Dynamics of structures with wideband autoparametric vibration absorbers: experiment

The dynamics of a resonantly excited thin cantilever with an active controller are investigated experimentally. The controller mimics a passive wideband absorber discussed in the accompanying theory paper. Lead-zirconate-titanate patches are bonded to both sides of the beam to actuate it, while an electromagnetic shaker drives the beam near resonance. An active controller consisting of an array of coupled controllers is developed, such that the governing equations for the controller are quadratically coupled to the resonating system. The control signal, in terms of the motion of the controllers, is quadratically nonlinear. It is shown that the slow time-scale equations of this physical system are identical in form to those for the passive wideband vibration absorber. The controller is implemented using modelling software and a controller hardware board. Two sets of experiments are performed: one with a constant excitation frequency and the other with a linearly varying excitation frequency at a slow sweep rate (non-stationary excitation). The experimental results verify the analysis presented for the passive wideband autoparametric vibration absorber. The experiments also demonstrate the effectiveness of the absorber in reducing the response amplitude of structures, and its robustness to frequency mistuning.