Dynamic modeling for soft dielectric elastomer actuator considering different input frequencies and external loads

Abstract

A dynamic model for the soft dielectric elastomer actuator (SDEA) is developed in this paper to describe its intricately nonlinear behaviors considering different input frequencies and external loads. Firstly, the characteristics of the SDEA are observed by several groups of experiments. A phenomenological model is proposed to describe the asymmetric hysteresis behavior of the SDEA, which consists of a Prandtl-Ishlinskii model with one-side play operator and a dead-zone model with one-side dead-zone operator. Meanwhile, a mathematical model is built to depict the creep behavior of the SDEA. The dynamic model including a module and a linear system is proposed to further handle the rate-dependent and the stress-dependent hysteresis behaviors of the SDEA, in which the module is the superposition of the asymmetric hysteresis model and the creep model. To ensure that the inverse solution of the module is existing, as well as the linear system is controllable and observable, the constraint conditions of parameter values of the dynamic model are constructed. Next, the parameter identification is divided into two steps, and the differential evolution algorithm is employed in each step. Finally, the generalization of the proposed dynamics model is demonstrated by comparing the model output with the experimental data.