• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.69-79
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• 2011

This paper proposes a GA-based optimal fuzzy control technique for the vibration control of earthquakeexcited adjacent structures interconnected with semi-active magneto-rheological(MR) dampers. Rule-based fuzzy logic controllers are designed first by implementing heuristic knowledge and the genetic algorithm(GA) is then introduced to optimally tune the fuzzy controllers for enhancing the seismic performance of semi-active control system. For practical implementation, the fuzzy controller simply uses locally measured responses of the dampers involved and directly returns the input voltage to the magneto-rheological dampers in real time through the fuzzy inference mechanism. The local measurement based fuzzy controller provides optimal damping force in a decentralized manner so that it does not require a primary central controller unlike the conventional semi-active control techniques. As a result, it can avoid the unbridgeable discrepancy between the desired control force and the actual damper force that may occur in the conventional control approaches. The validity and effectiveness of the proposed control method are shown numerically on two 20-story earthquake-excited buildings interconnected with MR dampers.

• Computational Structural Engineering : An International Journal
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2003

A recently developed semi-active control system employing magneto-rheological (MR) fluid dampers is applied to vibration control of a wind excited tall building. The semi-active control system with MR fluid dampers appears to have the reliability of passive control devices and the adaptability of fully active control systems. The system requires only small power source, which is critical during severe events, when the main power source may fail. Numerical simulation studies are performed to demonstrate the efficiency of the MR dampers on the third ASCE benchmark problem. Multiple MR dampers are assumed to be installed in the 76-story building. Genetic algorithm is applied to determine the optimal locations and capacities of the MR dampers. Clipped optimal controller is designed to control the MR dampers based on the acceleration feedback. To verify the robustness with respect to the variation of the external wind force, several cases with different wind forces are considered in the numerical simulation. Simulation results show that the semi-actively controlled MR dampers can effectively reduce both the peak and RMS responses the tall building under various wind force conditions. The control performance of the MR dampers for wind is found to be fairly similar to the performance of an active tuned mass damper.

• 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.

• The Korean Journal of Rheology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.105-111
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• 1999

Dampers have been used to dissipate energy in mechanical systems. There are several types of dampers such as passive, active, and semi-active damper. Semi-active dampers have higher performance than passive ones and require less power to operate than active ones. Their damping characteristics can be changed properly for varying conditions. In this paper, we investigated the semi-active damper using Magneto-Rheological fluid. Magneto-Rheological fluid, which is one of controllable fluids, changes its damping and rheological characteristics from Newtonian fluid to Bingham fluid as the magnetic field is applied. It has several advantages such as high yield strength, low viscosity, robustness to impurities and wide temperature range of stability. If we designe a semi-active damper by using this material, we can not only design a simply structured damper but also expect rapid response. In this study, we propose several types of semi-active dampers which are designed and manufactured using Magneto-Rheological fluid and some problems encountered during their applications.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.595-617
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• 2013

Semi-active control equipments are used to effectually enhance the seismic behavior of structures. Magneto-rheological (MR) dampers are semi-active devices that can be utilized to control the response of structures during seismic loads and have received voracious attention for response suppression. They supply the adaptability of active devices and stability and reliability of passive devices. This paper presents an optimal fuzzy logic control scheme for vibration mitigation of buildings using magneto-rheological dampers subjected to near-fault ground motions. Near-fault features including a directivity pulse in the fault-normal direction and a fling step in the fault-parallel direction are considered in the requisite ground motion records. The membership functions and fuzzy rules of fuzzy controller were optimized by genetic algorithm (GA). Numerical study is performed to analyze the influences of near-fault ground motions on a building that is equipped with MR dampers. Considering the uncontrolled system response as the base line, the proposed method is scrutinized by analogy with that of a conventional maximum dissipation energy (MED) controller to accentuate the effectiveness of the fuzzy logic algorithm. Results reveal that the fuzzy logic controllers can efficiently improve the structural responses and MR dampers are quite promising for reducing seismic responses during near-fault earthquakes.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.201-221
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• 2018

In this paper a comprehensive study for the structural control of Jacket platform with Magneto-Rheological (MR) damper is presented. The control is implemented as a closed loop feedback of the applied voltage in the MR Damper using fuzzy logic. Nine cases of combinations with MR damper are presented to complete the work. The selection of the MR damper (RD 1005-3) is based on the operating parameters (i.e., the range of frequency and displacement). Bingham model is used to obtain the control forces. The damping co-efficient of the model is obtained using empirical relationship between the voltage in the MR damper and input velocity from the structural members. The force acting on the structure is obtained from Morison equation using P-M spectrum. The results show that the reliable control was obtained when there was a continuous connection of multiple MR dampers with the lower levels of the structure. Independent MR dampers at different levels provided control within a range, while the MR dampers placed at alternate positions gave very high control.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.1001-1025
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• 2016

Building structures generally have inherent low damping capability and hence are vulnerable to seismic excitations. Control devices therefore play a useful role in providing safety to building structures subject to seismic events. In recent years semi-active dampers have gained considerable attention as structural control devices in the building construction industry. Magneto-rheological (MR) damper, a type of semi-active damper has proven to be effective in seismic mitigation of building structures. MR dampers contain a controllable MR fluid whose rheological properties vary rapidly with the applied magnetic field. Although some research has been carried out on the use of MR dampers in building structures, optimal design of MR damper and combined use of MR and passive dampers for real scale buildings has hardly been investigated. This paper investigates the use of MR dampers and incorporating MR-passive damper combinations in building structures in order to achieve acceptable levels of seismic performance. In order to do so, it first develops the MR damper model by integrating control algorithms commonly used in MR damper modelling. The developed MR damper is then integrated in to the seismically excited structure as a time domain function. Linear and nonlinear structure models are evaluated in real time scenarios. Analyses are conducted to investigate the influence of location and number of devices on the seismic performance of the building structure. The findings of this paper provide information towards the design and construction of earthquake safe buildings with optimally employed MR dampers and MR-passive damper combinations.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2013

Most washing machines are now produced as a drum-type, where a washing drum mounted on a suspension system with springs and dampers, to minimize the transmittance of the vibration from the drum to the frame. A low-cost MR damper, using magneto-rheological fluids, can produce variable damping forces by changing the current values in the magnetic coil. Experimental results show the comparison of the vibration attenuation performances between two different dampers. One test set-up uses a passive damper and another one uses a MR fluid damper. The test results showed that the vibration amplitude of the washing machine with the MR damper is much smaller than the case with the passive damper.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.5 s.248
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• pp.550-559
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• 2006

This paper presents designs and performance investigations of two bypass-type MR (magneto-rheological) shock dampers for high impulsive force systems, one of which is with single rod and the other with double rod. First of all, on the basis of the Bingham properties of the MR fluid and the magnetic field analysis of the magnetic circuit, the MR shock dampers are designed and manufactured. After experimental investigations on their magnetic field-dependent damping forces and responses characteristics, dynamic models of the proposed dampers are formulated and compared. Then, a simple 1 degree-of-freedom mass-drop system is constructed, and the effective and practical control algorithm is designed by considering dynamic characteristics of the shock control system. The shock control performances of the proposed MR shock dampers are verified through the comparison study of experiment results with simulation ones.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.679-698
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• 2008

On marine vessels, delicate instruments such as navigation radars are normally mounted on ship masts. However the vibrations at the top of mast where the radar is mounted often cause serious deterioration in radar-tracking resolution. The most serious problem is caused by the rotational vibrations at the top of mast that may be due to wind loading, inertial loading from ship rolling and base excitations induced by the running propeller. This paper presents a method of semi-active vibration control using magneto-rheological (MR) dampers to reduce the rotational vibration of the mast. In the study, the classical optimal control algorithm, the independent modal space control algorithm and the double input - single output fuzzy control algorithm are employed for the vibration control. As the phenomenological model of an MR damper is highly nonlinear, which is difficult to analyse, a back- propagation neural network is trained to emulate the inverse dynamic characteristics of the MR damper in the analysis. The trained neural network gives the required voltage for each MR damper based on the displacement, velocity and control force of the MR damper quickly. Numerical simulations show that the proposed control methods can effectively suppress the rotational vibrations at the top of mast.