Modeling the Dynamic Behavior of Magnetostrictive Actuators

This paper deals with the modeling and design of magnetostrictive devices in dynamic regime. It starts from an approach which couples a physical model of the magnetostriction with a finite-element electromagnetic field analysis of the entire device. A first study, previously published by the authors and developed under the simplifying hypothesis of steady-state working conditions, is here extended to arbitrary supply conditions, including the mechanical coupling. The proposed time domain model is applied to the analysis of a prototype of magnetostrictive actuator, equipped with sensors for global and local measurements. The model has been validated with experiments and then applied to the analysis of the role of electrical and mechanical parameters.