Piezoelectric performance effectiveness for active composite panels with surface-mounted and embedded sensors and actuators using direct constant voltage scheme

Abstract

This work utilizes a Direct Constant Voltage (CV) Scheme as a versatile tool to study piezoelectric actuator performance effectiveness either surface-mounted or embedded. To achieve this goal calculated control Constant Voltage is employed for active vibration suppression. This paper introduces a closed form formula that replaces Design Charts for a faster and easier way to calculate actuator voltage required for active vibration suppression. To perform a comprehensive study, three finite element models (FEMs) are developed. The first FEM considers non-collocated surface-mounted piezoelectric patches as sensor and actuator for beams with varying thicknesses. The second FEM deals with embedded non-collocated piezoelectric patches as sensor and actuator for beams with varying thicknesses and constant number of constraint layers. For this embedded case one extra layer is needed to cover the piezoelectric patch and one extra cut-out layer to fill the area around the piezoelectric patch compared to the surface-mounted. The third FEM focuses on beams having constant thicknesses with variable number of constraint layers and non-collocated embedded piezoelectric patches. A surface-mounted ACX piezoelectric patch acts as a shaker is all three FEMs. Numerical and experimental results were compared and excellent comparisons were obtained. The Direct Constant Voltage Scheme can offer useful information into the actuator performance effectiveness in terms of: 1) the piezoelectric actuator performance effectiveness with respect to the laminate thicknesses and actuator distance from the beam neutral axis either surface-mounted or embedded, and 2) the influence of the constant and variable number of constraint layers on the embedded piezoelectric effectiveness for beams with variable and constant thicknesses.