An experimental study of vibration based energy harvesting in dynamically tailored structures with embedded acoustic black holes

In this paper, we present an experimental investigation on the energy harvesting performance of dynamically tailored structures based on the concept of embedded acoustic black holes (ABHs). Embedded ABHs allow tailoring the wave propagation characteristics of the host structure creating structural areas with extreme levels of energy density. Experiments are conducted on a tapered plate-like aluminum structure with multiple embedded ABH features. The dynamic response of the structure is tested via laser vibrometry in order to confirm the vibration localization and the passive wavelength sweep characteristic of ABH embedded tapers. Vibrational energy is extracted from the host structure and converted into electrical energy by using ceramic piezoelectric discs bonded on the ABHs and shunted on an external electric circuit. The energy harvesting performance is investigated both under steady state and transient excitation. The experimental results confirm that the dynamic tailoring produces a drastic increase in the harvested energy independently from the nature of the excitation input.