Membrane structure active flatness control using genetic algorithm with online objective reweighting

This paper presents experimental studies on active flatness control of a membrane structure using genetic algorithm (GA). Different from the previous algorithms with a single objective function, a genetic algorithm with online objective reweighting capability is proposed here. This genetic algorithm implements an objective function that re-weights its objective online and the objective function is the flatness plus tension. The goal of the reweighting genetic algorithm is to allow for a computationally efficient method by which membrane wrinkling can be reduced, while maintaining a consideration for control authority. Experiments are conducted on our membrane test facility with two implementations: a static mutation rate and an adaptive mutation rate. The experimental results show that the proposed genetic algorithm is able to converge on flatness while reducing the total amount of tension required.