Proposed piezoceramic excitation for translational and rotational mobility measurements

A piezoceramic excitation approach is proposed that allows for a convenient measurement of translational and rotational structural mobility. This article focuses on verifying the ability of piezoceramic patches, when aligned in certain formations, to mimic normal force and moment excitation and allow easy measurement of translational and rotational structural mobility. Depending on the orientation of the patches on a thin, clamped-clamped beam, a normal force, bending moment or torsional moment is created and accelerometers are used to measure the mobility at the center point of the beam. The experimental measurements are compared to numerical results from a finite element program to verify the efficacy of the piezoceramic patches in exciting a structure. The specific arrangements of the patches are able to excite the desired modes and measurements agree well with the numerical model. This method combined with the proposed array could be placed at any point on a structure to excite the structure and measure the translational and rotational point structural mobility.