Efficacy of SMA Wire in Vibration Suppression of a Stay Cable: An Experimental Investigation.

This paper analyzes the influence of three different shape memory alloy (SMA) wires (i.e., Ni-Ti, Cu-Al-Ni, and Cu-Zn wires) for mitigating model cable vibration. Shape memory alloy (SMA) wires because of their superelasticity or shape memory properties can promise to be one of the effective damping materials in suppressing stay cable oscillations. The investigation explores through experimental works, the capabilities of three Ni-Ti, Cu-Al-Ni, and Cu-Zn SMA wires by estimating the vibration amplitude suppression of the model stay cable. The effective location of the SMA wires on the model cable for vibration suppression was estimated in free as well as forced vibration cases. To impart free and forced vibration, respectively, in the cable, a transducer-based hammer and exciter were used. An accelerometer and data acquisition system was used to record and acquire vibration data. It is also very appropriate to ascertain which wire among one of the three SMA wires performs well. It is found that the Ni-Ti SMA wire has a better performance in vibration suppression as compared to Cu-Al-Ni and Cu-Zn wires. It is also established that the attachment of the SMA wire at the mid-length of the cable gives better vibration suppression for the first mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]