Simultaneous Vibration Confinement and Disturbance Rejection Through Electromechanical Tailoring of Piezoeletric Networks

Pennsylvania State Univ University Park, University Park PA

Investigators

Abstract

The overall project goal is to investigate a novel vibration control concept --simultaneous disturbance rejection and vibration confinement via piezoelectric network tailoring. The underlying principle for vibration confinement, which has attracted significant attention among vibration control researchers, is to alter the structural modes in such a manner that the corresponding modal components have much smaller amplitude in concerned areas than the remaining part of the structure. As a result, the vibration energy will be confined to regions that are less important. While vibration confinement is an attractive idea, some critical problems need to be addressed before the concept can be realized. The proposed new idea can solve these problems and greatly advance the state of the art. The research tasks include theory development, system analysis, and experimental investigation. The significance and impact of the proposed research will be: (a) With piezoelectric networks, it is possible to suppress vibration of the entire mechanical structure by confining the energy in the electrical circuitry part of the system, which cannot be achieved with the current confinement approach. (b) With the circuit elements as design variables, one can re-design the electrical system to achieve vibration confinement without changing the mechanical structure -- adjusting electrical circuits is much easier than modifying mechanical components. (c) With the circuit elements as additional design variables, the system design space can be significantly increased. This could allow the possibility of simultaneous left/right eigenstructure assignment. One can thus achieve disturbance rejection (through shaping the left eigenvector) together with energy confinement (shaping the right eigenvector) and end up with much better vibration control performance than that of the current practice. (d) The proposed effort will be the first to examine piezoelectric network tailoring for general complex structures with a systematic and rigorous approach.