Vibration energy harvesting by a Timoshenko beam model and piezoelectric transducer

An electro-mechanical system of vibrational energy harvesting is studied. The beam is excited by external and kinematic periodic forces and damped by an electrical resistor through the coupled piezoelectric transducer. Nonlinearities are introduced by stoppers limiting the transverse displacements of the beam. The interaction between the beam and the stoppers is modeled as Winkler elastic foundation. The mechanical properties of the piezoelectric layer are taken into account and the beam is modeled as a composite structure. For the examined composite beam, the geometrically nonlinear version of the Timoshenko’s beam theory is assumed. The equations of motion are derived by the principle of virtual work considering large deflections. An isogeometric approach is applied for space discretization and B-Splines are used as shape functions. Finally, the power output and the efficiency of the system due to harmonic excitations are discussed. The influence of the position of the stoppers and their length on the dynamics of the beam and consequently on the power output are analyzed and presented.