Eur. Phys. J.

Special Topics 224, 28032822 (2015)

EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag 2015
DOI: 10.1140/epjst/e2015-02590-8

THE EUROPEAN
PHYSICAL JOURNAL
SPECIAL TOPICS

Regular Article

Piezomagnetoelastic broadband energy

harvester: Nonlinear modeling and
characterization
K. Aravind Kumara , S.F. Alib , and A. Arockiarajanc
Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
Chennai 600 036, India
Received 22 August 2015 / Received in nal form 9 September 2015
Published online 20 November 2015
Abstract. Piezomagnetoelastic energy harvesters are one among the
widely explored congurations to improve the broadband characteristics of vibration energy harvesters. Such nonlinear harvesters follow a
Moon beam model with two magnets at the base and one at the tip of
the beam. The present article develops a geometric nonlinear mathematical model for the broadband piezomagnetoelastic energy harvester.
The electromechanical coupling and the nonlinear magnetic potential
equations are developed from the dimensional system parameters to
describe the nonlinear dynamics exhibited by the system. The developed model is capable of characterizing the monostable, bistable and
tristable operating regimes of the piezomagnetoelastic energy harvester,
which are not explicit in the Dung representation of the system. Bifurcations and attractor motions are analyzed as nonlinear functions
of the distance between base magnets and the eld strength of the tip
magnet. The model is further used to characterize the potential wells
and stable states, with due focus on the performance of the system in
broadband energy harvesting.

1 Introduction
An enormous growth has been witnessed in the realm of wireless devices in the past
few decades. But, in many cases, the extent of services rendered by these devices has
been dictated by the lifetime of batteries powering them. Presence of a self-sustainable
power source would thus enable to exploit the full potential of such devices. Miniaturization is the prime motive behind the current technological revolution and as
devices continue to shrink, less energy is required on-board. This has invoked the
interest of researchers to eciently harvest even a small amount of electrical energy

a
b
c

e-mail: aravindkumarerode@gmail.com
e-mail: sfali@iitm.ac.in; Corresponding author: Shaikh Faruque Ali
e-mail: aarajan@iitm.ac.in

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The European Physical Journal Special Topics

available in the environment. Ambient vibrations, temperature gradients and radiations are some of the potential sources from which electrical energy could be harvested. Among these, low frequency mechanical vibrations (1100 Hz) are commonly
available and could act as a long term source of power for miniature devices. This
range of frequency for energy harvesting also benets from large scale applications on
infrastructure.
Various energy harvesting devices have been proposed in the past decade [1]. The
classical design of a harvester consists of a cantilever beam carrying a tip mass. The
model exploits the linear resonance of the system and uses a transducer to convert
mechanical vibrations to electrical energy. The common methods of transduction include electromagnetic, electrostatic and piezoelectric [2]. Regardless of the transduction method, the resonant design targets a harmonic form of vibration and is ecient
when excited harmonically at its resonant frequency. Ambient vibrations are random
in nature and under such excitations, the eciency of resonant harvesters is drastically reduced [3]. Hence, modern research focuses on broadband energy harvesting
where the harvester gives a fairly good output over a broad range of frequencies [4].
Tang et al. [5] reviewed the recent advances in the eld of broadband energy
harvesting like resonance tuning approach, multimodal energy harvesting, frequency
up-conversion method and nonlinear energy harvesting as a few options to increase
the bandwidth of the harvester. The authors reported that the nonlinear stiness of
the harvester could be varied to achieve higher bandwidth of operation. One such
system that exploits this technique is the nonlinear motion of an elastic pendulum
oscillating in a magnetic eld, popularly known as piezomagnetoelastic harvester.
This magnetoelastic structure was rst investigated by Moon and Holmes [6] in 1979
as a mechanical structure that exhibits strange attractor motions. Electrical energy
could be harvested from this device by attaching piezoelectric patches along the beam.
Moon and Holmes showed that the bifurcations of the static system are described by
a buttery catastrophe with a sixth order magnetoelastic potential. Depending on
the magnet spacing, the ferromagnetic beam may have one, three or ve equilibrium
positions. Among these equilibrium positions, a few will be stable and the others
will be unstable. The harvester with two stable equilibrium positions is said to be a
bistable energy harvester while that with three stable positions is called a tristable
energy harvester.
Erturk et al. [7] extended the application of the Moon beam to broadband energy
harvesting and investigated the energy harvesting potential of the bistable energy harvester under harmonic excitations and reported an order of magnitude larger power
over the linear system without magnets. Stanton et al. [8] studied the hardening and
softening response of the bistable harvester by tuning nonlinear magnetic interactions and veried that the piezomagnetoelastic harvester could outperform its linear
resonant counterpart. Litak et al. [9] investigated the performance of the bistable
harvester under random excitations using numerical methods and showed that the
system exhibits stochastic resonance while S.F. Ali et al. [10] investigated the same
using analytical methods and gave an approximate closed form solution for the ensemble average of harvested power. Erturk and Inman [11] investigated the highenergy orbits in the piezomagnetoelastic energy harvester and compared the chaotic
response of the piezomagnetoelastic conguration against the periodic response of
the piezoelastic conguration theoretically and experimentally. The authors reported
that the piezomagnetoelastic conguration can generate an order of magnitude larger
power compared to the piezoelastic counterpart at several frequencies. Zhou et al. [12]
investigated the piezomagnetoelastic harvester for enhanced broadband frequency response by altering the angular orientation of its external magnets. Zhu and Zu [13]
investigated the energy harvesting performance of a similar conguration in which a
buckled beam with a non-contact midpoint magnetic force was employed. In another

Nonlinear and Multiscale Dynamics of Smart Materials in Energy Harvesting

2805

instance, Zhou et al., [14] proposed a numerical model for the tristable energy harvester and demonstrated its improved performance over a bistable harvester with its
experimental verications.
Almost all available literature report a signicant increase in the performance of
nonlinear piezomagnetoelastic harvesters over their linear piezoelastic counterparts.
This invokes the enthusiasm to study the factors that enable nonlinear harvesters
to score over linear harvesters and possible ways to further enhance these factors.
To envisage such a detailed understanding of the piezomagnetoelastic harvester for a
broader choice of system parameters like magnetic separation, eld strength of magnets, dimensions of the harvester, etc., a mathematical model that incorporates the
knowledge of available parameters has to be developed to characterize the system,
which to the best of authors knowledge is missing in the current literature. A greater
fraction of the models reported in literature depend on experimental data for a complete characterization of the system. For instance, the mathematical models reported
in literature [711] are based on a dimensionless form of Dung equation, with the
non-dimensional characteristic groups being derived from experiments. Whereas, in
[14], the numerical model reported has used experimentally identied high order polynomial for the equivalent nonlinear restoring force in the system. Hence, in this work,
an attempt has been made to develop a mathematical model for the piezomagnetoelastic harvester based on knowledge of system parameters.
Analytical model of a harvester under the inuence of a single magnet at the
base is developed in [15]. The analytical formulation has enabled the authors to
explore in depth the variety of multiple attractors that may exist across a broad frequency range. The harvester reported in [15], called as bistable piezoelectric inertial
generator, has only one base magnet and a double-well potential, whereas a piezomagnetoelastic harvester may have a single-well, double-well or triple-well potential
based on the choice of parameters. Hence, a complete mathematical model based on
system parameters becomes necessary to designate the manifestation of monostable,
bistable and tristable regimes in the piezomagnetoelastic system. Inspired by a subtle
understanding of the science governing the nonlinear dynamics of the system, the
present work focuses on development of a mathematical model to characterize the
piezomagnetoelastic energy harvesters in terms of their potential wells and stable
states. The mathematical characterization of the harvester is intended to provide insight into the choice of parameters, so that the harvester can be tailored to reconcile
with specic environments to give improved performance. The developed model is
also numerically simulated to identify the attractor basins, bifurcations and chaotic
responses.

2 Modeling of piezomagnetoelastic energy harvester

In this section, a brief description about the piezomagnetoelastic harvester is presented and subsequently, the governing equation of motion is developed. The harvester consists of a vertical cantilever beam made up of a non-ferromagnetic material,
carrying a permanent magnet at its tip. The beam bends between two permanent
magnets under combined inuence of magnetic eld and the exogenous excitation
(as shown in Fig. 1). This system is highly nonlinear and exhibits chaotic responses.
Figure 1 shows the beam as a vertical cantilever of length L with harmonic base
excitation x
g = x sin t. The beam carries a permanent magnet of radius at , length
2bt , mass Mt , and moment of inertia It , at its tip. The horizontal and vertical elastic displacements at the tip mass are v and u, respectively. The distance along the
neutral axis of the beam is represented by s. The beam has cross-sectional area A,
mass density , equivalent Youngs modulus E and second moment of area I. The

The European Physical Journal Special Topics

Lc

2806

Piezoelectric
Patches

Excitation
x sin t

P
u

s
up

vp
N
S

at A

dv

2b t

dh

N
S

a
N

SS

2b

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of piezomagnetoelastic energy harvester.

displacement-curvature relation of the beam is non-linear due to the large transverse

displacement of the beam. Also, it is assumed that the thickness of the beam is small
compared with the length, so that the eects of shear deformation and rotary inertia
of the beam can be neglected. The beam is such that the rst torsional resonance
frequency is much higher than the excitation frequency, and the lumped mass is kept
symmetric with respect to the center line. Hence, we assume the vibration to be
purely planar, and the torsional modes of the beam can be neglected in the analysis.
The beam vibrates in the magnetic eld created by the two bar magnets ML and
MR , each of radius a and length 2b. The two magnets are placed symmetrically with
the north pole facing upwards, on either side of the clamped position of the beam,
as shown in Fig. 1. The vertical distance between the center of tip magnet A and
the center of base magnets is denoted as dv and the horizontal distance between the
center of tip mass A and the center of either magnets is denoted as dh . Piezoelectric
patches are pasted either in a unimorph or bimorph conguration near the xed end
of the beam, to extract electrical energy from the harvester.
The presence of piezoelectric patches makes the system to exhibit a coupled
electromechanical behavior. Hence, the system is governed by two coupled dierential
equations, one corresponding to mechanical domain and the other corresponding to
electrical domain. The mechanical governing equation is derived using energy principles based on Euler-Lagrange equation and the electrical equation is derived by
considering an equivalent circuit model.

Nonlinear and Multiscale Dynamics of Smart Materials in Energy Harvesting

2807

2.1 Modeling of elastic beam using energy principles

To begin with, Euler-Lagrange equation (Eq. (1)) for conservative system is considered
to develop the equation of motion,


L
d L

=0
(1)
dt v
v
where L denotes the Lagrangian which is the dierence between kinetic and potential
energies of the system. Thus,
L=T

(2)

where T and denote the kinetic and potential energies respectively. The kinetic
and potential energies of the system are calculated (given next) and subsequently
substituted in Eq. (1) to derive the equation of motion of the system.
2.1.1 Kinetic energy
Consider an arbitrary point on the beam, P , at a distance s from the base. This
point undergoes a rigid body translation due to the base excitation (xg ) and a further
displacement due to the elastic beam deformation, which is given by (vp (s, t), up (s, t)).
Hence, the point P undergoes a total horizontal displacement of, xg +vp and a vertical
displacement of up . Let p (s, t) denote the slope of the beam at s.
The slope of the beam p (s, t) can be expressed in terms of the beam elastic
displacement as:
cos p = 1 up sin p = vp

(3)

where ( ) denotes partial dierentiation with respect to s. Hence,[16]


1
up = 1 1 (vp )2 (vp )2
2
On integrating Eq. (4) we get,

1 s 
(v (, t))2 d
up (s, t) =
2 0 p

(4)

(5)

and Eq. (3) gives

1
(6)
p (s, t) = sin1 vp vp + (vp )3
6
Dierentiating Eq. (6) partially w.r.t. s gives the curvature of the beam (s, t) [16].


1
(7)
(s, t) = p vp 1 + (vp )2
2
Equations (4), (6) and (7) have been expanded in Taylor series, and the terms of
order O(vp4 ) and higher are neglected.
In this article, it is assumed that the tip mass is signicantly larger than the beam
mass, and hence, a single-mode approximation of the beam deformation is sucient.
The displacement at any point in the beam is represented as a function of the tip
mass displacement through a function for the beam deformation, (s), as:
vp (s, t) = vp (L, t)(s) = v(t)(s).

(8)

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The displacement prole (s) can be approximated by any function satisfying the
boundary conditions at s = 0 [17,18]. Thus, we take

 
s
(9)
(s) = t 1 cos
2L
where t is a constant such that (t ) = 1.
Using this single-mode approximation, the kinetic energy of the system in terms
of the transverse displacement of the tip mass, v, is given as
T =

1
A
2


0

L


1
1
(v p (s, t) + x g )2 + (u p (s, t))2 ] ds + Mt [(v + x g )2 + u 2 + It 2 . (10)
2
2

Substituting Eq. (9), we get

  L
 L
 L
1
2
2
2
((s)) ds + x g
ds + 2v x g
(s) ds
T = A v
2
0
0
0

2 
 L  s
1
(  ())2 d ds + Mt v 2 + x 2g + 2v x g
+(v v)
2
2
0
0
 L

2 
2
1
1 2
2

2


3
+ It v
(Lt ) + v v(
+(v v)

( (s)) ds
(s)) (Lt )
2
2
0

T =

1
1
1
A[N1 v 2 + Lx 2g + 2N2 x g v + N3 (v v)
2 ] + Mt (v + x g )2 + Mt N42 (v v)
2
2
2
2
1
1
+ It (vN
5 + v 2 vN
53 )2 .
(11)
2
2

The constants from N1 to N5 mentioned in Eq. (11) can be evaluated using the
displacement model in Eq. (9) and using any symbolic math software [18].

N1 =

N4 =

(s) ds = t L

(  ())2 d

0
L

(  (s))2 ds = 2t

N5 =  (L) = t

L2

(12a)

L  s

1 2 3 8
L
2 t


N3 =

((s))2 ds =


N2 =

2

ds = 4t

1 2
L 8

(12b)
1 2 (2 2 9)
L
384

(12c)

(12d)

(12e)

Dierent displacement models will lead to dierent constants from N1 to N5 , which

may be easily derived using the displacement function (s).

Nonlinear and Multiscale Dynamics of Smart Materials in Energy Harvesting

2809

2.1.2 Potential energy

The total potential of the system is due to the elastic potential energy of beam,
gravitational potential energy of beam and tip magnet and the magnetic potential
energy of the tip magnet. The electric energy obtained from the piezoelectric patches
can be considered as the work done by the piezoelectric patch on extracting the
charges. Hence, the total potential energy of the system is given as
= E + G + M W

(13)

where E , G and M and are the elastic, gravitational and magnetic potential
energies respectively and W is the electrical work done by the piezoelectric patches.
Elastic Potential Energy: To account for the nonlinear elastic forces, the elastic
potential energy of the beam is taken to be nonlinear and is given as:

E =

1
EI
2

((s, t))2 ds

1
= EIv 2
2
=

(14a)

0
L


0

2

1 2 
2

(s) 1 + v ( (s)) + v
ds
4


1
EIv 2 (N6 + v 2 N7 + v 4 N8 ).
2

(14b)

(14c)

For lower values of horizontal displacement v, the elastic potential energy can
be approximated by a fourth order polynomial and hence the sixth order term
1
6
2 EIN8 v can be neglected. Hence,
E =

1
EIv 2 (N6 + v 2 N7 ).
2

(15)

The constants from N6 to N8 can be evaluated using the displacement model in

Eq. (9) in a similar fashion as that of the constants N1 to N5 and are given by

N6 =


N7 =


N8 =

(  (s))2 ds = 2t

1 4
L3 32

(  (s))2 (  (s))2 ds = 4t

(  (s))2 (  (s))4 ds = 6t

(16a)

1 6
L5 512

(16b)

1 8

L7 4096

(16c)

Gravitational Potential Energy: Due to external excitation, any point P (s)

in the beam displaces by up (s, t) vertically, against the gravity from its reference
position and the tip mass translates by u(s, t) = up (L, t). Hence, the gravitational

2810

The European Physical Journal Special Topics

potential energy of the system is given as


G = Ag

(up (s, t))2 ds + Mt gu

1
= Agv 2
2
=

L s

(17a)

1
( ()) d ds + Mt gv 2
2


(  (s))2 ds

(17b)

1
1
Agv 2 N9 + Mt gv 2 N4 .
2
2

(17c)

The constant N9 can be evaluated using the displacement model in Eq. (9) as
L  s


N9 =

( ()) d ds =
0

2t


1 2
+

4
16

(18)

Magnetic Potential Energy: Moon and Holmes [6] observed a nonlinear dependence of magnetic forces on tip displacement for the Moon beam model and
used a sixth order polynomial to describe the magnetic potential energy:
M = c0 + c1 v 2 + c2 v 4 + c3 v 6 .

(19)

The derivation of the above expression for magnetic potential energy and the
evaluation of constants c0 , c1 , c2 and c3 are explained later in Sect. 2.3.
Electrical Work done: Piezoelectric patches, pasted either in a unimorph or in
bimorph conguration, near the xed end of the beam, can be used to extract electrical energy from the harvester. There has been a signicant eort in modelling
the piezoelectric materials as distributed transducers and many review articles
have been published (for example, see [1923]).
Friswell et al., [18] has given a complete form of the electromechanical coupling equations. A summary of the expressions is presented here. We assume the
dimensions of the patches are Lc for length, wc for width and hc as the thickness.
The moment produced by a voltage V across the piezoelectric layer is given by
M (s, t) = c V (t)

(20)

where the constant c depends on the geometry and conguration of the piezoelectric transducer. Hence, the work done by the piezoelectric patches in moving
or extracting the charges is



1
1 v + 2 v 3 V
3

Lc

M (s, t)(s)ds

W =
0

(21)

where

1 = c

Lc


2 = 3c

 (s)ds = c  (Lc )

Lc

1
1 
(s)(  (s))2 ds = c (  (Lc ))3 .
2
2

(22a)
(22b)

Nonlinear and Multiscale Dynamics of Smart Materials in Energy Harvesting

2811

Thus, the total potential energy of the system is given as

1
1
1
EIv 2 (N6 + v 2 N7 ) + Agv 2 N9 + Mt gv 2 N4 + c0 + c1 v 2 + c2 v 4
2
2
2


1
+c3 v 6 1 v + 2 v 3 V.
3

(23)

On substituting the expressions obtained for kinetic and potential energies in EulerLagrange equation of motion (Eq. (1)), the following is obtained as the dynamics of
the system

AN1 + Mt +

It N52

+ (AN3 +

Mt N42

It N54 )v 2


1
6 4
+ It N5 v v
4


1
6 3 2
+
+ It N5 v v + Mt gN4 + EIN6
+(AN3 +
2

2
2
4
+2EIN7 v + AgN9 + 2c1 + 4c2 v + 6c3 v v 1 V 2 v 2 V
Mt N42

It N54 )v v 2

= [AN2 + Mt ]
xg .

(24)

Damping may also be added to the equation of motion, for example, viscous, material
or aerodynamic damping.

2.2 Electrical governing equation

On the electrical side, the piezoelectric patches can be considered as a capacitor.
The equivalent electrical circuit for the system is represented by a load resistor connected in parallel across the piezoelectric patches. The electrical governing dierential
equation then becomes
V
+ 1 v + 2 v 2 v = 0
Cp V +
Rl

(25)

where Rl is the load resistor and Cp is the capacitance of the piezoelectric patches.

2.3 Expression for nonlinear magnetic potential energy

The tip mass vibrates in the magnetic eld created by the two cylindrical bar magnets
ML and MR , each of radius a and length 2b. The two magnets are placed symmetrically in vertical position, with the north pole facing upwards, on either side of the
clamped position of the beam, as shown in Fig. 1. The magnetic eld produced by a
bar magnet is analogous to that produced by a nite solenoid [24]. The magnetic eld
produced by the solenoid has cylindrical symmetry. Thus, a local cylindrical coordinate system (r, , z) has been introduced to calculate the magnetic eld, as shown in
Fig. 1. Cylindrical symmetry makes the magnetic eld independent of direction.
Hence, the magnetic eld at any point has two components, one along the axis of the
magnet (z axis) and the other along the radial direction (r axis) [25]. For points
close to the z axis, the magnetic eld is determined by the distance from the axis

2812

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and the values it takes on the axis. Thus, the components of magnetic eld at any
point K(r, z) are given by [25]
Bz (r, z) =

n 2n



1 r2

B
2
2n axis
n!
4
z
n=0

 2 n 2n+1

r
r 
1

Baxis
Br (r, z) =
2 n=0 n!(n + 1)!
4
z 2n+1

(26a)

(26b)

where Baxis is the magnetic eld at a point along the axis of the magnet.
Owing to the analogy between a cylindrical bar magnet and a solenoid, the magnetic eld at a point along the axis of the magnet (solenoid) is given as [24]


z+b
0 nI
zb

(27)

Baxis =
2
(z + b)2 + a2
(z b)2 + a2
The term nI in the above equation corresponds to total current in the solenoid and
can be substituted in terms of the eld strength at the magnets surface on its axis [26]

2Bs (2b)2 + a2
(28)
nI =
0
2b
where Bs denotes the eld strength at the magnets surface for the base magnets.
Substituting Eq. (28) in Eq. (27) we get,



(2b)2 + a2
z+b
zb

(29)

Baxis = Bs
2b
(z + b)2 + a2
(z b)2 + a2
The resultant magnetic eld at a point A is obtained through the contributions from
both the magnets. In terms of beam displacements, the coordinates (r, z) are given
as
For left magnet, (r, z) = (dh + v, dv + u)
For right magnet, (r, z) = (dh + v, dv + u).
Since, horizontal displacement of tip mass u could be substituted as a function of v,
as given in Eq. (5), the parameters r and z can be expressed as functions of vertical
displacement of tip mass v. On substituting the above coordinates in Eqs. (26a) and
(26b), we can express the magnetic eld in terms of vertical displacement of the tip
mass v.
Thus, the components of resultant magnetic eld at point A are given as:
BRz (v) = Bz (dh + v, dv + u) + Bz (dh + v, dv + u)

(30a)

BRr (v) = Br (dh + v, dv + u) + Br (dh + v, dv + u).

(30b)

The elds BRz and BRr , can be expressed as a Taylors series in terms of the horizontal
tip displacement v as shown,
BRz (v) = a0 + a1 v 2 + a2 v 4 + a3 v 6 + O(v 8 )

(31a)

BRr (v) = b1 v + b2 v 3 + b3 v 5 + O(v 7 ).

(31b)

Nonlinear and Multiscale Dynamics of Smart Materials in Energy Harvesting

2813

The coecients ai and bi are evaluated using the symbolic computing software
Mathematica , by appropriate substitution of system parameters. As mentioned earlier, a sixth order polynomial is sucient to describe the magnetic potential energy
of the system. Hence, the terms of the order O(v 7 ) and above are neglected in the
above expressions.
The magnetic potential energy of the tip magnet is given as
M

1
=
2


v

Mt BR dv

(32)

where Mt is the magnetization of the permanent magnet attached as tip mass.

It is assumed that the magnetic eld is fairly uniform over the entire volume of the
permanent magnet. It is also assumed that the macroscopic average magnetization is
constant for the permanent magnet. Thus,
1
M = mt BR
2

(33)

where mt is the magnetic moment of the permanent magnet given as


mt =

Mt dv.

(34)

The permanent magnet attached to the tip can also be assumed as a solenoid of length
2bt and radius at . Thus, magnetic moment of the tip is
mt = 2bt nI(at )2 .

(35)

Substituting for nI from Eq. (28),

mt =

2Bt
(at )2 (2bt )2 + (at )2
0

(36)

where Bt , at and bt denote the eld strength at tip magnets surface on its axis, radius
of the tip magnet and length of the tip magnet respectively. Since Bt , at and bt are
constants, mt is also a constant.
The magnetic moment of the tip magnet can be resolved into horizontal and
vertical components,
mth = mt sin

mtv = mt cos .

(37)

The horizontal and vertical components of external magnetic eld are given by BRr
and BRz respectively. Substituting the above in Eq. (33), we obtain
1
M = (BRr mth + BRz mtv )
2

(38)

1
M = (BRr mt sin + BRz mt cos ).
2

(39)

(40)

From Eq. (3) we have,

cos = 1

u
L

sin =

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Thus, Eq. (39) becomes,

M




u
1
v

= BRr mt + BRz mt 1
2
L
L

(41)

From Eq. (5), the horizontal displacement of tip mass u could be substituted as a
function of v as
2 v2

8L
On substituting Eqs. (31a), (31b) and (42) in Eq. (41),
u=





2 v2
1 mt
2
4
6
2
4
6
(b1 v +b2 v +b3 v )+mt 1
(a0 +a1 v +a2 v +a3 v )
=
2 L
8L2

M =

(42)

(43)


mt
8a0 L2 + (a0 2 + 8a1 L2 + 8b1 L)v 2
16L2


+(a1 2 + 8a2 L2 + 8b2 L)v 4 + (a2 2 + 8a3 L2 + 8b3 L)v 6

(44)

Thus,
M = c0 + c1 v 2 + c2 v 4 + c3 v 6

(45)

where,
c0 =

mt
8a0 L2
16L2

(46a)

c1 =

mt
(a0 2 + 8a1 L2 + 8b1 L)
16L2

(46b)

c2 =

mt
(a1 2 + 8a2 L2 + 8b2 L)
16L2

(46c)

c3 =

mt
(a2 2 + 8a3 L2 + 8b3 L).
16L2

(46d)

The constants c0 , c1 , c2 and c3 are determined by system parameters and the

expressions for the same were evaluated using the symbolic computing software
Mathematica .

3 Numerical simulations
The parameters considered for the numerical simulations are given in Table 1. The
harvester system is excited at the base with an harmonic excitation. Note that when
the tip mass is changed, the ratio Mt : It is maintained; this is equivalent to increasing
the tip mass width to increase the tip mass. Dierent values of the parameters L, a,
b, dh , dv , Bs and Bt will yield harvesters with dierent congurations, which can be
characterized in terms of the static equilibrium positions of the system. These static
equilibrium positions depend on the total potential energy of the system and can be

Nonlinear and Multiscale Dynamics of Smart Materials in Energy Harvesting

2815

Table 1. Parameters used for simulation.

Elastic Beam
Parameters

Piezoelectric Patches

Values

Parameters

Values

2700 kg/m

Lc

30 mm

70 GPa

wc

9.3 mm

9.5 mm

hc

0.5 mm

0.25 mm

d31

210 pC/N

96.1 mm

Cp

51.4 nF

0.01

Rl

20 M

Base Magnets

Tip Magnet

Parameters

Values

Parameters

Values

12.7 mm

at

5 mm

2b

6.35 mm

2bt

6.35 mm

dv

12.85 mm

Mt

10 g

Bs

0.01 T

It / Mt

40.87 mm2

deduced as described below. On neglecting the forcing and electrical energy terms
from the equation of motion (Eq. (24)), we get:


1
AN1 + Mt + It N52 + (AN3 + Mt N42 + It N54 )v 2 + It N56 v 4 v
4
1
+(AN3 + Mt N42 + It N54 )v v 2 + It N56 v 3 v 2
2


+ Mt gN4 + EIN6 + 2EIN7 v 2 + AgN9 + 2c1 + 4c2 v 2 + 6c3 v 4 v = 0. (47)
The static equilibrium positions can be obtained by setting the velocity and acceleration terms to zero in Eq. (47) to give:
(Mt gN4 + EIN6 + 2EIN7 v 2 + AgN9 + 2c1 + 4c2 v 2 + 6c3 v 4 )v = 0.

(48)

Equation (48) may have one, three or ve solutions and v = 0 is always a solution. The
obtained equilibrium positions can be either local maxima, local minima or saddle
points. Those positions that are local minima are stable while others are unstable.
Tristable harvesters are characterized by a triple well potential with three stable
equilibrium positions whereas bistable harvesters are characterized by a double well
potential with two stable equilibrium positions. Monostable harvesters have only one
stable equilibrium position.

3.1 Characterization of stable states and potential wells

In the piezomagnetoelastic system, the nonlinearities introduced due to the external
magnets are responsible for the strange attractor motions and inter-well oscillations.
These are characterized with the help of the magnetic potential energy function. The
magnetic potential energy depends primarily on the magnet positions and the eld

2816

The European Physical Journal Special Topics

Distance between magnets (m)

0.2254
0.2054

MONOSTABLE
HARVESTER

0.1854

3 equilibrium positions
1 stable state

BISTABLE
HARVESTER

0.1654

3 equilibrium positions
2 stable states

0.1454
0.1254

MONOSTABLE
HARVESTER

0.1054

1 equilibrium position
1 stable state

0.0854
0.0654

BISTABLE
HARVESTER

TRISTABLE
HARVESTER

5 equilibrium positions
2 stable states

5 equilibrium positions
3 stable states

0.0454
0.0254
0.1

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

Field strength at surface of tip magnet (T)

Fig. 2. Bifurcation set of the harvester in (Bt , d) space.

strength of the base and tip magnets. This can be parameterized by the magnetic
separation at the base d (= 2dh ), the eld strength of base magnets Bs and the eld
strength of tip magnet Bt .
The variation in the number of stable equilibrium positions as a function of distance between base magnets d and eld strength of tip magnet Bt , keeping other
parameters constant, is reported here. A variation of Bt and d reveal a fairly complex behavior, including up to ve equilibrium positions, with three stable sinks (see
Fig. 2). Variation of d and Bs , keeping other parameters constant, will also exhibit
a similar behavior. The bifurcation set of (Bt , d) space is shown in Fig. 2. Figure 2
shows the number of equilibrium positions and the number of stable states with variations in Bt and d. The gure is indicative of the regions in which the harvester is
monostable, bistable and tristable.
For a eld value of 0.03T , the harvester is tristable for smaller values of magnetic separation d. As, magnetic separation increases, the conguration changes to
monostable, and with further increase in d, it once again becomes tristable and nally,
bistable for higher values of d. For, a value of 0.03T , the harvester is monostable
for smaller values of magnetic separation d. The conguration becomes bistable with
increase in magnetic separation d and with further increase, the conguration once
again becomes bistable. The implications about these various points in Fig. 2 are
better explained using Fig. 3. Slices are taken parallel to the d-axis at dierent values
(0.06T , 0.03T , 0.001T , 0.001T , 0.03T and 0.06T respectively) of magnetic eld
strength of tip magnet and the corresponding bifurcation diagrams, resulting due to
increase in distance between base magnets, are shown in Fig. 3. Thin blue points
represent the stable static equilibrium positions whereas thick red points represent
the unstable ones. Figure 3 explains the change in static equilibrium positions and
consequently the harvester conguration as mentioned before. For instance, for a eld
strength of 0.03T , the harvester has three stable and two unstable static equilibrium
positions and is tristable for smaller values of magnetic separation d. As, magnetic

Nonlinear and Multiscale Dynamics of Smart Materials in Energy Harvesting

0.1
(a) Bt = 0.06 T

Equilibrium positions (m)

Equilibrium positions (m)

0.1

0.05

0.05

0.1
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

(b) Bt = 0.03 T
0.05

0.05

0.1
0

0.2

Equilibrium positions (m)

Equilibrium positions (m)

(c) Bt = 0.001 T
0.05

0.05

0.15

0.2

(d) Bt = 0.001 T
0.05

0.05

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.1
0

0.2

Distance between magnets (m)

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

Distance between magnets (m)

0.1

0.1
(e) Bt = 0.03 T

Equilibrium positions (m)

Equilibrium positions (m)

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.05

0.05

0.1
0

0.05

Distance between magnets (m)

Distance between magnets (m)

0.1
0

2817

0.05

0.1

0.15

Distance between magnets (m)

0.2

(f) Bt = 0.06 T
0.05

0.05

0.1
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

Distance between magnets (m)

Fig. 3. Bifurcation diagrams resulting due to increase in distance between the base magnets
taken at dierent values of magnetic eld strength of tip magnet. Thin blue points represent
the stable static equilibrium positions whereas thick red points represent the unstable ones.
(a) 0.06T ; (b) 0.03T ; (c) 0.001T ; (d) 0.001T ; (e) 0.03T and (f) 0.06T .

separation increases, the conguration changes to monostable (one stable and two
unstable positions), and with further increase in d, it once again becomes tristable
(three stable and two unstable positions) and nally, bistable (two stable and one
unstable position) for higher values of d. The potential wells corresponding to eld
strengths of 0.03T and 0.03T are shown in Fig. 4. From the gure, it is evident
that for a eld strength of Bs = 0.03T and magnetic separations of d = 30 mm and
d = 60 mm, the harvester has a triple well potential. There are ve static equilibrium positions among which three are stable, leading to a tristable conguration. At
the same eld strength, for a magnetic separation of d = 130 mm, the harvester has
two potential wells, with three equilibrium positions and two stable stables, thus exhibiting a bistable conguration. For values of magnetic separation d = 40 mm, the
harvester has only one potential well with a stable state with its local minimum, thus
exhibiting monostable conguration. Similarly, for a eld strength of Bt = 0.03T ,
the harvester exhibits a monostable and a bistable congurations for dierent values
of magnetic separation as shown in Fig. 4.

2818

The European Physical Journal Special Topics

3

x 10

10
(a) Bs = 0.03 T, d = 30 mm

Potential energy (J)

Potential energy (J)

10

6
4
2
0
2
4
50

25

25

x 10

(b) Bs = 0.03 T, d = 30 mm

8
6
4
2
0
2
4
50

50

25

25

50

Displacement v (mm)

Displacement v (mm)
3

x 10

Potential energy (J)

Potential energy (J)

(c) Bs = 0.03 T, d = 40 mm

3
2
1
0
1
2
50

25

25

x 10

(d) Bs = 0.03 T, d = 40 mm

4
3
2
1
0
1
2
50

50

25

5
(e) Bs = 0.03 T, d = 60 mm

4
3
2
1
0
1
2
50

25

25

(f) Bs = 0.03 T, d = 60 mm

4
3
2
1
0
1
2
50

50

25

50

0.08
(g) Bs = 0.03 T, d = 130 mm

Potential energy (J)

Potential energy (J)

25

Displacement v (mm)

0.08

0.04
0.02
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
50

50

x 10

Displacement v (mm)

0.06

25

x 10

Potential energy (J)

Potential energy (J)

Displacement v (mm)

Displacement (mm)

25

25

50

Displacement v (mm)
Elastic

Gravitational

0.06

(h) Bs = 0.03 T, d = 130 mm

0.04
0.02
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
50

25

25

50

Displacement v (mm)
Magnetic

Total

Fig. 4. Potential wells at dierent values of magnetic separation corresponding to a tip

magnet eld strength of 0.03T (left) and 0.03T (right). The corresponding values of magnetic separation are: (a) and (b) 30 mm; (c) and (d) 40 mm; (e) and (f) 60 mm and (g) and
(h) 130 mm. Red circles with yellow ll represent stable equilibrium positions whereas blue
squares with cyan ll represent unstable equilibrium positions.

Nonlinear and Multiscale Dynamics of Smart Materials in Energy Harvesting

2819

3.2 Eect of potential wells on harvester conguration

The elastic, gravitational and magnetic potential energies are characterized by polynomials that do not have an odd power. They are symmetric about the line v = 0.
The total potential energy of the system is therefore symmetric about v = 0. The
elastic and gravitational potential energies monotonically increase with increase in the
absolute value of horizontal displacement as shown in Fig. 4. The magnetic potential
does not behave the same way.
For the parameters mentioned in Table 1, when the base magnets and the tip
magnet have an attractive interaction, the magnetic potential energy increases with
the absolute value of horizontal displacement v. This is true for very small values
of v. Once the total potential reaches a local maximum, it decreases with increase
in absolute value of horizontal displacement. After reaching a minimum, the total
potential increases monotonically. When the base magnets and the tip magnet have
a repulsive interaction, the magnetic potential energy decreases with increase in absolute value of horizontal displacement v. This is also true for very small values of
v. After reaching a local minimum, it increases with increase in absolute value of
horizontal displacement. It then decreases monotonically after reaching a maximum.
At higher values of the absolute horizontal displacement the total potential energy decreases monotonically after crossing the outermost unstable equilibrium point
under repulsion of the base magnets and the tip magnet. This happens because at
higher values of the absolute horizontal displacement magnetic potential dominates
the contribution to the total potential. This results in system to stall beyond the outermost unstable equilibrium point. Hence, such an arrangement of magnets in which
the base magnets and the tip magnet have a repulsive interaction is not advisable.
On the other hand an attractive interaction between the base magnets and the
tip magnet is suitable for energy harvesting applications. The above argument in
terms of attractive and repulsive interaction of magnets is valid only for the parameters mentioned in Table 1. Further investigations are necessary to identify a generic
demarcation of the parameters for which the harvester would stall.

3.3 Eect of potential wells on harvester performance

The bistable and tristable congurations of the piezomagnetoelastic harvester are
capable of undergoing inter-well oscillations for certain values of excitation amplitude and frequencies. The stable equilibrium positions act as attractor basins for
the nonlinear motions exhibited by the harvester. Consider the tristable conguration corresponding to Bt = 0.001T and d = 130 mm and the bistable conguration
corresponding to Bt = 0.001T and d = 175 mm. The corresponding potential wells
are shown in Fig. 5 and are compared with the potential well of the linear harvester
without magnets. As observed in Fig. 5, the potential wells of the tristable harvester
are shallower while those of the bistable harvester are deeper. This means that the
potential energy of the tristable harvester is more uniformly distributed than that
of the bistable harvester. A deeper potential well means that larger kinetic energy
is required to carry out the high energy inter-well oscillations. To validate this, linearly increasing (up-sweep) frequency excitation simulations are performed over the
range of 0.01 to 20 Hz. For an amplitude of 4.5 ms2 , the tristable harvester is able
to overcome the potential barrier and undergo inter-well oscillations in the range of
413 Hz. At the same excitation amplitude, the bistable harvester could not undergo
inter-well oscillations as the potential wells are deeper. The corresponding plots are
shown in Fig. 6 and are compared with that of a linear harvester. It is also observed
from the plots that the power harvested by the linear harvester is maximum near its

2820

The European Physical Journal Special Topics

3

x 10

Tristable harvester
Bistable harveter
Linear harvester

Potential energy (J)

6
50

40

30

20

10

10

20

30

40

50

Displacement v (mm)

0
0.5
5

10

15

20

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

0.5
1
0

15

20

1
0

Voltage

0.5
5

10

15

0.5
1
0

20

10

15

Power
5

10

15

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

20

20

10

15

20

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

1

0.5

0
0

15

0.5
1
0

20

0.5

10

0.5

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

1

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

Power

10

0
0.5

0.5

0
0

1
0.5

Voltage

Voltage

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

0.5

1
0

0.5

Power

1
0

Displacement v

1
0.5

Displacement v

Displacement v

Fig. 5. Potential wells of tristable, bistable and linear harvesters. Red circles with yellow ll
represent stable equilibrium positions whereas blue squares with cyan ll represent unstable
equilibrium positions.

10

15

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

20

0.5

0
0

10

15

20

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 6. Comparison of the performance of piezomagnetoelastic tristable (left), bistable (middle) and linear piezoelastic (right) harvesters for base excitation amplitude of 4.5 ms2 under
up-sweep excitation through numerical simulations. Figure shows the variation of horizontal
displacement, voltage and harvested power with frequency. All response elds are normalized
with respect to their absolute maximum values.

1
0.5
0
0.5
1
0

10

20

30

1
0.5
0
0.5

40

1
0

10

20

30

0
0.5

40

1
0

0.5

0.5

10

20

30

0
0.5
1
0

40

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

20

30

0.5

10

20

30

40

0
0

40

10

20

30

40

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

1

0.5

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

30

1
0

40

Power

0
0

10

20

0.5

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

Power

1
0

Voltage

10

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

0.5

0.5

2821

0.5

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

Voltage

Voltage

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

Power

Displacement v

Displacement v

Displacement v

Nonlinear and Multiscale Dynamics of Smart Materials in Energy Harvesting

10

20

30

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

40

0.5

0
0

10

20

30

40

Excitation Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 7. Comparison of the performance of piezomagnetoelastic tristable (left), bistable (middle) and linear piezoelastic (right) harvesters for base excitation amplitude of 35 ms2 under
up-sweep excitation through numerical simulations. Figure shows the variation of horizontal
displacement, voltage and harvested power with frequency. All response elds are normalized
with respect to their absolute maximum values.

resonant frequency. Under up-sweep excitation, the bistable harvester discussed in

this article undergoes inter-well oscillations for an excitation amplitude of 35 ms2 ,
which is quite high. The performance characteristics of tristable, bistable and linear
harvesters for the excitation amplitude of 35 ms2 is shown in Fig. 7. Here, the simulations are performed for a range of 0.0140 Hz and the bistable harvester undergoes
inter-well oscillations for a range of 4 36 Hz whereas the tristable harvester undergoes inter-well oscillations for a range of 4 30 Hz. The observed results conrm that
harvesters with shallower potential wells can undergo inter-well oscillations at lower
amplitudes than those with deeper potential wells. Thus, the former is more suitable
for low ambient energy environments.

4 Summary and conclusion

The present article develops the geometric nonlinear mathematical model for the
broadband piezomagnetoelastic energy harvester. The electromechanical coupling and
the nonlinear magnetic potential equations are obtained from the dimensional system
parameters to describe the nonlinear dynamics exhibited by the system. Using Duings equation to model the piezomagnetoelastic harvester may not show many of the
important behaviors, which happens due to the presence of fth order term in the
magnetic restoring force. But, the developed model includes the fth order term and
is capable of characterizing the monostable, bistable and tristable operating regimes
of the piezomagnetoelastic energy harvester.
Furthermore, a parametric study on the eect of magnetic separation at the base
and the eld strength of the tip magnet is reported. The bifurcation diagrams are
shown to have better insight to the system behavior. For the range of parameters
investigated in this manuscript, if the base and the tip magnets are having an attractive interaction, the harvester is stable, while, on the other hand, if they are having a
repulsive interaction, the harvester stalls after exceeding certain amplitude of motion.

2822

The European Physical Journal Special Topics

The simulated results also conrm that once the system undergoes inter-well oscillations it harvests more power. For low ambient energy sources, one can use harvesters
with shallower potential wells, so that they undergo inter-well oscillations at lower
amplitudes. The study will benet the design of the harvester as choice can be made
on the magnetic separation at the base and the magnetic eld strength of the tip
based on the input excitation.
To sum up, with the aid of the developed mathematical model, the piezomagnetoelastic energy harvesters can be tailored to reconcile with specic environments to
give improved performance.

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