Active control of geometrically nonlinear transient vibrations of laminated composite cylindrical panels using piezoelectric fiber reinforced composite

This paper addresses the analysis of active constrained layer damping (ACLD) of geometrically nonlinear transient vibrations of laminated thin composite cylindrical panels using piezoelectric-fiber- reinforced composite (PFRC) materials. The constraining layer of the ACLD treatment is considered to be made of the PFRC materials. The Golla-Hughes-McTavish (GHM) method has been implemented to model the constrained viscoelastic layer of the ACLD treatment in time domain. The Von Karman type-nonlinear strain-displacement relations and a simple first-order shear deformation theory are used for deriving this electromechanical coupled problem. A three-dimensional finite element (FE) model of smart composite panels integrated with the patches of such ACLD treatment has been developed to demonstrate the performance of these patches on enhancing the damping characteristics of thin symmetric and antisymmetric laminated cylindrical panels in controlling the geometrically nonlinear transient vibrations. The numerical results indicate that the ACLD patches significantly improve the damping characteristics of both symmetric and antisymmetric panels for suppressing the geometrically nonlinear transient vibrations of the panels. The effect of the shallowness angle of the panels on the control authority of the patches has also been investigated.