactively harnessed to prevent the accretion of ice on an aircraft inlet grid. The key to this method is tuning vibrational energy to excite discrete modal frequencies of the grid to create steady state vibrational motion which inhibits ice formation on the grid. This is achieved by attaching an electromechanical shaker(s) to the outer perimeter of the grid and introducing a complex dynamic excitation force that simultaneously excites multiple selected natural frequencies and provides adequate mode shape spatial coverage of the inlet grid. In addition, landing gear dynamic response and the mitigation of skyscraper seismic response will also be discussed.

The presentation aims to provide some fundamental insights and understanding of Structural Dynamics engineering problems and solutions. An introduction to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company and a brief history of Advanced Development Programs (The Skunk Works®) will also be presented.

Bio

William F. Schneider is a Fellow in Structural Dynamics at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company with over 31 years’ experience working in Advanced Development Programs (The Skunk Works®) on the rapid development of advanced aircraft hardware programs. He was instrumental in the development of multiple classified efforts and is currently the lead dynamicist on Vectis™, Lockheed Martin’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft. He is a Subject Matter Expert in the development of dynamic models, landing gear transient dynamic loads analysis and test programs, rapid motion deployment mechanism dynamics and dynamic response due to unsteady aerodynamics. Mr. Schneider is the primary inventor and holds US and international patents for a Dynamic Resonance System and Method for the Anti-Icing and De-Icing of Inlet Grids. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and currently the chair the AIAA Structural Dynamics Technical Committee. He received his M.S.M.E. in Structural Dynamics from Georgia Tech in 1995 and his B.S.M.E. from UT Austin in 1993 and was honored to be inducted in 2019 into the UT Austin Mechanical Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni.