Adaptive Tunable Vibration Absorber using Shape Memory Alloy

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This study presents a new approach to control the nonlinear dynamics of an adaptive absorber using shape memory alloy (SMA) element. Shape memory alloys are classified as smart materials that can remember their original shape after deformation. Stress and temperature-induced phase transformations are two typical behaviors of shape memory alloys. Changing the stiffness associated with phase transformations causes these properties of SMA. A thermo-mechanical model (based on the transformation strain which is a measure of strain indicating the phase transformation) is used to constrain the general thermo-mechanical features of the SMA. Here, the one-dimensional SMA model is adopted to calculate both the pseudo-elastic response and the shape memory effects. The dynamic behavior of shape memory alloys is then investigated, and a Newmark method is adopted to analyze the nonlinear dynamic equations. Results demonstrate that the vibration of an initial system can be tuned using the SMA absorber in a wide range of frequencies. Therefore, SMAs as adaptive tuned vibration absorbers provide an excellent performance to control vibrations.