Smart machines with flexible rotors

The concept of smart machinery is of current interest. Several technologies are relevant in this quest including magnetic bearings, shape memory alloys (SMA) and piezo-electric activation. Recently, a smart bearing pedestal was proposed based on SMAs and elastomeric O-rings. However, such a device is clearly relevant only for the control of rigid rotors, for flexible rotors there is a need for some modification on the rotor itself. In this paper, rotor actuation by piezo-electric patches on the rotor is studied. A methodology is presented for the calculation of rotor behaviour and appropriate control strategies are discussed.