LQ optimal actuator location in structures

Piezoelectric actuators have proven to be useful in suppression of disturbances in flexible structures. In order to obtain the most efficient control system, the locations of the piezoelectric elements as well as the feedback gain should be optimized. In this paper, the feedback gain is chosen to be the optimal linear quadratic regulator. Based on a reformulation of optimal actuator location as a convex optimization problem, a subgradient-based optimization scheme which leads to the global solution of the problem is used to optimize actuator locations. In a number of examples, actuators are located at points of high strain energy in the structure.