• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.549-563
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• 2012

Theoretical analysis is performed on a multi-mode energy harvester design with focus on the first two vibration modes. Based on the analysis, a modification is proposed for designing a novel adaptive multi-mode energy harvester. The device comprises a simply supported beam with distributed mass and piezoelectric elements, and an adaptive damper that provides a 180 degree phase shift for the motions of two supports only at the second vibration mode. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show that the new design can efficiently scavenge energy at the first two vibration modes. The energy harvesting capability of the multi-mode energy harvester is also compared with that of a cantilever-based energy harvester for single-mode vibration. The results show that the energy harvesting capacity is affected by the damping ratios of different designs. For fixed damping ratio and design dimensions, the multi-mode design has higher energy harvesting capacity than the cantilever-based design.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.215-225
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• 2019

In the present paper, the nonlocal strain gradient refined model is used to study the thermal stability of sandwich nanoplates integrated with piezoelectric layers for the first time. The influence of Kerr elastic foundation is also studied. The present model incorporates two small-scale coefficients to examine the size-dependent thermal stability response. Elastic properties of nanoplate made of functionally graded materials (FGMs) are supposed to vary through the thickness direction and are estimated employing a modified power-law rule in which the porosity with even type of distribution is approximated. The governing differential equations of embedded sandwich piezoelectric porous nanoplates under hygrothermal loading are derived through Hamilton's principle where the Galerkin method is applied to solve the stability problem of the nanoplates with simply-supported edges. It is indicated that the thermal stability characteristics of the porous nanoplates are obviously influenced by the porosity volume fraction and material variation, nonlocal parameter, strain gradient parameter, geometry of the nanoplate, external voltage, temperature and humidity variations, and elastic foundation parameters.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.239-243
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• 2022

We investigate the influence of nonlinear viscoelastic damping on the response of a cantilever sensor covered by piezoelectric layers in a symmetric or asymmetric configuration. We formulate an initial-boundary-value problem which consistently incorporates both geometric and material nonlinearities including the effect of viscoelastic damping which cannot be ignored for micro- and nano-mechanical sensor operation in a vacuum environment. We employ an asymptotic multiple-scales methodology to yield the system nonlinear frequency response near its primary resonance and employ a model-based estimation procedure to deduce the system damping backone curve from controlled experiments in vacuum. We discuss the effect of nonlinear damping on sensor applications for scanning probe microscopy.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.233-245
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• 2022

Resently, the use of smart structures has been heightened up rapidly. For this issue, vibration analysis related to a graphene nanoplatelet composite (GPLRC) nanodisk which is attached to a piezoelectric layer and is subjected to thermal loads is explored in the current paper. The formulation of this study is obtained through the energy method and nonlocal strain gradient theory, and then it is solved employing generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM). Halpin-Tsai model in addition to the mixture's rule are utilized to capture the material properties related to the reinforced composite layer. The compatibility conditions are presented for exhibiting the perfect bounding between two layers. The results of this study are validated by employing the other published articles. The impact of such parameters as external voltage, the radius ratio, temperature difference, and nonlocality on the vibrational frequency of the system is investigated in detail.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.525-541
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• 2024

This study uses the state-space approach to study the bending behavior of Levy-type functionally graded (FG) plates sandwiched between two piezoelectric layers. The coupled governing equations are obtained using Hamilton's principle and Maxwell's equation based on the efficient four-variable refined plate theory. The partial differential equations (PDEs) are converted using Levy's solution technique to ordinary differential equations (ODEs). In the context of the state-space method, the higher-order ODEs are simplified to a system of first-order equations and then solved. The results are compared with those reported in available references and those obtained from Abaqus FE simulations, and good agreements between results confirm the accuracy and efficiency of the approach. Also, the effect of different parameters such as power-law index, aspect ratio, type of boundary conditions, thickness-to-side ratio, and piezoelectric thickness are studied.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.759-780
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• 2015

Based on the theory of piezoelasticity, the static performance of a piezoelectric bilayer cantilever fully covered with electrodes on the upper and lower surfaces is studied. Three models are considered, i.e., the sensor model, the driving displacement model and the blocking force model. By establishing suitable boundary conditions and proposing an appropriate Airy stress function, the exact solutions for piezoelectric bilayer cantilevers are obtained, and the effect of ambient thermal excitation is taken into account. Since the layer thicknesses and material parameters are distinguished in different layers, this paper gives unified solutions for composite piezoelectric bilayer cantilevers including piezoelectric bimorph and piezoelectric heterogeneous bimorph, etc. For some special cases, the simplifications of the present results are compared with other solutions given by other researches based on one-dimensional constitutive equations, and some amendments have been found. The present investigation shows: (1) for a PZT-4 piezoelectric bimorph, the amendments of tip deflections induced by an end shear force, an end moment or an external voltage are about 19.59%, 23.72% and 7.21%, respectively; (2) for a PZT-4-Al piezoelectric heterogeneous bimorph with constant layer thicknesses, the amendments of tip deflections induced by an end shear force, an end moment or an external voltage are 9.85%, 11.78% and 4.07%, respectively, and the amendments of the electrode charges induced by an end shear force or an end moment are both 1.04%; (3) for a PZT-4-Al piezoelectric heterogeneous bimorph with different layer thicknesses, the maximum amendment of tip deflection approaches 23.72%, and the maximum amendment of electrode charge approaches 31.09%. The present solutions can be used to optimize bilayer devices, and the Airy stress function can be used to study other piezoelectric cantilevers including multi-layered piezoelectric cantilevers under corresponding loads.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.97-104
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• 2020

Due to the superior properties of nanoparticles, using them has been increased in concrete production technology. In this study, the effect of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles on the mechanical and smart properties of concrete was studied. At the first, the ZnO nanoparticles are dispersed in water using shaker, magnetic stirrer and ultrasonic devices. The nanoparticles with 3.5, 0.25, 0.75, and 1.0 volume percent are added to the concrete mixture and replaced by the appropriate amount of cement to compare with the control sample without any additives. In order to study the mechanical and smart properties of the concrete, the cubic samples for determining the compressive strength and cylindrical samples for determining tensile strength with different amounts of ZnO nanoparticles are produced and tested. The most important finding of this paper is about the smartness of the concrete due to the piezoelectric properties of the ZnO nanoparticles. In other words, the concrete in this study can produce the voltage when subjected to mechanical load and vice versa it can induce the mechanical displacement when subjected to external voltage. The experimental results show that the best volume percent for ZnO nanoparticles in 28-day samples is 0.5%. In other words, adding 0.5% ZnO nanoparticles to the concrete instead of cement leads to increases of 18.70% and 3.77% in the compressive and tensile strengths, respectively. In addition, it shows the best direct and reverse piezoelectric properties. It is also worth to mention that adding 3.5% zinc oxide nanoparticles, the setting of cement is stopped in the concrete mixture.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.417-432
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• 2011

The present paper is devoted to vibration canceling and shape control of piezoelastic slender beams. Taking into account the presence of electric networks, an extended electromechanically coupled Bernoulli-Euler beam theory for passive piezoelectric composite structures is shortly introduced in the first part of our contribution. The second part of the paper deals with the concept of passive shape control of beams using shaped piezoelectric layers and tuned inductive networks. It is shown that an impedance matching and a shaping condition must be fulfilled in order to perfectly cancel vibrations due to an arbitrary harmonic load for a specific frequency. As a main result of the present paper, the correctness of the theory of passive shape control is demonstrated for a harmonically excited piezoelelastic cantilever by a finite element calculation based on one-dimensional Bernoulli-Euler beam elements, as well as by the commercial finite element code of ANSYS using three-dimensional solid elements. Finally, an outlook for the practical importance of the passive shape control concept is given: It is shown that harmonic vibrations of a beam with properly shaped layers according to the presented passive shape control theory, which are attached to an resistor-inductive circuit (RL-circuit), can be significantly reduced over a large frequency range compared to a beam with uniformly distributed piezoelectric layers.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.5_6
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• pp.689-709
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• 2010

In this paper, a low cost, low power but multifunctional wireless sensor node is presented for the impedance-based SHM using piezoelectric sensors. Firstly, a miniaturized impedance measuring chip device is utilized for low cost and low power structural excitation/sensing. Then, structural damage detection/sensor self-diagnosis algorithms are embedded on the on-board microcontroller. This sensor node uses the power harvested from the solar energy to measure and analyze the impedance data. Simultaneously it monitors temperature on the structure near the piezoelectric sensor and battery power consumption. The wireless sensor node is based on the TinyOS platform for operation, and users can take MATLAB$^{(R)}$ interface for the control of the sensor node through serial communication. In order to validate the performance of this multifunctional wireless impedance sensor node, a series of experimental studies have been carried out for detecting loose bolts and crack damages on lab-scale steel structural members as well as on real steel bridge and building structures. It has been found that the proposed sensor nodes can be effectively used for local wireless health monitoring of structural components and for constructing a low-cost and multifunctional SHM system as "place and forget" wireless sensors.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.321-341
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• 2011

Acoustic emission (AE) monitoring was conducted for mortar specimens under three types of static loading patterns (cubic-splitting, direct-shear and pull-out). Each of the applied loading patterns was expected to produce a particular fracture process. Subsequently, the AEs generated by various fracture or damage processes carried specific information on temporal micro-crack behaviors of concrete for post analysis, which was represented in the form of detected AE signal characteristics. Among various available characteristics of acquired AE signals, frequency content was of great interest. In this study, cement-based piezoelectric sensor (as AE transducer) and home-programmed DEcLIN monitoring system were utilized for AE monitoring on mortar. The cement-based piezoelectric sensor demonstrated enhanced sensitivity and broad frequency domain response range after being embedded into mortar specimens. This broad band characteristic of cement-based piezoelectric sensor in frequency domain response benefited the analysis of frequency content of AE. Various evaluation methods were introduced and employed to clarify the variation characteristics of AE frequency content in each test. It was found that the variation behaviors of AE frequency content exhibited a close relationship with the applied loading processes during the tests.