Joint Langley Research Center/Jet Propulsion Laboratory CSI experiment
This paper describes a joint Control Structure Interaction (CSI) experiment in which Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) damping devices were incorporated into the Langley Research Center (LaRC) Phase 0 Testbed. The goals of the effort were twofold: (1) test the effectiveness of the JPL structural damping methods in a new structure and (2) assess the feasibility of combining JPL local control methods with the LaRC multiple input multiple output global control methods. Six dampers (2 piezoelectric active members, 4 viscous dampers), placed in three different regions of the structure, produced up to 26 dB attenuation in target modes. The combined control strategy in which the JPL damping methods contributed local control action and the LaRC control scheme provided global control action, produced and overall control scheme with increased stability margins and improved performance. This paper presents an overview of the technologies contributed from the two centers, the strategies used to combine them, and results demonstrating the success of the damping and cooperative control efforts.