scholarly journals Model Validation of a Porous Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Using Vibration Test Data

Vibration ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Germán Martínez-Ayuso ◽  
Hamed Haddad Khodaparast ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Christopher Bowen ◽  
Michael Friswell ◽  
...  

In this paper, a finite element model is coupled to an homogenisation theory in order to predict the energy harvesting capabilities of a porous piezoelectric energy harvester. The harvester consists of a porous piezoelectric patch bonded to the root of a cantilever beam. The material properties of the porous piezoelectric material are estimated by the Mori–Tanaka homogenisation method, which is an analytical method that provides the material properties as a function of the porosity of the piezoelectric composite. These material properties are then used in a finite element model of the harvester that predicts the deformation and voltage output for a given base excitation of the cantilever beam, onto which the piezoelectric element is bonded. Experiments are performed to validate the numerical model, based on the fabrication and testing of several demonstrators composed of porous piezoelectric patches with different percentages of porosity bonded to an aluminium cantilever beam. The electrical load is simulated using a resistor and the voltage across the resistor is measured to estimate the energy generated. The beam is excited in a range of frequencies close to the first and second modes using base excitation. The effects of the porosity and the assumptions made for homogenisation are discussed.

2016 ◽  
Vol 248 ◽  
pp. 249-255
Author(s):  
Radosław Nowak ◽  
Marek Pietrzakowski

Machines, cars suspensions, buildings steel constructions etc. usually generate vibrations, which can be the excitement signal for piezoelectric energy harvesters. The piezoelectric patches attached to the vibrating construction have ability to convert mechanical energy of harmful vibrations into electrical energy.The goal of the study was to verify a finite element model of the piezoelectric beam energy harvester by comparing results of numerical simulations with those obtained experimentally. The stand used in the experiment consists of the cantilever beam with piezoelectric elements attached, which is excited by the base harmonic movement. The transverse displacements of the selected beam’s point and the base, and also the frequency of vibrations were observed and measured using an accelerometer and a B&K Pulse platform. A portable data acquisition module was used to quantify the voltage generated by the piezoelectric layers.The finite element model was built in ANSYS software. The beam and piezoelectric layers were modeled by twenty node elements with an additional electric degree of freedom for piezoelectric elements. A full piezoelectric matrix was used in the finite element analysis instead of a one-dimensional piezoelectric effect, which dominates in many analytical approaches. It allowed building a more accurate model of the system. The experimental tests and finite element method simulations were performed and acquired results were compared. The characteristics of voltage amplitude in the time and frequency domain were shown and discussed.


2009 ◽  
Vol 327 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 9-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos De Marqui Junior ◽  
Alper Erturk ◽  
Daniel J. Inman

Author(s):  
Andrew Melro ◽  
Kefu Liu

This paper explores the applicability of using the multiphysics finite element method to model a piezoelectric energy harvester. The piezoelectric energy harvester under consideration consists of a stainless-steel cantilever beam attached by a piezoelectric ceramic patch. Two configurations are considered: one without a proof mass and one with a proof mass. Comsol Multiphysics software is used to simultaneously model three physics: the solid mechanics, the electrostatics, and the electrical circuit physics. Several key relationships are investigated to predict the behaviours of the piezoelectric energy harvester. The effects of the electrical load resistance and a proof mass on the performance of a piezoelectric energy harvester are evaluated. Experimental testing is conducted to validate the results found by the finite element model. Overall, the results from the finite element model closely match those from the experimental testing. It is found that increasing the load resistance of the piezoelectric energy harvester causes an increase in voltage across the load resistor, and matching the impedance yields the maximum power output. Increasing the proof mass reduces the fundamental frequency that results in an increase of the displacement transmissibility and the impedance matched resistance. The study shows that the multiphysics finite element method is effective to model piezoelectric energy harvesters.


Author(s):  
Ramakrishnan Maruthayappan ◽  
Hamid M. Lankarani

Abstract The behavior of structures under the impact or crash situations demands an efficient modeling of the system for its behavior to be predicted close to practical situations. The various formulations that are possible to model such systems are spring mass models, finite element models and plastic hinge models. Of these three techniques, the plastic hinge theory offers a more accurate model compared to the spring mass formulation and is much simpler than the finite element models. Therefore, it is desired to model the structure using plastic hinges and to use a computational program to predict the behavior of structures. In this paper, the behavior of some simple structures, ranging from an elementary cantilever beam to a torque box are predicted. It is also shown that the plastic hinge theory is a reliable method by comparing the results obtained from a plastic hinge model of an aviation seat structure with that obtained from a finite element model.


Author(s):  
Sean M. Finley ◽  
J. Harley Astin ◽  
Evan Joyce ◽  
Andrew T. Dailey ◽  
Douglas L. Brockmeyer ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVE The underlying biomechanical differences between the pediatric and adult cervical spine are incompletely understood. Computational spine modeling can address that knowledge gap. Using a computational method known as finite element modeling, the authors describe the creation and evaluation of a complete pediatric cervical spine model. METHODS Using a thin-slice CT scan of the cervical spine from a 5-year-old boy, a 3D model was created for finite element analysis. The material properties and boundary and loading conditions were created and model analysis performed using open-source software. Because the precise material properties of the pediatric cervical spine are not known, a published parametric approach of scaling adult properties by 50%, 25%, and 10% was used. Each scaled finite element model (FEM) underwent two types of simulations for pediatric cadaver testing (axial tension and cardinal ranges of motion [ROMs]) to assess axial stiffness, ROM, and facet joint force (FJF). The authors evaluated the axial stiffness and flexion-extension ROM predicted by the model using previously published experimental measurements obtained from pediatric cadaveric tissues. RESULTS In the axial tension simulation, the model with 50% adult ligamentous and annulus material properties predicted an axial stiffness of 49 N/mm, which corresponded with previously published data from similarly aged cadavers (46.1 ± 9.6 N/mm). In the flexion-extension simulation, the same 50% model predicted an ROM that was within the range of the similarly aged cohort of cadavers. The subaxial FJFs predicted by the model in extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation were in the range of 1–4 N and, as expected, tended to increase as the ligament and disc material properties decreased. CONCLUSIONS A pediatric cervical spine FEM was created that accurately predicts axial tension and flexion-extension ROM when ligamentous and annulus material properties are reduced to 50% of published adult properties. This model shows promise for use in surgical simulation procedures and as a normal comparison for disease-specific FEMs.


Author(s):  
X. G. Tan ◽  
R. Kannan ◽  
Andrzej J. Przekwas

Until today the modeling of human body biomechanics poses many great challenges because of the complex geometry and the substantial heterogeneity of human body. We developed a detailed human body finite element model in which the human body is represented realistically in both the geometry and the material properties. The model includes the detailed head (face, skull, brain, and spinal cord), the skeleton, and air cavities (including the lung). Hence it can be used to accurately acquire the stress wave propagation in the human body under various loading conditions. The blast loading on the human surface was generated from the simulated C4 blast explosions, via a novel combination of 1-D and 3-D numerical formulations. We used the explicit finite element solver in the multi-physics code CoBi for the human body biomechanics. This is capable of solving the resulting large system containing millions of unknowns in an extremely scalable fashion. The meshes generated for these simulations are of good quality. This enables us to employ relatively large time step sizes, without resorting to the artificial time scaling treatment. In order to study the human body dynamic response under the blast loading, we also developed an interface to apply the blast pressure loading on the external human body surface. These newly developed models were used to conduct parametric simulations to find out the brain biomechanical response when the blasts impact the human body. Under the same blast loading we also show the differences of brain response when having different material properties for the skeleton, the existence of other body parts such as torso.


2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 274-279
Author(s):  
Thomas Wright ◽  
Imran Hyder ◽  
Mitchell Daniels ◽  
David Kim ◽  
John P. Parmigiani

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine which of the ten material properties of the Hashin progressive damage model significantly affect the maximum load-carrying ability of center-notched carbon fiber panels under in-plane tension and out-of-plane bending. Design/methodology/approach The approach used is to calculate the maximum load using a finite element model for a range of material property values as specified by a fraction factorial design. The finite element model used has been experimentally validated in prior work. Findings Results showed that for the laminates considered, at most three and as few as one of the ten Hashin material properties significantly affected the magnitude of the maximum load. Practical implications While the results of this paper only specifically apply to the laminates included in the study, the results suggest that, in general, only a small number of the Hashin material properties affect laminate load-carrying ability. Originality/value Knowing which properties are significant is of value in selecting materials to optimize performance and also in determining which properties need to be known to a high accuracy.


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