It is shown that a strictly-input passive linear finite dimensional controller exponentially stabilizes a large class of partial differential equations actuated at the boundary of a one dimensional spatial domain. This follows since the controller imposes exponential dissipation of the total energy. The result can by use for control synthesis and for the stability analysis of complex systems modeled by sets of coupled PDE's and ODE's. The result is specialized to port-Hamiltonian control systems and a simplified DNA-manipulation process is used to illustrate the result.

This paper is concerned with the energy shaping of 1-D linear boundary controlled port-Hamiltonian systems. The energy-Casimir method is first proposed to deal with power preserving systems. It is shown how to use finite dimensional dynamic boundary controllers and closed-loop structural invariants to partially shape the closed-loop energy function and how such controller finally reduces to a state feedback. When dissipative port-Hamiltonian systems are considered, the Casimir functions do not exist anymore (dissipation obstacle) and the immersion (via a dynamic controller)/reduction (through invariants) method cannot be applied. The main contribution of this paper is to show how to use the same ideas and state functions to shape the closed-loop energy function of dissipative systems through direct state feedback i.e. without relying on a dynamic controller and a reduction step. In both cases, the existence of solution and the asymptotic stability (by additional damping injection) of the closed-loop system are proven. The general theory and achievable closed-loop performances are illustrated with the help of a concluding example, the boundary stabilization of a longitudinal beam vibrations.