Boundary null controllability of weakly coupled structurally damped beams

Abstract

We prove boundary null controllability in any positive time for a finite system of Euler--Bernoulli beams with possibly non-diagonalizable coupling. For $0<\rho <2$, a Fourier--Jordan reduction yields a vector moment problem with polynomial--exponential modes. Under the Fattorini--Hautus condition, global spectral non-collision, and nonvanishing modal transfer factors, a suitably estimated block-biorthogonal family produces an $H^2$ boundary control. Geometric multiplicities of the coupling matrix determine the minimal control dimension, and Jordan-block lengths determine the degrees of the generalized moments. At $\rho =2$, an exact heat-system reduction gives the same result for $A=A^{\ast }\ge 0$, despite the time-differential linkage of the reduced boundary inputs.