Simultaneous Passive Vibration Attenuation and Energy Harvesting on a Fan-Folded Piezometaelastic Structure

Simultaneous passive vibration suppression and energy harvesting through piezoelectric materials have been raising growing interest in the general area of structural dynamics. In the vibration isolation context, metastructures composed of multiple unit cells have played a major role in the design of suitable structures for the generation of frequency bandgaps, capable of mitigating structural vibration signals in a given frequency range. Additionally, concurrent energy harvesting in a given megastructure is possible through adequate positioning of piezoelectric layers on strategic locations along the metastructure geometric configuration. This work presents numerically simulated and experimental results of a study carried out on a given metastructure composed of a host beam with multiple resonators attached to it. Each resonator is designed from the arrangement of multiple beams forming a fan-folded structure that will significantly affect both, the vibration suppression as well as the capability of harvesting energy. Numerically simulated results are obtained through finite element modeling and a lumped parameter modeling methodology. Experimental results are gathered on a test prototype to verify the numerical results. Interesting results are obtained from multiple configurations of the individual fan-folded resonators as well as the total number of resonators positioned on the host beam.