Thermoelastic damping effect on in-extensional vibration of rotating thin ring

Sensitive devices such as resonant sensors and radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical system (RF-MEMS) filters etc., require high Quality factors (Q-factors) defined as the ratio of total system energy to dissipation that occurs due to various damping mechanisms. Also, thermoelastic damping is considered to be one of the most important factors to elicit energy dissipation due to the irreversible heat flow of oscillating structures in the micro scales. In this study, the Q-factor for thermoelastic damping is investigated in rotating thin rings with in-plane vibration. First, in order to obtain the temperature profile of the model, a heat conduction equation for the thermal flow across the radial direction is solved based on the bending approximation so-called in-extensional approximation of the ring. Using the temperature distribution coupled with a displacement, a governing equation of the ring model can then be derived. Eventually, an eigen-value analysis is performed to obtain the natural frequency of rotating thin rings, and the analytical and numerical values of Q-factors can then be determined by the definition. Furthermore, the effects of rotating speed, dimensions of the ring, mode numbers and ambient temperatures on the Q-factor are discussed in detail.