On the analysis of viscoelastic materials for active constrained layer damping treatments

This paper is concerned with the investigations of viscoelastic material (VEM) effects on active constrained layer (ACL) based structures. Specific interests are on how the VEM parameters will influence the passive damping ability, the active action authority, and their combined effect in an ACL configuration. Using a beam example, the study has identified the VEM parameter regions that will provide the best active-passive hybrid actions. The results of this research can be used to develop guidelines to synthesize ACL structures that will outperform both the purely passive and active systems. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.