Synchronized switch damping on inductor offers a high damping performance in a broad frequency range. It consists of an inductor and resistor in a serial configuration, which are connected and disconnected from the piezoceramics in an alternating manner by a switch. When the switch is triggered by the vibration itself, it adapts to different excitation frequencies especially in the low frequency range. This article presents a detailed study of the damping performance of the synchronized switch damping on inductor technique. Calculations are performed in a normalized way. The optimal tuning of synchronized switch damping on inductor network parameters is derived, and the corresponding maximum damping performance is obtained. The results are further compared to standard linear inductance-resistance networks. For a validation of the theoretical results, measurements on a clamped beam test rig are performed. Therefore, the synchronized switch damping on inductor circuit is realized as a synthetic impedance in a DSpace environment. The measurement results are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations. © The Author(s) 2012.