Stabilization of a nonlinear wing section: A case study for control with inexact nonlinearity cancellations

Control of nonlinear systems with uncertain information about the nonlinearity poses significant challenges, as any mismatch between the true nonlinearity and the one assumed for controller design can result in performance degradation or even instability. In this paper we merge optimal nonlinearity approximations with controller dissipativity properties to find explicit expressions for stabilizing output feedback controllers and estimates of the basin of attraction of the equilibrium in the origin. The control of an aeroelastic system with structural nonlinearity is used as a case study to discuss in detail the proposed approach and to demonstrate its effectiveness.