Passive damping by smart materials: analysis and practical limitations

This paper examines the use of smart materials for passive damping. Among the smart materials considered are electrorheological and magnetorheological (ER and MR) fluids, piezoelectrics, electrostrictives, magnetostrictives, and shape memory alloys. The specific mechanism exploited for energy dissipation by passive or semi-passive means is described for each material. A distinction is made between internal and external energy dissipation. The external stimuli required for each of the semi-passive mechanisms are noted. Selected examples of damping results with each material are provided. Practical limitations for engineering design and implementation are considered, and recommendations are made for the more promising materials.