Modal approach to evaluate passive and active damping of sandwich viscoelastic and piezoelectric beams

Abstract
In this paper, a modal approach is developed to estimate damping properties (i.e. loss factor and frequency per vibration mode) of sandwich beams with viscoelastic and/or piezoelectric layers. This method uses the classical laminate beam theory and a linear approximation of the electric potential through the thickness. Two control laws are considered. So, it appears that the piezoelectric material can yield an efficient solution to damp vibration modes.