Vibration Reduction Using Shape Memory Alloys

Smart materials have a growing technological importance due to their unique thermomechanical characteristics. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) belong to this class of materials being easy to manufacture, relatively lightweight, and able of producing high forces or displacements with low power consumption. These aspects could be explored in different applications including vibration control. Nevertheless, there is a lack in literature concerning the experimental analysis of SMA dynamical systems. This contribution deals with the experimental analysis of SMA dynamical systems by considering an experimental apparatus composed of low-fiction cars free to move in a rail. A shaker that provides harmonic forcing excites the system. Vibration analysis reveals that SMA elements introduce complex dynamical responses to the system and different thermomechanical loadings are of concern showing the main aspects of SMA dynamical response. Special attention is dedicated to the analysis of vibration reduction that can be achieved by considering different approaches exploiting either temperature changes or vibration absorber techniques.