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| Kazuo Tsuchiya |
| Project Leader of the COE |
| Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics |
| Graduate School of Engineering |
Mechanical Engineering concerns modeling and analysis, and the control and design of mechanical systems. It is traditionally thought of as a mature field; however, there remain within it, and at its intersections with other fields, a number of questions that remain unresolved. One such field of study is Complex Mechanical Systems. In our COE program, we have applied novel methods for analyses and recent discoveries regarding pattern formation and the emergence of function acquired in Complex Systems Science to study and explore complex mechanical systems. By determining universal laws that govern phenomena and emerge on complex mechanical systems and principles that control behaviors of complex mechanical systems, we aim to gain a deeper understanding of complex mechanical systems as well as to form the basis for the novel field of "Complex Systems Mechanical Engineering".
Here, "complex mechanical systems" refer to mechanical systems that comprise a number of complex non-linear interacting elements, and form a variety of structures under the influence of the external environment. At present, in many fields with which Mechanical Engineering is associated, there are urgent demands, both explicitly and implicitly, to study complex mechanical systems. The recent trend of global warming has demanded the development of a model for an atmosphere-ocean system that enables the long-term prediction of global climate change. To be comprehensive and highly reliable, such models must be designed based on an explicit, comprehensive theory. The elementary processes that play crucial roles in this model have been well studied in Mechanical Engineering. For example, in the field of Fluid Mechanics, research on heat transfer through turbulent structures has been a focus of interest, resulting in numerous significant findings. This turbulent convective heat-transfer phenomenon is exactly what plays an essential role in processes such as long-term climate change. Building a model of an atmosphere-ocean system based on such knowledge is an important research subject for this Complex Systems Mechanical Engineering. With such a phenomenon as global climate change, new difficulties arise in regard to the uncertainty in prediction that naturally accompanies such a large system. Development of new analytical and modeling procedures to deal with these problems is an important item on the COE's agenda.
Nonetheless, Mechanical Engineering has traditionally sought to maximize efficiency, precision and speed progressively; however, these paradigms have shifted and expanded, such that the field is becoming increasingly concerned with how machines can function in concert with its environment. However, such machines cannot be made in the context of conventional rigid, inflexible mechanical systems, but instead require the development of soft and flexible mechanical systems that can change their structure according to the external environment. In the field of control engineering, we target mechanical systems that have complex internal structures and that exhibit a variety of behaviors in response to external environment and elucidate control principles and formulate design theories.
In our COE program, we aim to create a novel field of Mechanical Engineering, "Complex Systems Mechanical Engineering" by elucidating laws that govern the way in which large numbers of interacting components generate the behavior of such complex mechanical systems, and by developing design methods that can control them.
As always, education is a top priority at Kyoto University. Through guidance on-the-research training framework, which has long been a staple of the education system here, we will develop young researchers with profound prospective, broad vision, and highly specialized skills who will actively create novel research fields and continue to work at the frontiers of science.
Systems with a great deal of element and non-linear characteristics that include self-organization, fractal and chaos upon interaction with the environment, are known as complex systems. Such systems have been the focus of much of the recent research in all fields of science. These studies have made it clear that complex systems spontaneously form coherent structures under the influence of the external environment; as a result, such systems can perform higher function through these ordered structures. We believe that novel methods for analyses and recent discoveries regarding pattern formation and emergence of function acquired in the field of Complex Systems Science will become important tools and concepts in the study of complex mechanical systems; to this end, we have engaged in modeling and analysis, and control and design of complex mechanical systems by establishing an effective joint research team comprising of both mechanical engineers and complex systems scientists. The following is an overview of the program's goals.
We develop novel methods of analysis, fractal analysis, etc., for phenomena that conventional methods cannot treat due to their large size and structural complexity, and analyze the dynamic behaviors of basic physical processes such as thermal diffusion over fractal structure and wave propagation. The modeling of the atmosphere-ocean system has long relied upon phenomenological methods. We plan to develop a new model that is faithful to phenomena, comprehensive, and highly accurate. To that end, we have analyzed turbulent structures and formulated an accurate model of turbulent convective transfer, an important element of the atmosphere-ocean system, based on an analysis of a structural organization of turbulence, and then used a constitutive procedure to model the atmosphere-ocean system. We model and analyze the mechanical characteristics of materials that have complex structures with the aim of applying them to practical use; a fine example material is bone. By constructing a mathematical model based on physiological data of adaptive processes undergone by bone in response to a dynamic environment, we are likely to develop more lifelike artificial bones.
A complex system comprises a number of unstable elements with non-linear characteristics and interactions; thus, conventional control theories cannot treat it adequately. For such systems, we aim to develop novel control methods based on dynamical systems theory and autonomous distributed systems theory. We have revealed that flow fields of a certain type of turbulence are governed by an unstable limit cycle, and based on these discoveries we aim to develop a control algorithm of turbulence by the use of chaos control theory. We aspire to develop mechanical systems that have complex internal structures and that exhibit a variety of behaviors in response to external environment and elucidate control principles and formulate design theories.
One of the primary roles of the 21st Century COE Program is to develop superior young researchers in those fields. In this program, we will employ Kyoto University's tradition of on-the-research training to develop young researchers with broad perspectives and highly specialized skills who possess the ability and courage to act as trailblazers in a novel field of study. Various new systems and programs will be prepared for this purpose.
To improve the research capabilities of those in the doctoral course, instead of a traditional education style of unidirectional communications relying on lectures, we will prepare and broaden a system to promote education as a joint act of the teacher and student in conducting research, examining a variety of viewpoints, and deciding upon experimental objectives and procedures. In addition to the joint research that has occurred in the past under the tutelage of a single instructor, a new system designated as the Apprenticeship program is being established. In this system, a student is allowed to participate in joint research unrelated to the department or course to which he or she belongs, including overseas research projects, for a set period of time. In addition, the student will be given opportunities to interact with instructors in other disciplines and participate in their research.
Young researchers, post-doctoral research fellows and graduate school doctoral students, will be provided with comprehensive support for their research activities, including expenses for research, travels associated with joint study, and domestic and international conferences, so that they will be able to focus on their high-level research as independent researchers.
The field of Mechanical Engineering is currently undergoing a paradigm shift, from mechanical systems that emphasize efficiency alone, to those that take a balance between harmony with environments and high productivity. Thus, engineers are now being asked to understand mechanical engineering in the context of complex systems. The COE will offer a recurrent course, open to the public, entitled "Complex Systems Mechanical Engineering." This course will be offered in several cities throughout Japan. The courses will present a simple description of Complex Systems Mechanical Engineering, and provide training opportunities for researchers and engineers who are struggling with relevant problems and seeking a systematic new understanding of mechanical engineering. This program will collaborate with the alumni organization for mechanical systems courses, which have long been active in community outreach.
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