Affiliations: State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, School of Aerospace, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Shilin Xie, State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, School of Aerospace, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, Shaanxi, China. E-mail:slxie@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
Abstract: Dielectric electro-active polymer (DEAP) is a new kind of
smart materials and has many advantages such as large deformation, fast
response and so on. These features make dielectric elastomeric is a suitable
material for actuators. In the article, a new type of DEAP vibration
isolator is proposed, which utilizes the fiber stiffening DEAP membranes.
The dynamic model of the DEAP isolator is developed by employing a
nonequilibrium thermodynamic model. A set of harmonic vibration tests are
conducted to identify the model parameters of DEAP isolator. The results
show that the area of hysteresis loop increases with the increase of
displacement amplitude, and the dynamic stiffness of DEAP isolator increases
with the increase of excitation frequency. An additional stiffness component
is introduced thereafter in the model in order to correct the stiffness
coefficients based on the measured data. Based on the identified isolator
model, a simulated study on semi-active vibration isolation is also carried
out. The simulated results show that the effective frequency range of
vibration isolation can be expanded in some extent under DC input voltage.
It indicates the feasibility of semi-active vibration isolation with the
present DEAP isolator.
