Abstract:

This paper investigates experimentally the dynamic characters and vibration control of a sandwich plate structure with electro rheological fluid as its core layer and glass fiber as two surface layers. The influences of ER fluid on the sandwich structure characters and dynamic response are studied under different applied external electric fields. It is found in the experiment that the damping and stiffness of the ER fluid sandwich plate and then its natural frequencies can be changed very quickly by the applied electric field and the damping increases greatly with the increasing of applied electric strength, the structural resonant peaks can be restrained and the vibration responses can be controlled by an external electric field. The effect of ER fluid on structure dynamic response is also influenced by the exciting frequencies.

Key words: electrorhelogical fluid, vibration control, composite materials, structure damping