In this paper, the cyclic behavior of a superelastic-plastic nitinol cubic block is described by using the Bouc–Wen model coupled to an intrinsic time measure other than clock time, which governs the behavior of the materials. As a consequence, the thermodynamic admissibility of the Bouc–Wen model is provided by the endochronic theory of plasticity. The role of the intrinsic time measure is described by capturing the stiffness and strength degradation and the opposite phenomena. Such behavior is due to the permanent-strain addition of residual martensite and alterations in the properties of the texture during phase transformation.

The paper discusses the behavior of a Euler-Bernoulli beam with external patches made from GeSbTe chalcogenide material. The nonlocal theory is used to model the damping force as a weighted average of the velocity field over a suitable distance. The resonance is avoided through a careful choosing of the patch location and the eigenvalues. The atomic-level knowledge of the material gives the route for understanding their properties necessary to specific devices.

The Ricci equation and the soliton solutions are obtained in this paper for two coupled pendula in order to optimise its locomotion and structure. The robot is swinging repeatedly like a rope with successive movement steps along a mobile support. The cnoidal theory and a genetic algorithm are used to solve the problem via the Ricci solitons and the pseudospherical reduction of the rheological Zener equations. The Bäcklund transform is applied to Ricci equation to generate pseudo-spherical surfaces.

The stress analysis of a hook crane submitted to some vertical static force is a simple FEM problem, approached here using SolidWorks Simulation software. Our purpose was to simulate different possibilities to slightly modify the shape of the hook crane, without adding too much material, in order to reduce the maximum stress induced in the hook. The shape design concerned here both the shape of the (transversal) cross-section and the shape of the hook longitudinal profile. The stress distribution is strongly depending on the shape of the hook crane, but it is almost independent on the hook material, since the bending mechanical stress, which is dominant in this combined bending and elongation case study, is not depending on the elastic modulus of the hook material. Obviously, the material choice is crucial from the point of view of the yield strength, usually hardened steels with increased yield strength are preferred. In what concerns the shape design improvement from the point of view of the cross-section (of equal area), our study confirmed that the trapezoidal section proposed generally in the literature corresponds to a reduced maximum induced stress. As a new result, a T-shape hook crane cross-section seems to prove better results that the trapezoidal section. To avoid stress concentrators, a combination between the trapezoidal and T-shape cross-sections has been also considered. The idea is to avoid as much as possible the discontinuity points on the outer contour of hook cross-section, since these discontinuity points are usually mechanical stress concentrators. A shape design improvement has been performed also in what concerns the longitudinal section/profile of the hook crane.