Experimental investigation of electromechanical surface damping

Electromechanical Surface Damping (EMSD) is a hybrid technique that incorporates constrained layer damping (CLD) and shunted piezoelectric element methods for the suppression of vibration in light beam-like or plate-like structures. The EMSD technique enhances the damping effectiveness (peak amplitude suppression) at targeted resonant frequencies, and may therefore be used to extend the damping effectiveness of the constrained layer damping technique over a broader temperature and frequency range than CLD alone. This performance enhancement was demonstrated experimentally by comparing the steady state frequency response of partially treated cantilever beams with that of an untreated beam. The experimental results also agreed with the results of a corresponding analytical model.