Feed-forward inverse control for transient waveform replication on electro-hydraulic shaking table

In this paper, an improved feed-forward inverse control scheme is proposed for transient waveform replication (TWR) on an electro-hydraulic shaking table (EHST). TWR is to determine whether a test article can remain operational and retain its structural integrity when subjected to a specific shock and vibration environment. Feed-forward inverse transfer function compensation is a useful technique to improve the tracking accuracy of the TWR on the EHST system due to their inherent hydraulic dynamics. Whenever a feed-forward inverse transfer function is employed, it is critical to design the identification accuracy of the inverse transfer function. A combined control strategy, which combines a feed-forward inverse transfer function compensation approach with a simple internal model control (IMC) and a real-time feedback controller, is proposed to minimize the effect of the system uncertainty and modeling error, and further to improve the tracking accuracy of the TWR. Thus, the proposed control strategy combines the merits of feed-forward inverse transfer function compensation and IMC. The procedure of the proposed control strategy is programmed in MATLAB/Simulink, and then is compiled to a real-time PC with Microsoft Visual Studio.NET for implementation. Simulation and experimental results demonstrated the viability of the proposed combined control strategy.