Vibration control of membrane structures using multiple dielectric elastomer actuators

A vibration suppression technique for lightweight and flexible membrane structures is proposed using smart structure technology with a dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA). DEA is a lightweight flexible polynomial material with a large deformation and high response time. Its advantages include easy application to the membrane structures and vibration suppression over a wide frequency band. A non-contact excitation system using a high-power Nd:YAG pulsed laser is used to precisely measure the vibration responses of membrane structures. The system generates a highly reproducible ideal impulse excitation. Active vibration control for membrane structures with DEAs is examined in this study. To improve the vibration control effect, multiple DEAs are applied. These actuators generate vibration control forces simultaneously during the control. Laminated DEAs are fabricated and attached to the membrane surface separately. An experimental setup including a digital control system is constructed with the laser excitation system. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a controller is designed by H∞ control theory with the identified membrane model and vibration control experiments are conducted.