Active aeroelastic flutter analysis and vibration control of supersonic beams using thepiezoelectric actuator/sensor pairs

Abstract

The active vibration control of all kinds of structures by using the piezoelectric materialhas been extensively investigated. In this paper, the active aeroelastic flutter characteristicsand vibration control of supersonic beams applying the piezoelectric material are studiedfurther. The piezoelectric materials are bonded on the top and bottom surfaces of thebeams to act as the actuator and sensor so that the active aeroelastic flutter suppressionfor the supersonic beams can be conducted. The supersonic piston theory is adopted toevaluate the aerodynamic pressure. Hamilton’s principle with the assumed modemethod is used to develop the dynamical model of the structural systems. By usingthe standard eigenvalue methodology, the solutions for the complex eigenvalueproblem are obtained. A negative velocity feedback control strategy is used toobtain active damping. The aeroelastic flutter bounds are calculated and the activeaeroelastic flutter characteristics are analyzed. The impulse responses of the structuralsystem are obtained by using the Houbolt numerical algorithm to study the activeaeroelastic vibration control. The influences of the non-dimensional aerodynamicpressure on the active flutter control are analyzed. From the numerical results it isobserved that the aeroelastic flutter characteristics of the supersonic beams canbe significantly improved and that the aeroelastic vibration amplitudes can beremarkably reduced, especially at the flutter points, by using the piezoelectricactuator/sensor pairs which can provide an active damping. Within a certain value of thefeedback control gain, with the increase of it, the flutter aerodynamic pressure(or flutter velocity) can be increased and the control results are also improved.