Control of a directly excited structural dynamic model of an F-15 tail section

We used two simple control laws based on linear velocity and cubic velocity feedback to suppress the high-amplitude vibrations of a structural dynamic model of the twin-tail assembly of an F-15 fighter when subjected to primary resonance excitations. We developed the nonlinear differential equations of motion and obtained an approximate solution using the method of multiple scales. Then, we conducted bifurcation analyses for the open- and closed-loop responses of the system and investigated theoretically the performance of the control strategies. The theoretical findings indicate that the control laws lead to effective vibration suppression and bifurcation control. Furthermore, we conducted experiments to verify the theoretical analysis. We built a digital control system that consists of a SIMULINK modeling software and a dSPACE controller installed in a personal computer. Actuators made of piezoelectric ceramic material were used. The results show that both laws are effective at suppressing the vibrations. To compare the performance of both techniques, we calculated the power requirements for a simple system.