Active and Passive Vibration Damping

9Vibration Damping with Shunted Piezoelectric Networks

9.1 Introduction

Shunted piezoelectric networks have been used extensively as effective means for damping structural vibration and associated noise radiation. Their effectiveness stems from their behavior characteristics that resemble that of conventional viscoelastic materials. Furthermore, these networks are light in weight, easy to use, and can have tunable characteristics. In this chapter, the theory governing the operation of these shunted piezoelectric networks is presented. Applications to the control of a single as well of as multi‐modes of vibration are discussed using the theory of finite elements.

The theory of operation these shunted piezoelectric networks has been developed by numerous investigators such as: Hagood et al. (1990), Hagood and von Flotow (1991), Edberg et al. (1991), Law et al. (1995), Lesieutre and Davis (1997), Park and Inman (1999), Tsai and Wang (1999), and Moheimani et al. (2001). Comprehensive reviews of the field of shunted piezoelectric networks are presented by Gripp and Rade (2018) as well as by Yan et al. (2017).

9.2 Shunted Piezoelectric Patches

Piezoelectric patches bonded to the vibrating structure are utilized to convert the vibrational energy of the structure into electrical energy. The generated electrical energy is then dissipated in shunted electric networks, as shown in Figure 9.1, which are tuned in order to maximize their energy dissipation characteristics (Lesieutre