The analysis of a composite beam with piezoelectric actuator based on the approximate method

The paper presents application of an approximate Galerkin method in analysis of a mechatronic system with piezoelectric actuator. The considered mechatronic system is a composed beam made of steel and piezoelectric transducer. The transducer is used as an actuator supplied by an external voltage source. A characteristic that describes relation between displacement of the system's free end and amplitude and frequency of the applied voltage was assigned using the approximate method. In the considered system a Macro Fiber Composite - MFC is used as the actuator in order to generate vibration. This work is connected with the previous publications concerned with analysis of mechatronic systems with piezoelectric transducers used as actuators or as vibration dampers with external shunting network [1-7].