Modeling of Hysteresis and Backlash Within a Smart Fin With a Piezoelectric Actuator

This work presents a dynamic model of a smart fin, which is activated by a piezoelectric bimorph actuator that is made by bonding two Macro Fiber Composites (MFCs). The actuator is completely enclosed within the fin. Earlier research has indicated that the use of a linear model for the fin dynamics does not fully describe the fin. This work presents a more realistic approach to the problem by incorporating additional components into the model. Therefore, a proportional damping matrix is introduced. It was also observed that experimental results exhibit hysteresis and backlash. A Bouc-Wen hysteresis model is combined with two backlash operators to model the observed saturation and the non-symmetry of the response. Hybrid Fuzzy Simplex Genetic Algorithm (HFSGA) is used to identify the optimal set of parameters for the damping matrix constants, the Bouc-Wen model, and the backlash operators. The results show that proposed method can predict the hysteresis of the smart fin–actuator system under various operational conditions.