Dynamic stability of electrorheological fluid-filled laminate

In the present paper the technique of the dynamic stability analysis proposed for conventional laminated structures is extended to cover the activated electrorheological fluid-filled beam under the time-dependent axial loading. The thin symmetrically laminated structure consists of the uniform beam and the multi-cell chains containing the electrorheological fluid in an extensional configuration. Changing the electric field on the cell electrodes modifies basic mechanical properties such as Young's modulus, and the retardation time. The present paper aims at analysis of the classical stability problem: how does the electric activation change dynamic stability domains of the beam. In order to derive the dynamic stability criteria the Liapunov functional as a sum of the modified kinetic energy and the elastic energy of the beam is chosen. The stability regions as functions of loading characteristics, damping coefficient are given.