Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Vibrations exist extensively in industries, and most of the vibrations are unwanted as they may have deleterious effects on engineering systems and significantly reduce their operational life. In particular, nonlinear vibrations are unpredictable in nature and may generate complex chaotic motions that are unwanted for almost all the cases. Such vibrations need to be properly controlled or reduced. However, accurate and reliable control of these vibrations is still a challenge facing researchers and engineers in practice. Active vibration control methodologies have drawn interest from researchers and engineers for their self-adaptive feature and high efficiency. However, most active methodologies are developed on the basis of controlling linear vibrations. In reality, nonlinear vibrations are much more extensively observed. Despite the significance of nonlinear vibrations, only a handful of active nonlinear vibration control methodologies have been developed in the past decades. Furthermore, most of the existing active nonlinear vibration control methodologies can only be applied to systems expressible in a single dimensional form. Based on the research of the applicant in nonlinear vibration control, the proposed research program aims at developing and further expanding active multidimensional nonlinear vibration control. The proposed research incorporates a fuzzy logic approach to better reduce chattering and cope with uncertainties. An Optimized Active Multidimensional Control strategy is to be developed to fit with the requirements of the multidimensional approach for nonlinear vibration control with high effectiveness. In addition, the P-R method introduced by the applicant for diagnosing the characteristics of nonlinear systems will be further developed to fit with requirements of the proposed program. Moreover, the numerical method named P-T method developed by the applicant is to be modified under the framework of the proposed vibration control strategy to carry out highly accurate and reliable numerical simulations for multidimensional systems. Experiments of a small-scale cantilever beam with sensors, actuators and other electrical control devices are also to be performed to validate and assure the applicability of the proposed control methodology. The optimized active multidimensional nonlinear vibration control methodology to be established for industrial applications will significantly advance current understanding of nonlinear vibrations, foster useful tools for developing effective vibration control methodologies and techniques, and provide guidance for accurately and effectively controlling and stabilizing the nonlinear vibrations widely seen in engineering fields. In considering the vibration related loss of billions of dollars each year in Canada alone, the economic impact of the proposed research is substantially large.