The vibration suppression efficiency of so-called shunted piezoelectric systems is decisivelyinfluenced by the number, shape, dimensions and position of the piezoelectric ceramicelements integrated into the structure. This paper presents a procedure based onevolutionary algorithms for optimum placement of piezoelectric ceramic modules on highlyconstrained lightweight structures. The optimization loop includes the CAD softwareCATIA V5, the FE package ANSYS and DynOPS, a proprietary software tool able toconnect the Evolving Object library with any simulation software that can be started inbatch mode. A user-defined piezoelectric shell element is integrated into ANSYS 9.0. Thegeneralized electromechanical coupling coefficient is used as the optimization objective.Position, dimensions, orientation, embedding location in the composite lay-up andwiring of customized patches are determined for optimum vibration suppressionunder consideration of operational and manufacturing constraints, such as addedmass, maximum strain and requirements on the control circuit. A rear wing ofa racing car is investigated as the test object for complex, highly constrainedgeometries.