Stabilization and Observability of a Rotating Timoshenko Beam Model

A control system describing the dynamics of a rotating Timoshenko beam is considered. We assume that the beam is driven by a control torque at one of its ends, and the other end carries a rigid body as a load. The model considered takes into account the longitudinal, vertical, and shear motions of the beam. For this distributed parameter system, we construct a family of Galerkin approximations based on solutions of the homogeneous Timoshenko beam equation. We derive sufficient conditions for stabilizability of such finite dimensional system. In addition, the equilibrium of the Galerkin approximation considered is proved to be stabilizable by an observer-based feedback law, and an explicit control design is proposed.