The influence of the piezoelements placement on the active vibration damping of smart truss

Vibrations control in truss structures reaches a great practical interest, mainly in modern structures of huge space vehicles and aircrafts. Two demands essences are required in design of such structures. The first is the excellent dynamic behavior, in order to guarantee the stability of the structure and high precision pointing. The second is the necessity to obtain light structures, in order to reduce the cost. However, these two requirements are often contradictory, because light structures have low degrees of internal damping, which hinders the accuracy requirements. These difficulties can be overcome by applying recently developed advanced materials, as for instance piezoelectric materials. Several researchers have proved that piezoelectric material can effectively counteract the vibrations. Appropriate assurance active damping of these vibrations can be achieved by optimal location of the piezo elements in the structure.