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Synchronized switch damping (SSD) techniques have recently been developed for structural vibration control using piezoelectric materials. In these techniques, piezoelectric materials are bonded on the vibrating structure and shunted by a network of electrical elements. These piezoelectric materials are switched according to the amplitude of the excitation force to damp vibration. This paper presents a new SSD technique called ‘synchronized switch damping on negative capacitance and adaptive voltage sources’ (SSDNCAV). The technique combines the phenomenon of capacitance transient charging and electrical resonance to effectively dampen the structural vibration. Also, the problem of stability observed in the previous SSD techniques is effectively addressed by adapting the voltage on the piezoelectric patch according to the vibration amplitude of the structure. Analytical expressions of vibration attenuation at the resonance frequency are derived, and the effectiveness of this new technique is demonstrated, for the control of a resonant cantilever beam with bonded piezoelectric patches, by comparing with SSDI, SSDVenh, and SSDNC techniques. Theoretical predictions and experimental results show the remarkable vibration damping capability of SSDNCAV technique, which was better than the previous SSD techniques. The broadband vibration control capabilities of SSDNCAV technique are also demonstrated, which exceed those of previous SSD techniques.

Attaching a piezoelectric transducer to a vibrating structure, and shunting it with an electric circuit, gives rise to different passive, semi-passive, and semi-active control techniques. This paper attempts to review the research related to structural vibration control, via passive, semi-passive, and semi-active control methods. First, the existing electromechanical modeling is reviewed, along with the modeling methods. These range from lumped parameters, to distributed parameters modeling of piezostructural systems shunted by electrical networks. Vibration control laws are then discussed, covering passive, semi-passive, and semi-active control techniques, which are classified according to whether external power is supplied to the piezoelectric transducers, or not. Emphasis is placed on recent articles covering semi-passive and semi-active control techniques, based upon switched shunt circuits. This review provides the necessary background material for researchers interested in the growing field of vibration damping and control, via shunted piezostructural systems.

Wind tunnels usually use long cantilever stings to support aerodynamic models in order to reduce support system flow interference on experimental data. However, such support systems are a potential source of vibration problems which limit the test envelope and affect data quality due to the inherently low structural damping of the systems. When exposed to tunnel flow, turbulence and model flow separation excite resonant Eigenmodes of a sting structure causing large vibrations due to low damping. This paper details the development and experimental evaluation of an active damping system using piezoelectric devices with balance signal feedback both in a lab and a low speed acoustic wind tunnel and presents the control algorithm verification tests with a simple cantilever beam. It is shown that the active damper, controlled separately by both PID and BP neural network, has effectively attenuated the vibration. For sting mode only, 95% reduction of displacement response under exciter stimulation and 98% energy elimination of sting mode frequency have been achieved.