Active control of sound and vibration fields has become an strong area of research over the past few decades. In regards to the active control of acoustic radiation from vibration fields, known as active structural acoustic control (ASAC), there have been many different methods employed to understand structural and acoustic relationships and to control vibrations to limit the acoustic radiation. With active sound field control, sensors, usually microphones, need to be dispersed in the sound field, or an array of microphones must be placed directly in the sound field which, in many cases, uses up too much space for practical applications. To remedy this, objective functions have been transferred to the structure, sensing vibrations rather than pressures. A small, integrated array of structural sensors can be placed on the structure, reducing the system's overall footprint. Acoustic energy density has become a well established objective function, which produces a more global effect using only a local measurement. Another benefit of acoustic energy density lies in the breadth of sensor placement. While acoustic energy density has proven successful in active noise control (ANC), the quantity deals with pressures, not surface vibrations. The problem with ASAC is that an objective function with the robustness of acoustic energy density does not yet exist. This thesis focuses on a structural error sensing technique that mimics the properties of acoustic energy density control in the sound field. The presented structural quantity has been termed Vcomp, as it is a composite of multiple terms associated with velocity. Both analytical and experimental results with the control of this quantity are given for a rectangular plate. The control of Vcomp is compared to other objective function including squared velocity, volume velocity and acoustic energy density. In the analytical cases, the benefits include: control at higher structural modes, control largely independent of sensor location, and need for only a single point measurement of squared Vcomp with a compact sensor. The control at higher frequencies can be explained by the control of multiple acoustic radiation modes. Experimental results offer some validity to the analytical benefits but alternate sensing techniques need to be investigates to more fully validate these benefits.

Este trabalho apresenta a formulação de um problema de otimização topológica para o posicionamento ótimo de atuadores baseado na teoria de controle. A estrutura é composta por dois materiais: um material passivo elástico e um material ativo piezelétrico, ambos lineares. Pretende-se obter um sistema de controle no qual todos os estados sejam controláveis. O processo de otimização topológica busca a distribuição de material piezelétrico que maximize o menor autovalor do Gramiano de controlabilidade garantindo, assim, sua não singularidade e, consequentemente, que o sistema seja completamente controlável. Programação linear sequencial (SLP) é utilizada para a solução do problema de otimização e as sensibilidades para o modelo de elementos finitos são deduzidas para a função objetivo e restrições. Análises modais das topologias ótimas são utilizadas para a definição de um controlador LQR e as respostas das estruturas controladas submetidas à uma carga impulsiva são analisadas. / This work presents a topology optimization formulation for the actuator placement based on the control theory. The structure is composed by two materials: a passive elastic material and an active piezoelectric material, both linear. The aim is to obtain a control system which all states are controllable. The topology optimization process searches the piezoelectric material distribution which maximizes the smallest eigenvalue of the controllability Gramian ensuring its non-singularity and, therefore, the system is completely controllable. Sequential linear programming (SLP) is used to solve the optimization problem. The sensitivities for the finite element model were derived for the objective function and constraints. Modal analysis from the optimal topologies were employed in an LQR controller and the responses for the controlled structures submitted to an impulsive load are analyzed.

Este trabalho apresenta a formulação de um problema de otimização topológica para o posicionamento ótimo de atuadores baseado na teoria de controle. A estrutura é composta por dois materiais: um material passivo elástico e um material ativo piezelétrico, ambos lineares. Pretende-se obter um sistema de controle no qual todos os estados sejam controláveis. O processo de otimização topológica busca a distribuição de material piezelétrico que maximize o menor autovalor do Gramiano de controlabilidade garantindo, assim, sua não singularidade e, consequentemente, que o sistema seja completamente controlável. Programação linear sequencial (SLP) é utilizada para a solução do problema de otimização e as sensibilidades para o modelo de elementos finitos são deduzidas para a função objetivo e restrições. Análises modais das topologias ótimas são utilizadas para a definição de um controlador LQR e as respostas das estruturas controladas submetidas à uma carga impulsiva são analisadas. / This work presents a topology optimization formulation for the actuator placement based on the control theory. The structure is composed by two materials: a passive elastic material and an active piezoelectric material, both linear. The aim is to obtain a control system which all states are controllable. The topology optimization process searches the piezoelectric material distribution which maximizes the smallest eigenvalue of the controllability Gramian ensuring its non-singularity and, therefore, the system is completely controllable. Sequential linear programming (SLP) is used to solve the optimization problem. The sensitivities for the finite element model were derived for the objective function and constraints. Modal analysis from the optimal topologies were employed in an LQR controller and the responses for the controlled structures submitted to an impulsive load are analyzed.

Este trabalho apresenta a formulação de um problema de otimização topológica para o posicionamento ótimo de atuadores baseado na teoria de controle. A estrutura é composta por dois materiais: um material passivo elástico e um material ativo piezelétrico, ambos lineares. Pretende-se obter um sistema de controle no qual todos os estados sejam controláveis. O processo de otimização topológica busca a distribuição de material piezelétrico que maximize o menor autovalor do Gramiano de controlabilidade garantindo, assim, sua não singularidade e, consequentemente, que o sistema seja completamente controlável. Programação linear sequencial (SLP) é utilizada para a solução do problema de otimização e as sensibilidades para o modelo de elementos finitos são deduzidas para a função objetivo e restrições. Análises modais das topologias ótimas são utilizadas para a definição de um controlador LQR e as respostas das estruturas controladas submetidas à uma carga impulsiva são analisadas. / This work presents a topology optimization formulation for the actuator placement based on the control theory. The structure is composed by two materials: a passive elastic material and an active piezoelectric material, both linear. The aim is to obtain a control system which all states are controllable. The topology optimization process searches the piezoelectric material distribution which maximizes the smallest eigenvalue of the controllability Gramian ensuring its non-singularity and, therefore, the system is completely controllable. Sequential linear programming (SLP) is used to solve the optimization problem. The sensitivities for the finite element model were derived for the objective function and constraints. Modal analysis from the optimal topologies were employed in an LQR controller and the responses for the controlled structures submitted to an impulsive load are analyzed.

Active Structural Acoustic Control (ASAC) is a subcategory of the more widely known field of Active Noise control (ANC). ASAC is different from traditional ANC methods because it seeks to attenuate noise by altering the noise producing structure instead of altering the acoustic waves traveling through the air. The greatest challenge currently facing ASAC researchers is that a suitable parameter has not yet been discovered which can be easily implemented as the minimization quantity in the control algorithms. Many parameters have been tried but none effectively attenuate the sound radiation in a way that can be easily implemented. A new parameter was recently developed which showed great potential for use as a minimization quantity. This parameter has been termed the "weighted sum of spatial gradients" (WSSG) and was shown by previous researchers to significantly reduce noise emissions from a vibrating simply supported plate in computer simulations. The computer simulations indicate that WSSG-based control provides as good or better control than volume velocity and does so with a single point measurement which is relatively insensitive to placement location. This thesis presents the experimental validation of the WSSG computer simulations. This validation consists of four major components. First, additional research was needed in to extend the use of WSSG from computer simulations to experimental setups. Second, the WSSG-based control method was performed on simply supported plates to validate the computer simulations. Third, the WSSG-based control method on was used on clamped plates to validate the computer simulations, and fourth, the WSSG-based control method was validated on plates with ribs. The important results are discussed and conclusions summarized for each of these sections. Recommendations are made for future work on the WSSG parameter.