Active and Passive Vibration Damping

2Viscoelastic Damping

2.1 Introduction

Viscoelastic damping treatments have been extensively used in various structural applications to control undesirable vibrations and associated noise radiation in a simple and reliable manner (Nashif et al. 1985; Sun and Lu 1995). In this chapter, particular emphasis is placed on studying the dynamic characteristics of such damping treatments and outlining the different mathematical models used to describe the behavior of these treatments over a wide range of operating frequencies and temperatures. Particular focus is given to ascertain the merits and drawbacks of the classical models by Maxwell, Kelvin–Voigt, and Zener (Zener 1948; Flugge 1967; Christensen 1982; Haddad 1995; Lakes 1999, 2009) both in the time and frequency domains.

2.2 Classical Models of Viscoelastic Materials

These models include the of Maxwell, Kelvin–Voigt, and Poynting–Thomson models (Haddad 1995; Lakes 1999, 2009). In these models, the dynamics of ViscoElastic Materials (VEMs) are described in terms of series and/or parallel combinations of viscous dampers and elastic springs as shown in Figure 2.1. The dampers are included to capture the viscous behavior of the VEM, whereas the springs are used to simulate the elastic behavior of the VEM.

Figure 2.1 Classical models of VEMs. (a) Maxwell model, (b) Kelvin–Voigt model, and (c) Poynting–Thomson model.

2.2.1 Characteristics ...