ABSTRACT
Th e goal of vibration control is to suppress unwanted vibration of various dynamic systems. Traditional vibration control uses passive element to increase stiff ness or damping. However, the insatiable demand for high performance quantifi ed by highspeed operation, high control accuracy, and lower energy consumption has triggered vigorous researches on active and semiactive vibration control of distributed fl exible structures and discrete systems. Numerous control strategies for conventional electromagnetic actuators have been proposed and implemented to suppress unwanted vibration. However, the successful realization of electromagnetic actuators maybe sometimes very diffi cult under certain conditions due to hardware limitations such as saturation and response speed. Th is diffi culty can be resolved by employing smart material actuators in vibration control. As is well-known, smart material technology features actuating capability, control capability, and computational capability [1]. Th erefore, these inherent capabilities of smart materials can execute specifi c functions autonomously in response to changing environmental stimuli. Among many smart material candidates, electrorheological (ER) fl uids, magnetorheological (MR) fl uids, and piezoelectric materials are eff ectively exploited for vibration control in various engineering applications.
