Optimal Placement of Actuators in Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Shell Structures using Genetic Algorithm

Abstract

Active vibration control of smart FRP composite structures finds use in high performance structures especially in light weight composite structures. Proper implementation of such smart structure systems demands complete understanding of their responses, optimal placement of sensors and actuators, and design of an appropriate control system. In the present work, an improved genetic algorithm (GA) based optimal collocated sensors and actuators of smart fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite shell structures has been presented. Layered shell finite elements have been formulated and the formulation has been validated for coupled electromechanical analysis of curved smart FRP composite structures having piezoelectric sensors and actuators patches. Modal analysis has been performed to transfer the coupled finite element equation to state space equation. An integer-coded GA-based open-loop procedure has been implemented for optimal placement of actuators for maximizing controllability index. This type of GA with uniform crossover and mutation technique has been developed to efficiently search for optimal locations of sensors/actuators.In this project, we have used integer coded GA to find optimal placement of actuators on spherical shell structures and semi-circular ring.