Maximilian Schaeffner

Lateral vibration attenuation of a beam with circular cross-section by a support with integrated piezoelectric transducers shunted to negative capacitances

Undesired vibration may occur in lightweight structures due to excitation and low damping. For the purpose of lateral vibration attenuation in beam structures, piezoelectric transducers shunted to negative capacitances can be an appropriate measure. In this paper, a new concept for lateral vibration attenuation by integrated piezoelectric stack transducers in the elastic support of a beam with circular cross-section is presented. In the piezoelastic support, bending of the beam in an arbitrary direction is transformed into a significant axial deformation of three stack transducers and, thus, the beams surface may remain free from transducers. For multimodal vibration attenuation, each piezoelectric transducer is shunted to a negative capacitance. It is shown by numerical simulation and experiment that the concept of an elastic beam support with integrated shunted piezoelectric stack transducers is capable of reducing the lateral vibration of the beam in an arbitrary direction.

Active buckling control of a beam-column with circular cross-section using piezo-elastic supports and integral LQR control

Buckling of slender beam-columns subject to axial compressive loads represents a critical design constraint for light-weight structures. Active buckling control provides a possibility to stabilize slender beam-columns by active lateral forces or bending moments. In this paper, the potential of active buckling control of an axially loaded beam-column with circular solid cross-section by piezo-elastic supports is investigated experimentally. In the piezo-elastic supports, lateral forces of piezoelectric stack actuators are transformed into bending moments acting in arbitrary directions at the beam-column ends. A mathematical model of the axially loaded beam-column is derived to design an integral linear quadratic regulator (LQR) that stabilizes the system. The effectiveness of the stabilization concept is investigated in an experimental test setup and compared with the uncontrolled system. With the proposed active buckling control it is possible to stabilize the beam-column in arbitrary lateral direction for axial loads up to the theoretical critical buckling load of the system.

Model Verification and Validation of a Piezo-Elastic Support for Passive and Active Structural State Control of Beams with Circular Cross-Section

Beams in lightweight truss structures are subject to axial and lateral loads that may lead to undesired structural vibration or failure by buckling. The axial and lateral forces may be transferred via the truss supports that offer possibilities for state control of single beams and larger structures. In earlier own studies, the concept of a piezo-elastic support for active buckling control and resonant shunt damping has been investigated. An elastic spring element is used to allow a rotation in the beams bearing in any plane perpendicular to the beams longitudinal axis. The rotation is laterally transferred to an axial displacement of piezoelectric stack transducers that are either used to generate active lateral forces for active buckling control or to attenuate vibrations with a resonant shunt. In this paper, the model verification and validation of the elastic properties of the piezo-elastic support for passive and active structural control of beams with circular cross-section is presented. The rotational and lateral spring element stiffness is investigated numerically and experimentally and the existing models are updated in the verification process. The model is validated by comparing the numerical results and experimental ability for vibration attenuation.

Mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of an actively stabilized beam-column with circular cross-section

Buckling of axially loaded beam-columns represents a critical design constraint for light-weight structures. Besides passive solutions to increase the critical buckling load, active buckling control provides a possibility to stabilize slender elements in structures. So far, buckling control by active forces or bending moments has been mostly investigated for beam-columns with rectangular cross-section and with a preferred direction of buckling. The proposed approach investigates active buckling control of a beam-column with circular solid cross-section which is fixed at its base and pinned at its upper end. Three controlled active lateral forces are applied near the fixed base with angles of 120° to each other to stabilize the beam-column and allow higher critical axial loads. The beam-column is subject to supercritical static axial loads and lateral disturbance forces with varying directions and offsets. Two independent modal state space systems are derived for the bending planes in the lateral y- and z-directions of the circular cross-section. These are used to design two linear-quadratic regulators (LQR) that determine the necessary control forces which are transformed into the directions of the active lateral forces. The system behavior is simulated with a finite element model using one-dimensional beam elements with six degrees of freedom at each node. With the implemented control, it is possible to actively stabilize a beam-column with circular cross-section in arbitrary buckling direction for axial loads significantly above the critical axial buckling load.

Active buckling control of an imperfect beam-column with circular cross-section using piezo-elastic supports and integral LQR control

For slender beam-columns loaded by axial compressive forces, active buckling control provides a possibility to increase the maximum bearable axial load above that of a purely passive structure. In this paper, the potential of active buckling control of an imperfect beam-column with circular cross-section using piezo-elastic supports is investigated numerically. Imperfections are given by an initial deformation of the beam-column caused by a constant imperfection force. With the piezo-elastic supports, active bending moments in arbitrary directions orthogonal to the beam-columns longitudinal axis can be applied at both beam- columns ends. The imperfect beam-column is loaded by a gradually increasing axial compressive force resulting in a lateral deformation of the beam-column. First, a finite element model of the imperfect structure for numerical simulation of the active buckling control is presented. Second, an integral linear-quadratic regulator (LQR) that compensates the deformation via the piezo-elastic supports is derived for a reduced modal model of the ideal beam-column. With the proposed active buckling control it is possible to stabilize the imperfect beam-column in arbitrary lateral direction for axial loads above the theoretical critical buckling load and the maximum bearable load of the passive structure.

Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) Buckling Control of an Imperfect Beam-Column Subject to Time-Varying Axial Loads

In this paper, active buckling control of an imperfect slender beam-column with circular cross-section by piezo-elastic supports and Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) control is investigated experimentally. The beam-column is loaded by a time-varying axial compressive load resulting in a lateral deflection of the beam-column due to imperfections. A finite element model of the beam-column under axial load is designed as an LPV system. A reduced and augmented modal model is used to design a quadratically stable gain scheduled LPV control. The control is implemented in an experimental test setup and the maximum bearable loads of the beam-column are obtained. Two cases are tested: with and without LPV control or, respectively, active and passive configuration. With the proposed active LPV buckling control it is possible to compensate the influence of beam-column imperfections and to compensate uncertainty in mounting and loading that in passive configuration without LPV control may lead to early buckling. Eventually, the maximum bearable axial compressive load is increased above the theoretical critical buckling load.

Approach to prove the efficiency of the Monte Carlo method combined with the elementary effect method to quantify uncertainty of a beam structure with piezo-elastic supports

Abstract. In this paper, a new approach is presented to prove the efficiency of the direct Monte Carlo method combined with the Elementary Effect method to quantify structural data uncertainty under uncertain input parameters of a beam structure. Normally, the application of the direct Monte Carlo method requires high computational cost when all input parameters are taken into account. It is proposed to use a combination of the direct Monte Carlo method and the Elementary Effect method for the variance-based sensitivity analysis, named the combined Monte Carlo method. By the application of the Elementary Effect method as a screening method, the truely influential input parameters are identified. Then, the parametric uncertainty is analyzed only under these influential input parameters’ uncertainty by the use of the Monte Carlo method. Through a combination of these two methods, the number of simulations can be significantly reduced due to the reduction of the number of analyzed input parameters. The novelty of this paper is to investigate the accuracy and the efficiency of this combined approach by the use of a beam structure with piezo-elastic supports for buckling and vibration control as a reference structure. The uncertain structural input parameters are the geometric, material, and stiffness parameters of the piezo-elastic supports. The output variable is the first lateral resonance frequency of the beam structure. Its uncertainty will be analyzed by the application of the combined Monte Carlo method applied for only a few but influential input parameters and will also be analyzed by the application of the direct Monte Carlo method for all input parameters. The results by the two methods will be compared based on the analysis accuracy to estimate the sensitivity of the input parameters on the first lateral resonance frequency and the minimal required number of the simulations.