Analogies between Shunted Piezoceramics and Mechanical Damping Elements

Piezoelectric shunt damping is an emerging field of research. In this technique the electrodes of a piezoceramics are connected to an electrical shunt. Due to the piezoelectric effect, some part of the kinetic energy of the mechanical host structure is converted into electrical energy. The electrical network is designed with the aim to maximize the energy dissipation, which yields a damping effect for the mechanical system. Various electrical shunts like inductance-resistance networks, negative capacitances and switching networks are commonly used for this purpose. In this paper, the effective damping performances of piezoelectric shunt damping with various electrical networks are evaluated. A comparison with viscous damping and dry friction demonstrates the analogies with mechanical damping elements.