Experimental Characterization of a Cantilever Beam With a Fluidic Flexible Matrix Composite Vibration Treatment

Fluidic flexible matrix composite (F²MC) tubes can add damping to and absorb vibrations from a host structure. Transverse structural vibration couples with F²MC tube strain to pump fluid through an external circuit that can be tailored to provide vibration damping and/or absorption. In this paper, an F²MC-cantilever system, consisting of two F²MC tubes attached to a uniform cantilever beam, is designed, fabricated, and experimentally tested. The F²MC tubes are connected in parallel to one of two fluidic circuits. The first circuit uses an orifice to dissipate energy, reducing the first mode resonant response by over 20 dB and providing 5% damping. The second circuit uses an inertia track and an accumulator to produce a tuned absorber that replaces the first mode resonance peak with a valley, reducing the resonant response by 27 dB.