Passive Viscoelastic Constrained Layer Damping for Structural Application

Abstract

The purpose behind this study is to predict damping effects using method of passive viscoelastic constrained layer damping. Ross, Kerwin and Unger (RKU) model for passive viscoelastic damping has been used to predict damping effects in constrained layer sandwich cantilever beam. This method of passive damping treatment is widely used for structural application in many industries like automobile, aerospace, etc.
The RKU method has been applied to a cantilever beam because beam is a major part of a structure and this prediction may further leads to utilize for different kinds of structural application according to design requirements in many industries. In this method of damping a simple cantilever beam is treated by making sandwich structure to make the beam damp, and this is usually done by using viscoelastic material as a core to ensure the damping effect. Since few years in past viscoelastic materials has been significantly recognized as the best damping material for damping application which are usually polymers. Here some viscoelastic materials have been used as a core for sandwich beam to ensure damping effect.
Due to inherent complex properties of viscoelastic materials, its modeling has been the matter of talk. So in this report modeling of viscoelastic materials has been shown and damping treatment has been carried out using RKU model. The experimental results have been shown how the amplitude decreases with time for damped system compared to undamped system and further its prediction has been extended to finite element analysis with various damping material to show comparison of harmonic responses between damped and undamped systems.