Real-time tuning of stiffness and damping properties of laminate composites
Résumé
In this paper, a laminate composite structure is designed with real-time stiffness and damping tuning capabilities. It is composed of 3 layers: a base steal layer which provides the global stiffness, a viscoelastic core whose properties are tuned in real time through conductive tracks which are printed on the top glass-fibre composite skin. The temperature dependency of the viscoelastic core is used as physical mechanism to tune the global stiffness and damping properties of the composite structure. Moreover, in order to realize a compromise between static stiffness and dynamic damping, some zones are defined on the wing. This provides the ability to locally change the temperature to reach the expected compromise. In the talk, the design issues are addressed, and an experimental demonstration of the concept is presented on a complex structure.