The performance of vertically reinforced 1–3 piezoelectric composites in active damping of smart structures

This paper deals with the analysis of vertically reinforced 1–3 piezoelectric composite materials as the material used for the distributed actuator of smart structures. A micromechanics model has been derived to predict the effective elastic and piezoelectric coefficients of these piezoelectric composites which are useful for the analysis of smart beams. In order to investigate the performance of a layer of this 1–3 piezoelectric composite material as the distributed actuator of smart structures, active constrained layer damping (ACLD) of smart laminated composite beams has been studied. The constraining layer in the ACLD treatment has been considered to be made of this piezoelectric composite. A finite element model has been developed to study the dynamics of the overall beam/ACLD system. Both in-plane and out-of-plane actuations of the constraining layer of the ACLD treatment have been utilized for deriving the finite element model. It has been found that these vertically reinforced 1–3 piezoelectric composite materials which are in general being used as distributed sensors can be potentially used as distributed actuators of smart structures.