Electroactive polymers (EAPs) have been widely employed as smart material for actuators in recent years. Numerous investigations have focused on static or quasi-static applications. For the use as actuators in the field of active vibration control (AVC); however, the dynamic behavior needs to be studied in detail and the inherent nonlinear effects demand new control concepts. Since AVC applications have only recently been considered for EAP actuators, only a few studies have been published in this area so far . In this paper, the nonlinearities in a dielectric elastomer (DE) actuator and their consequences for dynamic applications are analyzed on a theoretical level first and then shown to be practically relevant in an experimental setup. Afterward, two compensation methods are presented and their improving influence on the dynamic behavior proven. Finally, the DE actuator is included in an active closed-loop control system and its potential for AVC demonstrated. Furthermore, a MATLAB/SIMULINK model of the whole system is presented, its general validity shown, and its potential for future system development processes highlighted.

Smart structures based on carbon fibre reinforced polymers with embedded piezoceramic patches demand and offer permanent and integral monitoring of structural and functional integrity. Electrical impedance spectroscopy is one method that can be implemented in a structural health monitoring system. Experimental investigations with strip-shaped specimens show the close connection between mechanical properties and impedance. An electrical equivalent circuit diagram and electromechanical finite-element modelling explain the general shape of the impedance spectrogram and the peaks due to the excited eigenmodes of the structure. Damage, caused by low-speed impact, is experimentally detected by changes in the impedance resonance peaks. The finite-element model confirms this theoretically. The influence of disturbing factors on the impedance such as ageing effects, mechanical loading and different electrical contacting is also considered.

Passive vibration control solutions are often limited to working reliably at one design point. Especially applied to lightweight structures, which tend to have unwanted vibration, active vibration control approaches can outperform passive solutions. To generate dynamic forces in a narrow frequency band, passive single-degree-of-freedom oscillators are frequently used as vibration absorbers and neutralizers. In order to respond to changes in system properties and/or the frequency of excitation forces, in this work, adaptive vibration compensation by a tunable piezoelectric vibration absorber is investigated. A special design containing piezoelectric stack actuators is used to cover a large tuning range for the natural frequency of the adaptive vibration absorber, while also the utilization as an active dynamic inertial mass actuator for active control concepts is possible, which can help to implement a broadband vibration control system. An analytical model is set up to derive general design rules for the system. An absorber prototype is set up and validated experimentally for both use cases of an adaptive vibration absorber and inertial mass actuator. Finally, the adaptive vibration control system is installed and tested with a basic truss structure in the laboratory, using both the possibility to adjust the properties of the absorber and active control.

Conventional loudspeakers are often heavy, require substantial design spaces and are hard to integrate into lightweight structures (e.g., panels). To overcome these drawbacks, this paper presents a novel extremely flat loudspeaker which uses dielectric elastomer actuators with natural rubber for the elastomeric layers and metal electrodes as transduction mechanism. To facilitate the deformation of the elastomer, the electrodes are perforated. The microscopic holes lead to a macroscopically compressible stack configuration despite the elastomer incompressibility. The design is developed and the materials are chosen to guarantee low mechanical and electrical losses and a high efficiency in the entire frequency range up to several kilohertz. The loudspeaker was designed, built and afterwards experimentally investigated and characterised. Laser measurements of the surface velocity were performed to find dynamic effects present at the diaphragm. To further characterise the device, a semi anechoic chamber as used. Sound pressure levels emitted by the device were recorded at different bias and alternating voltages to study their influence. The nonlinearity of the loudspeaker, which is inherent for this kind of actuators, was quantified considering the total harmonic distortion. Here, a dependence on the amplitude of the alternating voltage is observed. Further, the distortion decreases rapidly the higher the frequency is, which qualifies the loudspeaker concept to properly work at high frequencies. Transfer functions between supplied voltage and on-axis sound pressure were measured and showed in principle potential for high frequency application. Further, the behaviour of the diaphragm changing from rigid piston to resilient disk with respect to frequency for different configurations was observed. Additionally, the directivity of the loudspeaker was investigated at several frequencies, and was in accordance with previously found research outcomes. The results, especially in the high frequency range, prove the usability of this design concept for practical applications.

This work presents the development, simulation and experimental investigation of a demonstrator for active vibration isolation with dielectric elastomers (DEs). The electromechanical behavior of the developed DE stack actuator is first characterized experimentally and a suitable simulation model is parametrized accordingly. The potential of the actuator for active vibration isolation is shown in a specially designed single axis test rig. The influence of different control strategies on the transmission behavior from the excited base to the mass is studied. A special aspect of the control strategy is the compensation of the specific nonlinearities. The analysis proves the potential of DE actuators for active vibration isolation purposes. The presented broadband active isolation could enable the use of DEs in various technical fields of application.