Application of Graphene Composites for Additional Vibration Damping in Smart Structures Based on Piezoelectric Elements

Abstract

A smart-structure variant representing a piecewise homogeneous body composed of elastic and viscoelastic materials and piezoelectric elements the electrodes of which can be connected to shunting circuits is considered. One of the basic purposes of such structures is vibration damping. This paper deals with a variant in which the classic resistor in a shunting circuit is replaced by a graphene composite acting not only as a mechanically deformable body, but also as a resistor in a smart structure. The mathematical formulation of the problem of forced steady-state and natural vibrations in the structures composed of elastic and viscoelastic elements, piezoelectric elements, and graphene composites acting as a deformable body and a resistor is given. The results of numerical experiments demonstrate the applicability of graphene composites for implementing an additional mechanism of vibration damping in smart structures based on piezoelectric elements.