Vibration Control

Abstract

Abstract The insatiable demand ford high performance on various dynamic systems quantified by high‐speed operation, high control accuracy, and lower energy consumption has triggered vigorous research on vibrational control of distributed flexible structures and discrete systems. Numerous control strategies for conventional electromagnetic actuators have been proposed and implemented to suppress unwanted vibration. However, the successful empirical realization of electromagnetic actuators may be sometimes very difficult under certain conditions due to hardware limitations such as saturation and response speed. This difficulty can be resolved by employing smart material actuators in vibrational control. As is well‐known, smart material technology features actuating capability, control capability, and computational capability. Therefore, these inherent capabilities of smart materials can execute specific functions autonomously in response to changing environmental stimuli. Among many smart material candidates, electrorheological(ER) fluids, piezoelectric materials, and shape‐memory alloys are effectively exploited for vibrational control in various engineering applications. A viable vibrational control algorithm can be optimally synthesized by integrating control strategies, and actuating technology, and sensing technology. The design philosophy presented contains a very large number of decisions and design parameters for the characteristics of controllers, actuators, and sensors. In this article, two different flexible smart structures fabricated from ER fluids and piezoelectric materials are introduced, and vibrational control techniques for each smart structure are presented. In addition, vibrational control methodology for a passenger vehicle under various road conditions is given by adopting an ER damper, followed by vibrational control of a flexible robotic manipulator that features piezoceramic actuators.