Technologies of energy harvesting have been developed intensively since the beginning of the twenty-first century, presenting themselves as alternatives to traditional energy sources (for instance, batteries) for small-dimensional and low-power electronics. Batteries have numerous shortcomings connected, for example, with restricted service life and the necessity of periodic recharging/replacement that create significant problems for portative and remote devices and for power equipment. Environmental energy covers solar, thermal, and oscillation energy. By this, the vibration energy exists continuously around us due to the operation of numerous artificial structures and mechanisms. Different materials (including piezoelectrics) and conversion mechanisms can transform oscillation energy into electrical energy for use in many devices of energy harvesting. Piezoelectric transducers possessing electric mechanical coupling and demonstrating a high density of power in comparison with electromagnetic and electrostatic sensors are broadly applied for the generation of energy from different oscillation energy sources. For the last decade, novel piezoelectric materials, transformation mechanisms, electrical circuits, and experimental and theoretical approaches with results of computer simulation have been developed for improving different piezoelectric devices of energy harvesting. This overview presents results, obtained in the area of piezoelectric energy harvesting for the last decade, including a wide spectrum of experimental, analytical, and computer simulation investigations.

The article develops methods and methodology for experimental studies of centrifuged and vibro-centrifuged concrete products of annular cross-section. They assess the real variatropy of the structure and confirm the correctness of the accepted research. An original technique for experimental studies of the variatropy of the cross-sections of vibrated, centrifuged and vibro-centrifuged concretes is proposed to determine their integral (common) and differential (differing in layers) strength and strain characteristics and deformation diagrams. It has been proved that with vibro-centrifugation it becomes possible to obtain concretes with improved structure and higher characteristics compared with centrifugation and vibration techniques. Experimental studies of the differential characteristics of centrifuged and vibro-centrifuged concretes under compression and tension revealed that the outer layer of concrete had the best characteristics after centrifugation and vibro-centrifugation, and the inner layer had the worst ones. The three-layer model of the variatropic structure for centrifuged and vibro-centrifuged concrete has been experimentally confirmed. The concrete of the outer layers had the highest strength and modulus of elasticity and the least deformability; the concrete of the inner layers had the lowest strength and modulus of elasticity and the highest deformability; and the concrete of the middle layers had average characteristics. The deformation diagrams of centrifuged and vibro-centrifuged concretes were also differentiated by layers, confirming the variatropy of the structure of such concretes. The deformation diagrams for the outer concrete layer demonstrated the highest strength; the diagrams for the inner concrete layer showed the lowest strength; and the diagrams for the middle concrete layer corresponded to mean characteristics.

A method for the identification of defects in elastic structural elements (SEs) on the basis of artificial neural network (ANN) tools was proposed. The problems of constructing a simulation model of an object, the optimal arrangement of transducers with the use of a genetic algorithm, and the subsequent identification of a defect were solved. The application of different learning architectures and algorithms to feed-forward neural networks (FFNs) was studied and the influence of errors on the estimation accuracy of the parameters of a defect was analyzed.

The paper studies the influence of the geometric parameters of the mixer on the mixing process, the construction of the mixing body, its location in the mixer bulk, and the mixer shape and geometry. The technique of calculating the power spent on mixing the foam concrete mixture is described. The effects of the ratio of the mixture height to the mixer diameter, the number and width of reflective partitions, and the shape of the conical part of the mixer on the homogeneity of the foam concrete mixture and the power consumption are considered. The optimal ratios of the foam concrete mixture height to the mixer diameter have been determined. Moreover, the optimal range of the ratios of the partition width to the mixer diameter has been established, in order to obtain a homogeneous foam concrete mixture throughout the volume with lower energy consumption. The optimal values of the angle of the mixer conical part for the preparation of a foam concrete mixture have been determined.

The problem of concrete properties identification and damage location in model beam type constructions is considered on the basis of application of experimental vibration analysis. As a simple analysis model, beam structures are considered defect-free and with defects. Based on the experimental approach, the model vibrations under shock and vibration excitation are analyzed. On the basis of analytical modeling, the dynamic modulus of elasticity, the velocity of sound in the beam, and the location of the defect are calculated. A technique and an example of the location of a defect in beam type constructions are presented.

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