A semi-active shunted piezoelectric tuned mass damper for robust vibration control

Tuned mass dampers are well-known devices for efficient reduction of structural vibrations; however, they can only control the vibration of a single mode in a narrow frequency range and are not easily retunable. This article presents a semi-active tuned mass damper, consisting of a piezoelectric device connected to an external resistive–inductive electric circuit, which enables multi-modal vibration control, is highly tunable, and introduces high damping. The dynamics of the coupled electromechanical system, which includes the primary and auxiliary masses, the piezoelectric device, and the shunt circuit, are analyzed and the effect of the resistance and inductance is investigated. An experimental prototype using a specialty piezoelectric device is fabricated and tested. The experimental measurements greatly agree with the analytical results, validating the strong electromechanical coupling and the enhanced vibration suppression capabilities of the proposed damper. Moreover, the variation of inductive impedance demonstrates substantial semi-active broadband multi-modal vibration control potential, by introducing an additional highly tunable electromechanical resonant oscillator in the system dynamics, and also by enabling the enhancement of coupling and energy dissipation on targeted modal frequencies.