ACTIVE CONTROL OF COMPOSITE PLATES USING PIEZOELECTRIC STIFFENERS

The governing equations for geometrically nonlinear, arbitrarily laminated rectangular plates reinforced by stiffeners which include piezoelectric and composite layers are presented. General equations obtained in the paper are reduced to a single equation of motion for piezoelectrically reinforced, geometrically linear, specially orthotropic plates. A criterion for an effective control of forced vibrations of such plates using piezoelectric stiffeners and a static electric field is illustrated. Active control of dynamic stability using a dynamic electric field with a frequency equal to that of the in-plane load is also considered. In addition, an approach to the analysis of piezoelectrically stiffened nonlinear plates whose motion is represented by single-term functions of the coordinates is discussed. Numerous active control problems can be addressed using the theory outlined in the paper.