Adaptive active vibration control using genetic algorithms

This paper presents an investigation into the development of an adaptive active control mechanism for vibration suppression using genetic algorithms (GAs). Active vibration control (AVC) consists of artificially generating cancelling source(s) to destructively interfere with the unwanted source and thus result in a reduction in the level of the vibration (disturbances) at desired location(s). This is realised by detecting and processing the vibration by a suitable electronic controller so that, when superimposed on the disturbances, cancellation occurs. Due to the broadband nature of the disturbances, it is required that the control mechanism in an AVC system realises suitable frequency-dependent characteristics so that cancellation over a broad range of frequencies is achieved. In practice, the spectral contents of the disturbances as well as the characteristics of system components are, in general, subject to variation, giving rise to time-varying phenomena. This implies that the control mechanism is further required to be intelligent enough to track these variations so that the desired level of performance is achieved and maintained (Tokhi and Leitch, 1991).