Overview

Flexible mechanical systems experience undesirable vibration in response to environmental and operational forces. Vibrations can limit the accuracy of sensitive instruments or cause significant errors in applications where high-precision positioning is essential so their control is often a necessity. Piezoelectric transducers have been used in countless applications as sensors and actuators. When traditional passive vibration control techniques won't do, piezoelectric transducers in conjunction with feedback controllers can suppress vibrations effectively. This monograph presents recent developments in vibration control systems that employ embedded piezoelectric sensors and actuators. It covers various ways in which active vibration control systems can be designed for piezoelectric laminated structures, high-lighting real-time implementation. The text contains numerous examples and experimental results obtained from laboratory-scale apparatus, with details of how similar setups can be built.