Energy harvesting of sandwich beam with laminated composite core and piezoelectric face sheets under external fluid flow

Abstract

In the present study, the generation of electrical energy from induced vibrations in a composite beam with piezoelectric layer are studied. Accordingly, using Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and considering two types of air damping (external damping) and structural damping (internal damping), the equations of motion for sandwich beam are obtained and then using the Kantorovich method, the output voltage relations for a composite beam with a piezoelectric layer are extracted. After validating the analytical results with the results in the literature, the effect of various parameters such as external fluid flow rate, fiber angle, and how the piezoelectric layer composite beams are arranged on energy harvesting. Also, the maximum oscillation amplitude are investigated. The results show that by using composite materials and with proper layer design and fiber angle in each layer, a different equivalent modulus of elasticity can be created in the composite beam, which will change the normal frequency of the system and the output voltage range of the circuit. The results show that the angle of the fibers has a significant effect on the damping coefficient of the structure, flexural stiffness, natural frequency and finally energy harvesting. According to the results, it can be seen that the minimum value of voltage per use of fibers with an angle of 50 degrees and the maximum amount of voltage per use of fibers with an angle of zero degrees are occurred.