Resonant Piezoelectric Shunt Tuning Based on the Electric Current and Voltage Response to Pseudo-Random Vibration Excitation

A tuning procedure for resonant piezoelectric shunt damping based on measurable experimental data is proposed. The procedure is derived from a proposed resonant shunt tuning method designed for the implementation in commercial finite element (FE) software, including the contribution from nonresonant vibration modes.

It has been found that this procedure is robust and effective for vibration mitigation in both beam and plate structures. In the present procedure a pseudo-random excitation signal is imposed on a structure with attached piezoceramic patches, while the piezoelectric electrodes are respectively in short- or open circuit.

In both cases a time record of respectively the electric current and voltage is measured with a high quality multimeter. A Fast-Fourier-Transform is then used on these time records in order to determine the electric current and voltage frequency response functions. Finally, the optimum resonant shunt inductances and resistances are determined from the corresponding modal properties, which are extracted from the two frequency response functions.

The method is demonstrated for a free beam with two pairs of piezoceramic patches, one pair used for the vibration excitation and the other for vibration mitigation. The experimental results are found to be in good agreement with the results from a corresponding numerical model build up in the commercial FE-software ANSYS®.