Piezoelectric Shunt Damping

Piezoelectric shunt damping systems reduce structural vibration by shunting an attached piezoelectric transducer with an electrical impedance. Current impedance designs result in a coupled electrical resonance at the target modal frequencies.

Piezoelectric transducers (PZTs), in conjunction with appropriate circuitry, can be used as a mechanical energy dissipation device. If a simple resistor is placed across the terminals of the PZT, the PZT will act as a viscoelastic damper. If the network consists of a series inductor–resistor R–L circuit, the passive network combined with the inherent capacitance of the PZT creates a damped electrical resonance. The resonance can be tuned so that the PZT acts as a tuned vibrational energy absorber.

Here is a paper:

http://www-eng.newcastle.edu.au/~ajf203/PDFs/J03b.pdf

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– Tom Irvine