Dynamic analysis of magnetorheological elastomer-based sandwich beam with conductive skins under various boundary conditions

The dynamic analysis of a three-layered symmetric sandwich beam with magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) embedded viscoelastic core and conductive skins subjected to a periodic axial load have been carried out under various boundary conditions. As the skins of the sandwich beam are conductive, magnetic loads are applied to the skins during vibration. Due to the field-dependent shear modulus of MRE material, the stiffness of the MRE embedded sandwich beam can be changed by the application of magnetic fields. Using extended Hamilton’s principle along with generalized Galarkin’s method the governing equation of motion has been derived. The free vibration analysis of the system has been carried out and the results are compared with the published experimental and analytical results which are found to be in good agreement. The parametric instability regions of the sandwich beam have been determined for various boundary conditions. Here, recently developed magnetorheological elastomer based on natural rubber containing iron particles and carbon blacks have been used. The effects of magnetic field, length of MRE patch, core thickness, percentage of iron particles and carbon blacks on the regions of parametric instability for first three modes of vibration have been studied. These results have been compared with the parametric instability regions of the sandwich beam with fully viscoelastic core to show the passive and active vibration reduction of these structures using MRE and magnetic field. Also, the results are compared with those obtained using higher order theory.