In this paper, a novel and complete process to simulate an active vibration control system in a centerless grinding machine is presented. Based on the updated finite element (FE) model of the machine, the structural modifications performed to incorporate active elements are detailed, as well as the subsequent reduction procedure to obtain a low-order state space model. This reduced structural model was integrated in the cutting process model giving a tool adapted for the purpose of simulating different control laws.
Using the developed model, a control algorithm, which previously had been implemented in the centerless grinding machine under study, was checked. The simulation results were in agreement with the experimentally obtained ones, showing that the designed model is able to reproduce machine behaviour with the control activated. This model constitutes a powerful tool to evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches to that of the described one, making it possible to tackle an optimisation process of the control system by means of simulations and, thus, avoiding the costs that would involve the practical implementation of each one.
