Vibration Control by RL Shunted Piezoelectric Proof-Mass Absorbers

While the resistive-inductive shunting of a piezoelectric proof-mass absorber has beenwidely considered for energy harvesting, it has been seemingly unapplied for structural control and damping. This may be because a calibration procedure would involve three dynamic degrees-of-freedom, which may be difficult to balance without use of numerical optimization tools.

In the present paper, the concept of equal modal damping is used totune the stiffness ratios of the shunted proof-mass absorber, while the shunt mass ratiois subsequently chosen according to a reference value that controls the overall root locuscharacteristics of the system. Finally, the remaining absorber damping is chosen to simplyminimize the dynamic amplification curve of the structure.

It is demonstrated that theshunted proof-mass absorber is superior to the classic tuned mass damper and requires asubstantially smaller inductance than in typical RL shunts.