Piezoelectric actuators and sensors location for active control of flexible structures

A method for optimal positioning of piezoelectric actuators and sensors on a flexible structure is presented. First, a twodimensional (2-D) model of a piezoelectric actuator bonded to a plate is obtained. Then, a Ritz formulation is used to find a state model of the system in view of its control. To define an optimal positioning strategy, an energy based approach is developed. This leads quite naturally to the study of controllability and observability properties of the overall dynamical model. A new criterion based on energy assessment is proposed to locate actuators and sensors