Guchuan Zhu

Hugo Lhachemi, David Saussié, Guchuan Zhu et al.

This note establishes the Exponential Input-to-State Stability (EISS) property for a clamped-free damped string with respect to distributed and boundary disturbances. While efficient methods for establishing ISS properties for distributed parameter systems with respect to distributed disturbances have been developed during the last decades, establishing ISS properties with respect to boundary disturbances remains challenging. One of the well-known methods for well-posedness analysis of systems with boundary inputs is the use of a lifting operator for transferring the boundary disturbance to a distributed one. However, the resulting distributed disturbance involves time derivatives of the boundary perturbation. Thus, the subsequent ISS estimate depends on its amplitude, and may not be expressed in the strict form of ISS properties. To solve this problem, we show for a clamped-free damped string equation that the projection of the original system trajectories in an adequate Riesz basis can be used to establish the desired EISS property.

Hugo Lhachemi, David Saussié, Guchuan Zhu

This paper addresses the boundary stabilization of a flexible wing model, both in bending and twisting displacements, under unsteady aerodynamic loads, and in presence of a store. The wing dynamics is captured by a distributed parameter system as a coupled Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam model. The problem is tackled in the framework of semigroup theory, and a Lyapunov-based stability analysis is carried out to assess that the system energy, as well as the bending and twisting displacements, decay exponentially to zero. The effectiveness of the proposed boundary control scheme is evaluated based on simulations.

Amir Badkoubeh, Jun Zheng, Guchuan Zhu

This paper addresses the problem of deformation control of an Euler-Bernoulli beam with in-domain actuation. The proposed control scheme consists in first relating the system model described by an inhomogeneous partial differential equation to a target system under a standard boundary control form. Then, a combination of closed-loop feedback control and flatness-based motion planning is used for stabilizing the closed-loop system around reference trajectories. The validity of the proposed method is assessed through well-posedness and stability analysis of the considered systems. The performance of the developed control scheme is demonstrated through numerical simulations of a representative micro-beam.

Hugo Lhachemi, David Saussié, Guchuan Zhu

This note deals with the boundary control problem of a nonhomogeneous flexible wing evolving under unsteady aerodynamic loads. The wing is actuated at its tip by flaps and is modeled by a distributed parameter system consisting of two coupled partial differential equations. Based on the proposed boundary control law, the well-posedness of the underlying Cauchy problem is first investigated by resorting to the semigroup theory. Then, a Lyapunov-based approach is employed to assess the stability of the closed-loop system in the presence of bounded input disturbances.

Jun Zheng, Guchuan Zhu

This paper addresses the set-point control problem of a heat equation with in-domain actuation. The proposed scheme is based on the framework of zero dynamics inverse combined with flat system control. Moreover, the set-point control is cast into a motion planing problem of a multiple-input, multiple-out system, which is solved by a Green's function-based reference trajectory decomposition. The validity of the proposed method is assessed through convergence and solvability analysis of the control algorithm. The performance of the developed control scheme and the viability of the proposed approach are confirmed by numerical simulation of a representative system.

Yongchun Bi, Jun Zheng, Guchuan Zhu et al.

This paper investigates robust synchronization for multi-agent systems (MASs) governed by parabolic partial differential equations in the presence of both observable and unobservable disturbances. Using only boundary output measurements, a disturbance observer is designed to estimate observable Dirichlet boundary disturbances while ensuring robustness of the observer error system with unobservable disturbances occurring in the domain. Using only the reference signal and local output information, distributed synchronization controllers are then constructed to enable all agents to track the reference trajectory. In particular, exponential tracking is achieved in the absence of unobservable disturbances, while robustness is preserved when additional unobservable disturbances occur during controller implementation. We further analyze the impact of unobservable Dirichlet-Robin boundary disturbances on synchronization performance by proving the boundedness of solutions to the synchronization error system. Moreover, to characterize the influence of all disturbances, input-to-state stability (ISS) is established for the closed-loop system. For the involved systems, the generalized Lyapunov method and the recursion technique are extensively employed in the stability analysis, and the lifting technique and semigroup theory are used to prove the well-posedness. Simulation results validate the proposed control scheme, demonstrating effective disturbance estimation and rejection, robust synchronization, and the ISS properties under various scenarios.

Jun Zheng, Guchuan Zhu

This tutorial provides an overview of the generalized Lyapunov method (GLM) for analyzing input-to-state stability (ISS) of partial differential equations (PDEs). We begin by revisiting the classical Lyapunov method and the standard ISS-Lyapunov theorem, highlighting their limitations when applied to systems with complex boundary disturbances. In contrast, the GLM, based on the concept of generalized Lyapunov functionals (GLFs) that explicitly depend on the external input, offers greater flexibility and efficiency, particularly for PDEs with Dirichlet-type disturbances. The main objective of this tutorial is to demonstrate how to systematically construct GLFs to establish ISS estimates in $L^q$ spaces with any $q\in[2,\infty]$ for different PDEs. Specifically, we consider three representative classes of PDEs: (i) an $N$-dimensional nonlinear parabolic equation with mixed nonlinear boundary disturbances, (ii) a first order nonlinear hyperbolic equation with boundary disturbances, and (iii) a second order linear hyperbolic equation, i.e., a wave equation, with boundary damping and disturbances. For each case, we provide step-by-step constructions of appropriate GLFs and derive explicit ISS estimates, illustrating the general applicability of the GLM. Finally, we discuss open challenges and future directions, including the systematic construction of GLFs for broader classes of PDEs and their applications in controller design.