Modeling & Simulation of Smart / Adaptive Structures, Including Control-Structure Interaction

Investigations and use of smart or adaptive structures with integrated sensors, actuators and control loops to enhance performance has gained increased attention in recent years. The same holds for these and in other contexts often required consideration of dynamic effects in control-structure interaction. Examples for such smart structures are active vibration damping techniques, high precision shape control and also shape morphing structures which adapt to their environment and loads in order to enhance system efficiency. The related simulation and design requires the integration of actuators, smart materials and sensors into the structural simulation models. In case of shape morphing, geometric nonlinearities might have to be taken into account as well. After some further processing and possibly also model order reduction steps, such integrated models then are also to be coupled to dynamic control simulation tools. Integrated simulations then allow to determine proper material and structural parameters, proper positioning of actuators and sensors, and also essential parameters of the control loops to keep the system stable and enhance its operational efficiency. 

After an outline of different applications of such approaches primarily in aerospace and automotive, an overview on the fundamental steps mentioned above and resulting challenges will be given. From this, the content of a planned more detailed course consisting in total of six to eight hours of webinars distributed over several days will be derived. Feedback from participants of this introductory webinar will then allow to also introduce some special points of interest into this course and possibly also adapt its planned schedule.