Experimental Analysis of a Cantilever Beam with a Shunted Piezoelectric Periodic Array

The use of both shunted piezoelectric elements and periodic arrays have been investigated independently as well as used in conjunction to modify the vibration of a system. Piezoelectric patches bonded to a cantilever beam which is shunted with an active circuit, specifically a negative capacitance shunt, can control broadband flexural vibrations of a structure. Also, periodic arrays integrated into a structure allow for modification of propagating waves through the mechanical ‘‘stop-bands’’. The performance of a combined shunted periodic piezoelectric patch array will be analyzed in this study by investigating the velocity amplitude of the beam upstream and downstream of the array section and the number of control elements in the array. The negative capacitance shunts caused a global spatial average velocity reduction of 5 dB at the modal peaks from 500 to 5000 Hz. The reduction is shown to be greater in the downstream section of the beam. Also, by increasing the number of patches in the array, the attenuation of the resonances increased non-linearly. The results show that a negative capacitance periodic control array is an effective global vibration reduction system and has the ability to localize energy near the forcing of a structure.