Pattern control in unstable structures

A major aim of smart structures is to reduce the amount of materials used to build them while achieving the same amount of dynamic control. This reduction can however lead to a loss of stiffness and a consequent instability of the structure in the presence of stresses. We have turned this problem around by examining how the use of dynamical instabilities can lead to improved control of given patterns in smart structures. In particular, we studied the possibility of dynamically switching between two configurations of a mechanical system, one in which the desired patterns are stable and one in which they are unstable. By comparing the performance of a distributed control in terms of time to switch and power consumption we established that unstable patterns often switch faster among themselves than stable ones without consuming more power.