Experimental Application of Feedback Control to Localize Vibration

The purpose of this study is to apply feedback control to a physical system in order to localize structural vibration. This is accomplished using an eigenstructure placement technique called eigenvector scaling. Active eigenvector scaling mimics one of the properties of passive mode localization, namely the confinement of vibrational energy, by re-forming or scaling portions of all the system mode shapes. This produces areas of localization, with relatively large amplitudes and high vibrational energy levels, and areas of isolation, with relatively small amplitudes and little vibrational energy. Because all mode shapes are scaled in the same fashion, the system response reflects this vibration confinement regardless of the type of disturbance input. In this paper, the above statements are supported using control law development and analysis as well as experimental application and numerical simulations. [S0739-3717(00)70402-8]