Synchronized Switched Shunt Control Technique Applied on a Cantilevered Beam: Numerical and Experimental Investigations

During the last decades, some research interest in noise and vibration suppression has been focused on a specific control typology, based on semi-active architectures. Related advantages, like low or absent external power supply and intrinsic adaptive capacities, constitute an acceptable compromise between passive and active systems. Among the proposed ones, the so-called Synchronized Switched Shunt Architecture (SSSA) has shown good potential. Theoretical and numerical models able to describe simple systems (concentrated DOFs), controlled by an SSSA were already implemented. Anyway, these models are not immediately applicable to continuous structures (beams, plates, etc.). For this reason, and taking advantage of the previous works, a dedicated simulation code was ideated and implemented. In this article, the cited code was used to predict the benefits due to an SSSA device, applied on a beam element; later on, an experimental campaign was carried out on a dedicated prototype; finally, numerical and experimental results were compared in order to point out eventual discrepancies and assess the modeling capabilities. Sine signals were used to excite the beam resonance frequencies. Both numerical and experimental outcomes were expressed in time domain because of the unsteady nature (and consequent nonlinearity) of the examined semi-active control system.