Production of high tip deflection in a piezoelectric bimorph laminar actuator by applying high voltage is limited by many physical constraints. Therefore, piezoelectric bimorph actuator with a rigid extension of non-piezoelectric material at its tip is used to increase the tip deflection of such an actuator. Research on this type of piezoelectric bending actuator is either limited to first order constitutive relations, which do not include non-linear behavior of piezoelectric element at high electric field, or limited to curve fitting techniques. Therefore, this paper considers high electric field, and analytically models tapered piezoelectric bimorph actuator with a rigid extension of non-piezoelectric material at its tip. The stillness, capacitance, effective tip deflection, block force, output strain energy, output energy density, input electrical energy and energy efficiency of the actuator are calculated analytically. The paper also discusses the multi-objective optimization of this type of actuator subjected to the mechanical and electrical constraints.
Piezoelectric bimorph laminar actuator of tapered width exhibits better performance for out-of-plane deflection
compared to the rectangular surface area, while consuming equal surface area. This paper contains electromechanical
analysis and modeling of a tapered width piezoelectric bimorph laminar actuator at high electric field
in static state. The analysis is based on the second order constitutive equations of piezoelectric material, assuming
small strain and large electric field to capture its behavior at high electric field. Analytical expressions
are developed for block force, output strain energy, output energy density, input electrical energy, capacitance
and energy efficiency at high electric field. The analytical expressions show that for fixed length, thickness, and
surface area of the actuator, how the block force and output strain energy gets improved in a tapered surface
actuator compared to a rectangular surface. Constant thickness, constant length and constant surface area of
the actuator ensure constant mass, and constant electrical capacitance. We consider high electric field in both
series and parallel electrical connection for the analysis. Part of the analytical results is validated with the
experimental results, which are reported in earlier literature.
Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC) actuator for flapping insect scale wing is advantageous due to its low mass, high deflection and simple actuation mechanism. Some of the factors that affect the actuation of IPMC are the amount of hydration in the polymer membrane and the environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity etc. In structural design, the attachment of wing on the IPMC actuators is an important concern as the attached wing increases the mass of actuators thereby affecting the parameters like displacement, stiffness and resonant frequencies. Such IPMC actuators have to produce sufficient actuation force and frequency to lift and flap the attached wing. Therefore, it is relevant to study the influence of attachment of wing on the actuator parameters (displacement, resonant frequency, block force and stiffness) and performance of the actuators. This paper is divided into two parts; the first part deals with the modeling of the IPMC actuators for its effect on the level of water uptake and temperature using energy based method. The modeling method adapted is validated with the experimental procedure used to actuate the IPMC. The second part deals with the experimental analysis of IPMC actuation at dry, wet and in water conditions. The effect of end mass loading on the performance of 20 Hz, high frequency actuator (HFA) and 8.7 Hz, low frequency IPMC actuators (LFA) and sensors is studied. The IPMC actuators are attached with IPMC flapping wing at its free end and performance analysis on the attached wing is also carried out.
Fractal dimension based damage detection method is studied for a composite structure with random material properties. A composite plate with localized matrix crack is considered. Matrix cracks are often seen as the initial damage mechanism in composites. Fractal dimension based method is applied to the static deformation curve of the structure to detect localized damage. Static deflection of a cantilevered composite plate under uniform loading is calculated using the finite element method. Composite material shows spatially varying random material properties because of complex manufacturing processes. Spatial variation of material property is represented as a two dimensional homogeneous Gaussian random field. Karhunen-Loeve (KL) expansion is used to generate a random field. The robustness of fractal dimension based damage detection methods is studied considering the composite plate with spatial variation in material properties.
An energy method is used in order to derive the non-linear equations of motion of a smart flapping wing. Flapping
wing is actuated from the root by a PZT unimorph in the piezofan configuration. Dynamic characteristics of
the wing, having the same size as dragonfly Aeshna Multicolor, are analyzed using numerical simulations. It is
shown that flapping angle variations of the smart flapping wing are similar to the actual dragonfly wing for a specific feasible voltage. An unsteady aerodynamic model based on modified strip theory is used to obtain the aerodynamic forces. It is found that the smart wing generates sufficient lift to support its own weight and carry a small payload. It is therefore a potential candidate for flapping wing of micro air vehicles.
Nonlinear equations of motion for elastic bending and torsion of isotropic rotor blades with surface bonded piezoceramic actuators are derived using Hamilton's principle. The equations are then solved using finite element discretization in the spatial and time domain. The effect of piezoceramic actuation is investigated for bending and torsion response of a rotating beam. It is found that the centrifugal stiffening effect reduces the tip transverse bending deflection and elastic twist as the rotation speed increases. However, the effect of rotation speed on the tip elastic twist is less pronounced. The importance of nonlinear terms for accurate prediction of torsion response is also shown.
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