Optimal design of piezoelectric materials for vibration damping in mechanical systems

This paper examines two different techniques for vibration control in mechanical systems using piezoceramics: the first one is based on a pure collocated damping control and the second uses resonant circuit shunting. Optimization techniques are used to determine the best design parameters with respect to performance indexes, which are associated with the dynamical behavior of the system, when several natural frequencies are present in the frequency band. The methodology presented in this paper is focused on the design aspects of vibration control devices and it can be extended to more complex structures.