Point-actuated feedback control of multidimensional interfaces

Abstract

We consider the application of feedback control strategies with point actuators to stabilise desired interface shapes. We take a multidimensional Kuramoto--Sivashinsky equation as a test case; this equation arises in the study of thin liquid films, exhibiting a wide range of dynamics in different parameter regimes, including unbounded growth and full spatiotemporal chaos. In the case of limited observability, we utilise a proportional control strategy where forcing at a point depends only on the local observation. We find that point-actuated controls may inhibit unbounded growth of a solution, if they are sufficient in number and in strength, and can exponentially stabilise the desired state. We investigate actuator arrangements, and find that the equidistant case is optimal, with heavy penalties for poorly arranged actuators. We additionally consider the problem of synchronising two chaotic solutions using proportional controls. In the case when the full interface is observable, we construct feedback gain matrices using the linearised dynamics. Such controls improve on the proportional case, and are applied to stabilise non-trivial steady and travelling wave solutions.