Research and Development Needs in Finite Element Analysis of Viscoelasticity Damped Structures
Abstract
Vibration control in structures by means of viscoelastic damping material has gained wide acceptance, particularly in the aerospace industry. Significant weight, cost, performance, and reliability payoffs are possible in situations where resonant vibration cannot be avoided. Numerous examples of damping by constrained or unconstrained layers of viscoelastic material have appeared in the literature. However, the analysis of general structures to predict the damping due to an integral or add-on layered treatment or lumped viscoelastic elements is by no means a routine activity. The key to effective use of the well-developed technology of damping materials-will be a parallel improvement in analytical capability. It will be necessary to make reliable and timely predictions of the system damping which can be expected when a given viscoelastic material is incorporated into a given structural configuration. It must also be possible for working engineers to produce these answers in a project environment using widely available analysis tools such as computer codes. It is natural to look to finite element methods for damping predictions of general damped structures, just as they are used for routine calculation of the dynamic properties of undamped systems. Considerable work has already been done in this area, primarily aimed at prediction of damped response of simple structural elements such as sandwich beams, plates, etc. As participants in this work, it has been the authors' experience that current finite element tools show-much promise for analysis of structures which include viscoelastic damping material. However as with any emerging technology, there are specific questions, both theoretical and practical, which must be investigated and resolved in order to produce a reliable and useful design tool. The purpose of this paper is to describe the problem areas which, in the authors' view, must be addressed in the near term.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA363134
Entities
People
- David A. Kienholz