In this paper, boundary control is designed for a Timoshenko beam system with the input dead-zone. By the Hamilton's principle, the dynamics of the Timoshenko beam system is represented by a distributed parameter model with two partial differential equations and four ordinary differential equations. The bounded part is separated from the input dead-zone and then forms the disturbance-like term together with the boundary disturbance, which finally acts on the Timoshenko beam system. Boundary control, based on the Lyapunov's direct method, is proposed to ensure the Timoshenko beam converge into a small neighbourhood of zero, where stability of the system is also analysed. Besides, the existence and uniqueness of the solution of the Timoshenko beam system are proved. Simulations are provided to reveal the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
NomenclatureL length of the Timoshenko beam M mass of the tip payload ρ uniform mass per unit length of the Timohenko beam EI bending stiffness of the Timoshenko beam I ρ uniform mass moment of inertia of the cross section of the Timoshenko beam J inertia of the tip payload K K = kAG k a positive constant depending on the shape of the cross section of the Timoshenko beam A cross-sectional area of the Timoshenko beam G modulus of elasticity in shear w(x, t) transverse displacement of the Timoshenko beam at the position x and time t u(t) and τ (t) two control inputs with dead-zone d(t) unknown time-varying boundary disturbance on the tip payload f(x, t) disturbance of the Timonshenko beam