Active control of beam structures with piezoelectric actuators and sensors: modeling and simulation

The active damping of structures is an important emerging field. In this context, it is necessary to be able to develop new control methods for flexible structures and simulate their effects. In order to be able to deal with the optimization of active device locations, spillover and any other general problems linked to control and model reduction, a simple but sufficiently rich model is very useful. This is the reason why this technical note deals with the modeling and simulation of the active vibration control of beam structures using piezoelectric actuators and sensors.

In order to model beam structures equipped with piezoelectric devices, we develop a simple finite composite beam element, taking into account the properties of piezoelectric elements. This model uses six mechanical degrees of freedom and four electric degrees of freedom. Then, a linear quadratic regulator method is used to compute the control, including the implementation of a state observer. Several simulations are presented.