IUTAM Symposium on Dynamics and Control of Nonlinear Systems with Uncertainty: Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium held in Nanjing, China, September 18-22, 2006 (IUTAM Bookseries Book 2)

The concept of dynamics and control implies the combination of dynamic analysis and control synthesis. It is essential to gain an insight into the dynamics of a nonlinear system with uncertainty if any new control strategy is designed to utilize nonlinearity. However, the new control strategy to be proposed must be robust enough so that any unexpected small disturbances will not alter the desired target of control. Such a concept is calling more attention to the modelling and simplification of dynamic systems subject to uncertain environment, the fine analysis and robust design of controlled dynamic systems based on either good understanding of nonlinear phenomena or artificial intelligence, the combination of passive control, active control and semi-active control, as well as the interaction among sensors, controllers and actuators. The last decade has witnessed an increasing interest towards the dynamics and control of nonlinear engineering systems from the scientists engaged in nonlinear dynamics and the control engineers. Both groups of people have recognized the importance of interaction between nonlinear dynamics and robust control during their efforts to improve the dynamic performance of engineering systems with uncertainty, which comes from either the random excitations, such as wind and earthquake, or the modelling errors of real systems including their sensors, controllers and actuators. The dynamics and control of nonlinear systems with uncertainty, therefore, is a vital interdisciplinary topic related to both stochastic systems and deterministic systems. This volume contains the papers presented at the IUTAM Symposium on Dynamics and Control of Nonlinear Systems with Uncertainty, which was sponsored by the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) and held at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, 18-22 September, 2006. The aim of the symposium was to bringing together the scientists to discuss the advances in dynamics and control of nonlinear systems, especially those with uncertainties in either system modeling or excitation. The scientific committee, appointed by the Bureau of IUTAM, includes the following members: F. L. Chernousko, Moscow, Russia E. Kreuzer, Hamburg, Germany (Co-Chairman) H. Y. Hu, Nanjing, China (Chairman) A. H. Nayfeh, Blacksburg, USA G. Rega, Rome, Italy W. Schiehlen, Stuttgart, Germany (IUTAM representative) K. Sobczyk, Warsaw, Poland G. Stepan, Budapest, Hungary H. Troger, Wien, Austria ix x Preface The concept of dynamics and control implies the combination of dynamic analysis and control synthesis. This book provides an insight into the dynamics of a nonlinear system with uncertainty and proposes a framework for a better control strategy