Predictive active control of MDOF structures

This paper presents a theoretical study of a predictive active control system used to improve the response of multi‐degree‐of‐freedom (MDOF) structures to earthquakes. As an example a building frame equipped with electrorheological (ER) dampers is considered. The aim of the design is to find a combination of forces that are produced by the ER dampers in order to obtain an optimal structural response. The mechanical response of ER fluid dampers is regulated by an electric field. Linear auto‐regressive model with exogenous input (ARX) is used to predict the displacements and the velocities of the frame in order to overcome the time‐delay problem in the control system. The control forces in the ER devices are calculated at every time step by the optimal control theory (OCT) according to the values of the displacements and of the velocities that are predicted at the next time step at each storey of the structure. A numerical analysis of a seven‐storey ER damped structure is presented as an example. It shows a significant improvement of the structural response when the predictive active control system is applied compared to that of an uncontrolled structure or that of a structure with controlled damping forces with time delay. The structure's displacements and velocities that were used to obtain the optimal control forces were predicted according to an ‘occurring’ earthquake by the ARX model (predictive control). The response was similar to that of the structure with control forces that were calculated from a ‘known’ complete history of the earthquake's displacement and velocity values, and were applied without delay (instantaneous control). Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic response control of frame structures using magnetorheological/electrorheological dampers

Semi‐active control of buildings and structures for earthquake hazard mitigation represents a relatively new research area. Two optimal displacement control strategies for semi‐active control of seismic response of frame structures using magnetorheological (MR) dampers or electrorheological (ER) dampers are proposed in this study. The efficacy of these displacement control strategies is compared with the optimal force control strategy. The stiffness of brace system supporting the smart damper is also taken into consideration. An extensive parameter study is carried out to find the optimal parameters of MR or ER fluids, by which the maximum reduction of seismic response may be achieved, and to assess the effects of earthquake intensity and brace stiffness on damper performance. The work on example buildings showed that the installation of the smart dampers with proper parameters and proper control strategy could significantly reduce seismic responses of structures, and the performance of the smart damper is better than that of the common brace or the passive devices. The optimal parameters of the damper and the proper control strategy could be identified through a parameter study. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ACTIVE AND SEMI-ACTIVE CONTROL OF STRUCTURES UNDER SEISMIC EXCITATION

Considerable effort has been devoted to develop passive and active methods for reducing structural response under seismic excitations. Passive control approaches have already found application in practice. Active control methods, on the other hand, are being vigorously examined for application to civil structures. This paper investigates the application of active and semi-active control schemes to structures subjected to seismic excitations, and it focuses on the use of the sliding-mode control approach for the development of the control algorithms. The possibility of control redundancy with respect to the number of sliding constraints is taken into account in the controller design. Several sets of numerical results are obtained for a realistic 10-storey shear building, subjected to earthquake-induced ground motions and controlled by active or semi-active control schemes. It is observed that both active and semi-active control schemes can be used to reduce the dynamic response. Active control performs very effectively in reducing the structural response, but the required control force values can be quite large to limit its practical application in the case of large and massive buildings. Active regulation of linear viscous dampers was found unnecessary for this type of structural system, as it did not induce any significantly more reduction in the response than the dampers acting passively. On the other hand, it is shown that active regulation of stiffness can be used with advantage to reduce the response. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Market‐based control of linear structural systems

To limit the response of structures during external disturbances such as strong winds or large seismic events, structural control systems can be used. In the structural engineering field, attention has been shifted from active control to semi‐active control systems. Unlike active control system devices, semi‐active devices are compact, have efficient power consumption characteristics and are less expensive. As a result, an environment of a large number of actuators and sensors will result, rendering a complex large‐scale dynamic system. Such a system is best controlled by a decentralized approach such as market‐based control (MBC). In MBC, the system is modelled as a market place of buyers and sellers that leads to an efficient allocation of control power. The resulting MBC solution is shown to be locally Pareto optimal. This novel control approach is applied to three linear structural systems ranging from a one‐storey structure to a 20‐storey structure, all controlled by semi‐active hydraulic dampers. It is shown that MBC is competitive in the reduction of structural responses during large seismic loadings as compared to the centralized control approach of the linear quadratic regulation controller. Copyright © 2002 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.     

ER／MR智能阻尼器耦联的带裙房高层建筑结构地震反应的半主动控制

本文建立了用ER／MR智能阻尼器耦联的带裙房高层建筑结构地震反应半主动控制的设计计算方法,文中,在导出ER／MR智能阻尼器力学模型的基础上,建立了ER／MR智能阻尼器耦联的带裙房层建筑结构地震反应的基本方程,并根据瞬时最优主动控制的原则,提出了ER／MR智能阻尼器耦联的带裙房高层建筑地震反应半主动控制的基于最优主动控制位移的“开关－耗能”半主动控制策略,应用本文方法对主楼20层,裙房5层的计算结构;受控地震反应的模拟计算结构表明,耦联主楼和裙房的半主动的ER／MR智能阻尼器可有效地抑制带裙房高层建筑结构地震反应的鞭梢效应,并可均匀地减小结构各层的震反应,是一种简单,方便和有效的智能控制装置。     

Steel frames with bracing mechanism and hysteretic dampers

A new earthquake resistant structural system for multi‐storey frame structures, based on a dual function of its bracing components, is developed. This consists of a hysteretic damper device and a cross‐bracing mechanism with a kinetic closed circuit, working only in tension, so that cable members can be used for this purpose. Solutions are presented regarding the connections' design of three types of structural frame system, that are concerned throughout the study: braced moment free frame, braced moment resisting frame with moment free supports, and with moment resisting supports. The dynamic behaviour of the system is investigated on the basis of an SDOF model, and based on the response spectra method an approximate design approach of the controlled structures is shown. From the time history analysis of the structural systems for the El Centro earthquake the areas of appropriate stiffness relations of the frames to the hysteretic dampers and the cable braces are deduced, so that the energy dissipation of the system may be controlled by the damper‐cable bracing mechanism. Based on the results of these studies, a predesign approach is developed for the implementation of the control system in frame structures. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal design of supplemental viscous dampers for linear framed structures

A methodology for the optimal design of supplemental viscous dampers for framed structures is presented. It addresses the problem of minimizing the added damping subject to a constraint on the maximal interstorey angular drift for an ensemble of realistic ground motion records while assuming linear behaviour of the damped structure. The solution is achieved by actually solving an equivalent optimization problem of minimizing the added damping subject to a constraint on a maximal weighted integral on the squared angular drift. The computational effort is appreciably reduced by first using one ‘active’ ground motion record. If the resulting optimal design fails to satisfy the constraints for other ground motions from the original ensemble, additional ground motions (loading conditions) are added one by one to the ‘active’ set until the optimum is reached. An efficient selecting process which is presented herein will usually require one or two records to attain an optimum design. Examples of optimal designs of supplemental dampers are presented for a 2‐storey shear frame and a 10‐storey industrial frame. The 2‐storey shear frame is required to withstand one given ground motion whereas the 10‐storey frame is required to withstand an ensemble of twenty ground motions. The resulting viscously damped structures have envelope values of interstorey drifts equal or less than the target drifts. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predictive control of seismic structures with semi‐active friction dampers

In this paper a predictive control method especially suitable for the control of semi‐active friction dampers is proposed. By keeping the adjustable slip force of a semi‐active friction damper slightly lower than the critical friction force, the method allows the damper to remain in its slip state throughout an earthquake of arbitrary intensity, so the energy dissipation capacity of the damper can be improved. The proposed method is formulated in a discrete‐time domain and cast in the form of direct output feedback for easy control implementation. The control algorithm is able to produce a continuous and smooth slip force for a friction damper and thus avoid exerting the high‐frequency structural response that usually exists in structures with conventional friction dampers. Using a numerical study, the control performance of a multiple degrees of freedom (DOF) structural system equipped with passive friction dampers and semi‐active dampers controlled by the proposed method are compared. The numerical case shows that by merely using a single semi‐active friction damper and a few sensors, the proposed method is able to achieve better acceleration reduction than the case using multiple passive dampers. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural vibration control by shape memory alloy damper

A damper device based on shape memory alloy (SMA) wires is developed for structural control implementation. The design procedures of the SMA damper are presented. As a case study, eight such SMA dampers are installed in a frame structure to verify the effectiveness of the damper devices. Experimental results show that vibration decay of the SMA damper controlled frame is much faster than that of the uncontrolled frame. The finite‐element method is adopted to conduct the free and forced vibration analysis of the controlled and uncontrolled frame. The experimental and numerical results illustrate that the developed SMA dampers are very effective in reducing structural response and have great potential for use as efficient energy dissipation devices with the advantages of good control of force and no lifetime limits, etc. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large‐scale real‐time hybrid simulation of a three‐story steel frame building with magneto‐rheological dampers

A series of large‐scale real‐time hybrid simulations (RTHSs) are conducted on a 0.6‐scale 3‐story steel frame building with magneto‐rheological (MR) dampers. The lateral force resisting system of the prototype building for the study consists of moment resisting frames and damped brace frames (DBFs). The experimental substructure for the RTHS is the DBF with the MR dampers, whereas the remaining structural components of the building including the moment resisting frame and gravity frames are modeled via a nonlinear analytical substructure. Performing RTHS with an experimental substructure that consists of the complete DBF enables the effects of member and connection component deformations on system and damper performance to be accurately accounted for. Data from these tests enable numerical simulation models to be calibrated, provide an understanding and validation of the in‐situ performance of MR dampers, and a means of experimentally validating performance‐based seismic design procedures for real structures. The details of the RTHS procedure are given, including the test setup, the integration algorithm, and actuator control. The results from a series of RTHS are presented that includes actuator control, damper behavior, and the structural response for different MR control laws. The use of the MR dampers is experimentally demonstrated to reduce the response of the structure to strong ground motions. Comparisons of the RTHS results are made with numerical simulations. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that RTHS can be conducted on realistic structural systems with dampers to enable advancements in resilient earthquake resistant design to be achieved. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Studies on structural vibration control with MR dampers using μGA

A new approach to reducing the seismic response of spatial structures with magneto-rheological (MR) dampers is presented in this paper. The Genetic Algorithm with small populations (μGA) is used to optimize the control for the MR dampers to reduce structural vibration, which is difficult to achieve using classical optimal control. The advantages of μGA are the use of global properties and that fewer conditions are required to obtain the optimal function. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in reducing the seismic response of structures.     

Optimal design of viscoelastic dampers using eigenvalue assignment

In this study a procedure for determining the optimum size and location of viscoelastic dampers is proposed using the eigenvalue assignment technique. Natural frequencies and modal damping ratios, required to realize a given target response, are determined first by the convex model. Then the desired dynamic structural properties are realized by optimally distributing the damping and stiffness coefficients of viscoelastic dampers using non‐linear programming based on the gradient of eigenvalues. This optimization method provides information on the optimal location as well as the magnitude of the damper parameters. The proposed procedure is applied to the retrofit of a 10‐story shear frame, and to a three‐dimensional structure with an asymmetric plan. The analysis results confirm that the responses of model structures retrofitted by the proposed method correspond well with the given target response. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

ER智能阻尼器对结构半主动控制的试验与分析

ＥＲ智能阻尼器是一种以可控流体－电流液为主导材料的结构半动控制装置。本文通过试验验证了ＮｉｃｏｓＭａｋｒｉｃ和本文作者提出的ＥＲ智能阻尼器力学模型的正确性。在此基础上,通过对ＥＲ半主动控制结构的制震效果分析得到了以下结论：（１）ＥＲ智能半主动控制 制振效果较大地超过了ＥＲ被动控制结构和普通支撑结构。（２）要使ＥＲ智能半主动控制结构的制振效果较佳,必须合理选择半主动控制的策略。（３）结构的刚度比Ｋ２     

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.     

Tuned mass dampers for response control of torsional buildings

This paper presents an approach for optimum design of tuned mass dampers for response control of torsional building systems subjected to bi‐directional seismic inputs. Four dampers with fourteen distinct design parameters, installed in pairs along two orthogonal directions, are optimally designed. A genetic algorithm is used to search for the optimum parameter values for the four dampers. This approach is quite versatile as it can be used with different design criteria and definitions of seismic inputs. It usually provides a globally optimum solution. Several optimal design criteria, expressed in terms of performance functions that depend on the structural response, are used. Several sets of numerical results for a torsional system excited by random and response spectrum models of seismic inputs are presented to show the effectiveness of the optimum designs in reducing the system response. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal placement of dampers and actuators based on stochastic approach

A general method is developed for optimal application of dampers and actuators by installing them at optimal location on seismic-resistant structures. The study includes development of a statistical criterion, formulation of a general optimization problem and establishment of a solution procedure. Numerical analysis of the seismic response in time-history of controlled structures is used to verify the proposed method for optimal device application and to demonstrate the effectiveness of seismic response control with optimal device location. This study shows that the proposed method for the optimal device application is simple and general, and that the optimally applied dampers and actuators are very efficient for seismic response reduction.     

Optimal design of supplemental viscous dampers for irregular shear‐frames in the presence of yielding

A methodology for the optimal design of supplemental viscous dampers for regular as well as irregular yielding shear‐frames is presented. It addresses the problem of minimizing the added damping subject to a constraint on an energy‐based global damage index (GDI) for an ensemble of realistic ground motion records. The applicability of the methodology for irregular structures is achieved by choosing an appropriate GDI. For a particular choice of the parameters comprising the GDI, a design for the elastic behavior of the frame or equal damage for all stories is achieved. The use of a gradient‐based optimization algorithm for the solution of the optimization problem is enabled by first deriving an expression for the gradient of the constraint. The optimization process is started for one ‘active’ ground motion record which is efficiently selected from the given ensemble. If the resulting optimal design fails to satisfy the constraints for other records from the original ensemble, additional ground motions (loading conditions) are added one by one to the ‘active’ set until the optimum is reached. Two examples for the optimal designs of supplemental dampers are given: a 2‐story shear frame with varying strength distribution and a 10‐story shear frame. The 2‐story shear frame is designed for one given ground motion whereas the 10‐story frame is designed for an ensemble of twenty ground motions. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.