Real-time switching of piezoelectric shunts for structural vibration control

Abstract

The use of piezoelectric actuators to passively add damping to vibrating structures has been investigated for over a decade. Simple resonant shunt circuits consisting of resistors and inductors are connected to the piezoelectric actuators to add damping to one of the structural modes [Hagood and Crawley, J. Guid. Control Dyn. 14]. Modifications to the method have been proposed to enable a multi-modal damping technique, but at the cost of performance to any one mode [e.g., Wu, Proc. of 1998 SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Conference, Vol. 3327, pp. 159–168]. The objective of this talk is to discuss recent research into methods that help eliminate the disadvantages of passive resonant shunt damping. The methods to be discussed involve real-time switching of piezoelectric shunt circuits, and are based on the foundations laid by Larson [Ph.D. Dissertation, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1996], Clark [J. Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct. 11, 263–271], and Richard et al. [Proc. of 1999 SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Conference, Vol. 3672, pp. 104–111]. This talk will begin with the basic concepts of real-time switching, and will lead up to recent research that has demonstrated the use of the technique for multi-modal vibration suppression.