Model-free Vibration Control of Arbitrary Structures via Multiple Actuators

Abstract

In general, active vibration control is expected to have a high damping effect, but it is designed using the model of the target structure. Therefore, the designed control system may not achieve the desired damping performance due to modeling errors of the target structure or property fluctuations caused by aging. Since the control system is designed for each target structure, it cannot be used for other target structures. In addition, since the modes that can be damped by a single actuator depend on its placement, there may be some modes that cannot be damped by a single actuator if there are restrictions on its location. In this study, we designed a control system without using a model of the target structure, proposed a method to control vibration of arbitrary structures, and applied this method to multiple actuators. First, a model was created by introducing a virtual structure that represents an arbitrary target structure between the actuator and the target structure. A control system based on the homogeneous exponential stabilization control was designed for this model. Using this controller, vibration control simulations were performed on a finite element model of a nominal cantilever beam. Considering the difference in the vibration control effect for the modes depending on the arrangement of the actuators, the arrangement of multiple actuators was determined. Multiple actuators were applied to the determined configurations, and vibration control simulations were performed for the nominal structure and the structure with characteristic variations to demonstrate the effectiveness of the system.