This paper is concerned with active structural control by using the indepen
dent modal strategy control (IMSC). Distributed sensors and actuators are o
f PZT ceramics or PVDF polymer. The structure under study consists of three
shaped plates which are soldered. To build the control loop, the modal fil
tering concept is introduced in order to extract in real time the modal var
iables of the controlled modes. This is possible by introducing a numerical
method to optimize shape and location of the sensors and actuators on the
structure and to minimize the effects of the unwanted modes. Experimental i
dentification of the structure model is then handled and compared to that o
btained from a finite element analysis. The impedance problem between senso
rs and the acquisition system is solved and the output signal, in staircase
form, of the DSP card is smoothed by analog filtering. Two kinds of modal
control (the IMSControl and Time-Sharing) are tested. Both of them are stab
le and robust and give often to the damping ratios structure studied, ten t
imes greater. (C) 1999 Academic Press.