Life extending control of large-scale dynamical systems

This tutorial paper provides an introduction to the evolving field of life extending control (LEC) where the objective is to achieve a desired trade-off between structural durability and dynamic performance of complex dynamical systems. The paper also presents a procedure for the synthesis of fuzzy-logic-based LEC systems via feedback of online predictions of damage and damage rate. The proposed control system has a two-tier structure: linear sampled-data controller(s) tracks a reference trajectory vector in the lower tier, while a fuzzy-logic-based damage controller at the upper tier makes a trade-off between system performance and structural damage in critical plant components. The above LEC concept and several different design methodologies were tested by simulation experiments on a reusable rocket engine, and the airframe structures of rotorcraft and tactical aircraft