Active damping of geometrically nonlinear vibrations of smart composite plates using elliptical SCLD treatment with fractional derivative viscoelastic layer

In this paper, the performance of elliptical smart constrained layer damping treatments on active damping of geometrical nonlinear vibrations of smart laminated composite plates are analyzed. The constraining layers of the damping treatments are comprised of vertically/obliquely reinforced 1-3 piezoelectric composites, while the constrained layers are of isotropic viscoelastic material, modelled using the three dimensional fractional order derivative model. A meshfree model of the smart composite plate is developed for analyzing its nonlinear transient responses within the framework of a layerwise shear and normal deformation theory considering the von-Karman type geometric nonlinearity. Thin composite plates integrated with elliptical/rectangular patches of the smart constrained layer damping treatments and having different stacking sequences and boundary conditions are considered for presenting the numerical results. The numerical analyses demonstrate the higher effectiveness of the elliptical patches over the rectangular ones in attenuating the nonlinear vibrations of laminated composite plates.