Stefano Vidoli

Generalized Hooke's law for isotropic second gradient materials

In the spirit of Germain the most general objective stored elastic energy for a second gradient material is deduced using a literature result of Fortuné & Vallée. Linear isotropic constitutive relations for stress and hyperstress in terms of strain and strain-gradient are then obtained proving that these materials are characterized by seven elastic moduli and generalizing previous studies by Toupin, Mindlin and Sokolowski. Using a suitable decomposition of the strain-gradient, it is found a necessary and sufficient condition, to be verified by the elastic moduli, assuring positive definiteness of the stored elastic energy. The problem of warping in linear torsion of a prismatic second gradient cylinder is formulated, thus obtaining a possible measurement procedure for one of the second gradient elastic moduli.

Vibration control in plates by uniformly distributed PZT actuators interconnected via electric networks

In this paper a novel device aimed at controlling the mechanical vibrations of plates by means of a set of electrically-interconnected piezoelectric actuators is described. The actuators are embedded uniformly in the plate wherein they connect every node of an electric network to ground, thus playing the two-fold role of capacitive element in the electric network and of couple suppliers. A mathematical model is introduced to describe the propagation of electro-mechanical waves in the device; its validity is restricted to the case of wave-forms with wave-length greater than the dimension of the piezoelectric actuators used. A self-resonance criterion is established which assures the possibility of electro-mechanical energy exchange. Finally the problem of vibration control in simply supported and clamped plates is addressed; the optimal net-impedance is determined. The results indicate that the proposed device can improve the performances of piezoelectric actuation.

Derivation of Plate and Rod Equations for a Piezoelectric Body from a Mixed Three-Dimensional Variational Principle

We use a mixed 3-dimensional variational principle to derive 2-dimensional equations for an anisotropic plate-like piezoelectric body and one-dimensional equations for an anisotropic beam-like piezoelectric body. The formulation accounts for double forces without moments which may change the thickness of the plate and deform the cross-section of the rod. The dependence of the bending rigidities of a transversely isotropic plate upon the angle between the normal to the midsurface and the direction of transverse isotropy is exhibited. The plate equations are used to study the cylindrical deformations of a transversely isotropic plate due to equal and opposite charges applied to its top and bottom surfaces. It is also found that a piezoelectric circular rod with axis of transverse isotropy not coincident with its centroidal axis and subjected to electric charges at the end faces is deformed into a non-prismatic body.

Modal coupling in one-dimensional electromechanical structured continua

SummaryA passive continuously distributed control of mechanical vibrations is proposed. The piezoelectric actuators are interconnected by a linear electric transmission line. We introduce coupling and internal resonance criteria to determine the optimal choices for electric parameters. These criteria can be found decomposing the differential operator appearing in the linear evolutions according to a partition of the state vector into mechanical and electrical parts. The results we find allow for the design of an experimental set up.

Tristability of thin orthotropic shells with uniform initial curvature

Composite shells show a rich multistable behaviour of interest for the design of shape-changing (morphing) structures. Previous studies have investigated how the initial shape determines the shell stability properties. For uniform initial curvatures and orthotropic material behaviour, not more than two stable equilibria have been reported. In this paper, we prove that untwisted, uniformly curved, thin orthotropic shells can have up to three stable equilibrium configurations. Cases of tristability are first documented using a numerical stability analysis of an extensible shallow shell model. Including mid-plane extension shows that the shells must be sufficiently curved in relation to their thickness to be multistable. Thus, an inextensible model allows us to perform an analytical stability analysis. Focusing on untwisted initial configurations, we illustrate with simple analytical results how the material parameters of the shell control the dependence of its multistable behaviour on the initial curvatures. In particular, we show that when the bending stiffness matrix approaches a degeneracy condition, the shell exhibits three stable equilibria for a wide range of initial curvatures.

Veering Phenomena in Systems With Gyroscopic Coupling

The sharp divergence of two root-loci for a critical value of the parameters is called veering. Veering phenomena are interesting since they involve relevant energetic exchanges between the eigenmodes and strongly affect the undamped forced response of the system. A straightforward perturbation approach has already been used in the literature to analyze the dependence of the eigensprectrum on a system parameter and formulate a veering criterion. This perturbation approach and other ideas are generalized to the study of veering in discrete and continuous systems with gyroscopic operators of internal coupling and the results applied to a real electromechanical interaction.

A Second-Order Solution of Saint-Venant's Problem for a Piezoelectric Circular Bar Using Signorini's Perturbation Method

We study electromechanical deformations of a homogeneous transversely isotropic piezoelectric prismatic circular bar loaded only at the end faces. The constitutive relations for the material of the bar are taken to be quadratic in the displacement gradients and the electric field. It is found that the two end faces of the bar when twisted with no electric charge applied to them will exhibit a difference in the electric potential. Thus the piezoelectric cylinder could be used to measure the torque or the angular twist.

Eversion of bistable shells under magnetic actuation: A model of nonlinear shapes

© 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd.We model in closed form a proven bistable shell made from a magnetic rubber composite material. In particular, we incorporate a non-axisymmetrical displacement field, and we capture the nonlinear coupling between the actuated shape and the magnetic flux distribution around the shell. We are able to verify the bistable nature of the shell and we explore its eversion during magnetic actuation. We show that axisymmetrical eversion is natural for a perfect shell but that non-axisymmetrical eversion rapidly emerges under very small initial imperfections, as observed in experiments and in a computational analysis. We confirm the non-uniform shapes of shell and we study the stability of eversion by considering how the landscape of total potential and magnetic energies of the system changes during actuation.

Structural-Damage Detection by Distributed Piezoelectric Transducers and Tuned Electric Circuits

A novel technique for damage detection of structures is introduced and discussed. It is based on purely electric measurements of the state variables of an electric network coupled to the main structure through a distributed set of piezoelectric patches. The constitutive parameters of this auxiliary network are optimized to increase the sensitivity of global measurements- as the frequency, response functions relative to selected electric degrees of freedom-with respect to a given class of variations in the structural-mechanical properties. Because the proposed method is based on purely electric input and output measurements, it allows for accurate results in the identification and localization of damages. Use of the electric frequency-response function to identify the mechanical damage leads to nonconvex optimization problems; therefore the proposed sensitivity-enhanced identification procedure becomes computationally efficient if an a priori knowledge about the damage is available.ABSTRACT A novel technique for damage detection of structures is introduced and discussed. It is based on purely electric measurements of the state variables of an electric network coupled to the main structure through a distributed set of piezoelectric patches. The constitutive parameters of this auxiliary network are optimized to increase the sensitivity of global measurements—as the frequency, response functions relative to selected electric degrees of freedom—with respect to a given class of variations in the structural–mechanical properties. Because the proposed method is based on purely electric input and output measurements, it allows for accurate results in the identification and localization of damages. Use of the electric frequency-response function to identify the mechanical damage leads to nonconvex optimization problems; therefore the proposed sensitivity-enhanced identification procedure becomes computationally efficient if an a priori knowledge about the damage is available.

Multi-parameter actuation of a neutrally stable shell: a flexible gear-less motor

We have designed and tested experimentally a morphing structure consisting of a neutrally stable thin cylindrical shell driven by a multi-parameter piezoelectric actuation. The shell is obtained by plastically deforming an initially flat copper disc, so as to induce large isotropic and almost uniform inelastic curvatures. Following the plastic deformation, in a perfectly isotropic system, the shell is theoretically neutrally stable, having a continuous set of stable cylindrical shapes corresponding to the rotation of the axis of maximal curvature. Small imperfections render the actual structure bistable, giving preferred orientations. A three-parameter piezoelectric actuation, exerted through micro-fibre-composite actuators, allows us to add a small perturbation to the plastic inelastic curvature and to control the direction of maximal curvature. This actuation law is designed through a geometrical analogy based on a fully nonlinear inextensible uniform-curvature shell model. We report on the fabrication, identification and experimental testing of a prototype and demonstrate the effectiveness of the piezoelectric actuators in controlling its shape. The resulting motion is an apparent rotation of the shell, controlled by the voltages as in a ‘gear-less motor’, which is, in reality, a precession of the axis of principal curvature.