Active vibration control of tensegrity structures for performance enhancement: A comparative study

This study performs a novel control efficiency assessment approach that compares performance of optimal control algorithms regarding vibration of tensegrity structures. Due to complex loading conditions and the inherent characteristics of tensegrities, e.g. geometrical nonlinearity, the quantization of control efficiency in active control of tensegrity constitutes a challenging task especially for different control algorithms. As a first step, an actuator energy input, comprising the strain energy of tensegrity elements and their internal forces work, is set to constant levels for the linear-quadratic regulator (LQR). Afterwards, the actuator energy of the linear-quadratic Gaussian (LQG) is iterated with identical actuator energy input in LQR. A double layer tensegrity grid is employed to compare the control efficiencies between LQR and LQG with five different control scenarios. The results demonstrate the efficiency and robustness in reducing the dynamic response of tensegrity structures, and a theoretical guideline is provided to search optimal control options in controlling actual tensegrities.