• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.385-403
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• 2007

The effectiveness of the newly developed smart passive control system employing a magnetorheological (MR) damper and an electromagnetic induction (EMI) part for seismic protection of base isolated structures is numerically investigated. An EMI part in the system consists of a permanent magnet and a coil, which changes the kinetic energy of the deformation of an MR damper into the electric energy (i.e. the induced current) according to the Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction. In the smart passive control system, the damping characteristics of an MR damper are varied with the current input generated from an EMI part. Hence, it does not need any control system consisting of sensors, a controller and an external power source. This makes the system much simpler as well as more economic. To verify the efficacy of the smart passive control system, a series of numerical simulations are carried out by considering the benchmark base isolated structure control problems. The numerical simulation results show that the smart passive control system has the comparable control performance to the conventional MR damper-based semiactive control system. Therefore, the smart passive control system could be considered as one of the promising control devices for seismic protection of seismically excited base isolated structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.443-458
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• 2011

An extensive numerical investigation on the magnetorheological (MR) damper-based smart passive control system for mitigating vibration of stay cables under wind loads has been conducted. The smart passive system is incorporated with an electromagnetic induction (EMI) device for reducing complexity of the conventional MR damper based semi-active control system by eliminating an external power supply part and a feedback control part (i.e., sensors and controller). In this study, the control performance of the smart passive system has been evaluated by using a cable structure model extracted from a full-scale long stay cable with high tension. Numerical simulation results of the proposed smart damping system are compared with those of the passive and semi-active control systems employing MR dampers. It is demonstrated from the results that the control performance of the smart passive control system is better than those of the passive control cases and comparable to those of the semi-active control systems in the forced vibration analysis as well as the free vibration analysis, even though there is no external power source in the smart passive system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.227-241
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• 2018

The present paper deals with the optimum performance of the passive hybrid control system for the benchmark highway bridge under the six earthquakes ground motion. The investigation is carried out on a simplified finite element model of the 91/5 highway overcrossing located in Southern California. A viscous fluid damper (known as VFD) or non-linear fluid viscous spring damper has been used as a passive supplement device associated with polynomial friction pendulum isolator (known as PFPI) to form a passive hybrid control system. A parametric study is considered to find out the optimum parameters of the PFPI system for the optimal response of the bridge. The effect of the velocity exponent of the VFD and non-linear FV spring damper on the response of the bridge is carried out by considering different values of velocity exponent. Further, the influences of damping coefficient and vibration period of the dampers are also examined on the response of the bridge. To study the effectiveness of the passive hybrid system on the response of the isolated bridge, it is compared with the corresponding PFPI isolated bridges. The investigation showed that passive supplement damper such as VFD or non-linear FV spring damper associated with PFPI system is significantly reducing the seismic response of the benchmark highway bridge. Further, it is also observed that non-linear FV spring damper hybrid system is a more promising strategy in reducing the response of the bridge compared to the VFD associated hybrid system.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.497-504
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• 2005

Stay cables, such as are used in cable-stayed bridges, are prone to vibration due to their low inherent damping characteristics. Several methods have been proposed and implemented to mitigate this problem, though each has its limitations. Recently some studies have shown that active and semiactive control system using MR (Magnetorheological) damper can potentially achieve both higher performance levels than passive control system and adaptability with few of the detractions. However, a control system including a power supply, controller, and sensors is required to maximize the performance of the MR damper and this complicated control system is not effective to most of large civil structures. This paper proposes a smart passive damping system using MR dampers by introducing electromagnetic induction (EMI) system as an external power source to MR damper and verified the performance of smart passive damping system for mitigating the vibration of stay cables. The performances of smart passive damping system are compared with those of linear viscous damper and passive-mode MR damper.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.42-49
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• 2006

In this paper, an efficient piezoelectric passive damper is newly devised to suppress the multi-mode vibration of plates. To construct the passive damper, the piezoelectric materials are utilized as energy transformer, which can transform the mechanical energy to electrical energy. To dissipate the electrical energy transformed from mechanical energy, multiple resonant shunted piezoelectric circuits are applied. The dynamic governing equations of a coupled electro-mechanical piezoelectric with multiple piezoelectric patches and multiple resonant shunted circuits is derived and solved for the one edge clamped plate. The equations of motion of the piezoelectrics and shunted circuits as well as the plate are discretized by finite element method to estimate more exactly the effectiveness of the piezoelectric passive damper. The method to find the optimal location of a piezoelectric is presented to maximize effectiveness for desired modes. The electro-mechanical coupling term becomes important parameter to select the optimal location.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.19-24
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• 2011

In this study, a control method of MR(magneto-rheological) damper for a cruise bus is investigated. A virtual dynamic damper and a sky-hook algorithm are employed to control the damping characteristics of MR damper. Coefficients for a virtual dynamic damper are determined through the parameter identification. A quarter car model of a cruise bus is established by using ADAMS/Car program for the computer simulation. Sine wave excitation and random excitation are used to compare the controlled MR damper with the passive damper. From the simulation results, the performance of MR damper with a virtual dynamic damper is better than that of the passive damper.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.506-513
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• 2011

This paper is concerned with a study on the control effect of the MR damper using the cutout piston. The MR damper has passive damping force by the oil pressure and controllable damping force by the magnetic effect. As the velocity of the MR damper's piston increases the passive damping force increases and the ratio of the controllable damping force to the total damping force is decreased. Consequently, the control performance of the MR damper is reduced according to the increase of the velocity. In this paper, the cutout piston concept is applied to the MR damper to improve MR damper's control performance by reducing the passive damping effect. The MR damper with the cutout piston has been designed and manufactured and its hydraulic and electromagnetic analysis has been performed to predict its performance. The control performances of the MR damper with the cutout piston are verified through the comparison of experiment results and simulation results.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.387-394
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• 2003

A compromise between passive and active control systems has been developed recently in the form of semi-active control systems. Semi-active control systems maintain the reliability of passive control systems while taking advantage of the adjustability of an active control system. This paper presents the results of an experimental study to evaluate the performance of a semi-active orificed fluid damper. The semi-active orificed fluid damper considered is a two-stage damper with normally open solenoid valve. Through a series of experimental tests, characteristics and performance of the damper is investigated.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.807-833
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• 2015

While tuned mass dampers are found to be effective in suppressing vibration in a tall building, integrating it with a semi-active control system enables it to perform more efficiently. In this paper a forty-story tall steel-frame building designed according to the Canadian standard, has been studied with and without semi-active and passive tuned mass dampers. The building is assumed to be located in the Vancouver, Canada. A magneto-rheological fluid based semi-active tuned mass damper has been optimally designed to suppress the vibration of the structure against seismic excitation, and an appropriate control procedure has been implemented to optimize the building's semi-active tuned mass system to reduce the seismic response. Furthermore, the control system parameters have been adjusted to yield the maximum reduction in the structural displacements at different floor levels. The response of the structure has been studied with a variety of ground motions with low, medium and high frequency contents to investigate the performance of the semi-active tuned mass damper in comparison to that of a passive tuned mass damper. It has been shown that the semi-active control system modifies structural response more effectively than the classic passive tuned mass damper in both mitigation of maximum displacement and reduction of the settling time of the building.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.663-678
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• 2020

Robust semi-active vibration control of wind turbines using tuned mass dampers (TMDs) is a promising technique. This study investigates a 1.5 megawatt wind turbine controlled by eight different types of tuned mass damper systems of equal mass: a passive TMD, a semi-active varying-spring TMD, a semi-active varying-damper TMD, a semi-active varying-damper-and-spring TMD, as well as these four damper systems paired with an additional smaller passive TMD near the mid-point of the tower. The mechanism and controllers for each of these TMD systems are explained, such as employing magnetorheological dampers for the varying-damper TMD cases. The turbine is modelled as a lumped-mass 3D finite element model. The uncontrolled and controlled turbines are subjected to loading and operational cases including service wind loads on operational turbines, seismic loading with service wind on operational turbines, and high-intensity storm wind loads on parked turbines. The displacement and acceleration responses of the tower at the first and second mode shape maxima were used as the performance indicators. Ultimately, it was found that while all the semi-active TMD systems outperformed the passive systems, it was the semi-active varying-damper-and-spring system that was found to be the most effective overall - capable of controlling vibrations about as effectively with only half the mass as a passive TMD. It was also shown that by reducing the mass of the TMD and adding a second smaller TMD below, the vibrations near the mid-point could be greatly reduced at the cost of slightly increased vibrations at the tower top.