Control of Flexible Structures Subject to Random Disturbance

Abstract This paper deals with a new method of finite-dimensional control for a class of mechanically flexible systems subject to random disturbances, by reducing the distributed parameter system to a finite-dimensional one. The principal approach is to regard the observation spillover due to the uncontrolled modes as a colored observation noise and construct an estimator. Under certain conditions related to the number of sensors, this approach ensures that the direct decoupling of controller and estimator and that the effect of observation spillover can be reduced so that the stability of the resulting system is guaranteed. Simulation studies for a simply supported or free-free beam are provided.