Optimal placement of sensors and actuators for gyroelastic body using genetic algorithms

A flexible body with a distribution of stored angular momentum is viewed as a gyroelastic body. The flexible structure may require active vibration suppression, which can be controlled using a collection of control moment gyroscopes. This study investigates the optimal placement of collocated angular rate sensors and control moment gyroscope actuators for a constrained gyroelastic body based on genetic algorithms. First, the dynamics and modal analysis of the constrained gyroelastic body are presented. The state-space model is adopted that contains the distribution of actuators and sensors. Based on the concept of the controllability and the observability of the gyroelastic system, the objective functions are proposed aiming at the maximization of the controllability and observability of the constrained gyroelastic system. For situationswith a fixed number of actuators and sensors, an exhaustive enumeration method and genetic algorithms are used to determine the locations of actuators and sensors. For a comprehensive optimization of the number and locations of actuator-sensor pairs, genetic algorithms are used to avoid calculating all possible combinations, increasing factorially in the enumeration method. The optimized results are verified by the responses of the constrained gyroelastic body. Numerical simulations are presented for a cantilevered plate.