Reduction of structural vibrations with the piezoelectric stacks ring

Abstract

It is known that piezoelectric material shunted with external circuits can convert mechanical energy to electrical energy, which is so called piezoelectric shunt damping technology. In this paper, a piezoelectric stacks ring (PSR) is designed for vibration control of beams and rotor systems. A relative simple electromechanical model of an Euler Bernoulli beam supported by two piezoelectric stacks shunted with resonant RL circuits is established. The equation of motion of such simplified system has been derived using Hamilton’s principle. A more realistic FEA model is developed. The numerical analysis is carried out using COMSOL® and the simulation results show a significant reduction of vibration amplitude at the specific natural frequencies. Using finite element method, the influence of circuit parameters on lateral vibration control is discussed. A preliminary experiment of a prototype PSR verifies the PSR’s vibration reduction effect.