DESIGN OPTIMIZATION OF ACTUATOR-CONTROLLER LINKAGE SCHEME FOR MORPHING STRUCTURAL SHAPES

This paper focuses on the design problem of shape control of composite plate using piezoelectric stiffeners, and the optimum shape control with limited independent controlling parameters is investigated. The parametric description of linkage between the actuators and signal generators (independent control parameters) is presented and a concurrent design methodology of actuator linkage and control parameters is developed. To deal with the special optimization problem with discrete variables (description parameters of linkage) and continuous variables (controlling parameters) coexisted, an optimization scheme composed of Genetic Algorithms and Linear Least Square Method is developed. An adhesive element is used to formulate the connection between the PZT stiffeners and the host composite plate in the present finite element analysis model. The effectiveness of the present design methodology and optimization scheme is then demonstrated through numerical examples for shape control of composite plate.