Fuzzy logic based active vibration control using novel photostrictive composites

Although conventional actuators like piezoelectric and electrostrictive are efficient, but they required hard wiring, which contaminates the control signal and adds to the weight of the structure. The current study presents a wireless control strategy using photostrictive actuators. Owing to the fortunate combination of photovoltaic effect and converse piezoelectric effect, a photostrictive actuator can generate mechanical strain, when irradiated with light intensity. Limited choices of photostrictive material with high electromechanical coupling coefficient give the motivation to design photostrictive composites. The finite element-based formulation incorporating fuzzy logic controller is employed to study the active vibration control response of cantilever structure when equipped with photostrictive composite actuator. A parametric study has been carried out to study the influence of inclusion's volume fraction on wireless active vibration control of the structure. Control merits have been defined to compare the control performance of different composites. It is found that particulate composites are the better choice for lightweight structure and fiber composites are better if there is no weight constraint.