Vibration Control of Beams Using Electro-Magnetic Compressional Damping Treatment

A new class of structural damping treatments is introduced. This class is the electro-magnetic damping treatment (EMDT) which relies in its operation on a viscoelastic damping layer sandwiched between two magnetic layers. Interaction between the magnets generates magnetic forces that enhance the compressional damping mechanism of the viscoelastic layer. With proper tuning of the magnetic forces, in response to the structural vibration, undesirable resonances and catastrophic failures can be avoided. The fundamentals and the underlying phenomena associated with the EMDT are investigated theoretically and experimentally. A finite element model is developed to describe the interaction between the dynamics of flexible beams, the viscoelastic damping layer and the magnetic layers. The validity of the developed finite element model is checked experimentally using aluminum beams treated with EMDT patches. The beam/EMDT system is subjected to sinusoidal excitations and its multi-mode response is monitored when the magnetic layers are activated or not. Several control strategies are considered to activate the magnetic layers including simple PD controllers. The performance of the uncontrolled and controlled system is determined at various operating conditions. Attenuation of 49.4 percent is obtained for the amplitude of first mode of vibration (5.2 Hz) with control voltage of 0.2 volts. The attenuation increases to 72.56 percent for the second mode of vibration (28.6 Hz) with a control voltage of 1.68 volts. Comparisons with conventional Passive Constrained Layer Damping (PCLD) treatments emphasize the potential of the EMDT treatment as an effective means for controlling structural vibrations. [S0739-3717(00)00603-6]