The level of detail required for accurate structural acoustic modeling of fluid loaded structures remains an issue of significant debate. Analytical solutions are rarely available, and discrete numerical solutions are typically too complex for ready extraction of physical understanding. In addition, numerical techniques introduce their own explicit scales, through the minimum mesh dimension. However, the wavenumber based formulation of the surface variational principle describes the surface pressure and displacement as a comparatively small set of interacting waves. Coupling the SVP with distributed methods of representing structural attachment features provides a means to introduce, control and investigate features of differing scales. We present here a technique for assessing the critical resolution scales for a fluid loaded two-dimensional plate. For feature attachments, we consider a line-mass elastically suspended by a line-spring from the wetted plate. We then use a spatial expansion for the elastic attachment to the wetted plate. The excitation applied to the plate is taken as a concentrated harmonic force. With the excitation held fixed, the influence of the scale of the feature spatial representation on the radiated power is assessed.

Recently, significant interest has been generated by the possibilities of active vibration control through the implementation of state switching, or piezoceramic shunting. A state-switched absorber (SSA) is a vibration absorber that has the unique ability to change its resonant state amongst multiple distinct resonant states while in motion, thereby increasing the effective bandwidth over that of a single frequency device and allowing control of multi-frequency and transient disturbances. In contrast, a switch-shunted damper (SSD) is a variant of an SSA that is used to increase the damping of the structure to which the damper is applied. A prototype SSD has been built and tested to experimentally investigate switching control logic. For this prototype, the results indicate that switching states at a condition of maximum strain yields enhanced damping effectiveness but also leads to the generation of potentially undesirable mechanical transients.

A hydraulic pressure energy harvester (HPEH) device, which utilizes a housing to isolate a piezoelectric stack from the hydraulic fluid via a mechanical interface, generates power by converting the dynamic pressure within the system into electricity. Prior work developed an HPEH device capable of generating 2187 microWatts from an 85 kPa pressure ripple amplitude using a 1387 mm 3 stack. A new generation of HPEH produced 157 microWatts at the test conditions of 18 MPa static pressure and 394 kPa root-mean-square pressure amplitude using a 50 mm 3 stack, thus increasing the power produced per volume of piezoelectric stack principally due to the higher dynamic pressure input. The stack and housing design implemented on this new prototype device yield a compact, high-pressure hydraulic pressure energy harvester designed to withstand 35 MPa. The device, which is less than a 2.54 cm in length as compared to a 5.3 cm length of a previous HPEH, was statically tested up to 21.9 MPa and dynamically tested up to 19 MPa with 400 kPa root-mean-square dynamic pressure amplitude. An inductor was included in the load circuit in parallel with the stack and the load resistance to increase the power output of the device. A previously developed electromechanical power output model for this device that predicts the power output given the dynamic pressure ripple amplitude is compared to the power results. The power extracted from this device would be sufficient to meet the proposed applications of the device, which is to power sensor nodes in hydraulic systems.

State-of-the-art hydraulic hose and piping systems employ integral sensor nodes for structural health monitoring in order to avoid catastrophic failures. These systems lend themselves to energy harvesting for powering sensor nodes. The foremost reason is that the power intensity of hydraulic systems is orders of magnitude higher than typical energy harvesting sources considered to date, such as wind turbulence, water flow, or vibrations of civil structures. Hydraulic systems inherently have a high energy intensity associated with the mean pressure and flow. Accompanying the mean pressure is what is termed dynamic pressure ripple caused by the action of pumps and actuators. Pressure ripple is conducive to energy harvesting as it is a deterministic source with an almost periodic time domain behavior. Pressure ripple generally increases in magnitude with the mean pressure of the system, which in turn increases the power that can be harvested. The harvested energy in hydraulic systems could enable self-powered wireless sensor nodes for applications such as energy-autonomous structural health monitoring and prognosis. An energy harvester prototype was designed for generating low-power electricity from dynamic pressure ripples. The prototype employed an axially-poled off-the-shelf piezoelectric stack. A housing isolated the stack from the hydraulic fluid while maintaining mechanical coupling to the system to allow for dynamic pressure induced deflection of the stack. The system exhibits an attractive off-resonance energy harvesting problem since the fundamental resonance of the piezoelectric stack is much higher than the frequency content of ripple. Although the energy harvester is not excited at resonance, the high energy intensity of the ripple results in significant electrical power output. The prototype provided a maximum output of 1.2 mW at 120Ω. With these results, it is clear that the energy harvester provides non-negligible power output suitable for powering sensors and other low power components. This work also presents electromechanical model simulations for predicting the piezoelectric power output in terms of the force transmitted from the pressure ripple as well as experimental characterization of the power output as a function of the force from the ripple.

A negative capacitance shunt is a basic, analog, active circuit electrically connected to a piezoelectric transducer to control vibrations of flexural bodies. The electrical impedance of the negative capacitance shunt modifies the effective modulus of the piezoelectric element to reduce the stiffness and increase the damping which causes a decrease in amplitude of the vibrating structure to which the elements are bonded. The negative capacitance circuit is built around a single operational amplifier using passive circuit elements. To gain insight into the electromechanical coupling, the power consumption of the op-amp and the power dissipated in the resistive element are measured. The power output of the op-amp increases for increasing control gain of the negative capacitance. The power characteristics of the shunt are compared to the reactive input power analysis developed in earlier work.

The use of both shunted piezoelectric elements and periodic arrays have been investigated independently as well as used in conjunction to modify the vibration of a system. Piezoelectric patches bonded to a cantilever beam which are shunted with an active circuit, specifically a negative capacitance shunt, can control broadband flexural vibrations of a structure. Also, periodic arrays integrated into a structure allow for modification of propagating waves through the mechanical “stop-bands”. The performance of a combined shunted periodic piezoelectric patch array will be analyzed here by investigating the velocity amplitude of the beam away from the array and in the array section, and the number of control elements in the array.

Shunt damping of structures has been heavily researched, both passively and actively. Negative capacitance shunts actively control vibration on a structure and have been shown to obtain significant broadband suppression. The use of smaller piezoelectric patches, implemented in a periodic array, can alter the behavior of the control. Assorted shunt arrangements as well as circuit configurations will be investigated. Experimental results will be compared to theoretical predictions of shunt performance.

Piezoelectric materials allow for the manipulation of stiffness and damping properties of host structures by the application of electrical shunting networks. The use of piezoelectric patches for broadband control of vibration using a negative impedance shunt has been shown to be an effective active control solution. The wave-tuning and minimization of reactive input power shunt selection methodologies require the use a negative capacitance. This paper shows that the two theories are comparative and obtain the same shunt parameters. The results of the theoretical shunt selection and simulation are compared to experimental results of tip vibration suppression, spatial average vibration, and reactive input power minimization.

This paper employs a continuous rotor model and a contacting SDOF system to examine dither’s role in stabilizing friction-induced oscillations. The disc rotor is modeled by a thin, clamped-free annular plate. Under the action of tangential dither, the frictional contact load is represented by a sinusoidally-varying follower force. The stability of the combined system, with and without dither signals, is assessed using multiple-scale analysis and Floquet theory. It is shown that dither is capable of quenching instabilities at some rotor speeds while at the same time producing new instabilities at other rotor speeds. The results suggest that one mechanism by which dither can suppress squeal is by changing the rotor speeds at which squeal vibrations occur.

A state-switched absorber (SSA) is a device capable of instantaneously changing its stiffness, thus it can switch between resonance frequencies, increasing its effective bandwidth as compared to classical tuned vibration absorbers for vibration control. Previous numerical work has shown that an optimized SSA outperforms an optimized TVA at controlling vibrations of both a beam and a plate. This paper details the experimental validation of these simulation results. An SSA was realized by employing magneto-rheological elastomers to achieve a stiffness change. The stiffness of these elastomers is a function of the magnetic field put across them. Experiments were conducted on both a cantilever beam and a square plate clamped on all sides. Each system was excited by several two-frequency component excitations. For each forcing combination, several tuning configurations of the SSA were applied and the kinetic energy of the system was found. This observed performance was compared to the performance found through numerical simulations of a system with a similar tuning and excitation configuration. It was found that the observed performance follows closely with results found through numerical simulation.

This work examines how friction-induced oscillations are affected by high-frequency excitations, commonly referred to as dither signals. The traditional mass-on-moving-belt system is studied using two different friction models, both exhibiting a negative friction coefficient-velocity relationship. The method of averaging is implemented and compared with numerical simulations. It is shown that there is qualitative agreement between the two approaches, but there are significant quantitative differences. This study also demonstrates how tangential dither is capable of suppressing friction-induced oscillations in many cases. However, it is also shown that dither can destabilize an initially stable system in some circumstances.

Sandwich panels, comprising face sheets enclosing a core, are increasingly common structural elements in a variety of applications, including aircraft fuselages and flight surfaces, vehicle panels, lightweight enclosures, and bulkheads. The design flexibility associated with such composite structures provides significant opportunities for tailoring the structure to the load and dynamic response requirements for the particular application. Design flexibility encompasses the details of the face sheets and the core. This paper deals with the numerical optimization of different sandwich configurations for the purposes of achieving reduced structural acoustic response. Laminated face sheets and core geometries, comprising honeycomb and truss-like structures, are considered. The relative importance of the mass and stiffening properties of the core and face sheets are discussed. The optimization work is carried out using commercial codes. Benefits and limits of using an optimization algorithm based on gradient methods are highlighted.

A State-Switched Absorber (SSA) is a device capable of instantaneously changing its stiffness, thus it can switch between resonance frequencies, increasing its effective bandwidth as compared to classical tuned vibration absorbers for vibration control. Previous theoretical simulations show that for a system subjected to a multi-harmonic disturbance, using an appropriate logic for switching states, the SSA reduces vibration more effectively than classical tuned vibration absorbers (TVA). This paper considers the experimental performance of the SSA for vibration suppression of an elastically mounted lumped mass base. State switching is achieved using magneto-rheological fluid to connect or disconnect a coil spring in parallel with other coil springs. The stiffness state is controlled by applying or removing a magnetic field across of the MR fluid. Experiments were performed over a range of forcing and tuning frequencies. The SSA system, optimally tuned, outperformed the optimal classical TVA system for all combinations of forcing frequencies.

Dither control is a method of introducing high frequency control efforts into a system to suppress a lower frequency disturbance. One application of dither control is the suppression of automotive brake squeal. Brake squeal is a problem that has plagued the automotive industry for years. Placing a piezoceramic stack actuator in the piston of a floating caliper brake creates an experimental normal dither system. Many theoretical models indicate a reduction in the braking torque due to the normal dither signal. Using a Hertzian contact stiffness model the loss in friction is due to lowering the average normal force. There are also theories that the dither signal eliminates the ‘stick-slip’ oscillation causing an effective decrease in the friction force. Yet another theory indicates that the effective contact area is reduced, lowering the mean coefficient of friction. A particular approach considering a single degree of freedom friction oscillator predicts a maximum friction reduction of 10%, occurring at the primary resonance of the system. This paper will concentrate on validating this claim by experimentally determining braking torque reduction for a variety of dither control signals. Several dither control frequencies were chosen at system resonances, while others were chosen at frequencies most likely to provide control of the system. These frequencies were chosen based on previous squeal suppression research. The results indicate that dither control frequencies at system resonances have a greater impact on the braking system’s performance. In general, dither control reduces braking torque by no more than 2%.

High-frequency dither forces are often used to reduce unwanted vibration in frictional systems. This paper examines how the effectiveness of these dither-cancellation techniques is influenced by the type of periodic signal employed. The paper uses the method of averaging as well as numerical integration to study a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system consisting of a mass in frictional contact with a translating surface. Recently, it was found that sinusoidal dither forces had the ability to stabilize or destabilize such a system, depending on the system and frictional characteristics as well as the amplitude and frequency of the dither signal [1]. This paper extends this analysis to general, periodic dither forces. In particular, the system response for sinusoidal dither waveforms is compared to that of triangular dither waveforms and square dither waveforms. It is found that, for a given amplitude and frequency of the dither signal, square waveforms are much more effective in canceling friction-induced oscillations than sinusoidal dither; likewise, sinusoidal waveforms are more effective than triangular waveforms for a given amplitude and frequency. A criterion is developed that relates the effectiveness of the waveform to the properties of the integral of the dither signal.