The Tenability of Vibration Parameters of a Sandwich Beam Featuring Controllable Core: Experimental Investigation

Abstract

This study presents experimental results of the vibration parameters of a sandwich beam featuring magnetorheological (MR) fluid as core material. For simplicity, the sandwich beam is considered as a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system and the governing equation is derived in time and frequency domains. Then, from the governing equation, the vibration parameters which can be controllable by external stimuli are defined or obtained. These are the field-dependent natural frequency, damping factor, loss factor, and quality factor of the sandwich beam. Subsequently, a sandwich beam incorporating with controllable MR fluid core is fabricated and tested to evaluate the vibration parameters. MR fluid is prepared using the engine oil, iron particles, and grease as an additive and it is filled into the void zone (core) of the sandwich beam. The fabricated beam is then tested at four different conditions and the vibration parameters are numerically identified at each test. It is shown that both the natural frequency and damping property can be tuned by controlling the intensity of the magnetic field applied to MR fluid domain.