Hybrid damage-mitigating control of mechanical structures

The goal of damage mitigating control is to achieve a desired level of trade-off between structural durability of critical component(s) and dynamic performance of complex systems (e.g., aircraft, spacecraft, and energy conversion systems). This paper presents the architecture and design concept of a hybrid (i.e., combined discrete-event and continuously-varying) damage-mitigating control system for life extension and high performance of mechanical structures. It focuses on the application perspectives of supervisory control in the discrete-event setting. Based on a closed loop linear control system at the lower tier, a variable-structure stochastic automaton is employed for damage regulation, where stability and performance of the hybrid system is maintained by the supervisory level discrete-event controller