Scalable distributed optimal control of vibrating modular structures

Abstract

A scalable optimal control method for structural vibration mitigation is studied. The method relies on a structure's partitioning that leads to a set of dynamically interconnected subsystems. Each subsystem is operated with an individual subcontroller that collects the local state information and collaborates with the neighboring subcontrollers to estimate a short time prediction of the interconnecting forces defining the subsystem's boundary conditions. Using the extended model that represents the subsystem's dynamics together with the evolution of its boundary conditions, each subcontroller computes the control decision based on the solution to a finite-time horizon optimal control problem. In order to cope with the changes in the boundary conditions, the optimal solution is computed repetitively according to the receding horizon scheme. The method is validated numerically for a cantilever structure equipped with actively controlled electromagnetic actuators and subjected to a variety of initial condition scenarios. The performance of the designed controller is tested by comparisons to the centralized and isolated decentralized controllers. The introduced system partitioning and distributed controller allow performing parallel computing which makes the method fully scalable and applicable to large-scale structures. The computational complexity of the designed distributed control is studied for different settings in the modeling of the subsystem's boundary conditions.