Finite element modelling of hybrid active-passive vibration damping of multilayer piezoelectric sandwich beams - part II: System analysis

An electromechanically coupled finite element model has been presented in Part 1 of this paper in order to handle active-passive damped multilayer sandwich beams, consisting of a viscoelastic core sandwiched between layered piezoelectric faces. Its validation is achieved, in the present part, through modal analysis comparisons with numerical and experimental results found in the literature. After its validation, the new finite element is applied to the constrained optimal control of a sandwich cantilever beam with viscoelastic core through a pair of attached piezoelectric actuators. The hybrid damping performance of this five-layer configuration is studied under viscoelastic layer thickness and actuator length variations. It is shown that hybrid active-passive damping allows to increase damping of some selected modes while preventing instability of uncontrolled ones and that modal damping distribution can be optimized by proper choice of the viscoelastic material thickness. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.