Nonlinear random vibrations of a sandwich beam adaptive to electrorheological materials

Abstract

An analytical study of nonlinear dynamic responseand vibration control capabilities of Electrorheological(ER) materials based adaptive sandwich beam ispresented. A three-parameter solid viscoelastic model isused to describe ER material behaviour in pre-yield regime.The governing equations of motion are developed bycombining the nonlinear elastic thin beam equations andthe ER material constitutive relations. The random loadsacting on the beam are developed in time domain utilizingsimulation procedures of stationary random processes. AGalerkin-like approach and numerical integration in timedomain are used to solve the coupled nonlinear partial differentialequations. The effect of changes of core ER materialstorage modulus on vibration response to applied electricfield is investigated for linear and nonlinear cases.Numerical results include displacement response time histories,RMS values and power spectral densities. Shift inmodal frequencies, suppression of response amplitudes andactive vibration control capabilities of ER material basedadaptive sandwich beam are demonstrated.