Design of piezoelectric quasi-zero-stiffness metastructures for improved low-frequency vibration isolation

Abstract In this paper, a novel type of piezoelectric quasi-zero stiffness metastructure is proposed and the improved vibration isolation performance is investigated. A piezoelectric quasi-zero stiffness metastructure is composed of curved beams covered with piezoelectric macro-fiber composite patches, to which digital circuits are connected. Based on the principle of minimum potential energy and the mode superposition method, the constrain on the geometry and material parameters of the piezo-curved beams to achieve quasi-zero stiffness is given. According to this design criterion, 1D, 2D and 3D piezoelectric quasi-zero stiffness metastructures are designed, and their improved low-frequency vibration isolation characteristics are comprehensively analyzed through theoretical, numerical and experimental studies. It is demonstrated that by optimizing the parameters of the resonant transfer functions implemented in the digital circuits, high-level damping localized near the first resonant peak can be introduced into the curved beams. As a result, the resonant peaks of the metastructures can be reduced without compromising the isolation performance beyond those peaks.