• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.597-605
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• 2008

The feasibility study of a newly proposed smart base isolation system employing magneto-rheological elastomers(MREs) has been carried out. MREs belong to a class of smart materials whose elastic modulus or stiffness can be adjusted by varying the magnitude of the magnetic field. The base isolation systems are considered as one of the most effective devices for vibration mitigation of civil engineering structures such as bridges and buildings in the event of earthquakes. The proposed base isolation system strives to enhance the performance of the conventional base isolation system by improving the robustness of the system wide stiffness range controllable of MREs, which improves the adaptability and helps in better vibration control. To validate the effectiveness of the MRE-based isolation system, an extensive numerical simulation study has been performed using both single-story and five-story building structures employing base isolated devices under several historical earthquake excitations. The results show that the proposed system outperformed the conventional system in reducing the responses of the structure in all the seismic excitations considered in the study.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1132-1137
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• 2011

MRE(magneto-rheological elastomers) is a material which shows reversible and various modulus in magnetic field. Comparing to conventional rubber vibration isolator, MREs are able to absorb vibration of broader frequency range. These characteristic phenomena result from the orientation of magnetic particles named carbonyl iron powder(CIP) in rubber matrix. In this paper, simulation on variation rate of shear modulus for anisotropic MRE due to volume fraction of CIP and an effective permeability model was applied to predict the field-induced shear modulus of MREs. Also, the variation rate of shear modulus for anisotropic MRE was derived using magneto-mechanical theory. Based on Maxwell-Garnett mixing rule, the increment of shear modulus was calculated to evaluate the shear modulus of MREs with column structure of CIP due to induced current. The simulation results on variation rate of shear modulus can be applied to the variable mechanical system of MRE such as tunable vibration absorber, stiffness variable bush and mount.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.141-162
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• 2015

The magneto-rheological visco-elastomer (MRVE) is used as a smart core to control the stochastic micro-vibration of a sandwich plate with supported mass. The micro-vibration response of the sandwich plate with MRVE core and supported mass under stochastic support motion excitations is studied and compared to evaluate the vibration suppression capability. The effects of the supported mass and localized magnetic field on the stochastic micro-vibration response of the MRVE sandwich plate are taken into account. The dynamic characteristics of the MRVE core in micro-vibration are described by a non-homogeneous complex modulus dependent on vibration frequency and controllable by applied magnetic fields. The partial differential equations for the coupled transverse and longitudinal motions of the MRVE sandwich plate with supported mass are derived from the dynamic equilibrium, constitutive and geometric relations. The simplified ordinary differential equations are obtained for the transverse vibration of the MRVE sandwich plate under localized magnetic fields. A frequency-domain solution method for the stochastic micro-vibration response of sandwich plates with supported mass is developed based on the Galerkin method and random vibration theory. The expressions of frequency-response functions, response power spectral densities and root-mean-square velocity responses of the plate in terms of the one-third octave frequency band are obtained for micro-vibration evaluation. Finally, numerical results are given to illustrate the large response reduction capacity of the MRVE sandwich plate with supported mass under stochastic support motion excitations, and the influences of MRVE parameters, supported mass and localized magnetic field placement on the micro-vibration response.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2017

To control the stochastic vibration of a vibration-sensitive instrument supported on a beam, the beam is designed as a sandwich structure with magneto-rheological visco-elastomer (MRVE) core. The MRVE has dynamic properties such as stiffness and damping adjustable by applied magnetic fields. To achieve better vibration control effectiveness, the optimal bounded parametric control for the MRVE sandwich beam with supported mass under stochastic and deterministic support motion excitations is proposed, and the stochastic and shock vibration suppression capability of the optimally controlled beam with multi-mode coupling is studied. The dynamic behavior of MRVE core is described by the visco-elastic Kelvin-Voigt model with a controllable parameter dependent on applied magnetic fields, and the parameter is considered as an active bounded control. The partial differential equations for horizontal and vertical coupling motions of the sandwich beam are obtained and converted into the multi-mode coupling vibration equations with the bounded nonlinear parametric control according to the Galerkin method. The vibration equations and corresponding performance index construct the optimal bounded parametric control problem. Then the dynamical programming equation for the control problem is derived based on the dynamical programming principle. The optimal bounded parametric control law is obtained by solving the programming equation with the bounded control constraint. The controlled vibration responses of the MRVE sandwich beam under stochastic and shock excitations are obtained by substituting the optimal bounded control into the vibration equations and solving them. The further remarkable vibration suppression capability of the optimal bounded control compared with the passive control and the influence of the control parameters on the stochastic vibration suppression effectiveness are illustrated with numerical results. The proposed optimal bounded parametric control strategy is applicable to smart visco-elastic composite structures under deterministic and stochastic excitations for improving vibration control effectiveness.