A Comparative Study on Optimization of Constrained Layer Damping for Vibration Control of Beams

Abstract

This paper presents a comparison of optimization algorithms for constrained damping (CLD) patches’ layout to minimize the maximum vibration response of the odd modes, which constitutes the dominant acoustic radiation, of a simply-supported beam excited by a harmonic transverse force. An analytical model based on Euler-Bernoulli beam assumptions is derived first to relate the displacement response of the beam with bonded CLD patches and their layout. Four different nonlinear optimization methods/algorithms are then respectively used to optimize the CLD patches’ locations and lengths with aim of minimum displacement amplitude at middle of the beam. The considered methods include subproblem approximation method, the first-order method, sequential quadratic programming (SQP) and genetic algorithm (GA). The efficiency of each considered optimization method is evaluated and also compared in terms of obtained optimal beam displacement. The results show that GA is most efficient in obtaining the best optimum for this optimization problem in spite of highest computation efforts required to improve its stability.