Optimal design of a vibration isolation mount using physical program ming

Vibration isolation tables find application in diverse production and resea rch environments. The structure of a table is such that a designer is force d to compromise among design metrics such as transmissibility, force-distur bance rejection, and controller effort. As both structural and controller p arameters impact these design metrics, we chose to perform simultaneous con trol-structure integrated design (CSID) to optimize the overall performance . We employed a new model that enhances physical insight and used physical programming as the optimization framework. We explored several design scena rios and effectively uncovered the appropriate compromises among the compet ing objectives. The results highlight the utility of the new model in this design context and the usefulness of physical programming in performing sim ultaneous CSID.