Comparative analysis and exprimental results of advanced control strategies for vibration suppression in aircraft wings

Abstract

The smart beam is widely used as a means of studying the dynamics and active vibration suppression possibilities in aircraft wings. The advantages obtained through this approach are numerous, among them being aircraft stability and manoeuvrability, turbulence immunity, passenger safety and reduced fatigue damage. The paper presents the tuning of two controllers: Linear Quadratic Regulator and Fractional Order Proportional Derivative controller. The active vibration control methods were tested on a smart beam, vibrations being mitigated through piezoelectric patches. The obtained experimental results are compared in terms of settling time and control effort, experimentally proving that both types of controllers can be successfully used to reduce oscillations. The analysis in this paper provides for a necessary premise regarding the tuning of a fractional order enhanced Linear Quadratic Regulator, by combining the advantages of both control strategies.