Stability Issues in Hardware‐in‐the‐Loop Tests of Flexible Components

Abstract

The well-known Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) paradigm can be applied to numerous engineering problems to test components of complex systems and their dynamical effects under realistic boundary conditions. The system is split into a virtual component and a physical testbed. Coupling both with a control system makes it possible to replicate the full system's dynamics. However, the system may exhibit stability problems, depending on dead times, actuator dynamics and dynamical properties of the test specimen. In this contribution, the properties of a simple lumped mass system and their effects on stabilty and accuracy are investigated.