Christopher Fuller

Education

• Ph.D., University of Adelaide, 1978
• BE (Hons), University of Adelaide, 1974

Work Experience

• Virginia Tech Samuel Langley Distinguished Professor of Engineering, 2011-present
• Roanoke Electric Steel Professor, Virginia Tech, 1983-2011
• NRC Research Fellow, NASA Langley Research Center, 1981-1983
• Senior Research Fellow, ISVR, University of Southampton, 1978-1981

Research Interests

• Active Noise And Vibration Control
• Acoustic Meta Materials
• Advanced Beamforming techniques
• Advanced sensing techniques
• Multi-functional energy harvesting/vibration control systems
• Application of acoustics to medicine
• Advanced composite passive acoustic materials

Current Research

Reduction of Background Noise and Reflections in Beamforming in Wind Tunnels

Beamforming for measurement of aeroacoustic sources in wind tunnels is often affected by the background flow and fan noise as well as reflection from the tunnel walls. This project is studying the potential of utilizing active noise control to reduce the effects of background noise and Cepstral techniques to reduce the effects of reflections. 

Meta Acoustic Materials

Meta materials are material systems which have properties not occurring in nature. They consist of a periodic arrangement of scatterers or resonant elements. We are studying the potential of meta material systems to improve the acoustic absorption of poro-elastic foams. The systems under study consist of an arrangement of small masses embedded in the foam material. Both experimental and numerical approaches are being developed.

Reduction of Noise in Prenatal Enclosures

Pre-term children are exposed to high levels of sound within prental enclosures. The noise eminates from a variety of sources including fans, pumps and alarms. We are investigating the noise characteristics of prenatal enclosures and developing advanced methods of noise control to mitigate the noise. The work is being done in cooperation with Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Dual energy Harvesting/Vibration Control Systems.

This project is investigation systems which carry out the dual goal of simultaneously reducing vibration of structures and harvesting energy.

Publications

Fuller, C.R., Elliott, S.E. and Nelson. P., Active Control of Vibration, (Amsterdam: Elsevier 1996)

Fuller, C.R., Papenfuss, C. and Saux, T.D., “Active Control of Portable Generator Set Noise; Heuristic versus Design,” in Proceedings of the ACTIVE Conference, 20-22 August 2009, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Fuller, C.R. and Harne, R. “Advanced Passive Treatment of Low Frequency Sound and Vibration,” in Proceedings of the ACOUSTICS Conference, 23-25 November 2009, Adelaide, Australia

Fuller, C.R., and Elliott, S., “Recent Developments in Active Control,” in Proceedings of the INTER-NOISE Conference, 19-21 August 2002, Dearborn, Michigan

C.Fuller, N. Schiller, R.Cabell, and “Decentralized Control of Sound Radiation Using Iterative Loop Recovery,” J. Acous. Soc. Am., 128 (2010): 1729, doi:10.1121/1.3479541

Fuller, C.R. , Carneal, J.P.,  Giovanardi, M., and Palumbo, D.E., “Re-active Passive(RAP) Devices for Control of Noise  Transmission Through a Panel,” J. Sound Vibration, 309 (2008) 495-506, doi:10.1016/j.jsv.2007.07.059

Fuller, C.R., Moyers, W., and Papenfuss, C., “Active Noise Cancellation for Mobile Generator Sets,” EGSA Powerline Magazine, April, 2008

Fuller, C., Lane, S, Johnson, M., and Charpentier, M., “Active Control of Payload Noise,” J. Sound Vibration, 290 (2006): 794-819, doi:10.1016/j.jsv.2005.04.017

Fuller, C.R., Kim, G.M., Ha-Roh, C and Kim, Y.S.,  “A Hybrid Control Development to Suppress the Noise In rectangular Enclosure Using an Active/Passive Smart Foam Actuator”, Intl. J. of Prec. Eng. and Manf., 6 (2005): 37-43