Vibration Control of a Flexible Rotor Using Shape Memory Alloy Wires

In the present contribution, a theoretical model of a test rig containing a flexible rotor is simulated considering pseudoelastic SMA (Shape Memory Alloy) wires connected to a bearing in order to dissipate energy and consequently reduce vibration. SMAs have characteristics of shape memory and superelasticity depending on the thermo-mechanicalstate. Thus its stiffness can vary, especially in the pseudoelastic region, where this variation takes place according to ahysteretic cycle denoting energy dissipation whenever the loading magnitude is sufficient to induce this transformation.Thus the dynamics of rotor and SMA wires are coupled. The chosen constitutive model that governs the SMA behaviour is a modified version of the model by Brinson for the one-dimensional case. Both transient and steady-state tests arenumerically simulated. The first one, a run-up test, is performed only at room temperature. In the second, the unbalancedrotor runs at the first critical speed and two cases are considered: i) room temperature; ii) time-varying temperature.The results from these evaluations show that SMA can be an interesting alternative for vibration control in rotating machinery.