Modeling, control and implementation of smart structures. A FEM-state space approach (Q870689)

Smart or intelligent structures arise in several modern applications of engineering mechanics and mechatronics. The effective design of actively controlled deformable bodies requires knowledge from various areas of expertise, like structural analysis and structural dynamics, finite element methods, numerical analysis and optimal control. Consequently, quite a few books present all these aspects in details. Instead, the authors usually present the ideas in a compact way. As a result, a graduate student or researcher working in one of the mentioned areas needs more than one books in order to enter the area and be able to start producing his/her own results. This book makes an exception. By using a model problem of a composite beam with piezoelectric sensors and actuators, the authors present all steps required for the analysis of the arising smart structure: from structural analysis (using Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko theories), and finite elements, to produce the state space representation of the system, to optimal control (using multirate output feedback and discrete time sliding mode method, for both single-input-single-output and multi-input-multi-output systems). Finally, an experimental implementation is presented. The advantage of this book is that every step is explained in details, with explicit presentation of the involved matrices and data of the used examples and detailed presentation of the numerical results. The reader working in the development of one subtopic of the problem, especially people working in control engineering, should be able to use the examples of the book without spending valuable time to understand the details of all other steps of the problem. On the other hand the book is restricted to the presentation of two-dimensional smart beam structures, although the results can be extended, by using finite elements, to other structural systems as well. In particular the book has the following chapters: 1. Introduction to smart structures. An introduction to smart structures, their concepts, the control algorithms and applications with suitable references is given in this chapter. 2. Modeling of smart structures. In this chapter the modelling of flexible beams using two types of beam theories viz. Euler-Bernoulli theory and Timoshenko beam theory, is presented. The authors also describe a new concept of finite element modeling of flexible structures using Timoshenko beam theory with the inclusion of shear both in piezo-patches as well as in the host structure. 3. Periodic output feedback controllers for smart structures. 4. Fast output sampling feedback controllers for smart structures. 5. Discrete time sliding mode control for smart structures. Output feedback controllers are presented in these chapters, which are based on research results of the authors. They are more practical for usually considered state feedback based approaches, since the control input is deduced using past output samples and the immediate past input signal alone, instead of the system states, which in general is not available. 6. Implementation of control techniques for smart structures. An experimental implementation (using the MATLAB and SIMULINK software for the modeling, the Real Time Workshop and the dSPACE 1104 controller) and verification of the results is presented in this chapter. Detailed information on matrices involved in finite element modeling of an embedded beam is given in an appendix. The book is a valuable text for people entering the area of smart structures, and a reliable source of application examples for people working in the theory and design of control systems. Furthermore, people working in engineering mechanics, structural analysis and structural dynamics can find useful examples in order to compare their own theories and models of smart, piezoelectric beams.