Modelling and Control Methods with Applications to Mechanical Waves

Models, modelling and control design play important parts in automatic control. The contributions in this thesis concern topics in all three of these concepts. The poles are of fundamental importance when analyzing the behaviour of a system, and pole placement is an intuitive and natural approach for control design. A novel parameterization for state feedback gains for pole placement in the linear multiple input case is presented and analyzed. It is shown that when the open and closed loop poles are disjunct, every state feedback gain can be parameterized. Other properties are also investigated. Hammerstein models have a static non-linearity on the input. A method for exact compensation of such non-linearities, combined with introduction of integral action, is presented. Instead of inversion of the non-linearity the method utilizes differentiation, which in many cases is simpler. A partial differential equation (PDE) can be regarded as an infinite order model. Many model based control design techniques, like linear quadratic Gaussian control (LQG), require finite order models. Active damping of vibrations in a viscoelastic beam, modelled as a PDE, is considered. The beam is actuated by piezoelectric elements and its movements are measured by strain gauges. LQG design is used, for which different finite order models, approximating the PDE model, are constructed. The so obtained controllers are evaluated on the original PDE model. Minimization of the measured strain yields a satisfactory performance, but minimization of transversal deflection does not. The effect of the model accuracy of the finite order model approximations is also investigated. It turns out that a model with higher accuracy in a specified frequency interval gives controllers with better performance. The wave equation is another PDE. A PDE model, with one spatial dimension, is established. It describes wave propagation in a tube perforated with helical slots. The model describes waves of both extensional and torsional type, as well as the coupling between the two wave types. Experimental data are used for estimation of model parameters, and for assessment of the proposed model in two different cases. The model is found adequate when certain geometrical assumptions are valid