Sensors & Actuators: A.

Physical 346 (2022) 113830

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Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical

journal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/sensors-and-actuators-a-physical

Asymmetric Bouc-Wen hysteresis modeling for MFC actuator via hybrid

APSO-TRR identification algorithm
Zhiqiang Fu a, Yiping Shen a, *, Songlai Wang a, Wei Jiang b, Jian Li c, Guangfu Bin a, Binliang Hu a
a
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Health Maintenance for Mechanical Equipment, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan 411201, China
b
State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
c
AECC Hunan Aviation Powerplant Research Institute, Zhuzhou, Hunan 412002, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Macro fiber composite (MFC) is widely used in active vibration and deformation control. The intrinsic asym­
Macro fiber composite metric hysteresis nonlinearity of MFC affects the control accuracy. In this paper, a modified Bouc-Wen (MBW)
Hysteresis nonlinearity model based on the sigmoid function is proposed to describe the asymmetric hysteresis characteristics of MFC,
Modified Bouc-Wen model
and its parameters are identified by a hybrid algorithm composed of the trust-region reflection method and
Parameter identification
Hybrid algorithm
asynchronous particle swarm optimization. The accuracy of the proposed MBW model is verified though hys­
teresis tests of MFC under different drive frequencies. The results show that the MBW model can accurately
model the asymmetrical hysteresis of the MFC actuator, the modeling error is reduced by 72% compared with the
classic Bouc-Wen model. The proposed hybrid parameter identification method saves 95% of the time compared
with the particle swarm optimization and asynchronous particle swarm optimization algorithms.

1. Introduction
Macro fiber composite (MFC) is widely used in precision positioning
and active vibration control due to its excellent high displacement res­
olution, fast response time, and high flexibility [1–3]. The inherent
ferroelectric characteristics of MFC lead to complex nonlinear hysteresis
behavior between the input voltage and the output displacement [4].
The hysteretic nonlinear behavior of MFC can be suppressed by estab­
lishing a hysteretic inverse model to control the driving voltage [5]. The
hysteresis characteristics have been studied extensively and various
hysteresis models have been developed, such as the Preisach model,
Prandtl Ishlinskii model, Dahl model, Maxwell model, Bouc–Wen model,
etc [6–10]. Bouc-Wen model is widely used to describe symmetric
hysteresis characteristics due to its high computational efficiency, good
real-time performance, and simple inverse solution [11,12]. It is
important to note that piezoelectric materials in practical applications
have asymmetric hysteresis characteristics, which means that Bouc-Wen
hysteresis modeling will result in high modeling errors in piezoelectric
materials [13–15].
As for asymmetrical hysteresis, Song [16] generalized the classic
Bouc-Wen model by employing six shape-control parameters to account
for more generic asymmetric hysteresis. Zhu [17] introduced an
asymmetric operator into the Bouc-Wen model and reduced error by
30%. Wang [4] introduced a polynomial asymmetric lag component into
the Bouc-Wen model and identified the parameters using a modified
differential evolution algorithm. Zhang [18] introduced the asymmetric
feature operator in the classic Bouc-Wen (CBW) model and used the
particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for parameter identifica­
tion based on a genetic algorithm. Kim [19] combined the CBW model
with a piecewise linear convex function to describe asymmetric hys­
teresis. Hu [20] introduced an exponential input function in the CBW
model to characterize the asymmetric hysteresis and identified the pa­
rameters through a differential evolution (DE) algorithm. Kang [21]
proposed a new fractional-order normalized asymmetric Bouc-Wen
model based on an N-order polynomial input function and two frac­
tional operators.
Although the above works consider asymmetric hysteresis charac­
teristics, they still have two problems. Firstly, the Runge-Kutta method
or the multi-step method must be used to calculate nonlinear differential
equations, and the above-mentioned correction method increases the
parameters of the hysteresis operator, which makes it extremely difficult
to calculate the model and identify its parameters [22,23]. Secondly,
these models still result in large errors between the simulation and
experimental hysteresis loop under low driving frequency, especially at

* Correspondence to: Hunan University of Science and Technology, China.

E-mail address: yiping1011@163.com (Y. Shen).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2022.113830
Received 13 May 2022; Received in revised form 18 August 2022; Accepted 18 August 2022
Available online 22 August 2022
0924-4247/© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Z. Fu et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 346 (2022) 113830

2. Hysteresis modeling based on an asymmetric modified Bouc-

Wen model

2.1. Experimental platform and hysteresis of MFC

MFC actuator is a new type of fiber-based piezoelectric composite

developed by NASA’s Langley Center, and its schematic diagram is
shown in Fig. 1. The addition of epoxy resin in the MFC structure im­
proves the flexibility, reliability, and deformability of the entire com­
posite structure. The interdigital electrodes significantly improve the
strain actuation efficiency of piezoelectric materials [24,25].
The MFC hysteresis test system is shown in Fig. 2. The MFC actuator
was driven by a high voltage amplifier (model: HAV-1500–4, from Smart
Material Corporation) with a maximal voltage of 1500 V. A laser sensor
(model: VibroMet 500 V, from MetroLaser Corporation) was used to
measure the tip displacement of the flexible beam. The laser displace­
Fig. 1. The structure of the MFC.
ment sensor provides a 10 mm measuring range with a resolution of
0.1 nm. The National Instruments (NI) DAQ (model: USB-6366, from
the initial and end phase of the driving voltage. Reducing the modeling
National Instruments Corporation) is used for signals acquisition. The
error of these turning point will inevitably sacrifice the modeling ac­
sampling frequency is 1 kHz.
curacy of the loading or unloading stage. Although many algorithms
The MFC is driven by a biased sinusoidal voltage, and the driving
such as PSO and DE are applied to identify the parameters of the MBW
voltage at 0.1 Hz frequency is shown in Fig. 3(a). The measured hys­
model, the accuracy and convergence speed of the algorithms are not
teresis loops of MFC at 0.1 Hz, 1 Hz and 5 Hz frequency are shown in
extensively considered. It is significant to improve the accuracy of the
Fig. 3(b), 3(c) and 3(d), respectively. The asymmetric hysteresis
hysteresis model and efficiently identify its parameter for MFC in
nonlinearity between the voltage and the displacement is obvious. The
practical application.
maximum displacement of the MFC cantilever beam is 7.92 mm,
In this paper, an asymmetrical modified Bouc–Wen (MBW) model is
7.13 mm, and 5.77 mm at the frequencies of 0.1 Hz, 1 Hz, and 5 Hz,
proposed by introducing a sigmoid function into the Bouc–Wen model to
respectively. Define the ratio of the maximum hysteresis difference to
describe the nonsymmetrical hysteresis of the MFC, and a hybrid algo­
the maximum displacement as the hysteresis error δ. The hysteresis er­
rithm composed of the derivative-dependent trust-region reflection
rors of the MFC at 0.1 Hz, 1 Hz and 5 Hz frequency are 19.5%, 24.4%
method (TRR) and asynchronous particle swarm optimization (APSO)is
and 32.5%, respectively.
proposed to identify its parameters. TRR is applied for the first time in
The nonlinear hysteresis component of the MFC hysteresis curve is
the parameter identification of Bouc-Wen models, which is much more
extracted by using the least squares fitting method, as shown in Fig. 4.
efficient than the widely used PSO and DE algorithms. The hybrid al­
The inherent ferroelectric properties of piezoelectric materials and the
gorithm combines the global exploration capability of the APSO algo­
structural characteristics of MFC together lead to the asymmetric hys­
rithm and the local exploitation of the TRR algorithm, which achieves a
teresis nonlinearity, and the asymmetric nonlinearity is more obvious at
good tradeoff between accuracy, convergence, and reliability.
low frequencies. The hysteresis characteristic of the MFC is related to the
This paper is organized as follows. The MBW model is proposed in
sign of the voltage and the rate of change of voltage, and has stronger
Section 2, and the developed hybrid APSO-TRR algorithm is detailed in
nonlinearity in the voltage-loaded phase than in the voltage-unloaded
Section 3. Section 4 discusses the accuracy of the proposed MBW and the
phase. The displacement curve of the MFC in the voltage loading stage
efficiency of the parameter identification method. Section 5 gives the
has significant concave and convex characteristics.
conclusions.

Fig. 2. Experimental setup.

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Fig. 3. Measured hysteresis curve of the MFC.

Fig. 4. The nonlinear component of MFC hysteresis curves.

Fig. 5. Fitting diagram of CBW model to MFC actuator hysteresis at 0.1 Hz.

2.2. The MBW model

( )
f d, ḋ, z = Ak0 d + (1 − A)k0 h (1)
Based on the above nonlinear hysteresis characteristic of MFC, it is
crucial to select a proper mechanical model to describe its electric- [ ( ( ))]
mechanical hysteretic behavior. The Bouc-Wen model was initially ḣ = ḋ α − |z|n γ + βsgn ḋz (2)
proposed by Bouc [26] and extended by Wen [27]. It is one of the most
popular hysteresis models used to describe nonlinear hysteresis char­ where d is the displacement, h is the hysteresis displacement component.
acteristics in structural and mechanical engineering. According to the k0 and A denote the initial and the post-to-pre yield stiffness, respec­
Bouc-Wen model, the restoring force f is expressed as [6]. tively, and parameters α controls the hysteresis loop amplitude, β and γ

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Z. Fu et al.
Fig. 6. The effect of q on the concave-convex feature of the correction term.
Fig. 7. Comparing the CBW model and the MBW model.
control the shape of the hysteresis loop, and n controls smoothness of the
transition from elastic to plastic response.
The Bouc-Wen model was experimentally modified by many re­
searchers to describe the nonlinear hysteresis characteristic of piezo­
electric actuator [28,29]. Because of the elasticity of several
piezoelectric actuators and especially cantilevered structure actuators, it
is admitted that n = 1 [30]. Replacing the displacement input d in Eq (1)
with the applied electrical voltage u, the Bouc-Wen model adapted to
piezoelectric actuators is written as [30–32].
y(t) = ku(t) + h(t) (3)
ḣ(t) = αu̇(t) − βu̇(t)|h(t)| − γ|u̇(t) |h(t) (4)
where k is the linear ratio between output displacement and input
voltage.
Eqs. (3) and (4) construct the nonlinear dynamic model of the can­
tilevered structure actuator with MFC, which is called the CBW model in
this paper. Although the CBW model is often adopted to express the
hysteresis characteristics of MFC, the centrosymmetric output shape of
the CBW model limits the accuracy of the hysteresis modeling. Fig. 5
shows the fitting result of the CBW model for MFC under driving fre­
quency of 0.1 Hz. It can be found that the centrosymmetric CBW model
cannot accurately describe the asymmetric hysteresis nonlinear char­
acteristics of MFC. The concave-convex correction of the CBW model in
the voltage loading stage can effectively improve the accuracy of its
modeling of asymmetric hysteresis nonlinearity of MFC.
The asymmetric component in the hysteresis loop is not only affected
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Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 346 (2022) 113830
by u̇ and h, but also affected by the driving voltage u and the sign of u̇.
The reason why the CBW model cannot describe the asymmetric hys­
teresis is that the shape control function is independent of u and sgn(u̇)
[16]. Considering that the correction of the hysteresis operator will
greatly increase the difficulty of parameter identification, it is desirable
to develop an asymmetric correction in parallel with the hysteresis
operator and related to the sign of u̇ and the voltage u. The well-known
Sigmoid function is a smooth, continuous and strictly monotonic
S-shaped function, and its concave and convex features can be used to
asymmetrically modify the CBW model. Therefore, an MBW model
based on the sigmoid function is proposed as follows
y(t) = k⋅u(t) + h(t) + s(t) (5)
ḣ(t) = αu̇(t) − βu̇(t)|h(t) | − γ|u̇(t) |h(t) (6)
( )
1 1
s(t) = o[1 + sgn(u̇(t) ) ]⋅ − p(u(t)− q )
− (7)
1+e 2
where s(t) is the asymmetric correction component, sgn(•) denotes
symbolic function, o, p, q are the coefficients of the correction item,
separately.
The derivative of s(t) is expressed as follows
( )−
(8)
p(u(t)− q) p(u(t)− q ) 2
ṡ(t) = o⋅p⋅e− [1 + sgn(u̇(t) ) ]⋅ 1 + e−
( )( )− 3
s̈(t) = o⋅p2 ⋅e− p(u(t)− q)
[1 + sgn(u̇(t) ) ]⋅ e− p(u(t)− q )
− 1 1 + e− p(u(t)− q )
(9)
where o can control the magnitude of the correction component in the
voltage loading stage. p and q jointly adjust the shape of the correction
component in the voltage loading stage，and q determines the correc­
tion term s(t) is convex improvement, concave improvement, and
combined improvements, as shown in Fig. 6.
In order to demonstrate the asymmetric nonlinearity characteristics
of the proposed MBW model, the simulated hysteresis curves generated
by the MBW model with o = 2, p = 0.5, q = 0.5 is shown in
Fig. 7, as well as the simulated hysteresis loops generated by the CBW
model operator h(t) with k = 0, α = 1, β = 1, γ = 1. In the MBW model,
the other parameters α, β, γ are chosen the same as the ones used in the
CBW model. The input excitation signal is selected as u(t) =
0.5⋅sin (t − π/2). After the concave-convex correction of the loading
phase curve by the correction term s(t), the MBW model has significant
asymmetric hysteresis characteristics.
To improve the convergence speed and accuracy of the parameter
identification, the effects of its parameters of MBW on hysteresis loop is
analyzed firstly to determine their range. The input excitation signal is
selected as u(t) = 0.5⋅sin (t − π /2) + 0.5. According to Eqs (5) to
(9), the relationship between the nonlinear hysteresis term h(t) and the
input voltage u(t) of the hysteresis model with different parameters is
shown in Fig. 8. As for the parameters existing in the CBW model, α has
an effect on the slope and amplitude of the hysteresis curve, β and γ
together affect the shape of the hysteresis curve. Larger β will make the
hysteresis loop wider, and γ will make the hysteresis loop rounder.
As for the parameters of the correction term, parameter o affects the
amplitude of the unilateral correction term, and the increase of o will
strengthen the role of the correction term in the hysteresis curve. The
increase of p will cause a clockwise deflection of the one-sided hysteresis
curve, as well as a concave curve. The increase of q will widen the one-
sided hysteresis curve. If q is less than or equal to the minimum value of
the input quantity, the correction term s(t) will take the form of a
concave correction. If q is greater than or equal to the maximum value of
the input quantity, the correction term s(t) will take the form of a convex
correction. If q is between the minimum and maximum value of the
input quantity, the correction term s(t) will be in the form of a combi­
nation of concave and convex corrections.
Z. Fu et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 346 (2022) 113830

Fig. 8. Hysteresis curve of the MBW model with different parameters.

3. Parameter identification based on APSO-TRR algorithm function F is expressed as follows [4].

√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
√∑
3.1. Parameter identification of MBW model √n
√ fi (u)2
√ (10)
F(u) = i=1
After the hysteresis model is established, the unknown parameters n
need to be identified based on the experimental data. The convergence
speed and accuracy of the solution can be improved by establishing a with
suitable fitness function. In this study, the fitness value calculated based f (u) = yi − yHM (11)
on the fitness function is the only standard to judge whether an indi­
i

vidual is better or worse than other or former individuals. The fitness

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Z. Fu et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 346 (2022) 113830

Fig. 9. Flowchart of the proposed hybrid APSO-TRR algorithm.

yHM
i = k⋅u(iT) + s(iT) + h(iT) (12) initial point in a given bound for the trust-region reflective algorithm to
reduce the impact of the initial solution. The proposed new hybrid
( )
2 trust-region reflective algorithm can greatly improve the convergence of
s(iT) = o[1 + sgn(u̇(iT) ) ]⋅ − 1 (13)
1 + e− p(u(iT)− q ) parameters extraction without sacrificing accuracy and stability.

ḣ(iT) = αu̇(iT) − βu̇(iT)|h(iT) |n − γ|u̇(iT) ||h(iT) |n− 1 h(iT) (14)

where n is the total number of samples, T is the sampling period, i = 1, 2,
3⋅⋅⋅n is the ith sampling period, yHM and yi are the predicted output by
i
hysteresis model and experimental displacements of MFC actuator,
respectively.
f(u) is a nonlinear function of the parameters k, α, β, γ, o, p, and q.
Taking the root-mean-square error (RMSE) between the measured
displacement yi and the predicted displacement yHM of the MBW model
i
as the fitness function, the error between the model prediction and the
actual value among all the experimental data can be effectively evalu­
ated. This is a nonlinear least-squares problem. Trust region approaches
are powerful to solve nonlinear minimization problems, which can be
used to solve nonlinear least squares data-fitting problems as given in
Eq. (8). However, the trust-region reflective (TRR) algorithm is also a
3.2. APSO algorithm
The APSO algorithm is a swarm-based stochastic method driven by
the social behavior of schooling fish and birds flocking as they search for
any target or food. Each member of the swarm is called a particle that
has the solution to the problem. At the start, the initial location of each
member is assumed as the personal best position (PtBest,i ). The fitness of
each member is assessed using the fitness function. Based on the mini­
mum fitness value, the global best particle (GBest ) is chosen [35]. The
particle’s movement is influenced by factors such as the experience of
GBest , experience of PtBest,i and inertia. The particles in the APSO algo­
rithm updated their velocity and position as follows
( ) [ ( )] [ ( )]
vt+1 t
i,j = vi,j × ω
t+1
+ c1 × rt1j × PtBest,i − xti,j + c2 × rt2j × GBest − xt+1
i,j

kind of local optimization algorithm, the result of which is affected by (15)

the given initial solution [33,34]. The asynchronous particle swarm
optimization (APSO) heuristic algorithm is adopted to search for a good xt+1 t t+1
i,j = xi,j + vi,j (16)

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Z. Fu et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 346 (2022) 113830

Table 1 ⎧ ⎫
Main parameters of the APSO-TRR algorithms. ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ (ωmax − ωmin ) × (f − fmin ) ⎪
⎪
Symbol Quantity Values ⎪
⎪ ωmin − , f ≤ favg ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ favg − fmin ⎪
⎪
c1 ,c2 Acceleration Coefficient 2
⎪
⎨ ⎪
⎬
ωmin Minimum inertia 0.6 ωt+1 = (17)
⎪ ⎪
ωmax Maximum inertia 0.9 ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
Iterpmax Number of Iterations of APSO 3
⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪
Itermax Maximum number of Iterations 300 ⎪
⎪ ωmax , f > favg ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪
8 ⎩ ⎭
Ptol Parameter tolerance of TRR 1 × 10−
8
Ftol Function tolerance of TRR 1 × 10−

where f is the objective function value of the particle, favg and fmin
Table 2 represent the average objective function value and minimum objective
Parameter range of PSO/APSO algorithm for CBW and MBW models. function value of all particles, respectively.
Parameters α β γ k o p q
3.3. TRR algorithm
Lower bound -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 0
Upper bound 1 1 1 1 1 1 1500
Instead of directly using the RMSE as the objective function, the TRR
method uses the error function vector as the input function to enable the
computation of the derivative information. But the SSE (the Sum of
where v is the particle flight speed, ω is the dynamic constant, which
Squares due to Error) is calculated and used as the objective value to be
controls the influence of the previous speed on the current speed, x
minimized inside the algorithm. The TRR algorithm can be used to solve
represents the particle position, c1 , c2 are the learning factor, c1 adjust
both bound unconstrained and constrained minimization problems,
the step size of particles flying to their best position, c2 adjust the step
which is implemented by choosing appropriate diagonal scaling matrix
size of particles flying to the global best position, r1 , r2 are mutually
and quadratic model to convert the objective function into an approxi­
independent pseudo-random numbers.
mate function as follows. By setting the lower bound to be minus infinite
The nonlinear dynamic inertia weight coefficient ωt+1 is adopted to
and the upper bound to be plus infinite, the TRR algorithm becomes
balance the traditional PSO algorithm’s global search ability and local
bound-unconstrained [34,36].
improvement ability as follows

Fig. 10. Convergence characteristics of the fitness function.

Table 3
Parameter identification results.
Parameters PSO APSO APSO-TRR

CBW MBW CBW MBW CBW MBW

α 0.8635 0.8592 0.8902 0.8902 0.9007 0.7402

7 6 7 6 7
β 9.9 × 10− 1.8 × 10− 9.4 × 10− 1.7 × 10− 8.8 × 10− 2.0 × 10− 6
9 9 9 9 9
γ 2.3 × 10− 1.3 × 10− 2.2 × 10− 1.3 × 10− 2.0 × 10− -6.6 × 10− 10
k -0.8576 -0.8528 -0.8843 -0.8528 -0.8948 -0.7338
o – 0.0321 – 0.0322 – 0.0882
p – 0.4589 – 0.3027 – 0.0045
q – 1126 – 1004 – 1215
Fitness 0.0912 0.0768 0.0847 0.0704 0.0764 0.0214
Time (s) 4926 4977 5075 5113 248 460

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Fig. 11. Evolution history of the APSO-TRR algorithm for the best fitness and parameters α, β, γ, k, o, p and q.

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Table 4
Model parameters identified by APSO-TRR algorithm.
Frequency 0.1 Hz 1 Hz 5 Hz

CBW MBW CBW MBW CBW MBW

α 0.9007 0.7402 1.0270 0.9858 1.1266 0.9775

7
β 8.88 × 10− 1.99 × 10− 6 5.59 × 10− 7
8.50 × 10− 7
3.30 × 10− 7
1.01 × 10− 6
9
γ 2.01 × 10− -6.62 × 10− 10 1.60 × 10− 9
6.65 × 10− 10
6.62 × 10− 10
-1.13 × 10− 9
k -0.8948 -0.7338 -1.02175 -0.9804 -1.1225 -0.9730
o – 0.0882 – -0.0399 – -0.0751
p – 0.0045 – -0.0065 – -0.0050
q – 1215 – 1005 – 1240

is called the reflective line search. The interior-reflective method pro­

posed by Coleman & Li to solve the trust-region subproblem with con­
straints includes the reflective search path to determine the step length
as well as the iterations [33].

3.4. APSO-TRR hybrid algorithm

A hybrid APSO-TRR algorithm is proposed for parameter identifi­

cation of MBW model. The efficient APSO algorithm is used to obtain an
initial solution from a randomly generated solution population in a few
iterations. Starting from the obtained initial solution, the powerful TRR
algorithm is applied to intensively optimize the solution based on the
derivative information of the error functions. The flowchart of the
hybrid algorithm is shown in Fig. 9.

4. Results and discussion

Fig. 12. Effect of correction term at different frequencies.

4.1. Comparison with different parameter identification algorithms

∑ The efficiency of the proposed hybrid APSO-TRR algorithm is eval­

n
min||F(x)||2 = min fi (x)2 (18)
x 2 i=1 uated by comparing with the PSO and APSO algorithms. There algo­
rithms are coded and run in MATLAB R2022A working at a desktop
1
min me (d) = dgT + dT Be d, ||De d| | ≤ Δe (19) computer of AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU @ 3.4 GHz, 128 GB RAM, and 64
2 bits Window 11 operating system. The same fitness function and search
space are used for these three algorithms. The main parameters of these
where the subscript e is the number of current iterations, B is an algorithms are listed in Table 1. To make the correction term have
asymmetric approximation to Hessian matrix H defined as follows, D is concave and convex features, the search space of q is limited to (0,1500).
the diagonal scaling matrix, ||.|| is the 2-norm. The search space of other parameters is limited to ( − 1, 1) [17,37]. The
Be = He + Ce (20) upper and lower bounds of unknown parameters are shown in Table 2.
Run each algorithm independently 20 times and take the average,
Ce = De diag(g(xe ) )Jv (xe )De (21) the convergence characteristics with the fitness function of three algo­
( ) rithms are shown in Fig. 10, and the corresponding parameters identi­
1
De = diag |v(x) |− 2 (22) fied by these algorithms are listed in Table 3. The APSO-TRR algorithm
is significantly better than the PSO and APSO algorithms in terms of
identification speed and accuracy. The increase of parameters numbers
where the vector function v(x) = (v1 (x), v2 (x), …, vn (x))T is defined as
in MBW model does not increase the convergence difficulty. This is
follows.
because the correction term of MBW is in parallel with the hysteresis
differential operator, which does not perform differential operation.
1) If ∇(f(x) )i < 0, UBe < ∞, then ve = xe − UBe ;
(a) Fitness function convergence characteristics of CBW. (b) Fitness
2) If ∇(f(x) )i ≥ 0, UBe > − ∞, then ve = xe − LBe ;
function convergence characteristics of MBW.
3) If ∇(f(x) )i < 0, UBe = ∞, then ve = − 1;
For the parameter identification of the CBW model, the APSO-TRR
4) If ∇(f(x) )i ≥ 0, UBe = − ∞, then ve = 1.
algorithm only needs 248 s to achieve convergence, while the PSO
and APSO algorithms take 4926 s and 4977 s. Compared with the PSO
The Jv is a diagonal matrix that plays the role of Jacobian of |v(x)|. algorithm, the APSO-TRR algorithm saves 95% of the time and reduces
The value of diagonal components of Jv is − 1, 1 or 0. If all the com­ the RMSE by 16%. For the parameter identification of the MBW model,
ponents of LB and UB are finite, the Jv is defined by follow the APSO-TRR algorithm saves 91% of the time compared with the PSO
Jv (xk ) = diag(sgn(g(xe ) ) ) (23) algorithm and reduces the RMSE by 70%. Because of the increase of
parameter number in the MBW model, the recognition time of the APSO-
Applying a given xe , the problem in Eq. (17) is solved to define de in TRR algorithm increases from 248 s for the CBW model to 460 s for the
order to achieve xe+1 = xe +ae de in which ae is a step length. The step MBW model. The reason is that the TRR algorithm is more sensitive to
length ae depends on the distance between xe +de and the boundary of the number of parameters. The parameter identification of the MBW
int(F). Since the interior F is bounded by the constraints, an iteration will model uses the APSO-TRR algorithm to achieve convergence in less than
be reflected into the interior if that iteration lies on the boundary, which 50 steps, as shown in Fig. 11. The fitness value of the MBW model

9
Z. Fu et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 346 (2022) 113830

(Fig. 13. Hysteresis curves with identified and experimental data at different frequencies.

reduces the error by 72% compared with the CBW model because the
Table 5 MBW model can accurately describe the asymmetric hysteresis
Model error test at different frequencies.
nonlinear characteristics of the MFC.
Frequency CBW MBW

ΔRMSE (mm) ΔRRMSE ΔRMSE (mm) ΔRRMSE

4.2. Comparison of two Bouc-Wen models for MFC
0.1 Hz 0.0764 0.96% 0.0214 0.26%
1 Hz 0.0853 1.20% 0.0335 0.47%
5 Hz 0.0830 1.44% 0.0505 0.87% The MBW model is compared to the CBW model at various fre­
quencies to evaluate its performance, and the APSO-TRR algorithm is
used for parameter identification. Table 4 list the results of parameter
identification of MBW and CBW at different frequencies. The effect of
the correction term at different frequencies is shown in Fig. 12. The

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Z. Fu et al.
asymmetric correction terms all show the concave-convex combined
correction form at different frequencies. The correction term only works
on the voltage loading phase of the MFC actuator.
The fitting results and the model errors of MBW and CBW are shown
in Fig. 13. The MBW model is more accurate than the CBW model.
Although the correction term only acts on the voltage loading stage, the
correction model can improve the accuracy of the entire hysteresis loop.
This is because the inflection point of the hysteresis curve has changed
with the concave-convex correction of the hysteresis curve in the
loading phase. The MBW model can accurately fit the hysteresis curve in
the unloading phase and improve the overall fitting accuracy of the
hysteresis curve.
The root-mean-square error ΔRMSE and relative root-mean-square
error ΔRRMSE are introduced to qualify the modeling errors [38].
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
√n
√∑ (
√ HM 2
) Natural Science Foundation (No. 2020JJ6029, No. 2022JJ30260), and
√i=1 yi − yi (24)
ΔRMSE =
n
erms
ΔRRMSE = × 100% (25)
max(yi )
where n is the total number of samples, yHM and yi are the predicted
i
output by the hysteresis model and experimental displacements of MFC,
( )
max yi is the maximum value of the experimental displacement.
The detailed modeling errors of MBW and CBW are listed in Table 5.
ΔRMSE and ΔRRMSE of the MBW model under excitation frequency of
0.1 Hz are 0.0214 µm and 0.26%, which are reduced by 72.0%
compared with that of the CBW model. When the frequency increases to
1 Hz and 5 Hz, the modeling errors (ΔRMSE and ΔRRMSE ) of the MBW
model are reduced by nearly 60.7% and 39.2%, respectively. The results
indicate that the MBW model can accurately predict the output of hys­
teresis curves for MFC actuators.
5. Conclusions
An MBW model to describe the asymmetric hysteresis of MFC is
proposed in this study, and a new hybrid optimization algorithm APSO-
TRR is applied to identify the modified Bouc–Wen model parameters.
The APSO-TRR hybrid algorithm combines the strong global exploration
capability of the APSO metaheuristic algorithm and the powerful local
exploitation capability of the TRR deterministic algorithm to achieve a
good tradeoff between accuracy, convergence, and reliability. The re­
sults show that the MBW model can model the asymmetrical hysteresis
of the MFC actuator more accurately than the classic Bouc-Wen model,
reducing the modeling error by 72%. The advanced parameter identi­
fication method saves 95% of the time compared with the PSO and APSO
algorithms. It is reasonable to believe that the MBW model is effective
and can characterize hysteresis behaviors more precisely than the CBW
model at low frequencies. Although the asymmetric Bouc-Wen model
with the corresponding parameter identification method is only
demonstrated in MFC hysteresis modeling, it can also be used to model
other materials and systems that exhibit asymmetric hysteresis.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Zhiqiang Fu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Investi­
gation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. Yiping Shen :
Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Resources, Supervision,
Writing – review & editing. Songlai Wang : Visualization, Investigation.
Wei Jiang : Resources, Supervision. Jian Li: Software, Validation.
Guangfu Bin : Visualization, Writing – review & editing. Binliang Hu :
Data curation, Writing – review & editing.
11
Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 346 (2022) 113830
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data Availability
The data that has been used is confidential.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Founda­
tion of China (No. 52075193), the Hunan Innovative Province Con­
struction Special Foundation (No. 2020RC3049), the Hunan Provincial
the Foundation of Hunan Educational Committee (No. 21A0310).
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Guangfu Bin received the B.S. and M.S degrees in mechanical

engineering from Hunan University of Science and Technology,
Zhiqiang Fu received the B.S. degree in 2015 from Shaoyang
in 2003 and 2006, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree in
University, received the M.S. degree in 2018 from Hunan
2013 from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, now he
University of Science and Technology. In 2020, he joined the
is a professor in Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Health
research group for micro/nano systems at the college of me­
Maintenance for Mechanical Equipment, Hunan University of
chanical engineering at Hunan University of Science and
Science and Technology. His main research interests include
Technology, where he is currently working toward the Ph.D.
structure health monitoring, vibration suppression.
His current research interests include the vibration suppression
and smart piezoelectric actuator.

Binliang Hu received the B.S. degree in 1986 from China

University of Mining and Technology, received the M.S. degree
Yiping Shen received the B.S. and M.S degrees in mechanical
in 2002 from Wuhan University of Technology, received the
engineering from Hunan University of Science and Technology,
Ph.D. degree in 2014 from Xiangtan University, now he is a
in 2003 and 2006, respectively. She received the Ph.D. degree
professor in Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Health
in 2014 from Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Maintenance for Mechanical Equipment, Hunan University of
now she is a professor in Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of
Science and Technology. His main research interests include
Health Maintenance for Mechanical Equipment, Hunan Uni­
smart piezoelectric actuator, structure health monitoring.
versity of Science and Technology. Her main research interests
include piezoelectric sensor technology, and structure health
monitoring.

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