Wave propagation, observation and control in 1-\(d\) flexible multi-structures. (Q2569125)

The study of mechanical systems consisting of elastic elements is of interest in many situations. In particular, the control of such mechanical systems is important in applications but poses a challenging task. The present book studies the one-dimensional model and presents a theory which could be treated as a starting point for a more general setup. The book is of interest to graduate students and researchers seeking to get an insight into the control theory of elastic systems constituting networks in a rigorous manner. After giving the history and motivation in chapter 1, preliminary ideas about elastic strings, graphs, equation of motion for networks and control problem are given in chapter 2. Some tools such as Hilbert uniqueness method, reduction of control problem to observability problem, method of moments and Riesz basis and Ingham-type inequalities are presented in chapter 3. The three string networks, simultaneous control of two strings, and three string case with one control node and its relationship to the earlier cases are discussed in chapter 4. In chapter 5, equations of motion for general trees and observability results for star-shaped and non-star-shaped networks are presented. Chapter 6 deals with observability and controllability results for general networks. The problem of simultaneous observation and control from an interior region is addressed in chapter 7. Chapter 8 deals with other equations such as heat, Schrödinger and beam equations. The book ends to a summary of main results, some open problems and suggestions for future line of study. The book should be quite useful to researchers as a source of recent results and references as well as a self-contained treatment of the subject.