This paper investigates a method for actively controlling the stiffness and damping provided by piezoelectric films such as may be used to construct biomimetic skins on small aerial vehicles. The method being investigated is based on the idea of elasticity control via piezoelectric coupling, and uses a tunable electronic circuit in parallel with a polyvinilidene fluoride (PVDF) film. The focus of the current work is on a fundamental-level understanding of the elasticity control method, and in particular, on theoretically and experimentally characterizing the degree of dissipation control possible with this method. The paper discusses the theoretical and experimental work so far which shows encouraging improvements in the dissipation in response to structural loads. Particular emphasis here is on modeling of the impulse response of a PVDF membrane. Work so far shows reasonable agreement between analytical and experimental results. Finally, a control circuit based on a low-power operational amplifier is seen to be effective in significantly improving the dissipation rate available with the PVDF membrane.

Date Published: 22 March 2006
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 6168, Smart Structures and Materials 2006: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), 61681R (22 March 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.657456

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6168:
Smart Structures and Materials 2006: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD)
Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Editor(s)