Modeling of shell adaptive composites and its application to noise suppression

Abstract

Recent developments in adaptive composite structures with distributed multifunctional actuators and sensors have attracted significant attention in the research community due to their potential commercial benefits in a wide range of applications such as vibration suppression, shape control and noise attenuation. In this study, composite plate and shell finite element models with electromechanical properties are presented. The adaptive composite consists of a plate or shell structure with piezoelectric actuators either bonded or embedded as a laminate in the structure. Its applications in aircraft internal noise suppression are investigated. The underlying concept consists of stiffening the structure using the distributed electromechanical actuation.