Dynamic Characteristics of Sandwich Beam with Embedded Electro-Rheological Fluid

In this study, the measured dynamic constants of the Electro-Rheological (ER) fluid using parallel-plate fixture are plugged into the finite element formulation for the sandwich beam with embedded ER fluid derived in a previous work. The resonance frequency and damping loss factor of the sandwich beams in the cantilevered and the simply-supported boundary conditions are obtained by solving the finite element equation in the frequency domain. The simulated results are compared with the experimental measurements from swept-sine technique. It is found that, in both boundary conditions, the finite element formulation accurately predicts the effect of the applied electric field strength and the vibration amplitude on the dynamic characteristics of the ER sandwich beam.