An application of visco-elastic materials on the attenuation of vibrating waves

A novel approach is developed to study a beam partially covered with non-uniform unconstrained damping layers. Meanwhile, the established model is employed to investigate the vibration attenuation through distributing unconstrained damping layers on both edges of a beam. The coupling effects between the overlapping damping layers and the deformable beam structures are thoroughly investigated, including the influences on the beam from the damping layer’s elongation effects, bending effects and inertial effects. Two types of damping layers on both edges of a beam are investigated and compared. The first is composed of layers that are uniform in thickness, whereas the second is composed of layers that are linearly increasing in thickness. Results show that uniform damping layers on both edges would suppress the vibration response, and the thinner damping layers can achieve a better damping factor than the thicker damping layers in the high frequency range. However, for the damping layers with linearly increasing distribution on both edges, the thicker damping layer can achieve better vibration attenuation than the thinner ones in a full frequency range.