ACTIVE DAMPING BY A LOCAL FORCE FEEDBACK WITH PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATORS

This paper summarizes a research in the field of active damping of space structures. The test facility consists of a truss structure provided with two active elements that can be placed in various locations. Each of the active elements consists of a linear piezoelectric actuator collocated with a force transducer. Each active element is controlled in a decentralized manner, with an integral feedback of the force on the voltage applied to the piezoactuator. This control law is always stable and has been found very effective; the damping ratio of the first mode has been increased from 0.003 (open loop) to 0.09 with one actuator.