Fuzzy logic control of bridge structures using intelligent semi-active seismic isolation systems

Passive supplemental damping in a seismically isolated structure provides the necessary energy dissipation to limit the isolation system displacement. However, damper forces can become quite large as the passive damping level is increased, resulting in the requirement to transfer large forces at the damper connections to the structure which may be particularly difficult to accommodate in retrofit applications. One method to limit the level of damping force while simultaneously controlling the isolation system displacement is to utilize an intelligent hybrid isolation system containing semi-active dampers in which the damping coeffic ient can be modulated. The effectiveness of such a hybrid seismic isolation system for earthquake hazard mitigation is investigated in this paper. The system is examined through an analytical and computational study of the seismic response of a bridge structure containing a hybrid isolation system consisting of elastomeric bearings and semi-active dampers. Control algorithms for operation of the semi-active dampers are developed based on fuzzy logic control theory. Practical limits on the response of the isolation system are considered and utilized in the evaluation of the control algorithms. The results of the study show that both passive and semi-active hybrid seismic isolation systems consisting of combined base isolation bearings and supplemental energy dissipation devices can be beneficial in reducing the seismic response of structures. These hybrid systems may prevent or significantly reduce structural damage during a seismic event. Furthermore, it is shown that intelligent semi-active seismic isolation systems are capable of controlling the peak deck displacement of bridges, and thus reducing the required length of expansion joints, while simultaneously limiting peak damper forces. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal design of an equipment isolation system with nonlinear hysteretic behaviour

Vibration isolation is well recognized as an effective mitigation strategy for acceleration‐sensitive equipment subjected to earthquake. In the present paper, an equipment isolation system with nonlinear hysteretic behaviour is proposed and a methodology for the optimal design is developed. An integrable constitutive model, derived from the mathematical Duhem hysteresis operator, is adopted for the isolation system. The optimization procedure is defined through a dual‐criteria approach that involves a transmissibility criterion combined with an energy performance criterion: the former consists in limiting the absolute acceleration of the isolated equipment below an allowable threshold value; the latter, in maximizing the ratio between the energy dissipation due to hysteresis and the input energy to reduce the isolator displacements. The seismic effectiveness of the nonlinear hysteretic isolation system is numerically investigated under natural accelerograms with different frequency content and increasing levels of excitation. Both ground‐mounted and floor‐mounted equipment items are considered in the analyses; in the second case, the dynamic interaction between the equipment and its supporting structure is taken into account in the design of the isolation system, and its effects on the isolation performance and the structural response are discussed. Comparisons in terms of effectiveness and robustness with a linear isolation system with viscoelastic behaviour are eventually provided. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recent advances in structural control research and applications in China mainland

Abstrect The recent developments of theoretical research, model tests and engineering applications of structural control in mainland China are reviewed in this paper. It includes seismic isolation, passive energy dissipation, active and semi-active control, smart materials and smart structural systems. It can be seen that passive control methods, such as seismic isolation and energy dissipation methods, have developed into the mature stage in China. At the same time, great progress has been made in active and semi-active control, and smart actuators or smart dampers and smart structural systems. Finally, some future research initiatives for structural control in civil engineering are suggested. Supported by : National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50025821)     

磁流变智能基础隔震系统研究

本文将磁流变(MR)阻尼器与普通橡胶隔震支座相结合,组成智能基础隔震系统应用到结构控制中。在详细介绍了系统的各部分与整体运行情况后,采用LQR经典线性最优控制算法对结构进行了振动台试验研究。试验结果表明,由MR阻尼器提供可调阻尼力的智能隔震控制系统,能有效克服被动隔震最优控制频带窄的缺点,对较宽频域范围地震激励能进行有效的振动控制。其相对一般被动隔震装置,能同时减小上部结构加速度和隔震层位移.     

Seismic response of light internal equipment in base-isolated structures

The seismic response of light secondary systems in a building is dependent on the response of the primary structural system to the seismic ground motion with the result that very high accelerations can be induced in such secondary systems. This response can be reduced through the use of aseismic base isolation which is a design strategy whereby the entire building can be decoupled from the damaging horizontal components of seismic ground motion by the use of some form of isolation system. The paper presents a theoretical analysis of the response of light equipment in isolated structures and a parallel experimental programme both of which show that the use of base isolation can not only attenuate the response of the primary structural system but also reduce the response of secondary systems. Thus, the design of equipment and piping in a base-isolated building is very much simpler than that for a conventionally founded structure: inelastic response and equipment-structure interaction need not be considered and multiple support response analysis is rendered unnecessary. Although an isolation system with linear elastic bearings can reduce the acceleration of the structure, it may be accompanied by large relative displacements between the structure and the ground. A system using lead-rubber hysteretic bearings, having a force-displacement relation which is approximately a bilinear loop, can reduce these displacements. A parallel experimental programme was carried out to investigate the response of light equipment in structures isolated using lead-rubber bearings. The experimental results show that these bearings can dissipate energy and limit the displacement and acceleration of the structure but are less effective in reducing the accelerations in the internal equipment. The results of both the analysis and the tests show that base isolation is a very effective method for the seismic protection of light equipment items in buildings.     

大底盘多塔楼结构的混合隔震控制

结合某实际工程,针对大底盘多塔楼结构提出混合隔震的控制策略,即对大底盘上的一栋或多栋塔楼采用隔震技术,并在隔震层附设一定数量的被动、主动或半主动的减震控制装置。建立了这种大底盘多塔楼结构混合隔震控制体系的运动方程,方程中各塔楼与下部结构及隔震层之间的刚度解耦,并考虑了隔震层的非线性。研究中比较了被动非线性粘滞阻尼器,半主动变孔隙阻尼器与理想主动控制时的减震控制效果。结果表明,这种混合隔震体系可以有效地减小上部塔楼与下部结构的地震反应,提高大底盘多塔楼结构的抗震安全性,取得明显的经济和社会效益。半主动变孔隙阻尼器可以极好地追踪理想主动控制力,取得与理想主动控制相近的减震控制效果。被动非线性粘滞阻尼器也能取得较好的减震效果,且易于维护,经济性较好,从工程应用的角度来看更为现实可行,具有较好的应用推广价值。     

Vibration suppression of structures

A procedure for vibration suppression of elastic structures and systems is introduced in this paper. First, the equations of the response of the system to external forces, based on a discretized linear model, are developed. Next, the vibration suppression is formulated as a minimization problem with control (external) forces as unknowns. Then, the optimality condition is applied to this problem and a set of linear simultaneous equations is obtained for the unknown forces. The scheme is applied to a number of simple examples for illustration. The results show that the procedure is very effective and, at the same time, very flexible compared to methods that are based on continuous models (partial differential equations). The actual (hardware) implementation can be achieved by means of either passive absorbers or active forces (actuators).     

Multi‐objective optimal design of FLC driven hybrid mass damper for seismically excited structures

Structural vibration control using active or passive control strategy is a viable technology for enhancing structural functionality and safety against natural hazards such as strong earthquakes and high wind gusts. Both the active and passive control systems have their limitations. The passive control system has limited capability to control the structural response whereas the active control system depends on external power. The power requirement for active control of civil engineering structures is usually quite high. Thus, a hybrid control system is a viable solution to alleviate some of the limitations. In this paper a multi‐objective optimal design of a hybrid control system for seismically excited building structures has been proposed. A tuned mass damper (TMD) and an active mass driver (AMD) have been used as the passive and active control components of the hybrid control system, respectively. A fuzzy logic controller (FLC) has been used to drive the AMD as the FLC has inherent robustness and ability to handle the non‐linearities and uncertainties. The genetic algorithm has been used for the optimization of the control system. Peak acceleration and displacement responses non‐dimensionalized with respect to the uncontrolled peak acceleration and displacement responses, respectively, have been used as the two objectives of the multi‐objective optimization problem. The proposed design approach for an optimum hybrid mass damper (HMD) system, driven by FLC has been demonstrated with the help of a numerical example. It is shown that the optimum values of the design parameters of the hybrid control system can be determined without specifying the modes to be controlled. The proposed FLC driven HMD has been found to be very effective for vibration control of seismically excited buildings in comparison with the available results for the same example structure but with a different optimal absorber. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hybrid platform for high‐tech equipment protection against earthquake and microvibration

To ensure the high quality of ultra‐precision products such as semiconductors and optical microscopes, high‐tech equipment used to make these products requires a normal working environment with extremely limited vibration. Some of high‐tech industry centres are also located in seismic zones: the safety of high‐tech equipment during an earthquake event becomes a critical issue. It is thus imperative to find an effective way to ensure the functionality of high‐tech equipment against microvibration and to protect high‐tech equipment from damage when earthquake events occur. This paper explores the possibility of using a hybrid platform to mitigate two types of vibration. The hybrid platform, on which high‐tech equipment is installed, is designed to work as a passive isolation platform to abate mainly acceleration response of high‐tech equipment during an earthquake and to function as an actively controlled platform to reduce mainly velocity response of high‐tech equipment under normal working condition. To examine the performance of the hybrid platform, the analytical model of a coupled hybrid platform and building system incorporating with magnetostrictive actuators is established. The simulation results obtained by applying the analytical model to a high‐tech facility indicate that the proposed hybrid platform is feasible and effective. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Semi‐active control of sliding isolated bridges using MR dampers: an experimental and numerical study

Sliding base‐isolation systems used in bridges reduce pier drifts, but at the expense of increased bearing displacements under near‐source pulse‐type earthquakes. It is common practice to incorporate supplemental passive non‐linear dampers into the isolation system to counter increased bearing displacements. Non‐linear passive dampers can certainly reduce bearing displacements, but only with increased isolation level forces and pier drifts. The semi‐active controllable non‐linear dampers, which can vary damping in real time, can reduce bearing displacements without further increase in forces and pier drifts; and hence deserve investigation. In this study performance of such a ‘smart’ sliding isolation system, used in a 1:20 scaled bridge model, employing semi‐active controllable magneto‐rheological (MR) dampers is investigated, analytically and experimentally, under several near‐fault earthquakes. A non‐linear analytical model, which incorporates the non‐linearities of sliding bearings and the MR damper, is developed. A Lyapunov control algorithm for control of the MR damper is developed and implemented in shake table tests. Analytical and shake table test results are compared. It is shown that the smart MR damper reduces bearing displacements further than the passive low‐ and high‐damping cases, while maintaining isolation level forces less than the passive high‐damping case. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

LQR control with frequency‐dependent scheduled gain for a semi‐active floor isolation system

Floor isolation is an alternative to base isolation for protecting a specific group of equipment installed on a single floor or room in a fixed‐base structure. The acceleration of the isolated floor should be mitigated to protect the equipment, and the displacement needs to be suppressed, especially under long‐period motions, to save more space for the floor to place equipment. To design floor isolation systems that reduce acceleration and displacement for both short‐period and long‐period motions, semi‐active control with a newly proposed method using the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) control with frequency‐dependent scheduled gain (LQRSG) is adopted. The LQRSG method is developed to account for the frequency characteristics of the input motion. It updates the control gain calculated by the LQR control based on the relationship between the control gain and dominant frequency of the input motion. The dominant frequency is detected in real time using a window method. To verify the effectiveness of the LQRSG method, a series of shake table tests is performed for a semi‐active floor isolation system with rolling pendulum isolators and a magnetic‐rheological damper. The test results show that the LQRSG method is significantly more effective than the LQR control over a range of short‐period and long‐period motions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental performance evaluation of an equipment isolation using MR dampers

Critical non‐structural equipments, including life‐saving equipment in hospitals, circuit breakers, computers, high technology instrumentations, etc., are vulnerable to strong earthquakes, and the failure of these equipments may result in a heavy economic loss. In this connection, innovative control systems and strategies are needed for their seismic protections. This paper presents the performance evaluation of passive and semi‐active control in the equipment isolation system for earthquake protection. Through shaking table tests of a 3‐story steel frame with equipment on the first floor, a magnetorheological (MR)‐damper together with a sliding friction pendulum isolation system is placed between the equipment and floor to reduce the vibration of the equipment. Various control algorithms are used for this semi‐active control studies, including the decentralized sliding mode control (DSMC) and LQR control. The passive‐on and passive‐off control of MR damper is used as a reference for the discussion on the control effectiveness. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Passive and hybrid mitigation of potential near-fault inner pounding of a self-braking seismic isolator

A seismic isolated structure is usually a long-period structural system, which may encounter a low-frequency resonance problem when subjected to a near-fault earthquake that usually has a long-period pulse-like waveform. This long-period wave component may result in an enlargement of the base displacement and a decrease of the isolation efficiency. To overcome this problem, a rolling-based seismic isolator, referred to as roll-n-cage (RNC) isolator, has been recently proposed. The RNC isolator has a built-in buffer (braking) mechanism that limits the peak isolator displacements under severe earthquakes and prevents adjacent structural pounding. This paper addresses the problem of passive and hybrid mitigation of the potential inner pounding of the self-braking RNC isolator under near-fault earthquakes. Numerical results show that the RNC isolator can intrinsically limit the isolator displacements under near-fault earthquakes with less severe inner pounding using additional hysteretic damping and active control forces.     

近断层地震作用下设备-结构耦合隔震体系动力响应分析

建立设备-结构耦合隔震体系模型,选取近断层脉冲型和非脉冲型地震波各50条,计算耦合隔震体系的动力响应。分析表明,近断层脉冲型地震动对耦合隔震体系的影响大于非脉冲型地震动,且对主体结构的影响大于对设备的影响;近断层脉冲型地震作用下的隔震层位移、层间位移、楼层加速度、设备加速度和设备位移的平均响应分别达到非脉冲型地震作用的2.25倍、2.17倍、2.24倍、1.17倍和1.20倍。进行设备-结构耦合隔震体系设计时,需考虑近断层地震动脉冲作用的影响,同时需注意引起主体结构和设备最大响应的地震动不一定相同。     

Large‐scale real‐time hybrid simulation involving multiple experimental substructures and adaptive actuator delay compensation

Real‐time hybrid simulation provides a viable method to experimentally evaluate the performance of structural systems subjected to earthquakes. The structural system is divided into substructures, where part of the system is modeled by experimental substructures, whereas the remaining part is modeled analytically. The displacements in a real‐time hybrid simulation are imposed by servo‐hydraulic actuators to the experimental substructures. Actuator delay compensation has been shown by numerous researchers to vitally achieve reliable real‐time hybrid simulation results. Several studies have been performed on servo‐hydraulic actuator delay compensation involving single experimental substructure with single actuator. Research on real‐time hybrid simulation involving multiple experimental substructures, however, is limited. The effect of actuator delay during a real‐time hybrid simulation with multiple experimental substructures presents challenges. The restoring forces from experimental substructures may be coupled to two or more degrees of freedom (DOF) of the structural system, and the delay in each actuator must be adequately compensated. This paper first presents a stability analysis of actuator delay for real‐time hybrid simulation of a multiple‐DOF linear elastic structure to illustrate the effect of coupled DOFs on the stability of the simulation. An adaptive compensation method then proposed for the stable and accurate control of multiple actuators for a real‐time hybrid simulation. Real‐time hybrid simulation of a two‐story four‐bay steel moment‐resisting frame with large‐scale magneto‐rheological dampers in passive‐on mode subjected to the design basis earthquake is used to experimentally demonstrate the effectiveness of the compensation method in minimizing actuator delay in multiple experimental substructures. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Polynomial friction pendulum isolators (PFPIs) for seismic performance control of benchmark highway bridge

The seismic response of a benchmark highway bridge isolated with passive polynomial friction pendulum isolators (PFPIs) is investigated and subjected to six bidirectional ground motion records. The benchmark study is based on a lumped mass finite-element model of the 91/5 highway overcrossing located in Southern California. The PFPI system possesses two important parameters; one is horizontal flexibility and the other is energy absorbing capacity through friction. The evaluation criteria of the benchmark bridge are analyzed considering two parameters, time period of the isolator and coefficient of friction of the isolation surface. The results of the numerical study are compared with those obtained from the traditional friction pendulum system (FPS). Dual design performance of the PFPI system suppressed the displacement and acceleration response of the benchmark highway bridge. The dual design hysteresis loop of the PFPI system is the main advantage over the linear hysteresis loop of the FPS. The numerical result indicates that the seismic performance of the PFPI system is better than that of the traditional FPS isolated system. Further, it is observed that variations of the isolation time period and coefficient of friction of the FPS and PFPI systems have a significant effect on the peak responses of the benchmark highway bridge.     

Optimum Design of Resilient Sliding Isolation System for Seismic Protection of Equipments

Seismic isolation is one of the effective methods to protect equipments. It helps to keep seismic response accelerations in equipment below its allowable limits. Among different types of isolation systems, the combination of restoring spring and slider, also called as resilient sliding isolation (RSI) system, is the one which has been effectively used for protection of equipment. Principal design parameters for this type of isolation system are period of system (stiffness of spring) and friction coefficient of slider. There may be number of combinations of these design parameters which can enable the isolated equipment to remain functional during and after the predicted seismic event. The optimum design of RSI system can be considered as the one which maintains the response acceleration in the equipment below its allowable limit and at the same time keeps the relative displacement between floor and the equipment to the minimum. This study deals with optimum design of resilient sliding system. First the RSI system is modeled analytically by (i) precise and (ii) simplified SDOF models. The accuracy of the model is then validated by shaking table tests. The validated simplified SDOF model is then used to determine optimum design parameters for different levels of allowable accelerations. Results show that the optimum period decreases and the optimum friction coefficient increases with higher allowable acceleration.     

Effect of isolation on fragility curves of highway bridges based on simplified approach

The trend of isolating highway bridges is on the rise after the recent large earthquakes in Japan, the United States, and other countries. Recent investigation shows that isolated systems perform well against seismic forces as the substructures of such systems experience less lateral forces due to energy dissipation of the isolation device. Hence, it is anticipated that there might be an effect on fragility curves of highway bridges due to isolation. In this study, 30 isolated bridge models were considered (and they were designed according to the seismic design code of highway bridges in Japan) to have a wider range of the variation of structural parameters, e.g. pier heights, weights, and over-strength ratio of structures. Then, fragility curves were developed by following a simplified procedure using 250 strong motion records, which were selected from 5 earthquake events that occurred in Japan, the USA, and Taiwan. It is observed that the level of damage probability for the isolated system is less than that of the non-isolated one for a lower level of pier height. However, having the same over-strength ratio of the structures, the level of damage probability for the isolated system is found to be higher for a higher level of pier height compared to the one of the non-isolated system. The proposed simple approach may conveniently be used in constructing fragility curves for a class of isolated bridge structures in Japan that have similar characteristics.     

Seismic response of steel frame structures with hybrid passive control systems

The concept of the hybrid passive control system is studied analytically by investigating the seismic response of steel frame structures. Hybrid control systems consist of two different passive elements combined into a single device or system. The hybrid systems investigated in this research consist of a rate‐dependent damping device paired with a rate‐independent energy dissipation element. The innovative configurations exploit individual element strengths and offset their weaknesses through multiphased behavior. A nine‐story, five‐bay steel moment‐frame was used for the analysis. Six different seismic resisting systems were analyzed and compared. The conventional systems included a special moment‐resisting frame (SMRF) and a dual SMRF–buckling‐restrained brace (BRB) system. The final four configurations are hybrid passive systems. The different hybrid configurations utilize a BRB and either a high‐damping rubber damper or viscous fluid damper. The analyses were run in the form of an incremental dynamic analysis. Several damage measures were calculated, including maximum roof drift, base shear, and total roof acceleration. The results demonstrate the capability of hybrid passive control systems to improve structural response compared with conventional lateral systems and to be effective for performance‐based seismic design. Each hybrid configuration improved some aspect of structural response with some providing benefits for multiple damage measures. The multiphased nature provides improved response for frequent and severe seismic events. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Active control of the seismic response of structures by combined use of base isolation and absorbing boundaries

The relative advantages of several control strategies to reduce the seismic response of multi-storey structures are studied. The strategies involve the separate or combined use of passive base isolation mechanisms and active control forces. The base isolation mechanism is modelled as an equivalent linear soft storey with high damping. The active control forces are selected so that an absorbing boundary is obtained at the top of the structure and non-reflecting or reflecting boundaries are obtained at the base of the building. It is found that the best results are obtained when a passive base isolation system is combined with an active absorbing boundary placed at the top of the building. However, the incremental gains resulting from adding a base isolation system to a structure already controlled by a roof-top active absorbing boundary are significant only for relatively soft base isolation systems. Also, the incremental gains appear to decrease as the number of storeys of the structure increases.