Experimental Study on Damping Characteristics of Piezoceramic Materials Shunted by Passive Electrical Circuits

Abstract

Piezoelectric materials have an ability to efficiently transform mechanical energy to electric energy and vice versa, which makes them useful as structural dampers. The objective of this work is to investigate the damping capabilities of a piezoceramic shunted by different types of passive electrical circuits. The material properties of the shunted piezoceramic are modeled and the analytical results show that the shunted piezoceramic exhibits different damping potentials depending on the piezoelectric properties of the material and the shunt circuits. An experimental set-up of a cantilever beam with surface bonded piezoceramics is proposed to investigate the damping characteristics of the shunted piezoceramic. An analytical model is developed to describe the influence of the shunted piezoceramic on the dynamic response of the beam. The damping performances of the piezoceramic shunted by different circuits are compared respectively and the experimental results show approximate agreement with the numerical simulations of the model.