A smart panel with active damping wedges along the perimeter

This paper discusses the practical implementation of decentralized velocity feedback on a thin rectangular panel using sixteen triangularly shaped piezoceramic patch actuators with the base edges uniformly distributed along the perimeter of the panel and accelerometer sensors located at the tips of the actuators. In the first part of the paper, the sensor-actuator open loop frequency response function of one feedback loop is modelled and analysed in order to study the principal stability properties of a single control unit. In particular an elemental model is developed for studying the bending excitation and passive stiffness and inertia effects produced by the triangular piezoceramic actuator and for investigating the resilient effect of the clamping frame that holds the panel. The simulated frequency response function is validated experimentally and contrasted with that obtained from a conventional model of the bending excitation produced by triangularly shaped distributed transducers. In the second part of the paper, the stability and control performance of sixteen decentralized feedback loops are investigated experimentally. Six rectangular panels have been built and equipped with accelerometer sensors and piezoceramic triangular actuators of various geometries such that the effects of the base width, height and base area can be examined.