Flatness‐based deformation control of an Euler–Bernoulli beam with in‐domain actuation

This study addresses the problem of deformation control of an Euler–Bernoulli beam with in‐domain actuation. The proposed control scheme consists in first relating the system model described by an inhomogeneous partial differential equation to a system under a standard boundary control form. Then, a combination of closed‐loop feedback control and flatness‐based motion planning is used for stabilising the closed‐loop system around reference trajectories. The validity of the proposed method is assessed through well‐posedness and stability analysis of the considered systems. The performance of the developed control scheme is demonstrated through numerical simulations of a representative micro‐beam.