Dynamic modeling and analysis of a rotating flexible beam with smart ACLD treatment

Dynamics of a rotating flexible beam with fully covered active constrained lamped damping (ACLD) treatment is investigated. The ACLD beam consists of three sub-layer beams: a piezo-constraining layer, a visco-elastic layer, and a base beam layer. By using the method of assumed modes to describe the deformations of the three sub-layer beams, with the longitudinal shrinking caused by transverse deformation included and all the high-order terms retained, the high-order approximate coupling (HOAC) dynamic equations of a hub-ACLD beam system are derived. The dynamic stiffening effect is considered in this new dynamic model and the model can be used to study the dynamics of a hub-ACLD system undergoing large overall rotating motions. An active/passive hybrid vibration control strategy is adopted to control the vibration of the rotating beam. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method has better parametric adaptability and numerical stability than the other available in the literature. Performances of the system controlled by ACLD technology are superior to those controlled by pure active control technology. By solving the characteristic complex eigenvalue problems of the system numerically, vibration frequencies and damping ratios of the system are obtained and verified. The results of this work can be helpful to the design of smart composite structures for vibration suppression and control in rotating rigid-flexible coupling structures such as robotic arms.