Piezoelectric networking for structural vibration control

Because of their electro-mechanical coupling characteristics, piezoelectric materials have been explored extensively for structural vibration control applications. Some of the advantages of piezoelectric actuators include high bandwidth, high precision, compactness, and easy integration with existing host structures to form the so-called smart structures. In a classical arrangement, electric field is often applied to the piezoelectric materials (which can be surface bonded or embedded in the host structure) based on sensor feedback and control commands. In response to the applied field, stress/strain will be induced in the piezoelectric material and force or moments can thus be created to control the host structure. In recent years, considerable amount of research has been performed to further enhance the piezoelectric actuation performance through electrical tailoring. In these investigations, piezoelectric materials have been integrated with external electrical circuits to form piezoelectric networks, which can be synthesized in various passive, semi-active, and active-passive hybrid configurations. Through electrical tailoring, they can be utilized for different types of operations: such as modal damping augmentation, narrowband disturbance rejection, vibration delocalization, and energy confinement. Many interesting phenomena have been explored and promising results have been illustrated. This seminar will review and assess some of these recent efforts in structural vibration control treatments with piezoelectric network tailoring.