Passivity-based boundary control with the backstepping observer for the vibration suppression of the flexible beam

In engineering applications, flexible beam vibration control is an important issue. Although several researchers have discussed controlling beam vibration, there are few strategies for implementing it in actual applications. The passivity-based boundary control for suppressing flexible beam vibration was investigated in this paper. The controller was implemented using a moving base, and the beam model was an undamped shear beam. The control law was established using the storage function in the design technique. The finite-gain L₂ - stability of the feedback control system was then proven. This method dealt directly with the PDE of the beam model with no model reduction. Because of the non-collocated measurement and actuation in many applications, the backstepping observer was required for state estimation. Since the controller was implemented at the end of the beam via a moving base, the beam domain remained intact. Therefore, the method is simple to apply in applications. With the use of the finite-difference approach, the PDEs were numerically solved. The controller's performance of the proposed control scheme was demonstrated using computer simulation.