Optimal design of structural control systems

The problem of minimizing the cost of a structural control system subject to displacement, stress and side constraints is stated in a linear programming (LP) form. The control variables are either control forces or control displacements and the objective function represents the magnitude and the number of variables. It is shown that equivalent stress distributions can be achieved by various control systems. The displacements, on the other hand, depend on the location of the control variables. Some relationships between control forces, control displacements, stiffness and flexibility method formulations are derived. The LP formulation provides effective solutions of the presented problem. An alternative solution procedure is proposed for problems where the main object is to minimize the number of control variables.