Special issue on smart materials and structures

Abstract

Smart materials and structures are inspired in nature and try to mimic adaptive characteristics of natural systems. In brief, it is possible to say that smart materials have special properties that couple mechanical and non-mechanical fields, conferring adaptive characteristics. Smart systems and structures use this kind of material as sensors and actuators. In general there are four major groups of smart materials: piezoelectric, shape memory alloys, magnetostrictive materials, electro-magneto rheological fluids. Nowadays, several fields of science and technology are exploiting the remarkable properties of smart systems and structures including bioengineering, aerospace engineering, robotics and vibration/shape control. Therefore, several applications have been developed, giving the increasing importance to this kind of system. In order to consolidate this new design paradigm in Brazil, several research groups from different Brazilian Universities and