Shape Control of Composite Structures with Optimally Placed Piezoelectric Patches

Abstract

The problem of shape control of composite laminated smart structures with piezoelectric patches placed at optimal location is considered in this thesis. Laminated plate structures with piezoelectric patches for shape control applications are modeled using a shear deformable plate formulation by including the piezoelectric layers into the plate substrate. A composite plate finite element model is also developed for composite plates with self-sensing actuators. Non-linear hysteresis models for piezoelectric materials are presented and discussed. Numerical simulation of composite plate structures with piezoelectric actuators is conducted and presented. The optimization problem of finding the optimal location of actuators using a linear quadratic control algorithm is done and the results are discussed. Static shape control strategies are also discussed.