Spatial Actuation Effectiveness of Segmented Actuators on Parabolic Cylindrical Panels

With the distinct capability of line-focusing, open parabolic cylindrical panels are commonly used as key components of radar antennas, space reflectors, solar collectors, etc. These structures suffer unexpected vibrations from the fluctuation of base structure, non-uniform heating and air flow. The unwanted vibration will reduce the surface reflecting precision and even result in structure damages. To explore active vibration and shape control of parabolic cylindrical panels, this study focuses on actuation effectiveness induced by segmented piezoelectric patches laminated on a flexible parabolic cylindrical panel. The mathematical model of a parabolic cylindrical panel laminated with distributed actuators is formulated. The segmentation technique is developed and applied to parabolic cylindrical panels, and the piezoelectric layer is segmented uniformly in the meridional direction. The distributed actuator patches induced modal control forces are evaluated. As the area of actuator patch varies in the meridional direction, modal control force divided by actuator area, i.e., actuation effectiveness, is investigated. Spatial actuation effectiveness, including its membrane and bending components are evaluated with respect to design parameters: actuator size and position, shell curvature, shell thickness and vibration mode in case studies. The actuation component induced by the membrane force in the meridional direction mainly contributes to the total actuation effectiveness for lower modes. Average and cancellation effect of various actuator sizes and the optimal actuator position are also discussed. Results suggest that for odd vibration modes, the maximal actuation effectiveness locates at the ridge of the panel; while for even modes, the peak/valley closest to the ridge is the optimal position to obtain the maximal actuation effectiveness. A segmentation scheme of the meridian interval angle 0.0464rad for the investigated standard panel is a preferred tradeoff between the actuation effectiveness and practical feasibility. The modal actuation effectiveness increases with the shell curvature, whereas decreases when the shell thickens.Copyright © 2012 by ASME