Interconnection of port-Hamiltonian systems is not dynamical

Abstract

The interconnection of port-Hamiltonian systems is usually understood as structure-preserving due to the geometric fact that the composition of the underlying Dirac structures produces again a Dirac structure. Pointwise, this is doubtless true, but when comparing dynamical systems, their trajectories are usually compared, and trajectories usually obey some regularity assumptions. It is shown that both classical and weak solutions do not necessarily exhibit a one-to-one correspondence between solutions of the interconnected port-Hamiltonian system, and the dynamical system realising the interconnection. In the mostly studied cases of constant Dirac structures or port-Hamiltonian ODE systems, both systems are behaviourally equivalent; for non-constant Dirac structures, a sufficient condition is given.