Ralph C. Smith
North Carolina State University, Raleigh
CRSC, Department of Mathematics

Modeling and Control Issues Concerning Smart Materials with Hysteresis

Modeling and control issues concerning certain smart material actuators utilized in nonlinear regimes will be presented. Piezoceramic, electrostrictive and magnetostrictice materials all exhibit various degrees of hysteresis and nonlinear dynamics at high drive levels. The accurate and efficient quantification of these effects and their incorporation in control design are necessary to attain the full capabilities of the materials. Various modeling techniques and their impact on control design will be presented. The performance of the models will be illustrated for magnetostrictive and relaxor ferroelectric actuators. Linear control methods prove ineffective at high drive levels and certain nonlinear control laws and inverse compensation techniques for smart material applications will be discussed.