Structural Acoustics Laboratory

Students make "Noise" at Huntington Place Elementary - Ms. Harper (left in photo) hosted Dr. Shepard during his visit to her very attentive 4th Grade class at Huntington Place Elementary, in Northport. The class participated in demonstrations related to vibrations and sound. They talked about pitch, frequency, and the speed of sound as well as how these parameters relate to sound coming from musical instruments. The students also helped with experiments so that everyone could see how transverse and rotational (torsional) waves travel and reflect. The class showed that if they all talked at elevated levels, the noise level can easily reach 90 dB! At the end of the visit, they talked about the importance of protecting your hearing

Dr. Wang Graduates - Jingdou Wang received his Ph.D. degree on May 12, 2006. His dissertation was on the active control of discontinuous structures. He recently received an offer for a research position with a company in Illinois.

COE Installing Hemi-Anechoic Chamber - The College of Engineering recently purchased a Hemi-Anechoic Chamber that can be reconfigured into an Anechoic Chamber. The chamber, to be located in the AIME Building, will be constructed by Acoustic Systems out of Austin, TX. The design for the chamber is currently under way. Delivery and construction of the chamber is expected to begin early in 2006. For more information, a poster describing the characteristics of the chamber can be found here.

Dr. Palan Completes Dissertation. - Vikrant Palan recently completed his Ph.D. Dissertation. He will be graduating this December. Dr. Palan recently started working at Polytec PI in Ann Arbor, MI, as an Applications Engineer.

Dan Wade Graduates with M.S.M.E. Degree - Mr. Dan Wade, a Graduate Research Assistant at STAL, received his M.S.M.E. degree at the Spring 2005 Commencement..

Two STAL Members Receive Poster Awards - The Department of Mechanical Engineering recently hosted a poster competition so that Graduate Research Assistants could display and highlight their recent research results. Mr. Vikrant Palan was awarded First Place in the competition with his poster "Noise Control Methods for a Reciprocating Air Compressor Used in Fuel Cell Auxiliary Power Unit (APU)". The poster can be seen here. Third Place was awarded to Mr. Dan Wade for his poster "The MSPI Method – A New Way to Think About Pneumatic Springs."


Vikrant Palan - First Place	Dan Wade - Third Place

Dr. Yuanhong Guan Receives Award - Dr. Guan recently received the College of Engineering Outstanding Dissertation 2005 Award for his dissertation "Active Vibration Control of a Gear Pair System." Dr. Guan is a recent graduate of The University of Alabama and is currently employed at Caterpillar Inc, in Peoria, IL.

Yi Liu receives Ph.D. Degree - Yi Liu recently received his Ph.D. degree after completing his dissertation titled "Methods for Improved Spatial Characterization of Vibration Isolators and Structures." Dr. Liu is currently employed by Carrier Corporation in Indiana.

Yuanhong Guan receives Ph.D. Degree - Recently Yuanhong Guan received his Ph.D. degree. His dissertation title was "Active Vibration Control of a Gear Pair System.". Dr. Guan is currently employed at Caterpillar in Illinois.

Dan Wade Awarded Alabama Space Grant Fellowship - Mr. Dan Wade, a Graduate Research Assistant at STAL, was awarded an Alabama Space Grant Consortium Fellowship in late April 2004. Mr. Wade is conducting research related to vibration testing of space structures.

Sound Enclosure Installation in AIME Bldg - Installation of the sound enclosure over the AIME high-bay bed plates is currently underway. A few photos of the installation are shown below.

Truck-Mounted Fuel Cell shown at UA - On June 4, 2003, a Truck-Mounted Fuel Cell Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) was shown at the Alabama Institute for Manufacturing Excellence. This APU was developed for the US Army's TACOM with partnership from Ballard Power Systems, Freightliner LLC, and The Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies at UA. Faculty at UA were involved with noise, vibration, and system integration analyses needed to support the development and installation of this system.

Pearson Archery Visits STAL - Representatives from Ben Pearson Archery Co., Inc. (Brewton, AL) visited STAL on May 6, 2003. This visit was in conjunction with the evaluation of an ME 490 project that Pearson sponsored. The ME 490 project involved a bow design study conducted by three senior-level mechanical engineering students. Those ME 490 students were Josh Elmore, Wren Keith, and Daniel Yu.

From Left to Right: Dr. Steve Shepard (STAL Director), Dave Coldwell (Pearson), Roger Templeton (Pearson R&D), Daniel Yu (ME), Wren Keith (ME), Josh Elmore (ME), and Jeremy Blackmon (Pearson)

Automotive Engineering International (AEI) Article - The April 2003 issue of AEI includes a description of UA's participation in the US Army National Automotive Center funded Fuel-Cell Project. The Structural Acoustics Lab was involved with developing vibration isolation predictions and design requirements for mounting the APU on a Class 8 truck. The article is in the Global Vehicles section of the magazine. The online version can be found at http://www.sae.org/automag/globalvehicles/index.htm. UA is mentioned in Part 1 of the story.

Yuanhong Guan, a Graduate Research Assistant in the Structural Acoustics Lab, recently received the College of Engineering Award for Outstanding Research by a Doctoral Student. Mr. Guan is currently conducting Ph.D. research in the area of Active Gear Vibration Control. Mr. Guan received the award at the COE Awards Reception on April 17, 2003.

SAE World Congress - Automotive Engineering International (AEI) Award - At the recent SAE World Congress in Detroit, Michigan, the Auxiliary Power Unit mounted on a Freightliner Truck received the AEI Tech 2003 Award. The text of the award reads...


Dr. Robert Wells, Vice President for Research, speaks on Fuel Cell research at UA's AIME Bldg.	Visitors in the AIME Building look over display boards highlighting fuel cell research.	Representatives from research partners and COE Dean Greene (Far Right) in front of truck on UA campus.


Panel Installation	Panel Installation	Control Room