Robust control of microvibrations

Equipment on-board satellites is often mounted on lightweight panels where microvibrations have to be suppressed to achieve the required level of stability. In the work reported here, attention is restricted to one such mass loaded panel which is an acceptable compromise between problem complexity and the need to gain useful insights as to the benefits (and limitations) of linear active control schemes. The sensors and actuators for the active control scheme to be designed (and eventually implemented) are twin patches of piezoelectric material bonded onto opposite faces of the panel. The use of linear optimal control laws augmented by loop transfer recovery is investigated.