Mechanical Engineering
Graduate Seminar
NOTICE OF SEMINAR PRESENTATION
CANDIDATE: Evan Milliken
DEGREE SOUGHT: MASc
DATE: 11/14/2025
TIME: 11:30am
PLACE: Room 1101 CEI
TITLE: ADVANCEMENT OF THE CLAMPING MECHANISM FOR A NOVEL TENSILE ENERGY DISSIPATION DEVICE EXPLOITING CUTTING DEFORMATION
Abstract
The importance of the study and development of energy dissipation devices has long been recognized by academia and industry alike. Compressive energy absorbing devices lend themselves to a plethora of practical applications and, correspondingly, these safety critical mechanical elements have experienced significant development. Tensile energy dissipation devices have been given less attention than their compressive counterparts. Nonetheless, there has been some effort in the way of tensile energy absorber development. In particular, a unique cutting energy absorber, based on pulling a ring of blades ploughing through a 3.175mm thick AA6061-T6 aluminum tube extrusion, has demonstrated an excellent force/displacement response, as well as the capacity to adapt to specific force/displacement and energy dissipation requirements. However, the range of forces in which this promising energy absorber could be tested was limited by the previously used testing apparatus, reaching a maximum pulling force of approximately 45kN before apparatus failure. To address this technical shortcoming, a novel collet-type clamping device which secures the tube through which the blade ring is pulled has been designed and analyzed in order to extend the force range capacity of the dissipation device well past its previous limitations. It is supposed that this clamping device can be used to secure virtually any material with an appropriate cylindrical face which is able to mate with the clamp, opening the door for a great expansion of testing regimes including dynamic testing.