Damping Additions for Plates Using Constrained Viscoelastic Layers

An analysis is given for a damping addition employing several thin viscoelastic sheets and thin metallic layers. The damping layers are alternated with the constraining layers, which are segmented and are not anchored to the base plate. The effectiveness of such additions in increasing the damping of thin simply supported square plates is evaluated and methods for optimizing the design are considered. An experimental investigation of the effectiveness of such damping additions is also reported. Additions weighing a few percent of the weight of the base plate were found to produce substantial increases in the damping of the system. A nonoptimal design was found to produce less, but still substantial, damping.