Dynamic Stability of a Sandwich Beam with an Electrorheological Fluid Core

Abstract

In the present study the parametric instability of a three layer sandwich beam with an embedded thick electrorheological(ER) fluid core has been studied. The beam has been modeled using finite elements and the regions of instability have been established using Saito and Otomi conditions. The ER core model is based on the pre-yield rheological properties and is represented by the complex modulus. The sandwich model takes in to account the shear, transverse and longitudinal deformations of the viscoelastic core. The effects of electric field strength and core thickness parameter on the fundamental frequency, fundamental buckling load and fundamental system loss factor have been studied. The effects of parameters like electric field and thickness parameter on the stability behavior of the beam have been investigated. The increase in electric field strength and core thickness has stabilizing effect for all the boundary conditions.