LIGHTWEIGHT ENGINE MOUNTING BASED ON ADAPTIVE CFRP STRUTS FOR ACTIVE VIBRATION SUPPRESSION

A demonstrator representing a lightweight engine mounting for turbopro p aircraft has been developed which allows for active suppression of d isturbing vibrations. It consists of an advanced CFRP truss structure based upon high-load CFRP struts which enable an optimal integration o f piezo-electric stack actuators. The dynamic behaviour of the truss s tructure was analyzed by a 3D-simulation and the optimal position of a ctive struts was evaluated. The experimental results of static and dyn amic tests showed very good agreement with the analytical predictions. First investigations of the active vibration suppression by means of a simple feedback controller exhibited an excellent functionality of t he adaptive structure and a promising potential to future improvements . (C) Elsevier, Paris.