• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.181-195
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• 2010

Coupled building control is a viable method to protect tall buildings from seismic excitation. In this study, the semi-active control of a building complex is investigated for mitigating seismic responses. The building complex is formed of one main building and one podium structure connected through Magneto-Rheological (MR) Dampers and Tuned Mass Damper. The conventional semi-active control techniques require a primary controller as a reference to determine the desired control force, and modulate the input voltage of the MR damper by comparing the desired control force. The fuzzy logic directly determines the input voltage of an MR damper from the response of the MR damper. The control performance of the proposed fuzzy control technique for the MR damper is evaluated for the control problem of a seismically-excited building complex. In this paper, a building complex that include a 14-story main building and an 8-story podium structure is applied as a numerical example to demonstrate the effectiveness of semi-active control with Magneto-Rheological dampers and its comparison with the passive control with the Tuned Mass Damper and two uncoupled buildings and hybrid semi-active control including the Tuned Mass Damper and Magneto-Rheological dampers while they are subject to the earthquake excitation. The numerical results show that semi-active control and hybrid semi-active control can significantly mitigate the seismic responses of both buildings, such as displacement and shear force responses, and fuzzy control technique can effectively mitigate the seismic response of the building complex.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.1003-1021
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• 2015

MR dampers have been proposed for the control of cable vibration of cable-stayed bridge in recent years due to their high performance and low energy consumption. However, the highly nonlinear feature of MR dampers makes them difficult to be designed with efficient semi-active control algorithms. Simulation study has previously been carried out on the cable-MR damper system using a semi-active control algorithm derived based on the universal design curve of dampers and a bilinear mechanical model of the MR damper. This paper aims to verify the effectiveness of the MR damper for mitigating cable vibration through a full-scale experimental test, using the same semi-active control strategy as in the simulation study. A long stay cable fabricated for a real bridge was set-up with the MR damper installed. The cable was excited under both free and forced vibrations. Different test scenarios were considered where the MR damper was tuned as passive damper with minimum or maximum input current, or the input current of the damper was changed according to the proposed semi-active control algorithm. The effectiveness of the MR damper for controlling the cable vibration was assessed through computing the damping ratio of the cable for free vibration and the root mean square value of acceleration of the cable for forced vibration.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.35-53
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• 2012

Mechanical dampers have been proved to be one of the most effective countermeasures for vibration mitigation of stay cables in various cable-stayed bridges over the world. However, for long stay cables, as the installation height of the damper is restricted due to the aesthetic concern, using passive dampers alone may not satisfy the control requirement of the stay cables. In this connection, semi-active MR dampers have been proposed for the vibration mitigation of long stay cables. Although various studies have been carried out on the implementation of MR dampers on stay cables, the optimal damping performance of the cable-MR damper system has yet to be evaluated. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of MR damper as a semi-active control device for the vibration mitigation of stay cable. The mathematical model of the MR damper will first be established through a performance test. Then, an efficient semi-active control strategy will be derived, where the damping of MR damper will be tuned according to the dynamic characteristics of stay cable, in order to achieve optimal damping of cable-damper system. Simulation study will be carried out to verify the proposed semi-active control algorithm for suppressing the cable vibrations induced by different loading patterns using optimally tuned MR damper. Finally, the effectiveness of MR damper in mitigating multi modes of cable vibration will be examined theoretically.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.61-69
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• 2013

This research is aimed to evaluate characteristics and dynamic modeling of MR damper for semi-active vibration control. A MR damper of semi-active type was designed and made for the purpose of controlling the vibration of a real-size model structure. Usually a semi-active control system equipped with a MR damper requires a dynamic model which expresses numerical data about the damping capacity and dynamic characteristics generated by a MR damper. To fulfil the requirement, a Power model and a Bingham model were particularly employed among many dynamic models of MR damper. Those models being contrasted with other ones, a dynamic test was carried out on the developed MR damper. In the test, excitation frequencies were conditioned to be 0.15 Hz, 1.0 Hz, and 2.0 Hz, and three different currents were adopted for each frequency. From these test results, it was found that displacement affected control capacity of the MR damper. The test results led to the identification of model variables for each dynamic model, on the basis of which a force-speed relation curve and expected damping force were derived and contrasted to those of the developed MR damper. Therefore, it was proven that the MR damper designed and made in this research was effective as a semi-active controller, and also that displacement of 2mm at minimum was found to be secured for vibration control, through the test using various displacements.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.282-286
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• 2000

In this paper, magneto-rheological(MR) damper is studied for vibration control of large infra structures under earthquake. Generally, active control devices need a large control force and a high power supply system to reduce the vibration effectively. Large and miss tuned control force may induce the dangerous situation such that the generated large control force acts to amplify the structural vibration. Recently, to overcome the weaknesses of the active control, the semi-active control method is suggested by many researchers. Semi-active control uses the passive control device of which the characteristics can be modified. Control force of the semi-active device is not generated from the actuator with power supply. It is generated as a dynamic reaction force of the device same as in the passive control case, so the control system is inherently stable and robust. Unlike the case of passive control, control force of semi-active control is adjusted depending on the measured response of the structure, so the vibration can be reduced more effectively against various unknown environmental loads. Magneto-rheological(MR) damper is one of the semi-active devices. Dynamic characteristics of the MR material can be changed by applying the magnetic fields. So the control of MR damper needs only small power. Response time of MR to the input voltage is very short, so the high performance control is possible. MR damper has a high force capacity so it is adequate to the vibration control of large infra structure. Because MR damper has a nonlinear property, normal control method used in active control may not be effective. Clipped optimal control, modified bang-bang control etc. have been suggested to MR damper by many researchers. In this study, sliding mode fuzzy control(SMFC) is applied to MR damper. Genetic algorithm is used for the controller tuning. To verify the applicability of MR damper and suggested algorithm, numerical simulation on the aseismic control is carried out. Simulation model is three-story building structure, which was used in the paper of Dyke, et al. The control performance is compared with clipped optimal control. The present results indicate that the SMFC algorithm can reduce the earthquake-induced vibration very effectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.127-134
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• 2000

This paper presents the development of a semi-active seat damper using MR fluids and the performance analysis of seat suspension system with a MR seat damper. An annular orifice type MR seat damper is proposed for a seat suspension of a commercial vehicle. After formulating the governing equation of motion, then an appropriate size of the seat damper is designed and manufactured. Following the evaluation of field-dependant damping force characteristics, the controllability of the damping force is experimentally demonstrated in time domain by adopting PID controller. A semi-active seat suspension with the proposed MR damper is constructed and its dynamic model is established. Subsequently, vibration control capability of the semi-active suspension system is investigated by employing the sky-hook controller.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.1929-1934
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• 2011

Recently the maximum speed becomes the most important performance in high speed train. But the speed up of train will not give the passenger good riding comfort. The semi-active suspension system by using variable damper with hydraulic solenoid valve is used to solve this problem. But the variable damper with hydraulic solenoid valve requires tank for supplying fluid. In this study, the MR(Magneto Rheological) damper was considered instead of hydraulic variable damper in order to improve riding comfort. Dynamic simulation was conducted for semi-active suspension system with MR damper was made by using Matlab-Simulink S/W. According to control strategy of MR damper for improving ride comfort in railway vehicle, The riding comfort of the railway vehicle with semi-active suspension system was analyzed and compared with conventional suspension system by using the program.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.191-194
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• 1997

Passive, semi-active and active dampers have been used to dissipate energy in mechanical systems. Semi-active dampers have higher performance than passive dampers and require lower power to operate than active dampers. Its damping characteristics can be changed appropriately for varying conditions. In this paper, we developed a semi-active damper based on Magnetorheological(MR) fluid. MR fluid has a variable damping characteristics proportional for the magnetic field intensity. It has several advantages such as high strength, low viscosity, robustness in impurities and wide temperature range of operational stability. We designed a constrained rotary MR damper base on valve mode which can dissipate more energy per unit volume. The system with Bingham characteristics is obtained and proved by the experiment.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.707-729
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• 2018

The semi-active optimal vibration control of nonlinear torsion-bar suspension vehicle systems under random road excitations is an important research subject, and the boundedness of MR dampers and the uncertainty of vehicle systems are necessary to consider. In this paper, the differential equations of motion of the coupling torsion-bar suspension vehicle system with MR damper under random road excitation are derived and then transformed into strongly nonlinear stochastic coupling vibration equations. The dynamical programming equation is derived based on the stochastic dynamical programming principle firstly for the nonlinear stochastic system. The semi-active bounded parametric optimal control law is determined by the programming equation and MR damper dynamics. Then for the uncertain nonlinear stochastic system, the minimax dynamical programming equation is derived based on the minimax stochastic dynamical programming principle. The worst-case disturbances and corresponding semi-active bounded parametric optimal control are obtained from the programming equation under the bounded disturbance constraints and MR damper dynamics. The control strategy for the nonlinear stochastic vibration of the uncertain torsion-bar suspension vehicle system is developed. The good effectiveness of the proposed control is illustrated with numerical results. The control performances for the vehicle system with different bounds of MR damper under different vehicle speeds and random road excitations are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.683-690
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• 2012

In this work, the semi-active control of a large-sized bus suspension system with an MR damper was studied. An MR damper model that can aptly describe the hysteretic characteristics of an MR damper was adopted. Parameter values of the MR damper model were suitably modified by considering the maximum damping force of a passive damper used in the suspension system of a real large-sized bus. In addition, a fuzzy logic controller was developed for semi-active control of a suspension system with an MR damper. The vertical acceleration at the attachment point of the MR damper and the relative velocity between sprung and unsprung masses were used as input variables, while voltage was used as the output variable. Straight-ahead driving simulations were performed on a road with a random road profile and on a flat road with a bump. In straight-ahead driving simulations, the vertical acceleration and pitch angle were measured to compare the riding performance of a suspension system with a passive damper with that of a suspension with an MR damper. In addition, a single lane change simulation was performed. In the simulation, the lateral acceleration and roll angle were measured in order to compare the handling performance of a suspension system using a passive damper with that of a suspension system using an MR damper.