Use of shunted shear-mode piezoceramics for structural vibration passive damping

This work presents, for the first time, simple theoretical and finite element investigations of the use of shear-mode piezoceramics for shunted passive vibration damping, leading to the so-called shear-mode shunted damping (SSD). Hence, its impedance-based formulation is first presented, then a simple finite element approach is described for its numerical implementation. Finally, the resistive SSD performance is evaluated and assessed on beams against the classical resistive extension-mode shunted damping (ESD). Preliminary results for the first three modes of a vibrating aluminium beam with sandwiched (axially polarized) and surface-bonded (through-the-thickness polarized) piezoceramic patches indicate that: (i) the generalised electromechanical coupling coefficient (EMCC) for SSD is more than three times higher than for ESD; (ii) the added resistive SSD is more than twelve times the classical resistive ESD; (iii) the amplitude reduction due to the SSD is more than two times that due to ESD. The shunted damping can be used either alone, when low-to-medium damping is required, or combined with an active damping as a complementary or fail-safe passive vibration damping solution.