Adaptive Robust Sliding Mode Vibration Control of a Flexible Beam Using Piezoceramic Sensor and Actuator: An Experimental Study

This paper presents an experimental study of an adaptive robust sliding mode control scheme based on the Lyapunov’s direct method for active vibration control of a flexible beam using PZT (lead zirconate titanate) sensor and actuator. PZT, a type of piezoceramic material, has the advantages of high reliability, high bandwidth, and solid state actuation and is adopted here in forms of surface-bond patches for vibration control. Two adaptive robust sliding mode controllers for vibration suppression are designed: one uses a discontinuous bang-bang robust compensator and the other uses a smooth compensator with a hyperbolic tangent function. Both controllers guarantee asymptotic stability, as proved by the Lyapunov’s direct method. Experimental results verified the effectiveness and the robustness of both adaptive sliding mode controllers. However, from the experimental results, the bang-bang robust compensator causes small-magnitude chattering because of the discontinuous switching actions. With the smooth compensator, vibration is quickly suppressed and no chattering is induced. Furthermore, the robustness of the controllers is successfully demonstrated with ensured effectiveness in vibration control when masses are added to the flexible beam.