Experimental investigation of composite beams with piezoelectric actuation and debonding

Piezoelectric transducers can be used as sensors and actuators for vibration reduction in composite structures. Debonding at the transducer-laminate interface results in significant changes to the dynamic response and control authority. This important issue is studied in the current work. Composite specimens with surface bonded piezoelectric transducers were constructed with varying stacking sequences and debonding lengths. Closed loop control was implemented using an analog circuit. Experimental results were obtained for both open and closed loop frequencies and damping ratios. The results correlate well with a newly developed higher order based theory for modeling composites with debonded piezoelectric transducers, Significant changes are observed in the open and closed loop frequencies and damping ratios as a result of debonding.