Passive damping of beam vibrations through distributed electric networks and piezoelectric transducers: prototype design and experimental validation

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel passive vibration damping method using distributed piezoelectric transducers and electric networks, validated through experiments showing significant vibration reduction and reduced inductance requirements.

Contribution

It introduces a new distributed damping device design with experimental validation, reducing inductance needs compared to traditional single transducer shunt methods.

Findings

Effective vibration damping near the first resonance frequency.

Reduced inductance requirements with increased piezoelectric elements.

Damping effectiveness extends to higher vibration modes.

Abstract

The aim of this work is two-fold: to design devices for passive electric damping of structural vibrations by distributed piezoelectric transducers and electric networks, and to experimentally validate the effectiveness of such a damping concept. Two different electric networks are employed, namely a purely resistive network and an inductive-resistive one. The presented devices can be considered as distributed versions of the well-known resistive and resonant shunt of a single piezoelectric transducer. The technicalfeasibility and damping effectiveness of the proposed novel devices are assessed through the construction of an experimental prototype. Experimental results are shown to be in very good agreement with theoretical predictions. It is proved that the presented technique allows for a substantial reduction in the inductances used when compared with those required by the single resonant shunted transducer. In particular, it is shown that the required inductance decreases when the number of piezoelectric elements is increased. The electric networks are optimized in order to reduce forced vibrations close to the first resonance frequency. Nevertheless, the damping effectiveness for higher modes is experimentally proved. As well as specific results, fundamental theoretical and experimental considerations for passive distributed vibration control are provided.