Simulation Study of Active Vibration Control

Nitesh P. Yelve
1,*
, S.M. Khot
2
, A.J. Kothadia
3


1
Lecturer,
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Technology, Vashi, Navi Mumbai, India
3
Former Professor and Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Matunga, Mumbai, India

*Corresponding author email: niteshpy@yahoo.co.in

Abstract:
Stringent behaviour requirements imposed on flexible structures have necessitated the
sensing and control of vibrations in these structures in a suitable manner. This issue is
particularly important for space and aircraft structures for which the mission
requirements are crucial and the divergence from these requirements may be
considerably expensive. One of the most likely alternatives to deal with this aspect of
vibrations is the use of active vibration control, which makes the structure a Smart
structure. Commercially available FEM softwares such as ANSYS

provide the facility to

simulate active vibration control by incorporating control action in the transient analysis
of the desired structure. In this paper, the use of ANSYS

software for simulating active

vibration control is validated by comparing its response obtained for a two degrees of
freedom system, with that obtained by analytical analysis, for unit impulse input. Then,
active vibration control of a cantilever beam type of structure is demonstrated with the
aid of firstly piezoelectric actuator and strain gauge sensor and then piezoelectric
actuator and piezoelectric sensor; for different controller gains which are appropriately
assumed. The controller receives strain in first case whereas voltage in second case from
sensor and feeds corresponding voltage to the actuator to apply controlling force on the
host structure. Responses are obtained for both the cases for unit impulse input. This
study demonstrates the use of ANSYS

for simulating active vibration control of a

structure with the aid of smart materials.

Key Words- Smart Structures, Piezoelectric Material, ANSYS

1. Introduction
It is desired to design lighter
mechanical systems carrying out higher
workloads at higher speeds. However, the
vibration may become prominent factor in
this case. This undesired vibration can be
reduced or eliminated by using active
vibration control. In active control the
effect of unwanted disturbance is cancelled
by deliberate addition of another
disturbance, equal in magnitude but
opposite in sign. Using piezoelectric smart
structures for the active vibration control
has been paid considerable attention over
the last decade.
Some recent works are reported
here. Xu et al [1] reported results on active
vibration control of cantilever beam type
of structures by using the commercial
finite element package ANSYS

. The
influence of sensor/actuator location is
studied for cantilever type beam. It is
observed that a location near to the
clamped end is better for vibration control.
Karagulle et al [2] extended the work of
Xu et al and proposed the procedure for
simulation of active vibration control in
ANSYS

, for cantilever and plate type of

structures by using Strain gauge as sensor
and piezoelectric material as actuator.

Lim [3] studied the vibration
control of several modes of a clamped
square plate by locating discrete
sensor/actuator devices at points of
maximum strain. Quek et al [4] presented
an optimal placement strategy of
piezoelectric sensor/actuator pairs for the
vibration control of laminated composite
plates. Xianmin et al [5] studied the active
vibration control in a four-bar linkage.
The present study plans to extend
Karagulle et al [2] work where the active
vibration control of a structure is
demonstrated by using piezoelectric
material not only as actuator but also as
sensor. For proper understanding of the
concept of active vibration control, here
system response for both the cases i.e.
piezoelectric material only as actuator and
piezoelectric material both as actuator and
sensor are obtained, for unit impulse input,
by assuming appropriate controller gains.
Here, a cantilever beam is considered for
the analysis. Analysis of a two degrees of
freedom system is also carried out for its
active vibration control by both simulation
in ANSYS

and analytical method for unit

impulse input. Results of this analysis by
both the methods are found to be in good
agreement which shows that ANSYS

can
be effectively used for simulation study of
active vibration control of mechanical
systems. Hence, ANSYS

is used here for

doing simulation study of active vibration
control of the cantilever beam.

2. Active Vibration Control
In active vibration control, the
effect of unwanted disturbance is cancelled
by deliberate addition of another
disturbance, equal in magnitude but
opposite in sign. Active vibration control
is achieved by bonding smart materials on
the surface of host structures.

2.1 Smart Materials
Smart materials respond to external
stimuli with particular change in some
physical variable. Some of the important
smart materials are Piezoelectric Materials,
Magneto-rheological Fluids, Electro-
rheological Fluids, Shape Memory Alloys,
etc. Piezoelectric materials are widely
preferred because of their high bandwidth
i.e. they have appreciable response over a
large range of frequencies. This is the
main reason why piezoelectric materials
are selected here.
Piezoelectric materials have two
unique properties which are interrelated.
When a piezoelectric material is deformed,
it gives off a small but measurable
electrical discharge. Alternately, when an
electrical current is passed through a
piezoelectric material it experiences a
significant change in size.

2.2 Smart Structures
A smart structure can be defined as
a structure that can sense an external
disturbance and respond to that with active
control in real time to maintain the mission
requirements. Smart structures consist of
a. Sensors, which describe the physical
state of their host structure
b. Actuators, which adapt to their host
structure, and
c. A system or network which handles
the transfer of information and real-
time computation
In active vibration control the
actuators are dynamically controlled by
closed loop control system as shown in the
Fig. 2.1.


Fig.2.1 Schematic Diagram of a Smart
Structure

The sensor senses the vibrations
and sends corresponding signal to the
controller. The controller converts this
signal into displacement which is
compared with a reference displacement

value (zero), and then the corrected
displacement is converted into some
suitable signal and given to the actuator
which controls the existing vibration.

3. Analytical and Simulation Approach-
es to Active Vibration Control
Here, the product ANSYS

Multiphysics is used to model smart
structure. The integration of control action
into the ANSYS

modeling and solution is

also achieved. The success of the
procedure is studied by comparing the
responses obtained by ANSYS

with that
obtained by analytical analysis, for the
active vibration control of a two degrees of
freedom system shown in the Fig.3.1.
The assumed data for the two
degrees of freedom system shown in the
Fig.3.1 are
m
1
= 1.2 kg, k
1
= 350 N/m, c
1
= 4 N.s/m,
m
2
= 1.0 kg, k
2
= 300 N/m, c
2
= 3 N.s/m

Fig.3.1 Two Degrees of Freedom System

3.1 Analytical Approach
The mathematical model of the
system shown in the Fig.3.1 can be found
out to be
)
`

=
)
`

+
)
`

+
+
)
`

2
1
2
1
2 2
2 2 1
2
1
2 2
2 2 1
2
1
2
0
0
1
f
f
x
x
k k
k k k
x
x
c c
c c c
x
x
m
m
&
&
& &
& &
-(3.1)
Here f
2
is the vibration exciting
force which is taken as unit impulse and f
1

is the controlling force. This analysis is
made in two parts; first without controlling
force i.e. with no active vibration control
(f
1
= 0) and second with controlling force
f
1
enforcing active vibration control.
Displacement of body 2 i.e. x
2
is tracked
for both the analysis.

3.1.1 Without Controlling Force
Substituting values of the variables
in Eq.3.1 and solving which yields two
simultaneous equations,
1 2 1 2 1 1
300 650 3 7 2 . 1 f x x x x x = + + & & & &
-(3.2)
2 2 1 2 1 2
300 300 3 3 f x x x x x = + + & & & & -(3.3)
Taking Laplace transform of
Eq.3.2 and Eq.3.3 assuming initial
conditions to be zero and arranging the
two equations in the matrix form, this
gives,
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
)
`

=
)
`

(
(

+ +
+ +
S F
S F
S X
S X
S S S
S S S
2
1
2
1
2
2
300 3 300 3
300 3 650 7 2 . 1
-(3.4)
By Cramers rule, for the case
without controlling force, F
1
(S) = 0 and
F
2
(S) = 1,
( )
|

\
|
+ + + +
|

\
|
+ +
=
105000 2250
2
1022
3
6 . 10
4
2 . 1
650 7
2
2 . 1
2
S S S S
S S
S X
-(3.5)
x
2
(t) can be found by taking
inverse Laplace transform of X
2
(S).

3.1.2 With Controlling Force
Closed loop control arrangement
for the system under study is shown in the
Fig.3.2.

Fig.3.2 Block Diagram of the Closed Loop
Control System

X
r
, X
2
, F
1
, and F
2
are the Laplace
transforms of the reference input x
r
, output
displacement x
2
, the forces f
1
and f
2
,

respectively. G
1
is the transfer function of
the control action, and for the
Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID)
control it is given as [6,7],
( ) S K
S
K
K S G
D
I
P
+ + =
1
-(3.6)
K
P
, K
I
, K
D
are the proportional,
integral, derivative constants and they are
assumed to be 100, 40 and 10 respectively.
H
21
(S) is the transfer function from F
1
to
X
2
and H
22
(S) is the transfer function from
F
2
to X
2
. The reference input, x
r
, is taken
as zero for the vibration control. x
e
(t) is
defined as the error signal, where x
e
(t) =
x
r
(t) - x
2
(t). As x
r
(t) =0, x
e
(t) = - x
2
(t). The
vibration generating force is taken as a unit
impulse in this study, and thus F
2
(S) = 1.
From Fig. 3.2,
2 1 1
X G F = -(3.7)
From Eq.3.4 with F
2
(S) = 1, Eq.3.6
and Eq.3.7,
( )
|

\
|
+ + + + +
|

\
|
+ +
=
12000 135120
2
5550
3
1052
4
6 . 10
5
2 . 1
650 7
2
2 . 1
2
S S S S S
S S S
S X
-(3.8)
x
2
(t) can be found by taking inverse
Laplace transform of X
2
(S).

3.2 Simulation (ANSYS

) Approach
For the solution by ANSYS

,
MASS21 and COMBIN14 elements are
used. The system in Fig.3.1 is modeled in
ANSYS

which is shown in the Fig.3.3.

Fig.3.3 Model of System in ANSYS

Modal analysis is performed and
two undamped natural frequencies are
found. The time step (t) can be taken as
1/(20f
h
), where f
h
is the highest frequency.
However, it is taken as 1/(60f
h
) because,
the differential control action requires
smaller time steps for higher accuracy. t
s
is
the time at which the steady-state response
is approximately' reached. The undamped
natural frequencies for the open loop
system are found as 1.75 and 4.27 Hz. So,
t = 0.0039 s.
The value of f
2
is 1/t at t = t, and
it is zero otherwise. The value of f
1
is zero
at t = t. The part of the macro which
enables the calculations for the closed loop
analysis for t > t is given below.
sum=0
errp=0
*do,t,3*dt,ts,dt
*get,el,node,3,u,y
err=0-el
sum=sum+err*dt
dif=(err-errp)/dt
fl=kp*err+ki*sum+kd*dif
f,2,fy,fl
errp=err
time,t
solve
*enddo
The variables dt, ts, kp, ki and kd
are defined in the previous part of the
macro, and they correspond to t, t
s
, K
P
, K
I

and K
D
respectively. The variable f1
corresponds to the actuation force f
l
.

4. Active Vibration Control of Canti-
lever Beam
Active vibration control of
cantilever beam type of smart structure is
simulated by ANSYS

as
ANSYS

/Multiphysics can be used to

model piezoelectric and structural fields.

4.1 Piezoelectric Material as Actuator
and Strain Gauge as Senor
Active vibration control of
cantilever beam is demonstrated here by
using piezoelectric material as actuator and
strain Gauge as senor. The block diagram
of the analysis is shown in Fig.4.1 [2].


Fig.4.1 Block Diagram of the Analysis

F
e
is the vibration generating force.
The instantaneous value of the vibration
generating force F
e
can be defined at each
time step. It is taken as F
0
at t = t and
zero for other time steps in the analysis
below.
The strain at the sensor location, ,
is calculated, as here sensor is the strain
gauge itself. The reference input is zero for
the vibration cancellation. K
S
, K
C
and K
V
,
are the sensor, control and power
amplification factors, respectively. K
S
and
K
V
are appropriately assumed to be 1000
and K
C
is changed in the analysis. Only the
proportional control is applied. The
calculated deflection at a location, d
t
is
observed to evaluate the performance of
the vibration control. The configuration of
the cantilever beam structure is shown in
Fig.4.2 [2]. The strain value at the sensor
location is taken as the feedback.



Fig.4.2 Configuration of Cantilever Beam
Type Structure

The dimensions and the distances
for the case studied are as follows,
Dimensions of the
structure (mm) = 504 x 25.4 x 0.8
Dimensions of the
actuator (mm) = 72 x 25.4 x 0.61
Actuator distance, d
a
(mm) = 12
Sensor distance, d
s
(mm) = 48
A macro has been written for
ANSYS

. The macro starts with the

definition of the variables for the
dimensions of the structure. Then the three
dimensional material properties are
assigned. The part of the macro where the
material properties are assigned is given
below. Material 1 is the metal
(aluminium), and material 2 is the actuator
(piezoelectric) material.
mp,ex,l,68e9
mp,dens,1,2800
mp,nuxy,l,0.32
mp,dens,2,7500
mp,perx,2,15.03E-9
mp,pery,2,15.03E-9
mp,perz,2.13E-9
tb,piez,2
tbdata,16,17
tbdata,14,17
tbdata,3,-6.5
tbdata,6,-6.5
tbdata,9,23.3
tb,anel,2
tbdata,l,126E9,79.5E9,84.1E9
tbdata,7,126E9,84.1E9
tbdata,12,117E9
tbdata,16,23.3E9
tbdata,19,23E9
tbdata,21,23E9
The finite element model for case
under study is shown in the Fig.4.3.
SOLID45 elements are used for the metal
part, and SOLID5 elements are used for
the piezoelectric part of the structure.
Fixed boundary conditions are defined for
the nodes at x = 0. The degrees of freedom,
VOLT, are coupled for the nodes at the top
and bottom surfaces of the actuator.




Fig.4.3 Finite Element Model

Modal analysis is performed to
determine the time step. The time step is

chosen as t = 1/(20 f
h
), where f
h
, is the
highest natural frequency to be considered.
The three natural frequencies for the
undamped system are 3.15, 18.13 and 46
Hz. The first mode is considered to
calculate the time step and t = 0.0159 s.
In the transient analysis, the
coefficients of Rayleigh damping ( and )
are defined and = in this study. F
e
= F
0

for t = t and F
e
= 0 at the subsequent time
steps.
The part of the macro which
enables the calculations for the closed loop
analysis for t > t is given below.
*do,t,3*dt,ts,dt
*GET,u1,node,nr,u,x
*GET,u2,node,nr1,u,x
err=0-ks*(u2-u1)/dx
va=kc*kv*err
d,nv,volt,va
time,t
solve
*enddo
The variables ks, kc and kv
correspond to K
S
, K
C
and K
V
, respectively.
nr and nr1 are numbers of the nodes used
to calculable the strain. These nodes are
adjacent in the X direction, and dx is the
distance between them. and are taken
as 0.001 each and the impulsive force, F
0

is taken as 0.1 N. The value of K
C
, is taken
differently, ranging from 0 (no control) to
5 in random order. The maximum voltage
per thickness of the piezoelectric material
is taken as 235 V/mm.

4.2 Piezoelectric Material as both Act-
uator and Senor
Active vibration control of
cantilever beam is demonstrated here by
using piezoelectric material as both
actuator and senor. The block diagram of
the analysis is shown in Fig.4.4.


Fig.4.4 Block Diagram of the Analysis

The voltage at the sensor location,
V
a
, is obtained, as here sensor is the
piezoelectric material itself. The rest of the
procedure of analysis is same as that
explained in the previous case. The
reference input is zero for the vibration
cancellation. K
S
and K
V
are appropriately
assumed to be 1 and K
C
is changed in the
analysis from 0 (no control) to 15. Only
the proportional control is applied.
The configuration of the cantilever
beam structure is shown in Fig.4.5. The
voltage at the sensor location is taken as
the feedback.

Fig.4.5 Configuration of Cantilever Beam
Type Structure

The dimensions of the structure
and actuator are taken same as that in the
previous case and the actuator and sensor
are taken of same dimensions and at same
distances as shown in the Fig.4.5. The
finite element model for case under study
differs from the previous one only in
taking one more piezoelectric patch at the
sensor location. The three natural
frequencies for the undamped system are
3.29, 18.78 and 45.15 Hz. The first mode
is considered to calculate the time step and
t = 0.0152 s. The part of the macro which
enables the calculations for the closed loop
analysis for t > t where V
a1
is voltage to
be applied at selected actuator location at a
time step, is given below.
*do,t,3*dt,ts,dt
*GET,va,node,nv,volt
*SET,err,0-ks*va
*SET,va1,kc*kv*err
d,nv1,volt,va1
time,t
solve
*enddo
nv and nv1 are the numbers of the
nodes where voltage is sensed and applied
respectively.

5. Results and Discussion

5.1 Two Degrees of Freedom System

5.1.1 Analytical Solution
The response of the system under
study, x
2
(t), due to the unit impulse input is
plotted for both the cases discussed in
Section 3.1.1 and 3.1.2. For this purpose
MATLAB

software is used. The response

is shown in the Fig.5.1.

Fig.5.1 Analytical Solution

5.1.2 ANSYS

Solution
The time histories of X
2
(t) obtained
by the ANSYS

solution are given in

Fig.5.2 for the uncontrolled and controlled
cases.

Fig.5.2 ANSYS

Solution

After testing the success of the
ANSYS

solution by comparing it with

the analytical solution for the two degrees
of freedom system for its active vibration
control, the ANSYS

software is used for

the smart structure under study i.e.
cantilever beam for simulating its active
vibration control.

5.2 Active Vibration Control of Cantilever
Beam

5.2.1 Piezoelectric Material as Actuator
and Strain Gauge as Sensor
The tip deflections and actuator
voltages for different values of the control
gain are shown in Fig.5.3 and Fig.5.4,
respectively.

Fig.5.3 Tip Deflections for Different
Values of Control Gain

Fig.5.4 Actuator Voltages for Different
Values of Control Gain

5.2.2 Piezoelectric Material as both Actu-
ator and Sensor
The tip deflections and actuator
voltages for different values of the control
gain are shown in Fig.5.5 and Fig.5.6,
respectively.

Fig.5.5 Tip Deflections for Different
Values of Control Gain

Fig.5.6 Actuator Voltages for Different
Values of Control Gain

Both the Cases (5.2.1 and 5.2.2)
are independent and in second case values

of K
C
are assumed to be larger as no
sensor and power amplification are used.
In both the cases it is observed that as K
C

increases, actuator voltage increases and
hence the controlling force increases and
as a result of this vibration settling time
reduces.
The case K
C
= 5 in first case and
K
C
= 15 in second case cannot be applied
because the absolute value of the actuator
voltage exceeds its breaking value of
143.4 V, as the maximum voltage per
thickness of the piezoelectric material is
taken as 235 V/mm.

6. Conclusion
From the study conducted here on
a two degrees of freedom system it can be
concluded that the process of simulation
study implemented in ANSYS

is found to
be appropriate and hence ANSYS

can be
used as an effective tool for simulating
active vibration control of mechanical
systems. The simulation study of
cantilever beam shows that the use of
piezoelectric sensor gives the same trend
of results as compared with that when
strain gauge is used as sensor.
The maximum voltage per
thickness of the piezoelectric actuator puts
check on the maximum controlling force
that can be applied on the host structure.
Active vibration control is successfully
simulated for cantilever beam type of
structure using ANSYS

, which saved
time and money involved in actual
experimentation.












7. References

[1] S.X. Xu and T.S. Koko, Finite Element
Analysis and Design of Actively
Controlled Piezoelectric Smart
Structures, Finite Element. Analysis
Designs 40, pp. 241-262, 2004
[2] H. Karagulle, L. Malgaca and H.F.
Oktem, Analysis of Active Vibration
Control in Smart Structures by
ANSYS, Smart Materials and
Structures 13, pp. 661-667, 2004
[3] Y.H. Lim, Finite Element Simulation
of Closed Loop Vibration Control of a
Smart Plate under Transient Loading,
Smart Materials and Structures, 12,
pp. 272-286, 2003
[4] S.T. Quek, S.Y. Wang and K.K. Ang,
Vibration Control of Composite Plates
via Optimal Placement o Piezoelectric
Patches, Journal of Intelligent
Material, Systems and Structures,14,
pp. 229-245, 2003
[5] Z. Xianmin, S. Changjian and A.G.
Erdman, Active vibration controller
design and comparison study of
flexible linkage mechanism systems,
Mechanical Machine Theory, 37, pp.
985-997, 2002
[6] K. Ogata, Modern Control
Engineering, Prentice Hall of India
Pvt. Ltd., 2000
[7] N.S. Nise, Control Systems
Engineering, John Willey and Sons
Inc., 2003