Low Authority Control of a Composite Cantilever Beam in Two Dimensions

This paper presents the theoretical and experimental results of active vibration control of a cantilevered S-Glass composite beam using PVF2 film as a low authority distributed control actuator. The beam is approrximately ¿ in. × ¿ in. × 12 in. with a small mass mounted at the free end. The Lyapunov stability criteria is used to derive a control algorithm for the active damper based on angular rate feedback of the free end of the beam. The algorithm is stable for all vibrational modes of the beam. Experimental results are presented which show the increase in damping produced by the PVF2 actuators for the first two modes of vibration of the beam. The damping ratio for the first mode was increased from .2061 to .6588, and the increase for the second mode was from .1402 to .5482 (these results are with the electromagnetic excitation source oriented in the +y direction).