Modal Sensitivity and Selectivity of Small, Rectangle-Shaped Piezoelectric Transducers Used as Sensors and Actuators in Active Vibroacoustic Control Systems

Abstract

The paper focuses on some issues regarding the utilization of small rectangle-shaped piezoelectric transducers as both sensors and actuators in active vibration and vibroacoustic control systems of beam, plate and panelled structures with arbitrary (non-homogeneous) boundary conditions. A new form of description of a simple proportional active control system with multiple independent feedback loops is proposed. The modal sensitivity functions of sensors and the modal selectivity functions of actuators are introduced to describe their ability for sensing and exciting specific structural modes of the structures. Basing on the assumed form of cost function and the derived equations of control system the influence of the modal characteristics of transducers on the stability of the system and on the performance of the active control is analyzed. The results of analytical solutions and numerical simulations are compared with the results of the experiments carried out on various beam and plate structures made up of aluminium or composite materials including the actual materials used in aviation, proving usefulness of the presented approach.