Simulation-optimisation in modelling ionic polymer-metal composites actuators

The increasing pressure on the development time of new materials and devices has changed the modelling and design process over the years. In the past, they mainly consisted of experimentation and physical prototyping. Clearly, it is hard to incorporate changes in finished prototypes, while producing a variety of different prototypes at once may be very expensive. To this aim, computer simulation models such as circuit design models and continuous system simulation models are widely used in engineering modelling, design and analysis. The studies towards a better understanding of complex systems require quantitative model development, making optimisation and experimental data fitting tools indispensable. In this framework, the modelling of ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) is studied. In particular, this paper deals with simulation-optimisation issues arising in the model calibration of a particular IPMC-based actuator in air. We consider a non-linear dynamical model of the device, with lumped parameters, able to estimate the IPMC actuator absorbed current, together with the mechanical quantities of interest, which, in the case under study, are the free deflection and/or the blocked force. Two optimisation problems have been formulated, focussing on different stages of the model parameters identification. The strategies adopted to solve the problems allow to achieve some promising – although preliminary – results