Smart Systems for Vibration Damping, Control and Energy Harvesting Based on Piezoelectric Actuators: Latest Findings and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, many studies have focused on the development of novel smart-material systems which offer the opportunity to modulate systems’ responses through external stimuli, such as strain, magnetic field, electric field, temperature, etc. Shape-memory alloys, electrorheological and magnetorheological fluids and piezoelectrics are the most promising materials for use in vibration damping and control, energy harvesting, precision positioning devices, actuators and sensors’ development. Smart materials have several valuable features; for instance, piezoelectrics have large bandwidths, fast responses to stimuli and high displacement resolutions.

In this Special Issue, we focus on the recent advancements and novel techniques in modeling, placement optimization strategies, experiments and new applications, at the macro-scale, based on smart materials. Review and special topic papers are also welcome. 

Specific topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Piezoelectric actuators’ design and modeling;
• Passive and active vibration control;
• Energy harvesting;
• Optimal placement strategies;
• Structural health monitoring;
• Aerospace applications;
• Bio-medical applications.

Prof. Dr. Fabio Botta
Dr. Andrea Rossi
Guest Editors

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