A qualitative comparison between a piezoelectric vibration absorber and a constrained layer damping treatment is presented. Piezoelectric materials convert mechanical strains into electrical charge. Dissipation of the charge results in attenuation of vibration. The damping is concentrated to a single mode by constructing a piezoelectric absorber. The damped vibration absorber is comprised of the piezoelectric material and a passive electronic shunt. Previous research has applied the piezoelectric absorber to one-dimensional structures. This paper applies the absorber to a two-dimensional planar problem. The simple mathematical description of the absorber is modified for the two-dimensional problem. An analytical means of estimating the effectiveness of the piezoelectric absorber is derived. The effectiveness is estimated for an electronics chassis box subjected to random excitation. A typical constrained layer damping treatment is also analytically designed for the problem. The piezoelectric absorber and the constrained layer damping treatment are experimentally applied to identical boxes. Results show that the piezoelectric absorber can provide vibration suppression comparable to that obtained by the constrained layer damping treatment.
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