Control of Structural Vibration Using Shunt Piezoelectric Materials

In this study, structural vibration control using semi-active shunt piezoelectric damping circuits is presented. A piezoelectric patch with an electrical shunt circuit is bonded to a base structure. When the structure vibrates, the piezoelectric patch strains and transforms the mechanical energy of the structure into electrical energy, which can be effectively dissipated by the shunt circuit. Hence, the shunt circuit acts as a means of extracting mechanical energy from the base structure. In this study, a pulse-switching circuit is imposed as the semi-active shunt piezoelectric damping to reduce the structural vibration. The switch-law for the pulse-switching circuit is discussed in detail, and the detailed numerical calculations are given and discussed. It is found that the pulse-switching circuit is more stable than passive piezoelectric circuit (such as RL series circuit) with regard to structural stiffness variations.