Scaling effects of frequency and material properties on the design of constrained layer damping

Engineers can prefer to non-dimensionalize effects to allow for understanding of a response of systems at various configurations, sizes, or speeds. Great insight can be found while interrogating the physics across independent variables. This work outlines the relationship between the physical scale and the stiffness and damping properties of viscoelastic materials within constrained layer damping when applied to thin structures. Previous work has shown that peak frequency of the damping of viscoelastic materials can be shifted to account for changes in scale of systems when damping is applied without a constraining layer. However, when the constraining layer is applied, the dominant deformation within the damping layer becomes shear instead of bending which controls the stiffness of the underlying thin, flexible structure. Here the methods of non-dimensionalizing the stiffness, loss factor, and geometry of a constrained layer system is presented along with a discussion on the effects of frequency to optimize the system for maximum vibration attenuation.