Application of Adaptive Trusses to Vibration Isolation in Flexible Structures

Transmission of unwanted vibration is a problem which can be found in many different situations. These problems have been addressed in the past by passive techniques, either by designing mounts which inhibit the transmission of unwanted vibration or by designing effectively rigid structures (as in the case of space structures) whose resonances are out of the bandwidth of the incoming disturbances. More recently, active techniques have come to the forefront. Active vibration isolation techniques have the potential of providing better isolation performance both through reducing amplitudes of transmitted vibrations and by adapting to changes in the system or its disturbances. This paper presents the results of a study investigating the use of adaptive structures with force feedback (using classical compensators as well as LQR approaches) for active vibration isolation.