A novel hybrid sandwich structure: Viscoelastic and eddy current damping

Abstract

A novel hybrid damping sandwich structure (VES-ED) that can attenuate structural vibration in a wide frequency bandwidth, without adding mass to the structure or significantly modifying its mechanical properties, is proposed. The hybrid sandwich combines viscoelastic and eddy current damping and consists of a thin viscoelastic sandwich and two permanent magnets without contacting the sandwich. This work has two main contributions. First, the vibrational response and dynamic properties of the hybrid sandwich are analysed by means of experimental tests in the bandwidth of 0–1kHz. The experimental results show that the viscoelastic film of the hybrid sandwich attenuated the vibration across the entire bandwidth, and the induced eddy currents suppressed the vibration to a greater extent at low frequencies. Second, a new inverse method is developed to model the hybrid sandwich and facilitate its application. The numerical transmissibility function computed by the inverse method correlates well with that of the experiment, showing good agreement in the entire bandwidth of 0–1kHz. In general, the hybrid sandwich constitutes a method of maximising the performance of conventional viscoelastic sandwiches and its potential applications lies on the vibration attenuation of transport media in the stop positions.