A methodology for determination of piezoelectric actuator and sensor location on beam structures

In the design of actively controlled structures, the determination of the a ctuators and sensors location is a very important issue. In this way, the p urpose of this paper is to propose a new approach to find the optimal locat ion of piezoelectric actuators and sensors on beam structures. More precise ly, first the optimization criteria are defined: it is proposed here to fin d the optimal actuators location by minimizing the mechanical energy integr al of the system and the optimal sensors location by maximizing the energy of the state output. In the two cases, a sensitivity method applied to the discrete equations is used. Several results are presented. This methodology is used to find the optimal location of one actuator and one sensor on a c antilever beam, and on a three-beam structure. When there are different opt imal locations, several performance measures are considered in order to kee p one location. (C) 2001 Academic Press.