Measurement of viscoelastic properties from the vibration of a compliantly supported beam

A laboratory method is presented by which the viscoelastic properties of compliant materials are measured over a wide frequency range. The test setup utilizes a flexible beam clamped at one end and excited by a shaker at the free end. A small specimen of a compliant material is positioned to support the beam near its midpoint. The deformation from gravity is minimized since the specimen is not loaded by an attached mass. Forced vibration responses measured at two locations along the beam are used to derive a transfer function from which the dynamic properties of compliant materials are directly determined by use of a theoretical procedure investigating the effects of specimen stiffness on the propagation of flexural waves. Sensitivity of the measured properties to experimental uncertainties is investigated. Young's moduli and associated loss factors are determined for compliant materials ranging from low-density closed-cell foams to high-density damping materials. The method is validated by comparing the measured viscoelastic properties to those from an alternative dynamic test method.     

Vibration and dynamic stability of a traveling sandwich beam

The vibration and dynamic stability of a traveling sandwich beam are studied using the finite element method. The damping layer is assumed to be linear viscoelastic and almost incompressible. The extensional and shear moduli of the viscoelastic material are characterized by complex quantities. Complex-eigenvalue problems are solved by the state-space method, and the natural frequencies and modal loss factors of the composite beam are extracted. The effects of stiffness and thickness ratio of the viscoelastic and constrained layers on natural frequencies and modal loss factors are reported. Tension fluctuations are the dominant source of excitation in a traveling sandwich material, and the regions of dynamic instability are determined by modified Bolotin's method. Numerical results show that the constrained damping layer stabilizes the traveling sandwich beam.     

TRANSVERSE VIBRATION OF ELASTIC-VISCOELASTIC-ELASTIC SANDWICH BEAMS: COMPRESSION-EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL STUDY

Experimental and analytical results are presented from an investigation into the compressional vibration of an elastic-viscoelastic-elastic three-layer sandwich beam. Most analytical models make the fundamental assumption that shear deformation in the viscoelastic core yields the largest damping and compressional deformation is negligible. Experimental results from a cantilever beam with a constrained layer viscoelastic damping treatment driven with a sinusoidal input are given which show compressional deformation over a relatively wide driving frequency range. A new analytical model for compressional damping is presented and compared with experimental results, with the Mead and Markus shear damping model, and with the Douglas and Yang compressional damping model. These results indicate that the proposed compressional model is a better predictor of resonance frequencies for the cantilever beams tested and that all models show deficiencies in predicting damping     

Finite element analysis and experimental study on dynamic properties of a composite beam with viscoelastic damping

This paper investigates the frequency dependent viscoelastic dynamics of a multifunctional composite structure from finite element analysis and experimental validation. The frequency-dependent behavior of the stiffness and damping of a viscoelastic material directly affects the system's modal frequencies and damping, and results in complex vibration modes and differences in the relative phase of vibration. A second order three parameter Golla–Hughes–McTavish (GHM) method and a second order three fields Anelastic Displacement Fields (ADF) approach are used to implement the viscoelastic material model, enabling the straightforward development of time domain and frequency domain finite elements, and describing the frequency dependent viscoelastic behavior. Considering the parameter identification a strategy to estimate the fractional order of the time derivative and the relaxation time is outlined. Agreement between the curve fits using both the GHM and ADF and experiment is within 0.001 percent error. Continuing efforts are addressing the material modulus comparison of the GHM and the ADF model. There may be a theoretical difference between viscoelastic degrees of freedom at nodes and elements, but their numerical results are very close to each other in the specific frequency range of interest. With identified model parameters, numerical simulation is carried out to predict the damping behavior in its first two vibration modes. The experimental testing on the layered composite beam validates the numerical predication. Experimental results also show that elastic modulus measured from dynamic response yields more accurate results than static measurement, such as tensile testing, especially for elastomers.     

Theoretical and experimental study on the transverse vibration properties of an axially moving nested cantilever beam

An axially moving nested cantilever beam is a type of time-varying nonlinear system that can be regarded as a cantilever stepped beam. The transverse vibration equation for the axially moving nested cantilever beam with a tip mass is derived by D’Alembert?s principle, and the modified Galerkin?s method is used to solve the partial differential equation. The theoretical model is modified by adjusting the theoretical beam length with the measured results of its first-order vibration frequencies under various beam lengths. It is determined that the length correction value of the second segment of the nested beam increases as the structural length increases, but the corresponding increase in the amplitude becomes smaller. The first-order decay coefficients are identified by the logarithmic decrement method, and the decay coefficient of the beam decreases with an increase in the cantilever length. The calculated responses of the modified model agree well with the experimental results, which verifies the correctness of the proposed calculation model and indicates the effectiveness of the methods of length correction and damping determination. Further studies on non-damping free vibration properties of the axially moving nested cantilever beam during extension and retraction are investigated in the present paper. Furthermore, the extension movement of the beam leads the vibration displacement to increase gradually, and the instantaneous vibration frequency and the vibration speed decrease constantly. Moreover, as the total mechanical energy becomes smaller, the extension movement of the nested beam remains stable. The characteristics for the retraction movement of the beam are the reverse.     

Minimization of sound radiation from baffled beams through optimization of partial constrained layer damping treatment

An optimization study is presented with aim to minimize the sound power radiated by a simply supported, baffled beam with constrained layer damping (CLD) treatment. The governing equation of motion for the calculation of time-harmonic response of a partially CLD covered beam is derived first on the basis of energy approach. Assumed-modes method is used to solve the equation with obtained frequency response functions at different beam locations, which are further used for the calculation of its radiated sound power into half free-space by using Rayleigh’s integral. The optimization problem is then formulated to minimize the sound power radiated by the beam over a frequency range of interest covering multiple resonant modes. A genetic algorithm-based penalty function method is employed to search for the optimum of location/length of the CLD patch and the shear modulus of viscoelastic layer. Optimal results show that for a simply supported beam with a transverse force applied at its central location, it is not necessary to fully cover the structure using CLD patch in order to achieve the largest reduction in the sound power radiated by the beam over a frequency range. With inclusion of the amount of damping material to be minimized, the optimal CLD coverage length is only one-fourth of the base beam’s. Moreover, the optima of three design variables, the CLD coverage length, location on the beam and the shear modulus of viscoelastic layer, are highly relevant to each other.     

VIBRATION ATTENUATION VIA CONSTRAINED LAYER DAMPING AND DASHPOT ON A SPRING-MASS-PLATE SYSTEM

The vibrations and damping characteristics of an annular plate with constrained layer damping (CLD) treatment subject to a traveling spring-mass-damper (SMD) are investigated. The equations of the CLD-treated plate are first derived from the energy principle. These equations are simplified via the Donnell-Mushtari-Vlasov assumptions. The response equations are eventually uncoupled for each mode and are in terms of a single-degree-of-freedom (s.d.o.f.) linear oscillator with hysteretic damping. The receptance method follows to joint the plate and the SMD, and the resulting change of natural frequencies and damping ratios are investigated. Individual effects due to the inertia and the stiffness are illustrated as well. The results shows that the damping ratios resulted from the viscoelastic core are more significant than that from the viscous damper. In addition, there exists a best design on the thickness of the viscoelastic material core to have the maximum damping ratios. The results also show that the attachment of SMD bifurcated the plate's natural frequencies for every mode but n = 0. The bifurcation becomes more obvious with the rotational speed. These results provide useful information for vibration suppression in engineering design.     

FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION AND ACTIVE VIBRATION CONTROL STUDY ON BEAMS USING SMART CONSTRAINED LAYER DAMPING (SCLD) TREATMENT

This work deals with the active vibration control of beams with smart constrained layer damping (SCLD) treatment. SCLD design consists of viscoelastic shear layer sandwiched between two layers of piezoelectric sensors and actuator. This composite SCLD when bonded to a vibrating structure acts as a smart treatment. The sensor piezoelectric layer measures the vibration response of the structure and a feedback controller is provided which regulates the axial deformation of the piezoelectric actuator (constraining layer), thereby providing adjustable and significant damping in the structure. The damping offered by SCLD treatment has two components, active action and passive action. The active action is transmitted from the piezoelectric actuator to the host structure through the viscoelastic layer. The passive action is through the shear deformation in the viscoelastic layer. The active action apart from providing direct active control also adjusts the passive action by regulating the shear deformation in the structure. The passive damping component of this design eliminates spillover, reduces power consumption, improves robustness and reliability of the system, and reduces vibration response at high-frequency ranges where active damping is difficult to implement. A beam finite element model has been developed based on Timoshenko's beam theory with partially covered SCLD. The Golla-Hughes-McTavish (GHM) method has been used to model the viscoelastic layer. The dissipation co-ordinates, defined using GHM approach, describe the frequency-dependent viscoelastic material properties. Models of PCLD and purely active systems could be obtained as a special case of SCLD. Using linear quadratic regulator (LQR) optimal control, the effects of the SCLD on vibration suppression performance and control effort requirements are investigated. The effects of the viscoelastic layer thickness and material properties on the vibration control performance are investigated.     

Choice of thickness ratio of a coated beam used for investigating the complex modulus of viscoelastic materials

The coated beam method has been widely used for investigating the complex modulus of elasticity of relatively soft viscoelastic materials; e.g., materials for vibration damping. With this method a rectangular section metal beam is coated with the viscoelastic material on one side, or symmetrically on both sides, and the resonances of the bending vibration of the beam are investigated. In this paper a procedure is described for finding the ratio of coating thickness to metal thickness required to obtain accurate results for the complex modulus in such investigations. The contradiction experienced earlier—that a relatively large thickness ratio is required for precision while the nature of the resonance method is such as to demand a small one—is analyzed mathematically. The relationships derived serve as a basis for optimizing the choice of the ratio. Diagrams and a procedure for this are worked out and presented. Finally, a few experimental results obtained with suitable and unsuitable thickness ratios are discussed.     

Experimental identification of viscous damping in linear vibration

This paper is concerned with the experimental evaluation of the performance of viscous damping identification methods in linear vibration theory. Both existing and some new methods proposed by the present authors [A.S. Phani, J. Woodhouse, Viscous damping identification in linear vibration, Journal of Sound and Vibration 303 (3–5) (2007) 475–500] are applied to experimental data measured on two test structures: a coupled three cantilever beam with moderate modal overlap and a free–free beam with low modal overlap. The performance of each method is quantified and compared based on three norms and the best methods are identified. The role of complex modes in damping identification from vibration measurements is critically assessed.     

Ultrasonic radiation in dynamic force microscopy

In dynamic force microscopy the cantilever of an atomic force microscope is vibrated at ultrasonic frequencies in the range of several 10 kHz up to several MHz while scanning a sample surface. The amplitude and phase of the cantilever vibration as well as the shift of the cantilever resonance frequencies provide information about local sample surface properties. In several operation modes of dynamic force microscopy, for example force modulation microscopy, tapping mode or atomic force acoustic microscopy, the sensor tip is in contact with the sample at least during a fraction of its vibration cycle. The periodic indentation of the tip with the sample surface generates ultrasonic waves. In this paper, the ultrasonic radiation of a vibrating cantilever into a sample and its contribution to the damping of the cantilever vibration are calculated. The theoretical results are compared to experiments.     

Quantitative determination of material viscoelasticity using a piezoelectric cantilever bimorph beam

The objective of this paper is to formulate the governing equation of a cantilever bimorph beam associated with a tip mass in contact with a viscoelastic material, which is modeled by a stiffness and a damper in parallel. From the eigenvalue problem, we can obtain the resonant frequencies as functions of the tip mass and material stiffness. The relation between the spectrum and material damping is established by the half-power bandwidth. It is found that the resonant frequencies increase as the material stiffness increases or the tip mass decreases, and the spectrum decreases by increasing the damping. From the analytic results, a cantilever could provide a technique to assess material viscoelasticity by simple measurements of the resonant frequency and the spectrum. Since the cantilever's behavior scales with its geometry, the device can be designed specifically for mechanical measurement of a microscopic system such as living cells and biomaterials.     

Vibration characteristics of a rotating flexible arm with ACLD treatment

In this paper, the vibration behavior and control of a clamped–free rotating flexible cantilever arm with fully covered active constrained layer damping (ACLD) treatment are investigated. The arm is rotating in a horizontal plane in which the gravitational effect and rotary inertia are neglected. The stress–strain relationship for the viscoelastic material (VEM) is described by a complex shear modulus while the shear deformations in the two piezoelectric layers are neglected. Hamilton's principle in conjunction with finite element method (FEM) is used to derive the non-linear coupled differential equations of motion and the associated boundary conditions that describe the rigid hub angle rotation, the arm transverse displacement and the axial deformations of the three-layer composite. This refined model takes into account the effects of centrifugal stiffening due to the rotation of the beam and the potential energies of the VEM due to extension and bending. Active controllers are designed with PD for the piezosensor and actuator. The vibration frequencies and damping factors of the closed-loop beam/ACLD system are obtained after solving the characteristic complex eigenvalue problem numerically. The effects of different rotating speed, thickness ratio and loss factor of the VEM as well as different controller gain on the damped frequency and damping ratio are presented. The results of this study will be useful in the design of adaptive and smart structures for vibration suppression and control in rotating structures such as rotorcraft blades or robotic arms.     

Analytical model for nanoscale viscoelastic properties characterization using dynamic nanoindentation

In the last few decades, nanoindentation has gained widespread acceptance as a technique for materials properties characterization at micron and submicron length scales. Accurate and precise characterization of material properties with a nanoindenter is critically dependent on the ability to correctly model the response of the test equipment in contact with the material. In dynamic nanoindention analysis, a simple Kelvin–Voigt model is commonly used to capture the viscoelastic response. However, this model oversimplifies the response of real viscoelastic materials such as polymers. A model is developed that captures the dynamic nanoindentation response of a viscoelastic material. Indenter tip-sample contact forces are modelled using a generalized Maxwell model. The results on a silicon elastomer were analysed using conventional two element Kelvin–Voigt model and contrasted to analysis done using the Maxwell model. The results show that conventional Kelvin–Voigt model overestimates the storage modulus of the silicone elastomer by ~30%. Maxwell model represents a significant improvement in capturing the viscoelastic material behaviour over the Voigt model.     

A finite element model for sandwich viscoelastic beams: Experimental and numerical assessment

Among the passive control systems for attenuation of vibrations in structures, those that use viscoelastic materials as a damping core in laminated-plate-like components are focused herein. In the present work an assessment of a time-domain formulation for numerical modelling of viscoelastic materials is made. This formulation, which is called Golla–Hughes method (GHM), is based on a second-order time-domain realization of Laplace-domain motion equations. The GHM parameters used in the characterization of a viscoelastic material are experimentally determined and a sandwich GHM-based finite element model is presented and validated through numerical comparisons with classic formulation results. Finally, a time-domain simulation of an experimentally tested sandwich beam is carried out.     

Experimental characterization and modeling of microsliding on a small cantilever quartz beam

The design of mechanical systems requires various studies in order to ensure an optimal behavior during operation. In particular, the study of its dynamic behavior makes it possible to evaluate the role of a connection in the energy dissipation mechanisms. In this context, an experimental setup dedicated to small structures has been developed to quantify damping due to microsliding at the beam–clamp interface. The mechanical characterization of the clamped connection is carried out by experimental dynamic tests on a free-clamped structure. The instantaneous frequencies and damping are identified by the wavelet transform technique of a slightly nonlinear system. In parallel, numerical prediction of the equivalent damping is achieved thanks to the implementation of the regularized Coulomb law in a finite element model. A genetic algorithm and artificial neural networks are used to update the stiffness parameter and the friction coefficient. The optimized model is in good agreement with experimental results. It allows for determining the spatial distribution of microsliding and tangential force along the contact interface. The dissipated energy and equivalent damping are finally deduced according to the dynamic deflection of the free part of the beam.     

Effect of viscoelastic losses on resonance radiation from imperfections

NDT, using acoustic emission techniques, often requires an adequate interpretation of the resonance response. In this Paper, the effect of viscoelastic losses on resonance caused by imperfections due to oscillating dislocations is evaluated. For simplicity of interpretation, three simple viscoelastic materials are considered. The results show that while damping has a small effect on the first resonance response, higher resonances are considerably reduced and that near antiresonant frequencies the amplitudes of vibration may actually be increased.     

Modeling and optimization of local constraint elastomer treatments for vibration and noise reduction

This paper presents the vibroacoustic study of a constrained elastomer treatment used in the industry for reducing noise. It can be trimmed and bonded conveniently to vibrating structures for reducing radiated noise. First, an identification of the elastomer viscoelastic characteristics is carried out with a program that models damped vibrations, a conjugate gradient search technique and experimental data extracted rom two contact-free modal analyses. The first modal analysis, adapted to dissipation characterization, is made on a partially covered suspended plate. The second modal analysis, adapted to identifying the elastomer stiffness behavior, concerns a cantilever beam that has almost been covered by a large treatment. The complete dynamic characterization is finally deduced from an iterative procedure that combines information from both experiments. The procedure highlights the influence of the treatment bonding quality on the achieved elastomer damping. Second, practical rules are deduced from a number of parametric studies on beams with baffled radiation conditions. In particular, a design criterion is introduced to help positioning patches where the elastomer damping can be maximized. A threshold, for which an optimal acoustic performance with a minimum of elastomer can be fulfilled, is also identified.     

A new method for the determination of damping in cocured composite laminates with embedded viscoelastic layer

A new method for the determination of damping in cocured composite laminates with embedded viscoelastic layer is developed based on mode superposition and modal strain energy method. The calculated damping value is not modal loss factor but a combination of damping from the contributing modes. The dynamic mechanical properties of the viscoelastic material cocured with composites were investigated and were substituted in the present method for calculating the damping in cocured composites. The analytical results were compared with the experimental results by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). The results demonstrate a good agreement between analytical and experimental results. This work provides a means for the study of damping in this structure with different environment temperature and excited frequency.     

A damping mechanics model and a beam finite element for the free-vibration of laminated composite strips under in-plane loading

A theoretical framework is presented for predicting the nonlinear damping and damped vibration of laminated composite strips due to large in-plane forces. Nonlinear Green-Lagrange axial strains are introduced in the governing equations of a viscoelastic composite and new nonlinear damping and stiffness matrices are formulated including initial stress effects. Building upon the nonlinear laminate mechanics, a damped beam finite element is developed. Finite element stiffness and damping matrices are synthesized and the static equilibrium is predicted using a Newton-Raphson solver. The corresponding linearized damped free-vibration response is predicted and modal frequencies and damping of the in-plane deflected strip are calculated. Numerical results quantify the nonlinear effect of in-plane loads on structural modal damping of various laminated composite strips. The modal loss-factors and natural frequencies of cross-ply Glass/Epoxy beams subject to in-plane loading are measured and correlated with numerical results.