Control of Structures with Self-Straining Actuators: Coupled .Euler/fimoshenko Model: I

There has been much effort recently in gauging the performance of “smart” structures — structures with self-sensing, self-straining material [1-7]. Generally, Euler-Bemoulli models with displacement in one dimension are used. In Balakrishnan [ 1 ] a one-dimensional Timoshenko model is analyzed. Of interest is the question of what happens when both models are combined with a coupling constant. Such a model occurs actually in aeroelastic problems — going back to the classic text (p. 546, Bisplinghoff, et al. [8]) if we ignore the (non-circulatory terms) aeroelastic forces. Such a problem formulation does not seem to have been considered elsewhere hitherto either in the structures or mathematics literature, even for multidimensional models, as in SCOLE [9].