Passive modal damping with piezoelectric shunts

The use of piezoelectric materials in conjunction with passive inductance-resistance-capacitance (RLC) circuits to dampen specific vibration modes is explored. The piezoelectric materials convert mechanical energy to electrical energy, which is then dissipated in the RLC circuit through joule heating. An impulse is applied to a simple cantilevered beam and by varying the inductance and resistance values, the natural oscillation frequency fcir the RLC circuit is tuned to dampen the first mode of vibration