On the analysis and control of hyperbolic systems associated with vibrating networks

In this paper a general linear model for vibrating networks of one-dimensional elements is derived. This is applied to various situations including nonplanar networks of beams modelled by a three-dimensional variant on the Timoshenko beam, described for the first time in this paper. The existence and regularity of solutions is established for all the networks under consideration. The methods of first-order hyperbolic systems are used to obtain estimates from which exact controllability follows for networks containing no closed loops.