Active control of building seismic response by energy dissipation

Active energy dissipation is proved to be very effective for abating seismic effects on buildings. The implementation of this concept in seismic design of buildings is studied by response simulations of a single storey building subjected to earthquake motion. Active energy dissipaters can be installed as part of the building lateral load bracing, and they regulate the strength and stiffness of the bracing during the building's response to the seismic events. The energy is dissipated when the bracing load exceeds the axial strength provided by the dissipater, and the bracing telescopes in and out. The design parameters of active energy dissipaters are described using the simulated response of a single storey building to ground pulse and harmonic ground excitation. The feasibility of the energy dissipater is demonstrated by the development and construction of a full-scale prototype device called an Active Slip Bracing Device (ASBD). The device utilizes Coulomb friction. The active characteristics are implemented by a computer controlled clamping mechanism on the friction interface. The ASBD's control of the strength and stiffness is investigated.     

Modeling of an actively braced full‐scale building considering control–structure interaction

Recently, the application of active control to seismic‐excited buildings has attracted international attention. To demonstrate the practical applicability of active control, we have conducted experimental tests using a full‐scale three‐storey building equipped with active bracing systems on the shake table at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE), Taiwan. Experimental results indicate that the control–structure interaction (CSI) effect is significant. A state‐space analytical model of this actively controlled building taking into account the CSI effect is established in this paper using a system identification technique based on curve‐fitting of transfer functions. To verify the accuracy of the analytical model for simulating the controlled response, four sets of linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controllers using acceleration feedback are designed and further experimental tests are conducted for comparison. It is demonstrated that the correlations between the simulation and experimental results are remarkable. The construction of an accurate analytical model is important for active control, and such an analytical model can be used for future benchmark studies of different control algorithms based on numerical simulations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Passive and active control of three‐dimensional buildings

The majority of the recent research effort on structural control considers two‐dimensional plane structures. However, not all buildings can be modelled as plane structures, thus limiting the capability of the proposed procedures only to regular and symmetrical structures. A new procedure is developed in this paper to analyse three‐dimensional buildings utilizing passive and active control devices. In the building model, the floors are assumed rigid in their own plane resulting in three degrees of freedom at each floor. Two types of active control devices utilizing an active tuned mass damper and an active bracing system are considered. The effect of passive mass dampers and active control force in the equations of motion is incorporated by using the Hamilton's principle. The passive parameters of the dampers as well as the controller gain is then optimized using a genetic based optimizer where the H₂, H_∞ and L₁ norms are taken as the objective functions. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

SEISMIC TESTING OF A BUILDING STRUCTURE WITH A SEMI-ACTIVE FLUID DAMPER CONTROL SYSTEM

This paper describes shaking table tests of a multi-storey scale-model building structure subjected to seismic excitation and controlled by a semi-active fluid damper control system. The semi-active dampers were installed in the lateral bracing of the structure and the mechanical properties of the dampers were modified according to control algorithms which utilized the measured response of the structure. A simplified time-delay compensation method was developed to account for delays within the control system. The results of the shaking table tests are presented and interpreted and analytical predictions are shown to compare reasonably well with the experimental results. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Design of dampers for structures based on optimal control theory

The aim of this paper was to propose a design guideline for using visco‐elastic dampers for the control of building structures subjected to earthquake loading as well as suspension roof structures subjected to wind loading. The active control algorithm was used to calculate the control forces. Based on the single‐mode approach the control forces were transformed to the forces which visco‐elastic dampers can provide. Application of the method to the design of the building structure with passive damping devices in the bracing system and to the suspension roof with dampers was studied. Through the application of optimal control theory a systematic design procedure to implement dampers in structures is proposed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Continuous pulse control of structures with material non-linearity

A control method is presented for reducing the dynamic response of structures in the inelastic material range using a control force from an active bracing system. Recent full-scale experiments have verified the feasibility of implementing active control systems for control of seismic structures with existing technology. The proposed method of continuous pulse control uses closed-loop feedback control as a combination of two algorithms. The first is the instantaneous optimal algorithm which was derived assuming linear material behaviour, and the second is pulse control which applies a corrective pulse when a prespecified structural displacement, velocity, or acceleration threshold is exceeded. The three criteria of displacement, velocity, and acceleration lead to three pulse control schemes. Each of the three schemes is used in conjunction with the instantaneous optimal control to yield three continuous pulse algorithms, the displacement continuous pulse, velocity continuous pulse and acceleration continuous pulse. Comparisons between the three continuous pulse algorithms and the pulse control for seismic structures in the inelastic range show that the continuous pulse algorithms use less control energy and reduce the response better than pulse control. A comparison between the velocity continuous pulse and the non-linear optimal algorithm shows that the velocity continuous pulse uses a larger control force but is more adaptable than the non-linear optimal algorithm, in the sense that it can reduce the response of a given structure to various probable earthquakes. The non-linear optimal algorithm is more effective than the velocity continuous pulse for a single specific earthquake but is not as effective for other earthquakes which may occur in the life of the structure.     

高层钢结构建筑横向支撑地震动力响应分析

为测试高层钢结构建筑抗震性能,在有限元模型中以某高层钢框架结构办公大厦作为研究对象,测试其横向支撑地震动力响应状况。选取地震峰值加速度为200 cm/s^2的El-Centro波作为地震波输入,采用瞬态动力方法分析不同楼板厚度下建筑地震模拟响应,得到建筑顶层位移时程曲线;在SAP2000结构软件中分析建筑工程添加横向支撑前后的反应谱,记录各楼层垂直与水平方向位移与层间位移角。得到如下结果:高层钢结构建筑在地震响应下产生的位移不随楼板厚度的增加而增大,楼板厚度为100 mm、170 mm时位移波动显著;添加横向支撑后,建筑水平刚度显著提升,同理,添加横向支撑后横向层间位移角的最大值变化较大,且低于1/250,符合相关建筑标准。     

Study of a semi‐active stiffness damper under various earthquake inputs

Semi‐active stiffness damper (SASD) is one of many semi‐active control systems with the capability to mitigate the dynamic response using only a small amount of external power. The system consists of a hydraulic damper connected to the bracing frame in a selected story unit. In this paper, study of a SASD in two building models of five‐stories under four benchmark earthquake records is reported. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the control system against structure type and varying earthquake inputs. Various control laws are chosen to work with SASD, such as: resetting control, switching control, linear quadratic regulator (LQR) and modified LQR, and the results are compared with no control and passive control cases. Numerical results show that the use of a SASD is effective in reducing seismic responses. Control effectiveness is dependent on the type of structure and earthquake excitation. Passive control is less effective than other control cases as expected. Resetting control, switching control and LQR generally perform similarly in response reduction. While modified LQR is more efficient and robust compared with other control algorithms. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison between real‐time dynamic substructuring and shake table testing techniques for nonlinear seismic applications

Results from real‐time dynamic substructuring (RTDS) tests are compared with results from shake table tests performed on a two‐storey steel building structure model. At each storey, the structural system consists of a cantilevered steel column resisting lateral loads in bending. In two tests, a slender diagonal tension‐only steel bracing member was added at the first floor to obtain an unsymmetrical system with highly variable stiffness. Only the first‐storey structural components were included in the RTDS test program and a Rosenbrock‐W linearly implicit integration scheme was adopted for the numerical solution. The tests were performed under seismic ground motions exhibiting various amplitude levels and frequency contents to develop first and second mode‐dominated responses as well as elastic and inelastic responses. A chirp signal was also used. Coherent results were obtained between the shake table and the RTDS testing techniques, indicating that RTDS testing methods can be used to successfully reproduce both the linear and nonlinear seismic responses of ductile structural steel seismic force resisting systems. The time delay introduced by actuator‐control systems was also studied and a novel adaptive compensation scheme is proposed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Full-scale hybrid test for realistic verification of a seismic upgrading technique of RC frames by BRBs

Scientific research proposing any type of device/technique for seismic protection of buildings is generally based on numerical models that adopt simplifications to make possible extensive analyses. This means that important details of the inelastic response could be neglected. Following this consideration, regardless of the device/technique invented, before it could be put into practice, an experimental verification of the actual structural performance should be conducted by full-scale tests at building level. This issue is investigated in the paper considering seismic retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) framed structures by buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) as technique to be validated, while hybrid test is selected as tool for experimental validation at building level. The analysed seismic upgrading technique consists in the insertion of BRBs into the RC frame. The upgrading intervention is designed by a method developed in previous studies. This technique responds to an important need of the society. Indeed, existing RC frames showed high vulnerability in occurrence of past earthquakes when they were not originally conceived to sustain horizontal forces. The hybrid test is selected among the available experimental techniques because it allows the experimentation on full-scale specimens with reasonable cost. In this study, a substructure hybrid test was conducted and the results are here presented to (a) evaluate the effectiveness of the design method of BRBs for seismic upgrading, (b) investigate the integration of BRBs in existing RC frame, and (c) show the potentiality of the substructure hybrid test for the experimental verification of innovative techniques for seismic protection of buildings.     

Experimental study of identification and control of structures using neural network. Part 2: control

Experimental verifications of a recently developed active structural control method using neural networks are presented in this paper. The experiments were performed on the earthquake simulator at the University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign. The test specimen was a 1/4 scale model of a three-storey building. The control system consisted of a tendon/pulley system controlled by a single hydraulic actuator at the base. The control mechanism was implemented through four active pre-tensioned tendons connected to the hydraulic actuator at the first floor. The structure modelling and system identification has been presented in a companion paper. (Earthquake Engng. Struct. Dyn. 28 , 995–1018 (1999)). This paper presents the controller design and implementation. Three controllers were developed and designed: two neurocontrollers, one with a single sensor feedback and the other with three sensor feedback, and one optimal controller with acceleration feedback. The experimental design of the neurocontrollers is accomplished in three steps: system identification, multiple emulator neural networks training and finally the neurocontrollers training with the aid of multiple emulator neural networks. The effectiveness of both neurocontrollers are demonstrated from experimental results. The robustness and the relative stability are presented and discussed. The experimental results of the optimal controller performance is presented and assessed. Comparison between the optimal controller and neurocontrollers is presented and discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental verification of a wireless sensing and control system for structural control using MR dampers

The performance aspects of a wireless ‘active’ sensor, including the reliability of the wireless communication channel for real‐time data delivery and its application to feedback structural control, are explored in this study. First, the control of magnetorheological (MR) dampers using wireless sensors is examined. Second, the application of the MR‐damper to actively control a half‐scale three‐storey steel building excited at its base by shaking table is studied using a wireless control system assembled from wireless active sensors. With an MR damper installed on each floor (three dampers total), structural responses during seismic excitation are measured by the system's wireless active sensors and wirelessly communicated to each other; upon receipt of response data, the wireless sensor interfaced to each MR damper calculates a desired control action using an LQG controller implemented in the wireless sensor's computational core. In this system, the wireless active sensor is responsible for the reception of response data, determination of optimal control forces, and the issuing of command signals to the MR damper. Various control solutions are formulated in this study and embedded in the wireless control system including centralized and decentralized control algorithms. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CONTROL OF BUILDING VIBRATIONS WITH ACTIVE/PASSIVE DEVICES

Two linear optimal control laws and a non-linear control strategy are critically evaluated. They are implemented in a ten-story frame structure. For the linear control laws, both an active bracing system and a hybrid mass damper are considered as control devices, while the non-linear control law can be implemented with either an active or semi-active bracing system. The active and semi-active systems are compared to a passive bracing system with linear viscous dampers and to a hybrid system consisting of a passive bracing and a hybrid mass damper. Dimensionless indices based on the reduction of the maximum story drift and on the maximum control force required are introduced to compare the efficiencies of different control strategies. While the linear optimal control laws exhibit an excellent performance, the non-linear control law, in addition to its simplicity and robustness, appears to be more efficient when the allowable control force is within a certain limit. Furthermore, one attractive feature of the latter is that it can be implemented with semi-active devices to minimize the power requirement.     

足尺变刚度控制系统性能试验与计算模型

本文充分考虑了实际工程应用中的诸多因素,成功地研制了40吨足尺变刚度控制系统并对其进行了性能试验,实现了模型试验到实用样机的转化,性能试验结果表明,该足系统的性能满足各项设计技术要求,系统滞回曲线说明系统充分发挥了可变刚度的吸能,释能减振控制作用,在此基础上,文中研究了足尺系统的设计与控制算法,试验工况与试验结果以及计算模型。     

Probabilistic seismic performance evaluation of SMA-braced steel frames considering SMA brace failure

This study explores seismic performance of steel frame buildings with SMA-based self-centering bracing systems using a probabilistic approach. The self-centering bracing system described in this study relies on superelastic response of large-diameter cables. The bracing systems is designed such that the SMA cables are always stressed in tension. A four-story steel frame building characterized until collapse in previous research is selected as a case-study building. The selected steel frame building is designed with SMA bracing systems considering various design parameters for SMA braces. Numerical models of these buildings are developed by taking into account the ultimate state of structural components and SMA braces as well as the effect of gravity frames on lateral load resistance. Nonlinear static analyses are conducted to assess the seismic characteristics of each frame and to examine the effect of SMA brace failure on the seismic load carrying capacity of SMA-braced frames. Incremental dynamic analyses (IDA) are performed to compute seismic response of the designed frames at various seismic intensity levels. The results of IDA are used to develop probabilistic seismic demand models for peak inter-story and residual inter-story drifts. Seismic demand hazard curves of peak and residual inter-story drifts are generated by convolving the ground motion hazard with the probabilistic seismic demand models. Results show that steel frames designed with SMA bracing systems provide considerably lower probability of reaching at a damage state level associated with residual drifts compared to a similarly designed steel moment resisting frame, especially for seismic events with high return periods. This indicates reduced risks for the demolition and collapse due to excessive residual drifts for SMA braced steel frames.     

Seismic vibration control of building structures with multiple tuned mass damper floors integrated

Floor isolation system (FIS) achieving very small floor accelerations has been used to ensure human comfortability or protect important equipments in buildings. Tuned mass damper (TMD) with large mass ratios has been demonstrated to be robust with respect to the changes in structural properties. This paper presents the concept of a TMD floor vibration control system, which takes advantages of both the FIS and TMD. Such a system is called ‘TMD floor system’ herein. The TMD floor system (TMDFS) in which building floors serve as TMDs can achieve large mass ratio without additional masses. Furthermore, multiple TMD floors installed in a building can control multimode vibrations. Then, an optimal design process, where the objective function is set as the maximum magnitude of the frequency response functions of inter‐storey drifts, is proposed to determine the TMD floor parameters. Additionally, the multimode approach is applied to determine the optimal locations of TMD floors if not all of the floors in a building can serve as TMDs. In addition to the numerical simulations, a scaled model shaking table experiment is also conducted. Both the numerical and experimental results show that the absolute accelerations of the TMD floors are smaller than those of the main structural storeys, which indicates the TMDFS maintains the merit of FIS while greatly reducing seismic responses of main structures. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Active interaction control of civil structures. Part 2: MDOF systems

In this paper, the performance of active interaction control (AIC) algorithms is assessed within the context of two realistic building models. The AIC control approach is proposed as a semi‐active means of mitigating the structural response during large earthquakes. To implement the AIC control algorithms into MDOF systems, the modal control (MC) approach that directs the control effort to certain dominant response modes is formulated and utilized herein. Two structures, a 3‐storey building and a 9‐storey steel‐framed benchmark building controlled by the AIC algorithms are analysed for two historical earthquake records. The results of numerical simulation verify the efficacy of the AIC control algorithms in controlling vibration of building structures during large earthquakes. Copyright © 2001 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.     

Experimental study of a hybrid platform for high‐tech equipment protection against earthquake and microvibration

This paper presents an experimental study to explore the possibility of using a hybrid platform to ensure the functionality of high‐tech equipment against microvibration and to protect high‐tech equipment from damage when an earthquake occurs. A three‐storey building model and a hybrid platform model were designed and manufactured. The two‐layer hybrid platform, on which the high‐tech equipment is placed, was installed on the first floor of the building to work as a passive platform aiming at abating acceleration response of the equipment during an earthquake and functioning as an actively controlled platform that intends to reduce velocity response of the equipment under a normal working condition. For the hybrid platform working as a passive platform, it was designed in such a way that its stiffness and damping ratio could be changed, whereas for the hybrid platform functioning as an active platform, a piezoelectric actuator with a sub‐optimal velocity feedback control algorithm was used. A series of shaking table tests, traffic‐induced vibration tests and impact tests were performed on the building with and without the platform to examine the performance of the hybrid platform. The experimental results demonstrate that the hybrid platform is feasible and effective for high‐tech equipment protection against earthquake and microvibration. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating simplified models in predicting global seismic responses of a shake table–test building isolated by triple friction pendulum bearings

This paper evaluates the ability of simplified superstructure models, including two shear frame models and a single-story model, in predicting global responses of a full-scale five-story steel moment-frame buildings isolated by triple friction pendulum bearings subjected to earthquake motions. The investigated responses include displacement of the isolation system, roof drift, story drift, and floor acceleration. Mechanical properties of the simplified superstructure models were derived from the modal information of a verified full 3-D model. The comparison between the analytical responses and experimental responses shows that the simplified models can well predict the displacement of the isolation system. Furthermore, the shear-frame models are adequate for predicting floor acceleration when the specimen is subjected to horizontal ground motions. However, when the specimen is subjected to 3-D motions, the shear-frame models un-conservatively predict floor acceleration. The full 3-D model improves the prediction of story drift compared with the simplified models for both horizontal and 3-D motions.