Pressure-induced radial vibration of a cylindrical shell made of a piezoelectric fiber composite

The paper is concerned with the problem of active damping of transverse (radial) vibration of a cylindrical shell made of a piezoelectric fiber composite (PFC). Smart PFC laminates allow for the access to new possibilities in the field of active vibration damping in various structural elements. In the work, the vibration induced by the pressure pulsating inside the shell is analysed. A simplified model is introduced to the studies. On account of the character of the excitation, the couplings between radial, circumferential and axial vibration modes are neglected in the model. The examinations concentrate on the efficiency of the active control in damping the transverse, i.e. radial vibration of the shell. Numerical simulations prove that resonance characteristics are very sensitive to the lamination angle, which gives a designer the possibility of adjusting the shell structure to the a priori known operating conditions. The main emphasis, howeyer, is put on the effect of active control on the profile of amplitude-frequency characteristics. The simulations carried out clearly show that the application of a simple control strategy based on velocity feedback yields a significant reduction of the vibration level, which is found to be promising and encourages developing more sophisticated models.