In this paper, the current state of the art on shunt piezoelectric systems for noise and vibration control is reviewed. The core idea behind the operation of electronic shunt piezoelectric circuits is based on their capability of transforming the dynamic strain energy of the host structure, i.e., a smart beam or plate, into electric energy, using the properties of the direct piezoelectric phenomenon and sending this energy into the electronic circuit where it can be partially consumed and transformed into heat. For this purpose, transducers which are made by piezoelectric materials are used, since such materials present excellent electromechanical coupling properties, along with very good frequency response. Shunt piezoelectric systems consist of an electric impedance, which in turn consists of a resistance, an inductance or a capacitance in every possible combination. Several types of such systems have been proposed in the literature for noise or vibration control for both single-mode and multi-mode systems. The different types of shunt circuits provide results comparable to other types of control methods, as for example with tuned mass-dampers, with certain viscoelastic materials, etc. As for the hosting structure, several studies on beams and plates connected with shunt circuits have been proposed in recent literature. The optimization of such systems can be performed either on the design and placement of the piezoelectric transducers or on the improvement and fine-tuning of the characteristics of the system, i.e., the values of the resistance, the inductance, the capacitance and so on and so forth. There are several applications of shunt systems including among others, structural noise control, vibration control, application on hard drives, on smart panels etc. Last but not least, shunt circuits can be also used for energy harvesting in order to collect the small amount of energy which is necessary in order to make the system self-sustained.

In this study, a new method for the optimal design of multimode shunt-damping circuits is presented. A modification of the “current-flowing” shunt circuit is employed to control multiple vibration modes of a piezoelectric laminate beam. In addition to the resistor damping components, the method considers the capacitances and the shunting branch inductors as new design variables. The H∞ norm of the damped system is minimized using the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method in the suggested optimization strategy. Two additional numerical models are addressed in order to compare the proposed method with other methods from the literature and to thoroughly examine the effect of the design variables on damping performance. To simulate the dynamic behavior of the piezoelectric composite beam, a finite-element model is created which provides more accurate modeling of thick beam structures. Results show that the suggested method may improve damping efficiency when compared to other models, since it generates a highest peak amplitude reduction of 39.61 dB for the second mode and 55.92 dB for the third mode. Finally, another benefit provided by the suggested optimal design is the reduction of the required shunt inductance values.

In this study, a new technique is presented for enhancing the vibration suppression of shunted piezoelectrics by using an auxetic composite layer. Finite element models have been created to simulate the dynamic behavior of the piezoelectric composite beam. In particular, 2D FE and 3D FE models have been created by simulating the shunt as a passive controller and their results are compared. Furthermore, a parametric analysis is presented of the circuit elements, i.e., the resistors, inductors, and capacitors and of the auxetic material, i.e., the thickness. It was found that the proposed modification by adding an auxetic layer of a considerable thickness enhances the electromechanical coupling and indirectly influences the vibration control of the whole structure. However, the use of 3D modeling is necessary to study this auxetic enhancement.