[en] This paper proposes a vibration analysis for an isotropic plate containing an arbitrarily orientated surface crack as an enhancement to previous work on cracked plates for which the orientation of the crack angle was not included. The governing equation of motion of the plate with this enhanced crack modelling represents the vibrational response based on classical plate theory into which a developed crack model has been assimilated. The formulation of the angled crack is based on a simplified line-spring model and the cracked plate is subjected to transverse harmonic excitation with arbitrarily chosen boundary conditions. It is found that the vibrational characteristics of the plate structure can be affected significantly by the orientation of the crack in the surface plate. For reasons of comparison and validation a finite element model is used for a further modal analysis in order to corroborate the effect of crack length and crack orientation angle on the modal parameters i.e. the natural frequency and also the vibrational amplitude, as predicted by the analysis. The results show excellent agreement between the two methods.

[en] This study investigates the vibration characteristics of a proposed candidate structure for smarter car bodies. The material is conceived as a three-layer laminated structure in the form of a trimorph plate. The vibration response of the plate is investigated for large deflections by considering the effects of geometric nonlinearity. First, the governing equation for the mid-point deflection of the plate is developed based on classical laminate plate theory (CLPT). The governing equation is solved, and a simulation is run for different possible layer-stacking sequences. Comparisons are made between the nonlinear vibration response of this trimorph plate both with and without the effects of the von Kármán geometric nonlinearity. The results show that for the same material properties the different layer-stacking sequences produce different vibration responses, and from there it is concluded that layer-stacking sequencing is a basis for the definition of a suitable material configuration for high performance automotive applications.

[en] This study is concerned with autoparametric interaction in a four degree of freedom damped mechanical system consisting of two identical pendula fitted onto a horizontal massive rod which can oscillate vertically and rotationally. One pendulum is harmonically excited. The equations of motion indicate that autoparametric interaction is possible by means of typical external and internal resonance conditions involving the system natural frequencies and excitation frequency. An intriguing phenomenon is demonstrated when the unforced pendulum is decoupled and no energy goes into it, as a result of which it stops oscillating. Numerical simulations are carried out to determine when and why this phenomenon occurs for a different excitation magnitude as well as for zero and non-zero initial conditions of the unforced pendulum.

[en] Nonlinear energy harvesters have already been exhibited to draw energy from ambient vibration owing to their particular dynamic characteristics, and are feasible to desirable responses for broadband excitations of bistable and monostable systems. This study proposes an energy harvester for rotational applications, in which a cantilever beam pasted piezoelectric film and magnets with the same polarity are comprised as a nonlinear vibrating system. As the rotationally angular velocity gradually increases, the tensile stress to the cantilever beam is also self-adjusted with the increscent centrifugal force, causing the potential barriers of bistable type become shallow, so that the cantilever beam has the ability to maintain the high energy orbit motion from bistable hardening type to monostable hardening behavior. From the implemented results, the valid bandwidth of angular frequency can be improved from 26 rad/s - 132 rad/s to 15 rad/s - 215 rad/s, under the case of the effect of centrifugal force on nonlinear vibrating behavior. It demonstrates that the centrifugal force can significantly promote the performance of nonlinear energy harvesters. (paper)